Hey y'all!
Well, things are going great here in the deep south of Deep Run, NC. We had a pretty eventful week with lots of tender mercies, miracles, etc. The weather is still gorgeous. It is sunshiny wonderful during the day and then it rains at night to wash all the pollen away! Yesterday was quite the light show. We had a huge thunderstorm come through with TONS of lightening. It sure was pretty! Lots of rain came with it too. No tornadoes thankfully. :)
We had a busy preparation day last week. We had dinner with the Orr family last week. Sis. Orr's brother just passed away. We had a good lesson with them after dinner and I think it strengthened them both. We also discovered, by way of Sis. Orr, that there is a fantastic website (mormonchannel.org) that streams some mighty fine church/sunday music.
Tuesday we met with a lady named Irma. She has multiple sclerosis and is homebound. Her husband was baptized in the church as a kid, but was not raised in the church. We had a good lesson with her. Her dog tried attacking Sis. Matthews. I was scared to death. I wanted to whack that dog on the head with my Book of Mormon. Irma told the dog to go sit in the corner and it did. It glared at Sis. Matthews the whole time. It was rather disturbing. I do not like poodles. After our lesson with Irma we came back home to pick up Nanny Mae to go to a lesson with us. We went and visited Jean. We met with Jean about a month ago and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She was very interested in the Book of Mormon because of how clearly it explained the Plan of Salvation. When we got there, we found out that she had read/listened to the Book of Mormon all the way up to Alma 32 (whoa!!) She said that she had enjoyed it and loved how much more detail it added to the Plan of Salvation. It was a neat experience. The next step is church and knowing that the Book of Mormon is true. She is amazing!
Wednesday we had district meeting in Woodington. It was a funny district meeting. We talked about the characteristics of Nephi (see 1 Nephi 3:7; 16:1; 16:28; 7:17-18; 4:20; 18:3; 2 Nephi 1:27-28; 4:20-21) We then read D&C 33:7-8, 9-15 and proceeded to discuss how Nephi's characteristics are characteristics we should develop and that we shouldn't be afraid to open our mouths and share the gospel with everyone. That led to a conversation of how we can share the gospel with everyone. We talked about service opportunities and how a good majority of people don't like you to serve them (southern culture...they like to serve you) and E. Garrett gave a reenactment of what might happen if you try to serve an old lady who doesn't what help sweeping her floor, painting her fence, etc. He said we shouldn't cause hip replacements over service opportunities. lol.
We met with Clara afterward and talked about qualifications for baptism. She is definitely prepared. We are just trying to make sure all the loose ends are tied off by the time it gets here. She is doing great though! Her daughter, Itzel was hilarious. Clara has a pet rabbit that stays in the house. Sis. Matthews asked about the bunny and Itzel immediately went and fetched the rabbit. As she came into the room she was holding the rabbit by it's ears. Clara rescued the bunny and put it back. We asked Itzel what the bunny's name was. She said, "Poor Bunny." I would have to agree. We also met with Greg that night and had a good lesson about having faith in Jesus Christ. It was so fun! We went through the Bible (Greg has never read from the Bible in his life...pretty crazy to imagine that when you live in these parts of the world!) and read stories about his miracles and talked about the Atonement and then we watched Finding Faith in Christ. Greg believes it is true. It is neat to see his faith buidling as he and Miranda read together. They have also been praying together. Hooray! I love how the gospel works in people's lives.
On Thursday the ward threw a baby shower for Clara. It was so neat to see so many of the ward members come out to support her. We had a good time while we were there and I know it really helped Clara out a lot. She has changed so much since we first started teaching her. She wouldn't set foot in the church unless she knew we were going to be there. Now, it's like a slice of cake!
Friday we did service at the library and watched one of CES firesides whilst putting books away. It was the one from last year given by Elder Scott. He has a great sense of humor. He said it was a "stupid idea to take a girl on a date to the movies." We got a good laugh from that and then went on our merry way teaching the gospel! We were able to contact a referral and a less active family who are also recent converts. It makes me so sad when recent converts drop off the face of the planet. I wish I knew how to make sure that didn't happen. However, missionary work is an agency-based enterprise system and people can choose how they will run the course of their lives. I always pray they will come around though. This sister and her children have returned to their Pentecostal holiness church though. They said the "Mormons were a nice experience, but it was just so new and different that they couldn't do it." We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she liked it, but that she was going to stick with her bible.(sigh)
Saturday we went out to the farthest corner of our boundaries to contact some referrals, but then discovered we were en route to Jacksonville...which is definitely not in our boundaries. We will be giving those referrals to the J-ville sisters. :) However, on our way back, we contacted a former investigator named Lisa and had a good lesson with her. We found her when I first got to Deep Run, but then Christmas happened and she couldn't meet with us. However, she texted us a few weeks ago and asked when we were going to be back in the area. We leaped on that opportunity and were able to meet with her! She actually read the introduction to the Book of Mormon that we had left for her to read last time. We reviewed that with her and invited her to read the Book of Mormon. She is stellar. Her sister is a member. The hurdle for her is going to be coming to church. As Sister Voyles says, "Just come to church!"
We went to Woodington yesterday. Sis. Tyndall gave a great lesson in Gospel Principles on service. I love service.
Nathan and Greg both came to church in Albertson! Yay! We had a lesson with Nathan in the evening and he had a really good, positive experience at church. We taught the Law of Chastity...with his girlfriend...and his girlfriend's parents. Bro. C related a story to us about when he went in for his first temple recommend interview (he is a convert). They asked if he was a chaste individual to which he replied, "No. I'm married." lol. Oh goodness...that was a good icebreaker for that lesson. Nathan has been reading a praying! He is pretty sure about his decision, but just wants to make sure. He actually asked us about fasting because he had been listening to a john by the way (or however that spelled) CD on the way to church with Kaela ( his girlfriend). I guess they had talked about fasting. He is going to fast for an answer! So, it was a great week.
oh, We also got to watch the YW broadcast. Favorite quote from Pres. Monson, "life is hard by the yard, but by the inch it's a sinch!" The YW were counseled to seek Heavenly guidance one day at a time. Good stuff. Mmm!
Well, I'd better be off! I love you all! The power of fasting is real. I know we can receive Heavenly direction if we are seeking for it diligently because the "Holy Ghost will tell us all things we should do." (2 Nephi 32:5)
Love you x infinity2!
Sister J
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
I feel like a....Fat CAT! 3/19/2012
Huller! ( "Hello" in Deep Runganese)
The weather has been fantastic here. 70's and 80's all week long! We even did our weekly planning outside in the sunshine. I love sunshine. Oh, and you don't need to worry about any starving missionaries in these neck o' the woods. I feel like a fat cat. Overfed, under-worked, and huge. Really. Fat Cat Syndrome is a real thing. lol. I am dying to go at a faster pace, but alas, the culture here is anything but fast paced. I am learning patience. :]
Last monday we made our weekly stop in Kinston to go to the chiropractor. Bro Anderson (the chiropractor) saved me from dying of allergies. I've only heard about how awful allergies can be here in N. Carolina, but I didn't really believe it. Well, the pollen here will cover everything. Our car looks yellow. It is supposed to be silver. Bro. Anderson treated Sis. Matthews and I for allergies and we haven't had a lick of trouble with them. I admit, I was skeptical about the allergy treatment he did, but it worked! It was most certainly a blessing. We ate Waffle House for dinner to support one of the youth, Taylor who works there. Waffle House is really good. We ate a blueberry waffle and hashbrowns with bacon. Mmm!
We had training on Tuesday in Kinston. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is to have our testimonies rooted in the Book of Mormon because if we do, then we will be able to also know that Joseph Smith was a prophet who restored the priesthood authority to the earth, that the Church is true, and that Jesus is the Christ (see last paragraph in the Introduction the the Book of Mormon). It's amazing! We had fun doing role plays. We always end up with the Greenville elders. They are punks. Elder Peck likes to be ridiculously hard investigators when we role play. Sometimes I want to beat him over the head with my scriptures. That is not Christ-like though...I have learned a lot from doing role plays with them though. We gave them a run for their money when we role played one of our investigators. It was the best role play I've ever been a part of. We were able to receive some insight on how to help Greg and it was super neat! We learned that there is a difference between just believing and knowing that something is true. If you just believe it, you won't have much desire to change anything, but if you know that it is true, it gives you a reason to change. We had hotdogs and oranges for lunch afterward.
After we finished our lunch at training, we went to the Tervos (recent converts). The Tervos raise goats and horses. Sis. Tervo hurt her back so we offered to come clean out some goat stalls. (We look for any excuse we can to get into pants :] ) We got to play with the baby goats while we were there. They are just like dogs. They will come jump in your lap and just sit there. We had fun cleaning out the goat stalls. Weird, I know, but it wasn't bad at all; in fact, we offered to come to do it again! Afterward, we stopped at the pizza joint close to our apartment, ate dinner and then headed up to Albertson for a Relief Society activity that Clara came to! She brought her kids. They did not want to sit still. Clara was able to meet a lot of the sisters in the ward though and they really took her in. In fact, they planned a whole baby shower for her this week! She is nervous, but excited.
Wednesday we weekly planned in the sunshine! It was great. We tried to meet up with Amber (potential investigator) at mutual that night in Woodington, but she wasn't there. :( We will keep trying though!
Thursday we headed up to Seven Springs for a lesson and lunch with our investigator, Claudia. One of the members, Sis. Anderson has been a great friend for her and they have been staying in contact with each other. Claudia expressed that she feels like there is something good about the church. She knows there are some things she needs to change in her life, but she just doesn't know if she is ready to give them up. We were able to have a good lesson about reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know that it is true. She doesn't really have a reason to change right now until she cant understand why by doing the small things. Sis. M gave a good analogy relating to math (she is a math major afterall) She said that you can't do calculus if you don't know how to add and subtract and the same is true with doing things in the church. You can't expect to do the big things if you don't know how to do the small and simple things. Claudia is amazing. I am really excited for her.
The highlight of the day on Friday was meeting with Clara. We invited her to be baptized and at first she was so afraid! She told us that she didn't think she was ready and that she didn't think she would be able to know all of the answers and she said she couldn't because she hadn't read the whole Book of Mormon yet. We talked about the baptismal interview questions. It was quite entertaining to see how intent she was on making sure she knew exactly what they all were. As she was going down the list, "yes, yes, yes, wait, what does that mean?" By the end she felt sure and is planning on getting married within the next week or so and being baptized on April 14th! Huzzah! We are so excited for her. I can't even imagine how Heavenly Father must feel...
We also had a good dinner/lesson with a active family and their less active children on friday. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon as a family and they agreed. They are now having a race with each other to see which of them can finish first. It was fun to see them get excited about reading. They even came up and told us how it was going on Sunday!
Saturday we met with Nathan. He is doing great! He has started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning now and is reading it during his lunch breaks at work. We talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and let the spirit do the rest. He knows why it is important now and is planning on coming to church next week. :)
Sunday we had a treat! Pres. and Sis. Cotterell came and spoke in the Albertson ward. President posed two questions. First, "Why did you come to church today?" and second, "What is your purpose?" He then talked about the importance of the sacrament and reading the Book of Mormon to receive guidance when we are troubled, and how our purpose can become unified with God's purpose as we answer those questions. Sis. Cotterell spoke about covenants. We have a responsibility to represent the Lord when we make covenants. No one came to church sadly. :( (sigh)
After church we met with Greg and Miranda. Greg was "sick" and not able to make it to church. However, we had a good lesson with him about knowing vs. believing. He set a date for himself: Dec. 26. That is really far away...
He and Miranda are both reading and praying together! I think the sweetest experience was at the end when we all kneeled to pray and Greg prayed!
Well, my time is far spent yet again. I love you all! Thank you for being who you are. I appreciate your love and support.
Love,
Sis. J
The weather has been fantastic here. 70's and 80's all week long! We even did our weekly planning outside in the sunshine. I love sunshine. Oh, and you don't need to worry about any starving missionaries in these neck o' the woods. I feel like a fat cat. Overfed, under-worked, and huge. Really. Fat Cat Syndrome is a real thing. lol. I am dying to go at a faster pace, but alas, the culture here is anything but fast paced. I am learning patience. :]
Last monday we made our weekly stop in Kinston to go to the chiropractor. Bro Anderson (the chiropractor) saved me from dying of allergies. I've only heard about how awful allergies can be here in N. Carolina, but I didn't really believe it. Well, the pollen here will cover everything. Our car looks yellow. It is supposed to be silver. Bro. Anderson treated Sis. Matthews and I for allergies and we haven't had a lick of trouble with them. I admit, I was skeptical about the allergy treatment he did, but it worked! It was most certainly a blessing. We ate Waffle House for dinner to support one of the youth, Taylor who works there. Waffle House is really good. We ate a blueberry waffle and hashbrowns with bacon. Mmm!
We had training on Tuesday in Kinston. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is to have our testimonies rooted in the Book of Mormon because if we do, then we will be able to also know that Joseph Smith was a prophet who restored the priesthood authority to the earth, that the Church is true, and that Jesus is the Christ (see last paragraph in the Introduction the the Book of Mormon). It's amazing! We had fun doing role plays. We always end up with the Greenville elders. They are punks. Elder Peck likes to be ridiculously hard investigators when we role play. Sometimes I want to beat him over the head with my scriptures. That is not Christ-like though...I have learned a lot from doing role plays with them though. We gave them a run for their money when we role played one of our investigators. It was the best role play I've ever been a part of. We were able to receive some insight on how to help Greg and it was super neat! We learned that there is a difference between just believing and knowing that something is true. If you just believe it, you won't have much desire to change anything, but if you know that it is true, it gives you a reason to change. We had hotdogs and oranges for lunch afterward.
After we finished our lunch at training, we went to the Tervos (recent converts). The Tervos raise goats and horses. Sis. Tervo hurt her back so we offered to come clean out some goat stalls. (We look for any excuse we can to get into pants :] ) We got to play with the baby goats while we were there. They are just like dogs. They will come jump in your lap and just sit there. We had fun cleaning out the goat stalls. Weird, I know, but it wasn't bad at all; in fact, we offered to come to do it again! Afterward, we stopped at the pizza joint close to our apartment, ate dinner and then headed up to Albertson for a Relief Society activity that Clara came to! She brought her kids. They did not want to sit still. Clara was able to meet a lot of the sisters in the ward though and they really took her in. In fact, they planned a whole baby shower for her this week! She is nervous, but excited.
Wednesday we weekly planned in the sunshine! It was great. We tried to meet up with Amber (potential investigator) at mutual that night in Woodington, but she wasn't there. :( We will keep trying though!
Thursday we headed up to Seven Springs for a lesson and lunch with our investigator, Claudia. One of the members, Sis. Anderson has been a great friend for her and they have been staying in contact with each other. Claudia expressed that she feels like there is something good about the church. She knows there are some things she needs to change in her life, but she just doesn't know if she is ready to give them up. We were able to have a good lesson about reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know that it is true. She doesn't really have a reason to change right now until she cant understand why by doing the small things. Sis. M gave a good analogy relating to math (she is a math major afterall) She said that you can't do calculus if you don't know how to add and subtract and the same is true with doing things in the church. You can't expect to do the big things if you don't know how to do the small and simple things. Claudia is amazing. I am really excited for her.
The highlight of the day on Friday was meeting with Clara. We invited her to be baptized and at first she was so afraid! She told us that she didn't think she was ready and that she didn't think she would be able to know all of the answers and she said she couldn't because she hadn't read the whole Book of Mormon yet. We talked about the baptismal interview questions. It was quite entertaining to see how intent she was on making sure she knew exactly what they all were. As she was going down the list, "yes, yes, yes, wait, what does that mean?" By the end she felt sure and is planning on getting married within the next week or so and being baptized on April 14th! Huzzah! We are so excited for her. I can't even imagine how Heavenly Father must feel...
We also had a good dinner/lesson with a active family and their less active children on friday. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon as a family and they agreed. They are now having a race with each other to see which of them can finish first. It was fun to see them get excited about reading. They even came up and told us how it was going on Sunday!
Saturday we met with Nathan. He is doing great! He has started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning now and is reading it during his lunch breaks at work. We talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and let the spirit do the rest. He knows why it is important now and is planning on coming to church next week. :)
Sunday we had a treat! Pres. and Sis. Cotterell came and spoke in the Albertson ward. President posed two questions. First, "Why did you come to church today?" and second, "What is your purpose?" He then talked about the importance of the sacrament and reading the Book of Mormon to receive guidance when we are troubled, and how our purpose can become unified with God's purpose as we answer those questions. Sis. Cotterell spoke about covenants. We have a responsibility to represent the Lord when we make covenants. No one came to church sadly. :( (sigh)
After church we met with Greg and Miranda. Greg was "sick" and not able to make it to church. However, we had a good lesson with him about knowing vs. believing. He set a date for himself: Dec. 26. That is really far away...
He and Miranda are both reading and praying together! I think the sweetest experience was at the end when we all kneeled to pray and Greg prayed!
Well, my time is far spent yet again. I love you all! Thank you for being who you are. I appreciate your love and support.
Love,
Sis. J
Monday, March 12, 2012
Take me home on a stretcher
Family!
Solar flares, half-way day, and five zillion appointments (not really, but there were a lot...), Young Women New Beginnings, and so much more! It was a crazy, crazy week! I love being busy. Last Sunday we sent around an exchange sign up sheet and had a pleasing response from the Albertson sisters. We had exchanges for basically every hour of the day this week..and we saw many, many miracles because of it.
Monday: Happy National Pancake Day!...but then we found out that it wasn't actually today. I guess it was on Feb. 28th. To those of you who have access to electronic devices who can keep you up to date on these sorts of important events, I hope you took full advantage of eating pancakes on Feb 28th. If not, you can always celebrate late! Preparation day was a typical preparation day. We emailed, we shopped, we cleaned, we wrote a couple of letters and organized our lives and then it was over! Time goes so fast. I suppose that's not always a bad thing. We also went to the chiropractor again and got to talk to a lady about what we do as missionaries. I gave her a pass along card before we went into get Sis M's back cracked. I hope she goes to mormon.org!
PS-to all you members out there, you can make a profile on mormon.org and it is a great tool to use to share the gospel with your friends/colleagues/family/acquaintances. They can look up your profile and learn more about the church! I invite each of you to make one. :] We had dinner with the RS president and her family (from Woodington ward) that night and had a great FHE lesson about scripture study with them. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon together as a family during this year. Our goal with the members here is to strengthen their faith by inviting each of them and their families to read the Book of Mormon. Sis M and I are super excited about this!
Tuesday: We went to Seven Springs to meet with Sis. Anderson and former investigator, Claudia. We had a delicious lunch of homemade pizza and salad (i love vegetables so much). Claudia used to live in Cali and went to church for over a year there. She has taken the missionary lessons before and faithfully attended church. She just has a hard time accepting that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We asked her how she felt about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it. She agreed to do that. Sis. Anderson has been such a good friend to her. She called us a few days after we met with Claudia and told us that they had talked for quite a while after we left and that Claudia knows what she needs to do; it's just a matter of doing it. We also met with Denise. We brought Sis. Howard (RC) along. They have a lot in common. Poor Denise is struggling with so many things right now. She needs to let the atonement work in her life. Right after our appointment with Denise, we met with Sis. Pate and headed to Beulaville to contact a referral there. The referral is an older couple (in their 70's). Their names are A.L. and Pauline. A.L.'s sister-in-law (who is a member in the Woodington ward) referred us to them and we went over as soon as we could! They allowed us to come in and we had really good lesson with them. They have had many, many trials. Sometimes I think my life is hard...and then I find out that really, it is not that bad compared to what other people have been through. We were able to talk about why bad things happen to good people. We read 2 Nephi 2:2. I read a talk a while back about trials in life and even when we are doing good, that does not mean we are exempt from being tried. That is part of life. Elder Christofferson said, "If you think that because you are trying to be good that you should be exempt from having bad things happen, then you need to have a chat with Job!" I thought it was pretty funny... A.L. and Pauline invited us to come back. A.L. believes what we teach is true. Pauline insists that she is going to be Pentacostal forever. She kept throwing out those "stump the missionary questions." It didn't work. :] Sis. M and I were both so beat by the end of the day we felt like we needed to be carried home on stretchers. I slept like a rock that night.
Wednesday: Happy Half-way day! Everyone asked me what I did to celebrate being half way done: I threw away a pair of tights. We aren't allowed to play with fire...so I just chucked them in the garbage can. Good bye old tights! We had district meeting in Kinston. The lesson was very good as it always is. We talked about the difference between telling vs. showing in 2 Nephi 32 and then we talked about using the Book of Mormon in the conversion process. I read a talk called, "Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change" a while back and it just solidified my testimony of how important it is to endure to the end by continuing to do those things that invite the spirit (Spiritual CPR! church, pray, and read) We talked about how conversion occurs in the heart...where we feel. We went to lunch with Sis. Robionson and the elders afterwards to a Mexican restaurant and then we skedaddled to Albertson to start another run of exchanges. We went with Sis. Carter and drove all over the place. No one was home. The backup plans of the backup plans were falling through. Finally, we were able to meet with Sis. Potter, who has been ill. She is a sweet older lady who is so worried about doing everything she can so that she can be with her husband and son who have passed away. She feels like she needs to do more than she is. I don't see how that would be possible. She is an incredible lady. I love old people... We went to dinner with Carmen (Matthew's (RC) ex-girlfriend) Matthew is struggling. It is so hard to be strong when everyone around you is trying to get you to go against what is right. Poor kid. It breaks my heart to heart that. I'm confident he'll come around though.
Thursday we went out with Sis. Herring and met with a less active lady named Christy. We had a good lesson with her and invited her to read the Book of Mormon with her family. She agreed to that. We then went on another adventure to find someone who would be home that we could share the gospel with with Sis. Stainback. We had no luck until we decided to stop by Clara's house. We got to see her baby, Julian and he was a cutie! Clara was so happy. She was just glowing. She is a good mom to her kiddos. We had a good lesson with her and then we were quickly swept away to meet the Heaths. We went to Beulaville with them and met with a potential named Kayla. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and prayer. She was hilarious. She reminded me a lot of a good friend of mine. She told us that "you aren't crazy if you talk to yourself and you aren't crazy if you answer yourself. You're only crazy if you argue with the answer you gave yourself." lol. I think this is further evidence that I am, in fact crazy. :] Thursday was Solar flare day! We went to get some pizza and they had a sign up that said they couldn't accept credit/debit card due to the solar flares.
Friday finally slowed down a bit. We met with LA sis. Moody and RC Sis. Moore at the church and read the "forget-me-not" talk by pres. uchtdorf. I love that talk. Especially the part about the "why" of the gospel. If we don't know why we are doing things, then why are we doing them?
Saturday was Young Women's new beginnings program. They invited us for dinner (grits, sausage, cinnamon rolls, eggs, and pancakes...oh and WHOLE milk) and enlisted me as pianist. We played a really pretty version of the Lord is my Light and had a good evening.
Sunday we taught gospel principles about sacrifice. Favorite scriptures: 3 nephi 9:20 and Matthew 19:29. Afterwards, we went to choir practice and then had a lesson with Greg. We made flash cards with all of the commandments on them and he chose which ones he wanted to learn about first. We committed him to start cutting back with smoking and to read and pray everyday! Hooray for the gospel changing lives. It is amazing. The hard part is letting it continue to change you.
Well, my time is running short. I love you all very, very much and appreciate the love and support and everything else you continue to give.
The church really is true.
Love you!
Love,
Sis J
Solar flares, half-way day, and five zillion appointments (not really, but there were a lot...), Young Women New Beginnings, and so much more! It was a crazy, crazy week! I love being busy. Last Sunday we sent around an exchange sign up sheet and had a pleasing response from the Albertson sisters. We had exchanges for basically every hour of the day this week..and we saw many, many miracles because of it.
Monday: Happy National Pancake Day!...but then we found out that it wasn't actually today. I guess it was on Feb. 28th. To those of you who have access to electronic devices who can keep you up to date on these sorts of important events, I hope you took full advantage of eating pancakes on Feb 28th. If not, you can always celebrate late! Preparation day was a typical preparation day. We emailed, we shopped, we cleaned, we wrote a couple of letters and organized our lives and then it was over! Time goes so fast. I suppose that's not always a bad thing. We also went to the chiropractor again and got to talk to a lady about what we do as missionaries. I gave her a pass along card before we went into get Sis M's back cracked. I hope she goes to mormon.org!
PS-to all you members out there, you can make a profile on mormon.org and it is a great tool to use to share the gospel with your friends/colleagues/family/
Tuesday: We went to Seven Springs to meet with Sis. Anderson and former investigator, Claudia. We had a delicious lunch of homemade pizza and salad (i love vegetables so much). Claudia used to live in Cali and went to church for over a year there. She has taken the missionary lessons before and faithfully attended church. She just has a hard time accepting that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We asked her how she felt about the Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it. She agreed to do that. Sis. Anderson has been such a good friend to her. She called us a few days after we met with Claudia and told us that they had talked for quite a while after we left and that Claudia knows what she needs to do; it's just a matter of doing it. We also met with Denise. We brought Sis. Howard (RC) along. They have a lot in common. Poor Denise is struggling with so many things right now. She needs to let the atonement work in her life. Right after our appointment with Denise, we met with Sis. Pate and headed to Beulaville to contact a referral there. The referral is an older couple (in their 70's). Their names are A.L. and Pauline. A.L.'s sister-in-law (who is a member in the Woodington ward) referred us to them and we went over as soon as we could! They allowed us to come in and we had really good lesson with them. They have had many, many trials. Sometimes I think my life is hard...and then I find out that really, it is not that bad compared to what other people have been through. We were able to talk about why bad things happen to good people. We read 2 Nephi 2:2. I read a talk a while back about trials in life and even when we are doing good, that does not mean we are exempt from being tried. That is part of life. Elder Christofferson said, "If you think that because you are trying to be good that you should be exempt from having bad things happen, then you need to have a chat with Job!" I thought it was pretty funny... A.L. and Pauline invited us to come back. A.L. believes what we teach is true. Pauline insists that she is going to be Pentacostal forever. She kept throwing out those "stump the missionary questions." It didn't work. :] Sis. M and I were both so beat by the end of the day we felt like we needed to be carried home on stretchers. I slept like a rock that night.
Wednesday: Happy Half-way day! Everyone asked me what I did to celebrate being half way done: I threw away a pair of tights. We aren't allowed to play with fire...so I just chucked them in the garbage can. Good bye old tights! We had district meeting in Kinston. The lesson was very good as it always is. We talked about the difference between telling vs. showing in 2 Nephi 32 and then we talked about using the Book of Mormon in the conversion process. I read a talk called, "Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change" a while back and it just solidified my testimony of how important it is to endure to the end by continuing to do those things that invite the spirit (Spiritual CPR! church, pray, and read) We talked about how conversion occurs in the heart...where we feel. We went to lunch with Sis. Robionson and the elders afterwards to a Mexican restaurant and then we skedaddled to Albertson to start another run of exchanges. We went with Sis. Carter and drove all over the place. No one was home. The backup plans of the backup plans were falling through. Finally, we were able to meet with Sis. Potter, who has been ill. She is a sweet older lady who is so worried about doing everything she can so that she can be with her husband and son who have passed away. She feels like she needs to do more than she is. I don't see how that would be possible. She is an incredible lady. I love old people... We went to dinner with Carmen (Matthew's (RC) ex-girlfriend) Matthew is struggling. It is so hard to be strong when everyone around you is trying to get you to go against what is right. Poor kid. It breaks my heart to heart that. I'm confident he'll come around though.
Thursday we went out with Sis. Herring and met with a less active lady named Christy. We had a good lesson with her and invited her to read the Book of Mormon with her family. She agreed to that. We then went on another adventure to find someone who would be home that we could share the gospel with with Sis. Stainback. We had no luck until we decided to stop by Clara's house. We got to see her baby, Julian and he was a cutie! Clara was so happy. She was just glowing. She is a good mom to her kiddos. We had a good lesson with her and then we were quickly swept away to meet the Heaths. We went to Beulaville with them and met with a potential named Kayla. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and prayer. She was hilarious. She reminded me a lot of a good friend of mine. She told us that "you aren't crazy if you talk to yourself and you aren't crazy if you answer yourself. You're only crazy if you argue with the answer you gave yourself." lol. I think this is further evidence that I am, in fact crazy. :] Thursday was Solar flare day! We went to get some pizza and they had a sign up that said they couldn't accept credit/debit card due to the solar flares.
Friday finally slowed down a bit. We met with LA sis. Moody and RC Sis. Moore at the church and read the "forget-me-not" talk by pres. uchtdorf. I love that talk. Especially the part about the "why" of the gospel. If we don't know why we are doing things, then why are we doing them?
Saturday was Young Women's new beginnings program. They invited us for dinner (grits, sausage, cinnamon rolls, eggs, and pancakes...oh and WHOLE milk) and enlisted me as pianist. We played a really pretty version of the Lord is my Light and had a good evening.
Sunday we taught gospel principles about sacrifice. Favorite scriptures: 3 nephi 9:20 and Matthew 19:29. Afterwards, we went to choir practice and then had a lesson with Greg. We made flash cards with all of the commandments on them and he chose which ones he wanted to learn about first. We committed him to start cutting back with smoking and to read and pray everyday! Hooray for the gospel changing lives. It is amazing. The hard part is letting it continue to change you.
Well, my time is running short. I love you all very, very much and appreciate the love and support and everything else you continue to give.
The church really is true.
Love you!
Love,
Sis J
Monday, March 5, 2012
Early Summer? (March 5, 2012)
Dearest Family and Friends,
The weather here was fantastic this past week! We enjoyed 70's and 80's for most of the week. I am a little worried about what summer will bring though...
We are now back to the 50's and 60's though. I felt like we were camping when I woke up this morning. We decided to not turn on the gas heater last night. When we woke up this morning my nose was frozen! It was just like camping! I never thought I would get the camping experience on a mission. I guess that will make up for the lack of camping that was done pre-mission...lol
This past week was a bit challenging, but we persevered! Monday we made a trip to the chiropractor. I got a haircut. It is really short. It's wonderful! I don't know why I didn't cut it all off sooner...
In the evening we met with a less active sister. She has a lot of personal struggles and past events that make it hard for her to go back to church. My heart ached for her. She is a convert to the church and she really knows that there was something to it because of the feeling she got when she was confirmed. I know she'll come back.
Tuesday was deep clean day! We did A LOT of cleaning. We cleaned the magic closet out and now have several bags of junk to take to the Goodwill store ( it is like the DI out west) We made plans to go and see our investigator, Denise whom we have been unable to get a hold of since we set a baptism date with her. She wasn't home. :(
Wednesday we had another spirit filled district meeting focusing on the doctrine, principle, and application of the topics in Preach My Gospel. Apparently, there is a talk about this called, "Increase in Learning" by Elder Bednar.It was so exciting because Sis. Matthews and I have been working on figuring out these elements for each of the topics taught in PMG chapter 3. Afterwards, we had a picture taking extravaganza because it was the last district meeting of the transfer. I'll bet we took a hundred zillion pictures (that might be a slight exaggeration). I was all pictured out by the end! My shins hurt too because I had the brilliant idea that we should do jumping pictures. We ended up doing several. Ouch. We contacted a lot of referrals during the afternoon. Unfortunately, most people told us they were not interested before we even got to say much of anything. But, that is okay. No effort is wasted. We had dinner at the Grays. Spaghetti! Mmmm! I don't even know when the last time was that I had spaghetti...we eat collards and pork and corn bread a lot though. The YW in the Woodington ward asked if we would be able to play a song for their New Beginnings program so we ended up at the church that evening practicing with them. One of our potential investigators was there. Her name is Amber! She is a cute 12 year old girl. Her parents are recent converts.
Thursday we went and saw Clara. She still hadn't had Julian! (her baby). We had a good lesson with her about the Proclamation to the Family. That is a very bold statement given by Pres. Hinckley. She loved it. We brought her a framed copy and she put it in on top of their entertainment center in the very center of everything else that was there. She said she wants to make sure her boyfriend will see it and read it. They are still working on getting the last passport...
We had lunch with Sister Anderson (who is from Denmark) and Sister Stainback who is just plain awesome. We ate french onion soup which was yummy and quiche. The quiche was good. My tummy did not like the quiche though. I was sick the rest of the afternoon and our appointment with potential investigator Amber fell through as did our appointment with Greg.
Friday we received a phone call from Pres. Cotterell and were both panicking because Saturday was "black saturday" and we were worried that one of us was going to be transferred. We called him back and after discussing some things for a few minutes he asked us what we thought about staying together for another transfer. We were both like, "yeah!" So, Sis. Matthews and I will be together for yet another transfer! That means I will be in "God's country" (aka Deep Run) for 6 months! We did library service. When we walked into the library, Tasha was sitting at her desk reading the Ensign! The gospel changes lives. I could say that a million times. I probably will. It is so exciting to see how she has changed from when we first started talking to her at the library. We talked to her about stake conference. She loved it! She said Elder Scott's talk was definitely her favorite. We met with less active Sister Nichols in the evening. She loves the church, but has a hard time getting up and going to get there in time. She is also quite downtrodden about life. We talked about tender mercies of the Lord. I've been learning a lot about tender mercies this week. (see 1 Nephi 1:20 and Alma 34:38) I read a good talk from Pres. Monson about having an attitude of gratitude and we talked about that and the things we were thankful for that day. We have so much to be thankful for each day. Some days it is harder to pick out the things we are thankful for, but when you do figure out those tender mercies, they become so precious. It is something Sis. Matthews and I have always done and it puts a smile on your face when you can look around and see how wonderfully blessed we are. Sometimes I think I forget that, but then there is always someone or something there to remind me of what I know.
Saturday it poured buckets of rain! Luckily it was warm rain. We even had some thunder and lightening! We decided to stop by Denise again. She wasn't home so we drove a ways down the street and stopped at a less active family's home. They let us in and as we were talking, another car pulled up and three people came into their house. We invited them to sit in and listen. Then, as we were getting ready to share our scripture, another car pulled up and the in-home nurse came in and they invited her to listen to our message. It was pretty neat! We got to teach the gospel to four people who had never even heard much about the church. We decided to drive the long way around to see if Denise was home. She was! We quickly jumped out of the car and with our umbrellas, trudged through the mud and puddles to her doorstep. She just so happened to be getting out of her car right as we walked up. So, we talked to her for a bit...which then turned into almost an hour. She has been reading some and there have been a lot of good things that have happened to her! (prayers are answered!) We were able to set up a return appointment and went on our merry way in the rain and mud. The elders had a baptism so we went to that. It was a very sweet spirited baptism. The lady that was baptized had been investigating the church for YEARS and finally decided it was time to kick her habits and do what she knew was right. It was so neat. We had dinner with Recent convert, Jennifer. We watched Saturday's Warrior with her. It brought back a lot of good memories as a child....that movie is hilarious.
Sunday every feasible plan that we had made was completely foiled except for church. Clara had her baby! (prayers answered!) Sister Matthews and I realized that we have a lot of work to do here in strengthening members' faith as much as nonmembers' faith here. We have a new goal to make sure we are extending commitments to everyone we talk to.
Well, my time is far spent. I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do! Go serve your neighbor!
All my love,
Sister Johnson
The weather here was fantastic this past week! We enjoyed 70's and 80's for most of the week. I am a little worried about what summer will bring though...
We are now back to the 50's and 60's though. I felt like we were camping when I woke up this morning. We decided to not turn on the gas heater last night. When we woke up this morning my nose was frozen! It was just like camping! I never thought I would get the camping experience on a mission. I guess that will make up for the lack of camping that was done pre-mission...lol
This past week was a bit challenging, but we persevered! Monday we made a trip to the chiropractor. I got a haircut. It is really short. It's wonderful! I don't know why I didn't cut it all off sooner...
In the evening we met with a less active sister. She has a lot of personal struggles and past events that make it hard for her to go back to church. My heart ached for her. She is a convert to the church and she really knows that there was something to it because of the feeling she got when she was confirmed. I know she'll come back.
Tuesday was deep clean day! We did A LOT of cleaning. We cleaned the magic closet out and now have several bags of junk to take to the Goodwill store ( it is like the DI out west) We made plans to go and see our investigator, Denise whom we have been unable to get a hold of since we set a baptism date with her. She wasn't home. :(
Wednesday we had another spirit filled district meeting focusing on the doctrine, principle, and application of the topics in Preach My Gospel. Apparently, there is a talk about this called, "Increase in Learning" by Elder Bednar.It was so exciting because Sis. Matthews and I have been working on figuring out these elements for each of the topics taught in PMG chapter 3. Afterwards, we had a picture taking extravaganza because it was the last district meeting of the transfer. I'll bet we took a hundred zillion pictures (that might be a slight exaggeration). I was all pictured out by the end! My shins hurt too because I had the brilliant idea that we should do jumping pictures. We ended up doing several. Ouch. We contacted a lot of referrals during the afternoon. Unfortunately, most people told us they were not interested before we even got to say much of anything. But, that is okay. No effort is wasted. We had dinner at the Grays. Spaghetti! Mmmm! I don't even know when the last time was that I had spaghetti...we eat collards and pork and corn bread a lot though. The YW in the Woodington ward asked if we would be able to play a song for their New Beginnings program so we ended up at the church that evening practicing with them. One of our potential investigators was there. Her name is Amber! She is a cute 12 year old girl. Her parents are recent converts.
Thursday we went and saw Clara. She still hadn't had Julian! (her baby). We had a good lesson with her about the Proclamation to the Family. That is a very bold statement given by Pres. Hinckley. She loved it. We brought her a framed copy and she put it in on top of their entertainment center in the very center of everything else that was there. She said she wants to make sure her boyfriend will see it and read it. They are still working on getting the last passport...
We had lunch with Sister Anderson (who is from Denmark) and Sister Stainback who is just plain awesome. We ate french onion soup which was yummy and quiche. The quiche was good. My tummy did not like the quiche though. I was sick the rest of the afternoon and our appointment with potential investigator Amber fell through as did our appointment with Greg.
Friday we received a phone call from Pres. Cotterell and were both panicking because Saturday was "black saturday" and we were worried that one of us was going to be transferred. We called him back and after discussing some things for a few minutes he asked us what we thought about staying together for another transfer. We were both like, "yeah!" So, Sis. Matthews and I will be together for yet another transfer! That means I will be in "God's country" (aka Deep Run) for 6 months! We did library service. When we walked into the library, Tasha was sitting at her desk reading the Ensign! The gospel changes lives. I could say that a million times. I probably will. It is so exciting to see how she has changed from when we first started talking to her at the library. We talked to her about stake conference. She loved it! She said Elder Scott's talk was definitely her favorite. We met with less active Sister Nichols in the evening. She loves the church, but has a hard time getting up and going to get there in time. She is also quite downtrodden about life. We talked about tender mercies of the Lord. I've been learning a lot about tender mercies this week. (see 1 Nephi 1:20 and Alma 34:38) I read a good talk from Pres. Monson about having an attitude of gratitude and we talked about that and the things we were thankful for that day. We have so much to be thankful for each day. Some days it is harder to pick out the things we are thankful for, but when you do figure out those tender mercies, they become so precious. It is something Sis. Matthews and I have always done and it puts a smile on your face when you can look around and see how wonderfully blessed we are. Sometimes I think I forget that, but then there is always someone or something there to remind me of what I know.
Saturday it poured buckets of rain! Luckily it was warm rain. We even had some thunder and lightening! We decided to stop by Denise again. She wasn't home so we drove a ways down the street and stopped at a less active family's home. They let us in and as we were talking, another car pulled up and three people came into their house. We invited them to sit in and listen. Then, as we were getting ready to share our scripture, another car pulled up and the in-home nurse came in and they invited her to listen to our message. It was pretty neat! We got to teach the gospel to four people who had never even heard much about the church. We decided to drive the long way around to see if Denise was home. She was! We quickly jumped out of the car and with our umbrellas, trudged through the mud and puddles to her doorstep. She just so happened to be getting out of her car right as we walked up. So, we talked to her for a bit...which then turned into almost an hour. She has been reading some and there have been a lot of good things that have happened to her! (prayers are answered!) We were able to set up a return appointment and went on our merry way in the rain and mud. The elders had a baptism so we went to that. It was a very sweet spirited baptism. The lady that was baptized had been investigating the church for YEARS and finally decided it was time to kick her habits and do what she knew was right. It was so neat. We had dinner with Recent convert, Jennifer. We watched Saturday's Warrior with her. It brought back a lot of good memories as a child....that movie is hilarious.
Sunday every feasible plan that we had made was completely foiled except for church. Clara had her baby! (prayers answered!) Sister Matthews and I realized that we have a lot of work to do here in strengthening members' faith as much as nonmembers' faith here. We have a new goal to make sure we are extending commitments to everyone we talk to.
Well, my time is far spent. I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do! Go serve your neighbor!
All my love,
Sister Johnson
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