September 23, 2013
Well hello there! SO ... here goes. Guess what I did this week! I think I am officially a missionary now.
So guess.
Now?
Okay fine.
Well that was silly. Sorry, I feel like a little kid I am so happy. But, anyway, back to the reason I am finally a real missionary... drum roll please... On Saturday September 21st, 2013 at approximately 1:00 p.m. Lousiana Southern Alligator Bayou Swamp Standard time. I, Sister Abby Lyn Thornley, resident of (originally) Thatcher, Utah... zipcode 84337... and resident of (currently) Baton Rouge, Louisiana (gulp) officially invited my very first investigator to be baptized !!! And that's not even the most exciting part!!! He said yes!!!!!!
So, (phew) sorry that took so long to get out. (I think maybe there's been a gas leak in our apartment lately I've been so loopy). But yeah! That really happened, and I really did that. It was amazing and super scary, and I'm glad I got the first one out of the way, because now I feel like I can do it again. Hey, maybe I will right now. There's a librarian at her desk I could ask too! Ok, but in all seriousness. We now have my very first investigator that I helped find and everything. His name is E.J and he's actually our neighbor across the way, I told you about him last week. He didn't come to church last week but he sure did this week, and he brought his six year old son! Oh, and did I mention that it was in the first lesson I invited him to be baptized! And, he said yes. It was so neat! I could feel the Spirit leading us and directing us teach him. His son sang in the primary program even though it was his first time there. Throughout the meeting when people came up and welcomed him, he kept telling them that they would be seeing him frequently and to plan on seeing him next week! Ahh. It was the first time I've had an investigator attend church and the fact that it went so well was a miracle in and of itself.
Now the next thing we have to work through is that he can't read. Literally, he can't, so that's hard. I think that is going to be the biggest trial because I've never taught someone to read. I know without a doubt that God will provide a way for us to accomplish it! It actually reminds me of something I read this morning in 2 Nephi 20:15 "Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood!" I know that Heavenly Father will be able to do this through us. There's no way that I can teach a 40 year old man to read. But I can be an instrument in God's hands to accomplish this! It was amazing.
There is a family with a dad down here with like at least four sons. They all live on the same road and they are all dark haired and in their late 40's early 50's. The other night we went over to one of their houses because they are all inactive, and I think most of their wives are not members. We went to one of the son's houses, and we planned on teaching his wife a lesson. When we got there, he kept repeating over and over, "If you're on God's side, who could be against ya?!" He was making big hand guestures while he talked (Haha. Oh I can just picture it now. It was so funny I wish that I could show you). After we had been talking to his wife and him for a while, he said that he needed to go to the store and asked if we wanted anything. We told him "no," so he left. We had a really neat lesson with his wife about faith because her sister has cancer, and she said that she has been struggling with her faith lately. The Spirit was there and was so strong. At the end, she told us that we were an answer to her prayers because she really needed it. The neatest part was that we were able to share from the Book of Mormon with her and she wrote down the verses we read to her and invited her to read Alma 32. Go read it if you don't know what it says. :)
So as we were leaving her husband John pulled in in his nice big work truck. We closed the door behind us and said goodbye to John as he's getting out of his truck, and he said, "Hey, wait a minute... Hey, I've been really struggling. We got a few big jobs for my roofing business that're supposed to come in the next few days and I was wondering if we could say a prayer together for them?" So, we said "Yeah." Something that's pretty common down here is for a group of people to hold hands when they pray, so we held hands and he asked me to pray. I started to pray and realized I could hear him saying something, so I paused, and I could hear him saying, "Thank you Jesus. Jesus Thank you." over and over again. I was trying sooooo hard to concentrate on saying the prayer over him. (Oh it was hard.) So, I got done and said "amen," and he went, "Oh thank you! I already feel so much better! I know that it's all gonna be okay now." He started to walk away and he went "You gals know that you shouldn't go on Plank Road at night right?" Plank Road is a super sketchy road in Baton Rouge that has a horrible reputation so missionaries don't go there. We told him, "Yeah, we don't go there." He told us to be careful and then stopped again and went, "Do you have my business card? Let me give you my business card. If you ever get scared or if someone gives you any trouble then you can call me. Everyone in all of Baton Rouge knows me and if they give you any trouble just show them my card and they won't give you any more trouble, okay?" I was trying not to laugh because I was thinking "Oh my gosh!!! They could be mafia!! I bet they have hitmen!" (haha). So we said "okay" and left. As soon as we get in the car Sis. Seegrist says, "Mafia, definitely mafia," and we both busted up laughing.
On saturday night, we went to see that family again. They are huge LSU fans and the game was on so we figured that we wouldn't get to stay for long, but they invited us in. At first they were pretty much just humoring us and watching the game out of the corners of their eyes until John asked us what our favorite Bible scripture was. So, I told him that mine was 1 John 4:18-19. I read it and as soon as I was done he told me to read it again. When I finished, he told me to read it again and again like four or five times. Then he tells me that it gave him gooose bumps. It was another answer to a prayer. He said he's been having a lot of fear at work and he knew that he just needed to let God handle it. So after that we had an amazing lesson with him and his wife and two of their cousins about the plan of salvation. We taught about the spirit world and resurrection and the celestial kingdom. It was so neat! and John even went and got his Bible to back us up with Bible verses, too. Oooohhhhh it was just amazing. I loved it.
Ok, in other news, I fell off my bunk bed last Tuesday night (haha). Sister Seegrist was having a bad day, so I decided to make her laugh. Okay, what really happened was that I was complaining about a toothache and the "Sister Wall cure-all" for anything that's ever wrong from a hurt wrist, bee sting, tooth ache (everything you can imagine going wrong) is that Sister Wall always says, "Okay, take three ibuprofen three times a day for two days, and if it doesn't feel better by then call me back." So, as I was laying in bed complaining, Sister Seegrist thought she would be funny and recommend the Sister Wall remedy. She said, "I think I know what'll make it better; take three ibuprofen ..." So, I thought that in response, I would be funny too and scare her. So I went to lean over the side of my bed to say I was gonna kill her, but I seemed to have leaned too far over the side and I flipped head over heals off the top bunk. Hahahaha. I don't think I've laughed so hard in so long! It was just after 10:30 p.m., so I should have been asleep, but I think I rolled on the ground laughing for like 20 minutes. After I checked to make sure I was in one piece and I hadn't broken anything, I got up and went to bed. The next day I was a little bit sore, but it was honestly so funny!
Hmmmm, okay. Like I said, I think there is a gas leak in our apartment. Hahaha. I think that for P-day, I might take a nap to get back to normal.
