But what I'm geting at
is that...
I'm back in the
Visitors' Center!!! And it is wonderful and joyful and perfect!
...But also kinda
hard. At least it was for the first few days. But that's kind of a normal
Transfer deal. A little crying, a little missing my old companeras and my
Lynwood fam...a little "Oh my gosh. What am I doing here?"-ness...but
Heavenly Father was there every step of the way giving me little miracles and
tender mercies to pull me through to the state of inexplicable joy in which I
currently reside. (P.S. It's a Temple P-Day...the day in which my joy
reaches an unheard of level of inexplicability. Go to the temple, friends.
Also, the little red spell-check lines tell me that inexplicability is not
actually a word. So don't hold me accountable when they do the same to you.)
Because here's the
deal: The Visitors' Center is AMAZING. I love it. And I have
already had some pretty deeply powerful experiences just in this last week.
A few less-actives coming back, a few bomb.com investigator tours
with their missionaries, a few super-cool phone conversations with people who
were beyond prepared to receive the missionaries (and they KNEW it too, you
know? Part of the definition of the elect: knowing your elect) = LOVE & JOY
OF MISSIONARIES.
And here's the other
deal: My companion is OUTSTANDING. And surprising in all of the
best ways. 1) She eats as much as I do and thinks about food just as much.
Which is RIDICULOUS if you know me. 2) She's HILARIOUS. Like witty. Like
sometimes you think she doesn't understand you ('cause she's Cambodian and she
still doesn't feel totally great about her English), but then she comes back w/
a one-liner that makes you laugh loud enough to get shushed and chastised for
chasing the spirit out of the VC. 3) She has a DEEP, POWERFUL testimony of this
restored gospel. Especially in regards to eternal families. Amazing, amazing
experiences. She's just solid. And I love her. And she's crazy clean and crazy
sweet.
Below is a copy of my
letter to pres. Enjoy it. Judge it. Whatever. Love you all SO MUCH.
You're in my prayers and on the LA Temple Prayer role. Keep prayin' for us Mar
Vista sistas as we white wash this area into a Celestial oblivion.
Man. That was a good
line.
Okay. So much love.
-Sister Wells
p.s. I totally still
wear my Spanish name tag. I promise I'll get over it soon. :)
Hello
President Baker,
Below is a copy of our Transfer Vision. White washing while serving in the Visitors' Center is proving to be an adjustment and somewhat of a challenge, but I emerged from the temple today with renewed hope and motivation to build this ward (AND the Visitors' Center) in the way that the Lord would have us do so.
We have met with Bishop *****, and he has been wonderfully helpful in providing us with the information we need to move forward. We're hoping to get more specific assignments from him soon. He seems excited to have us there. We've already been assigned to speak in Sacrament meeting on Father's Day, which is mildly intimidating--but a wonderful opportunity. And our meal calendar is mostly filled out, which represents a lot more wonderful opportunities.
The ward mission leader is also excellent. He has a lot of energy and innovative ideas, but from what I've heard, it's been his assistant who really carries them out. They haven't seen a baptism in a while, and they all recognize the discouragement that follows that, but they have focused on encouraging and helping members in their individual seed-planting efforts. We're hoping to bolster their efforts with a series of Active Member Trainings, in which we help members deepen their own conversion through the creation of their own mission plan and in gaining some missionary conversation skills, etc.
The 5-5-5 program hasn't been moving forward in the way anyone could hope for...(which is the unfortunate norm that I have witnessed in my time in the mission. I think everyone needs to gain a clearer vision of what and how and why the 5-5-5 program works. It was designed by the first presidency, wasn't it? I don't even know...should I not be worry about it as much as I am? Then again, I probably shouldn't be worrying about a lot things as much as I am. Let's be honest. :)
...but they do have an almost-official "shepherding" program in place in which each less-active family is "unofficially" assigned an active family fellowshipper. We'll be getting that list of assignments soon, and we're hoping to utilize it in our LA efforts.
The ward, overall, is wonderful. A lot of great people, and a lot of potential. As Elder Cook admonished us, we will leave the Mar Vista ward better than we found it. Hooray for member work!
We have two investigators. One (*****) cannot get baptized until he gets his long-term visa, but he's amazing! He has an incredible amount of faith, and he knows that he will be blessed for it. We love him. The other we will meet on Saturday. The elders have met with him twice.
Below is a copy of our Transfer Vision. White washing while serving in the Visitors' Center is proving to be an adjustment and somewhat of a challenge, but I emerged from the temple today with renewed hope and motivation to build this ward (AND the Visitors' Center) in the way that the Lord would have us do so.
We have met with Bishop *****, and he has been wonderfully helpful in providing us with the information we need to move forward. We're hoping to get more specific assignments from him soon. He seems excited to have us there. We've already been assigned to speak in Sacrament meeting on Father's Day, which is mildly intimidating--but a wonderful opportunity. And our meal calendar is mostly filled out, which represents a lot more wonderful opportunities.
The ward mission leader is also excellent. He has a lot of energy and innovative ideas, but from what I've heard, it's been his assistant who really carries them out. They haven't seen a baptism in a while, and they all recognize the discouragement that follows that, but they have focused on encouraging and helping members in their individual seed-planting efforts. We're hoping to bolster their efforts with a series of Active Member Trainings, in which we help members deepen their own conversion through the creation of their own mission plan and in gaining some missionary conversation skills, etc.
The 5-5-5 program hasn't been moving forward in the way anyone could hope for...(which is the unfortunate norm that I have witnessed in my time in the mission. I think everyone needs to gain a clearer vision of what and how and why the 5-5-5 program works. It was designed by the first presidency, wasn't it? I don't even know...should I not be worry about it as much as I am? Then again, I probably shouldn't be worrying about a lot things as much as I am. Let's be honest. :)
...but they do have an almost-official "shepherding" program in place in which each less-active family is "unofficially" assigned an active family fellowshipper. We'll be getting that list of assignments soon, and we're hoping to utilize it in our LA efforts.
The ward, overall, is wonderful. A lot of great people, and a lot of potential. As Elder Cook admonished us, we will leave the Mar Vista ward better than we found it. Hooray for member work!
We have two investigators. One (*****) cannot get baptized until he gets his long-term visa, but he's amazing! He has an incredible amount of faith, and he knows that he will be blessed for it. We love him. The other we will meet on Saturday. The elders have met with him twice.
[Note for those of
you at home: ***** is outrageously cool, and is teaching me Farsi. From
Iran. Sister *******, one of our members, is also from Iran, and she translates
a lot of the lessons for us. She's also outrageously cool.]
[Other note for those
of you at home: Don't judge the following paragraph.White people can be
nasty when you knock them out of their houses, you know? Understandably. We
have an increasingly impersonal culture. Front porches have gone out of style.
Dr. Ralph Brown taught me that...Again, I'm so glad I'm a Sociology major.
Somehow being able to explain away the horrible behavior we encounter while
tracting by attributing it to overarching societal patterns makes me feel
better. And tracting will get better. I really do see the value in it.
Especially since that's how Sis. ***'s family found the missionaries. Her
testimony of it is softening my heart.]
I'm still working on my testimony of tracting, President. I know everyone tracts (unless you're in Lynwood and everyone's outside...) And I know a lot of people have been baptized who were found tracting, but I can't help but wonder if that's just because of the inevitability of finding SOME prepared people regardless of the finding method you use.
Because statistically-speaking, it's not that effective, right? 1/1,000 doors gets baptized? As opposed to member referrals...? I don't know. Feel free to chastise me. I need to learn. It's probably mostly a pride thing, and should therefore be placed on the altar of sacrifice...but there's also the fact VC sisters don't have time to knock 1,000 doors. And my increased desire to work with and train members with the limited time we have. Given, with faith, all things are possible. So of course we can try and do both! I actually don't know if I need to be chastised now. I think just writing this may have given me the necessary testimony of tracting. Sorry to waste your time.
Thank you for all you do!
Sister Wells
[Other note for those at home: Once upon a time, this was beautifully formatted in Microsoft Word. I promise I have not lost my love and obsession with beautifully formatted things. It just doesn't transfer over sometimes.]
I'm still working on my testimony of tracting, President. I know everyone tracts (unless you're in Lynwood and everyone's outside...) And I know a lot of people have been baptized who were found tracting, but I can't help but wonder if that's just because of the inevitability of finding SOME prepared people regardless of the finding method you use.
Because statistically-speaking, it's not that effective, right? 1/1,000 doors gets baptized? As opposed to member referrals...? I don't know. Feel free to chastise me. I need to learn. It's probably mostly a pride thing, and should therefore be placed on the altar of sacrifice...but there's also the fact VC sisters don't have time to knock 1,000 doors. And my increased desire to work with and train members with the limited time we have. Given, with faith, all things are possible. So of course we can try and do both! I actually don't know if I need to be chastised now. I think just writing this may have given me the necessary testimony of tracting. Sorry to waste your time.
Thank you for all you do!
Sister Wells
[Other note for those at home: Once upon a time, this was beautifully formatted in Microsoft Word. I promise I have not lost my love and obsession with beautifully formatted things. It just doesn't transfer over sometimes.]
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