I'm learning to love tracting. . . 08/12/13

Melbourne Mission Moments – 08/12/13

 

NASTY!! This thing was outside our window Monday night.
I was basically crying. So Gross! It's huge!!!

Well, another week has come and gone and here we are to Monday again. This week was full of trials and learning and miracles.

On Monday after we finished emailing we drove to the mission office to sing with Sister Maxwell. She had asked about 40 of the missionaries to sing in a missionary choir for a fireside last night. Singing with her was great. Before she left Utah she was in Motab and she knows a lot! Sister Maxwell is so great. I feel such a love and motherly vibe from her that is really comforting.

On Tuesday basically everyone who we had potential teaching appointments with dropped us so we were back to the drawing board. We ended up doing a lot of tracting this week. Thank goodness that we had good weather for a couple days, because tracting in the rain is terrible. I'm learning to love tracting. I used to absolutely hate it. But this week we actually found some real success from it.

We were tracting the SUPER long street on Thursday which took us almost 5 hours to tract the whole street. About halfway down the street we saw a guy outside his house weeding. We have been praying to find opportunities for service this week so we stopped and started talking to him. We started weeding with him. There we were in our skirts and everything in the dirt weeding for almost an hour. It was great! We were able to have casual conversation with him and BRT (Build a Relationship of Trust). By the time we finished he had really opened up and accepted a return appointment for this week. Blessings. It really strengthened my testimony that no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Later down that same street we saw a man named getting into his car. Since he was getting ready to leave we couldn't talk to him for very long but he told us to come back Friday night. Friday night he invited us right in and we met his wife and three daughters. Another huge blessing. We had been praying to be able to find a family to teach. We were able to teach them about the Plan of Salvation and they seem really keen. Such blessings!

On Friday night after we got home we were doing our nightly planning when the phone rang. I looked down and saw that it was President Maxwell calling. My heart instantly started beating so fast. Not because he's a scary person or anything like that but just because I had no idea why he would be calling us at 9:20 at night. We answered the phone on speaker and after some "how was your day?" kind of talk he asked if he could speak to me. He then explained to me that he has been praying a lot and that he and the Lord would like me to be a trainer this coming transfer. I was super surprised. I can't believe I'm training already. I feel super inadequate. I feel like I have so many things to learn myself and so many shortcomings I hardly know how to show someone else how to be a missionary. But I know that the calling has come from the Lord. I also know that the Lord qualifies whom he calls. So Friday and Saturday I was kind of freaking out. But I have prayed a lot and I feel a lot more peace now. I know that this will be a wonderful opportunity to serve and to show my love. So yeah, I am staying in Churchill Park and my companion is being transferred. I'm so grateful to be staying in Churchill Park. I love this area and I would have been really sad if I had to leave Naomi and our special family.

Transfer meeting is tomorrow morning. Basically our whole zone is changing. Every companionship in the zone is being split up except for our zone leaders and the APs. I won't find out who my new companion is until Wednesday when they fly in so tomorrow night I will be companions with one of the other sisters who is training. 

Last night the 4 sisters in our flat all rode together to the fireside. I was driving and we had just left to start heading home. I saw a guy stopped on the side of the road with his warning lights on. We passed him but I had the strongest feeling that we needed to stop and help him. My first thought was, "Are you kidding me? I know nothing about cars. What can I possibly do to help him?" But it was such a strong feeling that I had that I turned around and we went back. His battery had died and he needed someone to jump his car. Turns out the help he needed was the one thing that I do know how to do in the car. We were able to push his car into a parking lot and helped him get his car started again. Another opportunity for a small act of service--something we'd been praying for. We gave him a pass along card and we went on our way. Hopefully someday he will remember the Sister Missionaries who helped him start his car.

I'm still trying to be patient with myself and not be so critical. I tend to be so hard on myself when I feel like I don't do everything perfectly. I've also been trying not to compare myself to others. I've realized that I do it all the time and it's really a self-destroying behavior. I am not Elder ____ or Sister ____, I'm Sister Baker. The Lord has called me to serve here because He knows who I am and who I can become. He knows that there are people here who I need to influence and people who need to influence me. I'm learning to really rely on the Lord to make up for my weaknesses and to help me put my insecurities and self doubts away.

There's a song that played the other day that describes so perfectly how I feel.

I've never been the kind to testify

I don't have the words his truth deserves

But it's a simple thing he asks

A worthy heart and willing hands

He says if I make the choice
He'll help me find my voice

He calls me to serve and I cannot fail him

The one who has given me all that I have

I place my trust in Him alone
He knows the yearnings of my soul

Because He believes in me

I will go willingly

How can I keep this gift to myself

When I can lift somebody else

I'll be a witness of His miracle and His mercy

His power is real

It moves me until I cannot be still.

That's just some of the lyrics but I absolutely love it. The Lord truly does strengthen me. It is because of my love for Him, that I have a desire to be here doing this work. I love my Savior so much. Before my mission I knew that God existed, but now I know God. Before my mission, I had experiences with the Atonement but now I understand the Atonement on such a deeper level. There are definitely hard times here on the mission but I can honestly say that there is nothing in the world that I would rather be doing. 

Well, I love you all heaps!! Pray for me as I start training this week.

Love,

Sister Baker xoxox