Week 28

Hello All!

This week has been just as great as last week. We have seen so many miracles and the area is really starting to grow. My favorite thing now is talking to everyone I see. And it turns out that the more you talk to people, the more weird stories you get! So here are a few things that have happened this week:

Walked up to a man and he introduced himself as "Sir. Homeless." When we asked if he would like to learn more and if we could come back another day he said, "Well sure you can come back...but what will I do with my wife?" (I don't think he understood...) at which point his friend yells "Go inside Virgil!" which for some reason was my favorite part of that experience. 

Walked up to a man and asked if he needed help. The first thing he said was, "I just got out of prison!" (Actually not the first time that has happened to us) So we talked to him about Jesus Christ and he says, "Baby girl I got sin written on my neck." He literally had a tattoo that said “sin” on his neck. Best part of this story is that he actually wanted us to teach his family and, because they are in the English area, other sisters are teaching them next week.

We were teaching an investigator about repentance, and he was telling us about how this man stole a bunch of cans from his kids and he wanted to know if it was bad if he wanted to beat him up. That night we were back in the area, and we saw a young guy walking around with a bag of cans and we were just thinking ohhh no. Well, we were sitting in our car, and the guy walks past us and we were thinking that he was the guy that stole the cans. Then our investigator runs out of his house and starts yelling at this guy. We were stuck in our car, freaking out, for twenty minutes. But it ended up being fine, and no one got hurt. Then, the next day, we were driving past the metro station and we saw THE SAME GUY STILL CARRYING AROUND THE BAG OF CANS. Crazy.

A man stops us on the street and starts talking about the Bible. We were just talking to him and he all the sudden stops and looks at me and says, "Do you have a little...” and then a hand movement referring to my stomach like I am pregnant. Oh man, I have never had so much self-control…let’s just say that. 

We went to a man for a lesson we had set up a few days before and he was like "I can't meet tonight, I lost my dog.” So we set up a new lesson and he yells as we walk away, "It’s a date!...Well...sort of..." umm no, kind sir, it is not even like a date. And we are actually not going to come back. We just sent the Elders over. 

We saw a person riding a low-ride bike with high handlebars in a bright blue graduation robe. We also saw a man in a wheelchair doing a wheel-ey across two intersections.

We walk up to this guy, and he sees us and just looks at us and takes off his shirt. We were like...um, hello. And he informed us that he just wanted to show us his scar. How nice of him. 

We took a selfie so we'd have something to send this week!

Well, anyway, those were the best of the encounters this week. But there were more. It is so fun to be in central Phoenix because we meet so many types of people. I have grown to just accept everyone how they are as equal children of God. 

We had a really cool experience last night where we were walking past a group of guys smoking and we walked up to them. They were very excited to talk to us about alllll they new about Joseph Smith (and not in the friendliest way), but we just talked to them like normal people. We got to teach them about the restoration and answer all their questions and clear up some misconceptions they had about the church. But by the end they asked if they could go to church and get a Book of Mormon - I love talking to people!

I have learned so much on my mission, but one of the biggest is that we really need to love everyone. If we are teaching about Jesus Christ and asking people to follow Him, then we need to follow Him ourselves and treat people the way Christ did. People respond really well to kindness. Sometimes it doesn't matter if people don't accept what we are trying to teach them if they can just see that we are trying to help them and be nice to them. A lot of people just need someone to be nice to them. 

I love being here, especially in this area. I love this gospel and I love my Savior. I feel so blessed to be able to be on a mission. As hard as it is to be away from home, being able to help people is the most rewarding feeling in the world. I love coming home at the end of the day knowing that I did all I could. It is very tiring, but so rewarding. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Sister Doxey