Sister Nield sent her first email from the MTC on Friday. She is LOVING mission life. She absolutely adores her companion, Sister Hunter, and has already had incredible experiences!
Well hey y'all! First full week down! I can't believe how fast it's gone! Hope y'all are keeping yourself busy!!
Happy birthday last Saturday daddy! and Happy birthday on monday to Hailey!! Hope you guys had a great day! Dang dad! I wish I was there for the Dutch oven! Yours is the only one that comes close to Grandpa's! It's been amazing to know that he's here helping me out through everything! I feel him with me every day! He's like my guardian angel!:) and thanks Dad and Kyle for the Dear Elders!! Everyone else needs to step it up!;) my unit number is 164 and my leave date is June 30! I want to hear from EVERYONE!!!
So this week went from a rough start to being the best and most rewarding EVER!!!
Monday Sister Hunter and I had our first TRC lesson with our investigator Leah! She is an amazing woman! She suffers from post traumatic stress disorder because "mormons hurt her" and she hates mormons and because of her trauma she's very reserved. I love her so much though! She has honestly become a great friend over the past week! It's funny how being on a mission makes you love SOOOO many people! our first meeting with her was REALLY rough and I felt like a HORRIBLE missionary and felt like I was waisting my time out here because there was NO WAY Leah was going to accept the gospel! She is VERY evangelical Christian and she has read through the book of mormon, D&C, and Pearl of great price and knows the bible better than I ever could and she STILL hates mormons because of her trauma! Everytime we'd try to share a message with her she'd shoot it down and it was so hard! I left that lesson SOOO discouraged!!! That was the first time I'd cried here since I left the curb! But thanks to some great sister Training leaders I got some new perspective!
Monday Sister Hunter and I had our first TRC lesson with our investigator Leah! She is an amazing woman! She suffers from post traumatic stress disorder because "mormons hurt her" and she hates mormons and because of her trauma she's very reserved. I love her so much though! She has honestly become a great friend over the past week! It's funny how being on a mission makes you love SOOOO many people! our first meeting with her was REALLY rough and I felt like a HORRIBLE missionary and felt like I was waisting my time out here because there was NO WAY Leah was going to accept the gospel! She is VERY evangelical Christian and she has read through the book of mormon, D&C, and Pearl of great price and knows the bible better than I ever could and she STILL hates mormons because of her trauma! Everytime we'd try to share a message with her she'd shoot it down and it was so hard! I left that lesson SOOO discouraged!!! That was the first time I'd cried here since I left the curb! But thanks to some great sister Training leaders I got some new perspective!
I realized that Leah didn't need to hear the lessons! She's heard those many many MANY times over the year that she's been working in the MTC! What she really needs is a friend! Someone to change her views on Mormons.
Well Wednesday I got really excited to go in and see her! We went in and I know i've always heard that my sass would get me into trouble but guess what? That's exactly what Leah needed! We can tease each other like it's nobody's business and it's so funny! She played her guitar for us and sang with us and I thought I got a total break through! I don't remember how it came up but I mentioned the divorce and I got her to open up about her parents divorce and we had a really good conversation about the gospel! It was amazing!!
But last night was the real game changer! I was so happy with how wednesday night went but last night sister hunter and I walked in and she looked upset so I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't want to talk about it but finally we got her to admit that the missionaries that had come in before had made her cry (good cry) and so I asked her if she could feel God's love for her and she said yes and this part KILLS me! She said "I just don't want to feel God around you though. It confuses me!" So we talked about it for a long time and I told her that we loved her and she said "I know and I don't like that cause I want to hate you.." by the end of the lesson she was saying "I wouldn't know how to believe it if I wanted to." And "I hate when my heart and my head are telling me different things!" I am on cloud 9 right now! Here is this woman who I never thought that I would be able to reach, and really I did NOTHING!! It was ALL the spirit! Everything that happened in that lesson happened because of the spirit! And she can feel it!
This week has been perfect and I'm so sad that tonight is supposed to be our last lesson with Leah!! I love her so much and I've been able to feel God's love for her! I don't like the fact that as soon as I get attached to people it's time to move on!
I'm always going to remember Leah though! Because of her I learned that the Lord can soften even the most stubborn hearts! It might just take time!
Remember Heavenly Father loves you all! And I love you too!!!
Remember Heavenly Father loves you all! And I love you too!!!
Love Sister Nield
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