32 -The Worthing Souls Are Great

It's been a productive week! And Sister Burt was even sick for the beginning of it, and we still got a super lot done, just, wow! And you know why? It's because we made awesome plans and followed through on them. This is how it went down.

We were doing weekly planning. Every week, it's the same people... And I knew there was more people that we still had yet to meet in the ward. So we finally sat down and figured out who all was in our area, active and less active alike and we highlighted all of the people we knew. There were a lot of un-highlighted names, so our goal is now to get as many names highlighted on that list as possible. Because we now had a definite list of people to visit, we met and taught two new less actives and have return appointments with both of them! We really should have done this sooner.

Beautiful Stained Glass.         An Uplifting Christmas Program

The day after that, we went to support one of our less actives who was in a Christmas program at a methodist church. She goes to a Methodist school.

The church was beautiful and the program was very cute and uplifting. They did a great job.

The mayor even passed by us while we were walking in the parking lot to the car and said, "Thanks for comin!" But we didn't know that was the mayor until the member who was with us notified us. Otherwise, we would have totally taken more advantage of that opportunity! But, still awesome that the mayor talked to us.

A map of the "city" of Worthing. :-)

The crowning event of this week though (as you can guess by the title), was the day in the City of Worthing.

This little thing is Worthing. 

There's a little bit more to it on the outskirts that doesn't show here aparently, but still, it's tiny. It has about 1000 people who live there we've been told.

You see, we have a few little tiny cities south and west of us that don't get touched very often because we are of course limited on the amount of miles we can use. 

But we decided that we NEEDED to get out to one of them and work there before weather became too severe. We found out that the best day would be Saturday, thanks to members who have smart phones and are willing to tell us the weather forcasts. We announced the previous Sunday that we needed a ride with our bikes to Worthing on Saturday and got things all orchestrated. (See how much preparation this took? Couldn't just do this on a whim.)

So, come Saturday we armed ourselves with supplies and a packed lunch because we didn't know if there were any places to eat there. We ate a big breakfast that Saturday (conveniantly served at the church because it was the holiday Christmas breakfast thing) and we hooked our bikes up and we were off on an adventure!

Worthing... honestly wasn't quite as far away as we thought. It took about fifteen minutes to get there, but it was still worth getting a ride. Before long there was a little sign.

There it is! Worthing! Haha. 

We were dropped off at the east end of the city and we started knocking on doors! 

The low was 26 or so and the high 42 and it was sunny and not very windy. It was still cold, but completely bearable, the perfect day to tract out that town.

Worthing, and just small towns or... cities... (it is a city. Has a school and a little City Hall and everything.) they remind me of what it would be like in the book "To Kill a Mockingbird." Just super small with dirt roads and the houses are more old and everything. It's a cool feel.

Cold Chicken Noodle Soup for Lunch

I am glad we brought a lunch though, because the only places to eat were two bars and the gas station. Soooo cold chicken noodle soup it was! A little bit colder than room temperature, but, hey, it was food!

We actually did not tract out the entire town. We tracted until Juniper, so we only covered like a third of what we have on our map. 

In the five and a half hours we were there we passed out 29 He is the Gift cards, 5 Book of Mormons, and found many people who have been humbled by their life's circumstances and who are much more receptive to the gospel than most of the people in Sioux Falls. 

We are going back to Worthing on Saturday for two return appointments and some drop-bys and more tracting!

One of the most powerful experiences was this:

It was later in the afternoon, one of the last doors we knocked on, and this lady opened the door. She was getting out her Christmas decorations, seeing what she already had and what she still needed. We gave her the He is the Gift card and she started telling us how this was a hard time for her and her family, that they were going through a lot. And she mentioned her sister who lived in town (so there are still little towns where people are related) and she was actually one of the first people we tracted into, so we already had that connection.

We bore testimony that us meeting her, AND her sister before her, was no coincidence and that the Book of Mormon, this gospel, is what they need in order to bring them peace. There were tears in her eyes from just referencing the hard time she was having. Sister Burt then said,

"Do you want a hug?"

"Yes, I actually would."

I watched with humble heart as they hugged. Then I hugged her and said,

"I know we just met you, but we love you already!"

She had tears streaming down her face. This is the first time I've ever seen someone cry on my mission right there at the doorstep. It was really, really quite something. We gave her sister before her a Book of Mormon and we gave her a Book of Mormon as well of course. 

We will be sure to try them next Saturday.

Shortly after that experience, we went to the gas station and called for our ride because it was getting dark outside. (It gets dark at around 5:30 right now.)

It's a cute little gas station, as you can see, but the sad thing is, it's bigger than the Circle K I worked at. I swear, there's not a gas station that I've ever come across that is smaller than the one I worked at, or in other words, has only two islands of food stuff! This one had like, four. But, I guess it is the only gas station, so they should have more stuff I suppose.

Our ride came and we were happy to report the results of the day. It was a taxing day and we were sore the day after, but it was so worth it!

And for the hard work we put in, Heavenly Father poured out a blessing upon us the day after. 

Travis and Jasmine and their four little boys came to church! We have lost contact with them because they just had a new baby and Travis is out of town a lot. Jasmine was baptised earlier in Mexico, but doesn't know anything about the church really. They all enjoyed church and we have a return appointment with them on Thursday! 

We have more set appointments this upcoming week then I think we've ever had! It's been a productive week for sure!

Also, if you haven't seen the He is a Gift video, go to christmas.mormon.org and watch it! It is a great video and gets better when you share it with people! The first time I watched it, I will confess, I had thoughts of "...her shorts are really short... ...that's a weird looking depiction of Jesus and Mary... ..the music is eeeh." But as I've watched it more and read the words, it is now a powerful video! So go and watch it, and think about how Jesus Christ is the greatest gift and more importantly, think of how you can show your appreciation for him.

Discover the Gift.

Embrace the Gift.

and, Share the Gift.

Remember what Christmas is truly about and I promise, you will have a merry Christmas.