Bunnies?

This was a sad week in terms of cancellations, but there were still some good things too.

As far as miles go, last month we were allotted 1050 miles for the month, and we were not in need of that many miles. We used about 950. But, the car wasn't used for a couple days because of transfers with a new missionary (me). This month though we have to go to a lot more events outside of our area that will take a lot of miles and we were only given 850, so we definitely have to budget more. Honestly I'm glad we are because the more time spent out of the car, the more people we talk to. We just have to really plan out when we're going to visit people that are further away.

We only taught the one non-member lesson this week and it was with Zay. We had two member lessons though so that was good. Both were with those who are coming out of inactivity, one hasn't been active in 20 years. I didn't realize I hadn't mentioned Zay. He was someone who has had contact with missionaries in the past but we were never able to set anything up with him until he brought his family to the ward Halloween party. Missionaries have only taught Zay but we met him, his girlfriend, Kim, and their two boys. Xeno is 3 and I don't know about the baby. Anyway, we were finally able to set up a lesson with Zay and he has read a bit in the Book of Mormon. He's read to where Nephi and his brothers return from getting the brass plates. Zay is super open to learning but he seems to have a basic understanding of many different religions and he likes them all. In our next lesson (tonight) hopefully we can talk a little more about where his testimony is at, not just the principles he agrees with, but what he believes and knows to be true.

We did have a lesson scheduled with Carol for Sunday but she told us she got sick from her granddaugher, so we don't have something definite set up. It's so sad because she is so ready and willing to learn, but it's been weeks since we've been able to meet. I'm starting to realize that although I think that not teaching someone for two weeks is a long time, some of the people we teach seem to think once a week is a lot.

Keith and Sarah also cancelled on us Wednesday but rescheduled for Saturday. Unfortunately they cancelled that too, but said they would see us at church in the morning and we could schedule another time. Then they didn't go to church It was a huge let down with them. The Bishop knows them both and thinks it will be a long time before Sarah will be baptized because it's always been flaky and they need work on the commandments, so he wants us to start helping them focus on one at a time.

Jesse Casey's brother-in-law, Alex Halloway, is in our ward and very active. We are hoping to get Jesse to come to a pie social we have this month. I think I'm gonna tell him Vern says he needs to listen to a message and share something quick with him. Jesse is a super funny, light-hearted guy who likes to joke around. Alex seems to think that Jesse has good feelings towards the church but says Jesse likes his drinking and coffee too much to feel comfortable going and he doesn't plan to stop.

We haven't been in contact with Isaac recently, it's hard because we don't have an address for him. We are planning to contact him tomorrow and see how finding an apartment is going and ask about church or sharing a message.

Aman is still busy, we texted him about church times so if he was off he could come. He wasn't able to make it, but said if he had Sunday off in the future, he would stop by.

We talked to Bertha a little this week, she's been busy, but reading when she has time. We have an appointment with her on Friday.

We have not yet talked to Mary again, but maybe we will stop by this week and ask if she prayed to know for herself.

I saw some bunnies and took pictures.

Challenge:

We had a ton of cancelled lessons this week which was really tough. Also, with daylight savings and winter, it's like pitch black at 6 and there are a lot less people out on the streets to talk to.

Good News:

Finally met Zay and his family, and we got to have a lesson with him this week. Also, our Mission President reminded the mission and strongly emphasized that we need to do a Member lesson at 8pm everyday unless we had a Friend lesson at that time. I never even knew that was a rule so we've been trying to get those in. We used to end the day with facebook finding since there aren't a lot of people out from 8-9, but ending the day on a lesson is so much more uplifting. I am so happy that's a rule but we have little ward activity and they are mostly old, so it's a struggle to get a lesson each night at 8. I know those lessons will improve how I feel at the end of the day a lot though.

Miracle:

We had a training on how to better contact referrals, especially media referrals. It was super helpful and one of the big things was contacting immediately. We got a media referral this week and used some of the things we were taught, and we scheduled our very first lesson from a media referral.