Week 22

Hello all!

What even happened this week? Hmmmm.
Our investigator who is on date is doing really well. He absolutely loves the gospel and is the funniest 73 year old ever. And he listens so intently. After telling him about the gift of the Holy Ghost, he said "Well let's get baptized!" And the member who came with us also mentioned that now that he is on date, Satan would try to tempt him not be baptized and in response he said, "Bring it, Satan." Hahaha. That's what I'm talking about!
We had a zone training in Butte and we mainly learned about how to be consecrated missionaries. They had us read a talk beforehand called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Elder Tad ‪R. Callister in 2008‬ in the MTC that made us feel like failures as missionaries. There was a quote in there that said, "“Every mission has a number of good, even great missionaries, but most missions only have about five or so consecrated missionaries – those who are willing to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice.”
Now that made us do some real self- evaluation. I want to be that missionary who is on fire because of how consecrated I am but it feels like it's unachievable sometimes. Even though all my time is dedicated to the Lord already, I still am not fully dedicated to Him! Somehow I still am not there yet. I still have the natural man in me and it is so discouraging sometimes. But there was another quote that gave me hope that said something along the lines of- the Lord doesn't require immediate perfection but He does require immediate progress.
And this applies to non-missionaries too! Our whole life is a journey of progression and God is helping is along the way!

We also got new Standards of Excellence:
1. Ask for referrals from everyone
2. Have 3 lessons with investigators in a members home per week
3. Have Daily contact with your focus investigators
So we've been trying to crank those out. I think they will really progress the work because those are some things we sometimes slack on!

Some random stuff this week:
- I had white tail roast for the first time out here on my mission. I've had venison before but not out here yet. But I have had elk jerky a few times.
- We got help from a member this week to get some Spanish phrases to use for the potential investigator who speaks Spanish. He was just going to come with us at first, but things got mixed up so he just taught us some Spanish to say to her. I was so pumped to use it but then she never answered the door. :(
-we have some solid progressing investigators too! Which is exciting!

And I also gave a talk in sacrament yesterday about missionary work. I decided to narrow it down to the "joy of missionary work". :)
Here's a part of it: "We need to count our many blessings. Count the blessings that you have because of the gospel and think of your friends, relatives, your neighbors, your peers and think- do they have these blessings too? Would this gospel help them right now and in the future? Of course it would! And it is our duty, as holders of this truth, to tell our other brothers and sisters about it. If we don't, who will?
It is our responsibility to proclaim the truth because we have it. We are accountable for the people who we associate with each day, to help them come to Christ. One of my companions told someone that we were teaching that heaven wouldn't be heaven without everyone there. We succeed to do this when we invite people to the gospel. More often than not- it's a conscious but rewarding effort. Our family must come back together again to live with our Heavenly Father. And that is the lasting and ultimate joy that we want to achieve."
I know this to be true and I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Ney

Picture 1- me and the sisters in my zone in Butte!