I loved ZDM yesterday though.
Eric, the meeting was mostly about using the ward council. And it was awesome! You were right. We need to take better advantage of it. I was trying really hard to take advantage of it before, since that was some of your almighty advice. But I wasn't sure how. SO. We're going to be better. It also helps a lot that now we are actually attending ward councils.
Dad, we are pretty good about getting members to investigator lessons, but it's hard to get members to all lessons. It's something that changes with every ward, so we are constantly working on it. We've been told though that if we need a fellow-shipper, we need to talk to the Ward council. It's one of the ward's responsibilities to get members to go with the missionaries and while lists going around in RS or EQ are always a good start, sometimes it's better to take the names of the people being taught directly to the WC and saying, "Who can we ask to fellowship these people?". Sometimes a personal invitation to fellowship someone is better than general volunteers. Sometimes. You can always read CH 13 in PMG. It's helped us a lot. And I'm SO EXCITED that you are getting sisters. I'm sure they will be amazing!! Especially because they have someone amazing like you to lead them! Make sure the sisters are invited to WC. They need to be there in order to be the most effective. I learned that the hard way.
So yea. That was all inspired by ZDM. We're also repenting about our lack of care in the area books. Tell the sisters I am sorry if the area books aren't that great. It's something you learn about how important it is only when whitewashing an area. And it's SUPER easy to neglect them....We really need to be better at it. How many wards are you sisters covering? Just Eldersburg?
Let's see....M is getting baptized on Feb. 12. We've already set up her interview. And the only thing keeping her from getting baptized sooner is the fact that she needed to give her friend time to book a flight so he could baptize her. The flight is booked now, and we are reteaching her all the lessons, starting Friday. She makes AMAZING cookies! And she's so fun and cute! I've also told her that after I finish school, I"m going to come and live with her. She has agreed. Lol.
OH, 3 other things we've found effective, Dad-
1. see if the Bishop can book dinners for the missionaries with the LAs. But not only book dinners, ask him to extend a call to those LAs to feed the missionaries once a month. That way they have to come and meet him to receive the calling, it's not an overbearing calling, and it makes them feel like they have a purpose and a calling that they can actually fulfill. We did that for the first time this last week and it was AWESOME! We have a return appointment just to teach a family and we weren't expecting that to happen quite yet. We're really excited about it though.
2. We're going to do a fireside with the youth and we're going to invite youth converts to be on a question panel so ppl can ask about their experience taking the lessons and such. Maybe to encourage the ward to be more active in attending lessons with the missionaries, you could do something similar on a ward level.
3. Our mission president has asked us to teach the first 3 lessons to active members in our ward, once a week for 3 weeks. The first round, or family, we teach the lessons in 30-45 minutes. The second family we teach the lessons in 15 min. And the third family we teach the lessons in 5 min. Then we repeat the cycle. Just a suggestion. It builds trust, and especially when whitewashing an area, it allows the sisters to get to know the members....
Mom - Thanks for the pictures! I love them! I can't wait to hear Lynz play! Woot! Woot! Keep me updated on your friend! I want to hear everything! Hey, can you send me the gooey butter recipe? M loves to cook sweets and I want her to experience the deliciousness found therein...And, I"m glad that you like to read my journal entries. Sometimes I"m not sure they make sense. Maybe that's because I'm so tired when I write them...Lol.
Eric - I love hearing from you! Keep me updated on EVERYTHING! :-D
Lynz - So does that mean you actually wrote to me??? I'll be watching the mail! (Ipod?) More journal entries soon to come!
Ok, I love you all!!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Love, me
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