Lame Bethesda

Well, the doctor we were supposed to teach last week called and cancelled because his flight was delayed (he was flying into town a few hours before we were supposed to meet) and he wouldn't be getting back till late that night. Sigh. We haven't been able to get a hold of him yet either. This area is so dead too. God still blesses us, but there's really not a lot to accomplish...frankly I do not feel like I've done anything here. Transfers are next week, and I'm a little apprehensive. I think this one will determine the rest of my life as a missionary and I don't want to stay in this area! No wonder Christ was killed by the Jews. I'm surprised they haven't killed me yet. Probably because we haven't taught in their synagogues........Too bad we're not allowed to proselyte in or near churches of other faiths.... We are going to teach a girl we haven't met yet but (a little miracle of God =]) a member set up a lesson for us tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. We invited a fresh returned missionary to teach with us (he just got back from England and gave a powerful testimony on Sunday). He told us he wasn't sure how the ward missionary role was supposed to be played by him, so we gave him some principles to teach with us. It's gonna be good =]. I've had a few occasions to teach with Elders and they can be so powerful in a different way than the sisters, so hopefully we don't overpower this poor girl tomorrow and scare her away =]. I've been thinking a lot about perspectives lately and I just want to say never judge someone against yourself, in fact never judge anyone. This race in life is not against others but against yourself. I haven't been through very much in my puny little life so I can't say "I understand" to everyone who complains to me because I don't. But I teach and minister to people everyday who are older and wiser than myself and are going through tough times. I see the missionary side "Just do it!!!!" But sometimes fail to see their perspective of "I have this and that and this and that, how am I going to fit this in now" and whatever else they may say. I'm just learning to rely on the Lord in patience and let Him heal them. I can't do anything without that help from above. I say the same to you. You cannot do anything without help from above. I hope you realize that! You will never be successful in the eyes of God until you do. Always be grateful, and race the race with yourself, not with others. Love them, and look for the good in them. God can bless you through them if you just let Him. His power is great and His love even greater. We cannot even comprehend but a small part. Oh how grateful I am for His great plan of mercy which allows us to repent and turn our hearts to Him once again. If I can say anything to you today it would be to love God, love others and serve them. Please do not take advantage of the power by which you move and breathe. Jesus Christ sacrificed His blood for you and asks in return that you give your heart to Him. Let the affections of your heart be placed in Him and you will always have abundance of life. Sorry for the ramble, but now I gotta get going. I love you all and pray for you often. Be good and stay outta trouble =]
~Sister Witbeck~ lml/

--Don't be lazy, be CRAZY!!!--

----Moroni 8:3----

Happy birthday to too many people...

Well there's not a whole lot to write about because not much happens in my area. No one is interested and everyone is Jewish...which explains the first thing =]. We do have a few investigators, but no one that is progressing yet. Still praying for that one. We are teaching a 10 year old whose mom is from Iran and converted a few years ago, and that couple from Pakistan I told you about last week, a couple whose son is on a mission and gets back next week, and a guy who has been investigating the church for 2 years! EEK! I personally haven't taught him yet (he's a super busy doctor) but we have an appointment tmrw night. He's been taught all the discussions twice and is not sure if he believes in Jesus Christ (he's Jewish =]), so we are going to have a serious discussion about truth tmrw and I'm really excited. He accepts some of the doctrine he's been taught but not everything, so we are going to find out exactly what he believe and why he does not believe the other stuff and commit him to find out because 2 years is a ridiculous amount of time to investigate. It hasn't been on and off either, he's an eternal investigator. He's really smart (speaks, reads and writes Egyptian, doctor, and reads EVERYTHING!), and super nice, but needs to figure things out for himself and that's why we're here =]. I guess you'll hear about that next week. Well, that's basically it. Happy birthday to....Ryan, Debbie, David, Brandon, Jacob, Melissa, Rachel, Mark, Michele, Dena, Zakry, Ravenn, Alexis, Leigh, Beth, Keith, Delia, Kaylee, Nettie, Marie, Josh, Daniel, Heather, Sara and mom and dad. That's for the whole year. I hope I didn't miss anyone =]. That way I don't have to remember EVERYONE'S b-day. I'm horrible at that. I hope you all have a wonderful week and may God's blessing rest upon your head...and maybe your feet too. Tenga buen dia!

~Sister Witbeck~ lml/

--Don't be lazy, be CRAZY!!!--

----Moroni 8:3----

ugh

Alright, so we went to the falls last week and they weren't too exciting BUT there's a really cool hike/bike trail that we went on and were just a river away from VA!!!! Ohhh la la. Gotta love it. Apparently there's like a 20 mile trail you can follow and I really want to borrow some bikes from the biking sisters and take it one p-day.....I don't know if I can go that far anymore, but it'd definately remind me of what I used to do.Today we had a inter-zone activity (half the mission). They do it every September and frankly last year was way more fun. So we're teaching this family from Pakistan (we had to get permission to teach them because they're muslim) and they're so cool! She....needs a little humbling, but he's really searching. I found out (get this!) they are in opposite groups. No big deal just that one is shi'ite and the other suni! ...not sure how that's spelt, but after they told me that I asked them how they get along =] haha they say they fight a lot, but try not to bring up the religion issue. I think it's a blessing that we're teaching both of them, especially since they are "sworn enemies" basically. I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping the last week. You'd think I'd be really tired, but I can't fall asleep, then I wake up about an hour before my alarm. One morning I woke up and just layed there for a long time till I finally looked at my clock. It was 4:54! ALl I wanted to do was sleep but couldn't! It was rediculous and caught up with me that afternoon. We were checking on some less actives and I was falling asleep almost while driving. Not smart so we went home so I could take a nap. I dunno what's wrong with me, but if it continues I'm gonna have to talk to someone. One of our investigators prayed for me last night =]. As soon as she heard I was having trouble sleeping she said a really good born again christian prayer and I was really grateful for her thoughtfulness. Well, I think I'm in a blah mood today. I'm kinda tired from running around all morning. Maybe I need a nap.....and buy some food. See ya.

~Sister Witbeck~ lml/

--Don't be lazy, be CRAZY!!!--

----Moroni 8:3----

sickness and prophets......huh?

Listen up folks. This is gonna save your soul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not really, but I thought maybe that'd be a good beginning to a really boring letter =]. Did it work???? oh well. Here's the didlio. I was really sick this week so not a lot happened. My poor companion is so good, she had to sit around a lot while I slept, but she's a trooper. I think I may have passed the virus to her now........We did meet a prophet this week! That was really funny. He says "What would you say if I told you I was Christ?""Absolutely not!" Says I, maybe with too much confidence."Why not?""Because Everyone will know when Christ comes again. I can tell you right now you are definitely NOT Christ. Even if the scriptures didn't say He would come from the skies I would know that.""You're right..." then he quoted some scriptures from the Bible, probably just to show us that he knows what's going on. We had a long discussion about prophets and the Book of Mormon and for a little bit I thought he may have been interested (this was before the whole Christ thing). He asked very good questions then when I told him that we will set an appointment, the Christ thing came out, and I knew he was crazy. Not insane, but REALLY lost, and I hate leaving people like that without a very bold testimony, so I continued to talk to him for a few more minutes and all of a sudden he got kinda mean and said: "You tell your prophet to come and visit me. Tell a prophet to come and speak to another prophet.""How about you try and visit him" I said.Then he comes out with "Well, then tell him not to send me under leagues anymore."My first thought was--did he just call me an under league?--but I had to stop him in his tracks and tell him by what authority we have been sent here so I said "We are servants of Christ and have been blessed with His authority to preach His gospel in this area. When you decide to humble yourself and read the Book of Mormon you will know it is the word of God as we do."He then ends with "I hope you find the truth."I said, "We'll pray for you."I was really tempted to say "see you at the judgment day" but I didn't =]. People say that to us a lot here....usually born again Christians, but he wouldn't have heard it, so we left it at that and went our way. We laughed so hard on the way home though, I can't even express to you how funny I think this is! When I told my district leader, he told me tons of stories of crazy people they meet in the district itself.....thank goodness sisters aren't allowed to serve in the city =]. Anywho, that's about as exciting as it gets. If we can't find anyone that's interested, at least we can leave this area with our testimonies. Another day, when I was feeling better we tracked, and I really had to go to the bathroom. We knocked on a door, and a woman answered who said she was not interested (which is fine, whatever. We respect their innocent lack of knowledge), so I said "ok, um...can I use your bathroom?" She said "NO!" I looked at her with a shocked look and said (in a really sarcastic tone--which I probably shouldn't have but it was all in the moment) "thanks." shook my head and left her standing at her doorstep with the door half open. I have never yet had anyone say no when we asked for a bathroom. I've only done it a few times, when we tract a lot in a day, but most people freely offer and give water, or bathroom, food, but apparently this woman thought I was going to try and convince her and shove scriptures down her throat or something. Ridiculous. Today we are going to the great falls. Apparently there's a water fall thing between MD and VA, so we're going to see it. If it's cool and rapturous then I will tell you next week. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will write next time. Thanks for stopping by =]

~Sister Witbeck~ lml/

--Don't be lazy, be CRAZY!!!--

----Moroni 8:3----