Monday, March 2, 2015

I'm Still a Missionary Right Now

Our Ward Mission leader told me yesterday that in a race, you never slow down until ten feet after the finish line. I liked that. Now I want to tell you something and I'd appreciate it if you got the word out about this. Going home... So far.. Stinks. And I'm not even there yet. It's tearing me apart. This week I had a really hard time focusing my studies and thoughts. So I got a blessing to be able to focus. Please please please don't make any mention of "few more weeks" or plans or anything. I know y'all are excited. I am too. But I'm still a missionary right now and I want to stay a missionary till they rip the tag off me. Please share your excitement at home, but don't talk about it with me right now. Don't talk about where you'll be at the airport or time for stuff that day. I'll see you. I want to focus and finish strong and I'm going to need y'all's help. Don't be hurt by this. I just want to give everything to the Lord, and I can't if I'm constantly thinking of home.

I just had a great p-day! I was really hoping I'd end my mission close to Nashville so I could get some boots... So when I came to Goodlettsville I started planning my trip. The bus takes us right downtown and so I finally got some boots. Hey great souvenir right?! I LOVE THEM!!! I wore them the rest of our time in downtown.

                                                                           
My new boots to bring home.....on my stove top.


I don't really like that I have to give up my iPad. It will be gone Friday. Also, I'll be off Facebook which will be nice because the YSA keep emailing me and telling me that I only have a few more weeks left. Sister Gustaveson will get a new one Friday, I'll turn mine in, and we'll share.

Well.. This week was pretty good. I have a very strong love/hate relationship with tracting. This week we didn't get to do much, so I told Sister Gustaveson that it's my dying wish to tract daily. And she agreed and so we're going to do it. It's rough. Some days it just plain stinks, but there will be no other time in my life that I will get to knock doors to tell people about Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.

Monday:
We had dinner last week with the Demers and it was a lot of fun! They have two little girls and a baby boy. The girls gave us tea cups so we could have a tea party. Sister Demers told us about how they were snowed in for church the day before so the girls set up their own Sacrament meeting, chose songs and put them on a paper on the wall, they explained the Sacrament and why it's important, and then they had testimonies, and then Primary. Winnie the Pooh was their bishop. How cute is that?!

Tuesday:
We got to go to the Bishop’s storehouse!! Finally! It was our first time this transfer. They had a ton for us to do. I really love getting in there and serving. We filled several large orders and it was just good to be there serving.

After that we headed to the bus stop. We were trying to cross the street and realized that we forgot the bus passes... and we had no money whatsoever and the bus doesn't accept debit cards. So we're standing there watching all the traffic pass and a truck passes and the driver waves. We came to the conclusion that it was Brother Demers! He gave us $5 for the bus! So we were able to make it to and from our appointment. We got back to the bus and rode it to Olive Garden. Daniel met us there and we had a great time talking and eating. He just has such a love for missionaries and missionary work.

After dinner we  got on the bus and crossed our fingers that the bus driver would let us on. She did. They see us ride a lot and so they know us. Then we got on the connector and that bus driver is the nicest bus driver I've ever met! He let us ride for free too. We went and saw Debbie and got her Family Search account set up. She was pretty excited about it. The hard part though is that a lot of her family was pretty awful to her when she was younger, so it's going to be a forgiving process as she tries to take their names to the temple. 

Wednesday:
I went to Joelton and we got to see a lady named Connie. She is RLDS and she is so nice! She has an amazing talent with knitting and crocheting and so she ended up giving me 2 pot holders, a dish scrub, a dish towel, a scarf, and a little crocheted angel. She was so sweet!

Later we went to dinner with Sister Miller. She was really nice and made us a really fancy dessert. She lives by herself and her kids are grown, but she loved feeling like a mom again that night while feeding us and telling us to zip up our coats and put our gloves on.

That night we drove to so many homes trying to contact potentials. No one answered, but we had a lot of fun laughing and telling stories and having adventures! Then it started snowing like crazy! Everyone was freaking out... they cancelled school the next day.

Thursday:
We had one of the most productive weekly planning sessions ever! It felt so good to get so much done. We made a ton of lesson plans for those who we plan to see this next week. We were going to see Debbie that afternoon, but she was at school, and Aijalon was sick. So we found that we had a referral in the path of the bus that we already planned on riding. So we ride over there and contact him and he wasn't interested... great. It was freezing, we had an hour till the bus came back around, so we had to tract. We knocked a couple doors and as we were walking up to one, Sister Gustaveson said "this is probably a Hispanic household! There's a mop and Christmas decorations" sure enough... She didn't speak any English. So as we're trying to tell her that there are Hermanas and about JesuCristo and stuff... I asked Sister Gustaveson for the phone and called the Hermanas. They talked to her and she was interested! She hung up and looks at us and said "muchos gracias! Um.. Much thank you! Much thank you!" Haha it was a miracle! But it gets better... We then crossed the street without a second thought and knocked on that side. We had prayed for someone prepared to be placed in our  path. I look over and said "Hey look. A guy outside. We'll get to talk to someone!" His name was Matt and he was quite literally in our path. We taught him the whole Restoration and the spirit, through us, explained the priesthood  so well! He committed to baptism and then his wife pulled in the driveway. She went inside and then came back out and said hi and we told her we were just telling him what we believe and asked if we could come back again. She looks at him and said "I want to learn more." THAT NEVER HAPPENS!!! So we set up an appointment and give them both a Book of Mormon and pray. They have two little girls too... They are perfect! A family! And they're interested!!! It was the biggest miracle ever and while we taught it didn't even feel cold outside! God is so good .

We had dinner with our neighbor Andi and she fed us the most amazing Honey Pecan chicken ever! I wasn't too stoked about it when I saw it, but it was so good! I wish she had made more so I could have seconds. She then drove us to our bus stop and we rode the bus to Debbie's to watch the Testaments with her. I think it really helped her to understand the importance and main event in the Book of Mormon.

Friday:
So this day was our mission wide conference about our iPads. They said a Seventy and "two other people" we're coming and we needed to be seated 30 minutes early. The night before I didn't sleep at all!! I was up every 20 minutes... I was so excited!! The mission conference wasn't what I thought it would be. It wasn't very chastening, and not very specific. It was mostly presenting the what and why. So we're all getting new iPads.. Except those who go home his transfer, so I get no iPad after Friday. Then we'll be off Facebook for two months. They are trying to make iPads more safe. Basically.. The world’s standard is that electronics are personal and secret. They're training us to be open, know passwords and do regular checks and just share it all. So everyone will still have their own iPad, but they're going to train us to use it how the Lord wants us to use it. It's going to be great. We'll get more specific instruction at MLC on Friday.

We got home that night and went to Ashland City for a music event sponsored by the ward. We sang at it while Brother Hull played the guitar, so yeah..... I've performed with a famous person. No big deal. It was held at a really cool Christian bookstore. I got a guitar pick that says "Pick Jesus." It was a fun night!

Saturday:
This is the day I found out I didn't get accepted to BYU. It was rough. I cried when I found out. I got in the shower and sobbed. Then I prayed and studied and the more I thought about it, I'm at peace with it. I'm comfortable with Rexburg and I have friends there. I'm ok with it. I'll have a job, so it works out. I don't know exactly what the Lord’s plan for me is, but I'm trusting Him. It will be great.

We taught Sarah Racey that day about the first part of the Plan of Salvation and we discovered that she is scared to come to church because she feels we're trying to manipulate her into baptism or that if she comes and feels something, she'll have to get baptized and won’t get to tell Tim first. We reassured her that it was not the case. She felt better about it. We're going to re-explain the priesthood and finish the Plan of Salvation next time.

We then tried to contact a guy we met that seemed really promising, but his wife saw us pull up. She shut the door and they wouldn't answer. BUMMER!! So we then went to the church and met the elders there and I got a blessing. It was so needed. The main things that I got were to study hard, and seek the guidance of the spirit.

I'm running out of time, there's not much left. We feel that we didn't work our hardest last week, and so we're going to step it up this week. We're expecting miracles!

I love y'all. A lot.

~Sister Rokovitz~