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| The Renton Zone. |
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| Part of the Skyway Ward. By head from left. Sister Stevenson, Brother Stephens, Bro Sablan, Sister Sablan, Elder Knowles, Justine (new convert), Elder Rex, Elder Sumsion, Jazmine, Bishop Munson, Sister Beck, Elder Payne, and Elder Richards. |
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| We found a frog and got some action photo's :) |
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| Howdy and Hello! |
The transfer calls came in and I am heading out of Skyway! After almost 8 months/6 transfers I am heading to the Enumclaw 1st ward for my last 6 weeks. My companion will be Elder Fenton. I have been on 1 exchange with him and I am excited to serve with him. This is going to be an old companionship because I am pretty sure he just started his last 12 weeks. 0.0
This week has been very grand and swell. It seems like the best week in an area is usually the last one. It seemed that Elder Richards and I weren't having as much fruit as we could and I was thinking and about the different things we could do to find those who are ready. I remembered that we weren't doing the best at keeping up on the area book work. The area book is something that missionaries have in every area that is a record of the work you have done there. I have learned on my mission that it is a way to account for the work you are doing in the part of the vineyard you are serving in. I also learned that if you aren't doing a good job of keeping track of those God is blessing you to find, why would he bless you with more if you were going to forget?
As soon as we got all caught up that is when we started experiencing and seeing many more miracles.
One of those great blessings came in a way that we didn't expect. We were talking to people along Rainier Avenue and Kenyon Street when we needed to use the restroom. We walked to the closest store called "Store and Grocery." In it there were no public restrooms, but the guy from Ethiopia working there let us use them. Afterwards we got talking to him. He has had great interactions with the church in the past and really loves the missionaries. David grew up in a christian household, but with split religions just like Joseph Smith. We shared that story and he really connected with it and the other things we were sharing!
We came back days later with a Book of Mormon in Amharic for him and he nearly jumped with excitement when he saw it! He is sooo sincere and I love him! He is a busy fellow and so we are going to be stopping by at various points to teach him a little bit at a time while the store is the least busy.
Great tender mercies come all of the time in missionary work and it is easy to miss 'em if you aren't look n'! Often times we will get people who want us to visit them, but they will be in an apartment complex with a locked gate or a door that we cant get passed. Then to make things worse they have these call boxes next to them to let the person know we are here, but 90% of the time they dont even work! I have seen Gods hand in simple ways to get us in those complexes and they are all nice. Yesterday we had 2 of those experiences. We came to the door and it was locked and the call box wasnt working. A lady walked on in, but she closed it to purposefully not let us in. Elder Richards shared an idea of "Is there a back door?" Yes, there was and it was slightly ajar to the point where the lock didn't engage.
The other one came when we were trying to deliver a Bible to a lady in a complex with a gate and a voice box that didn't work. Just to the side there were some kids throwing paper airplanes and one of the planes went of the fence. The kid ran out the door and let us in on his way back in. BUT there was a second locked door we had to get through and it was locked. We started to walk away from it and just before we completely left the complex, the kids yelled for us that they got the 2nd door open. They held it open for us and let us in. The Lord will provide for His servants :)
Elder Richards is going to be a trainer this coming transfer. I am super happy for him! He has progressed a lot during this transfer and I expect will continue to. Training is a refining process as a missionary for the trainer and the trainee. There are several reasons of why you are called as a missionary to go wherever you are called to go. Reasons include for the particular people your specific example will work for, the Mission President you will have, and I also believe for the trainer who welcomes you into the mission. Elder Joshua Graham played a vital role in my missionary service for which I will ever be grateful.
Love you all! Continue to be faithful and work hard. That is what I am doing. One little phrase I love is...
"You will spend 18 years preparing for it.
2 years doing it.
And the rest of your life reflecting on it."
This transfer is going fast with a visit from Elder Rasband this Saturday, a Zone Conference, Interviews, and a visit from Elder Robert C. Gay of the 70. I pray to do my best in this short time I have.
Sincerely,
Elder Sumsion
"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost."
-Elder Kevin W. Pearson "Stay by the Tree"
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