Awesome lesson with Morgan and Colby Monday night. The situation is so perfect. Morgan and Scott are totally in love, Scott does a great job helping us to teach her. He is such a good person. These are all truly fantastic people. They are just so ready! I feel so blessed that we get to serve here at this time and just watch it all unfold.
Tuesday we did the family mission plan with an older couple who have moved all over and landed in Alabama just a year ago. It was awesome. The wife's pen was FLYING coming up with people. Then she would stop, and we would give her something to help her think of more people, and the pen would go flying again. I had never seen anyone like that. It was awesome.
In the evening, we helped with the Relief Society activity. It was so good! Sister Hall is good at the craft stuff, so she would demonstrate, and since she didn't have much a voice with her sickness, I would shout out the directions, and just crack jokes. I got some of the sisters laughing who don't particularly care for missionaries. It's amazing to see little changes with little opportunities the Lord gives us.
Wednesday we had an incredibly powerful district meeting. Elder Price, my district leader, was on the plane with me from Phoenix to SLC over a year ago, and in my district in the MTC. It's crazy to see how much he has grown, and what a powerful leader he is. He shared his story--his parents are divorced, mom is not a member, dad is. He switched off every other week going to church. He knew without a doubt that this was the true church, but his mom wouldn't allow him to be baptized until he was 18. That was a major trial for him, not getting to hold the priesthood. He ended up getting baptized earlier than 18 in his teenage years, but it killed him to go against his mother's counsel for something he knew was better. The whole district was in tears. When we have the Lord on our side, he works everything out for us.
After District Meeting, I had a lunch meeting with President and Sister Nolan, who are leading the mission while President Hanks is recovering from his back surgery in Utah. President Nolan advises missionaries who are preparing to return home (in the far-distant future). He gave me some things to think about and research on Mondays, it was very helpful. Sister Nolan is a nurse, and Sister Hall had these weird things in her mouth that were very painful. Sister Nolan looked at them and said she had never seen anything like that before. We had talked to the mission nurse about them before, and she advised taking an antibiotic for that as well as the fever that Sister Hall had last Sunday. Sister Nolan called the mission nurse, and we got a call a few minutes later instructing us to go to a walk-in clinic immediately. We were there for 4 hours. Sister Hall has pneumonia, fever blisters in her mouth, a mild sinus infection, and a very slight ear infection! I don't know why this poor girl gets hit so hard with all of these at the same time. Poor girl was in tears leaving the clinic, and we went to Steak 'N Shake to get a milkshake that wouldn't hurt her mouth. When we walked in, I saw someone I recognized!
Background info real quick: When I was a sister training leader in Leeds, I got to know members in lots of different areas, one of them being Sylacauga. There was a sister who helped the missionaries out a lot. I remember months ago, asking her what we could do for her as she gives so much to the missionaries. She said to pray for her husband. He is not a member and a bit hardened against the church. I did so, but I haven't thought about him in a few months.
Back to Steak N Shake. This member happens to be there with her husband. She sees me, and beckons us over. They invite us to join them, and buy our dinner. We were able to get to know him, he is a super nice guy! We did a mini lesson, and it went over well. It was really simple, and he's not going to be jumping into the baptismal font anytime soon, but I thought it was such a miracle that she randomly ended up in Alabaster from Sylacauga (computer shopping), and that God worked the timing out just right so he could meet with missionaries in an informal setting and be softened, if just a little bit.
The rest of the week, we stayed in. We had been taking it easy and taking time to rest for Sister Hall to recover. She was prescribed a super powerful medication. She hates taking medication, and this is crazy stuff. It makes her feel weird (and act a little crazy :p), and it also knocks her out pretty quickly. Her body needs that as she has a hard time sleeping which makes it difficult for her body to recuperate from illness. She is supposed to take it 4 times a day, but it puts her to sleep so fast and for so long, that, were she to take it 4 times a day, she would literally be sleeping all the time, and she doesn't want to do that. I don't mind staying in, I've gotten lots and lots of studying done. Hermana Torres, the native Spanish speaker, went out with me while her companion, Hermana Torgerson stayed with Sister Hall. It was cool, I took the opportunity to introduce her to some Spanish contacts we had made. I had never been with a missionary who spoke native Spanish, it was super cool! We went out on the bikes, and it was freezing cold, but honestly, it felt SO GOOD. I was so happy to just get out, and I love being outside, and the leaves were falling in the breeze, and I just couldn't contain how happy I was to be in it. Y'all know I don't particularly care for the cold, so it was odd how happy I was. We interrupted a game of hackey-sack among 7 teenage boys and taught a little lesson. It was cool. They thought it was pretty cool, and actually gave us some referrals. I have moments that I am blown away at the youth of this generation. Both member and non-member, they just seem to 'get it.' The gospel rings true to them, and they want to help their friends. It was cool.
The rest of the week, I cooked, cleaned, memorized, read a lot. The Elders gave me a stock of amazing talks that were an answer to prayers. I memorized D&C 4 in Spanish, and honestly, it was really good for me.
Yesterday I played the organ again, and got to accompany the choir. We also got to teach Relief Society. Sister Hall felt well enough to help, and she has developed so much as a teacher! The thing I love most about being on that end of a classroom, and seeing the faces of all the sisters. These are incredible people with strong testimonies, and so much love for other people! A theme throughout the lesson was how prayer is most effective when it is selfless. I can feel the prayers of y'all as well as those in this area, and it is amazing to see what transpires int he lives of those we pray for. I know that because God is real, prayer is powerful. It works.
The district leader calls every Sunday night to get our numbers and hear about our week. This week, obviously, our numbers were lower than usual, and when I told Elder Price it was a sick week, he said, "well based, on what I'm hearing, it was SIIICK week." :)
Sister Sheffer
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