That thought came from my own brain this time, not Sister Green's. Seriously though, it would be nice to be able to high-five the spirit sometimes. Don't worry, you'll know why in a minute.
WAHOO this week was so so great. I don't know why, nothing special happened really. I just loved it!
Thursday morning we went to Berlin Heights and did some service for a member there, plus had a lesson with another member. We finished weekly planning, then went to Bellevue! Jo and Pat met us at the Coffelt's house, and we did a lesson with them on temples. I love teaching investigators in members' homes, the spirit is so special there.
Friday was Zone Conference, got up bright and early to drive to Westlake. Our whole conference was centered on goals and planning, I loved it. They had all of us missionaries going home bear our testimonies at the end. :)
Saturday we only had a few plans, but ended up staying pretty busy most of the day. Taught Cole and Donovan, we just read in the scriptures with them and it was fun! It's interesting trying to teach to a different age group, and re-learn how to say things/explain them to apply to what they are going through. Saturday night we stopped by a few people who were all home!
Sunday was the day I wanted to high-five the spirit. :) We were in Bellevue again, and we tracted, tracted, tracted all day. I LOVED IT! I think my brain was just like "you are never going to do this again", so I was just soaking it all up.
Anyways, so here's the story. Hopefully it'll make sense.
Awhile back when just Sister Ashby and I were here, we were not working the Bellevue area because there were Elders there. However, we had one lesson at the church with someone that lived in Bellevue, because she felt more comfortable with sisters than elders. She had seemed like a GOLDEN investigator and we were excited to keep working with her. But she dropped off the face of the earth, wouldn't answer our phone calls or text messages, didn't have contact with her member friends. Since we'd met at the church, we didn't know where she lived, just that she was in Bellevue.
So ever since we've been working Bellevue, I've had it in the back of my mind we need to find her, but we've just never gotten around to it. Well Sunday night I realized this was my last chance. We went for a drive, and I told Heavenly Father "Help me find her." (we had a general idea of what group of streets she lived on, but there were about ten of them, and they are LONG streets. And we only had about 40 minutes of the night left). I just kept saying small prayers, and these random thoughts would come into my head like "this street. Stop there. Park here. Start knocking at this door and keep going towards this other street." I honestly felt like I was probably just making the whole thing up, because it just seemed so bizaare. But how else was I going to know if they were thoughts from the spirit besides following them?
Sister Green followed me the whole time, probably wondering what in the world I was doing and why I was being so picky about where we were tracting.
Following the spirit brings miracles though. Sure enough, about 5 doors down from where I felt like we should start knocking, she came to the door.
Enough said, right? We could've been anywhere at the time, I could've decided to turn a different way, or stop the house before her. Nope. Heavenly Father had other plans.
High-five! Team work :)
Good miracle story to end on, right? I think so too! Ah I am going to miss doing this every day. YES, this has been the hardest thing I have ever ever done. There have been days I never wanted to get up, times I've been crying while we were knocking on doors because I was so miserable, times I wanted to get on the closest plane and never look back.
But Heavenly Father has other plans. He knows what's best for us. And I would NEVER trade the experiences I've had, especially the hard ones, for anything else. I wish I could explain it to you! (The song "The Call" by Regina Spektor keeps coming to mind). I wish you could've been here with me and that you could know what I've learned and how I've come closer to the Savior here.
But I also know it doesn't end here. This is just another transfer. Another new adventure, with different hard things. All because God's purpose is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It's up to us to trust that He knows how to accomplish that goal, that His plans are perfect.
Thank you thank you all for listening, for loving, for praying. For being a friend and support when I felt like I was alone. I know you've all been placed in my life, and the lives of others for a reason. I LOVE YOU!
Love, Sister Maughan