Sister Inman Letter - October 26, 2015

Hello all!

This week has been interesting.

Something pretty cool that happened this week was that we visited a part-member family, where the wife is a baptized member, but is very less active. The husband is an elder in their church, and he really knows the Bible. They seem to really love Christ and have faith in Him. Apparently the missionaries have been visiting them for about a year now, but have not really taught them the lessons officially, as he is pretty firm in his own faith. What the previous missionaries would usually do is go over and have a discussion about beliefs and different understandings of doctrine. Not a bashing of any sort, but simply discussing the Gospel, as understood by both parties.

So Sister Brown and I went over there to talk to them, and they were excited to see us, as they love when the missionaries come over. Apparently it had been a little while. So they happily invited us in, and we did brief introductions and then asked if we could share a scripture from the Book of Mormon. (Alma 7:11-13). It was then that the discussion was led to other topics. We discussed how that scripture can connect to many other scriptures found in the Bible as well. We discussed prophets and apostles, the Word of Wisdom, the authenticity of both the Bible and Book of Mormon, etc. It was a good discussion! It was very open and honest, and for the first time, I was really able to be bold in what I say, but not condescending.

Sister Brown and I finally invited him to read the Book of Mormon, and pray about the truthfulness of it. I guess the Elders they had had before had never even given him a Book of Mormon. But we testified of the truth of the Book, and that he could find out for himself. Super cool! The Spirit was strong. So he said he would do that. I'm anxious to hear how things went. We are also going to go out to dinner with them in a couple weeks.
 

I still love my mission! I love being a missionary and I know that this church is true!
 

(last) Monday- HIKE!

We just followed the Elders so we don't know exactly where we were, but some part of Carr Canyon, it was super awesome, I almost died though. There were lots of steep, slippery, and wet parts from the rain. Lots of sliding :) The Elders are CRAZY. There were two that came with us that aren't in our district.But the Elders were very kind and patient with me. I love them! They are very sincere and genuine..

 

Tuesday- Holy cow we were so sore. Could barely walk, sit, or bend our knees. We looked like zombies when we tried to walk. Just picture it. That was us. Lots of appts. cancelled today.

So..... funny story. Our district had a goal to get 15 contacts before district meeting on Wed., giving us 5 each. We wanted to beat the Elders.

So, our total was 4 contacts, bringing our district to a GRAND TOTAL OF: 4. Seriously Elders...... wow.

Wednesday- I love [our district leader]. He tries so hard.Today's stats: Contacted: NM (non-members) =2 PMF (part member family) =2 and two invites back LA's (less active's) =2. Lessons taught = 3. Good day.

We taught Debbie- Assisted Living Home

Mina- LA, doesn't believe in Book of Mormon, just Bible, but super nice, strong lady. Loves God

Yvonne- LOVE HER! She is doing so well! She is the one that always gives us cookies. She is getting baptized on Nov. 7th and I might speak at her baptism, but we will see.

Thurs- Service at a ranch where autistic teens/adults can go to work or live, earn a little money, and the staff is super awesome. They love their jobs. We helped prepare the soil and ground for planting last week, and we helped fix the pavement on the road to the ranch today.

Friday- Bleh Day. Weekly planning for 17 trillion hours. Moving on.

Saturday- cleaned house for a lady in one of our wards. They are obviously hunters because I felt like I walked into a mini Cabella's. I thought Jesse would love to have all of those animals in his room. (Pictures to come later today).

Then we went on a blitz with the Elders to one of their areas. Basically, we each get a street and go tracting. My first tracting experience! It wasn't too bad! We were lucky, because apparently it is not that productive. We got the Elders a few return appts. :) *fist pump to the air* And guess who two of them were? An agnostic, and then a soon-to-be-baptized Jehovah's witness.

Lately people have been saying some very nice things to me. The general consensus is that I am way "too prepared" to be as new as I am, and that I seem to "mature" to be a greenie, and that I seem really "seasoned" and that if I told them I had already been out a few transfers, they'd believe me. I have been told that I am way more knowledgable and prepared than when they were when they first came out, and that I probably didn't even need to go to the MTC. Many nice things, but I still have a long way to go and many things to learn.

I have also been complimented on my hugs and firm handshakes which apparently means confidence. Woop woop!

Don't ever worry about me not getting enough to eat......... we are fed a full dinner and dessert pretty much every night. Seriously. At this rate, I'll be obese within the first couple transfers. (I know, #firstworldprobs)

So Sister Brown is from Yucaipa, CA. It's in the Southern part. She only has two transfers to go!

Yep, we saw the broadcast of the groundbreaking! Super cool, I love Pres. Uchtdorf. I also saw the Caldwell's on there and told my companion that I knew them :) I wish I could've been there in person!

OH and guess what. (Mom, I know you'll be proud of me) I have learned how to use a MAP! Like the ones you have to go buy and look up where the street is, and it is this huge piece of paper? Yeah that one. We don't have a GPS in our car because the plug-in thing broke. Oh well.

But yeah, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! It's the best thing ever. I love working with some amazing people.

I have a strong testimony of this Gospel and and continuously working on sharing that with others! It is hard to be bold sometimes, but I am trying! I am also really bad at talking to strangers, I had come to realize (i.e. tracting)

Another thing, I need mailing addresses for Jake, Lacey and Eric, and then Dom's email if you have it?

STILL haven't gotten my badge yet. grr. Oh well, makes for a good story.

I went to two ward councils, one lasted TWO HOURS.

I'm sorry this isn't the fanciest letter, but I didn't know how much time I had, and so they aren't as organized as my journal is.

I love you and miss you, and pray for each of you!

Sister Inman