Helloooo everyone! Long time no talk. Lol, my bad. I wasn't able to email last week because -- long story short -- we were doing our laundry and I locked us out (again) ((I think I have a problem)) and my pride got the best of me and we didn't call the senior couple to rescue us. So after surveying our building, attempting to climb onto our balcony with on an old washing machine we found by the dumpster, using the help of our neighbor and calling some people, we figured out a game plan. Finally, two hours later we located a ladder and Sister Williams was offered as the tall sacrifice, climbed up, stood precariously on the 2 inch ledge, pulled herself up onto our balcony, and got us back into our apartment. It made for a pretty exciting night, but then I had no time to email lol so anyways, here we are!
It's been a good past two weeks. Quite a bit has happened, but there are 2 experiences in particular that I wanted to talking about.
So, last Sunday we were knocking and it just wasn't going too well. There was a football game on, AND it was 3 Kings Day so pretty much nobody was giving us the time of day. However, we did have some pretty funny interactions that we quote now. Like there were these kids that we were talking to while they played basketball, and we gave one of them a pamphlet, and his dad like 7 houses down the road comes outside and yells at us, "We don't want none of that Jesus stuff! Take that back!".
Another favorite encounter:
*through the door* "Who is it?"
"It's the Sister Missionaries!"
"Not interested"
"With all due respect, you don't even know what we're here for"
"Well, what are you here for?"
"We are sharing the most important message you will ever hear"
".....not interested"
Hahaha you gotta love it. But ANYWAY, we prayerfully chose 2 streets to knock, the first one was a no go, but then we move to the second street. Still not very fruitful, but this time we met a nice guy named Dave who said we could come back on Tuesday. Then a little more down the road, we meet another nice guy named Erik! We said we would be in the area on Tuesday and asked if we could come back, he said that was fine. Honestly, we weren't really expecting much to come out of either of them, but it was nice to meet someone who was at least friendly to us. Well Tuesday rolls around and we are about to leave to see Dave and Erik, and we get a call from a member! She said that we had an appointment with one of her really close friends?! We were a little confused at first, but it turns out that Erik is her friends husband!! Apparently she and the member have had some conversations about the gospel in the past and has a lot of questions about what her beliefs are. So her friend Courtney texted her and said that "some nice girls from your church are coming to my house" and asked if she had any advice for what to expect. It was so crazy!!
Courtney and Erik have 5 young kids (are working on their 6th!) and family is really important to them. They aren't super religious themselves, but she sees how the members family is and even follows some "mommy bloggers" in Utah and wants that love and spirit emulated in her own home. While we were talking to Courtney, the kids were running around and showing off for us. But we gathered them all around to give them a children's Book of Mormon and they all listened intently as we talked about where the Book of Mormon came from and told them about Joseph Smith's first vision. You could totally feel the mood change, and I think they all felt it too. The kids were asking us when we could come back and they all have a bunch of questions about God. We are having dinner with them this next week!! We're super pumped! See, even when we feel like our efforts are wasted or we don't know what will come out of something, we are always being lead. God is so good.
Other experience!
So, about a week ago, we met a man on the street who was about to go into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and invited us to come in and check it out. We didn't have time to go that day but we came back this week! Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect. We walk in and there were about 30 men and women all gathered around tables and introducing themselves by saying their name ("Hi, I'm so-and-so!") and how long they have been sober. When it got time for us to introduce ourselves we just said someone invited us last week, and that "we hope you don't mind we're here!". They all were super welcoming and kind to us and said they were happy to see some smiling faces. As the meeting went on, people were sharing a lot of these very personal stories of their battle with alcoholism and the struggles they have had. These people just feel so broken and empty inside and want so badly to be made whole again. It's difficult to describe the feelings of love and humility and understanding that were in that room, and I really was able to see each of them in such a different light than if I were just to meet them on the street. It was a very humbling experience for me, and so incredible to see how these people are doing the 12 steps and turning to God in an effort for recovery.
As people were sharing their stories and personal challenges on the road to recovery, a very familiar verse of scripture came to my head...
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them".
I've read that scripture hundreds of times, but it really hit me in such a different way when I was sitting with those people in that meeting. That is such an incredible promise given to us by God, that He will turn our weakness into strength as we humble ourselves and have faith that His power can heal and change us. There are so many things about this life that can be so difficult to overcome. But these weaknesses that we are given ultimately lead us to depend more on God, and to use the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. That is what I wanted to share with all of those wonderful people. All I wanted to do was stand in the middle of that circle and tell them all that Jesus Christ knows them! He can ease their suffering and this journey that they are trying to take can be so much easier with the help of Christ. Jesus Christ knows what each of them and what each of you are going through. He lived a perfect life for them and for you. He suffered all pains for them and for you. He died for them and for you. He knows all the pain, suffering, sadness, mental illness, all feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness, and heartbreak. He atoned for the sins of the world. I know that He loves each of us. And I feel like I was really able to feel that in a personal way this week.
But, yeah! God is good. He puts us where we need to be, and He is aware of us when we struggle. Especially when we struggle. I'm so grateful for that knowledge in my life. Hope you all have a great week!
Much love,
Sister Yocum
1. Exchanges
2. Juana this lady we met who doesn't speak English but wanted a picture with us ahaha what a cutie
3. Reppin always
4. We're so white ahaha sorry everyone
5. Tiny toilet in our ward mission leaders house. Sister Williams hit her dead on the light ahahah
6. Face masks, classic
7. To show how high up the balcony is for reference ahaha
8. This was when we first got Locke doubt and I used a hanger I found to try to turn the lock.... It didn't work
9. Action shot
10. Spicy noodles on exchange! They were super spicy and when we tried to drink milk to soothe our mouths it was spoiled so basically it was the worst lunch ever and I poisoned my stl (sister trainer leader)
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