Tiwi, Learning and the Joy of Teaching

Area: Serenada
Companion: Sister Melissa Rowley

Good afternoon!

We've had some fun stuff happen this week. We had a zone conference on Thursday. The mission has installed a Tiwi device in every single vehicle. It's quite a brilliant invention. It's connected to the car in some way and it monitors whether or not we have our seatbelt on, if we go over the posted speed limit, and if we're driving recklessly. It mentors us when we do something wrong with a robot voice. Each week a report goes into the mission office and to the mission president. It has a GPS in it to track down where the car is and what all the posted speed limits are. There are three colors. Green, yellow, and red. Green is good, yellow is potentially unsafe, red is unsafe. If we become get too many offences we're no longer allowed to drive. We log in each morning with a card. Basically there is no getting away with anything because this device tracks it all. If someone were to unplug it, or not log in, the mission office is aware of that too. The church has been using it more and more because it decreases the amount of accidents significantly. At first I was a little nervous, but it has really helped me focus and drive well. It only went off on me once because I forgot that we can only go 10 miles per hour in the parking lot.

Anyway, that was kind of long and unimportant, but I thought that maybe you'd appreciate the safety precautions they're taking. One other unimportant thing: cockroaches are gross! Luckily I've only seen tiny ones...

Sister Rowley and I have been learning so much together. She is such a gem! She has a strong desire to be a consecrated missionary. I've really enjoyed watching her grow and become more consecrated. She's a little quiet by nature, but says some of the most profound things. As we've been together she's really grown in confidence and boldness. She has a wonderful fountain of knowledge and truly desires the salvation of souls. One of her greatest strengths is how teachable she is. I feel really grateful to have her as my companion. It's humbling to notice that the way she looks at me is the way I look at Sister Felix. I'm so grateful to be able to give back in such a way. I am learning so much from her.

Yesterday we had a neat experience visiting a less active woman. They live in an old apartment complex. She has a lot of health problems and was asleep on a hospital bed in her room. Her Nephew, who's active in another ward let us in. When we went in, I put my hand gently on her shoulder. She eventually stirred and woke up a little. We told her that we love her and she said she loved us too. It was hard to understand because she was so weak and still half asleep. She expressed concern for not coming to church in so long and how it's probably to late for her to change. Or something like that. We told her that it's never too late. We read from the Book of Mormon to her, and than sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". We prayed with her as well. The spirit was so strong in that room.

Right now, we're working on finding more people to teach. Our current teaching pool is small. Working with the members and talking to everyone is key, and that's what we've been trying to do. The other day we talked to a man mowing his lawn. Initially we weren't going to because he couldn't hear us, and it was a little awkward to walk up to him, but we did. And we were able to share some restored truths with him. Something that I love to do when we introduce ourselves is to say, "We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have been called by a prophet of God to represent Jesus Christ in sharing a wonderful message with you." We then go on to talk about a restored truth. Such as the Book of Mormon, the apostasy, the priesthood, etc. What ever the spirit moves us to say. It is amazing because that statement is so clear, it cannot be misunderstood. The spirit is so strong each time we do that, whether they accept it or not. The reason why it's so powerful is because it's the truth. We set a return appointment and talked to his girlfriend a few minutes later.

We also talked to a lady who pulled into her driveway. She was still in her car, so it was initially a little awkward. I felt no hesitation. We walked up to the car and waved at her. She opened her door, and was really nice. She listened for a second but wasn't interested. Even though she wasn't interested we feel blessed for talking to her any ways. The Lord has called us to open our mouths. To stand as witnesses of him at all times, in all things, and in all places (Mosiah 2). I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here, to serve the Lord, and to feed his sheep.

Love,
Sister Record

All in!

Pictures

 Eating a Jolly Rancher. I had that thing for several weeks because every time I wanted to eat it, it was an inconvenient time to have a blue mouth. As a missionary, it's really hard to find a good time to have a blue mouth. :D

The Valentine special ice cream

Not sure where that face came from. Ha ha! (Sister Rowley and Sister Record)

Yay! (Sister Rowley and Sister Record)

Sister Rowley, Sister Adair, and I

Elder and Sister Adair

Sister Record

 This was after exchanges when we were exchanging back. Sister Rowley was in the other car and didn't see me coming. I was just so excited to see her again that I popped my face up to her window to say hello. :)

We see deer all the time. Every day. Sometimes in even bigger groups.