The end of a transfer already?!

"I can't believe transfers are next week. It blows my mind just a little bit. This past week hasn't been too exciting, but we have had a couple of miracles."

"Our first miracle happened Wednesday night, after a dinner appointment with a really great family in our ward. A few weeks prior, we were over at a member's house for a meeting, when we met another ward member and his girlfriend. This girlfriend told us that she wanted to learn more. We told her we would teach her, and we said that we would meet every Sunday at the house we were at. A couple weeks went by and our weekly appointments fell through. We hadn't heard from her for days. Our zone leaders called one day and told us that her boyfriend landed himself in prison, and the two of them had broken up. We weren't expecting anything else and no further progression or interest from her. Wednesday night after our dinner, we got in the car and saw we had a voice mail from her. She told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon through all the hard things that have been happening to her and her ex lately. She said that that had been her support system. She also told us she wanted to continue to meet with us as soon as possible.
We are so excited to teach her again, and we can't wait for the miracles to follow."
 

"I encourage all who like ice cream to appreciate Dairy Queens Pumpkin Pie Blizzard- it is DIVINE."
 

"I hope you all have a wonderful week. I know that this gospel is so true, and I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful work that is hastening. Sorry this letter is so short. More miracles to come! (: "

Happy Fall!

"So I have been a total slacker on telling you about this area.We aren't working with too many people yet. We have a TON of potential investigators, and because we were sick (last week) we didn't get to see many of them, but we do have two that are totally fantastic, and we can't wait to keep working with them. The first was a media referral. She's kind of like J(her investigator in Christiansburg) when it comes to being ready for the gospel. Before she referred herself to the missionaries, she called the bishop of our ward and told him she wanted to come to church. She bought a modest dress and shoes so that she could come to church. She has a great desire to learn about the gospel. She loves family history, and we can't wait to take her to the family history center we have at the church. We have only been able to meet with her once. Satan is doing everything in his power to keep us from meeting with her. She has had to cancel every meeting we've had with her since our first one due to just life happenings. Satan is at his hardest with her. BAH! Our second is a school teacher going through a very difficult divorce. He was a referral from a ward member. We don't have too many people we're working with unfortunately."

"Also, we found an inactive member of our ward this week. It was so neat! We had never met the father before, so we got to talk to him. He invited us to dinner at their house Friday! We were so shocked. He "isn't the religious type", but he enjoyed our company (really the spirit we carry), and wants us to come back. I love the Spirit- I love giving it opportunities to testify to others about the gospel!!"

A Miracle

"Monday night to Tuesday night we went on exchanges with the sister trainer leader Sister L and her companion Sister M. They are the sisters in Morgantown. I got to go to Morgantown with Sister L. On the drive to Morgantown, Sister L told me we were teaching two Japanese exchange students attending WVU, who were staying at a member's house. The sisters had been printing out pages of the Book of Mormon in Japanese off of LDS.org for the girls to read, because they hadn't ordered a Book of Mormon in Japanese yet. One of the girls was going back to Japan Thursday, so they didn't order one in time. In my last area, the members  would set extra things they had on the serving counter at the church building for other people to take and leave as they please. One week there was this huge pile of books that anyone was welcome to take. Among the pile was a Japanese Book of Mormon. At first I thought, "I don't really need this...extra crap to carry around", but I was prompted to take the book. Plus it was really cool (: for a whole transfer and a half it sat on my study desk. When I moved here, I packed the book up and never ended up unpacking it. When Sister L mentioned that they were teaching these Japanese girls, I immediately thought of the Japanese copy of the Book of Mormon sitting in my suitcase at home. After exchanges were over the following evening, I  quickly dove through my suitcase to get the book for her to take back to Morgantown. Sunday night, Sister L called because she had heard both of us had been sick that week and wanted to see how we were doing. She also told me the rest of what happened with the Book of Mormon she gave to the girl going home..."

"Wednesday, the day after exchanges ending up being incredibly busy. Everyone they visited decided they needed to take up extra time with them, and by the time they got home it was 10:15. They called the sister that was housing the exchange students to see what time the girl was leaving to catch the bus to go to the airport. She told them that she would be at the bus stop at 6:30 the next morning. Sister L and Sister M got up at 6 AM the next morning, drove to Morgantown and got the book to her not 2 minutes before the bus came. I have a sure testimony and stand as a witness that when the Lord wants something done, he will find a way. He provides the revelation we need and the miracles that occur when we have the faith that he can do all things."

19 years and counting

"It is so wild to even begin to think that 19 yrs ago I was sealed to you guys...AHH! So amazing! I have the strongest testimony of forever families. We have a lot of less actives in our ward that are part member families, so they haven't been through the temple yet. We have one family that is SO prepared! The husband and age-accountable kids have been baptized, and they are waiting their turn to go through the temple. We had stake conference yesterday, and the 1st counselor of the DC temple presidency was the concluding speaker, and he talked about the temple, coming to partake of the blessings, and being sealed and stuff. It was so cool. He talked about how the Lord is hastening his work through temple work. I love the temple, and I am DYING to get back." 

"Last Monday night, Sister H and I went to visit an investigator. We were inside, but as we were driving there, this huge storm blew in. It rained and thundered. The lightning wasn't too close...yet. As we were visiting with our investigator, the lightning was so close, and the thunder was so loud. Halfway through our lesson, lightning struck the road outside the apartment complex. It was so close, you could see the shape of the lightning through the closed blinds. The thunder was ear splitting and scared us all so bad! Crazy weather out here, I tell ya! The weather here is so bizarre. Some days like today, it's 90 degrees and just fine. Then there are other days where you can definitely tell that fall is basically here. The leaves are starting to change colors. I am SO excited for the fall!! The tops of the trees outside of our apartment are turning colors. This summer has been SO wet. Really wet summer = really gorgeous fall, but also means a very bad winter according to the farmers almanac, and most every ward member we have talked to about the weather. This winter is gonna SUCK."

 

"We've decided that service comes in many forms out here haha. We helped a member family move this week, we helped a non member lady sort through her stuff after a big move, and we're helping a sister can apples and applesauce on Wednesday. We cover a couple of rural areas, so I am hoping I get to do a little farm work here soon (: we haven't done any gardening, but it's "give all your produce to your fellow RS sisters" season. So we have apples and apple sauce, and I can't tell you how many times we have been offered tomatoes.)

 

Hello from Bridgeport!

"I made it! I hate Monday holidays. I absolutely LOVE Bridgeport. I have SO Much to tell you!!"

"We live in the top floor of a funeral home on Highway 50. Fun fact: Highway 50 runs from Baltimore MD to San Francisco CA. True story!Yes, I live in a funeral home. A funeral home. Too good right? It is kind of weird.  There's an apartment that was added on and an older lady lives there. It's on the back of the home. Luckily the embalming room is under her apartment and not ours...but we have the creepy attic so I guess we level with her. It's actually kind of cool, cause I am totally creeped out by old houses, and I will never go to a haunted house, but there's something about this apartment that I love. I don't get nervous or scared about the attic, in fact, I want to go clean it up and make it somewhere I can study or something. I for some reason keep thinking about the people who built the house originally or who have lived in it, and my justification for it's haunting features, is that there's just a bunch of people who hang around the missionaries because they want their temple work done bahahaha (: PS! There's a piano downstairs that the landlord said I could play whenever I want!!! So I get to play the piano a ton! Could you possibly send me Rhapsody in blue?..."

"My new companion is Sister H...and she is AMAZING. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love her. Our missions have been almost exactly the same. We celebrated her 22nd birthday yesterday. My ward ROCKS. I just LOVE Bridgeport!!

"Saturday we went to the Clarksburg Italian Heritage Festival with the two sets of elders in our area. We share a ward with both sets.At the festival we were handing out Book of Mormons and pass along cards. We talked to a lot of the booth owners and I think the elders picked up a couple of new investigators from that. It was really neat! Our ward had a Labor Day breakfast and fun run this morning. It was a 5k.We have 5 investigators, two of which are super golden."