New Personal Best!

Ice Cream with Alexis

Ello erry'body!

One word for this week? Eventful.

We had mini missionaries up until Saturday. It was quite an experience. Our Mini was named Sister McMarrow. I liked her a lot. She was a little spit-fire from a town 25 minutes away from Gahanna. She knew most of our teenage investigators and a few of the members. She was a bold little missionary, and had a fun perspective on the work. However, I do not like being in a trio. It's just weird. Watch, now I'll end up in a tri for the rest of my mission. #jinxed

Last P-day we had a Zone Funday where we played Ultimate Frisbee and made t-shirts. Every companionship in our zone had a mini, and the ZL's had two, so in total we were 32 missionaries strong. It was a much needed break.I miss hanging out with my peers in large groups. It gives me a chance to relax, which is something that's been hard on the mission. I love big parties, they're so intimate. #catchthequote?  

Wednesday we had a lesson with Alexis where we read stories from Christ's life, talked of faith, looked at paintings of him, and shared our testimonies of how he has helped us. The spirit was incredible. Sister Mickey (mini), our favorite teen-member Lucy, and I all started crying. Can I just say that I have never cried so much in my life! It's ridiculous! Crying has never really been the way that I've felt the spirit before now. Normally the spirit speaks to me through a special kind of enlightenment/understanding in my mind, but now I feel it much more outwardly. Rarely do I bear testimony without crying, and I think it's all for the people I'm teaching. My strongest testimonies are always accompanied by tears, and maybe that's because my investigators need to see that. It's a very tender experience when they start crying, because I am.  It's amazing how if we hand ourselves over to God, he will mold us into what we need to be to benefit ourselves and everyone around us. I Sister Mitchell am a cry baby and proud of it!

The best part of our lesson with Alexis was her Grandpa, Homer. We have tried several times to invite him to sit in, and he's always turned it down. Not this time! He sat in, told us we made a lot of sense, took a BOM, and agreed to continue meeting with us! the power of Christ... you don't even know! We started talking to him and found out that he is TOTALLY PREPARED for the Gospel. I can't wait to see what happens!

Thursday may have just been the craziest day of my mission. Confession: I struggle with tracting. It's just SO WEIRD. Teaching? Awesome. Service? Sweet. Street Contacting? Party-time. Door Knocking? Immediate dread.

I just can't get over the fact that I am interjecting myself into someone's personal space, pushing a message not widely received, and not backing down when doing it. I was having a hard time envisioning tracting actually working. So, I prayed about it. I told Heavenly Father that I would invest every bit of faith and confidence I had into knocking doors that day, and see what happened.  

We found 6 New investigators that night. That doesn't happen here.Long story short: FAITH. You can't just have it, you gotta use it.

Overall this week Sis G and I won our zone competition for having someone on date, and led the zone in New Investigators, with a weekly total of 9. Our zone is leading the mission. We are so blessed......

.....But there is still opposition in all things.  We had to drop a family that missionaries have been working with for almost a year because they just have no desire. We found out about some tough hurdles Alexis is going to have to overcome, and John's parents are nearly stopping him from having any contact with us.  

Alas, all is well. 

Funny moment of the week: That one time we sat in front of an African American
investigator family who chanted "shots, shots, shots!!!" When they were passed the sacrament. The mom whispered behind me, "ooh. They messed up, they must have run outta wine!" Needless to say it was they're first time at church, and no one warned them. BUT, now they're baptized. #atonement

LOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

Sista M

Alexis and John