Membersionaries

September 30th, 2013

Family!!

Thank you so much for the prayers and fast. Believe it or not I have been headache free for 3 days now which is a world record. I KNOW that is because God answers a loving family's prayers. All of these engagements are crazy!! Give Chelsea and Camille a huge hug for me when you see them- this is all so exciting!

Yesterday was such a blessing. Our mission president and his wife spoke to the ward for the 5th Sunday (3rd hour) all about member missionary work. He encouraged the members to come to lessons with us so that our investigators could see what normal people are like. Then he had Sister Remund and I stand up and pointed out that we are not normal. Only weirdos spend 24/7 dedicated to the Lord and His gospel. Haha. Thanks President. It was cool though because that night I got to see this member missionary work in action. The stake has a phenomenal mission prep class (they call it PMG) for youth ages 16-19. Each week they focus on a fundamental from Preach My Gospel and practice teaching each other afterwards. When us missionaries don't have any set appointments on Sunday nights, we go and help them improve their teaching skills and role play with them as investigators. Well one of the youth brought her friend Chris last week who isn't a member and didn't know much about the church. I am sure he was a little shocked during the class as they talked about tactics to get people to listen, but apparently he felt the spirit. Two of his friends and I had the privilege of teaching him the first lesson that night and never again will I doubt the power of member missionary work. I had fun teaching him the doctrine of the lessons and helping explain what we believe, but as his friends shared their simple testimonies of what the gospel means to them, the spirit was incredible. These girls were just friends from school and had never really shared with him what they believe until that night and when they did, he listened because he already trusted them and had always been curious about what made them so happy. He told us he could really feel the spirit as we all discussed the atonement and the restoration of the gospel. This past week, he attended early morning seminary every single day and told one of the students that he wished it was 2 hours long. He read 5 chapters in the Book of Mormon and said he liked it because it made him feel good. When we met with him again yesterday, he said that this past week he couldn't stop smiling. His friends noticed a change in the way he carried himself and in the way he dressed. He used to wear all black but hasn't been lately. As we began to  teach him the restoration, he was grinning like the freaking Cheshire cat the entire time. When we started talking about Christ's atonement again, you could tell the spirit was hitting him like a brick wall. I gave his friend Lynsie the "you should invite him to be baptized right now" nod and helped her lead into it, but she took over and popped the question and he accepted! When he said yes they were all speechless and were probably replaying the conversation in their head to make sure they got it right, but as they testified of what their baptism meant to them and what it still means, i could tell that he really connected with them. OH MAN!! I just love all the member missionary work in the world!!!

What I have come to the conclusion of on my mission is that us missionaries, we really are weirdos. So many people think we are obligated to be out talking to people and/ or we are getting paid to do it and they don't have time to listen to us. But when a friend reaches out to another friend and invites them to an activity or fireside or something, there is a barrier that is already broken. And the awesome part is the members don't even have to know much about the gospel or teach the uncomfortable lessons like Word of Wisdom or Law of Chastity because us weirdos are trained to teach those! All the normal people have to do is invite them to an activity and we will ask them if they want to learn more. If they reject us, who cares? We get it all the time and most of the time it doesn't really phase us. Plus we are getting transferred so we will never see them again. That way it isn't the member trying to shove their beliefs down another person's throat. But if they say yes (often to the member's surprise), we will teach the doctrine if you testify. So that is what I want to invite you all to do. You don't have to sit your friends or neighbors down and teach them the first lesson in PMG but just invite them to an activity or dinner with the missionaries and let them do the inviting. Let us be the weirdos, you guys can keep being the normal ones.

I am currently obsessed with this member missionary stuff if you haven't noticed.

We also encountered a modern day troll on a bridge this week. That was fun. We met Mandy on the side of the road and she agreed to teach us ONLY if we answered her riddle. Here it goes:

What does God NEVER see,

Kings SELDOM see,

and we see ALL the time?

After much stupor of thought and self-induced headaches, Sister Remund and I sent out a mass-text to the missionaries in our zone (we figured as long as they were missionaries it wasn't cheating) and the Zone leaders got the answer! We went back 2 days later and taught her yesterday. What a blessing! I'll keep you updated on how she progresses. She said her dad had been asking missionaries that for years and we were the first ones to come back.

Also, that Relief Society broadcast blew my mind! I loved every second of it and realized how important it is to be keeping my covenants if I expect those I teach to prepare to make them. Oh and PS I'm not giving you the answer to the riddle until next week. STAY TUNED!

I don't know if I have talked about our investigator Yamilet yet but she is fantastic. She is another product of membersionary work (yes I made that word up, no I won't go on another tangent about how much I love it)- she is dating someone in the ward. But we set her for baptism this week! What a BLESSING! November 9th- mark your calendars.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Sister Stoker