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