Monday we were in charge of the Family Home Evening night. During P-day, Leo and Jordan came to play soccer with us. So Leo and I start discussing how the activities could be super fun if we put more effort into them. It was mostly Leo ranting and saying he was willing to. I was like "AMEN BROTHA!" And was willing to help. So we talked about how we were going to do Ultimate frisbee in the gym (still too cold). Well after taking the tables off the carts and playing around with those for a while, the great game of Finandle was born. Basically, it started out as hungry hungry hippos. But it was 1 cart vs 1 cart. 2 people per cart. One drove, one gather basketballs to return to the goal. You could steal basketballs out of the goal. First to get 5 in their goal at once wins. It was pretty fun! Easy to top next time but a good mix-it-up fun.
Tuesday was super eventful. So we get to the church at 9:00. People are already there for zone conference. This is a problem. We haven't vacuumed out our truck yet. So we sneakily go around to the other side of the church, snag the vacuum and quickly clean it out. Done by about 9:20. Come around to everyone else and get our vehicle checked. We go inside and it all starts and gets going.
We get to the AP's training. They delegated it all to each of the district leaders. Each district leader got up, plugged their iPad into the projector and explained a part of the Area Book. It was a huge formality. It's a training that HQ wanted the mission to do. Because everyone who is new to the Area Book across the U.S. would enjoy the training. For us, it was preaching to the choir. Then it comes to the only thing that is new about the area book, the new guidelines on data privacy. Which the AP's turn to us to have us do. Well, they didn't tell us in advance. So we get up there and start to B.S. it and read it out of the booklet. We were doing pretty well until the Senior Couple lady chimed in who actually knew a thing or two about data privacy. Haha!
Got to visit with Sister Flores. She goes home with me. I'm her mission dad because I was her DL when she was born into the Mission in Canandaigua. She is a character! She's spunky and fun loving. Which is super nice because most of the sisters are afraid to have fun. We talked about how she is rooming with a couple other sister missionaries at BYU and how I plan on hooking her up with Hunter Tinney. At the very least those two need to be friends. They are super similar.
Our training went pretty well. We had Sister Stoddard and Elder Knudson come up for a demonstration. They had no idea what they were doing. We through a tie around their shoulders and said "Tie it!" Elder Knudson obviously knew how and Sister Stoddard got super super flustered and had no idea how to tie it. It was super funny. She was a pretty good sport about it. We used that as an analogy that some people have an idea how to do missionary work but most members don't have any idea how to even begin. Plus they are afraid to start. They simply start out with "I don't know how." Like Sister Stoddard. Then we talked about defining success to members in their missionary work. They succeed when they invite. Not when they bring someone for us to teach. Talked about "FEAR NO NO!" I phrased it that way because it was weird and I figured it'd make them pay more attention to say it that way. Maybe it'll even stick more. Fear no no. Basically, don't fear no. Even look for people to say no to your invitation. You never know, they might surprise you and say yes!
So Brother Johnson in the Buffalo ward invited us to come to a bible scripture study at 8. A girl from his work invited them. She used to meet with missionaries and said we could come. Well, it definitely wasn't a bible scripture study. To kick off the new series of lesson they basically had a rock concert. Not that bad, it was just tons of Christian rock songs, lights, fog machine, then the Pastor Wes got up and preached. Then we all bowed our heads and accepted Jesus Christ as our personal savior. Then he talked some more. Then more songs played. The girl that invited us felt bad because it usually wasn't so much music and didn't have a concert vibe. So she kept apologizing. We thought it was great! It was a great super non denominational message.
Well, we went up and introduced ourselves to Pastor Wes. He immediately told us "You can't recruit here. Seriously. No recruiting." We reassured him we were just invited by a regular and we weren't there to recruit at all. Then he opened up a little bit more. Super nice guy. We talked about how great it was that they were supporting this Anti-Sex-Trafficking charity. And how great it was to see soo many young adults in a Christian gathering. Then he ran off to do Administrative things. But he warmed up a little after we reassured we weren't recruiting. Well.... We weren't actively recruiting. haha!
It was cool. They had a great message. It was a great first step towards Christ. They could just really benefit in knowing more and hearing what we have to add to it. (Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End).
UB booth went super legit this week. We taught a solid lesson and the sisters taught a solid lesson. Plus we got contact info for a Less Active Member that moved up here. Plus I handed out 100 cards in like an hour & 15 minutes. Which was like 70 more than I handed out last time. I was going to town!
Wednesday night we had an interfaith dinner. It was hosted by the Jewish organization in UB. So it was held in UB. Catered. We had little presentations on renewal/spring topics from each of the organizations represented. Our elders quorum president gave a little spill our renewal through Christ. I spent most of the night at a table with 4 reformed Jews. We talked back in forth asking questions about each other's faith. Got a good understanding for each other. They were super chill. They are the Reformed Jews. So basically the least strict on all the sects of Judaism. It also is the largest. Super interesting!
Saturday we went on exchanges with the AP's. Well, they just came and blitzed our area. They have the unlimited mile truck so Elder Lewis and I went out to the far reaches of the area. Naturally since it was with the Assistants, I felt sick all morning. I fought it. Mostly sinus sick. But my stomach was giving me a run for my money. By about 4 I knew it wasn't going to pass so we came back. I then worshipped the shiny white bowl for the rest of the night. It was quite the blast of sickness. I slept like 13 hours. Got up, went to church because I was feeling mostly better. Just congested in the head. So I figured if our Recent Convert can ride his bike to church for 20 ish miles then I can come with a congested head.
Then we had an interfaith Palm Sunday devotional. It was nice. Mostly members but a couple of non members. It was hosted by the Amherst ward. 2 pastors from other religions spoke. It was interesting!
We are also organizing a He Lives! Musical devotional for April 19th in Buffalo. We are hoping it gets pretty big as we are trying to get all the missionaries to push that. Basically it's us, Sisters McLaren & Stoddard, and the Buff South ZLs that are organizing that.
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