This week was full of more wonderful missionary things!
I could hardly wait for general conference!
Early in the week we had a splendid lesson with a lady who was a referral from her neighbors. She said that we are her "spiritual adivsors" and that she had such a wonderful week as she read the Book of Mormon and prayed daily, as we asked her to. She said that the time couldn't go by fast enough for our next appointment! I have really come to know what it is like (as it says in D&C 50) when the teacher and the receiver do both by the spirit, and both are edified. Sister Wiese and I just looked at each other in looks of astonishment and gratitude for this woman's desire to change and recognition of the spirit. As we taught her about the Restoration we could tell that she was having some questions or doubts. After we finished, however, upon asking her to share with us some of her concerns, she said that there was just something about us that took away all of her doubts. Duh duh duhh! The Spirit at work yet again!
One of my least favorite things to do on the mission is have a lesson with people that are not progressing and explain to them that we can't visit them anymore if they do not keep their commitments and progress. We had a few of those this week. And they were all in Spanish. But, I have come to trust in the Lord's timing and in the Lord's way and in the promptings that we receive. It went over much better than we expected, and I hope that soon these families will understand the importance of the gospel in their lives.
We had some great lessons with our resident golden investigator. Haha. We had a lesson at a member's house on Wednesday with the intention of teaching him the Law of Chastity. We felt impressed to start teaching the commandment by talking about prophets (another good thing to explain General Conference). Well, it turned out that prophets was actually his concern! He said he had kept thinking about it since our previous lesson and we were able to explain to him the process by which a prophet is selected by God and how we can know for ourselves if he is a prophet of our Heavenly Father!
We had a teamup the next night and so we texted him to see if he would be okay with yet another lesson the next evening. He was. We met at the church and THEN it was law of chastity time! Haha. We were a bit anxious to teach this---with him being 25, male, and in the Navy--but it actually went over quite well! He explained that he had already come to a similar conclusion previously on his own, and that he wanted to do everything he could to be "sealed" in the temple with his girlfriend. Having lessons with him are so amusing! We were explaining why we were talking about the law of chastity (as it is a commandment that must be lived for one to be baptized) and I said, "It's not like we woke up this morning with smiles on our faces that we'd have to teach you the law of chastity!" And he responded, "Are you sure? Because you both always seem to excited and happy in our lessons!" Hahahah. Little does he know it's the "Golden Factor"--it's so exciting to teach someone that has been prepared!
Well...resident golden investigator came to the Sunday morning session of General conference. And did quite well staying awake! :) We got a text from him during the afternoon session saying that he was watching it at a members house! We had teased him suggesting that as a marathon runner he could handle another session of conference.. but he had a rough night so was going to go home and watch it online. Well, he got to his house and was locked out! As he was pondering what to do a member texted him inviting him for lunch and the last session. Hahahah. Yes! God works in wonderfully mysterious ways.
Conference was wonderful. I went with questions again and was so edified! It went by far too quickly. As one of the Seventy was talking about Returned Missionaries I began to tear up. I was sitting next to a recent convert and surrounded by people that I have grown to love in my many months here. I do not want this experience to end. However, I gained great comfort from conference that no matter what I am doing in life, or where I am, I will be able to still be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will still be able to access guidance from Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. I will still be able to endure difficulty and trial--for in fact that is why I am here.
I realized as we were driving around on Sunday night that I had two weeks from that day until I would be released. Ah! I haven't started packing. And I have tried to push it out of my mind.. but I think the time has come to man up (haha) and face the future! One of our members took us out to dinner. She's a psychologist at the prison..so I was asking her about helping me deal with change. Hahah. And she mentioned how there are pro's and con's to every situation in life. And the fact that there are pro's to being a missionary and pro's to being a civilian (lol) and that accepting and appreciating the pros of both things doesn't mean that I am diminishing my appreciation of either one. It's just a logical way to go about it!
Peace be the Journey,
Sister Bolliger - the Younger
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