Hermana Ficklin and I are having a fantastic time here in Austin! This week flew by, like usual, and was full of great things. We were able to find some new people and also get in contact with some less-active members we haven't seen for awhile.
My favorite part of this week was teaching Gh and his brother. We brought a sister in the ward who speaks a little French and it was very helpful! The Spirit was strong as we went over the basics of the Restoration again. We have been working on establishing a common ground when teaching so that we don't immediately highlight all the differences between our church and others, but rather look at the good things we both believe in and work from there. Sometimes that's hard for me because the gospel is so great and I want everyone to be able to understand all of it right away! Our lessons this week were good though and surely but slowly Gh is progressing. His brother has shown some interest in sitting in on lessons, so maybe we can help him to progress too. Yesterday was wonderful because for the first time Gh came to church!! He seemed to like it so we're looking forward to following up with him this week.
We are doing a lot of work trying to implement things to help get the members involved with both finding/teaching new investigators and also helping less actives. It is the focus that President Forbes is trying to get us to take, and so we are trying to do that. It's so different than what I'm used to, and it is hard because it takes a lot of time, but we are getting there!
Yesterday I had a very unique experience of going to a Pentecostal church with some of our Hispanic investigators. It was so interesting. It really helped me to be in the shoes of someone who comes to a new church for the first time. It was way different than the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS- lots of loud music, the pastor screaming his message at the top of his lungs, and lots of "hallelujahs" and other praises randomly came from the congregation. It was good though... good people showing their love for God. It reinforced in me the importance of Priesthood Authority and correct teachings. It really was a cool experience though and I think it really helped strengthen the trust with our investigators too. They have a cool story. V was Catholic until she met her husband. He had been involved with the Cartel and spent 6 years in prison where he changed and decided to join the Pentecostal church. We haven't had the chance to teach him yet, because he works all week long, but hopefully this week!
I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and learn and help others. I wish I could tell you all the experiences and little things that happen because it really is amazing!
Tomorrow we are having Zone Conference in Bloomington and Elder Carlson of the 70 will be there. Should be great!
Love you all!
♥Hermana Pierce
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