This week we had a free car wash and free church tour! Best idea ever! I was mostly on sign waving duty since not many other missionaries wanted to. That's okay though because I can easily entertain myself. It turned into a game to get the people in their cars to turn toward the church. My favorite part was when I saw the UPS truck driving by I yelled out "FREE UPS TRUCK WASH! The guy thought it was pretty funny and actually turned around and came back! Hilarious! He didn't actually get his truck washed but he gave us some good entertainment.
We were very clever, and pushed the cross walk button so we could put on a good show for all the stopped-for-no-reason cars. They probably loved us. My favorite cars were the ones stopped that pretended they couldn't see us. With one I yelled out staring right at him "FREE SILVER TOYOTA COROLLA CAR WASH!!" You could see a little smile start to form, but he wouldn't give in. We convinced one guy who was stopped by yelling "FREE BLUE F250 WASH THIS WAY!!" He laughed and actually turned to get his truck washed. it made my day!
Unfortunately by being on signs we couldn't actually see what was going on at the car wash and if it was even very successful. After a couple hours we decided to see if anyone would rotate with us. When we got to the church there were about 4 cars being washed and someone was in need of a church tour. I grabbed a sister and away we went. It was truly the highlight for me. the spirit was so strong in that tour. The lady we were touring had all sorts of questions that we were able to answer. The spirit amplified as we showed her the baptismal font and talked about the sacred covenant of baptism. When we got to the chapel I felt like I could burst with joy as we shared the importance of the sacrament.
Cars quickly dispersed with no one being on signs, and no else wanted to go so away we 4 sisters went. My voice was pretty much gone after 3.5 hours of yelling. I was a little disappointed I didn't get to be a part of the actual washing and more of the tours, but I learned a very valuable lesson that night. After nightly planning our zone leaders sent out a text with the number of tours and car washes. In 3.5 hours we washed over 60 cars and gave over 30 tours. I was shocked! At that moment I realized how valuable my little roll was in the car wash even though I couldn't see what was happening. I related it to missionary work, sometimes it feels like what we are doing is fruitless, but we don't get to see the big picture that heavenly father is seeing. There are so many seeds of faith being planted every day. I am simply just a servant in the lords vineyard. Even when we come across people like Wendy who apparently knows "ALLLL about [us]" and slams the door, we can never really know if our interactions are really just fertilizing the seed. If that makes sense.
We were very clever, and pushed the cross walk button so we could put on a good show for all the stopped-for-no-reason cars. They probably loved us. My favorite cars were the ones stopped that pretended they couldn't see us. With one I yelled out staring right at him "FREE SILVER TOYOTA COROLLA CAR WASH!!" You could see a little smile start to form, but he wouldn't give in. We convinced one guy who was stopped by yelling "FREE BLUE F250 WASH THIS WAY!!" He laughed and actually turned to get his truck washed. it made my day!
Unfortunately by being on signs we couldn't actually see what was going on at the car wash and if it was even very successful. After a couple hours we decided to see if anyone would rotate with us. When we got to the church there were about 4 cars being washed and someone was in need of a church tour. I grabbed a sister and away we went. It was truly the highlight for me. the spirit was so strong in that tour. The lady we were touring had all sorts of questions that we were able to answer. The spirit amplified as we showed her the baptismal font and talked about the sacred covenant of baptism. When we got to the chapel I felt like I could burst with joy as we shared the importance of the sacrament.
Cars quickly dispersed with no one being on signs, and no else wanted to go so away we 4 sisters went. My voice was pretty much gone after 3.5 hours of yelling. I was a little disappointed I didn't get to be a part of the actual washing and more of the tours, but I learned a very valuable lesson that night. After nightly planning our zone leaders sent out a text with the number of tours and car washes. In 3.5 hours we washed over 60 cars and gave over 30 tours. I was shocked! At that moment I realized how valuable my little roll was in the car wash even though I couldn't see what was happening. I related it to missionary work, sometimes it feels like what we are doing is fruitless, but we don't get to see the big picture that heavenly father is seeing. There are so many seeds of faith being planted every day. I am simply just a servant in the lords vineyard. Even when we come across people like Wendy who apparently knows "ALLLL about [us]" and slams the door, we can never really know if our interactions are really just fertilizing the seed. If that makes sense.
By the way, I did get those facts wrong in my last email. It was the time of the Babylonian Captivity when king ZEDEKIAH was king. The people that fled went to the land of ZERAHEMLA. They both begin with Z. Same thing...
Super cool: We met a lady who died and went to heaven. She was told that her time in this life was not finished and got sent back. We are going to teach her about the Plan of Salvation this week! YAY.
I can't wait to go to the temple this week! I get to do some of my family names the day after my birthday!! Greatest birthday present ever! Thanks to our amazing friend Lonnie McMullen! Plus I get to load up on Mormon tabernacle CD's that are not "Consider the Lilies." wonderful CD, but not after 3 months of it. I refrained a few times from throwing it out the window. Proud moments.
Moment of the Week:
I heard one of the elders complaining about the button falling off of his suite jacket yesterday. He was explaining his buttons sewing disabilities. Out of the kindness of my heart I told him I would use my button sewing talent to fix his suite jacket for him. I probably made him the happiest Elder in the mission. Last night I heard a knock at the door. We opened it to two elders with a small handful of suit jackets, pants and ties in need of repair. Lucky me!
I forgot to mention Freida! We have been teaching her on Skype. She is older with a LOT of health problems. We were finishing our lesson about the Plan of Salvation and our purpose here in this life when she asked us if we could sing. Sister Decker (I was on exchanged at the time) and I looked at each other kind of surprised, but said yes we love to sing. She asked us if we would sing her a song. We decided to sing "I Am a Child of God". The Spirit filled the room as we sang to her all the way up in Canada. Music is so powerful. I had to refrain from crying as the song testified of everything we had just taught her. It was a beautiful moment. Our hearts were as full of the spirit as they could be after we ended the Skype call. We sat there in silence for a few minutes soaking up the spirit. I love being a missionary.
Love you all,
Sister Carter
I forgot to mention Freida! We have been teaching her on Skype. She is older with a LOT of health problems. We were finishing our lesson about the Plan of Salvation and our purpose here in this life when she asked us if we could sing. Sister Decker (I was on exchanged at the time) and I looked at each other kind of surprised, but said yes we love to sing. She asked us if we would sing her a song. We decided to sing "I Am a Child of God". The Spirit filled the room as we sang to her all the way up in Canada. Music is so powerful. I had to refrain from crying as the song testified of everything we had just taught her. It was a beautiful moment. Our hearts were as full of the spirit as they could be after we ended the Skype call. We sat there in silence for a few minutes soaking up the spirit. I love being a missionary.
Love you all,
Sister Carter
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