Fw: Timing Indeed

 

 

 

 

Hello, everyone!

 

For transfers, we all drove down to Rifle. We got there and the zone leaders didn't know who my companion was or where Sister Pfeifer was going yet. So we had a few hours of wondering what the next transfer would be like. Then the AP's (Assistants to the President) showed up along with all the trainees. Sister Pfeifer ended up going to Denver.

 

So then I asked the AP's who my new companion would be, and when they said her name, I was thinking, "Why does that name sound so familiar?" Then she walked up asking, "Are you Sister Jones?" "Yup!" "Are you David Jones sister?" "Why, yes. Yes, I am."

 

David is probably doing a happy dance.

 

Yes, I am training Sister Peacock, your fellow french-horn player from BYU-I. Sister Peacock is awesome!

 

So when I read in Mom's, David's, and Darcy's emails that David was excited wondering if I would be training Sister Peacock, we were both laughing so hard! Indeed, the Lord puts people in your path who have been prepared for you. Also, Sister Peacock is from Oregon and knew my MTC companion, Sister Baker. I am loving having Sister Peacock as my companion. We became friends super fast! It's like, as opposite as Sister Pfeifer was from me, Sister Peacock is extremely similar to me. It's been great and I love being companions with her. Training her has actually been pretty simple. She served a performing mission in Nauvoo with the symphony for a while, so she's technically an RM. My job is basically helping her learn how to best teach people and building her confidence in speaking with people.

 

As far as stories go for this week, I'm afraid there aren't many. As much as my joy has been with Sister Peacock, this week has not been easy. It's pretty safe to say that this has actually been the worse week of my mission as far as investigators and lessons go. Near the beginning of my mission, there would be some days where we would only get one lesson, maybe two, and sometimes zero. Those days were very stressful and some of them I came away from with tears. Well, every day this week was like that. The main thing that kept me going was having Sister Peacock as my companion gave me a spiritual boost for the week. But seriously. We did just as much work as I did with Sister Pfeifer, but it was like no one was home, people were busy, or they just flat out rejected us. We had no scheduled appointments, so we ended up spending an awful long time tracting with no immediate results. Our previous low for this area was 15 lessons. This week, we only got 7.

 

That being said, I felt the spirit this week stronger than I have my whole mission. So, yes, it was a horrible week, but I know that God will bless us and our work because we are working hard. I've already seen how the Lord has blessed this area, and I know that he will continue to do so, but there had to be a trial of our faith first, I guess. And despite how bad it was this week, I enjoyed being able to work with Sister Peacock. Mostly, I was just worried about how she would feel, coming out on her mission to a terrible week. I spent most of my time reassuring her that the Lord is with us and this area, it's not normally this bad, and as long as we keep working hard, the Lord will bless us. And I know he will. It may not be this week, but it will come eventually.

 

So one of the things that Sister Peacock and I decided to do... Well... 8 pm is a horrible time for doing anything. No one wants to meet with us then and most people are asleep by then. Apparently people go to bed super early out in the country. Proselyting at that time is virtually impossible. So instead, Sister Peacock and I decided to use that time to self-teach ourselves Spanish. President Murdock was talking about how he wants some of the English-Speaking missionaries to volunteer to learn Spanish. A lot of our area is Spanish, anyway, so it's very difficult to talk to people in the streets when you can't speak the language of half of them. Thus, we are using our 8 o' clock hour to do language study. Sister Peacock has a Spanish Preach My Gospel and El Libro De Mormon. It's going to be difficult since I don't know a lick of Spanish, but that's what the gift of tongues is for. We'll pray for help and do our best to learn. How hard can it be? :P

 

That's about it for this week. Pray that we'll be able to find success and that the hearts of the people will be softened. That's all for now. Byez!

 

~Sister Richelle Nicole Jones