Yesterday in Sacrament meeting, a lady talked about the three C's of Pride- Contention, Comparison and Competition. ;) And since I'm perfect at not having ANY of those C's in my life, I thought I should listen for those competitive souls back at home. ;)
And Mom- I don't blame you... I've been hooked on Jesus the Christ, and my poor companion is having a hard time getting anything out of me at meal times or after we finish for the night. I didn't think that would happen when I was on my mission- but honestly, it has been CRAZY!!! I seriously don't have enough time to read/ study all of the things I want to read/study!! Who would have though that an hour is no where near enough time to read your scriptures...
I'm glad you were all able to have an incredible 4th of July. Tell Miranda she had better savor her last 4th with the family. After you leave, you THINK it will be the same, but I promise you- EVERYTHING changes. I haven't had a "normal" 4th in three years. And tell Jenessa- she has absolutely NO idea what "contaminated" is. When the rain starts to smell like pee, litter is everywhere, and you are sitting in a darkened room with bugs crawling on all of the walls, it really makes you grateful that you grew up in the relatively sanitary country. I have certainly learned that I'm not really a city person, and I am learning an entirely new definition of nasty. :) Yes, I am learning some new things down here. Some of them are great, and some of them just make me incredibly grateful I grew up in the area I did and had the opportunities I have had. Because I have been blessed SO much.
But, Oh! That sounds great. :) LoL- Despite how crazy we are, we really have a pretty cool family and getting together is just plain fun. I'm glad you were able to have a great time. Those pictures look incredible. :) But where is Wesley in the top one? I kept looking for him, but I could only see Jacob. Camille's hair is SUPER long! And Julia is SUPER tall. I know I say this just about every time I'm around her, but for some odd reason every single time I look at her, she seems to have shot up. Are you feeding her fertilizer? :) Steven looks incredibly stoic, almost like a knight in shinning armor. Everyone looks so gorgeous (including Harrison ;) )- We really have quite an awesome family.
I do have to ask, though, Mom- Why didn't you run it?!?!??! At least why didn't you see how far you could go!?!? *Sigh* I guess next time I'll have to be the one to keep all of the lame (literally lame) people company, because I REALLY want to see you just attack it. Congrats to all of the runners. As well as an attractive family, apparently we also have a fast family. Great job Sabrina and Harrison!
This week has been great! Elder Rice (our district leader) asked us to visit a bunch of members to get to know the ward and talk to them about missionary work. It was an incredible experience, I really gained an appreciation for the strength of our ward and I sort of figured out what the role of the members was in missionary work.
I realized that most of the people who were baptized after just a few weeks are now less-active, and the missionaries are still teaching/ working with them. As we talked to a bunch of active converts from our ward, we realized that the converts who are currently active members generally took much longer, sometimes up to two years of working with the missionaries. The notable exception, of course, was those that had friends in the church.
Talking to the members I realized that most of the members became incredibly anxious whenever we tried to talk about missionary work, and after a bit, I realized it was because we were approaching it from a bad angle. They thought they were supposed to rush out, find someone and baptize them now. They also kept bringing up that they really didn't like the idea of telling other people that their church is wrong. And we don't want them to do that. In an ideal world, we would teach a bunch of lessons and baptize- every one would stay strong and everyone would be baptized after just a few week of meeting with the missionaries. What we want the members to do is to take over the year or two of preparation time before people are ready to meet with the missionaries. Most people aren't ready to be baptized after coming in contact with the church for just a few weeks, so we need that contact to come from the members and not the missionaries. And if they can work on them with just a little more boldness than they are used to doing (not a ton- which is what they were thinking, but a little bit more), then the missionaries will be able to meet with a bunch of people who have been prepared for baptism. So- that was my great brain child. As I was telling President about it, I realized that nearly everything I realized was what they had talked about in the broadcast... but it was a great moment when I realized what exactly that meant for me.
Dad, :) Your thought was great- it pretty much sums up my week. Other than meeting with members, this week has been a little rough. Fortunately, my companion and I have been able to laugh at quite a few things (everything from finding out that we were using a member's Ensign to swat flies in our apartment, to grabbing just a block of cheese for dinner as we were running out the door, to accidentally texting a YSA guy and asking him if he wanted a hug [we thought we were texting one of the less-active ladies... and he let us continue sending him texts like that for two days!!! SERIOUSLY!!! :) It was kind of really hilarious.], to completely not recognizing one of our investigators.), and the things that were too painful to laugh at, the Lord really helped us gain a sense of peace. It has been quite the week, but at the end of nearly everyday we have been able to go to bed feeling good.
Augh! I'm nearly out of time, but I still need to tell you about President and Sister Hanks. They are AWESOME. I already knew they were going to be, but we had a meeting with them, and it really confirmed it. He is super energetic and super hilarious. His insights are incredible, and he uses a lot of great quotes when he is talking. The English major side of my personality is doing ridiculously well between my personal scripture study and all of President's quotes/ poems. I couldn't stop taking notes, and then to make life even better, he emailed all of us some of the important points from his message. It was just a fantastic meeting. He expressed a lot of the things that I have been feeling, but haven't really gotten from the leadership before. I really feel that this area is poised to rocket, and I feel pumped, and I feel like we just need to go out and throw our shoulders to the wheel. :) Coming into the mission field I had a whole BUNCH of energy, and I was just ready to GO!!! I could really feel that from him, and it was awesome. He and his wife are pumped, they are incredibly wise (seriously- that devotional just blew me away. I don't think I've ever felt so strongly that these next few years are going to be great.)
Well, I have to head out. I love you all a bunch! Congrats on all of the great things that are happening! :) It is great to hear from you. Tell Julia especially congrats on her room. ;) And tell her to read the Book of Mormon!!
I love you all,
Sister Pratt
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