First off, shout out to my younger brother who is going to the Provo MTC this week to start his mission in Thailand (same place as mom).
Last pday, the sisters went far away on a train to do something, so we called the two sets of elders and they were like, you wanna go fishing with us? We were like, okay! They told us to meet them at this one spot. We were like, we have no idea where it is, so they were like, no prob, just take this road and go straight for a while. But lesson learned - NEVER GET DIRECTIONS FROM ELDERS! The area was out of our area and off our map. They were like, at the bridge, go right, if you see cement trucks, take the path behind, blah, blah, blah. It wasn't helpful at all! After an hour of biking in the heat, we gave up and texted them to have fun. We went and got love juice instead and went to Big City mall to eat dinner. There was a movie theater by the food court. It was interesting to see the movie posters in Chinese. It reminded me of when I would go see movies in the summer. We found out the next day that their idea of fishing was to just stand on some slippery platform and catch fish. Even the professional fisherman next to them only caught one all day, so I don't think they caught any.
Last pday, the sisters went far away on a train to do something, so we called the two sets of elders and they were like, you wanna go fishing with us? We were like, okay! They told us to meet them at this one spot. We were like, we have no idea where it is, so they were like, no prob, just take this road and go straight for a while. But lesson learned - NEVER GET DIRECTIONS FROM ELDERS! The area was out of our area and off our map. They were like, at the bridge, go right, if you see cement trucks, take the path behind, blah, blah, blah. It wasn't helpful at all! After an hour of biking in the heat, we gave up and texted them to have fun. We went and got love juice instead and went to Big City mall to eat dinner. There was a movie theater by the food court. It was interesting to see the movie posters in Chinese. It reminded me of when I would go see movies in the summer. We found out the next day that their idea of fishing was to just stand on some slippery platform and catch fish. Even the professional fisherman next to them only caught one all day, so I don't think they caught any.
Good news and sort of bad news. So a less active member's daughter, Penny (whom my previous companion and I helped reactivate through God's help) will be baptized in a few weeks, probably 8/13! She is 8 years old and is super cute! She even has a Book of Mormon with 10 or so missionary signatures and notes. Problem? We can't "suan" (or count) her as a missionary baptism unless she is 9 years old or if her single mom isn't a member. But since she is 8 (she will be 9 in January) and her mom is a member, she counts as a member baptism and not a missionary baptism. We talked to bishop and he said he still wants us to teach Penny and her mom the lessons, which is what we are still doing. He probably wanted the lessons to help Penny's mom. Her mom still has a great testimony, she just hasn't been to church for a year or so (until we told them to come to church again at the end of
June) and hasn't been through the temple yet, which is something we probably need to help them with. It's one of those many "TEAM JESUS!" moments you have on a mission (meaning you can't count someone that you've helped. examples include giving someone to another set of missionaries because the investigator lives in another person's area, or this case with penny). It reminded me of when our district leader told us of how he had to give his only progressing investigator to the Zone leaders because he lived in our area.Team Jesus moments happen once in a while, but it's a good way to remind us of our purpose as missionaries.
June) and hasn't been through the temple yet, which is something we probably need to help them with. It's one of those many "TEAM JESUS!" moments you have on a mission (meaning you can't count someone that you've helped. examples include giving someone to another set of missionaries because the investigator lives in another person's area, or this case with penny). It reminded me of when our district leader told us of how he had to give his only progressing investigator to the Zone leaders because he lived in our area.Team Jesus moments happen once in a while, but it's a good way to remind us of our purpose as missionaries.
We've found a lot of potentials lately. We only have one person who've we worked on since April (my previous companion and her trainer) who may get baptized.
I'm trying so hard not to freak out. This transfer is ending a week early for missionaries going home so they can go to school, and we are getting a TON of new missionaries (just graduated from high school and been at the mtc in the summer). So many new missionaries are coming in and we are really short on sisters, so everyone is either going to be training, be a sister training leader (like a sister version of zone leaders), or breaking (being with a companion who just got done with training). Next transfer is going to be so interesting, since about a fifth of the missionaries will be brand new.
I have really learned a lot lately about doing God's work and relying on Him. It's been hard, a lot of nice people but nobody really interested. God has been merciful though. My District Leader has said he was out of money for the past 3 weeks, but for those weeks he has always had a meal provided for him miraculously by a ward member or other means. I am still going through the refiners fire lately, learning how to be the missionary God wants me to be (Let It Go, Frozen anyone?). Even this zone meeting this weeks theme is being a successful missionary. I still have a ways to go, from refining my teaching, communication, people and language skills to learning how to call on the phone without my mind going blank from panic (lets be honest, tainwese people speak really fast and its harder to not see them in person what they are trying to say). God will help us because He loves us.
Love you all!
-Sister Brinkerhoff
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