Dear Family!
I love you all so much! This week
has been an interesting one. Everything just seemed to be going slower
this week. We had appointments set up and everything but it seemed like
most of them all canceled and it was rough. Really though, it was a good
week, just a couple rough patches haha. One of our recent converts who
is less active that I adore, she is 17 and I think that is why she is
less active, she graduated early and everyone is older than her. She
goes with her member aunt to church in the home ward. So really she is
not less active, cause she goes...well anyways ...that was a tangent.
Her name is Meghan and I love her. She is such a sweet girl. She made us
homemade Cafe Rio burritos and the ranch! Oh MY GOSH best dinner of my
mission so far, for real! They tasted just like Cafe Rio. I have had a
lot of trying to be Cafe Rio, but these were Cafe Rio haha. I had to
share that cause it was important to me this week haha.
Ok now to the rough part, but I promise it gets better.
So like I said this week has been slow, and I just have felt like I have
not been the best missionary as I could be since I came here. I am not
as bold, like I think I have told you all before, and it really makes me
sad. I so desperately want to be the best missionary I can, and I have
not been. So on Friday
night we went over to a recent convert's house who had her Chinese
foreign exchange friends over making Chinese food and before we ate we
all said a prayer, and for one of the exchange students, Iko, she had
never prayed before and after we said that prayer she touched her heart,
and I think I was the only person that noticed, but that prayer touched
her! That was such a sweet moment. (That was the great part). These
exchange students are leaving this week, and I kept thinking how in
China, the parts they are from are not open for missionary work, and I
really wanted to share a message with them. The recent convert thought
it might be weird and so we did not. I felt awful after leaving that
house. I could have helped their salvation and did not. I have been
praying they will find the gospel. After that lesson, we were driving to
try and contact some people, and I just broke down. I explained to
Sister Spencer how I felt, and how I need to be bold, how I need to be
better. She listened and I talked for like half an hour. I then pulled
out my ipad and took it out of it's case. Underneath were goals I had
written when I first got here and was having a hard time. Those goals
are now accomplished and so a couple days ago I made a new one and so I
decided to show Sister Spencer, this personal list that no one new about
except Sister Barkdull, because she was with me when I made them.
Sister Spencer said she will help me work on them. I told her I needed
our companionship to be stronger, like not just friends, because we are
wonderful friends, but I need it to be stronger as missionaries and so
we are both going to work on that. After my meltdown (I have learned to
cry on my mission..it is weird! haha) it was 8:30
by then and I said let's go try people. So we went on and tried a less
active, who was home, but did not answer the door....bleh haha. Then by
that time it was time to head home.
On Sunday
everything seemed to get so much better. We got to ward council and had
a really productive time. Then Sister Spencer was speaking in church
and so I sat in the pews but with a new girl who just moved in and was
with Korrin. We had a great time getting to know each other and it was
so nice to be able to have a conversation that did not have any
moments..cause I have a lot of those, haha. She is so sweet. Korrin our
investigator sat by me and on Saturday
she told her dad she is getting baptized, and he did not take it well.
But at church she seemed a lot better, she was feeling a lot better and
not so stressed out. That was so nice to see. Then the less active we
tried the night before, we left a note, he totally came to church!!! All
of the church meetings were wonderful.
Sunday
night however we had a interesting experience. Well we visited a less active we have been working with, but it seemed like everything was
stopping us, we could not find anyone to come with us and we needed
someone cause it is a guy. Finally we get Mallory, she just came home
from her mission in Russia. This less active is a good person at heart,
but tonight it was bad. We walked in to this tiny apartment and we read
Matthew 28 with him. We asked him to read it last week and he did not.
After reading we talked about scriptures and I was bold, which was good
for me haha. He told us he would not commit to reading and I asked why,
and I told him he needed to. As we talked the feeling there got worse
and worse, he would just ramble and he would mumble under his breath
repeating words, and I could hear whispering and I am positive it was
not just from him. There was something evil in that room, and it scares
me to even talk about. But something was there. He rambled for a long
time and I knew we just needed to get out, so finally when I heard a
pause, I bore a quick testimony and I told him we had to leave. Mallory
offered the closing prayer, and when she said "Dear Heavenly Father" I
could feel thing little light come back in. We got out of there, and in
the car I asked sister Spencer what she thought of that lesson, and I
did not just casually, cause I thought I was over reacting, and she told
me straight up "There was something evil there, I don't know if it was
in him, or in the room, but it was evil." We talked about how we felt
the same way and decided we need to go to a place to feel the spirit. We
went to Chelsea Adams. She had her farewell and it was an open house so
we went over. The spirit was just lighting up the room there and we
felt so much better. It was so nice to surround our selves by people who
had the spirit with them. After staying for a couple minutes we left
and continued with missionary work. No body was home really...but we
tried Brandi (love her!) we surprised her..she does not like surprises,
but she loves us so it all worked out haha. She is such a sweet soul.
She showed us a study journal she has started keeping :) she is really
progressing in the gospel and coming back! She has been less active for
years and she is doing so much better now. She had gone to church a
couple times and she went yesterday also :) Sunday was a wonderful day...except that one rough patch haha. I saw the missionary I want to be in me on Sunday :)
Oh quick cool story. So last Monday night at FHE we
taught the lesson, that was not the cool part though. After our lesson,
the Bishop showed a short film about John Tanner, he pretty much saved
the Kirtland temple, and a lot the church things, cause he gave all of
his money to the church. He was rich and in the end had nothing, then
went on a mission. He is amazing! Anyways, the week before we were
talking to a new investigator we have, John ( I think I have mentioned
him) he is southern baptist and he is actually related to John Tanner,
and he is interested in the gospel, but if his relatives found out they
would be upset. Any ways he told us all about how John Tanner is his
like 3 greats grandfather! Then on Monday
we watched that movie and I almost bawled and Sister Spencer cried
because we felt so strongly that we need to help John. We could just
feel how important it is to John Tanner that his family is in the
gospel, after all he gave up everything for the church. So me and sister
Spencer must do everything we can to help John come in to the gospel.
:) That was a cool experience :) Well I love you all have a great week!
-Sister Andrea Draudt
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