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