A Missionary's Tale......there & back again.: Teaching in the Pouring Rain

Wow, I have so much to write this week, I don't even know where to get started.

On Tuesday, we were in a lesson with one of our returning members, Chris. Because we didn't have a member with us, we had to do it down by the river. We were just starting the lesson and it started pouring rain, like literally pouring. I've never seen it rain so hard. It felt like we were getting a second shower. We ran under a tree and finished the lesson and then started running back to the car. We stopped to talk to a guy (while it was still pouring), but he wasn't really interested. While we were talking to him though, his friend walked over and told us that he had met with missionaries before, but he was ready to learn some more! So we found a new investigator in the pouring rain! Of course, as soon as we got back to the car, the rain stopped.

On Saturday, we had a really cool experience. Our mission president has set standards of excellence for us each week. In order to achieve the standards of excellence, we have to find two new investigators. We found Jeffrey on Tuesday, but we still needed one more! We were trying so hard to talk to everyone all day long, but no one was interested. Our lessons with our investigators kept falling through, we were really tired, and we started to get discouraged. Finally, we had 20 minutes left of "finding" time during the day and we were about ready to give up and start walking back to the car, but the thought popped into my mind, "go right." Usually when I feel the Spirit, it's through peaceful feelings, I've never had an impression come in the form of a thought like that before, and it was very powerful. We turned right and saw a lady raking her lawn. We offered to help, but she was almost done. Her name is Josie and she's a super sweet lady (she has a gigantic puppy named Murphy)! We shared the Restoration with her and she said we could come back this week to share more. We were so relieved to be able to find a new investigator and it really helped me see how important it is to be diligent and rely on the Lord.

Sunday was a hard day because it was transfer call day. Transfer calls start at 9:00 and go all the way until 10:30, so all day long, you're super nervous, wondering what's going to happen. We went and said goodbye to some of our members and investigators just in case Sister Hunter got transferred, and it was so sad! We have a really cool family, the Smiths, who invited us out for dinner at a place called Ivy Lea. We had spaghetti and we got to go look at some of the cool houses in the 1000 Islands. On the way home, we saw the bridge to the States, and it was super cool (I took like 10 pictures)! Anyway, while we were driving, there were deer running all over the road, and so we had to go really slow. It was starting to get really close to 9:00 and we were stressed because we were going to miss our curfew!! Then, to top it off, we got stopped by the police!! Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds!!!! They had the road blocked off, and they were making every car stop so they could check for seat belts and drunk drivers. Haha, it was pretty funny because they're checking LDS missionaries to make sure they're not drinking and driving.

Anyway, we FINALLY got home and started nightly planning at 9:00, and every time the phone went off, we had a heart attack (it seriously went off like six times)! It was getting later, and later, and later, but still no phone call. Finally, it was like 10:28, and I was like, "okay, it's going to be fine, we're staying together!!!" And then the APs called and crushed my dreams!!!!! Sister Hunter is going to whitewash into Bowmanville (which is like 20 minutes away from my last area, Cobourg!) and she's training a new missionary. She's nervous about it, but I know that she is going to be amazing. She is seriously one of the best missionaries in the CTM, and her new missionary is so blessed to have her. I'm going to be staying in Brockville and my new companion is Sister Gariki. She just finished training and she's learning English, so we'll have an extra hour of studies where she'll practice English. She's from French Polynesia. I've met her a few times before, and she seems like a very sweet sister. I sure am going to miss Sister Hunter though. I'm so grateful for all that she has taught me, and I know that she will do so well in her next area!

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and your good examples!

Love ya!

Sister Dille