March 27, 2012

Hey Family... we didnt have time yesterday to email because we were helping the Zone Leaders move apartments.. and helping other elders move also because it was transfers yesterday... and today i only have a few minutes because we have to help the Zone Leaders again up at Mt. Sac... man these zone leader guys are running us ragged!

 

anyway probably the most exciting new this week was well actually let me tell you a story...

 

so our investigator Melissa... the one with the munchkins. had a lesson with us on Thursday.. well the lesson did not go so well. we asked her to so either the opening or closing prayer and she was like no i dont want to pray, so we were trying to kind of figure out why she wouldnt pray and she was just being stubborn. so we were like whatever and then she was telling us that she wasnt  reading from the Book of Mormon. and we talked about it... she was just giving us excuses. finally i was like can i be serious with you? and she said i could be... and so i was and she did not like that at all. she just sat the rest of the lesson and would not open up. she even told us that she was so close to just getting up and walking away. at this point i am frustrated because i feel she is not even listening to what we are teaching, so we kind of ended the lesson midway through the Plan of Salvation.

 

10 minutes later we get a call from Gabby (a recent convert) and she tells us that Melissa said she felt attacked and belittled, i said well i didnt mean to come off like that we were just trying to figure out if she is serious about this... then Gabby said yeah i didnt feel that you did anything wrong, but Melissa said she does not like you at all.

 

so now im like great we are going to have to drop our investigator because of me... so i was a little more frustrated now... because i didnt know what to do besides just move on and keep working with other people ya know? anyway so a couple days later on Saturday to be exact... Melissa texted us and was like " i would like to apologize for the way i was the other day in our lesson... i hope you guys can forgive me... have a good night and i will see you at church tomorrow"  so we were like wow... that is cool that she would send that. now im feeling lame because i lost faith in her and i just wanted to drop her, but thats not the end of this story.

 

so Melissa came to church and she was totally different. we didnt talk to her much, but she had changed and she almost looked like she had a calmness about her. we met with her later on that day to have a lesson with her and her two friends which became new investigators and want to join the church. before we started the lesson she stops us and says " i would like to say something is that ok?" we tell her yes but in my head i was thinking great what is she going to say in front of her friends?  she looks at me and says i need to say this... i need to apologize especially to you. the other day in our lesson i felt attacked and belittled and i just felt you were rude. i want to say thank you for saying what you did... thats exactly what i needed to hear to give me the push to look at myself and see that i needed to change. today at church i felt so good and it was an overwhelming feeling the whole time i was there and i felt that thats where i needed to be. ( we had one of the most spiritual fast and testimony meetings i've had on my mission... it was amazing) she then said i want to be Baptized... am i still ok to be Baptized on the 15th?  

she says these things and i was just amazed how she had changed her whole attitude... i then apologized for kind of coming off rude and she said it was fine... i tend to just say it how it is kind of more straitforward now a days.

Later Sunday night we were with Gabby and she was talking to us about the lesson... and about how Melissa was doing and how she is so excited for her to get Baptized! and she then told us what Melissa said after we left the lesson. she said i feel in my heart that when i am Baptized i want Elder Emery to Baptize me, because he was the one who helped me understand that i need to do this and that it is important for me.

 

isnt that amazing how she changed in just a couple of days? i am so excited for her to get Baptized!! it is going to be awesome!

 

that is about all i have time to tell you about for this past week but hopefully next week i can fill you in on some more things that have happened.

 

i love you all very very much!!

 

Love Elder Emery