Sister Van Buskirk: new phone, who dis?

A lot of changes came to the PPM this week. First we got Area Book 2.0 which is... challenging... We were talking to one of the assistants and he asked us if we liked it and then he said, "I have no motivation to plan now. I know it's bad to say, but it's better to be honest and repent later." That's all I'm going to say about that. The second change is that we now have smartphones... For this transfer every companionship has one smartphone between them but next transfer when all the new missionaries come in, they will come out with their own phone. So instead of tablets, missionaries will now just be using smartphones. This is going to be crazy but it's awesome that we are able to use this new technology to further the work.

We met this really amazing less active couple this week in the new part of our area. Basically their story is: One day Sister Johnson was praying for a new church to go to and then 5 minutes later the missionaries knocked on their door. They had just been praying on where to go and were led to the Johnson home. They were active for a few years but when the ward split they kind of drifted off to a different church. They are the nicest people I've ever met. We are going to try and bring the spirit back into their home and help them have that goal to go to the temple because that is what is most important.

As a missionary in the city you receive a lot of referrals. Either media referrals (someone ordered something from the Church like a Bible or Book of Mormon) or other missionaries in another area met someone that actually lives in your area that's interested. If you are a good missionary you not only contact the referral but you try other people in the area because Heavenly Father may have sent you that referral because someone else is ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not the best about remembering to do that but that's okay because I know Heavenly Father still loves me. This is how I know:

We had a referral from the Gladys Knight devotional and it was a member, Sister Smith, that invited her. We asked Sister Smith to come with us to give JoAnn her package. Their other neighbor, Mary, was also there. JoAnn wasn't really interested in hearing our message so we asked Mary if she would be interested in hearing about the Book of Mormon. She said, "Yes!" Heavenly Father knew I would forget to talk to other people in the area after we contacted JoAnn so He made sure Mary was there while we were talking to JoAnn to remind us to be better missionaries.

I hope you all remember how much Heavenly Father loves you. He has a lot of blessings that He is just waiting to give you. As we are obedient, we receive those blessings. Sometimes they take a while or they aren't really anything except for a change of attitude. A few days ago Sister Neuffer and I were having a rough day. All our lessons had cancelled that morning and we were going to do service for a lady but right before we left she cancelled as well. So basically it was turning out to be a terrible day and we were having a terrible attitude. I was finally like okay we just need to pray. So we knelt down and Sister Neuffer said a prayer and then we got up and got to work. Nothing miraculous happened. We didnt find 5 new investigators that night. Actually the rest of our lessons that night cancelled as well. But Heavenly Father helped our attitude change. It was amazing to see that.

Here are a few quotes of the week:

"Awkwardness can be good and instructive." - Sister Randall

"Elder Brown, what's Sister Neuffer's spirit animal?"

"A Mama Gorilla"

"Ayyy Séniora! I like it! I like it! I love it!" - Random Mexican Man

"Brother and Sister Stokes used to be *good friends*. Now they're Brother and Sister Stokes!"

Lots of Love!

Sister Van Buskirk

We bought these