Sister Amy Vernes: Service makes me happy

On Thursday we had the opportunity to do some service. We taught Amisha (12) biking which was THE best. Alisha is a member, she´s the Branch presidents daughter. anyways we taught her in front of her house, however it is just a dirt road and so it is very hard to bike on there. Auster Parker and I would ask her questions so then she wouldn't focus too much on the biking because we noticed that she would then loose her balance and fall. One time she was explaining something whilst biking but we let go of her bike for awhile and so were just running along and it was just so cute because Zuster Parker and I had a huge smile on our faces a she has been biking by herself for at least 5 minutes. Then Amisha started smiling because she then noticed that she was doing it on her own. It was just the cutest thing.

I love doing service it just makes me so happy being able to help!

On Friday we had an exchange, I was still in my new area (Rainville) and Zuster Ashcroft came over there. It was a great exchange, not too many appointments fell through, so that was nice.
Some exchange highlight:

- We visited an active member, Ezzard, he pointed at our name tags and said: "De Kerk van Jesus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen, dat is waar God wont, dat is zijn adres." (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, thats where God lives, that´s His address)

- We ran into a less active, who lives in my previous area, Kwatta, we´ve called him before and tried to contact him but has told me on the phone that he simply won't come to church. He works at the same place as a member, so we went over there, as we had to drop off something. And he came and spoke to us and said he wants to come back to church, so Zuster Ashkraft was able to set an appointment with him in her area. It was so cool to experience that as we tried so hard to meet up with him!

- On Saturday, basically everything fell through, we were close by a members house (Zuster L.) so Zuster Parker and I decided to stop by. As we were about to enter, a guy came up to us and asked when we can come by him. I honestly thought that he was just a creeper so I then said that my companion will take his number. Later I found out that he actually is the son of a member who missionaries have tried to get in contact with, but he always denied. However that night when we stopped by at Zuster L, she told us the she put her son on the 21 day challenge.

The 21 day challenge is basically a chart with different verses from the Book of Mormon. As missionaries we give this to anyone we feel prompted to. For 21 days they will pray in the morning and at night and read the scripture for that day. Before they even start we kneel together and they (the members) will offer a prayer and ask God who is ready to receive the gospel in their lives. After the prayer the Holy Ghost will give them names (friends, family members, acquaintances, less active etc.9 they write the names down, gives us the information and then for the next 21 days they will pray for the people they have been prompted to write down.

It´s a very unique challenge and I have seen so many wonders in this. It is a great way for people to do missionary work and we then receive many referrals which helps us a lot. I hope I was able to explain that well enough.