Our Sister Knox packed her sox and left us on Tuesday after an unexpected call Monday night from President Clark telling her she was needed up in DeLand ☹️ All the good trios die young. We miss our dearest token brunette and the sweet spirit she has always. We know that she is killing it up in DeLand of promise. In the meantime, it is Sister Hill and my first time being alone together and it's kind of trippy but we are rolling with it.
We have been receiving a lot of referrals recently and it's been wild! There was a member down in Kissimmee that gave us a call and told us about an old army buddy he has in our area that really needed service. We went over and got to cut their grass for them, Mike and his wife Claudia, and they were so grateful! It worked out well because when Sister Hill was mowing, I got to talk to and get to know them and vice versa. The member in Kissimmee made it sound like they wouldn't be especially interested in hearing the gospel, but they were actually pretty open minded! We had a great discussion with them and committed them to come to church. They didn't end up making it on Sunday, but we still feel really good about them.
We then mowed a Members lawn later that same day, we were wiped out after hahaha. Florida grass is not like Utah grass at all. It's like this mutated spongy crab grass. We didn't care, we were just stoked that we got to mow lawns! We've been seriously dying to. People don't ask/let the Sisters do yard work very often, especially lawn mowing. We don't know why, I guess they think we'll show up in our skirts. It was immensely satisfying to drive by the house later and look at the fine fancy lawn and appreciate our job well done.
MAJOR BLESSING: Our investigator Brandon and his wife came to church on Sunday! It was awesome! He's been meeting with the missionaries for a little while but he finally made it to church. He had a lot of great questions and so many members made them feel welcome. Brandon tends to over complicate things sometimes and get stuck on some details, but he enjoys learning. We're afraid the lessons have been largely an intellectual pursuit for him and that we haven't done all we can to help provide a peaceful atmosphere to teach him in so he can have a spiritual experience with the doctrine we share.
There was a lesson this week with our other main investigator, Jimmy, that taught me exactly what a member present should be like. We brought our assistant ward mission leader, Brother Brown, and he was absolutely perfect. Everything you'd want a member present to do and say and more. This week we learned a lot more about Jimmy's concern about organized religion (which is manifest in his beliefs that he doesn't need a prophet to draw closer to God, and that church attendance isn't necessary). Jimmy has a hard time accepting modern day prophets; even though he's received an answer through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. We've tried tying the dots together for him, but he has to feel it for himself.
We started by bearing our testimonies of how having a modern day prophet has blessed us, but he still wasn't feeling it; until Brother Brown told Jimmy about his conversion (which we knew nothing about prior). He had had the exact same concern! He talked about what he had done to learn why he needed a prophet, and how it had changed his life. He and Jimmy had a great connection - they related to each other and Brother Brown suggested ways Jimmy could look at things differently. Brother Brown then bore powerful testimony of the reality of God calling Prophets. He shared Moroni 10:27 (which was a little edgy, but it went over really well) and it sealed his testimony. The Spirit filled the room as Jimmy looked at the verse, it was was powerful.
By the end of the lesson, Jimmy said if God told him that he needed to go to church, he would. He's agreed to pray about attending church. I fasted earnestly yesterday that if it be God's will at this time, to bless Jimmy with a clear unmistakable answer that he needs to come to church. I've been praying so so hard. He's so close, he has all the dots he just hasn't connected them yet.
One of our other referrals is the nonmember best friend of a young woman that I knew and loved in the Lake Crescent Ward that has been going to girls camp and coming to church off and on again for ages. Her name is Tegan and she hails from across the pond. We are getting her warmed up to us so she'll feel comfortable meeting and having lessons, and in doing so we got treated to ice cream this week! We're planning on setting up a time to see her again soon.
This is the last week of the transfer, and we have some good things coming down the line. We're determined to end it with a bang.
Have sunshine in your soul today,
-Sister Olivia Petty🌱
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