Kate is in Warsaw now ~
This week was incredible-- Sister Hulme and I taught 20 lessons in one week, a goal that I've been working towards for most of my mission. In zone conference last February, President Engbjerg told us that Elder Perry had said that all missionaries, no matter where they are in the world, should be teaching at least 20 lessons a week. I remember we had just taught 6 lessons the week before in Poznań (our average was about 4) and been really proud of ourselves, and when I heard President Engbjerg say that in zone conference, I got really discouraged and gave up on setting goals for a few days. I decided to just be happy with whatever I got, but I was so sick of consistently never reaching our goals, espeically a seemingly impossible one like 20 lessons in one week. Pretty soon I realized that the 20 lessons a week was something to reach for, but that we didn't have to be at that level right away. We could work up to it: we could get 6 lessons one week, then 7 the next, then 8, then 9, and all the way up to 20. So that's what I decided to do for the rest of my mission, and slowly but surely, we saw our numbers go gradually up. I was so excited in Katowice when Sister Harth and I hit 10 lessons in one week-- I had never done that in my mission before-- and then 10 lessons became our normal average when I was with Sister Brown. Here in Warsaw, Sister Hulme and I started off teaching at least 10 lessons a week, and the week before last, we looked at our numbers and realized that 20 lessons in that week would be totally possible. But for some reason, the end of the week kind of kerplunked out, people rescheduled and we ended up with only 12. So that Sunday we sat down and talked about it, and Sister Hulme really felt that the Lord wanted to bless us to accomplish our goal, but that he was just waiting for us to straighten a few things out first. We realized we could be better at getting up right at 6:30, at getting home on time (now that we aren't getting lost on a consistent basis we really should be getting in by 9:30), and getting to bed on time so it'll be easier to get up on time. We set some specific goals, put them into action, and threw ourselves headfirst into finding and taking advantage of every opportunity we had to set up a meeting and teach someone about the gospel. On Saturday we had 12 lessons so far that week, we needed to teach 6 more on Sunday, and we weren't exactly sure how we were going to do it, but we felt pretty confident about it, and somehow (still not sure how it all worked out like it did) but somehow it all worked out and we got our 6 lessons on Sunday (3 of them one right after the other after church) and 20 for the week. We didn't really eat anything all day Sunday until we got home at quarter to nine, but it was worth it :)
The cool thing is that each of those 20 lessons that we taught last week were really good lessons. I didn't feel like any of them were 'just another lesson' to teach so we could mark one more number off in our planners. They were all really important lessons to have, and the Spirit was there in each one of them. One thing I keep telling my trainees is that getting the standard of excellence, or 20 lessons, or any other mission goal that we're encouraged to go for, isn't a miracle. True, you definitely can't do it without the Lord's help, but accomplishing that goal in and of itself is not the miracle, or the point. The miracle is the lives you change and bless along the way, and the standard of excellence and other goals are just means to accomplishing the miracle. They're motivations that get you to do things you normally wouldn't do and be bolder than you normally would be. For example, because we were going for 20 lessons this week, there were several meetings we set up that we probably normally wouldn't have, that turned out to be really good. We visited the Neto's, an amazing couple in the branch who are active and sealed in the temple, for our last of the 20 meetings, and because we'd met with them and gotten to know them a little bit, I felt OK about calling them early on Monday for an emergency service project for a less active member, Susan, who needed help moving and couldn't carry all of her things alone on pulic transportation all the way across Warsaw. Even with us helping her it would've been very difficult, if not impossible. She prayed for help, called us, I called Brother and Sister Neto, and they took their car and drove 3 and a half hours all the way across Warsaw in the snow and traffic jams to help her move her stuff. While she was getting settled in her new apartment, they found out that Susan didn't have anyone to spend the holidays with and they invited her over for Christmas Eve dinner. As the Neto's were driving us back to the metro, they said that now that they knew who Susan was, they could put her on the visiting teaching and home teaching lists so that she would always have someone to turn to if something like this happened again. She was so grateful, and kept saying 'God is good!' for most of the way. I asked her if we'd be seeing her in church now and she said 'yes, of course, after all this!' and things are looking good because the place she moved into is much closer to the chapel, and she doesn't live far from Pauline-- so they can be friends and support each other in the gospel. So great how everything works together, how the Lord knows his children and how he provides a way not only to bless his children, but for us to be a part of working his miracles. So cool. Susan's right-- God is good.
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