Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Street Contacting? Who's she?

 (Sister Putnam)

Hey everyone!

So last Monday after shopping we played soccer with the district. I ended up with a toe injury that made walking difficult for the next two days but I'm good now lol. Soccer was fun too, I hadn't played in awhile and it felt good!

On Tuesday Sister Hatton showed me a game lesson that Sister Branch hat taught her, called the Remembering game. Someone in the room closes their eyes and everyone asks them questions about what is in the room to see how much they remember, and I personally related it to being in the world. When we shut the world out it is easier to forget the things of the world and listen to the guidance of the Spirit. For those of us with photographic or semi-photographic memories, remembering the room was easier. Likewise, some people have weaknesses that make it harder to detach from the world and it is important to keep what distance we can between us and the world in order to maintain the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

On Wednesday at district council we set a goal to hand out 20 pass along cards per companionship this week.

(Here's a big paragraph. It's long, but trust me, if you stick with it, it'll be worth it!) On Thursday we went Street Contacting at Martha Lake in an effort to achieve our pass along card goals.

     Now this was my first time Street Contacting, as I came out on my mission when we were still in lockdown and not even allowed to go inside people's houses. Sister Hatton knew more than I did, but this was still fairly new to both of us. So I had zero clue what I was doing going into this.  Anyway, on our way there we stopped by a family who was unloading a moving van, and we offered help and asked where they were moving from, and they said Texas, so we made a connection there, as Sister Hatton & I both grew up in Southeast Texas, and we left them with a pass along card with our number and told them to let us know if they need help with anything.

     We ran into one guy from India who asked what country we were from, and we spoke with him for a bit, and then we talked to another couple also from India, who are expecting their first child. We talked to a couple of girls who looked our age and were sitting at a picnic table, and all of those were awesome, and we decided to head back to the apartment.

     When we were almost there, I saw a woman in a hijab pushing a double stroller with her kids, just beyond the entrance to our apartment complex, & I wanted to compliment her outfit since I really loved it, so I said to Sister Hatton, "what if we go and talk to them?" And she agreed.  So, we went & talked to them & found out that the mother doesn't speak much English but that the 7-year-old daughter, named Uzmah, did.

     We spoke for awhile, and then Omah, the mother, invited us to come over to her house for tea, and we felt like we should and our schedule was flexible for the rest of the night, so we agreed, and we went over.  She offered us food, and gave us water (instead of tea) and we talked to her through Uzmah (Uzmah, being 7, got sidetracked frequently while she was translating 😂), and she thanked us for coming over and making her family happy.  We shared a verse from the Book of Mormon how God loves all people, and that He is aware of them. Omah also asked if we could help her learn English, and we said yes, and agreed to come back to her house on Friday to try to practice English.

   Well get this! On our way back home, we ran into Anna, a woman who we have been trying to meet with who lives in our apartment complex and haven't been able to. If we hadn't gone to Omah's house, we wouldnt have seen Anna. She invited us in and so I got to meet her for the first time, and she is INCREDIBLE!! And we set a time to come over to her place for dinner on Friday, and she also asked for a simpler version of the Book of Mormon because she wants to understand it.

    All of that might not have happened had we not followed that simple inspiration to talk to Omah!

Friday, We went over to Omah's and tried to practice English with her, and it was difficult because we didn't have many resources, but we did leave her with a sticky note with the link for EnglishConnect for her husband, Sam, to help her sign up later, since he speaks fluent English. Then we went to Anna's and talked to her and she is just a wonderful woman, and so humble and so fun!!

We also had a lot of service this week so that was fun!!

Miracles are real and God is in the details!!

🪄What inspiration have you seen this week?🪄

Love you all!!!

Sister Alyssa Putnam


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