Great stuff happened this week, and also not so great stuff. Linda won't be baptized for a while, she got really overwhelmed with having to stop smoking and her anxiety was going through the roof. We met with her twice this week and had some good lessons though. Another cool investigator we had, Stanley from West Africa, apparently moved to Washington DC for a couple months to live with cousins there, so we can't teach him for a while.
However, the miracle of the week is Steven, a Vietnamese investigator who's really hard to understand when he talks. He goes to the Lutheran church, and got out of there at noon, so he came to our ward for gospel principles class, then we took him to the Big Walnut Creek ward's Sacrament Meeting at 1 pm. It was a super small ward, and when no one was getting up for the testimony meeting, I felt impressed to go up and bear testimony of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sister Baldridge told me that Steven said "Wow" while I was up there, and after the meeting, he kept saying how the Holy Spirit was in me. Then he said he would come to our 11 am Sacrament Meeting next week! Even better, we got a text yesterday from him that read (his spelling included):
"Hi Ballrige. I am thankful. Let me join your church. God bless you. Peterson. See you next time. Steven."
We were in shock. I asked Sister B., "Is this some kind of cruel, sick joke? This can't be real!" We are SO putting him on-date for baptism, and hope we can meet with him really soon.
When we were out teaching one morning with Sister Davis (Janel's aunt!), we went by a part-member/less-active/recent convert family. We met the wife's brother, who was visiting from Sierra Leone. We talked to him about the Church, and gave him information to find a meetinghouse in Sierra Leone. He said he would definitely go to our church when he got home, and wanted to know more! So we could potentially baptize someone in Sierra Leone. Legit. Working with the Africans is the way to go, because they are more open to talk about religion. I've learned that state-side missionaries are the missionaries up for a challenge, because the rejection level is very high.
We were low on miles this week to drive, so we walked a ton. It's been warm too, and on Fast Sunday we deeply regretted not having water with us after church! Comfortable shoes for a mission are a must, and I'm happy to say that the pairs of Clarks I got hold up just fine, since you asked. No blisters and no pain. I did get a little sunburned though, and I also think I'm getting some allergies because there's so much stuff in the air from all the trees. I was sneezing like crazy the past couple of days.
Amanda, a recent convert, is awesome. She came teaching with us and loved it, and wanted to keep going. She also fed us twice this week. Which, funny story about the members, we had no meals for the upcoming week and the elders got fed once last week. So over the pulpit on Sunday, the bishop encouraged everyone to sign up to feed the missionaries. Then our ward mission leader reasserted the same issue during his testimony. The ward was totally chastised!! It was hilarious, because then everyone was coming up to us afterwards like, you're having dinner at our house this week!!
One more funny thing about the ward. Most of the members here (and in Ohio wards/stakes in general) are related to each other in some way or form. One of the families the other day joked, "But hey, we're not in West Virginia!" People joke that West Virginians intermarry a lot, I heard about that in Zanesville too, haha. But other than that, this ward reminds me more of our ward at home, and I like it a lot.
Today is a crazy P-day. We played indoor soccer with just our district, which was fun, and went out for lunch. We also had to deep clean the whole apartment and car, they're cracking down on cleanliness on the mission. I also have to send in pictures of everything, they're seeing which companionships are the cleanest.
Missionary work still isn't easy (never will be!), but it's gotten a lot more fun! The Church is true!
Love you!
Sister Petersen
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