Onward, Ever Onward

Sam and Sister Mendenhall Teaching English

This week was a great week! We had Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday. We are teaching a less active member (less active because her husband won't allow her and her children to go to church).  She is separated but not divorced because she doesn't have the money to get divorced. He still checks up on them, so they still have to hide the Book of Mormon. Talk about the blessings we have. We can practice our religion freely without getting beaten/abandoned. Her two daughters are investigators because they never got the chance to be baptized. Pray that things will work out! The mother's name is Helana. She is from Sweden and ran away from home at 17 because her mom was a pretty strict Mormon and being a teen, she didn't like that. She got married in Canada and he turned out not being good. She loves the church now. Her daughters are Electra and Acrieve. We taught them the Restoration and then had lasagna!

Then Sister Mendenhall had the great idea of inviting Ricardo (a recent convert who is fantastic but a little lonely) to go out to dinner. So we got Greek food! I got Vegetarian Souvlaki. The roatsted potatoes had a Tomato-like sauce on top that was really good. I had a typical greek side salad. I really liked the dressing...any ideas of what it was? It had feta cheese and the dressing we had was oil based. I want to mimic it. So that was our Thanksgiving! There was a really pretty church down by the Greek Restaurant.  I wanted to go in it soooo bad. haha someday! I'm not sure how the name tags and being in their church would "look" though. Of course, we wouldn't be procelyting in the church, I just thought it was beautiful. Maybe we'll go have to go in on a P-day.

Okay so I have a terrible memory...Soo I'll try to recount some highlights of the week.

We dropped by Ahab's place and only his wife and K. and young 3 yr old were home (they call him the devil; it's pretty funny). The wife was really nice and let us in. We began with a prayer and committed her to say the closing. Then we started taking about the role of prayer in her life which she said has really helped her when she felt depressed. She really misses Turkey. The custom is that they feed any guests that enter the home so she started making tea, which we declined, so she got us Canada Dry and Cookies. Then Ahab came home! 

He sat down with us and she left and started making food in the kitchen! She started making tea again and we told her we could only have herbal tea.  We tried to explain it.  Ahab, after hearing us trying to explain why don't drink tea, asked "so we are sinners?!" It was kind of awkward. Anyway, we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with him. The lesson was kind of sporadic because of the movement and cooking etc. She fed us cucumbers, toasted bread, and eggs. It was really nice. When Sister Mendenhall would talk I would stuff my face because I didn't want to make her feel bad. At the end of the lesson they offered to give us a ride home.  We explained to them that there had to be an adult female in the car so the whole family got in the car and 9 at night and took us home.  That was really nice of them. They invited us back, but unfortunately had to cancel because of the long weekend. Ahab keeps hinting that he doesn't have time for religion right now but he will in November. (He is involved in construction, and they are really busy right now trying to get everything finished). We will convince him that he has time. I really really want to go back and teach a really really simple Gospel of Jesus Chris and show a Mormon Message.

We dropped by a less active this week.  We hadn't met her before. We knocked on the door and this lady yells "Who is it?!" 

"The sisters!" 

"Oh! I'm in the shower. Let me rinse off!" So then she came to the door in her robe and we sat down on the couch. She proceeded to tell us about her period, her doctor's appointment and E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I couldn't help but smile and think about writing home. She probably took like three breaths the whole time we were there.  She was talking so fast and so much. She is a big black lady from England. She has the most energy of anyone I've ever met. You just can't help but smile. We asked her about her conversion, and why she hadn't been back to church, etc. Man, I just can't describe how funny the experience was. She said a lot more but it's probably not super appropriate. Anyway, I don't think she is quite there, but she is really nice!

More of the English Class. Apparently, Sam has become a lefty.

On Saturday it was "Day in a life of a missionary" where members are supposed to follow us around and take pictures of "missionaries in action." The event wasn't super organized for a number of reasons and so I don't think it was a huge success. The goal was to flood social media with pictures, comments, testimonies, and explanations about missionary work. It was good to do it, so now we can hopefully hold one in the future and know how to organize it a bit better. However, the day was a great day for us. We met one less active who fed us (she always feeds us, and she starts the meal right when we get there). Anyway, I could explain more about what happened and such but I'll just say this: date and marry converted members of the Church. I never realized how much the family is affected by marrying a truly converted member. In young women's they tell you not to date members. I always thought it was mean. But that advice will save us from so much heartache in the future. I have seen so many families adversely affected by not marrying a converted member, in hopes that they will change in the future. I can't accurately address this issue so perhaps I will write a letter where I can formulate my words. Always be friends with everyone! Just be careful who you fall in love with. I have seen the negative affects of not marrying in the temple/not marrying a converted member in the temple.

We went with a Less Active member to knock on the door of a potential investigator, Daphne. I remember meeting her on the street, which is pretty rare for me to remember because I was so happy she spelled her name like you do, Daphne!  A young man answered the door and upon seeing our name tags, he said  "Ah Jesus! I like you guys." Then Daphne came to the door and agreed to let us in. My jaw about dropped to the floor when she said we could come in. (We didn't even have to beg!). So we went in and found that Brody was his name and that Daphne was his friend. We started out with HTBT. We asked them How they had seen God in their lives. Brody about jumped out of his chair he was so excited to tell us his experience. He told us how he was very involved in gangs, robbing people, drugs, and violence. He said that he used to be a very hateful person because of the ways his father and brothers treated him. He told us how his younger brother died and how that wrecked his world. When he was younger, his mom always tried to get him to read the Bible but he would chuck it across the room.

One night he told his mom, "I need help. I'm either going to kill someone or kill myself." He explained how he kneeled down and prayed mightily to the Lord for help/forgiveness. He said the moment he got done with his prayer he felt free. He felt so much joy. "When people say Jesus don't exist, I take it pretty personal. He saved me. I know he does." He said that right before he we came to the door he was telling Daphne that he wanted to find a church. Then we came. He says he knows God answers prayers because every time he prays, something good happens. Daphne's boyfriend's mother just died and she has been trying to console him. His name is Matthew. She has so much faith and hope that things will work out, it's great.

As they were telling us this, I just felt that we needed to teach them the Plan of Salvation. I was worried Sister Mendenhall wasn't getting the same vibes but then she pulled out plan of salvation pamphlet so it was great!!! We taught them the plan of salvation using these cute pictures which he really liked because he is a visual learner. I'll have to take a picture of them sometime! Brodie ate up the plan of salvation. After about every two sentences he'd blurt out "yeah, yeah I agree."

It was so great. He said, "Man, I am going to that kingdom (pointing to the Celestial Kingdom). I know he can!! I know that the atonement can wipe away all wrongs when the heart of the sinner is truly repentant. The Savior WANTS to forgive. We just have to let him. God Loves us. He wants to bless us. We just have to accept Him and his blessings. While I was listening to Brodie, I couldn't help but see the Mormon Message people filming him telling his story. It is truly powerful. I hope they do.

Dad asked what our typical P-day is like. Here it is! We get up and shower and clean and put our laundry in.  Then we eat, do personal study, get our laundry, do companion study, write letters, go grocery shopping, and then either eat and go to the chapel for sports, or go shopping for things like a coat, etc.  And then I get to play the guitar and write songs-- I prefer doing the latter for P-day but Sister Mendenhall really likes going to play basketball. :) I hope we get to go to a museum/some gardens soon for P-days. No dad, we don't take naps: we would never have time for that! Sometime I think it'd be fun to watch Mormon Messages and just eat popcorn.

I think I have gained 3 pounds!! Here is the problem. I'm rarely satisfied! I'm never full! I feel like the only thing that helps me feel full is if I eat wheat/sugar.....I think that 1 lb has gone to my face and 2 lbs to my hips. This is an issue. Help? has it got something to do with my blood sugar?

When we don't have a successful day, it doesn't really bug me. I don't know if that is a problem? Sister Mendenhall gets pretty down about it.

I haven't had huge perfectionist issues on the mission so don't worry! Just like...if something is in my control such as (it is about 10 minutes before our time limit is up for a dinner appointment) They ask us if we want dessert. Of course I want dessert. But then I realize the time. The righteous thing to do would be to say no, and explain the time deal. But sometimes I say yes! then we notice that the day isn't as great. Sooooo on occasion I struggle with the command "Be ye therefore perfect" and not taking ourselves too serious. Does that make sense?

Love you all! I know that the Atonement is real!!!

Sister Reeves

At a dinner appointment with the Ward Mission Leader's, Brother Lim.

Brother Lim was kind of enough to send us an email, telling how much he thought 

of these two sisters.  I feel awkward sharing the entire contents of the email but I 

will share the following tidbit.  Of Sisters Reeves and Mendenhall, Brother Lim wrote,

"Their endearing smiles and genuine love seem to cut through the less active’s defenses. Those attributes just can’t be taught in the MTC."  We were grateful that Brother Lim was thoughtful enough to take time to write us.  All of us need to learn from that.  

As Marjorie Hinckley wrote, "Never suppress a generous thought."