Just keep on learnin' from your companion!

If you fail, reword!

On Sunday, we had a really cool lesson with a new contact.  At the end, my companion threw out the baptismal invite, and the guy was a little hesitant at first. But he rephrased the invite and promised him blessings, asked him some really good questions, and the guy accepted the invite! We saw him yesterday, and he is super excited for his baptism now! All thanks to the faith and perseverance of my companion! :)

Conquer the difficult

She has just been a great GEM this week. When she was senior companion for a few days, she conquered everything! That phone has never been conquered. She sees something difficult that she doesn't like to do, and then she goes and does it anyways. What a tiger!

Envision your investigator AND your companion

During companionship study on scambio, we were talking about being a good companion and I had an awesome epiphany. We always try to imagine our investigators in white - usually in the baptismal font. This helps motivate us to do everything we can to help them arrive at that point in their life. I realized that I've only been imagining half of the font. I'm only looking at the half with the investigator and my companion is standing in the other half, about to baptize the investigator. Of course, it would be better if a member did it, but if I can imagine my companion baptizing the investigator that I'm teaching, all of my work is going to go towards preparing the investigator for that moment and my companion. If our companion really is our most important investigator, we can imagine him in white also. It was like I was squinting and this scambio helped me open my eyes just a little bit wider. Life = changed. Eyes = opened. I'm excited to practice this new way of thinking.

Make members a priority

 I noticed something about my companion that I haven’t really noticed about him this whole past transfer. Every Sunday at church, he is always going around talking to the members. He is always trying to get to know all of the members in our ward--old, young, and all in between. The members are really getting to become more attached to the missionaries because of it. I have a strong testimony of doing the little things with your members to strengthen their drive to do missionary work.

Know them and love them all!

My companion is the best. He's great. He has been taking good care of this branch and this city. He knows all the members very well, he knows all the investigators very well, he knows all the less active people, and he even knows random people throughout the city that don't fit in any of those categories. I want to know and love the people like he does.

Inspired interior decorating

My companion had the idea that to better our studies and exercise, etc, we should rearrange the furniture in the house and move everything around. We completed the project, and now we are able to focus better for our studies because we have a room for studying only with desks, the transfer vision displayed, maps, investigator info, etc. We have been having a lot better studies and have been a lot more focused on getting the Start Chart down and everything, because we are so excited to have pretty much a new, clean, organized apartment. I am pretty sure his idea was inspired.

Patience and perseverance

My companion has a smile on her face every day.  She reminds me to just relax and enjoy this time we have as missionaries, watching and experiencing people make changes in their lives. She is so patient with me as I strive to help teach her our investigators, new converts, and members.  She is the best example at talking to people.  I struggled giving away copies of the Book of Mormon on the street initially, but I have been able to give away 6 already this week.  She is really helping me to stretch and reach my full potential.  She is a GEM!