Saturday, May 28, 2016

Spiritual Drain!

Hey,

I know what an interesting title for this week letter, but really I feel like every week is so spiritually and emotionally draining! I always look forward to Sundays and Mondays! This week we had a great experience with a Seventy who came to visit the mission! Vikki's baptism was on Saturday and we had great experiences during the week!

I'll start from Sunday this time:

Yesterday was a great day and Vikki got confirmed! She had Bishop Fish baptize her and had about 7 total in her circle which started out to just be 4 including Bishop! I have never seen her smile so big before! She was literally glowing! She was so cute! She is amazing! After Church we had a linger longer/baptism for an 8 yr old girl! We had a lot of food left over after the Fiesta activity so they used it for after the baptism! Vikki came also and I could tell she enjoyed it a lot too with the fact that now she gets to attend another already being baptized! She would turn to me and say that was a good talk I liked that or that's amazing! She is just so great and I love her to death! It has definitely been an experience I never thought I would get to have! I got to truly be a part of the preparing her baptism and having to think of everything! I was so grateful to see how much she has learned and knowing how much potential she has! I can see her being a Relief Society President! Oh man! She is just amazing! We left early from the linger longer to finish stuff before a lesson at 3:30! We were able to have Bishop come with us to see the Parcell's. I'm not sure if I talked about them before but we had gotten a referral from someone in the same neighborhood as them and when we were able to get through the gate we stopped by to see them and she loves us coming! We were hesitant in telling her that Bishop was coming but when we arrived she was so honored to have him in her home! Her husband (nonmember) stayed during the lesson and just listened! We talked about the Atonement and the gospel of Jesus Christ using a visual! (I love using it-and she needed it). It was a great lesson and she is wanting to go to the Temple! She hasn't been to church since before knowing that there was a temple in Raleigh! It was back in the 70's where they only went to Washington DC and that her home town was barely a branch! Now it is a stake! Go figure! She is such a sweet lady and just kept asking us when we could come back! It was a great lesson all the way and Bishop did a great job in answering all her questions! She asked some hard ones! Bishop Fish is the best Bishop I have worked with here in NC!

We had a great experience tracting tonight! We went to see a less active and had a quick dinner with them. We were going to go see another less active but instead drove home to try tracting out our apartment complex! Seriously no body would even let us talk! But oh well! It was starting to get discouraging but we knocked on the last door for the night and a mom and her 5 yr old opened the door! The boy ran out and said "Hi ladies you can come in and play with me." He was the cutest thing ever! We started talking to the mom and we were setting up a time to come back. We were setting up a time but then she just let us come in. They didn't have a couch or really anything in there living room and so we sat on the floor while she sat in camp chair. Now this 5 yr old had some energy and the time he really wanted us to play with him. I tried to play with him to let Sister Higbee talk but he was just to distracting and we could tell the mom (Wendy) was embarrassed so I just went with it and we started talking about how we are all God's children! We asked question that we got I don't know answers to. We asked her "Do you know that you are a child of God? She said no I don't know. It broke me to hear that we explained how we are. I felt impressed to apply this concept to her personally so she can see what we are saying. I use her being a mom and she completely opened up. Told us a lot of things and that she doesn't get support from a lot of people. She is living with her Mom. She is just a sad lady. Had decided Today to quite smoking to be healthier and to be able to save money. I truly know that we meant to see her tonight and this lesson with her was very much spirit directed and I was able to help with it. I told  her that now we will be a support group and we can help her get back to church and see what is in store for her. I told her that the church is a support system and a big family! My heart just ached for her and I felt so bad and I know God let me see her the way he sees her! I have a love for her already that I just want to give her something to keep her going! To realize all of this was seriously a spiritual drain!

Saturday= Baptism Day! We were pretty busy and it was interesting to try to get the font on! It leaks even when you have water in! But it worked fine we thought we might have to use a plastic bag. We got it fine! Vikki's baptism was great and we had a lot of people come. We got to meet her family and her husband really liked it! The talks were great and Vikki was glowing! When she was baptized she was just smiling so big and just cried. She was laughing and just was amazing! It's crazy to think that all of it is over now but thankfully nothing went wrong! Oh I love this woman!!!!! After we had about an hour before we had to be home so we went to go see a potential who we had tracted into. Not sure I said anything about him earlier but he is a single man and lives by himself in a big home and at first talked to us just fine but once he found out we were Mormons he got kind of defensive. We left the first time on good terms and so when we stopped by he was glad to see us. He is ready and I know he has been prepared but he may take a while. We hope to fellowship him with our Ward mission Leader! It was great we learned he likes Poetry and romantic movies. hahaha.

Thursday we had Zone Conference and I got to go back to Fayetteville! Never thought I would miss Fayettenam! It was great to be with the Southern Zone of which all I have been in now! Elder Zwick came and we had a great conference. It's amazing just how much the leaders of the church know what's going on in the world. I am proud to say he wants to tell the quorum of the 12 that we are a very impressive group of missionaries. He says he will report only good things! He talked a lot about new ways to teach and Sister Higbee and I have used it already and it truly helps us better present our purpose and being able to share a strong testimony. It's called Teach Testify or I call it Teach and Testify from the Heart! Elder Zwick talked a lot about obedience and why we are to be obedient. It's not that we are expected to be but that we should want to! President talked about setting goals and I felt that was a call to repentance for me. I may be setting goals but do I really need to work on them or are there better ones that make me stretch and improve! It was literally I felt for me! Sister Zwick talked about praying and that I know I need to be better at. Not doing it more but more of letting the spirit direct. I was so tired at the end I was grateful that I wasn't driving back from Fayetteville. It is amazing just how much I got out of this Conference! I love these meetings..... I never thought I would say that!

I have so much I could talk about but I wanted to leave with a testimony today! I love this work and I love the companionship of the Spirit and just how I feel as I do this work here in North Carolina! I have learned so much and honestly what haven't I learned! Anyone who asks better be prepared for a long list! I love just how I feel at the end the day, even and especially on the hard days! I truly love this Gospel and I know it's true! The more I live it and try to learn it the more I am love it and know that it is what I need! I have learned so much about the plan God has for us and also the individual plan he has for me personally! I may not know what it is but I know the plan he has for me as a missionary. Whatever I do know about anything that makes a testimony is the faith we need to trust that everything will be okay! No matter the hardships, the unknown, the times when we feel incapable. We really are incapable of so much but Christ fixes that for us all, personally and lovingly. This is the Gospel of Hope and love and those who say otherwise better wait cause something will always come to teach us! We may feel lonely but from the story of the footsteps in the sand he is really there the whole time and times carries us when we don't realize it! I love my Savior and I love this work and I love North Carolina and I especially love the South of where there Faith is grounded but they loosen it enough to see and receive what is truly better! Love you all and I hope and know you will be blessed and looked after! Have a blessed week!

--

Sister Tayler Farr

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