Week 22

Hello all!

This week has been a little crazy with the mission tour and the change of p-day but it has been so fun. I learned so much from the mission tour. Lynn G Robbins from the presidency of the 70 came and talked to all the missionaries. He talked a lot about seeing the good in people, planning, and learning the voice of the spirit. I learned so much it is insane. I would send you my notes but they are super confusing and it really just wouldn't make sense without being here. My favorite thing that he said as he was ending was, "God is far more involved in the details of your life than you think he is." This week I am going to try to be looking for how God is helping my family, the people I teach, and myself. I know that he is involved in the details of my life, but I need to look more to see them. 

This week we also got to go to the Mesa temple and see the Christmas lights. It was so pretty. It wasn't really what I expected; it is very different from the Salt Lake City lights, which are the only other temple lights I have gone to. We got to go with our investigators and they really liked it, they were taking a lot of pictures, which made me happy. 

Merry Christmas!

I got to see the Christmas devotional as well this week and I loved it! My favorite story was of the man who was given a wheelchair and assumed it was just to ride around in for a few minutes and then to give back. I thought it was so sweet that he was so touched just that someone would give him the chance to know how it would feel to ride in a wheelchair, let alone have it. It made me realize that I need to be a lot more grateful for the little things I have been given and I also can be giving more to the people around me. 

Okay some stories:

1. Last week (I forgot to write about it) we were trying to contact a member to see if they still lived in the house that their records show they live in. We get to the address and realize it is basically a really fancy hotel apartment thing. Attached on the side was a big parking garage with a sign that said visitors for the apartment complex only. We assumed that we were visiting because we were trying to visit someone inside... apparently not. So we go in and the gate lifts up so we were still thinking we were fine, then we start reading the small print and realized that we really weren't allowed to park there. We turn around to leave but the exit gate won’t lift without a token or swipe card. Mini panic started. So we park our car and turn to go to the apartment complex to talk to the member and hopefully get a token so we can get our car out of the apartment complex. Well, because it was such a fancy apartment complex, you can only get in the building if you have a key or call a person inside from this little box thing and they buzz you in. No one answered our calls so we went back to our car. Nothing worked to get our car out and by that point it was more than a little panic. Turns out it is also pretty embarrassing to get your car stuck in a parking garage. So we just sat in our car and were trying to think of what to do when a man comes out of the apartment complex and gets into his car. We were going to just follow him out but then he gets out of his car. He walks around his car twice opening every door and looking inside and then shutting it. It was super weird. Then he starts to drive away and we realize he is probably the only person who would be able to let us out so we drove over to him (scaring him a little in the process) and explained what happened and he was super nice about it want walked over and scanned us out. Now that I have typed this out I am realizing it is probably one of those had to be there things, but it was just crazy to see how God really does look out for us and answers our prayers. The man that let us out looked like he just thought he left something in his car but really had no reason to go down to the parking garage. When we finally did get out, we just started laughing and couldn't stop for a solid 20 minutes. I think it was mostly out of relief. 

2. This week we were teaching an investigator and all the sudden he says, "Want to see my Shingles?" He pulls up his shirt and shows us his rash or whatever you want to call it. We quickly and politely said we had to go. We get into the car and called the mission nurse to ask if it was contagious and what not. She said we should be fine because we never touched him (we didn't even shake his hand that day like we normally do, don't know why but I am grateful) but we cannot go back until the nurse clears it. 

Three hour weekly planning meeting = death

Well I think those are all the big things that happened this week. We spend a lot of time going through our ward list and trying to find out if people still live in the addresses that are listed. Because our ward is the central ward, anybody's records that say they live in Phoenix get put into our ward even if they don't live here. It is kind of frustrating but we have actually found some people to teach by being in certain areas where members should have been. God works in mysterious ways, that is for sure. 

Have a great week and thank you all for your notes, packages, thoughts, and prayers! You are the best and I love you all so much.

Sister Doxey

PS My next p-day will be next Wednesday (December 16th) because transfers are on Tuesday. That means that the next time I write I might be in a new area with a new companion! Weird and sad, but also exciting.