Lindsay - March 7, 2016

Sister Reynolds ( a senior missionary) bought us both a rock that

quotes a scripture!!! So cute!

This week was a little discouraging, but I survived!!! The Lord helped me to press forward. On Tuesday, we had an amazing lesson with Roxy, our investigator! She is really shy and she doesn't have a lot of self-confidence, so I could relate! We had an amazing lesson about church, prayer, and reading your scriptures. At the end of the lesson, we invited Roxy to say a kneeling prayer with us. She didn't want to at first. Mainly because she was embarrassed. We asked her why and she hadn't prayed in front of people before, and also she had made some bad decisions in the past so she felt embarrassed to pray. We testified of prayer and how much the Lord wanted to hear from her. But with our persistence, :) OK the Spirit definitely helped with that, she said a beautiful quick prayer. We are planning to invite her to pray every lesson:) It will be so fun!! 

We also met with a few other less actives who are the sweetest people. There is this wonderful person named Becca who just got out of prison, BUT she wants to change her life, and her husband is not a member, and he wants to take the missionary lessons and get baptized! And so Becca really wants to get sealed in the temple. She also has a little girl that is the sweetest thing. Her story is amazing, and the Lord has blessed her so much in her life. 

On Wednesday we had an awesome district meeting on the Book of Mormon and why it is so important. We also met with Jade and Gavin who are 8 and are getting ready to be baptized. Their parents are less active, so we are trying to help the whole family come to church! We taught them the Plan of Salvation, and Sister Steele had some cute little pictures to go with it! It was a great lesson! We then had a great lesson with Jason about the Book of Mormon. He is the sweetest thing! During the lesson he was on the IPad and so we thought that he was playing a game or something, but as we were talking, I saw that he was on a drawing pad, and that he wrote the word forgiveness on it:) It was so sweet! We also showed him the pictures in the Book of Mormon and that helped him to concentrate more. We then talked to him about repentance, and we said that you 1.) Say you are sorry, and 2.) You change. So he recorded that in his drawing pad, and he saved it to his pictures. It was an amazing lesson!

 On Friday we had another lesson with Roxy. We talked about the Word of Wisdom, and she has had problems with that, and she still does. Her whole family struggles with the Word of Wisdom, so it has been hard  to distance herself from that. We related the Word of Wisdom to how she can be an example for her son, and that abstaining from those things will help him in the long run. So she committed to live the Word of Wisdom!! Yeah!!!! :) Later that night we had a lesson with the Tucker's who are a less active family. They are so sweet! Their kids are full of energy, but when I got out a picture of Jesus and asked them who it was they were quiet! It was so cool! So we talked about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, and how they love us and wants us to be happy. It was a good lesson. 

On Saturday we had a discouraging experience in the early afternoon.  We were just going down the list of the ward directory and trying a random name off of the list. They weren't home and so we decided to knock on a few doors around that home. We knocked on a door of one lady's home and she proceeded to tell us that we were holding the wrong book. And then she went on talking about the Bible and how it was complete, and there shouldn't be anymore scripture. She told us that we were taught wrong, and went on and on. We simply testified of what we knew to be true, but the lady would tell us that we were false every time we said something about the Book of Mormon and the gospel. By the end of that meeting, I literally was crying in front of her. It was really hard for me to take that rejection. When we got to the car, I just broke down in sobs. But Sister Steele was so strong in helping me. It just tore me apart that her heart was hardened, and that she wouldn't accept a message that could make her so happy. I have realized something from that experience. The people that reject us, and argue, and persecute us do not look happy! They look miserable! And it breaks my heart! But I know that one day they will open up to the gospel. Sister Steele and I said a prayer before going to our next appointment. And that prayer uplifted me, and helped me to move forward. 

We met with John who is the sweetest 93 year old man. When I shook his hand, he was grinning from ear to ear. I literally almost cried shaking his hand, because that visit helped me to move on from that previous difficult experience. Grandpa Dunn!! I hope you know John McLean! He served in the Navy, and he has a lot of stories about submarines and Hiroshima! I always ask him if he knows you, but he can’t remember:) 

On Sunday, the Lord truly blessed us! Three of our investigators came to church!!! Roxy and Mary Ann (who came to church), went to Gospel Principles and we had an amazing lesson about the Scriptures. The Spirit was so strong, and we had many people in that classroom that were less active, or recent converts. Brother Egbert who taught the lesson got emotional, and everyone's comments were so inspired. This was the best day of my life!!!!! And Sister Steele and I were fasting so we were in a loopy, happy mood. It was awesome! I love being a missionary despite the traumatic rejections!! :) I love you all, I hope you have a great week!

Sincerely,

Sister Lindsay Dunn