The Trial of My Faith

Taking over the Elders area and people has been crazy. They handed over 35 people (Potentials, Investigators, Less Actives) and the fact that our area has increased has been a tad bit stressful; but really exciting. The Elder's area is what we call... GHETTO! Oh my lanta.. but they have a lot of people there. You just see some really interesting things and people. Unfortunately, it is summer vacation here so many the responses we are getting is a) "We are gone on Vacation" b) "It's vacation, you can't come by." or c) Since the elders went and said bye to people, they thought that was the end of it. So we are slowly crossing people off this large list but I have hope that someone, at least one of the Elder's people turns into a progressing investigator. My favorite reaction was Yesterday we were in Nesselande, a newer neighborhood. So there are no maps for this little area and the spirit just led us to these houses. One house, the two sons open the door and know who we are. They run to the end of the stairs to yell up to their mother (the potential). She yells something back down and he tells us "It's kind of tricky right now.." and we ask when we can come back and he runs back to the stairs and yells "Mom, hey mom Sunday is a good day for the church right?" and then she yells again and that is when we realized she was drunk. The door was open and the other son lifts up a cup and pretends to be drunk. HA! They both come to the door and are saying right now isn't a good time and they are trying not to laugh but also look embarrassed. We have gotten that a lot lately... it is summer vacation so the drinking starts earlier. And more recently people have gotten more rude. Yesterday we were doing some doors and went up to a group of teens waiting to be let inside, offered them a card and they laughed and said no. Okay moving on... next door the woman listened to our intro and then quickly and quiet defensively said no. Turn to leave and those teens were standing right next to us mocking and laughing. Oh man I had to bite my tongue! So we continued to knock the street. Thursday we went and did service. A family friend of the De Jonges (members in the ward) asked us to give them a call. So we did and their family has hit a really hard spot and the wife, Joke (said like Yoke-ah) asked us to come and help clean her house. So we did. I was touched by the fact that she knew that they could call the LDS Missionaries, could rely on us to drop what we are doing to help them. It was a testimony to me that we are here to be the Lord's representatives and he wants us to reach out to those who are suffering and do what we can to lend a hand. And that was exactly what we did. Friday we had Zone Conference and it was great. I love President and Zr. Bunnell! The spirit was strong and got a renewed sense of motivation to go out and work. I am excited for what is to come. But on the flip side of that the ultimate test of my faith and dedication to this work was placed before me.... Due to the increased amount of accidents and issues Church Headquaters has announced that we must purchase and wear bike helmets. NO! We are in Nederland... land of the bikes. So despite how embarrassing that is, we are to buy helmets this week. So please do not laugh at us... The way they presented it was hilarious, everyone was in absolute shock. It was presented at the end of conference so the closing song was right after and we sang "Nephi's Courage" and well no one made it through the song without laughing. They totally did that on purpose! I am now know as Zr. Waaghals or Sister Daredevil. Things are going here, busy and working hard. Also I learned this week i am going to be an awkward RM, so when I get home please help me out! We are going to play soccer with the zone so we need to catch a train, so if I don't respond to you, know I will get to you next week! I love you all, thanks for your love and support!! Zuster Young