Week 40

Hello all!

This week we had interviews with our mission president and we had our zone training meeting, so it was a jam-packed week of learning. I love getting together with the zone and hearing all the ways I can improve to help the people I serve. I have a lot I can improve on, so it was good to get some ideas of where to start. We talked a lot about making sure we are teaching people who are really interested and wanting to change their lives to be happier and live the gospel, not just teaching the people who like the message but don't want to do anything with it. It's hard because you love the people you teach so much and you don't want to stop teaching them, but sometimes it is a necessity to find those who really need the gospel right now in their lives. 

We had an amazing lesson with our investigator. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and when we stopped by two hours later because we had forgot something he had already gotten rid of all of his coffee and tea! He just loves the gospel and is SO HUMBLE. He just wants to be happier and he has a testimony of the gospel. We started teaching him a little less than a month ago and he has already ready about half of the Book of Mormon. He is doing so well that we got to move UP his baptismal date to the 23rd of this month! We were so happy…and I have never been able to move a baptismal date up, they move back a lot though :) Mostly I’m just happy that he is happy. He has gone through a lot in his life and was so happy he found a way to start fresh. Miracles. 

We did a lot of lot of service this week, which was super fun. Service in Phoenix almost always includes yard work- so mom and dad will be happy to know I officially know how to do yard work without complaining or avoiding it. It can be pretty fun too. We do most of our service projects through the just serve website, for the city of Phoenix. We get to do them as a zone so that is pretty fun. 

Another miracle was that a recent convert from my last area showed up at our church building a few weeks ago. This kid kind of disappeared while we were teaching him the new member lessons my second transfer in the mission and we hadn't heard from him since. Turns out he had been having a rough time. We came into church pretty early this last Sunday and we saw him just reading scriptures alone in the chapel. We started talking to him and he just let us know what had been going on for the last few months. He said the only reason he was willing to talk to us was because I had taught him before. I was just so grateful that I had been put in this new area, and am still here to be able to help him. 

That is mainly it for this week. My companion, Sister Jackson, is just amazing. She learns so quickly and has made so much progress. She has the biggest desire to grow and be obedient and that is exactly what I need in a companion to be able to grow myself. We have had a lot of fun together this last week. She is such a good missionary and it is great to be with her.

I love you all and I am grateful for your examples to me!

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Doxey