Tracting, tracting and more tracting!!!

Hello my sweet family.  I hope you had a fabulous week and are getting excited for September to hit!  I can't believe school is already starting for y'all- that's crazy.  Going out to run this morning was a shock because there were a billion little kids at every corner staring at us as we passed- haha.  I would too if I could see myself in the morning ;)

This week we were able to find 2 new investigators.  And let me tell you- it was after LONG, hot, HARD days.  We had spent most of the last week walking around (we didn't have the car last week) knocking on doors and trying to contact our less actives.

Having to carry my lunch around!

Taking a quick break to rest our feet!

Everything we had fell through, no one was home, we had extra time at every turn, I got bit by hundreds of mosquitoes, I got sun burned (I did wear sunscreen on my face though) and it was just hard.  We were lucky to run into a few kind Indian people who gave us water and listened to us, but it never led to anything.  On Wednesday we set out to see 5 less actives in a certain part of town.  We had NO success.  No one ever seems to be home.  So we decided to do some contacting in that area.  We talked with a kind Buddhist lady who gave us water, an atheist high schooler who didn’t really understand what it completely meant, a guy who said he was actually about to go take care of his cat, a lady who listened to our message and said she had a church...and so on and so forth; you get the idea.  I was tired and pretty frustrated as you can imagine.  We decided to knock on one last set of doors- all empty, except the last door we come to a man in his 30's answered the door.  Me, being a grump, totally pre-judged him and braced myself to get the door closed on us again.  He started chatting with us and pretty soon he started telling us of some of the troubles he was facing in his life at that time.  He had lost his job, and was living with his cousin.  The more he talked the more I felt the spirit gently probing me to open the scriptures.  After some initial conversation and basic information was secured, I opened to Mosiah 24 and read verses 13 and 14.  He was staring intently at me when I finished and said, "Wow."  It is so true.  With his christian background he was able to relate the scripture directly to him and his situation.  We were able to testify that the gospel would help him and started explaining a little bit of what we do and what we teach.  He said we could come back sometime the following week and tell him more.  That was definitely a tender mercy in my day!

Another day went out and tracted around.  We were just getting told to go away or just given blank stares.  Many of the people we teach vary in their knowledge about Christianity- and the concept of 'proselyting' is very foreign to the Indian people.  So we have to see where the people are at during each new contact to make sure we aren't way over there heads, or completely boring them with the simple information.
So an older gentleman opened the door and explained to us that he was Hindu (as was expected).  We asked him about some of his beliefs and he was overjoyed to teach two little American girls about world religion.  He as well as all the others are generally very respectful and open to different religious backgrounds.  So after he explained the basic Hindu beliefs he started asking us question after question.  It was GREAT!  He was genuinely curious and was having a fun time learning more.  We got onto the subject of 'afterlife' and he told us he was living alone because his wife died.  I asked him if he believed he would ever see her again.  He firmly said, "No. There is nothing else after this life."  Then some tears came to his eyes.  I shared my testimony on the eternal family and that we are together forever.  Heaven wouldn't be heaven if we didn't have family there with us.  He didn't deny it but he couldn't accept it.  The conversation went for 40 minutes and was really refreshing.  It was nice to be able to actually talk to someone about the church for an extended period of time.  Another tender mercy.

We only get the car every other week!

Out tracting on our bikes

Sunday night we were out tracting...again... I love contacting and meeting new people. I really do!  I just get tired and worn out after 6 hours of it.  I am working on overcoming my negativity, haha.  We had a great dinner that night with a member which was much needed, but after that we weren’t able to get inside the homes of those we had set appointments up with.  That happens a lot in missionary life:)  It is teaching me a lot about planning back ups, A-Z, not being upset at the idea of being set-up (maybe good for my future dating life??) and following the Lord's promptings.  We found our way to an apartment complex and knocked on all of the doors on Floor 1.  No success.  We hit floor number 2.  No success- oh wait, there is one more door.  It is dark, late, and we are tired. But we go ahead and knock.  This sweet lady named Rita invited us into her home where we sat and talked with her and her 10 year old daughter.  She actually knew quite about about missionaries and the lives we lead because she had talked frequently with the Elders over the years.  We had a great conversation and heard about the tragedy of both her daughter and husband dying three years apart.  We shared a scripture in Isaiah and Alma that talked a lot about peace and comfort that the Lord can bring.  She loved it and we started finding a lot of similarities between the two churches we were a part of.  She told us that we could come back the next week- she said it was funny that we showed up.  She had not been to her church for a while because she was still going through some grieving..so our coming was an answer to prayer.

I have learned that no matter what kind of day you are having, the Lord will provide a tender mercy or blessing to you.  If you look for it, and are willing to work for it, He will always come through.

Learning the area is still hard for me, I have bad directional skills, haha.  But I am praying that the Lord will let me know my purpose here.  And sometimes that takes a lot of prayers and sweaty hot days.

<3 Sister Golden