Family and friends! I made it a week in the field and I'm still alive!!! :D hooray!!!
How is everyone doing?? Well I hope! Things are pretty good here in sunny California! The weather has been so nice lately, very sunny and warm! This week was alright... Let me tell you about the work in this area!
So, as of yesterday, we now have 2 investigators! Shirleann and Amber!
Shirleann is a 15 year old girl who the sisters stumbled across because her mom and grandma are members. They thought she was baptized, but when they visited her she had never heard of the church. So they started teaching her. She is funny and asks A TON of questions. As of right now we have her commited to be baptized on May 18, but she is still not sure if she will be ready. When we have our lessons with her, she just seems to get it. She has this amazing understanding of the things we teach her, but she said she said she doesn't quite know if she fully believes everything. In her words, "These things you teach me are amazing, and I want them to be true, but there is still part of me that doesn't believe". We have taught her to pray and ask God if the things that we are teaching her are true and she has. The last lesson we had with her, we prayed right there with her and then just sat there for 30 seconds after we prayed and asked her how she felt. She said she felt less worried. She has been recieving an answer from Heavenly Father, but she has a hard time recognizing it. She wants a direct yes or no answer from God. A Joseph Smith experience persay. So, we have really been praying that she will continue to pray and be able to recieve an answer in a way that she will recongnize and understand.
Next, we have Amber! I LOVE AMBER!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH! She is awesome!!!! So, there is a family in our ward named the Wrights. They love the missionaires, (Especially the elders, which is wierd cuz sisters are WAY cooler! ;) but that's besides the point!) Anyways, they have a son named Scooter who just got back from his mission in south africa 6 months ago and is dating Amber. She is not a member and we met her last week when the wrights took us to dinner. (By the way family, We went to In-N-Out!!!) She was SUPER nice and just great to be around and had a lot of questions. We asked the wrights if she was interested and they said that maybe a teeeeeny bit. Well, guess what! She was at church on Sunday and she had never been before, and she got up and BORE HER TESTIMONY! about Jesus Christ none the less! and about how she had never been in a place where she felt so much love and happiness!!!! WHAT THE WHAT????!!! Why isn't this girl taking the MISSIONARY LESSONS!!??? It was seriously the AWESOMEST!!! This is the part of being a missionary that I love the most! WELLLL anyways! She stayed for all 3 hours and in relief society she was answering quesitons and making comments! So, after it was over we went up to her and asked her if she had her own copy of the Book of Mormon (B.O.M. for short) and she said, "No, but I want one!!!!" so we gave it to her and then said, "Well, Amber if you want we can teach you more about what we believe!" And she got all excited and said, "I would really like that!!!" So our first lesson is on Wednesday with her! and I am so excited to teach her!!!! She is amazing!!! I want to be her friend in real life! hahaha
There is also a man named Bill Scheutz who we really want to start teaching. His wife is a memeber, but not active. They have 2 daughters though who are very active in the church, both married in the temple and go to church regularly. He is in the area book all the way back to 2008. So he knows missionaries well. He is seriously the nicest guy and always makes sure when we come over we are taken care of and fed and have something to drink! He loves the Sister missionaires (But i mean really who doesn't ;) just kidding... kinda haha) but in the past he just hasn't wanted to be baptized. It doens't really help that his wife won't take work off on Sundays and be a support to him, but we really love him and want this for him and his family. I truly believe that Bill Scheutz is one that's been prepared for me to teach him and to help him come closer to Christ. So we will see how things go with him.
That's really my favorite thing about being a missionary! Seeing others come closer to Christ and getting to be apart of it is awesome! Even though it's super hard and really discouraging sometimes because it's so hard to find people, it's all worth it when you find those that are seeking the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you see that light turn into a fire! It's really awesome!
In our last disctric meeting we heard a statistic. 1 Out of every 1000 doors knocked someone gets baptized. 1 Out of every 800 people contacted on the street gets baptized. BUT 1 out of every 3 member referalls get's baptized! WE NEED THE MEMBERS! Missionaries can't do it alone!!! Members have this awesome relaionship already formed with people and in result makes it easier to talk to the missionaries. That's our struggle right now. Finding people who need the gospel. We need more member referalls. And if you love me, you will help the missionaries in your OWN area find people to teach because our purpose is the same no matter where we are in the world. As missionaries our purpose is to bring others closer to Christ and it doens't matter which missionary does it, as long as it gets done. So If you help the missionaries in your area, then you are helping me! Do you love me????
Here comes the challenge!!! :D I challenge each of you to find 1 person, just one, who could benefit from the restored gospel and share your testimony with them. Why do you love the gospel? Wouldn't you want it for those you care about most? Share your testimony with one person that needs it, and then ask them if the missionaires can come and meet with them!
JUST DO IT!
So, that's my life right now! Sorry that it's so much to read! and no pictures today because I left my camera cord in my residence.
Oh yeah, something kinda cool is that Disneyland is only 20 miles from the area I'm serving in and there's a street called willow that if you get on it here in Long Beach, you can take it all the way to Disneyland! haha! Kinda cool! Also, if we are still outside right at 9:30 you can hear the fireworks from Disneyland! It's cool!!! It kills me to be so close... yet so far though! haha That's alright!
Also, sorry about last week and the 7 billion different emails with all the pictures. We use the computers at the family history center and they are 700 years old and havn't been updated for 500 years. So I can only send 3 pictures at a time! lame! But I'm still grateful for what I CAN do!
WRITE ME LETTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm serious!!!
Sister Bauer
6500 Atherton St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
Well, That's it for this week! I love you all so much! I pray for you and wish you the very best!
God be with you till we meet again!
Love,
Sister Bauer
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