"Not a whole lot to report this week I guess. Tired. REALLY tired. I can feel it all coming at me. I'm slowly crashing..."
"Investigators are doing well. One is still out of town, we really hope she is doing ok. Hoping to teach her and put her on date this week. The kids are doing well too. They have come to church the allotted times they have to come, but obviously we challenge them to come for the rest of their lives. They love Young women's. They go to mutual on Wednesdays, too. We are teaching yet another one of her cute girls. She's super prepared, reading the Book of Mormon and all. Our recent convert's family is very prepared."
"I'm sure ya'll are dying to hear about our convert's patriarchal blessing. Holy amazing. I cried during a couple of parts, the spirit was so strong. She had some really amazing promises and blessings given to her, and she had a really neat spiritual experience receiving them. She continues to progress. She is awesome (: I fetching love her."
"I've decided I want to go to the home ward when I get home...I'm not ready for the singles ward yet, and probably won't be for a while. I would love to serve in the young womens if God lets me."
"I hope ya'll had and have a great week. Sorry this is so short, and sorry nothing terribly exciting happened this week, especially with sheep haha...I hope to hear from you soon."
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
T-Minus 79 Days
"...But who's counting, right? haha (: My companion and I have been a little trunky this week...wait, did I just say that?...16 months came fast. I wasn't watching for it at all, it just kind of, slapped me awake yesterday when I realized that I only had 11 weeks left...WOAH. Brain blown."
"...Let's talk missionary- This week was awesome (: Not as great as standard week, we had some trials and our faith tested a little bit. Our miles are running short- I guess that is what happens when you are on the Lord's errand and driving everywhere to teach everyone. So we walked in 80-some odd degree weather, and like 75% humidity. I have some great lookin' tan lines."
"Our investigators are doing awesome! I love the kids we're teaching. They are all so full of faith and eager to learn. We picked up a new one of our convert's nephews this week. He is 8 years old. STOLE my heart right out of me. He is the biggest sweetheart. He's solid too, he loves to learn which makes things so much easier. He's an awesome reader, and we got him a children's Book of Mormon to read with our recent convert each night. She is so awesome- she got the elders 6 new people to teach in the last 2 weeks. She's got a lot of family she's trying to introduce to the gospel between our area and the elders' area."
"So Saturday we did something pretty once-in-a-lifetime. Our bishop has a farm. About 3 weeks ago he invited us to come help him herd, tag, and give shots to his sheep. It was us, the 2 sets of elders and our recent convert tagged along. (she had a total blast) Bishop invited us over again this last Saturday. Same crew. He told us we were castrating his males...we totally thought he was kidding. He was totally serious. So we castrated and gave shots to his sheep. It was really fun actually. It poured in the middle of it. I just gave shots to them, I couldn't do the rest...ugh..."
"So yesterday church was very temple oriented! The DC temple president came and spoke to us in sacrament meeting. Our recent convert and I both loved his talk. One thing that really stuck out was when he said that we came to earth to go to the temple. It was super powerful! Then we talked a little bit more about making and keeping temple covenants. She is so excited to get her endowments out next spring."
"...Let's talk missionary- This week was awesome (: Not as great as standard week, we had some trials and our faith tested a little bit. Our miles are running short- I guess that is what happens when you are on the Lord's errand and driving everywhere to teach everyone. So we walked in 80-some odd degree weather, and like 75% humidity. I have some great lookin' tan lines."
"Our investigators are doing awesome! I love the kids we're teaching. They are all so full of faith and eager to learn. We picked up a new one of our convert's nephews this week. He is 8 years old. STOLE my heart right out of me. He is the biggest sweetheart. He's solid too, he loves to learn which makes things so much easier. He's an awesome reader, and we got him a children's Book of Mormon to read with our recent convert each night. She is so awesome- she got the elders 6 new people to teach in the last 2 weeks. She's got a lot of family she's trying to introduce to the gospel between our area and the elders' area."
"So Saturday we did something pretty once-in-a-lifetime. Our bishop has a farm. About 3 weeks ago he invited us to come help him herd, tag, and give shots to his sheep. It was us, the 2 sets of elders and our recent convert tagged along. (she had a total blast) Bishop invited us over again this last Saturday. Same crew. He told us we were castrating his males...we totally thought he was kidding. He was totally serious. So we castrated and gave shots to his sheep. It was really fun actually. It poured in the middle of it. I just gave shots to them, I couldn't do the rest...ugh..."
"So yesterday church was very temple oriented! The DC temple president came and spoke to us in sacrament meeting. Our recent convert and I both loved his talk. One thing that really stuck out was when he said that we came to earth to go to the temple. It was super powerful! Then we talked a little bit more about making and keeping temple covenants. She is so excited to get her endowments out next spring."
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Drum Roll Please
"So you will never guess what's happening (: I'm staying in Bluefield, again!! With Sister P! 4 transfers in Bluefield- apparently my work here isn't done. I am so excited!!!!!! I really want to end my mission here, but we will see what the Lord has in store for me."
"So update on everything. Holy heck has this been an amazing week. I have seen so many amazing things, not just as a missionary, but as a person, a daughter in God's kingdom."
"Investigators- we are picking up so many, it's crazy. Most of them are kids that our recent convert is raising, her nieces and nephews, etc. We have two of them on date for baptism on July 13th.We are also teaching her friend and her 2 kids. Man, these southern kids are firecrackers! They are touched by the spirit so deeply, and they have a desire to really know about God and about how a family is really supposed to function...all of these kids come from super broken families."
"So one sister we are teaching is legally blind. She's kind of been putting off reading the book of Mormon, because she has been having a hard time reading. She can't see to read or write well. Sunday morning, she woke up at 5 AM so she could be ready for church. We had a member picking her up around 9:30. She got up at 5 so she could get ready for church, and so she could read the book of Mormon. We got her a large print, and she sat down, adjusted what she could, and diligently read only HALF a page in 2nd Nephi. Talk about prepared. She enjoyed every minute of church, paid her tithing, and told us she knew what we were teaching her was true. It was amazing."
"We had our last specialized training with the Pitts last week. It was one of the hardest meetings I have had to attend. I will probably see the Pitts next time in their home. At the conclusion of the teaching portion of this awesome meeting, we gathered in a large circle in the gym, and each missionary took a turn bearing their testimony of Christ. Then the Pitts gave their departing testimonies, and we all knelt in our final prayer together as a zone. President bestowed blessings in this prayer upon our spouses, and our children that were being prepared to come to us. It was powerful. Sister P and I bawled. I had never felt so close to my future family in my life. It's like all of our children were in that room, watching us."
"So update on everything. Holy heck has this been an amazing week. I have seen so many amazing things, not just as a missionary, but as a person, a daughter in God's kingdom."
"Investigators- we are picking up so many, it's crazy. Most of them are kids that our recent convert is raising, her nieces and nephews, etc. We have two of them on date for baptism on July 13th.We are also teaching her friend and her 2 kids. Man, these southern kids are firecrackers! They are touched by the spirit so deeply, and they have a desire to really know about God and about how a family is really supposed to function...all of these kids come from super broken families."
"So one sister we are teaching is legally blind. She's kind of been putting off reading the book of Mormon, because she has been having a hard time reading. She can't see to read or write well. Sunday morning, she woke up at 5 AM so she could be ready for church. We had a member picking her up around 9:30. She got up at 5 so she could get ready for church, and so she could read the book of Mormon. We got her a large print, and she sat down, adjusted what she could, and diligently read only HALF a page in 2nd Nephi. Talk about prepared. She enjoyed every minute of church, paid her tithing, and told us she knew what we were teaching her was true. It was amazing."
"We had our last specialized training with the Pitts last week. It was one of the hardest meetings I have had to attend. I will probably see the Pitts next time in their home. At the conclusion of the teaching portion of this awesome meeting, we gathered in a large circle in the gym, and each missionary took a turn bearing their testimony of Christ. Then the Pitts gave their departing testimonies, and we all knelt in our final prayer together as a zone. President bestowed blessings in this prayer upon our spouses, and our children that were being prepared to come to us. It was powerful. Sister P and I bawled. I had never felt so close to my future family in my life. It's like all of our children were in that room, watching us."
Monday, June 9, 2014
"Ahh, What a beautiful, rewarding week it has been (: "
"The Lord has really blessed me and my companion this week. We have seen more miracles than we could count. Although numbers are definitely not the most important thing as a missionary, we have been blessed with very high numbers this week (I've come to learn that numbers are a blessing and a privilege, not what missionary work is all about). They looked AMAZING. The Lord has blessed us with people to teach, whether they are totally solid or not, and in the eternal perspective, maybe it just wasn't their time to learn- nevertheless, we have been able to share that piece of the gospel with them that hopefully they will remember and carry."
"Update on the 'gators...We have been blessed with two new this week! Our recent convert calls them her "daughters" but they aren't related. They come from a really broken family... probably moving back for good to Georgia this summer. She is totally heart-broken, but she figures the best thing she can give them is the Gospel, and eternal happiness that comes with it. The girls came to church and actually witnessed a baptism. We might be teaching one of her best friends who says he's pagan...oh boy. He's a way nice guy though! We're teaching a very prepared sister. She is leagally blind, but can still get around. She loves the gospel, the church, and the people in it."
"We had a really interesting miracle happen this week. We got a note in the mail from the mission office saying that a lady wanted to learn about the gospel. We called her because she didn't have a physical address, just a PO box number. She said she's still interested and we decide that we have the time to go see her that night. So we drive 20 minutes out, and into Maybeury. My GPS just happens to have this tiny little street programmed in. We get to this house, and turns out this lady is a less active from Cincinatti, OH. She wanted to "come home" to the gospel that she was baptized into so many years previous. She had a long road and experimented with so many different religions, but realized that it all came back to the gospel of Jesus Christ...that's what made her the happiest. Her, her non member husband and her stepson all want the lessons. They want to come to church. So we called the zone leaders because we weren't entirely sure that these folks were in our area...and turns out they aren't...they are just over the McDowell county line. They are part of the Welch branch. So we call welch. Turns out these elders have been struggling in their area, and I'm sure they had been praying for people to teach and visit. We were an answer to their prayers (: and although at first I was upset that we weren't going to get to teach them, I was happy that I had been the answer to a young greenie's prayers."
"This week my testimony of forever families (well, more like this whole transfer) has just exploded. I am so excited to have an eternal family of my own. That's really what this plan is, and what missions are about are uniting families. The plaque on the mantel says it loud and proud (A missionary leaves her family for 18 months so that the people she teaches can be with their family forever)...that's why I'm out here, is to unite families. Yesterday in church, I got to teach singing time. I taught them the 2nd verse of "The family is of God" which is part of the sharing time theme this year. The whole thing went really well and I had a lot of fun getting my teacher pants on again."
"Laughter is the best medicine. I felt like sacrament meeting went all revival on us yesterday when this dear sweet older sister in our ward (bless her heart, she has fathers and brothers who are preachers) got up and was supposed to "speak" on enduring to the end. She rather yelled about Obama not holding the priesthood, teens taking responsibility for themselves, and her neighbors arguing over property lines and who's trash was who's on trash day. As I tried so hard to hold back my giggle fits (even the bishop and his counselor were cracking up on the stand), I looked over at our recent convert, who had her hand over her mouth and her eyes were huge. She was trying so hard not to die laughing either. I said, "you know it's not normally like this, right?" and she said yeah, and later we told her "daughters" that as well, and hopefully our baptist-preacher sacrament meeting didn't completely scare them off. "All I care about" the speaker announced as she raised her arm and pointed to the ceiling, "is what the big man upstairs thinks of me!" We all thought, good, cause if you cared about what the bishop and the democrats in the room thought, you would probably be Less Active next week. I told her afterwards that I honestly enjoyed her talk, and she said "I didn't read a word off my notes". I thought, 'oh really?'...Bless her heart haha (: Maybe I don't need to go to another church to enjoy the diversity of the Bible belt. I love Southern people!"
"Update on the 'gators...We have been blessed with two new this week! Our recent convert calls them her "daughters" but they aren't related. They come from a really broken family... probably moving back for good to Georgia this summer. She is totally heart-broken, but she figures the best thing she can give them is the Gospel, and eternal happiness that comes with it. The girls came to church and actually witnessed a baptism. We might be teaching one of her best friends who says he's pagan...oh boy. He's a way nice guy though! We're teaching a very prepared sister. She is leagally blind, but can still get around. She loves the gospel, the church, and the people in it."
"We had a really interesting miracle happen this week. We got a note in the mail from the mission office saying that a lady wanted to learn about the gospel. We called her because she didn't have a physical address, just a PO box number. She said she's still interested and we decide that we have the time to go see her that night. So we drive 20 minutes out, and into Maybeury. My GPS just happens to have this tiny little street programmed in. We get to this house, and turns out this lady is a less active from Cincinatti, OH. She wanted to "come home" to the gospel that she was baptized into so many years previous. She had a long road and experimented with so many different religions, but realized that it all came back to the gospel of Jesus Christ...that's what made her the happiest. Her, her non member husband and her stepson all want the lessons. They want to come to church. So we called the zone leaders because we weren't entirely sure that these folks were in our area...and turns out they aren't...they are just over the McDowell county line. They are part of the Welch branch. So we call welch. Turns out these elders have been struggling in their area, and I'm sure they had been praying for people to teach and visit. We were an answer to their prayers (: and although at first I was upset that we weren't going to get to teach them, I was happy that I had been the answer to a young greenie's prayers."
"This week my testimony of forever families (well, more like this whole transfer) has just exploded. I am so excited to have an eternal family of my own. That's really what this plan is, and what missions are about are uniting families. The plaque on the mantel says it loud and proud (A missionary leaves her family for 18 months so that the people she teaches can be with their family forever)...that's why I'm out here, is to unite families. Yesterday in church, I got to teach singing time. I taught them the 2nd verse of "The family is of God" which is part of the sharing time theme this year. The whole thing went really well and I had a lot of fun getting my teacher pants on again."
"Laughter is the best medicine. I felt like sacrament meeting went all revival on us yesterday when this dear sweet older sister in our ward (bless her heart, she has fathers and brothers who are preachers) got up and was supposed to "speak" on enduring to the end. She rather yelled about Obama not holding the priesthood, teens taking responsibility for themselves, and her neighbors arguing over property lines and who's trash was who's on trash day. As I tried so hard to hold back my giggle fits (even the bishop and his counselor were cracking up on the stand), I looked over at our recent convert, who had her hand over her mouth and her eyes were huge. She was trying so hard not to die laughing either. I said, "you know it's not normally like this, right?" and she said yeah, and later we told her "daughters" that as well, and hopefully our baptist-preacher sacrament meeting didn't completely scare them off. "All I care about" the speaker announced as she raised her arm and pointed to the ceiling, "is what the big man upstairs thinks of me!" We all thought, good, cause if you cared about what the bishop and the democrats in the room thought, you would probably be Less Active next week. I told her afterwards that I honestly enjoyed her talk, and she said "I didn't read a word off my notes". I thought, 'oh really?'...Bless her heart haha (: Maybe I don't need to go to another church to enjoy the diversity of the Bible belt. I love Southern people!"
Monday, June 2, 2014
True Joy
"I have never felt so much relief. So much of the spirit before. Sunday was amazing (: She, the one baptized last week, came to church, and actually brought one of her nephews (who we are now teaching, and he's really loving it). She was confirmed an official Mormon haha (: She came off of the stand glowing. It was so neat. This overwhelming feeling came over me- I wonder if it was true joy. The scriptures say "how great shall be your joy if you bring but one soul unto me." Pretty sure I felt true joy (: It was the coolest thing."
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