Hello one and all.
Ok let's get down to business.
This week was slow yet fast. I am stressin a little
because covering two wards is making me extra tired. We flip flop every week,
one week we go to 6th and the other week we go to 3rd because the times clash.
Well, people make little comments all the time about how
one ward is our "favorite" ward and how we are less active when we
don't come to their particular wards sacrament meeting. At first it was funny
but the last two weeks have been rough, people are always asking us why we
can't be at sacrament meeting and no matter how many times we tell them we
double cover, we can't seem to make people happy. Hence the snarky comments
about us not doing enough in the two wards we cover.
So I'm about ready to punch some teeth out.
But besides that we are good!
This week we did some more contacting, we mostly just go
through lists of potentials we have in our area book and knock on the door and
see if that person still lives there and is interested or if it's someone
completely new and they are interested. We also work with the ward council and
get lists of less actives and part member families to go see. Something that I
HATE is when it's 8:30 at night and we have no one to see. At that point we try
to find a nice member with no small kids that wouldn't mind us stopping in and
sharing a little message.
Please, PLEASE be that member who lets us in so late at
night. We are just trying to be diligent, and door knocking that late at night
is the worst idea ever and any missionary that does that is asking to be yelled
at. It's also a way we ask people for referrals.
I'm gonna focus this email more on what exactly
missionary work is when you are called and set apart to be a missionary. These
are some points I've learned over the last few weeks that I would like to share
with you guys.
First off, you don't just tract. Yeah you knock doors,
but tracting is one of the most least efficient ways to do missionary work (at
least in the states) Yes, we do it when we have no one to teach and when we are
out of ideas, but it's not done all the time. It's so much more than that.
Secondly, you get scared sometimes and that is ok. I get
scared. I get scared to knock some random strangers door and tell them about
the gospel. I get scared to get rejected, this week was one of those weeks
where we got rejected pretty harshly left and right. It's tiring when that
happens and you get discouraged and scared. That's completely normal. It
happens to every missionary. What you do to fix it is pray.
Fast and pray that the lord will take away your fear to
be a missionary. When you are set apart, you are given to authority to preach
and to tell people about the gospel unapologetically. Don't be scared to use
that authority. That authority is from God. In time, the lord will take away
your fears. I am slowly feeling that. I've been really having a hard time these
last few weeks with depression. It's been hitting me in waves. I'm tired, I'm
discouraged, I'm scared, and I go through the motions. I am working on getting
myself out of that through talking to my mission president and prayer.
Thirdly, MISSIONS ARE NOT EASY. They were never meant to
be easy.
Salvation ain't cheap, people. For me or for the people
I'm teaching.
This is easily the hardest thing I've ever done in my
life. I've never been more emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted than
I have been on my mission. But it is soooo rewarding. Nothing good ever came
from being lazy. You have to work for the good things in life. I hate society
and all that it stands for, yet I'm doing my best to talk to so many people
throughout the day. I am very much an introvert. So talking to people all day
long is tiring and I sometimes want to curl in the fetal position and not move.
But I don't, because I know the lord is on my side.
Fourth, DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELVES WITH OTHER MISSIONARIES
WHO SERVED PREVIOUS TO YOU. I find myself doing that all the time. People love
other missionaries more than you. It's going to happen, especially when
missionaries baptize someone. Then they REALLY love that missionary. So when
you get to the ward, you are doing your best to find, teach, and baptize, yet
you yield no results. The members think you don't work hard enough as a
missionary and compare you to other missionaries who baptized three people
within six months. That is not how the work of the lord works. People are ready
when the lord has them to be. It has nothing to do with the missionary not
working hard enough. I work my tail off every day, and I am barely seeing
results.
Members see baptisms and investigators to church as
results. So they judge us and compare us to those missionaries in the past who
had the most numbers. who cares. The lord knows you're working hard, that is
all who should matter.
That's just some stuff I've learned over the last few
weeks.
We met with some more of our investigators, we weren't
able to meet with Tito cause of work but he is still on date for the 7th of
May. We may have to push it back to the 14th due to the 7th baptism times are
all taken up in the morning when he is available. Our ward mission leader for
the 6th ward, Brother Merrill is amazing and is working hard to do that for us.
He's awesome, let me tell you. He's been one of my favorite ward mission
leaders to work with.
How is April almost over.
I am so grateful to be a missionary today. It's hard,
yeah, and sometimes I find myself simply wanting to curl up in a blanket and
watch Netflix. But the work of the lord is far more important than watching
Netflix or reading a book. So I'm here and I'm doing the best that I know how.
I love all of you. I have a testimony that this church is true (haha that
rhymed) and I would never trade my relationship with the savior for anything.
Thanks for being homies.
Love,
Sister Ginn
