Up And Doing

Week 60  April 27, 2015   4:26 pm EDT  Up And Doing

Meet my new nemesis:

the "tiwi"

In short, it is a little black box that monitors all sorts of things in our car/driving habits/etc that were recently installed for the whole mission. Apparently we are the 16th mission to get them and by the end of the year all the missions in the US/Canada will have them. Anxiety runs high in the mission now that we have a robot tracking our moves, but at least it's better to have a car with a black box than no car at all.

I tend to side with the counsel of the prophet Joseph Smith when it comes to these sorts of things - to teach correct principles and let them govern themselves - but apparently missionaries in cars are the church's greatest liability...so tiwi it is. 

Besides having almost going into cardiac arrest a few times because a robotic voice blares "CHECK YOUR SPEED" when the speed limit changes, life has been peachy keen. 

We started the week with the Silverdale Croquet Crew decked out in our Bay Hay & Feed shirts; it's a Bainbridge thing to take family pictures in the Bay Hay shirt/sweatshirt of your choice...so we naturally convinced (most) of the zone to participate haha.

Other highlights of the week included being able to participate in a Family History Expo where we helped teach a class about indexing records and getting started with finding family names, working with the Young Women for a Personal Progress activity and finding an awesome non-member who we can teach already participating, and a mini exchange with Sister Liao and Jones in Kitsap Lake

We've had more interesting things happen to us this week while knocking, like meeting someone who professed to be "Elijah reincarnated" and another family who opened the door, told us they weren't interested, gave us a plate of chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven and closed the door. Madsen and I were bummed they didn't want to listen, pleased to have delicious cookies, but mostly just confused by the whole business.

People on Bainbridge certainly have an interesting way of rejecting us. 

We are really focusing on member missionary work here, which is gradual but vital progress. Changing the way the culture of the church works in regards to missionary work is like changing the direction of a very, VERY large ship. It takes time and patience and fortitude and outside forces work against it, but it can be done. 

James 3:4 "Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm" 

See also: D&C 123:16

See also also: last week's email

It feels like Sister Madsen and I are a very small helm, but we know that though we are but little, we are fierce.

See also: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Keep the faith.

Go and "be up and doing" (Alma 60:24)

- elizabeth