Sister Emily DeFord

Called to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Colorado Fort Collins mission.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Week 54: 8/25/14

August 25, 2014
Cheyenne, WY
 
You know what is interesting?  When you get to the end of the day very tired and can't at first figure out why.  On paper it looks like little has been accomplished though you have been working all day.  However, as you reflect, small bright points poke through the regular work.  As one appears it triggers another and another until the day is really seen for those wonderful happenings and the rest melts away in the midst of so much light.  For me, this is how much of my week goes.  Ordinary (for a missionary) activities and ordinary conversations and every day prayers and every day visits.  Every once in a while there is something very bright that happens, as someone's countenance changes, or they choose to keep a commandment which has been difficult, or we get some great news and I imagine if we could really see the brightness of the angels which were present and helping at such moments we would be blinded and overwhelmed.
 
So, we had some ordinary moments this week.  I think I took a nap on p-day which was great :) but I didn't get as much done as I might have otherwise ;) We finally really got to talk to B______ (potential investigator) and she had a couple of questions up front about the Church, such as how it differs from Christianity in general and views on gay marriage.  That second one was one of those scary moments where I almost didn't want to answer, not because I'm afraid to stand for the truth, but I didn't want her to completely close off her heart to the gospel before giving it a chance and understanding how that stance has come about (through revelation) and why it is so important (eternal families and eternal increase).  Here was a glowing moment though, we talked about how she could read the Book of Mormon and pray to find out if it is true, and through that she would be able to determine if there is a prophet on earth today not setting the standard, but revealing God's standard.  She agreed to do so!  That just encourages this little missionary's heart :)
 
More normalness (for a Sister Training Leader) we had an exchange with the Frontier sisters (last one of the transfer, now we get one normal week to end on!).  Sister Metzger and Sister Jarvis are such fun sisters and love what they do as missionaries.  Sister Metzger and I had an interesting experience as one of their investigators called us over and said she needed us right away.  Turns out, she is a painter and was having a creative block!  We helped her a bit as we could and then had a lesson.  It is amazing because she has been addicted to pain pills since she was 12 and has done other drugs in the meantime.  She has now been clean for almost 3 weeks!  However, since most of her previous art has been done while she was high, she is having to relearn a lot.  She is sticking with it though, and truly since she has been sober she has been far more open to the Spirit in her life.  Sparkling!
 
We met another less active member this week who is going through a divorce and trying to find somewhere to move.  We told her we would keep our ears open about anywhere that was renting inexpensively, you never know, we pick up some random information :) While at a lesson with another sister it randomly occurred to me to ask Sister Aguirre and Sister Webb if they knew of anything like that.  We got one contact for the first sister to try, and it turns out that Sister Aguirre is looking for a house and Sister Webb is a closet home buying specialist ;) It set them off on a whole other avenue where now Sister Webb will be helping Sister Aguirre who hasn't bought a house before!  Super cool random Spirit promptings :)
 
We also had a tender mercy in the normal things in that we had one evening which was one appointment after another and we forgot to plan travel time for a couple of farther out ones so we were getting behind, but our last appointment of the evening cancelled so we were still able to take the time we needed with those we did see!
 
For investigator news, V______ came to church!  We still couldn't meet with A_____, but should be able to this week because her schedule is going to be less crazy :) We were going to go dress shopping with D____ so she would come to church, but her daughter ended up in the hospital so we put that off and are just hoping that there aren't any more complications.  Plus, J___, mister move-to-Minnesota, is going to be some missionaries' miracle as he shows up to church with his aunt there!
 
One week left in the transfer!  Holy guacamole!  Haha I almost forgot about our Spanglish lesson this week with M____ and M________, Sister Christensen said "Holy cow" and M________ thought that was soo funny "vaca santa" :)
 
TMFWD shall be.....PURPLE :)
 
Just in case we were going to be transferred out of Wyoming, we finally went over to the welcome to Wyoming sign and took pictures this morning :) It is just across the freeway from our house so we went for a walk for our workout this morning :)
 
Are you starting school this week?  Cheyenne is!  Good luck to all school starters!
 
love, Sister Emily DeFord
 
 

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