The Missionary Next Door

Hey everyone, 

Not a whole lot has happened this week, but we are trying something new with the members. We borrowed a copy of a talk called, "The Missionary Next Door" by a lady named Diana Hoelscher, which is about how simple and easy it can be to share the gospel. The missionaries take care of the spiritual conversion and the members take care of the social conversion. By simply inviting people to church activities, activities or occasions at their homes, or even church itself, non-members can be in a good place where missionaries can meet them. There's other suggestions as well, such as having gospel-related art in your home and knowing how to explain it to others in the form of a simple testimony, to give others the chance to feel the Spirit and learn more about our faith. It's really good and so we organized a hand-out that members can put on their fridge, and we are starting to teach members and help them more in their missionary work. We realize that working with the members is the key in this area, because this ward is missionary-minded and ready to go if we just give them a little push. If you can find the talk on YouTube or something, I REALLY recommend listening to it. It's really entertaining too. 

We taught one lesson this week, to an investigator named Lenn's (I can't remember if I've mentioned him or not)(also, he's black, hence the apostrophe in the name, haha). We went through the Restoration in more detail this time with him and we're using a new method of teaching with the pamphlet, where it's all question-based and we can find out what a person's religious background and knowledge is. It went pretty well and we're meeting with him again this week.

We also ran into one of our potential investigators while he was walking his dogs. We used the opportunity to teach him more, and he was interested in a Book of Mormon so we gave it to him on the spot. He's been interested in searching for the truth so we think that if he makes it a priority, he will read and find out for himself. He's a professional pool player and went out of town this week, but we're looking forward to meeting with him next week. 

Also, I finally bought my own bike. I called the mission office and it just so happened that there was one bike available that was a ladies' frame with a low bar. Some members in a different ward bought it for a sister who ended up going home early, so it was basically unused. It's a Schwinn and looks pretty classic, but still has gears and rides really smoothly and fast. It's likely I'll take it to a bike shop at some point to get better tires on it with a little more tread, but so far it's working out great. And thanks again Dad for sending me the headlight, it makes a humongous difference. I don't know what I would do without you! Also, I am sorry for shaming the family by owning a bike that was purchased from Wal-mart, haha. I am a little sad though that I will need to sell it to someone else before I come home, because there's no way I can ship that or fly it home. I would totally bring it with me to college otherwise. 

I hope everyone has a great week, I love you!

Sister Petersen

Pictures: 

#1: Tim and Linda, the recent converts who live in our apartment complex, own a tiny clown bike for some reason I don't know why. Of course we had to try it out.

#2: Us with our bikes, me with my new one and Sister McCarty is currently stuck with the clown bike because she had to give back the one she was borrowing from a member. Just kidding, she was able to borrow someone else's for the rest of the transfer. 

#3: Us in front of a true Ohioan barn that's in a random pocket of our area. Classic mission picture.