Week 11: Christmas & the Plague

"For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth." Exodus 9:14

Uffda! Merry Christmas!

I hope you've all had a lovely week--I know I have. And sorry about the sad emails the last couple weeks. Crazy P-days are good, yet it's so hard to be effective the rest of the week, so we're really going to work at keeping our P-days free of scheduled visits so we can actually prepare all day.

Last week was crazy because we were in Oakes. We went on Sunday, had church in the group meeting (really cool experience, actually), and then stayed for two days to finish up the town and prepare to hand it over to the Elders. We were blessed with 40 degree, sunny weather on Sunday, so we were able to tract for several hours after church.

We said goodbye to Betty & Jason R. The Aberdeen missionaries will be teaching them now. Sad, but for the best.

Christmas Eve was pretty great. It was weird to experience the holiday as a missionary because we were completely focused on missionary work. Our excitement for Christmas was mostly coming from the general public's focus on Christ, which makes it WAY easier to find people and much more pleasant to be outside in general. I hope that in the future I can keep my Christmas season centered more on Christ than on all the rush of presents and parties and payments.

We got to do a Christmas lesson with the Petes. Brother Pete is the only member in his family, but his wife and 2 young kids are really amazing. It's been such a blessing to start meeting with them, because Brother Pete is so ready to bring his family back to church. We're so blessed to be the missionaries given this opportunity! The Peths had us over for Christmas Eve dinner, which was amazingly delicious and also fun just because we were with a big, happy family. They were also super cute and gave us presents and stockings. : ) Afterwards, the Pos & their toddlers Korene & Watson brought us around Jamestown to carol at members' homes, which was super fun. Watson, about 2 years old, apparently loves dogs, and practically threw himself at Lucy and Hooper.

One of the many boxes full of love. : )


Christmas morning was so much fun! I guess I'd forgotten how many packages I had, but when we pulled them out we both had quite a pile to go through. And then all day we were in appointments, which was super fun. I got to Skype with my family ( ! :D !), which was just as great as it could be. And I made sure to bring tissues because I knew I would cry, but I'm pretty sure they're used to that now. : ) We had some difficulty getting logged into Sister V's Skype account, but fortunately everyone was patient and we got it going in the end. And afterwards Tricia fed us a delicious brunch. I'd describe it, but I think I'll just post a picture here.

Ever since I first met Tricia, I dreamt of eating one of her Christmas dinners. Tricia's cooking literally breaks barriers. People from all over will come, eat, and leave. She has so many stories of random people eating her food. I completely understand, though. I am one of them.





It was great to spend time with Kim & Dale's family (they're Nathan's parents). A few days ago she mentioned that her family dressed up for Christmas dinner. When we got there, I realized that had actually been a warning--they were almost white tie, and all were matching with red and black. It was super fun, though. They also gave us stockings, this time full of snacks without sugar (yay!) in honor of Nathan and his 2 years of being sugar-free. Kim is totally our mom out here. It's the best.

After Christmas, we were really able to understand just how much the plague had hit Jamestown. Okay, there really isn't a plague here, just an outbreak of the flu. It would seem that most of North Dakota (and possibly the rest of the US, I'm kinda' out of the loop at this time) was given the wrong flu vaccine so everyone's getting pretty sick. Melissa was scheduled to be baptized the next day. When we stopped by for some good daily contact, however, we learned that she was feeling so bad that, if her baptism had been today, she would have to cancel it. We immediately started a 24-hour fast, scheduled a Priesthood blessing, and ran to CashWise for some medicine. Alas, come Saturday morning we got the dreaded text that she was still too sick and we'd have to reschedule. What an awkward day. We spend the morning calling everyone in the ward we'd called two days ago, going to the church to drain the font, and then awkwardly filling in the remaining time with planning and tracting. In hindsight, at least this experience helped me learn how to plan a baptismal service. Now we know all the people we have to call for keys, programs, suits, etc, which should make our January baptisms go much more smooth(ly). (blech grammar)

We started filling up the water the day before, and the only way to get to the other side was by slowly lowering yourself from one step to the other. Sister N thought it was hilarious, hence the picture here.










It's been a very good week. My testimony of planning has definitely been strengthened, as well as trusting in the Lord's will (after we do all we can). Although our plans didn't really happen this week, at least we knew what to do when everything fell through and all the members were sick. And now I face my final week of training!

Thanks for reading. : ) Finish it off with a good hour of scripture study or two and you'll be set!

Love, Sister F

Week 10: Crazy busy is good when you're a missionary

Uffda! Merry Christmas!

(Uffda: /oof-duh/ ; An exclamation similar to "wow!", "holy guacamole!", or "oh my wordy!" found in the settled regions of North Dakota. Usually only the old-timers say it, and it can be hard to catch but hilarious when you realize what they said. : ) ex: "Uffda it's cold out! Good thing we bought our face masks last week!")

I hope you've all had a wonderful week! It seems like the Christmas rush is everywhere, but it's good to be busy. : )

We had a lot of really neat experiences this week, but as you can tell we've had such a crazy schedule that I can't even email on Monday (oops), and I kinda' ran out of time today. So the main theme of this week is definitely being guided perfectly. As much as we plan and finagle our schedule, let's face it. We're not perfect yet, and we're definitely not going to be perfect planners in a while. But Heavenly Father has that taken care of, whether with giving us an extra 4 hour to tract in the sun, or guiding us to a couple who ended up talking for hours! We've seen miracles in our lessons with Bob--he came to church this week. Melissa had her baptismal interview on Wednesday, and it was a great experience. And she's on date to be baptized on Saturday! And we had dinner with a family that's ready to come back. : ) I just feel so blessed to be trusted with all these miracles.

 

Thanks for the Christmas wishes, cards, and packages. I think the mail people know exactly where we live now, just because of the trips they keep having to make. : )

I love you all! Have a great Christmas--and take some time to remember that Christ is the gift of Christmas. 

-Sister F, regretting the lack of pictures. Next week, I promise!

Emailing : )

Helloo!

Today was the craziest P-day I've ever had. We're doing awesome, we just ran out of time/resources for emailing, so I'll be emailing tomorrow. : ) Currently, we're in the B's home after eating pizza and doing family history with Mary W. : )

Love,

Sister F

Week 9 In Which We Organize Ourselves

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" D&C 88:119

It sounds like everyone is starting to get to the crazy Christmas schedule. So before I really get started, I want to encourage you all to pause and watch this christmas.mormon.org video--it isn't just for the missionaries to share, you know. It's really, really uplifting, and is a great reminder of how to feel peace this Christmas season and always. : )

So the weather here has actually been sweet! It's been over 30 degrees about all week, to the point where we can walk outside without coats and not freeze. It's SO pleasant, and makes tracting a breeze. There's been a pretty fog for about three days, except yesterday it gave us freezing rain (pictured above) which is less fun. 

Did everyone start praying for the work in Jamestown? Because this week we've had so much to do! But we put a bit of a pause on proselyting 24-7 so that we could finally settle ourselves, become organized, and be able to find papers/bring members to lessons/organize lessons/sleep on beds (except we actually ran out of time to do Weekly Planning--that was embarassing/hopefully we can still function this week :\ ). It was good to do that. This week was full of missionary miracles--we met with Kim H for 2 hours, Bob came to the Ward Breakfast, Tina D received a Priesthood Blessing--but it's not looking like I'll have time to write them in so I guess you'll have to read my journal in 20 years. : D Sorry.

We're moved in to our new apartment in Jamestown! After the Ward Christmas Breakfast which was amazing (and Bob came! Yay!), Brother P, Brother Z, and the Valley City Elders drove a truck and trailer to Oakes where we loaded up the furniture and sent it North to Jamestown. Their help was much appreciated, as we now have a cute home that just happens to smell like bread. The window in our living room is in line with the ground, so for a couple days we were living with a Fish Bowl effect, so today we made sure to buy curtains in Walmart. But for the couple of days people could see in, we made sure to have our beautiful painting of Christ hung where all could see. : ) We also finally split the ward boundaries with the Valley City Elders on Sunday. We're now covering Jamestown and all the area to the West, and the Elders will cover the towns east of Jamestown (Oakes included). It's really sad to leave Oakes, especially the Bs and the Ps--they're such amazing families, and they have supported and helped us so much! But there's too much work to do in Jamestown to be spending so much time in Oakes every week: this is the balance we needed. Before we'd gone through and organized, I think the Sisters were just covering every town besides Valley City--this should work much better. I'll miss the drive to Oakes, though. It's beautiful country out there.

Okay, one cool story: The Zs have been really excited to get invovled with missionary work in Jamestown. On Saturday Sister Z invited us to go tracting with her, her husband, and their pulled-on-a-sled son Calvin (6 years old) to invite those who live by our church building to the Ward Breakfast. (Every missionary's dream!) It was a great experience, and so much fun! I'm definitely planning on doing this with the missionaries in my future--that's about the coolest thing an RM can do, I think. But that aside, we were able to speak with Candice for about 45 minutes, who told us some crazy stories about living across the street from the church construction. Apparently their lawn was destroyed twice, but the construction site manager always made sure to fix it right back up. She was super fun to talk to, and she let us know about a family in town we can visit. : )

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This week I've been learning how important it is to follow every prompting from the Spirit. Sometimes I have a bad attitude and purposefully leave my purse in the car, for example, and then I always, without fail, need my planner to write down contact information 2 minutes later. And then we have the moments where we're waiting in line at Walmart and we happen to meet the boyfriend of the woman we're going to meet tonight! I'm so glad the Lord still sees fit to guide us, despite our weaknesses. I'm definitely trying to be more obedient, though. : ) But I do know that every time we act on a good thought, we are bringing our lives in closer alignment with the will of Heavenly Father. 

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Finally, I recommend someone looks up "Hello, My Name is Hope." Sister N introduced this song to me, and despite the extreme cheese we love it so. I just don't know who the artist is. It's super fun to listen to on our long car drives, though.

Love,

Sister F

Hello everybody!

It's been a great week in North Dakota. As you can see, yesterday it was VERY warm. When Sister Nielson and I stepped outside from church, we were shocked to find puddles outside. And here the car confirmed that, yes, it was above freezing. Apparently it's been really cold in Texas lately, so I guess we're switching weather for a week. I sure don't mind. : )

 

Earlier this week Sister N and I went up to Carrington for the day. Sister N loved the G's home just as much as (possibly even more than) I do, so we're going to take a video tour of it next time we're there. Sister N asked if we could visit the Ba.s, but I remembered that they were going to be out of town for a few weeks, so we gave up on that. We had a hard time scheduling lessons with our investigators, so we ended up driving to a far-away town to revisit a referral from church headquarters. After a 20-minute drive, however, we learned that the address didn't even exist!

Do you see the house just under the sun in this picture? Well, that's when we realized we were right by the B's home, so we decided to drive over just to see if they'd be there. And you know what? They were home! Sister Ba let us in, we shared the He is the Gift video, and we'll be back to visit them in March! The amazing thing is, they were only home for a couple weeks after being gone, and they're leaving again to live out-of-state until March, so if we hadn't gone to visit them that day we wouldn't have been able to see them for several months! It's amazing how Heavenly Father will guide us us missionaries. He knew that even if a reminder from Sister N wouldn't get me there, stopping for a picture would be good enough. : )

At Zone Training Meeting in Fargo on Friday, we learned how to use #SharetheGift (christmas.mormon.org). We're so excited to see the miracles that come from this year's Christmas Initiative--yesterday alone, 220 million people saw the advertisements on YouTube! After training we got to do exchanges with our new Sister Training Leader, Sister A, and her companion Sister W. I was with Sister A for the day, and we had a lot of fun. We ate at a Chinese Buffet in Fargo where I got to have sushi (yay!) before driving back down to Jamestown with the Elders from Valley City. 

That evening Sister N and I had planned to visit families in the ward that haven't been to church for a while, so that's what Sister A and I did. I felt like we should try the Bu.s, so we hopped in the car and drove to the right area of Jamestown. And they were home! They invited us in, invited us to offer a kneeling prayer, and then invited us to teach their family a lesson! They were definitely ready for a visit that night. : ) What's more, when we shared the video He is the Gift, they had already seen it, and afterwards bore powerful testimony of the strength Christ has been for their family. I'm so grateful we were able to be there that night!

The next morning I learned that Sister Aiono has a beautiful soul solo voice, so during companion study we accidentally sang Christmas hymns for half an hour. But hey, we were going to sing for a couple lessons that day, so it worked out well. 

Here we are at the hospital after visiting the Bu.s' grandma. We sang Christmas songs for her. : ) It was fun.

We got to do a lesson with Melissa, who is preparing to be baptizied on the 27th. It was easy to see that she felt overwhelmed by being a mom that day--she hadn't had time to clean, and she was going to be babysitting 4 more kids besides her own 3 that evening--so our visit was a little rough. She let us help her with her house, though, which was a blessing. And to close our visit, we invited her oldest girl to pray. She was too scared, but 4-year-old son volunteered to pray! I didn't think we'd ever taught him how! But he went on to offer a very sincere prayer of gratitude for his chips and his mom and the day. It was such a blessing for not only us to see how Melissa has been able to help her children, but for her as well to see that the lesson have made a difference in her family.

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Mission News:

This week I've focused my studies on faith and repentance. I came across many scriptures that share the message that miracles are the result of faith--I hope that we'll be able to have enough faith to keep the miracles going here, because this week was amazing!

 

I love you all! Thanks for reading. : )

Love,

Sister F

 

Week 7: Are Transfers Always this Crazy? Also, Thanksgiving : )"

Hello all y'all!

So, crazy week! But crazy good. 

I was scheduled to be in Fargo with Sister A until Tuesday, but then something must've happened because the Zone Leaders sent out a mass text that transfers were delayed until Wednesday. Which basically never happens, apparently (I feel like I've beeing doing a lot of things that don't happen lately). But that was awesome news for us, because Sister A and I, for whatever reason, were already super tight. She was sick and we were both missing our past companions, so I guess that's a good environment for bonding. Wednesday also just happened to be her birthday, so we had fun spending lunch hour with the other sister in our area. : ) We are going to be lifelong friends, I think.

The time came for transfers, and I got to meet Sister N! She's from Dugway, Utah, and we figured out that we raced against each other in track (at the Delta invitationals for the 800m and 1600m (There's no question that she beat me every time. ;) ))! What are the odds? She's also very into music, and has studied clarinet professionally, so we're excited to put together some sweet musical numbers. But besides all the stuff she does, she's a very cool person; enthusiastic, unassuming, and classy. We are going to have so much fun.

Sister N and I had the privilege of enjoying the classic Missionary Thanksgiving--that is, we got to enjoy two dinners. It was so fun! And the dinners were actually spaced out over several hours, so it was more like a huge lunch followed by a huge dinner. It is a good bonding experience to stuff yourselves within 10 hours of acquaintance.

Sister N, Melissa, Jayden's head, Madison, and myself (photographer) waiting for the Z family to finish their preparations. Their turkey, complete with herbs under the skin and onions inside, was delicious, as were the leftovers. : )

The work here in Jamestown is exploding. The aforementioned Z family found a home here on Saturday and called us Tuesday night to let us know that they want to be involved in Jamestown's work! Sister Z also served a mission, so she will be a GREAT resource. We're hoping to bring her to a few of our lessons tomorrow. Betty and Jason, from Oakes, are now on date to be baptized February 14th (I thought that was a sweet idea) after an amazing lesson at their home with Brother B. There are so many good things happening in every town now that all we need is 2 more weeks per month, or more hours in a day, in order to cover all the work we have here now. I'm definitely praying that Sister N and I will become master planners, and that we'll be able to use our time efficiently.

Fun stories:

-Sister N and I are both marching band geeks and it is SO FUN! We both have Stars and Stripes Forever memorized, and we had fun singing the whole thing through with our separate parts. Also, Sister N tried tuning the guitar that chills in our room in the N' home. We spent a few minutes getting each string pitched until we had a beautiful major chord, but when she went from the open chord to actually using the frets, we had a mash of notes that was probably never meant to happen. But boy did we laugh! We feel bad leaving the guitar like that, though. ;)

-The roads were super empty the day after Thanksgiving, so we drove from Jamestown to Oakes that morning. Our windshield wipers were frozen to the car, so at the gas station went to the cleaner to clear off the window only to find this! I guess they forgot to put antifreeze in the water. ;)

-Today we got to meet up with Dee, a recent convert of about 3 months,  to make Christmas treats. Here's a snapshot of her kitchen .

This, in all seriousness, is a chart we use regularly in the winter. Note Frostbite Time is something we measure here.

On Sunday (Nov. 30th) Sister N and I had the privilege of speaking in Sacrament Meeting. It was an amazing experience for me to study about prophets, and about their importance in our lives. My testimony of the perfectness of God's plan, as well as the help he gives us even when we procrastinate (writing our talks...) has grown with these studies, and I'm excited for more opportunities to learn.

I would just LOVE to close with a sweet message about Christmas! Our media department created a really special Christmas Initiative called He Is the Gift. I challenge y'all to watch this sweet video! It is so amazing and I'm really excited to see the results that come from their inspired website.

Love,

Sister F

Week 8/6: Goodbye, Sister W

"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings. Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny." -President Uchtdorf

Hello everyone!

I don't know how it happened, but Week 6 finally came, and with that, Sister W's time as a missionary came to an end. This week had a lot of packing and member/investigator pictures, and 2 long road trips, but we made it through. : )

It was a bit complicated to drop off Sister W and the other missionary who was leaving, Sister Ald. We ended up driving to Fargo, switching cars and picking up Sister Als and Sister Ald, then driving back through Jamestown and on to Bismarck on Friday night. We had the amazing opportunity to stay at Elder and Sister E's apartment that night. They had come out on their mission just when Sister W and Sister Als were companions in Bismarck, so it was such a blessing for them to be reunited together one last time. And they treated us so well, feeding us soup and homemade bread and letting us feel like we have grandparents there. :)  We love the Es!

The next morning we went to the Bismarck temple together, and it was amazing! I was able to feel the peace that I needed about Sister W's departure, and my testimony of the power of the work of salvation has grown. It was quite the blessing to be there together, because Sister Ald had never before made it to the temple during the entire 18 months of her service! And while we were there, she and Sister Als were able to see two converts that they had taught and baptized do baptisms for the dead. It was such a tender mercy for them to see that full circle of progression.

But, as all good things tend to do, our time in the temple ended, and we had to say goodbye. Sister Als and I have been good for each other--we cried in the parking lot, we cried at the E's home, we cried in the car. It's not normal for companion swaps to take so long and be so gradual, but I know that it's the best way I could've experienced it, since Sister Als and I are both in the same boat and can empathize with and comfort each other.

We had a fun road trip back to Oakes together (3+ hours in the car). Because we had to haul the 6 suitcases of 2 missionaries, the truck was required for our trip, and I had fun finding out that Sister Alston loves trucks. It was when we were about 15 minutes away from Oakes that I realized the keys to our apartment were in the side door of our car in Fargo. Which meant that we were not, after all, going to be speaking in Sacrament meeting during the Oakes group on Sunday. I felt super bad calling Brother B and letting him know that we couldn't be there after all. But there was nothing besides breaking in (which is illegal and therefore not really an option) that we could do, so we drove back to Jamestown, putting a nice 250 miles on this brand-new truck.

It was wonderful to be in Jamestown, though. Our Branch was officially officially made into a Ward, and I even have a picture of the Walmart cake to prove it.

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Mission News:

-Jamestown isn't closing! yay! We got the call on Thursday which officially thanked Sister W for her service, and then let me know that I'll be staying in Jamestown (*whew!*) and Sister N (currently in Grand Forks) will come to be my trainer. : )

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Anna S, an amazing sister from our Jamestown ward, headed West to the Provo MTC this Wednesday.

Our last Comp. picture. : ( It was a good day, though.

It's official, and the potluck made it so! Just kidding. But it was very fun to celebrate at the potluck, and the cake was delicious. : )

Stories:

-I got to experience freezing rain! It was super fun (especially in the Zone Leaders' truck), because as soon as the rain hits an object, it freezes, so the world becomes covered in a smooth, shiny sheet of glass. However, I am also glad that the ice didn't last through the night, because we gave the truck back this morning. : ) Crazy weather experience, check.

-On Friday, Sister W arrived in Fargo a couple hours before we were driving to Bismarck, so we went to the stellar mall to look for a present for her dad. I also ended up getting a haircut, and I shared a little bit about missionaries with my hairdresser. : ) For dinner we went to a little Asian area in the food court, and since the entrees are always so huge we decided to split one. And when we were figuring out how to split the payment with our missionary debit cards,

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This week has really shown me how much the Lord takes care of His missionaries. A lot of things didn't happen the way they do normally, and I've seen how it needed to be so in every situation. I've felt the promise given in D&C 84:88; "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

Have a great week, everyone. : )

Love,

Sister F

Week 7 (5th in the field) : Exchanges, Training, and All Cold Things

"You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others." Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

Hello from North Dakota!

Yup, it's cold now. When the car reads "20 degrees Fahrenheit," it's warm outside. So far it's gotten to about -5 with windchill, and many people gleefully remind us that it'll get much colder. I'm feeling very grateful for my warm coats and boots.

The Ice Climbers are Sister Missionaries! (Missionaries aren't actually supposed to wear hoods, but Sister W shared that when it gets so cold you'll get frostbite, you'd better wear a hood. Better to break a rule than your ear. I'd have to agree. But so far it hasn't gotten cold enough to need a hood other than for car selfies. :D )

This week was exciting for the members in Oakes. We had our second lesson with Betty and Jason at the B's home, where we watched the Restoration DVD. The Spirit was very strong throughout the movie, and continued as first Sister W, Sister B, and then Brother B shared their testimonies of the Restored Gospel. We're encouraged to invite people to be baptized as soon as possible, but even without that encouragement I would've spoken up next, feeling very prompted to invited them, when they know what we've shared is true, to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by proper authority. Betty and Jason were quiet for a moment, but it was a silence I've come to love as a missionary, a powerful, thought-provoking, heart-softening silence. Betty opened her mouth after a pause and said, "Yes. Yes I will." It was amazing. : )

The next day was hard, as it was Sister W's only chance to pack up from our Oakes apartment, and she does not want to stop being a missionary. But we made it through the day, and even had time to drop by Betty and Jason's for an hour to begin studying the Book of Mormon together. And Jason had already read the first 9 chapters, and was familiar with Zedekiah, Jeremiah, Ishmael, and the journeys of Nephi and his brothers--his zeal was really fun for us to see.

And then we got to drive up to Fargo for our monthly Zone Training Meeting and exchanges. In preparation for Zone training, I had the opportunity to study our Savior's Atonement for two days. I've been trying to increase my understanding of this since day one in the MTC, and throughout my mission I've come to know how important and powerful daily repentance and partaking of the Sacrament weekly can be. The whole meeting was so powerful. Our leadership is so good at teaching, as Elder N put it, by principle, and I hope that after a few of these trainings I can learn not only how to improve as a missionary, but as a lifelong teacher. 

(So much to talk about! gah!)

After lunch on Friday we began our exchanges. I was definitely apprehensive about how that would go, since I was ditching Sister W to stay in Fargo and teach complete strangers. But it was, of course, the best thing ever. When we visited with Sister M, a woman who's struggling to keep her family in Liberia well-funded, I was guided by the Spirit to throw out our original plans of sharing a scripture, and we instead sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" It was a powerful moment for us in the room, but especially for me. I've been struggling with following promptings from the Spirit in lessons, and that was when I grew in understanding and trust that I can do it. What a tender mercy! We also got to attend their Relief Society's enrichment night, which was held in a Lutheran woman's home--how missionary minded their ward is! One of the most amazing parts of missionary work is the love you feel for people before know them, and I experienced that with the Fargo area. By Saturday afternoon, it was truly hard for me to leave back to Jamestown. Transfers, I'm beginning to realize, are going to be difficult. But difficult in a good way. : )

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Mission news:

-Transfers are coming up (this Thursday/Friday I believe)! Since there are 8 Sisters leaving the field and none coming in, 4 Sister areas will have to close. : ( We're praying that it's not Jamestown, but if it is my mailing address will change so I'll have to keep you posted.)

The roads were like this in Oakes after only 1 day of snow!

Here I am with Sister Ald, my Sister Training Leader who is also about to leave. : ( I love her so much! I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from her example before she heads back west.

I'm standing here with the Bs for hopefully not the last time. Sister W won't be seeing them again any time soon, so we dropped by to take pictures before we left Oakes. 

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I'm beginning to realize how important every missionary is to this Work. We don't all baptize 100 people, but as we each work diligently, we lay the foundations needed for each area to progress. I'm so grateful for the missionaries who came before me here!

I love serving the Lord. I love serving these people. And I know that as I learn to forget myself, my love can grow even greater.

Thanks for the letters and emails. : ) Love,

Sister Finlinson

Week 5? Time Flies and Is Impossible to Keep Track Of.

 "The most effective missionaries always act out of love." Russell M. Nelson, Hastening the Work of Salvation

Hello everbody!

weekly updates, spiritual stuff

 This week in Training the focus was Working with Ward Leaders & Reactivating Members, which was exactly what we needed (funny how that is. But really, this 12-week Training is SO inspired!). We spent a lot of time, especially in Jamestown, organizing our papers, finding addresses and people, and then driving around town and knocking on less-active members' doors. In the Work of Salvation broadcast they urged us as missionaries to "Fill your planner so full that you won't have time to knock on doors searching for people." In the field I've quickly learned that tracting is a: not super fun and b: not super effective. It takes a lot of weeding and thinning and is simply not the most effective way to find. So I really loved getting to knock on the doors of people who've already heard of and/or participated in the Gospel.

We got to work on Carrington this last week, and we had an awesome first lesson with Holly and Rodney Z (?), a referral from the G family. They're very strong Lutherans, and they have so many of the same beliefs as us as Latter-day Saints. It's really amazing to speak with them. Since the people here are so strong in their faith, we usually spend the first lesson just really building a good relationship of trust, letting them know that we care, and understanding their beliefs (How to Begin Teaching, for those familiar with PMG). And the awesome thing was, they asked so many questions that will be answered when we teach the Restoration in two weeks (like why there are so many churches now when Christ only established one)! We are so stoked for that lesson. We also taught a really cute family--Jessica, Nick, & McKayla and Elizabeth--the Restoration. It was a pretty great lesson and we scheduled a special trip up to Carrington just to visit with them on Sunday, but they let us know Saturday night that they're no longer interested. It was sad to see someone discard the full truth, but they weren't really searching for more understanding. I know that we were able to help plant a seed that, someday, they will allow to grow. : ) That's why it's so important to have a steady stream of missionaries, and for all of us to work so hard--we're in and out of peoples' lives so quickly, and it realistically takes at least 3 sets of missionaries before some people are prepared for the Gospel.

Yesterday it snowed for the first time. It's been a super, super mild and warm and nice fall, but the people are saying that Winter's just around the corner. It's interesting to see the snow here, because it's so cold that the snow isn't "wet" at all--especially later in Winter, they say, the snow will have the texture of sand, and is impossible to build snowmen with.

-mission news: -

Sister F is the Designated Driver! Since Sister W, my trainer, has to leave in the middle of my 12-week training and I'll be taking over the area and responsible for navigation, we got permission from the Mission Office for me to be the designated driver. I forgot to take a picture, but we drive a super-new car, so I'm spoiled. : D

Missionary breakfast: Just doing a little light reading before studies. : )

 Last Tuesday Tricia, a recent convert, signed up to feed us dinner, and we made Samosas. It took about 3 hours to make (oops) but it was SO delicious! Also, yesterday (Sunday) she fed us Chicken Taco soup and showed us her recipe books. And I ate 3 bowls and took 100 pictures. It was a good night.

 Jamestown is apparently the Town of Buffalo. They have the world's largest Buffalo statue (as seen above), and they also have a live herd (with an albino buffalo!) you can see in the Summer. Brother N, whose home we're staying in, actually works with this herd during the week.

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-Fun stories:

 -Darrell's cat

 -8 cups of tortilla soup & 100 pictures of recipes

 

-When we're in Carrington we stay at the G family's home. We love it there--they have a huge kitchen, their home is remodeled from 1904, and the basement is pretty much a castle--but it's sometimes inconvenient. Friday the 7th, for example, when we were locked out. : ( They went out to eat dinner, we we ended up going out to eat dinner too. The funny thing was, this was a day when pretty much all of our teaching appointments were cancelled, so we'd spent some time in a local cafe trying to find a potential investigator who works there. We didn't find her, but then we had to go back there for dinner (and she still wasn't there!). We spent like $15 bucks on food that day, and we're pretty sure the teenagers at the counter thought we were crazy. Oh well.

-We try to get up at 6:15 or earlier so we can have more time to exercise in the morning, since I want to establish good health and Sister W is goin' home soon. But we've been struggling with that (heh heh heh...). So this week we set a goal to have a race to turn off the alarm in the morning. And it works pretty well! We were able to get up at 6:10 on Saturday, even.

-One thing I've learned about having two girls constantly together is that you also constantly have long hairs all over you. We spend a significant amount of time throughout the day picking hairs off of each others' wool coats and throwing them out the window. And something I hadn't thought about on missions is the animal hair. It's a good thing I'm not allergic to cats or dogs because we are literally always covered in pet hair. (By the way, thanks for the Magic Lint Brush, Mom and Pop. It works wonders. : ) )

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It's so strange how quickly time flies here. The days seem so long, yet they also pass by before you know it. It really has been a blessing, though. I'm learning and growing so much in ways I didn't even know needed stretching. There's a quote on our fridge in Oakes that says it well; "There's little growth in the comfort zone and little comfort in the growth zone." I definitely have a testimony of that, but I really appreciate this opportunity to serve the Lord and become who He know I can be. This really is the most important work! I love it, and I hope I can learn to share it with others. : )

I love y'all!

-Sister F

When it Rains, it Pours

"Many people believe that missionaries have to readjust to the 'real world' after their missions. But I protest! The mission is the real world. Engaging in the work of Salvation is why we're here." -Sister Ald (STL), in her testimony at Quad Zone Conference 2014

Well, this week was just awesome. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fit everything into this email, unfortunately.

Tuesday was definitely the highlight of the week. I mentioned it last week, I believe, but we had the privilege of attending a Quad Zone Conference (four zones of missionaries from the SDRC mission in one training conference) where we heard from Elder and Sister Marcus B. Nash. It was so good that I literally wrote 12 pages about our meeting in my journal.

 You know how when you feel the Spirit, sometimes it's so powerful that you know everything without a doubt, and your mind functions perfectly, and you want to keep listening forever? Well, we were on the spiritual high the entire time. Elder Nash even said it's one of the most spiritual times he's had--he said it was like the Spirit was raining constantly. Hence this email's title. And he told us a lot of things we specifically needed to hear--I learned so much about how I can improve as a missionary. I have so many new goals and aspirations and ways to study; for example, I realized that while I'm amazed and inspired by the people I meet, I don't have a deep love for them. And in order to feel the Spirit so strongly in our lessons, we need to feel that love, so every day I'm praying that I might feel and understand God's love for the people we meet, our investigators, and everyone in this mission. In all, QZC was so crazy awesome and I wish we could have it every week. But before we're that privileged we probably need to apply what we learned. : ) So I'll work on that.

     Sister W and I had the privilege of opening the meeting with an arrangement of I Know that My Redeemer Lives--she played the violin and I accompanied. (I definitely prayed and practiced a lot about that, and I think our end goal of inviting the Spirit was achieved.) And then she was invited to bear her testimony, and then she was called on to be one of the missionaries who gave the prepared talk, and then we both got to role play with Elder and Sister Nash during the meeting (gaaaahh!), so I'd say we were pretty involved. And because of all the preparation every missionary put into that day, we were blessed with that constant outpouring of the Spirit, and we were all edified. 
Can you see that I am excited?

Also, Sunday was awesome! It's sad that we only get 18 fast sundays as missionaries, but I intend to make good use of every one of them.

     This Sunday, the Stake Presidency came down to our Jamestown branch and gave us official permission to now be a Ward. After the official business, since it was technically still Fast & Testimony meeting the meeting coordinator had arranged for specific people to bear the their testimonies about the growth in this area. It was so cool to hear, especially as a missionary! These last few weeks I've began to realize just how crucial everyone is to missionary work. We missionaries really can't do it alone--we need the members to be involved. That's why my mission is so amazing right now, what with all the members who are so missionary-minded.

     I also really loved the opportunity to just fast. During Quad Zone Conference, Elder Nash emphasized how powerful and important fasting is for missionaries. I've always believed that fasting can do powerful things, and I really do love the opportunity, but this week I realized how specific we can be. We know that the Lord will give us specific help when we ask, and when we add fasting to that quest, when we really show our commitment to receiving an answer, the Lord fulfills his promise given in Isaiah 58:11, And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."

Mission News:

-Apparently you need to get not 60, but 6,000 people as potential viewers for Meet the Mormons to come to your theater, so there will actually not be a viewing in Carrington. That article we were putting in the newspaper? Cancelled. Those people we invited? ... May I just say, "awko taco."

-Jamestown is a Ward now! We can put "Ward" on all the forms. I did so for the first time yesterday and it was probably more fun than it's supposed to be.

All the Sisters in our Zone, I think. The sister on the back row, three people over from the right, with the beautiful long red hair, is Sister S. She was in the group I came in with, and she is, fun fact, a licensed cosmetologist. : ) 

We were in Oakes on Halloween, and we only have 1 investigating couple there. We're not allowed to tract on that day (just imagine how bad that could be!), and we didn't have any teaching appointments, so we did the next best thing: strengthen member relationships. : ) Sister P had us over for Clam Chowder and Biscuits, a good missionary discussion about how much she's doing for the area (Alma 31:35), and then a lesson on cake decorating. It was so fun! And I learned how to make a rose out of frosting, which is definitely a skill I desired.

I bet you didn't think we had places like this in North Dakota, did you? Since it's so flat here, when all the snow melts it literally has nowhere to go. In the Spring we get some really bad flooding, and there are a lot of permanent ponds and lakes and marshes all over.

Sister W, had the opportunity to train two sisters: me and Sister A. So she's our Mom (that's what we call it) and her trainer is my grandma, and she has two daughters. This picture is for our mission family history. ; )

Fun stories:

This week we met and began teaching a couple from South Africa (when we first saw and heard them, I actually thought they were from Russia--goes to show how culturally-aware my ears are), Delene and A.J. They have really awesome stories. Delene taught elementary school in a super poor area, and she's a super spiritual woman. A.J. just finished writing a book about finding spiritual truth, I believe. But anyway, they both are commercially-licensed truck drivers, and a few years ago Texas's harvest was going way too well and they needed more drivers. Delene and A.J. had never driven swathers or combines or any of that before, but they were called in to help. And Delene told us that she figured it out real quick, and was actually able to just sit in the cab and crochet until she had to turn for a new lap! It was super funny to picture that--small woman from South Africa crocheting in a swather in the middle of the harvest. : )

When we went to meet with Tori and Darrell Saturday night, it turned out that Darrell had just headed out to do some shopping so we had to wait for him to come back. And while we were waiting, Tori asked, "Can you Sisters curl my hair?" I was surprised, but answered like any good servant of the lord, "oh yeah!" And I then went on to, after a silent prayer for help, drink a mug of cocoa, watch Tori prep her hair in the kitchen sink, and then set her hair in overnight curlers. Boy am I glad I was so into pincurls and no heat texture and setting patterns--I was definitely prepared for this opportunity. And by the way, her hair on Sunday was awesome. : D

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I love what I'm doing. It's such a blessing to have this opportunity to focus 18 months on the Lord. And no matter how hard I work and how much I try to give, I'm always in turn blessed with more than I can receive. I'm so glad that I still have 17 months here.

I love y'all! Stay strong and be happy. : ) 

-Sister F

Week 3? An Excellent October

Hello all!

It sounds like Pop and the boys have been having fun. That's crazy that Rachel sewed Colin's costume by hand--is that the whole story, or did someone else work on it with a machine? I'm glad Devin's marching band competition went well, and Devin, it's awesome that you're scores are good. We haven't placed yet, but some day we'll get there. : D

I'm glad Mae has been doing better. It's fun to get pictures of Camille and Nathan with her on their lap--she's so tiny, but so so cute! It looks like she didn't get Nathan's cute baby eye, though. ; ) And are her eyes already such a deep brown? I hope so. I love brown eyes.

This week has been awesome, expecially the weather. Apparently we usually have a foot of snow by now, but we've been blessed with a high of 70 degrees, and it's awesome. So I guess I don't really need that blanket right now, but it would be nice to get it out here. : ) We've really been enjoying the beautiful fall colors too--everyone has huge lawns, and everyone planted trees and now they're huge. It's fun to drive to the different towns--without any mountains to block the view, it's actually super gorgeous. The only crazy thing is the wind--it's windy in Delta, yes, but that wind usually doesn't leave you with grains of sand all over your face. While tracting in Carrington on Friday we were almost getting blown over!

We got some exciting news yesterday in Sacrament meeting--our Jamestown branch is now big enough to become a Ward! So Branch President G will be Bishop G, and we're all hoping that our building will get an addition of a gym. : ) Next week is Fast Sunday, but the Stake Presidency will be coming over and doing whatever it is you do to become a Ward, so we're all excited for that and we're going to try to get a lot of less-active families to come. We're all catching the wave!

Yesterday we also had a baptism--Gabriel and Goliath Littledog, 9-year-old and 11-year-old boys from a Native American family. Their family has had a hard time coming to church, but today before I knew their story, their parents seemed so solid and involved that I think this baptism has really helped them all. During the service I wasn't actually able to see the font since the room was so small and full of kids, but I could feel God's love for these boys. We talk about baptism so much as missionaries, but this is the first time I've really had the opportunity to feel how important and sacred a step it is. Melissa, a single mom we've been teaching, was supposed to be baptized on November 15th, but she hasn't been coming to church. We're hoping we can help her figure out what she can do in order to be ready before Sister W leaves (selfish, I know, but it would be so cool!).

On Wednesday we rode up with the G family (they have 3 super-awesome kids--Bella, Sophia, and Sam) to work in Carrington, a town of about 2,000. They're the only LDS family in that town, and there've never really been missionaries settled there, so there's a lot of work to do. But Wednesday night, when Sister W and I were praying for help with finding people to teach, we felt a powerful feeling that this town is ready, and although we have a big job to do, we'll be getting help. I know that there are many people the Lord has prepared (see Alma 13:24), and we just need to find them. Tracting isn't fun, but as I now love to say, 5 minutes of awkward is worth eternity!

More exciting news--somehow, the G were able to get the Meet the Mormons movie to come to the 66-person theater in Carrington, and it'll be showing November 7th through the 10th. There's a girl, Anna, who's going to go into journalism after her mission (she's going to Brazil in less than a month), so she's writing an article to put in the Carrington newspaper. Hopefully we'll get a ton of nonmembers there. Sister W and I will be waiting outside the theater to answer any questions, too--I bet we'll find some people that way. : ) So yeah, we're excited about that.

These are pictures from last Tuesday. Almost all of our appointments fell through, so Sister W and I went over to Tricia's house to help with her apples. We ended up picking for about 2 hours, and Sister W and I love using the apple picker. It's super fun. Tricia's an awesome woman-- although she's been baptized for just over a year, she comes to us with lessons at least twice a week, she feeds us her delicious meals, and today we're actually spending our P-day with her and the Sisters from Aberdeen in her kitchen, making treats with all those apples we picked.

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The dog in the corner of the baskets of apples picture is named Lucy, and she has another dog named Hooper--they're very well-behaved. She has to keep Lucy on a leash all the time because "she looks like a pit bull," although I don't really seen any resemblance. 

Mailing--sorry I haven't mailed any letters yet. I'm in Oakes every other week for a few days, and I haven't been there for a while.

And just so you know, I get 2 hours for email, but I can do letters any day of the week (if I have time). It's super fun to get any mail, really. Thanks for the notes you've been sending--I really have fun reading about what's going on in Utah and Michigan. And I love hearing about how Nansa's doing--I hope they can get a Mongolian Book of Mormon soon. I know her life can be blessed by the principles of the Gospel. Everyone's can.

I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve for 18 months. It's going to so quickly--I've already been out for two of my 78 P-days. Sister W has been out for 75! You learn so much on a mission, so much about yourself, and about loving others; about the Gospel, about studying, about prayer, about answers. I heard from someone that the best thing you can do as a new missionary is to jump in. It's been fun sharing the Gospel. I love it!

Love,

Sister Finlinson

Since we had to walk all the way around this parked train, I figured we'd better get a picture.

Week 3 (but really Week 1)

This week was awesome. : ) We've been so busy that in order to get everything in my journal I've just had to make a list of things to write down, and hopefully I'll finish everything up today. It's crazy to think that I only left the MTC a week ago--the lord definitely helps his missionaries learn faster than is normally humanly possible.

First of all, can I just take a moment to say thank you? Living in Utah, in an area where the Church is so common, is such a blessing. There are two families, the P and the B, who have been in a way called to start the church in Oakes, and they really have to work hard. The P just moved out of West Jordan so they could bring the gospel here, and it's so amazing work with these families, but we're definitely blessed in our local circumstances. 

This week we were able to find 4 new investigators, which is awesome. That number alone fulfills the goal our district (4 companionships) set for the week! And we found all of them on our tracting day! So I've learned that while tracting isn't the most fun thing in the world, there really are those occasional, super-rewarding moments that make it all worth it.

Yesterday I got to have my first Sabbath in the field. We were on Oakes Saturday night, so Sister W and I got up at 6:30, packed, ate breakfast, and were on the road by 8:00. (I had fun sharing my Women's Chorus CD.) The first family we met was the Ps, and then the Bs, the Ss (?), the As, the Ps.... as you can see, I definitely wasn't able to catch everyone's name the first time, but they're all so friendly and helpful I'm sure I'll meet them all again soon. Alyssia, a university student, shared a great talk from Elder Dallin H. Oakes general conference address about the Sacrament, and I learned a lot about renewing my own covenants. You should read that address if you get the chance. 

The Jamestown branch (almost ward!) has a fun tradition of holding a Potluck after church once a month, and due to my excellent timing as a new missionary that was the Sunday we were there! The food was awesome, but I restrained myself from taking pictures. I also restrained myself from eating a second dessert, which actually turned out to be great wisdom, because we had dinner scheduled with Torri and Darrel at 4. The meal was great--salad and thincrust Papa Murphy's pizza, but what got us was dessert: She'd baked a family-size (9x13 pan size) brownie mix in an 8x8 square pan, and each of us got a quarter of a pan. It was HUGE. Halfway through, Sister W started looking at me with a pained expression, and we were unable to finish. It was good though--if you ever want a brownie mix that looks and tastes homemade, try the Betty Crocker fudge variety. Our lesson went really well, too.

Quad Zone Conference, a training meeting for around 120 missionaries, is coming up next week. There will be a 70 and his wife there to speak to us, and Sister W and I get to perform a musical number--she'll play I Know That My Redeemer Lives on the violin, and I'll accompany. I'm excited to practice a song for real, and apparently the Mission President has given us permission to take normal missionary time for practicing. : ) 

Could you send:

Family Pictures--hard copies that I could put up on my walls--,

A family history chart, a blanket--if it's too expensive to send that cream-colored down quilt, that' okay, but it would be great to have--, and could you also let the blog world know that I can probably answer letters faster than emails? Thanks.

Challenge for the week: try saying a family prayer in the morning. In conference, it really stuck out to me how powerful of protection a morning prayer can be for everyone in the family. : )

This week I've really begun to learn that the Holy Ghost, not the missionaries, is the teacher. No matter what we say, no matter how true our message is, nothing we do can convince others to do the things necessary for their own conversion. The only influence that will give them the desire to change is the Holy Ghost. I've seen this as we've worked on taking time for silence, and studied examples of missionaries from the scriptures. And when we have the Holy Ghost with us as we teach, we as the missionaries are able to say what the individual actually needs to hear. It's so amazing and humbling and powerful to be a part of that.

I've also set the goal to memorize a scripture every day. So far I've got 2 Nephi 2:6, Alma 3:17, and Ether 6:12 (or something like that). We'll see how long I'm able to do this before my brain explodes. : )

Fun story: During our training session on Saturday night, Sister W and I discovered we both had the bad habit of saying "umm" whenever we're thinking of what to say next. We knew that sounding so unsure really makes our message less powerful, so we cast our eyes round about the living room and kitchen, thinking of a word we could say whenever the other one uses the forbidden language. My eyes landed on our huge pile of squash from Larry, a farmer Sister W and her past companion Sister D had volunteered for, and that was what we decided on. So now, several times an hour, we get to yell "Squash!" at each other. : D

I love you all!

-Sister F

Beautiful campus of University of Jamestown

 

Sister W had planned to do this train tracks photo shoot with her last companion, Sister D. These are her last few weeks, so I insisted we do it now. I don't know why I keep doing that T-shaped pose.

Week 2

Hello all! It's so crazy that I'm actually here in the Dakotas now. : ) But it's been amazing. (+ There's a University here in Jamestown, and we're using their library to send emails.)

So last time I emailed I was in the MTC with Sister M on P-day. It was super great there, and very sad to leave our amazing teachers (Brother G, Sister O, and Brother T), but we knew that Heavenly Father had prepared us well enough to be out in the field. On Monday morning, then, we woke up at 3:15 a.m., weighed our luggage for the last time, then hauled 125 pounds of stuff up to the bus. The MTC van brought our suitcases directly to the airport, which was very nice. It would've been hard to drag them with us on the FrontRunner and the Trax. (Cool story--while we were on the train there was a gentleman who asked us for a Spanish Book of Mormon, so a group of Elders handed one out and gave a quick lesson.) Our flight ended up being delayed for three hours due to mechanical malfunctioning, so we had fun talking to everyone in the airport too. 

It was really nice calling home, and fun to hear everyone's voices.  But I'm also glad we don't call home all the time. That's pretty much the only time you're homesick, so I think it's at a pretty good balance right now.

As soon as we arrived in Rapid City, I was amazed by how pretty it was outside. Although it's October, much of the grass is still very green, and the leaves are in a full myriad of color. Rapid City is right in some of the Black Hills (which are really just ponderosa pine-covered hills), and the Mission Home is right in the middle of a thicket. 

As soon as we 15 Elders & Sisters arrived at the mission home, a very clean, comfortable, homey home, President and Sister Anderson fed us pizza on the back porch gave us a little tour. Besides a 3-oven kitchen and a spacious living room, we saw an office for interviews; 2 rooms for the sisters; a basement area with couches, exercise equipment, and a pool table; a guest room where Elder Holland has stayed (!); and two rooms full of bunk beds for the Elders.

That night we had training from the Senior couples, dinner, and a nice devotional where we learned where our first area and who our Trainers would be. As soon as I saw Sister W's picture, I felt an overwhelming peace that she was exactly who I needed to be with. I think that the area you're serving in isn't as important as the people you're serving with, and so far that's been true.

After staying the night with Sister Sh at Brother and Sister Sa's apartment (a very cute couple who put tootsie rolls on our pillows), we all ate breakfast and jumped on the Transfer Train, which is actually a group of cars plus two huge vans with trailers that carry all the missionaries around on Transfer day. Since this mission covers the biggest area in the United States, we have more cars and allotted miles per mission.

So on Tuesday we drove for 6+ hours, dropping off and picking up missionaries in different towns, until we eventually stopped in Jamestown. I hopped out of the car (the Sisters had joined together at some point) and met Sister W, we pulled out my luggage, then drove to our new home.

Before I get into the first real day, I just have to throw in a note about how amazing Sister W has been. She has a gracious smile, she teaches simply but powerfully, she has me involved in the lessons, and is very good at compliment everything I've been doing. Thanks to her help, I feel like I'm not only not failing, but actually doing well. 

So, in this Jamestown situation we actually serve in two towns, Oakes being the second one. Since they're an hour and a half away, we have to have two residences. We have an apartment in Oakes (which I have yet to see), but since housing is so hard to come by lately, the Ns, a hardworking LDS couple, are letting us Sisters stay in their neighborhood home. It's a nice-sized, two-story building with a well-maintained yard. We have a room on the second floor, and we're free to eat anything out of their well-stocked, healthy kitchen. (We buy our own groceries, of course.) They even have a garden in their backyard!

Sister W and I pulled my suitcases upstairs, and then she made sure I had something to eat. And then we went out to our first lesson (aaah!). That was pretty crazy--scary a bit, but exciting. We were even going to be teaching the first lesson I studied in Preach My Gospel, so that was a blessing.

We first met with Tori and Darrell. I'm pretty sure Tori is a recent convert, and her boyfriend Darrell has been coming to church with her the last few weeks, so we talked to him about the church a little bit. He actually ended up doing most of the talking, but we set up a time to come visit on Sunday after they feed us, so that's great. He'd actually met missionaries before, and when he found out I was new he said he was glad I'd been willing to talk. Apparently, he said, sometimes he can't tell who's more scared, himself or the missionaries who are teaching him. That made me grateful for my good F genes. : )

We then drove over to Bob's house. He has a nice black lab (?) named Humphrey, and retired from teaching at the college here in Jamestown, I think, a few years ago. And guess what! I invited him to be baptized when he knows this message is true, and he accepted! It was so crazy! And exciting! We also had a new member, Trisha, there to help with the lesson. I'd never realized before, but having a member at lessons is so helpful. She was really able to relate with Bob having just gone through that process herself, and she's really good at following the Spirit and making good comments. It was inspiring to me, and I'm definitely going to try to help the missionaries in the future.

We also got to visit a woman named Dawn. She has a mental disability, and is very sweet, and when I first saw her there was a strong resemblance to Aunt Paula--she even does her hair the same. We're hoping she'll be at church on Sunday, since we had to give her the hard news that we can't come visit her anymore since we've taught her everything (or, Sister W and Sister D, the last companion, had). It was pretty sad. 

One of the most amazing parts of last night was the overwhelming love I already have for these people. They're going through some hard times, and I know they can find the help they need in Christ's message. Their faith, too, is inspiring.

Today, Sister W and I taught a more balanced lesson to Melissa. We planned it together, and so I actually talked about half the time. And she is just amazing! She's preparing to be baptized in November, and while she has struggles just like everybody else, her faith is solid. I'm looking forward to getting to know her even better.

So how are things going with Nansa? I bet she's really enjoying meeting with the missionaries. 

You all should try using Preach My Gospel this week for FHE. There's some great stuff in there. And I'm pretty sure I can say the missionaries would love to show you how to get started studying this gem. It's really been amazing to see how the teaching in the Book of Mormon parallels the lessons in PMG, as well as how the Gospel in general is completely centered on Christ's Atonement. People have always said that before, but now I can see it myself.

I'm so grateful to be out here. I've already learned so much about Christ and how much He loves all of us. And as I've been focusing not on myself but on this work, I've been able to feel how amazing it is to turn to God. 

Thanks for the support! I love you all!

-Sister F

P.S. - Emailing this address is now better than using DearElder. That was just for the MTC. And thanks for all those messages--they really brighten my days!

Day 6 - Don't drink the orange juice

Hello everyone! I can't believe it's finally P-day--it seems like we've been here forever! Out of all the things I imagined about the MTC, I didn't think we would be so busy. The lessons started as soon as we got here, and we barely had time to think before rushing to bed at 10:30. It's really good, though. Being tired all the time has never been so rewarding.

Let me try to answer all the questions:

"What day is your P-day?" :  While in the MTC it's on Tuesdays; since we leave next Monday this is the only time I'll be emailing here. And I haven't been told when P-day will be out in the field, so I guess you'll all have to be patient and wait until I email again.

"How is it going?" : It's been really great! On the first day the older missionaries in our zone (about 8 missionaries in a district and about 3 districts in a zone) who'd already been here for a week seemed like they knew so much and we newbies couldn't believe how much they'd already learned. I now know that they were really just pretending to know what they were doing, since we're at the point now. : ) But really, I can't believe how much I've been learning! We have personal study for about 4-6 hours every day, and class time for the same amount. Our teachers--Brother G, Sister O, and Sister B--know so much about teaching kids how to teach, which has really impressed me, as well as given me hope that maybe I'll have it figured it out at the end of all this. : )

         In our "residency", or apartment, there are 4 sisters in my room: Sister B, Sister H, Sister M, and me, Sister F. We get along really well--I'd even go so far to say that I hope I get to be each of their companions at some point when we leave.

         Mom also asked about my health--when they dropped me off I was just getting over a cold. It's actually been almost gone, except for a couple random coughing attacks that made me very grateful to have followed Mom's counsel to get cough drops. I guess I've been converted to that area of modern medicine. : ) And just because you were wondering, no, that wasp bite didn't really bother me after about 5 minutes of receiving it, and so far there have been no detected side effects. 

"Do you still have the 'dork dot' that shows everyone how new you are?" : So when you just arrive here, the MTC organizes getting you around everywhere really well and I never got lost. And on our new nametags (which you'll see in the pictures if I can figure out how to download it with all the firewalls on these computers) they had a little orange dot on the corner so all the other missionaries can help you out/welcome you to the MTC. After the end of class that night I got to switch my dot to the back of my nametag--it's kind of fun to be able to remember what my first day was like, and my first nametag.

"Are you learning a lot at the MTC? What are you studying?" : I mentioned the hours and hours of study just barely, but yes, we're learning a lot--I've already filled 31 pages of notes. With the help of our amazing teachers, my district has been studying the lessons in Preach My Gospel (so far the first 2) as well as how to teach our investigators (right now they're just actors). Sister M and I actually just taught our first lesson yesterday *whew* which was definitely a learning experience.

          We've also been learning a lot about what the Atonement is, and how it relates to our purpose as missionaries. During General Conference we were assigned by Sister B to listen for anything that taught about the Atonment, and I found it in every talk! I'm so glad I was able to listen to General Conference while being here in the MTC, if only because it helped me realize just how central to this church the Atonement is. Also, I wrote down several specific questions in my study journal, and they were all answered.

"What are some of the favorite things you are eating at the MTC?" : When you just arrive at the MTC, all the more experienced missionaries are sure to let you know that you should not under any circumstances eat the eggs or drink the orange juice. Apparently they will make you really sick, although I haven't figure out why the cafeteria still serves those notorious items. I guess it's part of the experience? Fortunately, the food here hasn't made me sick, and there have even been a few fun things to eat. Since it's about the same menu as the cafeteria I ate at all summer, I've been able to enjoy the same "orange fluff", "magic cookie bars", and other fine items. But my favorite so far....I guess we'll go with the bagel I had for breakfast.

           Although we complain a lot about the food, it's really not that bad. Mostly we just have strange humor after being in the same square footage for weeks on end. (I'm so glad I'm not learning another language and therefore able to cram everything into 13 days.)

"Tell us about your companion.": Sister M is so amazing! I'm always telling her how glad I am that she's my companion, and I'm being totally serious. She's 19 like me, but although she just graduated high school she's way more prepared with PMG than I am, and she's also more practiced in talking to people/teaching the PMG lessons. If she hadn't been my companion I probably wouldn't be so optimistic about everything right now. And yes, the Sister M who spoke in conference was her relative--her 2nd cousin she thinks.

Looks like my time is almost up, so I guess I'd better finish up. 

My district and I really enjoyed the cupcakes. They were delicious and I have a picture of us with them I'll try to send next time. Since we were sent a dozen, though, we still have four more we'll have to eat. That's not too bad of a problem, though.

Every Sunday night we have a special devotional that everyone in the MTC gets to go to, and this week we were able to listen to Vai Sikahema, a former missionary, BYU and NFL football player, and some sports TV show host. He talked about all the cool missionary experiences he's had in his life, but what was interesting was how he just uses opportunities like airplane trips, extra mulch, and conversations in restaurants to bring up his beliefs. I really like that he said "People like it when you're open about your beliefs. Just talk to them about it." I know it's scary, but it's definitely also fun. You guys should try to share something about the Gospel this week and let me know how it goes!

I'm so glad I'm here. It's hard to be away from family, yes, but I'm becoming so much more human and able to help understand people's needs. I'm learning just how influential Christ's example can be in my life as I learn to follow Him, and hopefully I can help others do so too. 

I love you all, and I especially love to hear from you!

Day 2

Hola familia! <-?

So my Branch Presidency is giving us an extra day to write emails to you just so you can know we're alive. : ) And I love it here! It's been crazy with the schedule, but it's way better than I imagined.

But first I need to make sure I tell you what we're supposed to in this email--while we're here in the MTC, the best way to get mail (email and hard copies) to us is though dearelder.com. When you send us emails through that site, they will print out the emails which are delivered twice a day. The "snail mail" is notoriously slow here, so if you want to stay traditional I might not get any letters while I'm here at all. So use that site until the 14th, please. : )

I mentioned that it's better than I imagined. Specifically, learning how to teach. Yesterday we didn't really open up Preach My Gospel (which, by the way, I wish I knew better but is way more useful than I'd ever though). Instead we got to pile into rooms and watch "investigators" and real investigators and their missionaries during a lesson, and then the group had to start trying to teach. That was a real mouthful. But what I mainly learned then and what was so amazing to me was how important the Spirit is as we teach. As a large group of brand-new missionaries, we were sorely tempted to shoot questions at the poor people, and only when we took the time to get to know them and share experiences did any progress occur. 

I should also talk about my district, too. So my companion is Sister McConkie from Bountiful, Utah, and she and I get along really well. She was actually just assigned to be the Sister Training Leader for our district, and I'd had a hunch that it would be her since she's so well-prepared and confident. We've started preparing a lesson for an "investigator" and it's going really well. I hope I'll get to have her as my companion when I'm out in the field.

Pop, I just had to put in a special shoutout to you for being able to last several weeks in the MTC. I've barely been here for 24 hours but I already feel SO GRATEFUL that I'm speaking English and don't have to trudge through hours and hours of language study. You must have had to work so hard! So good job. : )

Brother Freestone warned us about length and I think that was a good idea, because if I don't stop now I'll probably never be able to quit, so I just want to close by saying that I know I'm doing the right thing and, strangely enough, I've never felt closer to you all than these last two days. I love you, I love the Gospel, and I promise to work hard. <3

Love,

Sister Finlinson