Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Awe...So tender!
This week was the week I realized that the Canadian ghetto accent could also come in the super fast variety.... It's still like a low Valley Girl accent, but you replace all of the "likes" in Valley Girl with "Riiight???"
On a better note: BROOKLYN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how incredible the lesson that led to her to accept the baptismal invitation was but let me just say: 1. The spirit will lead you if you just let it speak through you. You might not know why your asking the question you're asking in the moment, but the Lord will lead you in the right path. 2. The power of the atonement is so incredible and so real. Pains and mistakes can be taken away and holes in our hearts can be made whole as we rely on the Savior and choose to follow him first in our hearts, and secondly through sacred ordinances such as baptism and the sacrament. Amazing. And the fact that a free gift on top of that is the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us through our lives. It seems like a pretty good deal.
It turns out Brooklyn's father had recieved the Book of Mormon and restoration stuff from an old man with crazy white hair, perfectly straight, white, real teeth, and striking blue eyes. Apparently having him talk is like being wrapped in a lullaby. When he says he'll take five minutes you want him to take ten, and when he reads scriptures it's like heavens speaking straight to you. Sister Wu and I are pretty sure he's one of the three Nephites.... but really. They haven't seen him in a while, and don't know his name. It's amazing to me, when God wants someone to recieve the gospel, and knows it's the right time, He makes it happen. This family was SO prepared and I am so glad that I can just be here to be watch the process unfold.
And lastly, when she came to church on Sunday the talks were all so good and about coming unto Christ, the people were nice, and she felt so good and so welcomed. A miracle. Please. Please, please, please reach out to the people that are new in your wards back home and embrace them so they feel the warmth of the gospel not only from the missionaries but from you as well! It is SO vital!
This week I learned a lot about faith. We need three things in order to have true faith in Jesus Christ. 1. We need to believe that He is. 2. We need to have a knowledge of who He is. 3. We need to act on that knowledge by following Him and trying to do His will. This makes sense because if we have true faith in the knowledge of His perfect nature, we will trust in Him enough to follow Him. I don't know everything, but He does because through the atonement He's been there. Something else I learned is that humility preceeds faith and faith preceeds hope, so if you want hope, be humble enough to have faith in Christ!
So that was my week. Tender moments right? (Sister Wu is OBSESSED with saying "Awe... So tender!" Oh my goodness. We came up with catch phrases/motions for a lot of the people we associate with. That one is definitely hers along with waving her arms really fast.)
Funny Moment of the Week:
Today we played sand volleyball for P-Day activity and lets just say I am less-than-coordinated at that game.... At one point it was heading straight for me and I guess my soccer skills kicked in because the next thing I know I just embraced it with a chest bump and the ball went flying. Everyone started laughing at me, but hey, that's what you get for sending a ball soaring towards my face.
PS. I LOVE YOU! Sister Hill
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
CHARITY NEVER FAILETH
This week was amazing. I feel like I'm truly starting to understand how you can't do missionary work without the spirit, and you can't have the spirit without humility and charity. I am learning and changing and being humbled so I can learn more and change again.
There is no better place to practice Christlike attributes than when you're sharing the gospel, because there is no way to do missionary work without them. What makes the best missionaries the best isn't what they do per se, but really it's who they are. If you aren't humble, patient, charitable and full of love, faithful, full of hope for your investigator, then why are you there? Really, why? To talk at people? The Lord doesn't need us to do, he needs us to BECOME. And sometimes that becoming happens as we do, and sometimes that doing happens because of who we become. But the two must go hand in hand, this is what I'm really starting to grasp although I've known it for a long time. Better than what you have is what you do, but better than what you do is who you are.Below is my theme scripture of the past two weeks. I found it as I was searching humility in PMG and I love it.
D&C 67:10 "And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual."
When I read it, it was speaking right to me. "You are not sufficiently humble Sister Hill." YEP. Never am, but when I try--Oh Man. SO GOOD. The spirit comes. I need to strip myself of jealousies of my companion or other missionaries, strip myself of fears that the person I'm talking to won't want to hear my message. I need to stop thinking I have all the good thoughts, and I need to listen: to my companion--her thoughts are of worth; my investigator--her thoughts are of worth; and the spirit--His thoughts are definitely of worth.
Once again, this week was full of miracles as a few of my potential investigators turned into investigators, and as people at the food bank shared thoughts of their heart with me and want me to share more of the gospel with them. As we pray for more investigators, they come. Mostly Sister Wu is doing the praying for the newbies to come--she is full of faith.
It is definitely turing to fall in Canada, but I don't think the library understands that because their AC is still on and I am freezing!!!! What is the weather like in the southland?Transfer calls were this week..... and the verdict is... Sister Wu and I are staying here together in YSA! Can you believe I've already been here for six weeks? I can't. I'm so glad we're staying though. YSA is SUCH a blessing. Honestly I don't know how I'm going to relate to middle-aged people when I leave. Yesterday we got it approved to watch "The Other Side of Heaven" as a YSA activity and it was the best thing of my life. All four of us (Elder Mohlman and Elder Erickson included) were glued to the screen except for when they kissed in the beginning the elders were all "Don't look! Don't look!" HA:) Tonight we're having a bonfire. YES.
Funny/Awkward Moments of the week:
-I literally just walked in on someone buttoning their pants in the washroom... OOPS.
-I got asked out on date by a man with a very red face, blond hair and a bald spot last Monday when we volunteered at the Siloam Mission; it's a homeless shelter. (Different guy than the man at the food bank). That was awkard to talk my way out of...
-Our only male investegator tried to hug sister Wu and I. Sister Wu freaked out and I just gave him an awkard shoulder tap... I think we'll have to explain that we can't hug him...
Also, I've had some questions about the hockey presence here... It's basically like football in the states as far as I'm aware. I just haven't really talked or found out a lot about since that's not really why I'm here. Some guys at the homeless shelter talked about it together, and that's really all I've seen of it.
Well, I'm glad to say that I'm making memories everyday and I hope you are too. Everyday has good things to offer if you focus on the positive. Recently Sister Wu and I have made it a goal to find and record a funny moment of everyday, and it makes everything so much better when you can just laugh about it. So laugh and live it up.
Much Love, Sister Hill
Thursday, September 12, 2013
News of the Week
Time just flies. I've already been in the mission field for a month and it's already September. How did that happen? Does it feel like it's flying by just for me or for everyone back at home too?
This week was a blur. Got hit on by a fifty-year old First Nations man at the U of W food bank. He totally had the Canadian Ghetto accent and would not stop talking. Canadian Ghetto is sort of like valley girl but a lot lower and slower and with out so many uses of the word "like"... The experience was so uncomfortable. I almost hit on the Plan of Salvation so I could feel like it wasn't just him trying to flirt with me and then he changed the subject again. He talked about magic tricks for like 15 minutes. Then the subject changed to music. Finally I decided it was really time to go.
"Ok, I'm going to go. Will you be here next week?" Don't ask me why I asked this. I was just trying to end the conversation nicely.
"Um... well, yeah. I mean I could be... Will you be here next week?"
"Yeah."
"Ok... See you next week."
I don't even want to know. Maybe next week I can atually talk about the Plan of Salvation, if he'll let me talk for more than 5 seconds.
Thursday was exchanges. I was with Sister Rush. She kind of lives on in infamy around here as the intense missionary. Yeah, she's intense, but I had a good experience. She's a really good conversationalist, and really very professional in a good way when talking with others. There was one time though, we approached this 40-year-old lady in a lime green bikini with frizzy-sticking-out-blonde-80's-hair and these great headphones from the 90's. It was truly like taking a blast from the past. I went to hand her a pass-along card and she started yelling at me telling her that I was harassing her and that Canada was a free country and that she could wear a bikini if she wanted to. I was just about to back away but then Sister Rush started confronting her. Like five times. Seriously, if someone starts yelling at you about the bikini you weren't judging them for you just walk away and move on. Luckily I eventually got sister Rush to walk away and we met this really nice Jewish lady named Norreet who grew up in Poland and her daughter Ronnie who lived in Israel most of the time. We were just walking by and they actually just invited us to sit with them without us even saying anything. They were so nice and we talked about religion and life and people and just had a nice Rosh Hashanah together. (Sorry I'm not sure how to spell it. It's Jewish New Year.)
Later that day we met a family from the Congo on our way to drop something off at an investigator's and they invited us into their house without us even asking (Well the mom and a few of her kids that were home). We were just talking in their front yard and the invited us in and we gave a lesson about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was SO strong in that house. The family is already very religious because the dad is a Pentecostal pastor and they loved hearing about the Book of Mormon so much they asked for five more in English, three in French, and two in Swahili, because there are 11 people in the family! We ended by the mom giving a prayer in Swahili. SO GOOD.
Then, miracle of miracles, yesterday four less-active and two new investigators came to church. We only knew about one of the less-actives beforehand. Holy cow. One of the new investegators was our friend Deji from the foodbank. He came straight from waking up on the street downtown after being drunk the night before so he was pretty hungover, but he still came! Luckily I had some snacks to give him after sacrament meeting and he stayed for all three meetings.
Yep. That's pretty much it except for this was a big YSA week because we're celebrating institute starting up again. Sister Wu and I did a great musical ensemble using canned food for the talent show. Pretty great.
But amongst all this craziness I am learning spiritual things, I promise. I am loving the Book of Mormon more and more everyday, and I am learning the power of spiritually feasting upon the word of Christ everyday. I encourage you to dedicate some of your time every morning when you first wake up to do more scripture study. Don't do it in chapters, but do it in an amount of time you set to study EVERYDAY. If you study for an amount of time you can really feast rather than saying to yourself, "How fast can I get through this chapter?" This--scripture study--is the way we can be strong in a world that is so confused. Do you want spiritual strength? You should, because it brings happiness more than probably any worldy item.
Thanks to everyone that has written me. I truly do appreciate it. Love ya!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Love is always in season
How do I even write? There is far
too much too say and far too little time. I feel like things are starting to go
faster and faster and that this is my life. It's probably because things are
getting busier and busier because of the miracles! But really. Sister Wu and I
had to force ourselves to take an hour lunch break rather than keep going to
drop off things and visit people... There is always something we can be doing.
We met Vanessa one day as we drew
the Plan of Salvation with sidewalk chalk. When we went to meet her the next
day, we couldn't find her house anywhere. After ten minutes of searching we saw
Vanessa walking on the side of the street. It turns out we wrote down her
address wrong, but it was a blessing because we would have missed her by ten
minutes if we had written it down right.
We met Carla one day as we got
lunched by an appointment (lunched is the CWM term for ignored, shafted, you
name it). So we decided to street contact in the streets nearby. We were
approached some people about to cross the street, but Sis Wu decided to hand
them a pass-along card anyways. To our surprise she says to us: "Hey, I've
been trying to get back into church and stuff. My parents used to take me to
the Anglican Church. Is there anyway I could meet with you some time?"
Um... YES! "Can you come by tomorrow?" Um... YES! We met with her
once, gave her a Bible and a Book of Mormon, but she is SO busy, so it's hard
to meet. She is constantly going to the doctor because they think she might
have cancer... :( However when we did meet with her she told us that the day
before she met us she prayed that God would send her someone... Well, we're
probably not the only good thing God has sent her way, but I like to think that
maybe we are two of those people God sent to her.
Brooklyn however is probably our
craziest story yet. We've only taught her once so far. The day we came over,
she forgot we were going to meet, but she was so happy to meet with us because
she got fired earlier that day and she needed something to get her mind off of
the situation. As we taught her, she completely absorbed everything. The spirit
was definitely present as we read Alma 7:11-13. We just paused for a good
thirty-seconds as she poured over the scripture and she looked up and said,
"This makes so much sense! I finally get how that works." Two seconds
later her dad walks in. In our minds we're all "Oh No." But he comes
in and he's happy we're there. When he founds out we're Mormons however he says
"Oh... I know how I'm going to be saved." This time we think,
"OH NO!" But then he goes to his shelf and pulls out a restoration
pamphlet, a restoration DVD and a Book of Mormon. Say what?
"How did you get those?"
we ask.
"They were in my mailbox about
four weeks ago... Did you leave them?"
"No.... We don't do that and we
barely met Brooklyn. Do you know any Mormons?"
"No...." What the? He
continues on, "But I don't know why people say Mormons are wierd. I've
read from the Book of Mormon, and there's nothing but good things in this
book." *0*
"Yeah, good vibes,"
Brooklyn chimes in.
So... that was crazy. But we have
yet to come back because our member present told her that she didn't have to
set up a return appointment up with us right then but that she could text us to
plan a time later. We've tried setting stuff up since but has it happened? No
:"(
NEVER, and I mean NEVER, try to go
on splits with the missionaries and then try to tell the investegator how to
schedule another lesson. Leave it to the missionaries!!!!!! They know what's
up.
Top Lessons I've learned this week:
~Sometimes you just need to shut up
and let the spirit speak, or your companion speak.
~Alma 7:11-13 is the bomb.com.
It seriously comes up in almost every lesson, even unplanned.
~The best motive we can ever have is
LOVE. When we love others, they can feel it and will desire to change. LOVE was
the only motive as the Savior performed the atonement. Nothing else would have
been good enough. Love should be our only motive as we serve others and live
our lives. Fill your heart with love!
LOVE you!
PS Check last week's post for baptism pics. I ran out of time last time!
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