Great Week!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hello family!

The work is going great! It's been a trying week. Sister Knutson and I have been super fatigued the last week. She has been out a year and she's never been so tired in her life so it's not the normal "missionary exhaustion," it's more. So we got a blessing from our District Leader and his companion and we have felt better. We are still working up our stamina though!

We have a lot of investigators and a lot of potential investigators but only a couple that are progressing. But we have a bunch of lessons set up this week so we are hoping to get a couple more progressing! We have a couple and they are so close to baptism! They want to read more of the Book of Mormon before they do. We told them that it is not necessary to read the whole Book of Mormon in order to know if it is true. So at our last appointment, we challenged them to pray and know if the Book of Mormon is true. They said they would. I am so excited for them! They come to church every Sunday and love it. They also come to the ward activities like the Memorial Day breakfast that the ward put on yesterday morning. There were a few non-members there that came with members and we talked to all of them and they all said that we could come meet with them! Members are a HUGE factor in the conversion process! A person needs two types of conversion - social and spiritual. The spiritual conversion is obviously the job of the missionary and the social conversion needs to be done by the ward! 1/1000 doors we "tract" result in baptism. BUT 660/1000 people we teach in a members home are baptized! There is a huge difference! It is only because they know they have a friend. As Pres. Hinckley said, a person needs three things. One of them is a friend. It is so true!

Yesterday as we were leaving a ward activity, we ran into some people that are on our potential investigator list that we haven't been able to get a hold of. They have been coming to church for a while but have never been baptized. So as we were talking to them they said that they were thinking that it is time for them to be baptized. Ahh!!! Without us even having a lesson with them or asking them to be baptized, they said they are seriously thinking about it. How cool is that? So we are hoping that we can get with them sometime this week and set a date for them to work towards! ---what do you know, they just walked into the library!---

In the MTC we are told that one super important thing to do is to earn the trust of the memebrs. So Sister Knutson and I had a meeting with the Bishop on Sunday where we talk about what the successes and improvements are for the ward and for us as missionaries. Near the end of the meeting, he said that he feels that we have earned the trust of the ward! HUGE!! Sister Knutson said that she has never had a bishop say that to her. So we are excited about that and trying not to let it get to our heads. :) Having the trust of the ward means that they are more willing to give us a referral of someone that is close to them, like a family member or a close friend. So we are happy and are working hard so that we can keep that trust.

Well, I think that's about it for today. I hope you all are doing fantabulous!!! I pray for you everyday!

Love you!

See you soon then! :)

Love, Sister Ashley Pahl