March 31
Hotlanta? Where art thou??
What a week! It has been frigid yet again, in
the 30's. But this week could very well get to the 80's! The days seemed to go
by super fast and the week seemed fairly slow! But I am hanging in there, and
persisting! Satan is sitting there asking, "Why must you persist, Elder
Barnes?" To which I reply, "Because I choose to!" It has been a
fabulous week though. Stress has been on the higher end, understandably. I have
gotten the least amount of sleep I have gotten in a week on the mission. But I
do know that God blesses those that are asked to sacrifice! So let me tackle
the week!
Monday we did infact hit the Zoo! It was a
blast! It has been a while since I have been to any zoo. We also were hoping to
try the Chicken and Waffles by Gladys Knight, but we settled for the Varsity.
Their ordering system is super funny, it reminded me of In-n-Out. Old school
burger drive thru. We commenced the packing, and that was just about our whole
day.
Tuesday, was another errand type day. We were all over the place! We met with Nieta again, and she is amazing!! She got a job offer from another company to work for that would not make her work on Sundays! And the pay is better! The Lord always provides!
Tuesday, was another errand type day. We were all over the place! We met with Nieta again, and she is amazing!! She got a job offer from another company to work for that would not make her work on Sundays! And the pay is better! The Lord always provides!
Wednesday was the big transfer day. Super
overwhelming, and I wasn't sure if it fully hit me yet what was about to
change! Training and District Leader. I did receive my companion though, his
name is Elder Skouson! He is from Michigan, and is waiting on a visa to get to
Brazil. We get along very well, and have more similarities than differences! He
loves sports, food, and missionary work! He is eager to work, and Atlanta was
actually where he wanted to go when he put in his mission papers. What a
coincidence! He has been to 2 years of college so he is a learned man too. We
got to hear Brother Miller (from Lost Mountain) speak at transfer meeting. I
miss them! But he mentioned that one missionary can change a ward! We'll see
what we can do here in Twin Oaks. We did a little tracting, and he got the
MARTA experience on day one. He was just as floored as I was, but we'll get
over it!
Thursday was a miracle day! After we
had finished our weekly planning, We went out full of faith and traveled out
and about to our appointments. We were running short on time, and contemplated
whether we should visit this one referral we had jotted down, named Elsie. We
decided to follow these plans, and the Lord delivered! We went there, and Elsie
wasn't home, but her Mom and Husband were, and they let us right in! We sat
down and started connecting with them, and tied it to the Restoration. The
lesson went super well, and we invited Margie (the Mom) and Sherod (the
Husband) to baptism, and they eagerly accepted! They invited us back the next
day to come and teach Elsie too! Now all three are on date! When we plan by the
Spirit, we are entitled to the Lord's hand to lead us through it! Oh, one more
miracle! We had given out three copies of the Book of Mormon that same day, and
had one left, and 15 minutes until we needed to be home. We had one copy left,
and I asked Elder Skouson if we could place it. He timidly nodded, no. I hopped
right up, and looked around the station for that one person. The Lord's
placement put a lady right in front of us, who was wearing a Michigan Sweater.
Elder Skouson connected right with her, she even asked us for the Book of
Mormon! The train came 30 seconds later, but we were able to get her contact
info! God is a God of Miracles!
Friday we had that other appointment with
Sharod, Elsie, and Margie. I forgot one point to mention, and that is that they
had just gotten a car this past week, and promised the Lord that when they got
a car, they would go to church. They haven't been in 2 years. They were
planning to go to their old Church, but the Lord put us there at the right
time! Elder Skouson doesn't have any dietary restrictions, so the Pizza was
absolutely perfect! Thank you again Mom! We are so spoiled!
Saturday, all of our plans fell through, so
Elder Skouson got the other side of missionary work! It was a little
disheartening, but we worked hard, and could still lay down at night knowing we
did well. We met some great people along the way! We also had a baptism, which
was supposed to be at 7:30, but got pushed to 9. It went way too late. It
didn't go as well as it should have, but hey, the ordinance got taken care of!
Another one for the Mormons! We didn't get home until way late, 10:20...
It was possibly they best Sunday I have had
here. It felt good, and we even had to teach Gospel Principles. The lesson was
on scriptures so it wasn't anything too major. Sacrament ran 30 minutes late so
we only taught for 15 minutes. We made due with what we had! The biggest news
was that Nieta made it to church even on her Birthday! She invited us to go
bowling, but we unfortunately declined. Maybe if it were on a Monday! She loved
church though, and she will be coming out to see General Conference!
So that is my
week! I have a feeling that I have another one ahead! And so do y'all! And I
hope it is the most amazing week yet! Thank you again for the love, emails,
letters, prayers, etc. I do greatly appreciate everything that is done in my
behalf! I'm not entirely sure what we are up to today, but we will find
something fun to do in the ATL! Have an amazing day, and week! We will converse
in about a week! Love you all heaps! Stand firm in the faith! Have a blessed up
week!
Love,
Love,
Elder Dallan Barnes
~What we speak more of, we see more of
No comments:
Post a Comment