This week has been good! I'm not sure why, but we found ourselves overwhelmed with all the people we had to teach, that finding new friends seemed crazy. But we were listening to a podcast from Canvas a couple weeks ago and it was saying how missionaries fall into habits of finding finding finding, then you have so many friends that all you do is teach and you don't do much finding until you run out of people to teach.
Then you have to slowly get your teaching pool back up. You need to balance it. I've found that to be true this week.
We've still had lots of lessons, but it was weird, for some reason I felt like we had too many people to teach it was overwhelming.
It's crazy how fast that number can go down. We found quite a few friends this past week, but I want to get better at balancing so it doesn't take away from our opportunities to teach if that makes sense. I've really seen Heavenly Father helping us everyday though. Most of the new friends we got was just from being in the right place at the right time. We had one guy pull up right next to us in his car and asked if we do Bible studies. He found out we were missionaries and he seemed excited to learn more! We got his contact info and it was just so cool because we almost didn't turn down that street. I know Heavenly Father is blessing us and I'm so grateful to witness His miracles!
I went on exchanges last week and it was good! I went with Sister Nihipali (She's been out around the same time as me). We basically did a lot of finding, and we taught a lesson later that night. Me and sister Nihipali were talking about how we wanted to have that same fire we had more towards the beginning of our missions, and so we said we were going to put someone on date that day! It wasn't until later that night while we were teaching our friend Delor that I felt impressed to ask about baptism again (we've tried asking her to be baptized twice, but she refused to have a date). We were teaching about goal setting and I brought up how her being a member of the church could be a goal to work towards, and she pretty much put herself on date!!
It's July 1st next year, her birthday. Its way far away, but I felt the spirit tell me that it was right. I know it's not about us. It's not about me being there, and for once I didn't feel like I needed to be. It wasn't about that. I was just so happy that she had made that goal for herself! She also says she wants to read the entire BoM before she gets baptized. So it's a realistic goal. We told her that she didn't need to read the entirety of it to know it's true, but that it was a great goal nonetheless!! I'm just so happy for her. It was a cool experience.
Also we went to the temple for our pday!! I really love to see the temple. I often think of that primary song that says "I'll go inside someday. I'll covenant with my Father. I'll promise to obey." I keep thinking about how I've finally done that! And I get to keep doing it for the rest of eternity! The temple really is the house of God, and the spirit inside is overwhelming sometimes. If you look at the pictures inside, ponder about Heavenly Father's loving plan for us, I promise you will feel his love surrounding you! Having temples on the earth is just one of the ways that Heavenly Father shows his love and mercy towards us.
"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19) everything we do inside the temple points towards our eternal progression! Without temples, there would be no way for anyone to progress in the Spirit World. And that's how I know Heavenly Father loves all of his children. That even after their test on earth, he still gives them the opportunity to repent and live the gospel in the Spirit World. Granted it's harder to do it that way, but change is still possible. And there's still a way to live with him again!
I could go on and on about temples and the plan of salvation, but this email is already too long haha. I love you all so much! If you have the opportunity, please go to the temple and do the work for your ancestors who are waiting to receive those gifts! Have a happy week!
-Sister Johnson (王姐妹)