Dear Family and friends,
Merry Christmas! I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas time to reflect on the Savior, his Atonement and resurrection. I spent a lot of time thinking about Mary and Joseph. I think she was an incredible woman and he was an incredible man. I was reading in Luke 2 in preparation for Christmas this past week and it just reaffirmed that.
Thank you all for the cards, and packages...I am thankful to have such a sweet family and wonderful friends.
We had a pretty slow week this week. Last Monday wasn't very eventful. My nasty cold came on with a vengeance so Sister Welch and I watched a bunch of Doctrine and Covenants videos. There are some really good stories on those...AND it has the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie on it. We watched one clip (The John Tanner Story) that had one of the Koch boys in it. We were watching and then I was like, "Hey! That's my neighbor." Claim to fame.
We decided it might be best to stay in that night and just go to bed early which worked out really well because all of our appointments for the evening canceled.
Tuesday we went down to Beullaville and met with a girl named Kayla. Her stepson's grandparents are members and that is how we found her. She has gone through a lot of trials in her life...and she is only 25 years old. She feels like God doesn't care about her. She had a really serious trial a few years ago and she said that she felt like God didn't answer her prayers until several years had passed. We pointed out that he had answered her prayer, but that it just hadn't come when she had wanted it. I feel like that happens a lot. Sometimes we will pray and pray and pray, but nothing will happen. A lot of time can go by before we will receive answers to our prayers. I know Heavenly Father hears every prayer and that He is mindful of each of us though. He loves us and wants the very best for us. Sometimes that means we have to go through the refiner's fire (1 Nephi 10:20) to get the very best that he has in store for us. I've learned a lot about that lately. I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father loves us though. Sometimes it is hard to feel and understand, but he is there to help us if we will just humble ourselves, strive to fix the things that are wrong in our lives, give our all/do our very best, and exercise all the faith we have (which doesn't have to be anything more that a teeny little mustard seed...if that's all we've got.) She is interested in learning more. She was telling us about some of the crazy things that she had heard about Mormons. Her nephew told her that he heard from someone at school that Mormons don't eat peanut butter. I told Kayla that I would die without peanut butter. It is a primary staple of my diet.
Wednesday I lost my voice due to the nasty cold. We had district meeting and ironically, we had a few minutes to talk about health and safety. Elder Garrett (our new district leader) asked if we, the sisters had any input. Sister Welch said to stay away from your sick companion. I love her. She cracks me up. We learned a lot about using the how to begin teaching skills and then we role played. I learned (relearned would be more appropriate) the importance of asking inspired questions. Asking questions is how Jesus taught the people in the New Testament. I have loved seeing that as I have been reading the New Testament in my study time. Asking questions also allows the person to receive revelation for themselves and they can answer their own questions instead of having us just tell them an answer. We don't want to just give people a fish...we want to teach them how to go fishing for themselves. Questions are awesome. Sister W and were talking about how we could apply that to life after the mission. There are many applications...
As a sidenote, one of the elders a while back was talking about the importance of area books. He then related it to life after the mission and said that we should all make area books after the mission to use in our dating pursuits. He said we can have a "potentials" section, and a "new and other investigators" sections, and of course, a "former investigator" section. It was pretty hilarious. Later that evening we met with Claire and the Smith's home. Claire is very,very shy so this was a big deal for her. She was really nervous and the Smiths have tried having her over a few times before and she backed out at the last minute, but she came! We had dinner and a lesson. We talked about Samuel the Lamanite. Claire really enjoyed it and said she thankful we coaxed her into coming.
Thursday we drove out to Trenton and had a lesson with Matt and Regina (recent converts). They are getting ready to go to the temple! We got to teach them the last few lessons of temple prep and watched a bunch of really cheesy church movies with them. I think it's funny that those movies are sooo cheesy yet they get me everytime. I almost cried, but then I didn't. Sister Regina is a most excellent cook. She made us homemade peppermint/chamomile tea and snickerdoodle cookies. It was delicious. Afterwards, we went to the Turner residence (Jason, Tiffany, Austin, and Kaitlin). They are excited for Christmas! We read scriptures with them and talked about the importance of scriptures. They are struggling right now, but we know that they will be able to make it over all of their speed bumps in life.
Happy Christmas Adam! We met with Claire again on Friday and gave her a bunch of Christmas stuff. A lot of the people here don't have much. She was excited to meet with us and we had a good lesson with her. She is such a sweet person. She gave us these giant marshmallow things that Sister Welch and roasted over our gas heater when we got home that night. It was like eating a giant peep that had been roasted....mmm.
Happy Christmas Eve! Sister Nannie Mae invited us over for breakfast. I was full for the whole rest of the day. We had grits, sausage, eggs (gah), and biscuits. I was SO full. We did our weekly planning and then we went to dinner with an 84 year old lady and her family. It was very good. Her grandson (?) talked to us for a long time about his mission and all the pranks he pulled on the sister missionaries in his district. It was really funny. We would be so toast if we ever even thought about pulling the pranks that he did. Those sisters deserved it though....after we finished dinner at their home, we went over to Sister Adkins home and ate more dinner there. I do not like food anymore. Sister Adkins kept asking me if I wanted more. I felt bad for saying no so many times so I finally started saying yes and then I just felt sick.
Merry Christmas! We went to church in Albertson. We decided to snag a ride with a girl named Leeann in the ward because we are running low on miles. So, we did that. However, on the way home I was giving Sister W a hard time about how she always loses the keys (it's basically everyday). She then looked at me and said, "I don't have the keys in my bag!" We rummaged through her bag with no luck. We had locked the keys in our apartment. I was supposed to call home shortly after church got out so I was panicking. Nannie Mae wasn't home from church and we didn't know when she would be coming back. So we tried all the windows and finally found that the bathroom window had not been latched down. Sister W said that I should go through the tiny window because my skirt was more "flowy", and I was taller and therefore able to reach the window better. So, I went through the tiny window, got high-centered about halfway, but made it through after grabbing onto the bathroom door and pulling myself through the window. It hurt. I went and unlocked the door for Sister Welch and we sat and unpanicked ourselves. About 10 minutes after that, Nannie Mae came home. Sister Welch and I looked at each other and just laughed. We could have waited for her to get home, but of course, we panicked. It was sooooo good to hear from y'all! It made my day. :) We went to the mission leader, Brother Stroud's for lunch. It was a very large lunch. Sister Welch had requested something "light." To which Brother Stroud responded, "I know no such critter." We were very full. After talking with the Strouds, we went over to the Gray's and ate dinner with them, had orangeade...which is delicious, and Brother Will Gray took a bunch of pictures with his new iPad that made us look really funny.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you have a blessed 2012! Don't forget to set goals! President Cotterell suggested that we have spiritual goals for ourselves and physical health goals for this coming year.
I love you all so very much and I am so thankful for each of you. Thank you for all that you do.
Much love,
Sister J
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Merry Christmas - December 19, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,Merry Christmas!I hope you are enjoying the dry cold and snow. It is humid...and freeeezing here; and there is no snow. :(
Last Monday, Sister W and I went to this restaurant in Kinston called the Peach House. A member from the Albertson ward works there and she told us to come sometime...so we did. They have soup, salad, and sandwiches. It kind of reminds me of Zupa's and it was so good! They had fresh fruit and panini wrap sandwiches. Mmmmm! It was so good. In the evening we met with a less active who was baptized about a year ago. Her name is Denise. She knows how important church is and she does a great job of sharing the gospel with her coworkers and family. She said she is just going through a rough spot right now, but wants to start coming back to church. We are excited for her! She is a really sweet lady.
Tuesday we went to Beullaville. We tried to find a part member family, but when we drove out there, we discovered that their address did not exist. That scenario seems to happen a lot. So, we figured Heavenly Father had led us out here for a reason. We parked at a Hotdog/ice cream/gas station and started walking. Houses are REALLY spaced out here. We walked a couple of miles and knocked on a few houses. Most people didn't answer the door, but we did meet a nice lady named Martha. She has a dog that is seriously the size of a lion. It almost knocked Sister Welch flat on the ground. Luckily, he was a nice dog and was just really excited to see new people. She said she was busy and was trying to clean because she had family who were coming to stay with her, but she said we could come back anytime and that she would like to listen to what we have to say. Afterwards, we went to the Turner family and had a really good lesson with their family. Sister Welch's mom sent us a gingerbread house. We decided to figure out someway to get rid of it so, we came up with a lesson plan using the gingerbread house by applying it to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So now I will liken the gingerbread house unto the Gospel of Jesus Christ for you: The plastic board that you build the house on was Jesus Christ. We read Heleman 5: 12 about how Christ should be our foundation. Then, we made the icing faith because sometimes you can't always see the icing. Which is like faith. Sometimes you can't always see it, but you know it is there. We also talked about how faith is like the glue that holds everything together. We read Ether 12:6. Then, we made the sides of the house like repentance because when we repent, it helps us get back on the path that we need to be on. We read Mosiah 4:10. The front and back of the house was baptism because baptism is the gate that we enter through (read 2 Nephi 31:17). The gift of the Holy Ghost was the roof because a house needs a roof to be complete and baptism without receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost is incomplete. (2 Nephi 32:5) Then, we decorated the house with candy and goodness which is like enduring to the end. When we endure, we receive blessings (like the candy!) that make our house more of a home. It was a fun lesson and the kids really enjoyed it. They explained it to us perfectly when we asked them to tell us what we learned. They are still planning on being baptized on the 7th and are super excited. We are also working with their parents and trying to help them kick their bad habits. They really want to change and know how important this is. Poor Brother Turner has been having some pretty serious withdrawal headaches. We keep praying that they will become less intense...
Wednesday we went to the library and did service.. Tasha, the less active was there and so was Carmen (the other girl that works there). We talked to them for a bit and then reorganized a bunch of reference books. I never thought that learning about the dewey decimal system in school would actually be applicable to real life. Ha! Tasha's husband met with the elders for the first time the night before and I guess it's going well so we are excited for them! Carman's aunt just passed away so we took the opportunity to ask her if she would be interested in learning more about the plan of Salvation. She declined our invitation, but said thank you. Her and her husband want to convert to Catholicism....Some day she will be a member of the church. I am sure of it. She is very sweet. I love her a lot. In the evening we went to the Albertson ward Christmas party. It was the weirdest church christmas party I have ever been to. They had tamales for dinner, but ran out before we got there so we had meatballs and pimento cheese sandwiches for dinner. Then, they did some skits. Some of them were pretty hilarious. The YSA's in the ward did a skit where they drew faces on their chins and lip synced songs upside down. The rest of them were a little questionable in my book...but whatever.
Thursday we weekly planned very thoroughly. It took a long time. Our dinner appointment forgot that they were going to feed us...which was okay. So, we went to Subway. When we got there is was like we walked into church or something. We saw the Turners there, Brother Smith, and President and Sister Whaley. Subway was the happening place! We met with the Turners that we saw at Subway afterwards to read scriptures with them. We are trying to make sure we teach our investigators and less actives how to go fishing in the scriptures. It was really awkward at first because no one would say much of anything, but the more we read on, the more involved they got. We read about Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah. It was neat to see how much we could pull from that one chapter alone. You can always learn something from the scriptures.
Friday was Christmas Zone Conference! I played the piano. The Assistants failed with a capital F and didn't inform me of what songs they wanted me to play. So, I got some good sight reading practice in. We spent most of the morning doing role plays. We have a new sister! Her name is Sister McPherson. She is from Highland, UT and she is a nurse. She is really sweet. I hope we get to be compies at some point. Then, we had lunch...which was provided by the Greenville wards and it was so exciting because I got to see some of the G-ville members! I loved it there in Greenville. Afterwards we sang songs in our zones and had a good afternoon of much laughter when they had the missionaries come up and play songs with the chimes. I'm glad they were able to send those videos to you. We watched a couple of clips from the Bible videos that the church has made. You can watch them if you go to mormon.org/bible-videos. They are super good. Sister Welch and I took some time on Saturday at the library to watch them. They are incredible. My favorite was when the angel comes to the shepherds. Take a gander at them when you get a chance. :]
On Saturday we went to the church to practice music for the cantata. We went a tracted Piney Grove road...which we have decided the church should just buy and build a temple on. There are a lot of members that live on that road. We thought we had figured out where they all lived, but when we knocked on one door, we found the Elder's quorum president's wife....who was visiting her mother that lived there. We talked with them for a bit and got some info on a less active so it turned out to be really good. Slightly embarrassing, but mostly good. I was feeling a little under the weather that day so we took it easy for most of the afternoon. We met with Claire and her brother and sister and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with them. Claire loooved it.
We went to church in Woodington. One of the elders from my district in the MTC is now serving here in Woodington. (Elder Brown). New missionaries get picked on a lot. He said a lot of prayers during church and got to bear his testimony. We had a really good lesson in sunday school about faith. Sister Stephanie gave us each a mustard seed. Sister Welch and I taped ours to the back of our name tags. We went to lunch with the Harpers afterwards. They are an older couple and they told us never to own a chicken farm because it will control your life. We told them we would remember that for future reference. Then, we went to Sarah and Amy's for a lesson. We watched the bible videos with them, had a scripture chase and it was just really good! Oh, and Amy actually stayed for all three hours this sunday! She went to primary with Sarah, but she is going to start coming for all 3 hours every sunday now. We are so excited and are hoping to be able to help her progress in the gospel as we keep meeting with her. I got a nasty cold that settled in pretty well by Sunday evening. I felt higher than a kite when we went to the cantata. I played my song. I don't remember how it went, but then we left after an hour or so of singing. I mostly just moved my mouth and pretended to sing because my voice was pretty much gone. Amy told me I looked sick. I told her I was sick and then we went home and I went to bed. I am feeling better today. I love this time of year though.
I hope yall have a wonderful christmas. "With God, nothing is impossible." (Luke 1:37)I am thankful for our Savior. It is such a blessing to have the knowledge that we have. God bless!
Love,
Sister J
Last Monday, Sister W and I went to this restaurant in Kinston called the Peach House. A member from the Albertson ward works there and she told us to come sometime...so we did. They have soup, salad, and sandwiches. It kind of reminds me of Zupa's and it was so good! They had fresh fruit and panini wrap sandwiches. Mmmmm! It was so good. In the evening we met with a less active who was baptized about a year ago. Her name is Denise. She knows how important church is and she does a great job of sharing the gospel with her coworkers and family. She said she is just going through a rough spot right now, but wants to start coming back to church. We are excited for her! She is a really sweet lady.
Tuesday we went to Beullaville. We tried to find a part member family, but when we drove out there, we discovered that their address did not exist. That scenario seems to happen a lot. So, we figured Heavenly Father had led us out here for a reason. We parked at a Hotdog/ice cream/gas station and started walking. Houses are REALLY spaced out here. We walked a couple of miles and knocked on a few houses. Most people didn't answer the door, but we did meet a nice lady named Martha. She has a dog that is seriously the size of a lion. It almost knocked Sister Welch flat on the ground. Luckily, he was a nice dog and was just really excited to see new people. She said she was busy and was trying to clean because she had family who were coming to stay with her, but she said we could come back anytime and that she would like to listen to what we have to say. Afterwards, we went to the Turner family and had a really good lesson with their family. Sister Welch's mom sent us a gingerbread house. We decided to figure out someway to get rid of it so, we came up with a lesson plan using the gingerbread house by applying it to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So now I will liken the gingerbread house unto the Gospel of Jesus Christ for you: The plastic board that you build the house on was Jesus Christ. We read Heleman 5: 12 about how Christ should be our foundation. Then, we made the icing faith because sometimes you can't always see the icing. Which is like faith. Sometimes you can't always see it, but you know it is there. We also talked about how faith is like the glue that holds everything together. We read Ether 12:6. Then, we made the sides of the house like repentance because when we repent, it helps us get back on the path that we need to be on. We read Mosiah 4:10. The front and back of the house was baptism because baptism is the gate that we enter through (read 2 Nephi 31:17). The gift of the Holy Ghost was the roof because a house needs a roof to be complete and baptism without receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost is incomplete. (2 Nephi 32:5) Then, we decorated the house with candy and goodness which is like enduring to the end. When we endure, we receive blessings (like the candy!) that make our house more of a home. It was a fun lesson and the kids really enjoyed it. They explained it to us perfectly when we asked them to tell us what we learned. They are still planning on being baptized on the 7th and are super excited. We are also working with their parents and trying to help them kick their bad habits. They really want to change and know how important this is. Poor Brother Turner has been having some pretty serious withdrawal headaches. We keep praying that they will become less intense...
Wednesday we went to the library and did service.. Tasha, the less active was there and so was Carmen (the other girl that works there). We talked to them for a bit and then reorganized a bunch of reference books. I never thought that learning about the dewey decimal system in school would actually be applicable to real life. Ha! Tasha's husband met with the elders for the first time the night before and I guess it's going well so we are excited for them! Carman's aunt just passed away so we took the opportunity to ask her if she would be interested in learning more about the plan of Salvation. She declined our invitation, but said thank you. Her and her husband want to convert to Catholicism....Some day she will be a member of the church. I am sure of it. She is very sweet. I love her a lot. In the evening we went to the Albertson ward Christmas party. It was the weirdest church christmas party I have ever been to. They had tamales for dinner, but ran out before we got there so we had meatballs and pimento cheese sandwiches for dinner. Then, they did some skits. Some of them were pretty hilarious. The YSA's in the ward did a skit where they drew faces on their chins and lip synced songs upside down. The rest of them were a little questionable in my book...but whatever.
Thursday we weekly planned very thoroughly. It took a long time. Our dinner appointment forgot that they were going to feed us...which was okay. So, we went to Subway. When we got there is was like we walked into church or something. We saw the Turners there, Brother Smith, and President and Sister Whaley. Subway was the happening place! We met with the Turners that we saw at Subway afterwards to read scriptures with them. We are trying to make sure we teach our investigators and less actives how to go fishing in the scriptures. It was really awkward at first because no one would say much of anything, but the more we read on, the more involved they got. We read about Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah. It was neat to see how much we could pull from that one chapter alone. You can always learn something from the scriptures.
Friday was Christmas Zone Conference! I played the piano. The Assistants failed with a capital F and didn't inform me of what songs they wanted me to play. So, I got some good sight reading practice in. We spent most of the morning doing role plays. We have a new sister! Her name is Sister McPherson. She is from Highland, UT and she is a nurse. She is really sweet. I hope we get to be compies at some point. Then, we had lunch...which was provided by the Greenville wards and it was so exciting because I got to see some of the G-ville members! I loved it there in Greenville. Afterwards we sang songs in our zones and had a good afternoon of much laughter when they had the missionaries come up and play songs with the chimes. I'm glad they were able to send those videos to you. We watched a couple of clips from the Bible videos that the church has made. You can watch them if you go to mormon.org/bible-videos. They are super good. Sister Welch and I took some time on Saturday at the library to watch them. They are incredible. My favorite was when the angel comes to the shepherds. Take a gander at them when you get a chance. :]
On Saturday we went to the church to practice music for the cantata. We went a tracted Piney Grove road...which we have decided the church should just buy and build a temple on. There are a lot of members that live on that road. We thought we had figured out where they all lived, but when we knocked on one door, we found the Elder's quorum president's wife....who was visiting her mother that lived there. We talked with them for a bit and got some info on a less active so it turned out to be really good. Slightly embarrassing, but mostly good. I was feeling a little under the weather that day so we took it easy for most of the afternoon. We met with Claire and her brother and sister and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with them. Claire loooved it.
We went to church in Woodington. One of the elders from my district in the MTC is now serving here in Woodington. (Elder Brown). New missionaries get picked on a lot. He said a lot of prayers during church and got to bear his testimony. We had a really good lesson in sunday school about faith. Sister Stephanie gave us each a mustard seed. Sister Welch and I taped ours to the back of our name tags. We went to lunch with the Harpers afterwards. They are an older couple and they told us never to own a chicken farm because it will control your life. We told them we would remember that for future reference. Then, we went to Sarah and Amy's for a lesson. We watched the bible videos with them, had a scripture chase and it was just really good! Oh, and Amy actually stayed for all three hours this sunday! She went to primary with Sarah, but she is going to start coming for all 3 hours every sunday now. We are so excited and are hoping to be able to help her progress in the gospel as we keep meeting with her. I got a nasty cold that settled in pretty well by Sunday evening. I felt higher than a kite when we went to the cantata. I played my song. I don't remember how it went, but then we left after an hour or so of singing. I mostly just moved my mouth and pretended to sing because my voice was pretty much gone. Amy told me I looked sick. I told her I was sick and then we went home and I went to bed. I am feeling better today. I love this time of year though.
I hope yall have a wonderful christmas. "With God, nothing is impossible." (Luke 1:37)I am thankful for our Savior. It is such a blessing to have the knowledge that we have. God bless!
Love,
Sister J
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 12, 2011
Dear Family, Friends, and so forth,
First, I just want to say, I love you all. We had a crazy busy week this week.
Sister Welch and I spent like 3 hours at WallyWorld on Monday trying to make Christmas cards and find Christmas gifts. (Walmart is basically the only store here...and it's actually in Kinston). We went to the GCF afterwards (which is like DI) and found some shirts and skirts for really cheap. DI is a rip off compared to GCF.
On Tuesday we had deep cleaning! It took all. day. It was the most cleaning I have ever done in my life. We dejunked the "Magic Marry Poppins Closet" (named for it's ability to store endless amounts of junk and clothes from previous sisters who served in the area), cleaned the fridge and freezer (it was gross), our food storage shelf, the bathroom (that was gross too), and everywhere else that you can imagine. We didn't finish until 6 that night. We spent some time after that trying to contact some referrals, but had no luck. Then, we went to the Relief Society Enrichment Dinner that evening and called a less active girl named Beverly to come. She came and we had dinner together and then President Walker (stake president) spoke to us. He gave a really good talk about "becoming" He told us about the differences between a person who is honorable and one who is valiant; one who has a testimony; and one who is converted. He said that in order to be truely converted we need to learn how to "become." He gave us two things to remember in order to become: 1) remember the power of the covenants you have made (baptismal and temple) 2) have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. He said that we can do these things by having charity (read 1 corinthians 13). "Becoming" means that Heavenly Father gives us trials and afflictions to overcome ( 1 Nephi 20:10) These experiences allow us to grow and to see people differently that we would have before. I learned a lot from him. I am thankful to be in this stake right now.
Wednesday was zone training! We had a really good zone training. We learned about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion..the voice that can be felt rather than heard and how it's important that we teach people how to use the Book of Mormon to go spiritually fishing when they read instead of just giving them a fish. We need to learn how to use the Book of Mormon. We also learned about adding our living witness of whatever we are teaching and why it is important. When we testify of truth, the Holy Ghost confirms that truth to those who are listening. We found some good scriptures for how an indvidual can qualify to have the spirit with them as well. ( 2 Nephi 31:13; 3 Nephi 9:20; Alma 17:2-3; Helaman 3:35; Mosiah 3:19) They are just a few...but they are really good to read through! We went over Elder Bednar's talk about becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary. He gave that talk when I was in the MTC. We also talked about having an "anti-tracting week" where we don't tract at all, but try to use the other finding ideas in the front of our planners. President Cotterell pointed out that tracting was #11 on that list and that should indicate something to us. Sister Welch and I are going to try not to tract as much this week....for some reason it is hard to not tract...even though tracting is one of the less exciting things about missionary work. When we were driving home from Kinston afterwards, it was really, really windy and our ward mission leader in the Woodington ward called us to tell us we should go home because the wind was blowing. It is nice that people are so concerned for us. It is funny that they worry about things like that though.
Thursday was weekly planning and since Sister Welch and I were really pumped about everything we had learned in zone training, it took us FOREVER to finish weekly planning. We weekly planned very well for this coming week. We tried to think outside the box and it was a good learning experience...everything is a learning experience really. We had an interesting dinner appointment. We had rice with beef stuff that hadn't been drained of any of the fat and I think she threw in a couple of sticks of butter with it as well. It was nice lip balm. We met with the Turners in the evening and finished teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Then, we had the kids explain everything to us with the visuals we made. Austin was able to tell us everything perfectly and Kaitlin was able to organize it all into the right spot...even the three degrees! Austin was really excited to share with us that he hadn't been planning on waking up to come to church on sunday because he had been up late that night, but that for some reason he woke up and then he went into the dining room and told his dad (who was getting ready to leave for church) that he wanted to come to church. He said it was wierd because it was like someone was speaking for him and that he wasn't sure why he really wanted to come to church. It was a tender mercy to hear that story. He said that he is starting to like church. We also invited Kaitlin to say the closing prayer (she gets really nervous about praying in front of people). She initially wouldn't do it, but we were able to encourage her some and she did it! Her mama helped her, but she did it!
Friday we finally had a normal day of missionary work...mostly. We tried contacting some part member families and then we went and did library service. We have been tlaking to a lady named Tasha who is a less active member who works at the library. Her husband isn't a member and she wanted us to come over, but she is outside of our area...barely. She is such a happy person. She was telling us funny stories about her family the whole time we were there and she brought her Ipod and speakers so we could listen to christmas music while we shelved books. I found out that I was going to be speaking on sunday. So, we went home and wrote a talk up really quick. I spoke on "how to gain a testimony" using Alma 32. I talked about Hurricane Irene and how some of the trees had been uprooted and some had not and how we could relate that to our testimonies. We need to be have a deep root system so when the storms of life try to blow us over we can stay standing and strong.
Saturday all of our appointments feel through. We went out with Sister Roxann in the Albertson ward and did some work out in Mt. Olive. We talked to the Relief Society President's mother. She told us that she knew the Book of Mormon was true, but that she wasn't going to change because she was stubborn. That was her only excuse. She said that she couldn't change because she had been baptist for so long. Even though she knows it's true. We talked about testimonies and how we should always bear testimony of what we know to be true. I think the she didn't really appreciate that, but it was a good lesson none-the-less.
Sunday we played "run around like chickens with your heads cut off" again. We went to Woodington's sacrament, gave talk, ran to Albertson only to be disappointed because Claire didn't show up, stayed there, had meetings, meetings, meetings, appointment with Sarah and her mom, Amy, ran back to Woodington to do choir stuff and then we went to dinner with the Turner Family (ALL of them). The Turner family is Sarah (recent convert) and Austin and Kaitlin's family. We had fish stew. It was really disgusting looking, but very good. It is tomato based, has bacon, fish, shrimp, potatoes, onions, carrots, and eggs (i left those out). It was good; and really spicy. We also tried "real" hotdogs. They are pork, and are dyed red. According to the people of Deep Run, other hotdogs are not real.
Well, my time is gone. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that when we read from it and pray daily, we can draw closer to God than we can in any other way. I have seen it in my own life and in others' lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. That He lives so that we can live again. I am grateful for that knowledge. I know that we are never alone. Even when we are in the depths of sorrow and despair. We are never left alone. Read President Uchtdorf's talk from conference...because it is amazing!
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/you-matter-to-him?lang=eng&query=october+dieter+(name%3a"Dieter+F.+Uchtdorf")
I was reading the lyrics to Hark the Herald Angels Sing yesterday. They are amazing. I am grateful for our Savior and that we can celebrate Him at this time of year.
Love you all so much!
Love,
Sister Johnson
First, I just want to say, I love you all. We had a crazy busy week this week.
Sister Welch and I spent like 3 hours at WallyWorld on Monday trying to make Christmas cards and find Christmas gifts. (Walmart is basically the only store here...and it's actually in Kinston). We went to the GCF afterwards (which is like DI) and found some shirts and skirts for really cheap. DI is a rip off compared to GCF.
On Tuesday we had deep cleaning! It took all. day. It was the most cleaning I have ever done in my life. We dejunked the "Magic Marry Poppins Closet" (named for it's ability to store endless amounts of junk and clothes from previous sisters who served in the area), cleaned the fridge and freezer (it was gross), our food storage shelf, the bathroom (that was gross too), and everywhere else that you can imagine. We didn't finish until 6 that night. We spent some time after that trying to contact some referrals, but had no luck. Then, we went to the Relief Society Enrichment Dinner that evening and called a less active girl named Beverly to come. She came and we had dinner together and then President Walker (stake president) spoke to us. He gave a really good talk about "becoming" He told us about the differences between a person who is honorable and one who is valiant; one who has a testimony; and one who is converted. He said that in order to be truely converted we need to learn how to "become." He gave us two things to remember in order to become: 1) remember the power of the covenants you have made (baptismal and temple) 2) have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. He said that we can do these things by having charity (read 1 corinthians 13). "Becoming" means that Heavenly Father gives us trials and afflictions to overcome ( 1 Nephi 20:10) These experiences allow us to grow and to see people differently that we would have before. I learned a lot from him. I am thankful to be in this stake right now.
Wednesday was zone training! We had a really good zone training. We learned about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion..the voice that can be felt rather than heard and how it's important that we teach people how to use the Book of Mormon to go spiritually fishing when they read instead of just giving them a fish. We need to learn how to use the Book of Mormon. We also learned about adding our living witness of whatever we are teaching and why it is important. When we testify of truth, the Holy Ghost confirms that truth to those who are listening. We found some good scriptures for how an indvidual can qualify to have the spirit with them as well. ( 2 Nephi 31:13; 3 Nephi 9:20; Alma 17:2-3; Helaman 3:35; Mosiah 3:19) They are just a few...but they are really good to read through! We went over Elder Bednar's talk about becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary. He gave that talk when I was in the MTC. We also talked about having an "anti-tracting week" where we don't tract at all, but try to use the other finding ideas in the front of our planners. President Cotterell pointed out that tracting was #11 on that list and that should indicate something to us. Sister Welch and I are going to try not to tract as much this week....for some reason it is hard to not tract...even though tracting is one of the less exciting things about missionary work. When we were driving home from Kinston afterwards, it was really, really windy and our ward mission leader in the Woodington ward called us to tell us we should go home because the wind was blowing. It is nice that people are so concerned for us. It is funny that they worry about things like that though.
Thursday was weekly planning and since Sister Welch and I were really pumped about everything we had learned in zone training, it took us FOREVER to finish weekly planning. We weekly planned very well for this coming week. We tried to think outside the box and it was a good learning experience...everything is a learning experience really. We had an interesting dinner appointment. We had rice with beef stuff that hadn't been drained of any of the fat and I think she threw in a couple of sticks of butter with it as well. It was nice lip balm. We met with the Turners in the evening and finished teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Then, we had the kids explain everything to us with the visuals we made. Austin was able to tell us everything perfectly and Kaitlin was able to organize it all into the right spot...even the three degrees! Austin was really excited to share with us that he hadn't been planning on waking up to come to church on sunday because he had been up late that night, but that for some reason he woke up and then he went into the dining room and told his dad (who was getting ready to leave for church) that he wanted to come to church. He said it was wierd because it was like someone was speaking for him and that he wasn't sure why he really wanted to come to church. It was a tender mercy to hear that story. He said that he is starting to like church. We also invited Kaitlin to say the closing prayer (she gets really nervous about praying in front of people). She initially wouldn't do it, but we were able to encourage her some and she did it! Her mama helped her, but she did it!
Friday we finally had a normal day of missionary work...mostly. We tried contacting some part member families and then we went and did library service. We have been tlaking to a lady named Tasha who is a less active member who works at the library. Her husband isn't a member and she wanted us to come over, but she is outside of our area...barely. She is such a happy person. She was telling us funny stories about her family the whole time we were there and she brought her Ipod and speakers so we could listen to christmas music while we shelved books. I found out that I was going to be speaking on sunday. So, we went home and wrote a talk up really quick. I spoke on "how to gain a testimony" using Alma 32. I talked about Hurricane Irene and how some of the trees had been uprooted and some had not and how we could relate that to our testimonies. We need to be have a deep root system so when the storms of life try to blow us over we can stay standing and strong.
Saturday all of our appointments feel through. We went out with Sister Roxann in the Albertson ward and did some work out in Mt. Olive. We talked to the Relief Society President's mother. She told us that she knew the Book of Mormon was true, but that she wasn't going to change because she was stubborn. That was her only excuse. She said that she couldn't change because she had been baptist for so long. Even though she knows it's true. We talked about testimonies and how we should always bear testimony of what we know to be true. I think the she didn't really appreciate that, but it was a good lesson none-the-less.
Sunday we played "run around like chickens with your heads cut off" again. We went to Woodington's sacrament, gave talk, ran to Albertson only to be disappointed because Claire didn't show up, stayed there, had meetings, meetings, meetings, appointment with Sarah and her mom, Amy, ran back to Woodington to do choir stuff and then we went to dinner with the Turner Family (ALL of them). The Turner family is Sarah (recent convert) and Austin and Kaitlin's family. We had fish stew. It was really disgusting looking, but very good. It is tomato based, has bacon, fish, shrimp, potatoes, onions, carrots, and eggs (i left those out). It was good; and really spicy. We also tried "real" hotdogs. They are pork, and are dyed red. According to the people of Deep Run, other hotdogs are not real.
Well, my time is gone. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that when we read from it and pray daily, we can draw closer to God than we can in any other way. I have seen it in my own life and in others' lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. That He lives so that we can live again. I am grateful for that knowledge. I know that we are never alone. Even when we are in the depths of sorrow and despair. We are never left alone. Read President Uchtdorf's talk from conference...because it is amazing!
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/you-matter-to-him?lang=eng&query=october+dieter+(name%3a"Dieter+F.+Uchtdorf")
I was reading the lyrics to Hark the Herald Angels Sing yesterday. They are amazing. I am grateful for our Savior and that we can celebrate Him at this time of year.
Love you all so much!
Love,
Sister Johnson
Monday, December 5, 2011
6 Months Out - December 5, 2011
Hello!I hope you all are doing well. I am doing great...as is sister Welch. That windstorm looks like it was awful! I hope the power comes back on soon. Brrrr!
We had quite an adventure on Monday. Sister Welch and received blankets and matching pillows for christmas from a member. However, their dog got a hold of sister Welch's pillow and they had to sew it back together. Sister Welch said her pillow stilled smelled like a dog so we thought it would be a good idea to stick the pillow in the washer. I told her she could throw it in with my clothes. That was a bad idea. When we opened up the washer, there was white fluff everywhere. I think the fluff multiplied and replenished in the washer. We spent about half and hour re-stuffing her pillow and I am still finding fluff inside my clothes every once in a while. It was pretty funny.
Oh, and I forgot to tell you what happened last week when Sister Welch and I were tracting in the Albertson area. So, now I will tell you. Sister Welch and I went tracting one evening to find new people to share the gospel with. There are a lot of hispanic people in Albertson. We stopped at an area that had quite a few streets with houses. We picked a door and knocked and a sweet hispanic lady answered. She told us very nicely that she did not speak much English. So, since Sister Welch and I have been practicing our espanol we made an attempt to talk to her. Sister Welch said something about us being missionaries "a la iglesia de Jesu Cristo de estados unitos" Which, translated says "the church of Jesus Christ of the United States." The lady started laughing and then we both started laughing and she corrected us. We decided it might be best to refer her to the Spanish Elders. I am glad I am an English speaking missionary.We met with a less active couple, the Browns on Tuesday. They have had some pretty serious health problems, but know that they should be coming to church now that they are capable. They just choose not to. It is sad. They said that they might come back to church if we keep visiting them though. Bribery...We also went on exchanges with a couple of members in Albertson/Mt Olive and met with another less active lady named Polly. She is a funny lady. She told Sister Welch and I that she could tell us how many kids we would have and if they would be boys or girls. I told her I didn't want to know. We also met with Kaitlin and Austin and Jason and Tiffany on Tuesday night. (They are Sarah's cousins that we have been teaching.) They have been reading the Book of Mormon together as a family and were able to come to church last week. We taught the Plan of Salvation part 1 with them. It was a really good lesson. We set baptismal dates with them for Jan 7. They are excited and really like coming to church. It is so neat to see their dad who has been less active changing. He was so unhappy the first time we met with him, but he was laughing and smiling and had a light about him that wasn't there the first time we met with him.Wednesday we had a really good district meeting. Elder Thatcher is such a good district leader. He is a very dedicated missionary. Our lesson was on what people need to feel/know on the first contact, what they need to feel and do in the first lesson, and what they need to know and do in order to progress. It was a day of much enlightening.We met with Claire afterwards. She has been kind of sick and wasn't able to read as much as she has in the past, but she found her birth certificates so we could make copies and now she just needs to make copies of some pictures, send it to mexico and then she can get a marriage license! We are excited. She is such a great lady. She desires so much to do what is right. Sarah had her interview for her baptism on Saturday that evening. She was so nervous. She passed. :)On Thursday we went out on exchanges with Sister Roxann in the Albertson ward. She took us to her friend, Ana and we had a lesson and introduced the Book of Mormon. Her grandma-in-law was there and her church has taught a lot of anti against LDS religion. Ana didn't seem turned off by any of what she said though. She agreed to come to church this sunday, but then her grandma was "sick" and had to go to the doctor. We went to some recent converts who live out in the boonies (Trenton). They are the nicest people. They raise goats and their whole lives are basically dedicated to their goats; and the church. Sister Tervo even writes stories about her goats and relates them to the gospel. She is also a most excellent cook. She is from California. It was soooo good to have western food. And vegetables. I miss vegetables. We made homemade creme bole (or however that is spelled) I was worried. I don't like eggs, but eggs+sugar=good.We had a lesson with another recent convert on friday about recognizing the spirit. That somehow turned into temple work and we talked to her about the temple and doing work for her family there. She is excited to go to the temple. We did some service at the library as well and then we spent the rest of the day tracting. It wasn't a very eventful friday, but never the less, it was fun.Saturday was Sarah's baptism! It went very well. I tried to attach a picture, so hopefully it will come up. She was so nervous, but everything went perfect. Her mom was really touched (she is not a member). She has been anti-ed in the past so, we will keep working with her and try to help her find resolve her concerns and hopefully we will be able to make their family an eternal one! We met with a less active named Ann. She was just recently baptized about 2 months ago and she too, has been anti-ed. We are going to just teach them the lessons over again and help them resolve their concerns along the way. She is a sweet lady. It is so sad to see them be so confused.Sunday was crazy! We went for sacrament in Woodington for Sarah's confirmation. That is my favorite part of missionary work. Then we went for the last half in Albertson (they both have church at 9 am...it is really inconvenient) I talked to Matt's girlfriend and I guess he has been struggling. It breaks my heart to hear that. I keep praying that he will be able to make a wise decision. He hasn't told his parents yet and I think it is weighing him down.We had dinner in Jacksonville with the Newbolds with the Tervo's (recent converts), the Elders, and the Newbold's daugther's boyfriend who is not a member. We watched part of the Christmas devotional and then headed home. It was a busy busy week!I love you all. I miss you all so much.I have learned how powerful the atonement is. All things that seem unfair can be made right through the Atonement. I read Mosiah 15 this week. It was really good!
Love you so much,Sister J
We had quite an adventure on Monday. Sister Welch and received blankets and matching pillows for christmas from a member. However, their dog got a hold of sister Welch's pillow and they had to sew it back together. Sister Welch said her pillow stilled smelled like a dog so we thought it would be a good idea to stick the pillow in the washer. I told her she could throw it in with my clothes. That was a bad idea. When we opened up the washer, there was white fluff everywhere. I think the fluff multiplied and replenished in the washer. We spent about half and hour re-stuffing her pillow and I am still finding fluff inside my clothes every once in a while. It was pretty funny.
Oh, and I forgot to tell you what happened last week when Sister Welch and I were tracting in the Albertson area. So, now I will tell you. Sister Welch and I went tracting one evening to find new people to share the gospel with. There are a lot of hispanic people in Albertson. We stopped at an area that had quite a few streets with houses. We picked a door and knocked and a sweet hispanic lady answered. She told us very nicely that she did not speak much English. So, since Sister Welch and I have been practicing our espanol we made an attempt to talk to her. Sister Welch said something about us being missionaries "a la iglesia de Jesu Cristo de estados unitos" Which, translated says "the church of Jesus Christ of the United States." The lady started laughing and then we both started laughing and she corrected us. We decided it might be best to refer her to the Spanish Elders. I am glad I am an English speaking missionary.We met with a less active couple, the Browns on Tuesday. They have had some pretty serious health problems, but know that they should be coming to church now that they are capable. They just choose not to. It is sad. They said that they might come back to church if we keep visiting them though. Bribery...We also went on exchanges with a couple of members in Albertson/Mt Olive and met with another less active lady named Polly. She is a funny lady. She told Sister Welch and I that she could tell us how many kids we would have and if they would be boys or girls. I told her I didn't want to know. We also met with Kaitlin and Austin and Jason and Tiffany on Tuesday night. (They are Sarah's cousins that we have been teaching.) They have been reading the Book of Mormon together as a family and were able to come to church last week. We taught the Plan of Salvation part 1 with them. It was a really good lesson. We set baptismal dates with them for Jan 7. They are excited and really like coming to church. It is so neat to see their dad who has been less active changing. He was so unhappy the first time we met with him, but he was laughing and smiling and had a light about him that wasn't there the first time we met with him.Wednesday we had a really good district meeting. Elder Thatcher is such a good district leader. He is a very dedicated missionary. Our lesson was on what people need to feel/know on the first contact, what they need to feel and do in the first lesson, and what they need to know and do in order to progress. It was a day of much enlightening.We met with Claire afterwards. She has been kind of sick and wasn't able to read as much as she has in the past, but she found her birth certificates so we could make copies and now she just needs to make copies of some pictures, send it to mexico and then she can get a marriage license! We are excited. She is such a great lady. She desires so much to do what is right. Sarah had her interview for her baptism on Saturday that evening. She was so nervous. She passed. :)On Thursday we went out on exchanges with Sister Roxann in the Albertson ward. She took us to her friend, Ana and we had a lesson and introduced the Book of Mormon. Her grandma-in-law was there and her church has taught a lot of anti against LDS religion. Ana didn't seem turned off by any of what she said though. She agreed to come to church this sunday, but then her grandma was "sick" and had to go to the doctor. We went to some recent converts who live out in the boonies (Trenton). They are the nicest people. They raise goats and their whole lives are basically dedicated to their goats; and the church. Sister Tervo even writes stories about her goats and relates them to the gospel. She is also a most excellent cook. She is from California. It was soooo good to have western food. And vegetables. I miss vegetables. We made homemade creme bole (or however that is spelled) I was worried. I don't like eggs, but eggs+sugar=good.We had a lesson with another recent convert on friday about recognizing the spirit. That somehow turned into temple work and we talked to her about the temple and doing work for her family there. She is excited to go to the temple. We did some service at the library as well and then we spent the rest of the day tracting. It wasn't a very eventful friday, but never the less, it was fun.Saturday was Sarah's baptism! It went very well. I tried to attach a picture, so hopefully it will come up. She was so nervous, but everything went perfect. Her mom was really touched (she is not a member). She has been anti-ed in the past so, we will keep working with her and try to help her find resolve her concerns and hopefully we will be able to make their family an eternal one! We met with a less active named Ann. She was just recently baptized about 2 months ago and she too, has been anti-ed. We are going to just teach them the lessons over again and help them resolve their concerns along the way. She is a sweet lady. It is so sad to see them be so confused.Sunday was crazy! We went for sacrament in Woodington for Sarah's confirmation. That is my favorite part of missionary work. Then we went for the last half in Albertson (they both have church at 9 am...it is really inconvenient) I talked to Matt's girlfriend and I guess he has been struggling. It breaks my heart to hear that. I keep praying that he will be able to make a wise decision. He hasn't told his parents yet and I think it is weighing him down.We had dinner in Jacksonville with the Newbolds with the Tervo's (recent converts), the Elders, and the Newbold's daugther's boyfriend who is not a member. We watched part of the Christmas devotional and then headed home. It was a busy busy week!I love you all. I miss you all so much.I have learned how powerful the atonement is. All things that seem unfair can be made right through the Atonement. I read Mosiah 15 this week. It was really good!
Love you so much,Sister J
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
Dear Fam,Hello and Happy Turkey Day...a few days late. I forgot that Thanksgiving was coming up! I hope it was good for yall. I am still full. Sister Welch and I had a really good week.Monday Sister Welch and I went about our business washing clothes, cleaning, writing letters, dealing with angry people (we won't go into details, but sometimes I think the holidays really bring out the worst in people). I got a haircut from a less active in the Woodington ward. She has been starting to come back to church recently. It is really exciting! We worked on our map book in the evening and listened to some cheesy church music (From Cumorah's Hill). It was great!Tuesday we spent a good chunk of time tracting. We went with Sister Joyner on exchanges in the afternoon and contacted some less actives in the area that the bishop had asked us to go by. We met one guy..whose last name was "Guy" and he was very nice. We started talking to him about the church and the he gave us a really confused look so we asked him if he knew about the church he said he didn't, but that some people with the same tags that were boys and stopped by a few weeks ago and he couldn't figure out why we kept coming back, but didn't want to be rude. We told him the situation and he said he hadn't ever gone to the church before. We talked to sister Joyner after we left and come to find out, they had an incident a while back where some missionaries, who are now known as the "kiddie dippers" came and baptized a bunch of kids without teaching them anything or having them come to church or talking with the parents. I am glad I am not in their shoes.In the evening we met with Austin and Kaitlin, who are cousins to Sarah that we have been teaching. We taught them the restoration/gospel of Jesus Christ/commandments with cups that you build into a pyramid to represent Jesus Christ's church. It is such a fun lesson to teach! Austin and Kaitlin both really liked it and they were able to grasp what we were teaching before you could snap your fingers! Their parents are both less active, but they want to start coming back to church. We are so excited for their family. Missionary work really is so fulfilling. It is really really hard sometimes, but when things finally start to work out, it's the best thing ever! Wednesday's district meeting was amazing as usual. Elder Thatcher is a really good district leader. We read in Doctrine and Covenants 42:6-8; 12-17. We discussed about how we can be able to think outside the box and think of new finding ideas..since ours aren't working as effectively as they could be. There is a better way to do missionary work than to spend your whole day tracting. That is what I have been learning...for quite a while now. We read about going westward and Sister Welch and I decided that we may or may not be reading into the scripture to much, but that we were going to go westward in our area to find new people to teach. We also talked about working with the youth. They are such good missionaries! We decided to go to Albertson after district meeting and we did some work out there without any immediate results. However, we were able to meet with Claire. She is working towards getting her marriage papers sent to Mexico so she can get a marriage license..and then she can work towards being baptized! She is so solid! We have been texting her a scripture every day and she has been reading them everyday and she bought a notebook to take notes and write down impressions she has been recieving. She doesn't even need a mission president to tell her to do that. She just does it. I look up to her a lot and I think she has taught me more than I have taught her. We were talking about Alma 32 and she related the seed to her children and how she wants them to grow up in the church. I thought, "wow." I don't think I would have ever thought of that.Thursday was Happy Thanksgiving Day! We normally do weekly planning that day. So, since we weren't allowed to do proselyting that day, we did weekly planning. Sister Welch and I decided to build a fort in our apartment and we did weekly planning in our fort. Then, we went to the church to practice the piano ( I get to play a piece for a christmas contata in the Woodington ward...woot!) The elders told the people that they were eating lunch/dinner with that we didn't have a lunch/dinner...after we had eaten our delicious lunch of corndogs and chips with guacamole. (We had a supper for the evening. There is breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner-around 2ish, and then there is supper-around 6 or 7ish) Anyways, they basically demanded that we drop everything we were doing and come over and eat there. So, our agency was obviously removed from the situation and we went and ate Thanksgiving #1. I tried turnip greens. I almost barfed. Luckily I had a lot of potatoes so I just mixed them in and it wasn't so bad. After talking with the Floyd family for about 2 hours we headed to our supper (aka Thanksgiving #2) and ate some more food there. They even had mac n' cheese as part of their thanksgiving. We ate fried turkey, fried cornbread, collards, and lots of other buttery fried things that I don't even know the names of. It was really good. I think I felt my arteries clogging as I ate though.Friday we decided to pursue our "going westward" to see if we had better luck. We headed out to Beullaville and we met a lady named Lisa who was waiting at her door for us. She let us in and told us that her sister is a member in the Woodington ward. She wants to know more about the Book of Mormon and she's just a great lady. We are very excited to meet with her again. Her husband wasn't there, but hopefully he will want to participate as well.Saturday we met with a less active and had a good lesson with her and on sunday we had five people come to church!Sarah is getting baptized this saturday and she is really excited. (rightfully so...)My time is up, but I hope you know I love you. You are in my prayers always!Love,Sister J
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
Dear Family,
Hello! I hope this email finds you all doing well. It was a good week for Sister Welch and I.
Last Monday we cleaned. And then we cleaned some more. Our apartment hasn't been deep cleaned for many more than a few transfers. I'm still scared to look in the fridge...
We were able to meet with the Freeman family and do FHE with them on Monday evening. They are an active family who are struggling a little. Their daughter was actually the one who introduced Matthew to the church. We had a good lesson from 1 Nephi 16 and we did a real life application at the end and talked about how by small means the Lord can bring about great things. They are a great family.
Tuesday we did a lot of tracting which didn't reap any immediate fruits. We met a lady who was very nice. She told us to come back a couple of hours later. We did, but there was no answer at the door. It gets dark so early now! We are not allowed to go tracting after it gets dark so we decided to start the grand undertaking of making a map book of our areas. We asked the elders if we could borrow theirs to copy the maps. After looking at theirs, we decided it might just be best to start from scratch. Their map book had maps labeled as "Pizza Plus" (a local pizza place), "Food Mart", and my personal favorite, "Where Am I?" (it is a spot in Deep Run that really doesn't have any houses at all). So, we are starting from square one with the map book. They are so helpful! We are partway done, but ran into another obstacle...the ward boundaries here are a little vague. Salt Lake's version of the ward boundaries is not correct according to the North Carolinineans. So, we are trying to sort through that.
Wednesday we had district meeting and interviews with Pres. Cotterell. President talked to me about a lot of things. He told me to make sure that I wrote down all the things I have learned/experienced over the past couple weeks. He talked about the steps to revelation. Recieve, record, respond, review, respond again! I am making an effort to better use my study journal. I wrote down the things that I did learn from everything that has happened. It's good to write things down so they aren't just floating around in your brain. The one thing that I really thing I have learned from mom passing away and being here is to trust in the Lord. I have always thought that I knew what it meant to trust in the Lord, but it's got a totally different angle to it now. It is hard. I also feel like I have deepened love for our Savior, Jesus Christ and the Atonement. I am so thankful for it and I wish there was someway to repay Him for it. I guess all we can really do is just do our best to live our lives like He did. We had a great day after district meeting. We have seen so many miracles this week. We met with a family that is LA in the Woodington ward. They are currently dealing with a very large trial. We decided to stop by and were able to invite them to come to church and to start reading/praying together. Then, when we called them a couple of days later to followup, they were sooo excited to tell us that about an hour after we left that the elders had also stopped by because they felt so impressed. So, they came to church on sunday! We were also able to meet with another LA lady who has been struggling with the repentance process. She says the thing she misses most is her relationship with Heavenly Father. We are excited to be instruments in helping her solve her concerns so she can start coming back to church.
Thursday we did weekly planning and ate at the Pizza Plus. We had Calzones. They were HUGE. I think they just took a pizza and folded it in half and called it a "calzone." It was delicious though. We continued our work on the map book and received a call from a brother in one of the wards that he had talked to his LA aunt and uncle and they want to start coming back to church. Their kids weren't raised in the church so we are going to start teaching them. We also had a lesson with Claire. She is so good at sharing the gospel with her family. I was reading about how when we do missionary work, we are able to have the spirit of the Lord more abundantly in our lives. I think Claire has felt this. I know it's true. She is a stellar lady.
Friday we did some tracting, met with some LA's and then had a lesson with the DiPietro family. We talked about recognizing the spirit and it was such a good lesson. Sis. DiPietro's daughter is a recent convert who has gone less active, but she got so excited to talk about how she felt when she was baptized and when she got her patriarchal blessing. It was so good! I hope they were able to go to church...Both of the wards we are over meet at the same time. So, we can only go to one ward. We alternate every week. We had the coolest experience when we went to do service this past week at the library! The librarian who was there is named Tasha. She was very warm and friendly towards us (more so than usual) and when we started talking to her we found out that her family was from Utah and that she was a member of the church! She is currently LA and just got married to a guy who is not a member. She wants us to come and teach him though and she talked to him about it and he agreed! He has had the elders talk to him before and he didn't feel too comfortable with them...So, we are excited. The only problem is that she lives outside of our area so we will see what happens with that.
Saturday we had made plans to go to Mt. Olive/Seven Springs and do some work there, but then we had a change of plans. We stayed in Woodington and were able to teach a few LA's and then we met with the LA family who want to start coming back to church. Afterwards, we went to Sarah's (she is ten and is going to be baptized on Dec. 3 and she is also really good at having hilarious comebacks) and went with her cousins to go 'possum kickin.' I thought they were kidding. I was wrong. I now feel like a true Deep-Runnite. Their family is VERY southern.
We met with Sarah and her mom again after church on Sunday and taught the Plan of Salvation (Sister Matthews and I used to call it the Point of Sale) Sarah really liked it. Her mom had some doubts/questions about it, but I think they were able to resolve them. Then we taught the ten commandments. I learned a lot of southern terms from them. A fly flap=fly swatter. The boot=the trunk of your car. Pocket book=purse. It was a week of much learning. I ate collards and a corn flitter this week too. Corn flitters are deep fried corn bread pancakes.
Well, my time is up. The church is true. I know that for sure.
I love you all more than words could ever hope to express. I am doing really very well. Some days are harder than others, but when you read, pray, and get involved with church activities, it helps to strengthen you.
You are in my prayers always!
Much love,
Sister J
Hello! I hope this email finds you all doing well. It was a good week for Sister Welch and I.
Last Monday we cleaned. And then we cleaned some more. Our apartment hasn't been deep cleaned for many more than a few transfers. I'm still scared to look in the fridge...
We were able to meet with the Freeman family and do FHE with them on Monday evening. They are an active family who are struggling a little. Their daughter was actually the one who introduced Matthew to the church. We had a good lesson from 1 Nephi 16 and we did a real life application at the end and talked about how by small means the Lord can bring about great things. They are a great family.
Tuesday we did a lot of tracting which didn't reap any immediate fruits. We met a lady who was very nice. She told us to come back a couple of hours later. We did, but there was no answer at the door. It gets dark so early now! We are not allowed to go tracting after it gets dark so we decided to start the grand undertaking of making a map book of our areas. We asked the elders if we could borrow theirs to copy the maps. After looking at theirs, we decided it might just be best to start from scratch. Their map book had maps labeled as "Pizza Plus" (a local pizza place), "Food Mart", and my personal favorite, "Where Am I?" (it is a spot in Deep Run that really doesn't have any houses at all). So, we are starting from square one with the map book. They are so helpful! We are partway done, but ran into another obstacle...the ward boundaries here are a little vague. Salt Lake's version of the ward boundaries is not correct according to the North Carolinineans. So, we are trying to sort through that.
Wednesday we had district meeting and interviews with Pres. Cotterell. President talked to me about a lot of things. He told me to make sure that I wrote down all the things I have learned/experienced over the past couple weeks. He talked about the steps to revelation. Recieve, record, respond, review, respond again! I am making an effort to better use my study journal. I wrote down the things that I did learn from everything that has happened. It's good to write things down so they aren't just floating around in your brain. The one thing that I really thing I have learned from mom passing away and being here is to trust in the Lord. I have always thought that I knew what it meant to trust in the Lord, but it's got a totally different angle to it now. It is hard. I also feel like I have deepened love for our Savior, Jesus Christ and the Atonement. I am so thankful for it and I wish there was someway to repay Him for it. I guess all we can really do is just do our best to live our lives like He did. We had a great day after district meeting. We have seen so many miracles this week. We met with a family that is LA in the Woodington ward. They are currently dealing with a very large trial. We decided to stop by and were able to invite them to come to church and to start reading/praying together. Then, when we called them a couple of days later to followup, they were sooo excited to tell us that about an hour after we left that the elders had also stopped by because they felt so impressed. So, they came to church on sunday! We were also able to meet with another LA lady who has been struggling with the repentance process. She says the thing she misses most is her relationship with Heavenly Father. We are excited to be instruments in helping her solve her concerns so she can start coming back to church.
Thursday we did weekly planning and ate at the Pizza Plus. We had Calzones. They were HUGE. I think they just took a pizza and folded it in half and called it a "calzone." It was delicious though. We continued our work on the map book and received a call from a brother in one of the wards that he had talked to his LA aunt and uncle and they want to start coming back to church. Their kids weren't raised in the church so we are going to start teaching them. We also had a lesson with Claire. She is so good at sharing the gospel with her family. I was reading about how when we do missionary work, we are able to have the spirit of the Lord more abundantly in our lives. I think Claire has felt this. I know it's true. She is a stellar lady.
Friday we did some tracting, met with some LA's and then had a lesson with the DiPietro family. We talked about recognizing the spirit and it was such a good lesson. Sis. DiPietro's daughter is a recent convert who has gone less active, but she got so excited to talk about how she felt when she was baptized and when she got her patriarchal blessing. It was so good! I hope they were able to go to church...Both of the wards we are over meet at the same time. So, we can only go to one ward. We alternate every week. We had the coolest experience when we went to do service this past week at the library! The librarian who was there is named Tasha. She was very warm and friendly towards us (more so than usual) and when we started talking to her we found out that her family was from Utah and that she was a member of the church! She is currently LA and just got married to a guy who is not a member. She wants us to come and teach him though and she talked to him about it and he agreed! He has had the elders talk to him before and he didn't feel too comfortable with them...So, we are excited. The only problem is that she lives outside of our area so we will see what happens with that.
Saturday we had made plans to go to Mt. Olive/Seven Springs and do some work there, but then we had a change of plans. We stayed in Woodington and were able to teach a few LA's and then we met with the LA family who want to start coming back to church. Afterwards, we went to Sarah's (she is ten and is going to be baptized on Dec. 3 and she is also really good at having hilarious comebacks) and went with her cousins to go 'possum kickin.' I thought they were kidding. I was wrong. I now feel like a true Deep-Runnite. Their family is VERY southern.
We met with Sarah and her mom again after church on Sunday and taught the Plan of Salvation (Sister Matthews and I used to call it the Point of Sale) Sarah really liked it. Her mom had some doubts/questions about it, but I think they were able to resolve them. Then we taught the ten commandments. I learned a lot of southern terms from them. A fly flap=fly swatter. The boot=the trunk of your car. Pocket book=purse. It was a week of much learning. I ate collards and a corn flitter this week too. Corn flitters are deep fried corn bread pancakes.
Well, my time is up. The church is true. I know that for sure.
I love you all more than words could ever hope to express. I am doing really very well. Some days are harder than others, but when you read, pray, and get involved with church activities, it helps to strengthen you.
You are in my prayers always!
Much love,
Sister J
Monday, November 14, 2011
Back in North Carolina
Dear Family and Friends,
I just wanted to say thank you for the outpouring of love that has been shown to my family and I. I know that my mother was a very special lady who touched many, many lives. I hope I can be as Christ-like as her someday. She is incredible. Thank you for the encouraging words of comfort and peace that each of you have shared. It has helped sooth the hearts of our family.
The plane trip back to NC wasn't too eventful. I didn't sit by anyone on the SLC to Minneapolis flight and then I sat by 4 people that were all from Utah on the Minneapolis to Raleigh flight. It was really hard to come back, but I know this is where Heavenly Father needs/wants me. I feel like this is where mom would want me to be too. She always wanted to serve a mission and President Cotterell told me that he believes that she will be permitted to follow the work here in NC. I believe that too. I also feel like she must be comforting me because my heart does not hurt as badly and I felt quite distinctly that she wants us to be happy. Sister Welch and Sister Matthews and Sister Bateman met me in Goldsboro after the Senior Sisters (Sister Young and Sister Arkell) picked me up from the airport. They were wonderful to ride back with. They offered many encouraging words...since they both had been in similar situations. Sister W, Sister M, and Sister B blasted me with all sorts of positive energy. I went to bed after we planned. Airplanes and hyper sister missionaries make me tired.
We went to church in the Albertson ward yesterday. That was the first time I have been to that ward. It is totally different from the Woodington ward. It is about half in English and half in Spanish. The elders in that ward are Spanish-speaking and they only do gospel principles in Spanish there because all of the investigators are Hispanic. (our investigator, Claire is too) So, we went to gospel principles and I caught a few things here and there. Expacion (or something like that) =Atonement. That is what we learned about. One of the men sitting in the back really agreed with what one of the Elders said and kept saying "amen" all through the lesson. Elder Taylor is one of the elders in that ward and he, like many others in this mission is from Kaysville. Relief Society was all about the second coming. Claire understands English really well so she learned a lot. She said she wants to get baptized because she doesn't want to get burned to stubble. I think that is a good reason. Maybe we should start telling people that. ;) She is amazing though. She knows it's all true. She just needs to get a marriage license so she can be legally married to her boyfriend.
I don't really know what else to say except that I know that the Plan of Salvation is real. I knew it was before, but it has a much, much deeper meaning to me now. It is hard, but I read about Paul today in 2 Corinthians. He talked about how he had afflictions and trials and how the Lord will help us overcome them. I keep trying to remember that. I know that mom is helping bring about Heavenly Father's great plan of "bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." God's plan really is so much grander than our own. I suppose sometimes we need to learn to trust the Lord and his wisdom in all things.
I hope you all know how much I love each of you. I am thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful people who set such wonderful examples for me. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for being there in a time of much need.
Thank you family for your support and love and everything else. It means the world to me and wish I could somehow make it up to you all.
Don't ever forget that I love you!
Much love,
Sister J
I just wanted to say thank you for the outpouring of love that has been shown to my family and I. I know that my mother was a very special lady who touched many, many lives. I hope I can be as Christ-like as her someday. She is incredible. Thank you for the encouraging words of comfort and peace that each of you have shared. It has helped sooth the hearts of our family.
The plane trip back to NC wasn't too eventful. I didn't sit by anyone on the SLC to Minneapolis flight and then I sat by 4 people that were all from Utah on the Minneapolis to Raleigh flight. It was really hard to come back, but I know this is where Heavenly Father needs/wants me. I feel like this is where mom would want me to be too. She always wanted to serve a mission and President Cotterell told me that he believes that she will be permitted to follow the work here in NC. I believe that too. I also feel like she must be comforting me because my heart does not hurt as badly and I felt quite distinctly that she wants us to be happy. Sister Welch and Sister Matthews and Sister Bateman met me in Goldsboro after the Senior Sisters (Sister Young and Sister Arkell) picked me up from the airport. They were wonderful to ride back with. They offered many encouraging words...since they both had been in similar situations. Sister W, Sister M, and Sister B blasted me with all sorts of positive energy. I went to bed after we planned. Airplanes and hyper sister missionaries make me tired.
We went to church in the Albertson ward yesterday. That was the first time I have been to that ward. It is totally different from the Woodington ward. It is about half in English and half in Spanish. The elders in that ward are Spanish-speaking and they only do gospel principles in Spanish there because all of the investigators are Hispanic. (our investigator, Claire is too) So, we went to gospel principles and I caught a few things here and there. Expacion (or something like that) =Atonement. That is what we learned about. One of the men sitting in the back really agreed with what one of the Elders said and kept saying "amen" all through the lesson. Elder Taylor is one of the elders in that ward and he, like many others in this mission is from Kaysville. Relief Society was all about the second coming. Claire understands English really well so she learned a lot. She said she wants to get baptized because she doesn't want to get burned to stubble. I think that is a good reason. Maybe we should start telling people that. ;) She is amazing though. She knows it's all true. She just needs to get a marriage license so she can be legally married to her boyfriend.
I don't really know what else to say except that I know that the Plan of Salvation is real. I knew it was before, but it has a much, much deeper meaning to me now. It is hard, but I read about Paul today in 2 Corinthians. He talked about how he had afflictions and trials and how the Lord will help us overcome them. I keep trying to remember that. I know that mom is helping bring about Heavenly Father's great plan of "bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." God's plan really is so much grander than our own. I suppose sometimes we need to learn to trust the Lord and his wisdom in all things.
I hope you all know how much I love each of you. I am thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful people who set such wonderful examples for me. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for being there in a time of much need.
Thank you family for your support and love and everything else. It means the world to me and wish I could somehow make it up to you all.
Don't ever forget that I love you!
Much love,
Sister J
Monday, November 7, 2011
I Love My Momma - 11/7/2011
Dear Everyone,
Thank you for all you love and support. This week has been hard, but I know in my heart that everything is going to be okay.I feel quite at peace with the situation oddly enough. I am so thankful that we have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I know that mama is at peace now and that she can finally rest from all her troubles. I was reading in Enos today and the last verse was really good. It reminded me of mom and I know that she will be able to experience this. It says, "And I go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen." I know everything will be okay. I am going to miss her dearly. More than words can ever say or express. I wish she could be here, but Heavenly Father's plan is so much bigger than ours. Sometimes I still feel like mine would work out better, but He knows way more than I do. I was thinking about all the things I love about mom and I thought it would be good to list a few.
Things I love about my mother:
She was the happiest morning person you would ever meet. I couldn't help but smile when I saw her in the morning.
She was always there to encourage and brighten our day even when it seemed like it was the end of the world to children who are sometimes over dramatic and emotional. I know for a fact that I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for her pushing me to stick with the things that seemed too hard at the time (piano, mission, college, cross country, everything really.)
She was always willing to do things with and spend time with her family whom she loved dearly. I know she loved us.
She is the epitome of someone who knows what it means to sacrifice one's own desires to help another. I really have never met such a selfless person as my mother.
She always made me breakfast...even after I graduated from high school. :)
She was a most excellent cook. I had no desire to eat elsewhere except for home because it was better than anywhere you could go.
She loved the Lord and understood the importance of daily scripture study and prayer. Even when us kids were a little less than enthusiastic about such events as family prayer and family scripture study, mom was always there and ready to go. I love her for that.
Mom was always willing to share her testimony with us. Most of the time she didn't even need to say anything. The way she lived was a living testimony of her faith and devotion to the Lord.
For all that she suffered through, she was very good at being happy. I am such a wuss compared to her. She is my hero.
I loved watching chick-flicks with her and going on walks and talking about life and all it's ups and downs.
I loved going grocery shopping with her every week. Most people don't really like grocery shopping, but I loooved going with my mama to the grocery store.
I loved playing board games with her. She was always so happy to sit down with us and just play whatever game we wanted. Even Candyland which gets old really, really fast. She played it with us though and kept a positive mental attitude and a smile in her eyes and on her lips.
She taught me the importance of disciplining myself and putting "things needed" before "things wanted."
She supported me in my decisions even if they were hard for her because she loved and loves her children dearly.
She was the most patient individual I've ever met and I'm pretty confident in saying that I think she's the most patient person I'll ever meet.
I love how she used to read books with me at night.
I love how she would rock me before going to sleep at night.
She was always there to make me feel better when I was sick and would do anything she could to make us as comfortable as she could while we were sick.
Really, the list could go on infinitely.
I wish I could have been able to tell her how much I really truly love her and look up to her and desire to be like her. I feel like she didn't really know how much I really love her. I hope she knows now though.
As for the update since transfers last week, I am now in Deep Run which is about as country as you can get with Sister Welch who is wonderful. I am thankful she is my companion right now. She is a very loving and compassionate individual and I am thankful for her. Matthew got baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday. I talked to Sister Matthews and she said that he got up and bore his testimony about how he knows without a doubt that it is true even though he tried really hard to deny it, but he said he couldn't. She said it was the best sacrament meeting she'd been to in a really long time. She said that no one is there to play the piano now so they sang acappella and she said it was beautiful. I talked to Sister Joseph as well and she wanted us to know that she is praying for us and to "keep running our 'life' marathon and that we can make it through." :) I love her.
President and Sister Cotterell are the best mission president/wife ever. I am thankful for them and their kindness, gentleness, and outpouring of love. We went to the temple together on Saturday and it helped bring some comfort. President assured me that everything will be okay and that everything that happens here happens for a reason greater than we can comprehend, but that we agreed to the circumstances before we came to earth and that we should turn to God. I am trying hard to keep this in mind.
I want to tell my father how much I love him. Words can't really describe that as well. I want to thank my perfect, wonderful dad for his diligence and all the love he showed to mom. The example you set for me is one that I hope I can someday achieve. I hope I can love someone regardless of their circumstances as much as you love mom. I know that you were made for each other and that you definitely fulfilled your promises to her in this life and I know that it will continue forever. That's the beauty of this great plan Heavenly Father put in place for us. I am forever grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I love him so much and I wish I could somehow thank him enough for fulfilling the Atonement so that we can all be able to be forgiven of our sins, receive strength and comfort in this life to overcome hard things, and that we can be able to live forever with him and Heavenly Father and with our families in the Celestial Kingdom if we do our best in this life and strive to keep all the commandments, etc.
I want to tell Lance and Ashlyn that I love them so much that I can't really describe that either, but that it is a lot. Bigger than the universe a lot. An infinite amount a lot.
I'm sorry that I couldn't be there right now to help comfort and be with you, but I know everything is the way it is for a reason. I love you all a lot. Don't forget it!
Much Love,
Sister J
Thank you for all you love and support. This week has been hard, but I know in my heart that everything is going to be okay.I feel quite at peace with the situation oddly enough. I am so thankful that we have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I know that mama is at peace now and that she can finally rest from all her troubles. I was reading in Enos today and the last verse was really good. It reminded me of mom and I know that she will be able to experience this. It says, "And I go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen." I know everything will be okay. I am going to miss her dearly. More than words can ever say or express. I wish she could be here, but Heavenly Father's plan is so much bigger than ours. Sometimes I still feel like mine would work out better, but He knows way more than I do. I was thinking about all the things I love about mom and I thought it would be good to list a few.
Things I love about my mother:
She was the happiest morning person you would ever meet. I couldn't help but smile when I saw her in the morning.
She was always there to encourage and brighten our day even when it seemed like it was the end of the world to children who are sometimes over dramatic and emotional. I know for a fact that I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for her pushing me to stick with the things that seemed too hard at the time (piano, mission, college, cross country, everything really.)
She was always willing to do things with and spend time with her family whom she loved dearly. I know she loved us.
She is the epitome of someone who knows what it means to sacrifice one's own desires to help another. I really have never met such a selfless person as my mother.
She always made me breakfast...even after I graduated from high school. :)
She was a most excellent cook. I had no desire to eat elsewhere except for home because it was better than anywhere you could go.
She loved the Lord and understood the importance of daily scripture study and prayer. Even when us kids were a little less than enthusiastic about such events as family prayer and family scripture study, mom was always there and ready to go. I love her for that.
Mom was always willing to share her testimony with us. Most of the time she didn't even need to say anything. The way she lived was a living testimony of her faith and devotion to the Lord.
For all that she suffered through, she was very good at being happy. I am such a wuss compared to her. She is my hero.
I loved watching chick-flicks with her and going on walks and talking about life and all it's ups and downs.
I loved going grocery shopping with her every week. Most people don't really like grocery shopping, but I loooved going with my mama to the grocery store.
I loved playing board games with her. She was always so happy to sit down with us and just play whatever game we wanted. Even Candyland which gets old really, really fast. She played it with us though and kept a positive mental attitude and a smile in her eyes and on her lips.
She taught me the importance of disciplining myself and putting "things needed" before "things wanted."
She supported me in my decisions even if they were hard for her because she loved and loves her children dearly.
She was the most patient individual I've ever met and I'm pretty confident in saying that I think she's the most patient person I'll ever meet.
I love how she used to read books with me at night.
I love how she would rock me before going to sleep at night.
She was always there to make me feel better when I was sick and would do anything she could to make us as comfortable as she could while we were sick.
Really, the list could go on infinitely.
I wish I could have been able to tell her how much I really truly love her and look up to her and desire to be like her. I feel like she didn't really know how much I really love her. I hope she knows now though.
As for the update since transfers last week, I am now in Deep Run which is about as country as you can get with Sister Welch who is wonderful. I am thankful she is my companion right now. She is a very loving and compassionate individual and I am thankful for her. Matthew got baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday. I talked to Sister Matthews and she said that he got up and bore his testimony about how he knows without a doubt that it is true even though he tried really hard to deny it, but he said he couldn't. She said it was the best sacrament meeting she'd been to in a really long time. She said that no one is there to play the piano now so they sang acappella and she said it was beautiful. I talked to Sister Joseph as well and she wanted us to know that she is praying for us and to "keep running our 'life' marathon and that we can make it through." :) I love her.
President and Sister Cotterell are the best mission president/wife ever. I am thankful for them and their kindness, gentleness, and outpouring of love. We went to the temple together on Saturday and it helped bring some comfort. President assured me that everything will be okay and that everything that happens here happens for a reason greater than we can comprehend, but that we agreed to the circumstances before we came to earth and that we should turn to God. I am trying hard to keep this in mind.
I want to tell my father how much I love him. Words can't really describe that as well. I want to thank my perfect, wonderful dad for his diligence and all the love he showed to mom. The example you set for me is one that I hope I can someday achieve. I hope I can love someone regardless of their circumstances as much as you love mom. I know that you were made for each other and that you definitely fulfilled your promises to her in this life and I know that it will continue forever. That's the beauty of this great plan Heavenly Father put in place for us. I am forever grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I love him so much and I wish I could somehow thank him enough for fulfilling the Atonement so that we can all be able to be forgiven of our sins, receive strength and comfort in this life to overcome hard things, and that we can be able to live forever with him and Heavenly Father and with our families in the Celestial Kingdom if we do our best in this life and strive to keep all the commandments, etc.
I want to tell Lance and Ashlyn that I love them so much that I can't really describe that either, but that it is a lot. Bigger than the universe a lot. An infinite amount a lot.
I'm sorry that I couldn't be there right now to help comfort and be with you, but I know everything is the way it is for a reason. I love you all a lot. Don't forget it!
Much Love,
Sister J
Monday, October 31, 2011
Leaving Greenville...tomorrow! :(
Dear Fam,
Hello and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope you all are doing well...it sounds like everyone is doing good from the weekly report. Oh! I got the package you sent! Thanks so much. Now I won't freeeeze! (It finally got cold here.) I also found out I am getting transferred tomorrow. (ah!)
On Monday Sister Matthews and I decided to go shopping and found some attractive sister missionary attire. We ate dinner with Pres. Walker and all the other missionaries in our area. It was good. We talked to them about faith and the levels of faith and had a good lesson with them. Afterwards, we went to Brittany's...with all the elders (because they had to carpool) to give her a blessing. She has been struggling lately and requested a blessing. We didn't tell the elders anything about her situation; just that she needed a blessing. So, they came over and all six of us missionaries sat in there small apartment and taught her about faith and the priesthood. Then, the elders gave her a blessings. It was such a good experience! It was exactly what she needed to hear and she called us the following morning to tell us thank you a zillion times and then commenced to tell us that was the first time she had felt peace in a very, very long time. The priesthood is real. I'm thankful for it.
Tuesday we taught the Plan of Salvation to Nicole. She didn't agree with it at all. She firmly believes there is a heaven and a hell, but none of that degrees of heaven business. We also met with Matthew and talked to him about 1 Nephi 8. There is a really, really good article in the Book of Mormon Ensign by Elder Bednar that is all about the Tree of Life and it relates it to our lives. Read it. We talked to him about his baptismal date of the 4th and he said he was still planning on working towards that. He has a huge amount of faith. It's incredible. He's pretty nervous, but he's sticking with it. He is so in tune with the spirit; and he's willing to act on it.
Wedensday was a rough day. We met with a couple of people who had been "antied" or had dealved into anti material pretty deeply. The first man, Quincy was very respectful and has agreed to read the Book of Mormon because he can't figure out why we are so solidly certain that it is true. The second group was a group of YSA boys who were all roommates. Ironically, their names were John, Mark and Matthew. They just wanted to argue the whole time and Sister Matthews and I felt awful the whole time we were there. We bore testimony and told them we had to leave. They told us we were going to hell for what we believe and that we weren't Christians. I don't think Jesus would have done that. Oh well. We tried. We had dinner with less active Ann. She is such a sweet lady. I enjoyed her. She was the happy spot of the day. Sister Matthews is so full of awesome quotes! When we were studying that morning, we were talking about repentance and she said, "repentance is permanent, personal upgrades." I thought it was good. When we repent, we don't go back. It's a permanent change.
Thursday was the best day ever! We did weekly planning, made pumpkin pies during lunch and then went to contact a referral from the elders. His name is Andrew. He is a YSA and is totally solid. He lives with his parents and they are the nicest people ever. We gave them a pumpkin pie and talked to them about the restoration. The elders had talked to them about the plan of salvation a little bit and she (andrew's mom) used that term a lot. I think she really liked it.
Friday we did a lot of contacting mostly. It wasn't too eventful. Saturday we went to the parade to see Matthew in the band. We told him we could come for a little bit and I've honestly never seen someone get so excited in my life. Their band is pretty highly renowned I guess. He did a great job! We had stake conference in kinston that evening. I played the piano. It was good! I'm glad it's over.
Sunday we went to New Bern for the rest of Stake Conference. New Bern is GORGEOUS! It's right by the water and we froze to death. It got cold all of the sudden. It was the 50th year that the Kinston stake has been around. It's the oldest stake in NC as well. So, they did a lot of historical information and so forth for conference. We had a good lesson with recently baptized Naomi. Her little boy, Matthias is hilarious. I'll send pictures next week, but my time is up!
Love you all!
Sister J
Monday, October 24, 2011
Kingston Zone Conference!
Hello hello!
This week went by far too quickly. Someone said that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days, but I would like to adjust that slightly. The weeks do feel like days, but mostly the days feel like a few minutes. Wake up, go teach, and then it's time for bed again. It's crazy!
Monday we had the best zone conference EVER. I sent the picture they took of all of us. Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the seventy came with his wife and they taught us all day. We met with sister Jensen at 7:30 in the morning and had a great discussion about the importance of not being a perfectionist. I learned that being a worthy servant of the Lord is not synonymous with being perfect. As long as we are constantly striving to improve and continuing in diligence (endurance!) then we are doing what Heavenly Father wants us to do. Elder Jensen gave us a whole bunch of really amazing advice. Mostly he talked about Faith and the different levels of faith that we go through. The first level is just having a particle of faith (Alma 32: 27). This type of faith is where desire begins. Then, the next level is much faith (Mosiah 27:14). This is where our desires turn to priorities. (You can apply this to anything really. If you have a desire to do missionary work, then you can exercise your particle of faith. That desire then becomes something that you continuously look for *priority!*) Then, your faith becomes exceeding faith (Mosiah 4:3). Exceeding faith is when you make the choice to do missionary work. Then, you can move to exceedingly great faith (Moroni 10: 11) This type of faith is when your choice becomes an action and you successfully fulfill what began as a desire to do missionary work. That gift of exceedingly great faith from God then becomes an unshakeable faith (2 Nephi 31: 19 or Jacob 4:6) This is when our faith becomes solidified and becomes knowledge (D&C 93:1) Then we can start the process all over again with a difference principle.
I don't know if that really makes sense, but it does in Sister Johnson's brain. I also learned from Elder Jensen that even though we may have great faith, it doesn't mean we can override an individual's agency. Agency is a great gift, but it feels an awful lot like a curse on the mission. I really am thankful we do have the ability to choose though.
Tuesday was booked with appointments, but then half of them cancelled. We still had some really good lessons with a lady named Jean. She is Methodist and she is friends with a member who lives in the Bahamas. (crazy, right? The church is everywhere!) Then, we had a lesson with Matthew. Matthew is in a predicament of sorts currently. We followed up with his baptismal date and he said he is more than willing to work towards the date (he has incredible faith), but he will need some more time. He said he just feels confused about everything so we moved his date back a few more weeks. His family did not take the news as well as he thought they would and he's really struggling. He's truely amazing though. He told us he wants to pay tithing on the money he earns from playing in the band. He also asked us if he was stealing if he took part of a stoplight that had fallen down in the hurricane. He had been keeping it in the back of his trunk. We told him he should be fine. He said it just looked cool so he took it. I thought it was kind of funny.
Wednesday we did preparation day. We found the greatest grocery store ever! It's called Aldi's and it's generic foods, etc for super cheap. I bought all the essentials for about half of what wallyworld costs. The only problem was that they don't accept credit cards. Thank heavens for ATM machines! We met with Brittany that evening and she is also really struggling. She said she doesn't feel peace hardly at all in her life and that she feels like she is being constantly bombarded by Satan when she even tries to pray. We read part of Joseph Smith story about how he was almost overtaken by Satan and how she can relate that story to her life. Then, we talked about the importance of praying out loud and of praying in their family. They said they would make a greater effort to pray everynight as a family. We also talked about the importance of reading daily from the BOM. It really does work miracles. Kia and Chevaughn are living proof of that. Our family is proof of that. It's like superglue!
Thursday was crazy busy again. We met with Nicole and Johanna and finished up the first lesson. Nicole is very receptive to the spirit. She said that the Joseph Smith story really touched her heart. She is really a fantastic lady. Then we met with Tabitha and finished up the Plan of Salvation. We also ate lunch with Tabitha. Tabitha is Italian apparently. So, we had a real "Italian Feast" She made this ravioli with pumpkin and cheese in it. It was SO good. We had margarita pizza and pasta with pesto. I think I got my fill of carbs for the day there. It was divine! Tabitha understands the Plan really well so we are super excited! She also said she would come to the Pig Pickin' on Saturday.
Saturday was the day of the Pig Pickin' and Tabitha did come! She was late, but she brought her whole family...including her husband who doesn't want anything to do with any kind of religion. It was awesome. The pork barbeque was good. Southern folks really like their sweets. More than half the table was dessert items. The pork was good though. We were able to contact a zillion referrals that day too!
Sunday Tabitha was supposed to come to church, but her little boy was sick all night so she didn't get to bed until 6 AM. Max came to church unexpectedly thanks to bold Sis. McCoy. Then, we had choir practice afterwards until about 6. All in all, we were at the church for about 10 hours yesterday. Both wards had their primary programs which were really good and the branch's whole meeting was on eternal marriage. I have a testimony of singles wards fulfilling their purpose. Our branch has shrunk almost 1/3 thanks to people getting hitched right and left. Hooray eternal families!
Well, I love you all. Hope you have a wonderful week. As always, thank you for you continuing support. The church is true!
Love, Sister J
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
October 19, 2011
Hello! I know it's the middle of the week now...I forgot that our prep day was being moved because we had zone conference on Monday. So, I apologize for leaving you hanging, holding your breath, etc. :)
This past week went SO fast. I can't believe it's the middle of this week already. Last prep day our district decided to play volleyball. We discovered that we all have room for improvement in developing volleyball "spiritual gifts." It was fun.
When we woke up on Tuesday, both of us felt like we were 100 years old and we could hardly move for most of the day going up and down the stairs everywhere we went. There are a lot of stairs in NC. Everyone lives in apartments. We had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation (part 1) with Tabitha. Tabitha is Universal Unitarian and has told us that she doesn't think she'll ever join the LDS church, but she knows the BOM is true and feels that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She even watched a little bit of Conference. Anyways, we still have hope that she will change her mind. She asked quite a few questions about the spirit world and about what happens to those who aren't baptized with the priesthood and so forth. I have a lot of hope in her. She is a great lady. Afterwards, we met with a former investigator named Max. Max is Sis. McCoy's friend. Sis. McCoy is very bold. She told Max she needed to start meeting with the missionaries again and set up a time for us to go see her. We met with Max and talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Max has a really hard time accepting the Joseph Smith story. We talked to her about recognizing the spirit and bore testimony that if she would read and pray that she would be able to know if it was true. Then, we met with Matthew. Matthew talked to his parents and they weren't too excited about his decision to keep going to church. He still has a lot of doubts, but despite his doubts he does have faith that he will know if he should be baptized on the 29th. We set a date with him for the 29th and we are praying that he will be able to overcome those doubts and fear of rejection from his family. Matthew is stellar.
Wednesday was zone training. Somehow, Pres. Cotterell had forgotten to interview me about a month ago. Sis. Matthews pointed this out so, I got to have my first interview with Pres. Cotterell. I was so nervous, but then it turned out to be great. Pres. Cotterell is amazing. Zone training was amazing too. We learned about the importance of warning those we teach about how satan will try to plant seeds of doubt in their minds after they have been introduced to light and truth. Then we talked about recieving referrals from people. The poor elders don't seem to have a lot of luck with referrals from members or anyone for that matter. We figured out the average percentage of referrals we recieve each week. Sis. Matthews and I have been incredibly blessed to recieve a referral from about 3/4 of the people we talk to. Then, we talked about the importance of prayer and making sure to take time to pray out loud by ourselves. It's hard to do that when you're with someone 24/7. Sister Matthews, Mecklenberg, Welch, and myself all ended up singing in a quartet thanks to a giant misunderstanding. President asked Sis. Mecklenberg and Welch if they would be willing to sing. Then, he asked if they would like an accompianment. I somehow missed something huge and agreed to what I thought was playing the piano. Turns out it wasn't that. We sang I Know that My Redeemer Lives. Sis. Matthews wasn't too excited to sing in front of the whole zone, but she said she was glad that we got confused afterwards. Zone training is the best. I felt like everything that we talked about was something that I had had questions about.
On Thursday we met with Johanna. She is a less active who was baptized, but didn't really know what she was getting baptized for. Her son was the one who had wanted to take the lessons and be baptized so she kind of just followed behind. We had planned to teach her the restoration and then a miracle happened! We drove to her house and her friend, Nicole (who is presbyterian) was there. Johanna asked her if she would like to pretend to be our "investigator." Johanna is funny like that. We really did want her to be our investigator though. Nicole was really confused, but agreed to stay. So, we taught them both the Restoration. Nicole agreed with everything we said and read from the BOM. We are going to meet with her tomorrow! After our lesson the Johanna's twin boys found a HUGE snake in their backyard. It was at least three feet long. Johanna caught it and put it in a pickle jar. She told us it wasn't poisoness and said you could tell by the shape of the pupil of their eyes. I didn't really care. I think it would have been a gonner if it had been slithering in my backyard. I don't like snakes.
Friday we did weekly planning and a whole bunch of calling. Sister Matthews told me a really good quote! She said, "when you give you trust to God, stop trying to take it back." So basically, don't let Satan plant those seeds of doubt. Just trust in God. (Proverbs 3:5-6) I have learned a lot from Sister Matthews. She is very wise and has an incredible spirit about her. She is a great teacher as well. I'm thankful Heavenly Father saw fit for us to be companions. On Saturday we went to Trisha's to help her pack. She is moving to Winterville..which is still in our area. She is moving three houses down from the bishop. Providential? I think so. It was a moving experience (no pun intended) She hadn't moved anything in their garage since her husband passed away a year ago and it was hard to think that he had left everything in exactly that place. Trisha did well though. Her spirits were a little down, but no where near as bad as it has been in the past. We packed with her for about an hour and a half and then we had a great evening of attempting to contact people. We contacted a part member family! I was so excited! They seemed really open and receptive so, we are very excited to go back and teach.
Sunday was pretty typical. Somehow I got pulled into playing the piano for stake conference at the end of the month. No stress. No worries. Whatever. We had Branch conference though and that was amazing! President Walker is a great stake president. He is not afraid to be blunt and I learned a lot. Bro. Jones gave a talk about how worthiness is not synonymous with perfection. I was very thankful to hear that talk. I don't think I'm a perfectionist, but sometimes it is easy to lose patience with one's self. Anyways, it was a really good meeting. There were only 22 people who came to the branch this sunday. I wish they all would have come. It was so good! Plus, we kind of owe it to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Thanks for all you do and for you continual love and support. I love you all sooooooooooo much! I hope you are all doing well and just remember that you are in my prayers! Thanks for everything though.
I'm sure thankful for the Book of Mormon. I really don't know where I'd be without the guidance that is for our day in that book of scripture. I know it's true.
Much love, Sister J
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 10, 2011
Dear Family,
Tuesday we taught Tabitha again. She is great. She has SO much energy for a mom with four wild kids. She told us that she felt like Joseph Smith was in fact a prophet, but that she didn't plan on converting. (sigh) We taught her about recognizing the spirit and had a very good lesson with her and invited her to continue reading and praying to know if that's what God would want her to do with the knowledge she now has. Then, we went to try and contact and recent convert who has since gone less active. Turns out she lived in a pretty sketchy part of town and has since moved. So, we didn't stay there long. Then, we started printing maps off for the HUGE map book we are making for all of Pitt county so we know where everyone lives. I called a lot of people while sat in the library printing off a zillion pages. Now that it gets dark earlier, we don't get to have as much proselyting time...so we find other purposeful activites like making map books and calling everyone.
Wednesday was district meeting. We talked about the doctrine of baptism. Elder Westley taught it and came in singing, "Today! Today! Baptize while you may!" (instead of "work while you may") Everyone started laughing after that. We had a good lesson though and we are trying as a district to build up the area. The elders haven't had much work at all the past couple of weeks so it's been kind of rough. I know there's got to be dozens more people who are longing to hear the gospel though. Greenville is pretty big! (and very spread out..which makes things difficult.) We taught Malcom and Elva later that day. Malcom had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. Sister Matthews knows her scriptures inside and out. For that I am thankful. I learned quite a bit during that lesson. Then, we went and taught Brittany about the Word of Wisdom. She likes her tea, but she said she would find a substitute for it. (Hooray!)
On Thursday we taught Matthew. He finally talked to his parents about joining the church! However, he also informed us that he wasn't quite sure if he was comfortable with being baptized and such quite yet. He said it's hard since that's not how he grew up, but he feels it's right. He just asked for more time to ponder and pray and read. Sister Matthews and I read a scripture today in Alma 34: 37-38 about waiting. We are praying he will recieve peace from the spirit to comfort him and help him make this decision.
Friday we taught Miranda. We taught Miranda a long time ago before Hurricane Irene rocked the east coast and she was very receptive. We were able to set up a time with her finally and taught her about the restoration. It was a great lesson. We went to a chili cook off that evening and tried a variety of chilis and cornbreads. Someone cheated and used yellow cake mix. It was rather disappointing...we judged the cornbread. They did not win.
Saturday we went to Steve's and taught him about recognizing the spirit as well. We decided that is what all our investigators need. It was a good lesson. I hope he will get his answer soon. He has been reading a lot from the Book of Mormon.
Sunday was a typical sunday. Played the piano, ran around like chickens with our heads chopped off between the 3 wards. I love Greenville!
Love you all!
Love Sis. J
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
October 3, 2011
Hello!
I hope you all are doing fantastic!
This week went far too quickly, but it was a great week.
Last Monday, Sister Matthews and I decided to go get haircuts. I don't know what happened really, but I chopped it all off. I think this is the shortest it's been since I was in fifth grade. I have no regrets.
Tuesday was predicted to be a very busy day, but quickly fell apart. Sister Matthews and I were so excited because we had a very full day, but then everyone called us in the morning to inform us that they had other things come up. So, we went and tried to contact some referrals on 2nd street in Ayden. We had no luck there so we resorted to what Sister Matthews calls "spiritual tracting." After knocking on a few doors, we felt impressed to go to one particular house. We knocked on the door, a man answered and we testifed of a living prophet and the of the Book of Mormon being the word of God through the screen door. Then, the man asked us if we would like to come in. His mother was there so we came in, taught him about the rest of the restoration and he agreed to read, pray, etc. His mom did too! His name is Malcom and his mother's name is Elva. They are very sweet people. Later that evening we went and taught Matthew. Matthew was so close to talking to his parents about joining the church, but he says that every time he tries to talk to them, something crazy always happens. He said he still feels really good about talking to them though. We encouraged him and read from Moroni 7 about the ministering of angels and how they help those who are firm in the faith. I know Matthew will be blessed and have angels help him as he finds the courage to talk to his parentals.
Wednesday we had a great district meeting about recieving revelation through the Holy Ghost. Elder Westley had us do an 'object lesson' in the gym. He brought a bag of tennis balls and gave us each a tennis ball. He told us to throw the tennis balls to him. Everyone did this (as hard as they could...elders are kind of ridiculous that way) and Elder Westley obviously was uanble to catch all of the tennis balls. He told us this is how it is when we are teaching. We have to allow the people we are teaching (and even ourselves) recieve revelation through the Holy Ghost by allowing time to ponder. Silence is not a bad thing! We then proceded to throw our tennis balls one at a time to him to demonstrate how if we allow time and listen to the spirit then we can recieve the revelation Heavenly Father desires for us. Sometimes I think the things we learn at district meeting are so elementary, but I've been learning that it's those simple things like that that are the important things and they testify of truth in a way that even small children can learn from. Afterwards, we went to Grimesland to contact some referrals out there. Afterwards, we ate dinner with Brittany her family. They made this chicken stuffed with shrimp over pasta and it was really, really good. Then we had a really good lesson to finish up the last half of the Plan of Salvation. I loooove teaching the Plan of Salvation! She understood it very well and had a lot of questions that we were able to answer with scripture and she is just soaking up everything we teach.
Thursday ended up being another cop-out day with all of our investigators. Everyone we had scheduled in the mornings either called to cancel or didn't answer the door. However, we did get to have a lesson with Scott and Fabiola that evening. Their kids were running around like wild hooligans the whole time, but we were able to teach them about faith and repentance and they said they knew that they needed to come to church in order to get answers to their questions and so forth.
We did weekly planning on Friday and then we spent the evening contacting referrals. We were able to contact a few of our referrals...so that was good! I've learned so much from Sister Matthews. She has this great way of organizing her lesson plans into doctrine, principle, application steps. I feel like it's opened the doors to so many different ways of teaching.
Saturday was GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was so good! We went to the church building and watched conference there. No one else was there except the Elders and a few members here and there. It was awesome! Elder Scott's talk about reading from all the standard works and memorizing scriptures was one of my favorites...it was a good talk to start the conference off with. As Sister Matthews says, "memorizing scriptures helps it go from head knowledge to heart knowledge." I encourage you all to choose a scripture to memorize. Oh man. I don't even know where to begin and end with general conference. The talk that Elder Bednar gave about family history work was a good one too. Sister Matthews and I were wondering why he chose to speak on that subject of all the things he could have chosen. We were reading in true to the faith about family history work and found something amazing. Elder Bednar's last two talks have been on the spirit of revelation, listening the spirit, etc. In true to the faith it says that we can recieve revelation as we do family history work. God definitely has a bigger picture than we can see a lot of the time. I wish that Scott and Fabiola would have come to the last session on Saturday. President Uchtdorf's talk was just for them. I am totally convinced. I wish people would do what they say they are going to do....
Sunday's conference was fantastic as well. I loved it all; especially the talk about the Book of Mormon and how there is no middle ground. Brittany came to both sessions on sunday and she said that when Pres. Monson go up to speak, that she felt like she had seen him before and knew his voice. I know that was the spirit telling her that she was in the right place at the right time. Afterwards, we reviewed the Plan with her and taught her about following the prophet.
The savior's atonement always provides a lifeboat!
Love yall!
Sis. J
I hope you all are doing fantastic!
This week went far too quickly, but it was a great week.
Last Monday, Sister Matthews and I decided to go get haircuts. I don't know what happened really, but I chopped it all off. I think this is the shortest it's been since I was in fifth grade. I have no regrets.
Tuesday was predicted to be a very busy day, but quickly fell apart. Sister Matthews and I were so excited because we had a very full day, but then everyone called us in the morning to inform us that they had other things come up. So, we went and tried to contact some referrals on 2nd street in Ayden. We had no luck there so we resorted to what Sister Matthews calls "spiritual tracting." After knocking on a few doors, we felt impressed to go to one particular house. We knocked on the door, a man answered and we testifed of a living prophet and the of the Book of Mormon being the word of God through the screen door. Then, the man asked us if we would like to come in. His mother was there so we came in, taught him about the rest of the restoration and he agreed to read, pray, etc. His mom did too! His name is Malcom and his mother's name is Elva. They are very sweet people. Later that evening we went and taught Matthew. Matthew was so close to talking to his parents about joining the church, but he says that every time he tries to talk to them, something crazy always happens. He said he still feels really good about talking to them though. We encouraged him and read from Moroni 7 about the ministering of angels and how they help those who are firm in the faith. I know Matthew will be blessed and have angels help him as he finds the courage to talk to his parentals.
Wednesday we had a great district meeting about recieving revelation through the Holy Ghost. Elder Westley had us do an 'object lesson' in the gym. He brought a bag of tennis balls and gave us each a tennis ball. He told us to throw the tennis balls to him. Everyone did this (as hard as they could...elders are kind of ridiculous that way) and Elder Westley obviously was uanble to catch all of the tennis balls. He told us this is how it is when we are teaching. We have to allow the people we are teaching (and even ourselves) recieve revelation through the Holy Ghost by allowing time to ponder. Silence is not a bad thing! We then proceded to throw our tennis balls one at a time to him to demonstrate how if we allow time and listen to the spirit then we can recieve the revelation Heavenly Father desires for us. Sometimes I think the things we learn at district meeting are so elementary, but I've been learning that it's those simple things like that that are the important things and they testify of truth in a way that even small children can learn from. Afterwards, we went to Grimesland to contact some referrals out there. Afterwards, we ate dinner with Brittany her family. They made this chicken stuffed with shrimp over pasta and it was really, really good. Then we had a really good lesson to finish up the last half of the Plan of Salvation. I loooove teaching the Plan of Salvation! She understood it very well and had a lot of questions that we were able to answer with scripture and she is just soaking up everything we teach.
Thursday ended up being another cop-out day with all of our investigators. Everyone we had scheduled in the mornings either called to cancel or didn't answer the door. However, we did get to have a lesson with Scott and Fabiola that evening. Their kids were running around like wild hooligans the whole time, but we were able to teach them about faith and repentance and they said they knew that they needed to come to church in order to get answers to their questions and so forth.
We did weekly planning on Friday and then we spent the evening contacting referrals. We were able to contact a few of our referrals...so that was good! I've learned so much from Sister Matthews. She has this great way of organizing her lesson plans into doctrine, principle, application steps. I feel like it's opened the doors to so many different ways of teaching.
Saturday was GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was so good! We went to the church building and watched conference there. No one else was there except the Elders and a few members here and there. It was awesome! Elder Scott's talk about reading from all the standard works and memorizing scriptures was one of my favorites...it was a good talk to start the conference off with. As Sister Matthews says, "memorizing scriptures helps it go from head knowledge to heart knowledge." I encourage you all to choose a scripture to memorize. Oh man. I don't even know where to begin and end with general conference. The talk that Elder Bednar gave about family history work was a good one too. Sister Matthews and I were wondering why he chose to speak on that subject of all the things he could have chosen. We were reading in true to the faith about family history work and found something amazing. Elder Bednar's last two talks have been on the spirit of revelation, listening the spirit, etc. In true to the faith it says that we can recieve revelation as we do family history work. God definitely has a bigger picture than we can see a lot of the time. I wish that Scott and Fabiola would have come to the last session on Saturday. President Uchtdorf's talk was just for them. I am totally convinced. I wish people would do what they say they are going to do....
Sunday's conference was fantastic as well. I loved it all; especially the talk about the Book of Mormon and how there is no middle ground. Brittany came to both sessions on sunday and she said that when Pres. Monson go up to speak, that she felt like she had seen him before and knew his voice. I know that was the spirit telling her that she was in the right place at the right time. Afterwards, we reviewed the Plan with her and taught her about following the prophet.
The savior's atonement always provides a lifeboat!
Love yall!
Sis. J
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