Trunky Moves

So we had the most disappointing week ever. Here are some highlights:

-Downend Ward Temple Trip--the first thing we'd heard of when we got here. Get an investigator to come and we could go. I've been to the temple 3 times since I got into the field. We killed ourselves trying to get Shirley, Naomi, Joseph or the Skinners to come for weeks, and at last we were all set to go with Paul and Alison until 9pm Friday night, when they called to cancel. So, naturally, I still wanted to go because we'd made zero plans for the next day. There were so many people going, and it had never happened before to have the whole ward there. We called the ZLs (who were going) and they said we couldn't go because they already told Taunton sisters they couldn't go.

-Naomi's not coming to church because her dentures are no good and she has to wait months for the dentist (typical NHS) and she's afraid people will make fun of her lack of teeth.

-Paul and Alison flogged us at church. We saw them in the evening, and when they found out we couldn't go to the temple, they said we should have told them! They would have come!

-Joseph and another Paul flogged us back-to-back (felt like I was back on Jersey).

-Jo dropped us via a text message. The Book of Mormon is not the word of God, and she does NOT like Nephi calling her church part of the great and abominable church.

I'm ready to drop everyone and start over. Except Naomi. She has a date for the end of October. I feel akin to Mormon and Moroni, who knew in the midst of everyone eating each other that they definitely were promised a place in the kingdom of God. It's helpful to have this attitude when everyone's problems and gossiping and bickering and family problems just drag you down. Maybe it's a good thing this is my last moves, so I can brush this rubbish off much easier and their problems are no longer my problems. It's amazing what people will tell you when you wear a badge that says Jesus Christ on it.

The Church is still true, even when investigators suck your life away. Joseph Smith did not write the Book of Mormon as a joke. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, dictated by the hand of ancient prophets as proof that God loves all His children. Why so upset that God still speaks to us? What will happen when the Ten Tribes come back from the North with their records?

I'm grateful for what I've learned. We're undertaking the Harvester Project next week--for every missionary moment, you put a teaspoon of wheat into the Ward Jar, and when the jar is full, we'll grind up the wheat and make the sacrament bread--partaking of the fruit, literally, of your baptismal covenants. We're really excited. Apparently there's wheat already in!

Hope all is well at home and that your light is shining to those around you. We really can't do this work on our own--with the help of the members, everything will take off ;)

Love from,
Sister Willard