November 11, 2013

November 4, 2013 to November 10, 2013

 Monday began one of the longest emotionally charged weeks. That night we ate dinner at the Nadals. After dinner we had a lesson with Jose and Gabby. However the whole lesson both were very distracted.

 Tuesday we went to the food cupboard and bagged potatoes. In the afternoon we went to see Patrick and April but they were no shows. We met and talked with Alex. He and his roommate had had a discussion the day before wondering about why there was so many churches. He told us that mornings were best. When we were talking to someone on the street, a less active - Becca - that we had been trying to get in contact with walked up to us. We then went to Margot's. Her roommate Julie joined us for a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Then we had dinner with the Dicks and the Elders at Applebees. It was Elder Yates 21st birthday. After dinner we had a lesson with Jose and Gabby with Kaity as our team up.

 Wednesday was insanity! We had district meeting and then went to help Brother Dave and Sister Cynthia with painting their home. From there we went to visit Corinne. She was dead tired but happy - she just got engaged. While we were talking about families (they have a little boy) her fiance, Phil, walked in. We continued to talk with them more about families and asked if they would be willing to have us come back. They were. We left them with a word of prayer. Sister Stovall had asked Phil if he would say the prayer but he informed us that he had never heard one let alone said one. He said "baby steps sisters". We then had inner with a less active part member family that we had talked to on the phone but had never met. Then it was time for the challenge lesson. We met Brother Todd at the home. George spent the whole time shooting anti-Mormon questions at us. His heart was hard. Amber was listening, asking questions about what were able to say. At the end of the lesson George said to give him time to read the Book of Mormon twice, come back in January. He closed with a prayer calling Joseph Smith a murdering liar and thanked God for the chance to teach us this truth.

 Thursday from 8 AM to 1 PM was dedicated to to my jaw appointment and headache inducing pain of trying to schedule an MRI at a place that accepted my insurance. We then headed back from Danville and ate lunch then did studies. We then went to the library and got on for momron.org time. My main question was "should I stay on my mission or leave?" Back and forth I went.

 Friday started out normal but before we could get really anywhere with weekly planning, let alone begin, Sister Stovall said I should talk to Sister Topham about the choice I was faced with. After multiple calls and conversations with Sister Topham and President Topham, the wheels were set in motion for me to go home. We finished weekly planning. During lunch I called the elders to let them know that I was going home. Elder Yates and Elder Walker are like my brothers so I wanted them to be of the first to know. I texted the Danville Elders (Elders Boekweg and Smith) the same information. That night we ate at the Allens home. Before we ate there we went to see Brother Dave and Sister Cynthia. We found out that Brother Dave was a member but he claimed to be "allergic" to the gospel. We showed Sister Cynthia the Daily Bread Mormon messages.

 Saturday we met with Brother Stanley and Martha. The rest of the day was spent tracting in Bloomsburg and Benton. We had dinner with Cedenos and talked about the Book of Mormon. We read Mosiah 18 at the request of one of the girls. We talked with Charity (a former) before we headed in for the night.

 On my last Sunday there was the primary program. Jose and Margot were both at church. I said my goodbyes to several people. I was pulled aside by a member who told me to not let others make me feel guilty for going home early. I had one last lesson with Martha. And a lesson with a man we met while he was on the porch (his wife had rejected us a couple days before).