8/30

Can I just tell you how much I love our investigators? We've had some really good experiences with a lot of them this week. Let me tell you about some of them.

Once upon a time, Sister Bean and I were doubled into an area with very little happening. Our area book did not look too pretty, but we did their best and began visiting potential and former investigators. One of them was Sylvester Wright. He is from Sierra Leone and has worked as a translator for the UN. He became familiar with the church in Africa and obtained a copy of the Book of Mormon, but never actively investigated the church. When Sister Bean and I met him he had read a great deal, but did not want to meet with the missionaries until he had finished reading it. We managed to get a return appointment, but through a series of cancellations, reschedulings, and unreturned phone calls we decided to return him to the area book, to be checked up on at some future point.

Fast forward a few months and our area had been combined with Hoboken, Sister Bean had been transferred, I served in a trio with Sister Fonua and Sister Tolman, Sister Tolman had been transferred, and I am now training Sister Cope in a trio with Sister Fonua. Phew. We decided that we needed to spend some more time in what we now call the "north" area (previously its own area, North Bergen), and after all our plans fell through and we were aimlessly roaming the streets of West New York, Sylvester Wright popped into my head. So we stopped by and knocked on his door. His wife proceeded to yell at us through the door that he no longer lives there and she doesn't understand why people keep coming by, etc., etc. We called a cheerful, "Have a nice day!" and continued on our way.

A few days later I was still thinking about Sylvester, so Sister Cope found his number and gave him a call. He answered! An appointment was scheduled and we returned and taught him at his door. This time Sylvester said that he feels the Book of Mormon is true because it agrees completely with the Bible, and because of the Spirit he feels with him when he reads it. Sylvester said that in order to find joy and be close to God we must be willing to find His will for us, follow His Spirit and faithfully obey. The Spirit filled the hallway, and yielding to its guidance we testified of the restored gospel and committed Sylvester to be baptized on September 12.

It was one of the best lessons I think we've had. It was so clear in my mind what needed to be said and done, and Sylvester's prayer before we left was beautiful. He prayed to be led by the Spirit to know if he should be baptized on the 12th and requested that same Spirit to be poured out on Sister Cope, Sister Fonua and me as we continued to bring the gospel to others.

I wish I had more time to tell you about our lessons with Pat and Manny this week. Ach! I'll tell you about them next week.

Love yas!

Sister Black

8/23

I'm sorry to hear that the weather has been so ugly. It's been raining here the past few days, and the nights continue to be cool. I hear tell from longer-time ward members that the weather turns at the beginning of September, so my hopes are high that I will soon remember what it feels like not to be sweaty and sticky. However, Sister Fonua, Sister Cope and I find that people still want to talk to us, even when our makeup is melting off, our hair sticks out a mile from our heads (not an exaggeration in Sister Fonua's case, Tongan hair does not do well in humidity), and we have very attractive sweat marks from our bags. It's amazing what the Spirit can do, even to one's appearance to others, and especially to those who are not familiar with the Spirit. People often tell us that there's "just something different" about us.

I am convinced that the best way to spread the gospel is to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon, which I told you about last Monday. Several times last week we ran into people who had received a copy of the Book of Mormon from someone, sometimes many years back. Even if they haven't ever opened the cover, they all remember the kindness of the friend who gave it to them and are willing to stop and listen to our message. Preach My Gospel says that when members share the gospel with their friends, it softens their hearts. I am absolutely delighted to hear about Caroline's acceptance of the Book of Mormon challenge and Mom's offer to go out with the sisters! I know that those will both be really good experiences for you. Emma, I have often taken young women out with me and my companions, and they always love it! I have had girls call me back the next day and ask when they can come out again. Seriously, there is nothing more fun than sharing the gospel. So I am strongly suggesting that you give it a try, too. ;)

Had a cool experience the other day. We had some appointments fall through and came back to the apartment to regroup and figure out our next plan of attack. I decided to look at some old progress records for names of people who had investigated previously and had come to church. I chose two names that lived on the same street a few blocks away, and we headed out. We were almost to the first address when I spotted a man sitting on the steps outside his apartment building. I introduced myself, and he immediately shook my hand, smiled, and called himself "Brother Robert". He has studied religion for many years, looking for forgiveness and a way closer to God. His library actually already included the Book of Mormon, but his copy was lost in a move. We gave him a new one and are planning on seeing him again this Saturday. Talk about being led right where you're needed.

I'm out of time.

Love you!

Sister Black

8/16

So I was just telling a member the other day that we've never had sister missionaries in our ward and how sad that makes me now that I've served around so many amazing sisters and that I'm hoping someday that they'll open the area to sisters, and POOF. Sisters. I almost fell out of my chair. It makes the idea of being home the entire summer after my mission much more bearable, no offense. ;) My life will probably consist of working, going on splits, eating, and sleeping.

Omar was confirmed yesterday! We met with him the Friday before. For some reason I'm always afraid that something will happen in the week between the baptism and confirmation and our little seedlings will get choked out by the weeds or scorched by the sun, etc. as the Bible says--but as one of our favorite members, Sister Sabo and I waited for him at a park (we were on splits--we're ALWAYS on splits) and watched him approaching, there was a definite confidence in his step, and a big, happy smile on his face. He said he was feeling really good, and he asked us how he could help all the suffering people around him. We gave him a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and challenged him to give it to someone in need in the next two weeks. He said he already had someone in mind and is really excited to give it away.

We've been "flooding the earth" with the Book of Mormon, as President Benson said, by giving copies to our members, encouraging them to fast/pray for someone to give it to, then roleplaying with them different ways they can go about it. An adorable older couple just moved here a few weeks ago from Bountiful, UT, and Sister Imlay volunteered in Relief Society to be the next to take the challenge. She was very nervous during roleplaying and was worried about offending whomever she might give it to, but we practiced with her and promised that the Spirit would help her. Not two days later we got an ecstatic message on our phone from Sister Imlay, reporting that she'd given the BOM away to a perfect stranger after striking up a conversation with him and bringing the gospel up. "He wasn't offended or anything!" she exclaimed. It's been so much fun to work with the members and see the excitement they get for missionary work when they have these experiences.

So I'm curious. When was the last time any of you gave away a Book of Mormon? I'd never done it before now. Might we make it a family goal? I have a testimony that there are opportunities everywhere and that Heavenly Father IS putting people in our path for US to talk to and if we have the faith to open our mouths, we will find them! I'm sure there's a Preach My Gospel in the house somewhere. Instant FHE material! Read it! Use it!

One minute left. I love you like a fat kid loves cake!

Sister Black

8/9

This week was so jam-packed, I can't even begin to tell you everything that's happened--even an hundredth part of my doings cannot be contained in these writings. Early Tuesday morning Sisters Fonua and Tolman dropped me off at the mission office with all the other soon-to-be trainers, and I found my very first companion, Sister White, was among them, as was another Elder from my MTC district. We're growing up and having "children" of our own! Oh how fast it is going. We carpooled to the mission home, where we were given some instruction by President and Sister Bahr before meeting the new missionaries. My new little one is Sister Cope. She is from Bountiful, UT and is the goofiest person I think I have ever met! I love her to death. She has a natural ability to follow the Spirit's lead and blew everyone away during roleplays at Zone Meeting the next day. She is a tough one! Due to some confusion at the MTC, she and the rest of her district were shipped out Monday night, instead of morning, and didn't arrive until 5:30 Tuesday morning, the day of transfers. They went about 36 hours without sleep, but Sister Cope worked her hardest her first day anyway.
Training in a trio is crazy. Sister Fonua is still with us! She has two transfers left and is delighted to be staying in this area, she's hoping this is where she'll "die" (finish her mission). I'm glad to have her, she is very experienced and has given me a lot of good tips for training. Elder Westover, one of the assistants, told me that training is a humbling experience, and it certainly is. It has shown me just how inadequate I and every other missionary really is to do this work. All I can do is be a vehicle for the Spirit and live and work so that it can speak through me. Sister Cope seems to be thriving despite my mistakes and faults, so hopefully I'm doing a good job! This is a great time and a great area to enter the mission. This week we had two baptisms, Ping and Omar, Omar was confirmed yesterday and Sister Cope set our investigator Eric with a date!

Funny story. So Sister Plange, one of my favorite ward members, is known for giving missionaries a hard time when she sees them out working. She likes to pretend she's not a member, approach the Elders as though she's interested, and then be very difficult and ask crazy questions until they're sweating bullets. So we thought we'd get her back. The other day we brought Sister Cope to meet her and told her that she was deaf (Sister Cope can sign very well). We had Sister Plange absolutely convinced! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. She was writing things down, doing charades, over-anunciating her words, everything short of literally bending over backwards to make Sister Cope comfortable and make sure that everything was communicated correctly. Sister Fonua and I nearly lost it several times. We had her going for about a half hour before, after a pause in the conversation, Sister Cope thanked Sister Plange for the lunch she'd served us and said very sweetly, "Thank you for the hot dog." The look on Sister Plange's face was priceless! She knew it couldn't have been me or Sister Fonua that spoke. She told us later she had even wondered for a moment if it was a miracle, the Holy Spirit speaking for this new Sister missionary. She almost killed us when she realized how badly we'd gotten her, but she was too impressed with us to really be mad. :)

It's been a hard, wonderful, crazy, back-breaking, joyous, hilarious week all rolled up in one. That's basically that best way to sum up mission life. I'm glad to hear you all are doing well. I loooooooooove you!

Sister Black

8/2

The weather here has actually been quite nice the past few days. It hasn't been as hot during the day, we've had a lot of storms and it's beginning to cool off at night. Probably won't last long, but I'm enjoying it!

Transfers again last night. I swear every transfer feels shorter than the one before. It's official. I will be in this area longer than I was in my first! Sister Tolman is getting transferred and Sister Fonua and I are staying here. We will be joined tomorrow by another brand-new sister, whom I have been called to train. It's a big responsibility and I'm a leeeeetle bit nervous about it, but I know they don't ask people to train willy-nilly, and it is a tried and tested truth that we as missionaries can and are expected to receive revelation daily, hourly, basically every moment of every day. So I'm expecting a lot of revelation this transfer!

Thanks for your prayers on behalf of my brain! I have noticed a big difference. It's still nowhere near perfect, but I feel when I am teaching that I can more quickly discern what our investigators need and how to help them. The words come, especially as I say prayers in my heart during our lessons. And we are looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labors with two baptisms scheduled for this week, Ping on Friday and Omar on Sunday!

7/26

Lots of changes this week which will carry through the rest of my mission and beyond. A new training from the Brethren is changing the way that we teach. It is the way missionaries have been intended to teach all along, but it is helping those of us who haven't gotten the memo yet to catch up. As the senior companion, Sister Fonua spent four days in Morristown at a seminar for all the leadership in which they were given this training and are now to teach it to the rest of us. It will be introduced to missionary training centers worldwide in May. Even though we no longer use the memorized "discussions" to teach, many missionaries, myself included, still have a tendency to take the lessons in Preach My Gospel and present them to investigators. They were intended to add depth to the knowledge, understanding and testimonies of missionaries, not investigators, so that missionaries can take the knowledge that they gain and adapt it to investigators' needs. This training is meant to tear down the old way of thinking and establish a teaching method based more completely on the Spirit. It involves a lot of inspired questions, silence, and listening. And it is twisting my brain into knots! I didn't realize how reliant on the lessons I had become until I was required to teach to a commitment without knowing which lesson I was teaching. I did it in a roleplay with Sister Fonua last night and drew a complete blank after saying one sentence. So I anticipate a lot of migraines in the coming weeks, but I am excited to take my teaching to a new level. Not only will it benefit me but, more importantly, it will make all the difference for our investigators. Prayers, which I already know you give in abundance and for which I am very grateful, would be appreciated! Please pray that my brain will be able to work in this new way and that I will be able to follow the Spirit.

Ray was baptized Saturday morning. It was beautiful. He was confirmed the next day and was an absolute ray of sunshine. I've never seen anyone so happy or felt such a glow come from a person. It made me want that much more to help someone else find the joy and peace that only the gospel brings. More than anything I feel gratitude that I was able to be a part of such a wonderful thing. I know I didn't earn it. One of our missionaries once said that the baptisms we get to participate in are God's gift to us. The work we do is our gift to Him. The gift I've received is far greater than the one I've given! Though I know they will never compare, I hope that I can bring the two into slightly close proportion.

Fun experience before I go. Due to an agreement we made with some of our investigators Sister Tolman and I attended a spanish Pentecostal church yesterday while Sister Fonua was on a split with a member. Never been to one before, and I must say that it was a lot of fun. We were escorted by our friend Joseph to the very front row. By the end my ears were ringing as though we had just sat through another N*Sync concert! It was very interesting to see the differences between methods of worship. I can see the attraction. It was fun and exhilarating, but I was grateful afterwards to return to the peace and reverence of the chapel in Jersey City.

7/19

It's been an awesome week. Ray had a second interview, passed with flying colors, and is preparing for his baptism this Saturday @ 11am. He came to the same conclusion as you, Mom, and is confident that his testimony of Joseph Smith will continue to come with time, prayer, and faithful study. Another investigator Bradley is getting baptized on Sunday, and two more are set for August 1. Needless to say, Sister Fonua, Sister Tolman and I are all ecstatic. I love them so much! I can't believe how much fun we've been having. The other day Sister Fonua and I were about ready to pee our pants we were laughing so hard, and I asked, "Are we supposed to be having this much fun?" Sometimes it boggles my mind how physically fatigued we can be, how many disappointments we endure and how many challenges/trials spring up in our way, and yet we enjoy every minute of it.

I had a sweet experience the other day. As a zone we fasted from lunch Friday to lunch Saturday. I wouldn't recommend it, it's definitely harder going to bed hungry. But anyway, after some pondering about discussions we've had during companion study, I decided that I need to be more converted. I chose that as the focus of my fast and asked Heavenly Father in my prayers to help me to better understand conversion and, more importantly, apply it. A few days beforehand I had grabbed a few issues of the Ensign at random and stacked them on my desk as study material. Saturday afternoon, shortly after ending my fast, I grabbed a Conference issue from 2002 and opened immediately to a talk by Elder Scott on conversion. My heart swelled with gratitude for such a swift answer to my searching. I am so grateful for a loving, mindful Heavenly Father, who is so willing to bless us if we but ask!