Wow, this was one crazy week. The weather is BIZARRE. I am not exaggerating when I say it was early spring one day and summer the next. One day it was cold and rainy, and the next morning we woke up to 90-degree weather. No joke. Apparently the weather is extremely unpredictable here. So we're into summer now, but it's supposed to get back into the 50's later this week.
Last night we had the first performance of our missionary musical fireside, which went extremely well. We got to drive out to Rhode Island, for probably our first and last time since there aren't any sister areas there and haven't been for a while. It was SO much fun. We went to Warwick, which is beautiful. I still can't get over how many trees there are out here. Anyway, the fireside went well. It was a musical presentation based off the The Living Christ document. There were several short testimonies by members of the Providence Stake and by one of the elders, and musical numbers about the Savior. There were several big choir pieces, some small-group numbers and quite a few solo numbers. I sang "On A Golden Springtime" from the Primary book. It was really more of a vocal-piano duet with Elder Park. If any of you remember what the original song is like (very blah!)Elder Park took that and ran with it, created a really amazing accompaniment. It was fun.
I have a doctrinal question for anyone who cares to answer. I found a statement by the First Presidency in 1970 regarding tithing, which basically said that one-tenth of our increase means income and no one is justified in making any other statement than this. So, if it's a personal decision whether to pay tithing before or after taxes are taken out WHY in the world have I been taught from my infancy that tithing must be paid on gross income? I've been told that even by bishops. If the First Presidency has set the record straight, why are so many members led to believe otherwise? I asked my mission president and he referred me back to the same 1970 statement. Is there anything more recent? Anyone know? I'm confused.
As far as the missionary work goes, it was a great and depressing week. We got dropped by two of our really amazing investigators, and a third one that was really coming close to baptism has panicked again. It feels like being dumped on a regular basis. BUT, we finally have a baptismal date for the teenager from a part-member family. He's such a great kid.
And, we had a really miraculous blessing this weekend. This is a great story. It begins last Sunday, when the bishop gave us the name of a lady and asked us to go check up on her. He said they had found a membership record for her. Usually when this happens it's because the person has moved and the Church lost track of them, or they became less-active and have been hiding out. So we went to her house on Saturday expecting her to be angry and bitter. Turns out she is the sweetest lady on earth, and has never even HEARD of the church, let alone been a member. Luckily Sis. Haueter kept the conversation going and started asking her about her religious background, and she said she goes to lots of churches but doesn't really affiliate with any of them. She said, "I've been looking for that special church, and I've never found it, but I'll know when I do find it. As she's saying this I'm forcing myself not to jump up and down, and we hold in our excitement long enough to schedule a return appointment, and reassure her that yes, this IS that special church. HOLY BANANA PEELS! (I haven't used that expression for years and it didn't come back until my mission.) On Sunday we updated the bishop and tried to figure out where her name came from. It must be that she happens to have the exact same name as someone who used to be a member, but the Church had the wrong address and this other lady with the same name is still out there somewhere. What a crazy story. I'll keep you posted on her status. We have an appointment with her this week everyone please pray that she follows through.
Oh, and I had another miracle this week. That was the day when I got five letters at once (probably the first and last time). From Mom and Dad, Andrea, Kelley, Nicole, and my mission president. THANK YOU to everyone who made that happen...it was better than Christmas. Mail is more precious than gold to missionaries. Speaking of mail, we don't know yet how soon we'll be moving out to Windsor Locks so if anyone wants to send a letter please send it to the mission office and it won't get lost. The address is:
Connecticut Hartford Mission, 34 Jerome Ave. Ste 319, Bloomfield, CT. 06002.
THANKS...love,
Sister Monson
No comments:
Post a Comment