This was the week of absolutely nothing going the way that it was planned out to. Monday was fun because me and Elder Loveless got to challenge the Aps to a game of basketball and it was a blast. Even though we lost in overtime both times. Of course. But we ended up having a little bit too much fun and were late to our dinner appointment so that messed up that night. Everything ended up being good though.
Tuesday we had 7 lessons planned out and ended up only having 1. We have had worse days but it was a little frustrating. Wednesday was when things got real messed up. Wednesday was transfer day and Halloween. We weren’t getting transferred so we figured we would just work the first part of the day and then from 5pm and on we had the night off so we were going to go hang out with members and go trick or treating with their kids and stuff. But those plans blew up Friday night when a missionary went crazy. We had to drive him to meet with president after transfer meeting then pack him up and get him moved to a new area. We got in our car at 9:30am and drove/packed up until 9:45 pm. It was a long day with a lot of hours in a car. Happy Halloween. After that things started to calm down though and the rest of the week went really good. It was nice to see the blessings that God gave us to end the week after the beginning was so crazy.
Because it’s the beginning of the new transfer we are loading up on a bunch of meetings again. Wahoo. Tomorrow we have a leadership meeting that actually got moved to our building so at least its close. But I have to give a 25 minute training. I have been nervous and trying to think about it all week. Of course I still don’t know what I am going to do. But God has this great way of helping us out of tough situations when we do our best to prepare for them. One thing I am really excited for this week is that we get to go on a few exchanges. There are a couple new missionaries in the zone because of transfers and I am really excited to get to meet them.
Something I am way excited for is next Tuesday because we get to have our mission conference. Elder Choi, who I think is a 70, is going to come down to our mission and talk to us. It is going to be a really great experience to get to hear and learn from him. And we get to drive down to Chesterfield so we get to go out to eat at Ghengis Grill which is amazing so I’m pretty excited for that.
A huge lesson I learned this week is to not judge people. A while ago we went tracting with Ron (Brother Kremer, but he will kill me if I call him that) and we saw this super old lady sweeping off her porch. When I saw her I didn’t even want to go talk to her because she just looked crazy. But of course the people I was with are more righteous than I am so we went over and swept her porch and talked to her. We set up a return appointment and went back and she answered and told us not today or whatever so I thought I was right. Just another crazy old person who isn’t interested. But then we went back a few days later. She let us in and we shared the first lesson with her. After, she talked to us and told us that she was really worried we weren’t going to come back after she turned us away once because we would think she isn’t interested. She then went on to tell us about how she really wanted to learn more about this and that she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Me and Elder Williams walked out after that lesson just amazed. We were so happy that she was serious about learning more about this. She should start to progress even more soon and will hopefully start coming to church and then soon after that accept the invitation to be baptized. I was so happy that she was willing to learn from us, and I have never been so happy to be completely wrong. It just goes to show that anyone can surprise you, especially when they have the Spirit with them to help them learn and grow.
I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to come out here and see people change every day. I have met people who were some of the worst people you can imagine. They break every commandment and they love every second of it. But then you get to see them change and go from some of the worst people you have ever met to some of the best. Seeing the change of heart that is talked about so much in the Book of Mormon is one of the coolest things that I have ever gotten to see. Watching people change and become better is the whole reason we are out here as missionaries. We are sharing the message that will change people the most and in the best way possible. I am so thankful for the message that I have the opportunity to share and I hope that we can all learn to love it and also allow it to change our lives for the best.
Elder Banks
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