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