Week 2, Transfer 6
Straight down to business. Dot point
week:
Mon-Tues
- Went on exchange to York, it was
great. The sisters there are fantastic!
- Our investigator Alex went to YSA
FHE Monday night with Sister Pacis and Sister Shmidt (Sister Scott's companion)
they're comps while we go on exchange.
Wed
- Had a lesson with Alex, a lesson
with a potential investigator called Med. Both African. Med is great, he's
married with kids who live in Germany but he lives in Hull and is doing his PhD
in accounting I think.
Thurs
-Had zone training all day. President
and Sister Pilkington came. President instructed for an hour or 2 about
FINDING. Apparently it's something that the missionaries in the mission don't
like or struggle with the most. President has come up
with so many techniques for finding and so many approaches we can use. He's
very much about using our resources that we have ie our accents, family, home
country, interests, sports, hobbies, talents etc. So we use them on the street.
It's been a lot of fun actually, trying new approaches to get people to slow
down (hopefully slow down enough to then stop and talk to us). He just wants us
to be ourselves and not the robot missionaries everyone apparently thinks they
have to be. I love finding (street contacting and knocking). It's good
fun!
- Had ward council in the evening at
the chapel
Fri
- Had weekly planning
- A lesson with Alex, we scheduled
him for the 14 Feb but not sure if he's accountable or what so we're still
thinking and praying about him
- Visited Hayley (a potential the
zone leaders found while they were knocking in our area when we first got
here). We had a brief chat. She has a gorgeous 4 year old called Joey and the
dad's name is Sam. I asked her if there was a Tom around anywhere..that'd be
half my family! We spoke to Sam for a bit, he had some funny things to say
about how he believes in science. I told him 'Yep, so do we'. And he
continues..'Yeah but I believe in things you can prove'. Now, keep in mind, he
was a lovely lad, but..yeah..anyway, he's a son of God. I love talking to
people about science and religion. So the conversation continued, it was all
friendly by the way, it never gets unfriendly or disrespectful. I asked him
what he believes and he says 'Evolution..the theory of evolution...theory of
(blah blah blah)..big bang theory..' etc. every time he said 'theory' I said
'Yep, theory'..then when he was finished I said 'Well, they're all theories
mate, haven't been proven'. Hayley started laughing. It was all in good fun
though, he had a laugh and we bore our testimony about the Book of Mormon and
how we have so much evidence that God is real and he is there and that he
exists etc. It was just another seed planted and nourished with our testimonies
and the Holy Ghost! :)
So, back on what President is saying
about using different approaches. He tells us (some) that other missionaries
are using and that he's come up with on his own, so for the past few weeks
Sister Pacis and I have been trying these different approaches. Unfortunately,
I don't think we picked our candidates well enough because we tried the 'I'm
looking for someone, someone to listen to our unique and remarkable message..I
think that someone is you' approach..and the guy said 'Nah it's not me guys'..and
kept walking. We had a bit of a laugh to ourselves. We also tried the 'My
friend is from the Philippines and is learning English (Sister Pacis is from
the Philippines and is learning English) can you listen to 3 sentences and then
tell us what you think?' Then she would say a short restoration spiel but that
isn't too successful either haha we'll keep trying! It's a means to an end to
get people to slow down enough for us to talk to them. This world is so hectic
and crazy, we just need to slow them down so we can stop them and talk to them.
We did, however, without even thinking about the approach (it was just natural), we spoke to a lady and walked with her for a bit, she didn't seem SUPER
interested, and then after about 10 seconds of talking to her she says 'So are
you from Utah?'..and I say 'Nope, Sister Pacis is from the Philippines and I'm
from Australia'. She was walking quite fast and we were walking with her
because she was on her way to uni (she was an older African lady who knew we
were missionaries), and when we said where we were from in a casual
conversation, she didn't only slow down, she STOPPED dead in her tracks and
turned to us and said 'REALLY?'. We then had a brief conversation, started
walking again to the end of the street, gave her our card and she hurried off
to university. It was a pleasant surprise for someone to literally stop like
she did.
I've never had too much trouble with
finding, I actually really enjoy finding. I LOVE knocking as well. Most other
missionaries tell me that's unusual because a lot of them don't like knocking
or street contacting. I like it, I don't know why, but I do. I get to be
challenged. Especially at doorsteps, because you don't know who is on the other
side and you get to have great conversations and teach and plant seeds. It's
what missionary work is about isn't it? Being disciples of Jesus Christ? How
different would missionary work be if we just waited around for referrals or
for people to come to us. Christ never did that. He knocked and waited for
people to open the door and even though a lot of people rejected Him, he still
loved them unconditionally and set a perfect example. We are now doing that as
His representatives, and I really enjoy it :)
Alex came to church on Sunday. We're
not sure if he's accountable or not. He's just a bit strange..but he's a
previous investigator and he passed his baptism interview apparently but then
the baptism didn't go ahead because he txted or called off another number and
said the church is just trying to control people and then said to leave him
alone. I'm not sure if it was his family who pressured him but oh well. We'll
keep praying about it. We have a few other potentials as well that we are
trying to progress. The work is moving forward!
Gotta go! Love you all!
The month is almost over and I have
no idea where it's gone!
Sister Kuhn xxxxxxx
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