Amy in North Carolina : Week #18 - 2015 Mar 23

Hola amigos!

This week was pretty great! I don't even know where the weeks go anymore. They just go by super crazy fast and then it's Monday again. It's insane.

I had to give a little mini teaching at the last district meeting. It was an LTMM discussion (do you get those?) and I had to lead it. It was about being obedient without asking questions and just doing it. The story about Nephi building the boat came up. The Lord commanded Nephi to go build a boat and instead of being like "uhh..me? You want ME to build a boat? Ohhh I don't think so...you got the wrong guy. I've never built a boat before" he was like "Oh yeah of course, where should I find tools?" Nephi had the faith to trust in the Lord to direct him as to how he should go about building a boat. So what I did for the discussion was this: I had Sister Webb come up and draw a boat. I didn't give her any direction..I just told her to draw it. So she drew a super simple looking boat. And then I got Sister Skokos to come up and told her to draw a boat too. But this time, I gave her step-by-step instructions. And the boat was a lot more complex looking. And then I compared it to: yes, our way of doing things is like the super simple boat that Sister Webb drew...but will that carry us across the ocean? We want the easy way out...but sometimes that isn't always the best way. And when we do follow the Lord's plan, it's a lot more complicated and we have to rely on Him every step of the way. So yes, it will take longer and a lot more effort (most of the time), HOWEVER, the success rate is MUCH higher. :) And then I mentioned how we don't need to look further ahead then we have to. Just look as far as the Lord wants you to and once you have gotten to that point, have that faith that the Lord will direct you from there. :)

{Hopefully that made sense....That was the quick summarized version...but I'm sure y'all are getting the jist of what it was all about ahah.}

We also went on exchanges this week. Sister Webb stayed in Fayetteville and I went to Pembroke. It was interesting! Almost everyone living in Pembroke is native to Pembroke. They call themselves "Lumbee's". They have some interesting accents. It's like a southern drawl mixed in with an english accent...hahah I loved it. It was fun being there for the time I was able to be there. We were able to teach an investigator and I said the opening prayer. During the prayer the investigator was like "yes, Jesus, yes" after like everything I said...hahaha. It was awesome. See you always hear about that happening, but once it actually happens to you it becomes for reals. That's a real thing and it happens!! Hahah it was great. During the prayer I was like uhh...I'm assuming I just keep going? It was funny. Definitely a southern thing. It was great.

So a couple weeks ago as we were going on post, the guard asked us if we had a bible that he could have. And unfortunately we didn't have one at that time. So yesterday, the same guard was there and he recognized us and he was like hey! What about my bible?! As we're driving away..(And we were totally prepared this time.) So we slam on the brakes and grab the bible that was sitting in the car door, just waiting for this moment, and we gave it to him! It was awesome!!! Hahah. You see, we're not allowed to proselyte on base...but if they ask for it, game on! All is fair! And he asked for a bible! We didn't talk about the Book of Mormon or anything specifically about the church...but hey. We're planting seeds! :)

The guards at the gate are really funny. We're almost on a first name basis ahaha not really, but that's how often we see them all haha. It's the best!!

Cool experience that happened earlier today. We were at walmart, just grocery shopping and as soon as we walk in the door, the walmart greeter noticed Sister Webb's name tag and he's like Hey! And then he started asking all these questions. He asked if we had a website that he could go to to check out the church, so we gave him a pass along card. And then he was saying how he loved his job because he loves people and how we're so lucky that we get to go around and talk to people all the time. We asked him if he had a church he goes to and he's like 'yeah i do, but there's nothing wrong with visiting other ones and learning more about them! And then we invited him to church and he said he would love to check it out one day. He told us he didn't want to take up too much of our time so he told us to make sure that we talked to him before we left. So we did our shopping, checked out, and he was still there so we said goodbye to him and got his contact information. His name is Larry. Turns out that he's not actually in our area, he lives in a different area...but he said he was super interested in learning more about the church from the elders. He kept saying "bless your hearts! You have such a blessed job!" It was amazing. I hope the elders in his area get up with him. He sounds like he would progress so fast. He's got such strong faith already!! I love experiences like this! It makes being a missionary so worth it! :D

That's about all that happened this week :) Thanks for everything y'all do for me!! I love you all soo so sooooo much! And I hope you're all doing well! Miss you like crazy! Keep smiling! And remember the church is true!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxox