Hello everyone!
What an amazing week. : )
It feels like every day is purposely-pieced together by a very grand
planner to teach me elaborate, simple, powerful lessons. Whew!
There's
a lot that's happened, so I'm just going to say that Monday evening we
ended up in probably the weirdest visit I've ever been in--we stopped by
Barb's home about 10 minutes before 9:00 to see how she's doing, and we
found out that her Mom had just passed away and she had her basically
adopted son with her for the funeral. His name is Scot and he is a
recently-returned veteran from the Marines with still a lo of social
anxiety and PTSD, so he spent an hour showing us all his guns and trying
to convince us that we should be carrying guns around with us because
"you never know who's behind that door." He was coping the only way he
knew how, but I just knew that he really only needed the Gospel in his
life, I just didn't know how to make it happen. Whew! What a visit! I
felt so purposeless....and there is so much fear and distrust there,
when we finally prayed with them so we could leave the Spirit just
washed over everything and I hadn't realized how empty it is when the
Spirit is chased away.
So on Tuesday we arose with a vigor to follow the spirit and talk
with everyone. We had a great discussion with Ashley about our purpose
as missionaries, we read Alma 36:18-20-ish and helped her understand
that we want to help her have that experience of peace. She's been
through a lot in life and it amazes me how much trust she has in
Heavenly Father. I hope she understands the importance of finding truth
for herself--we're here to help, Ashley! Then we decided to visit Sister
Stils, the widow of the Branch. We had a great time reading Ether
12:27 together, and she had us sing I Stand All Amazed because her
husband loves it (sang it last time too). When we were stepping outside
we ran into her less-active son-in-law, which was fortunate. He chatted
with us about motors and seemed to appreciate our offer to help,
although we're both unqualified to piece anything that mechanical back
together. We had a good lesson with Luke about tithing, and then it was
time to drive out to the freeway for a comp swap! I was super nervous
and excited--my first Mission Leadership Conference! I had no idea what
to expect, besides "prepare to be uplifted." How do you prepare for
that? Well, I hopped in the car with Sister S, and Sister Schu
and Sister Sev went with Sister R to spend the day together in
Beulah. They had a ton of fun, they're all from the same MTC district. :
)
And then someone who knew what was happening called us over, so we
went and had a great night at the temple. : ) I haven't been since July,
and it was the most amazing experience! I hadn't realized it, but when
we got in who else was there but Bishop Garr from Jamestown! I was so
excited to see him I was almost irreverent! And then Brother Brown
was there to escort Brother Nels for his first time, and I met Brother
Brown's new wife, and we got a picture together because tender
mercies need to be recorded. It feels like it's been so long since I've
been in Jamestown, but I got to sit by Sister Hailes who's currently
serving there, and she gave me all the updates. : ) That night Sister
S and I got to stay in the new Mission Home--it's funny, because
when we first came out, we were the two sisters who didn't get to stay
with the mission presidency. So eventually we got our turn. : ) We went
to bed a little late but we were so happy! Sister S also gave me a
hair trim, which is much appreciated.
Wednesday morning we all got ready and headed to the Church as quick as
possible. They gave us a training that lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30
p.m., with a quick 30 minute lunch break. Whew! We were exhausted but we
were learning so much it was totally worth it! It was all about the
effectiveness of our mission--teach them correct principles and they
will govern themselves, is the idea. President and Sister Hess have been
coming to realize, with the help of support and training from MTC
representatives and visiting General Authorities and the like, that our
mission's culture is not, unfortunately, of fulfilling our purpose. It's
exercise and love and work and obedience and finding and all the things
that we do as missionaries. Which are all important, of course,
but when you don't remember why you do something, nothing you do is as
powerful as it could be. So we talked for several hours about the Gospel
and the Atonement, and how the only way to access Christ's redeeming
and enabling power is by receiving His restored Gospel through faith in
Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost,
and enduring to the end. By the end of the meeting I was touched by the
Spirit and overwhelmed by the weighty responsibility of making the
necessary changes we'd been taught. President Hess asked me to give the
closing prayer, which I somehow knew would happen, and I felt the Spirit
so strong I started to cry while praying. It was tender and humbling,
thankfully Sister Po was there for hugs right afterwards.
Well, we eventually made it back, and I got to hear the update from Beulah. Sister R had had a great time in a trio, and we had dinner with the Axtells and then went back and tried the new planning approach, which ended up being crazier than expected. Our new Mission 2nd Counselor explained it this way--first, fold your arms. Done? Okay, now fold them the other way. It's uncomfortable, right? That's what change is like. So we've got some changes to make, and we know they're for the better but it will be uncomfortable for a while. I feel like this will help me understand a little bit better how hard it is for people to change their lifestyle to live the Gospel, though. Even when you know why it's important, it's still hard to make changes.
Well, we eventually made it back, and I got to hear the update from Beulah. Sister R had had a great time in a trio, and we had dinner with the Axtells and then went back and tried the new planning approach, which ended up being crazier than expected. Our new Mission 2nd Counselor explained it this way--first, fold your arms. Done? Okay, now fold them the other way. It's uncomfortable, right? That's what change is like. So we've got some changes to make, and we know they're for the better but it will be uncomfortable for a while. I feel like this will help me understand a little bit better how hard it is for people to change their lifestyle to live the Gospel, though. Even when you know why it's important, it's still hard to make changes.
Thursday we had a good Weekly Planning session. We started out by
putting our desks facing each other instead of the wall--that was one of
the first things they wanted us to do to switch up planning. It's weird
but good there. While we were out running our milk & cot delivery
errands (during Area Call--sorry Elder J, but time is short!) the
town siren started to go off. After about 5 minutes of it we were all
pretty sure that there must be something happening, but then it
turned right back off so we think we're good. : ) I think they do random
tests on the alarm system every now and then, just to make sure it's
still working.
We'd planned to have a lesson
with Laurie, so Sister Ax came to meet with her again. When we got
there, however, no one was home. We decided we'd try the referrals from
Luv & Paul, their Filipino friends, especially because Sister
A is originally from the Philippines. And they were home, and we
went in and taught three of them--Grecia, Maria Cress, and Kat--the
Restoration! Sister Ax was able to explain in Tagalog when it was
confusing, and the Spirit was super strong. They're definitely
interested in learning for themselves. : ) Beautiful! We also had a good
lesson with Hailee. She still hasn't told her parents she's studying
with us--they're members, but she never was baptized. So we recommitted
her to read the Book of Mormon every day, and encouraged her to remember
that her family really loves and supports her. Hailee is cool.
Saturday morning we got to help Barb winterize her
yard. : ) Everyone was winterizing! Oh, while in Bismarck I had Sister
S stop at the Mission Office so we could pick up supplies (it's
never fun to be stingy handing out Restoration pamphlets), and while we
were there we got our own copies of the one CD that's been approved for
our mission by President and Sister Hess (we can also listen to
hymns)--Redeemer, by The Nashville Tribute. We've been LOVING it ever
since then, and so we brought it with us to Barb's house so that instead
of country we could listen to a nice Christian folk/rock/whatever-it-is
group. She loved it as well! And when we were leaving she informed us
that she'd like to take us out to dinner in Hazen some time, so we
scheduled to eat with her next Monday night.
She had this huge pile for us to bag, and then she was running
around on her riding lawn mower scooping up everything else. Featured
guest: Sunny, her little golden joy.
I
thought we should try Kenny, a potential, and he was actually home when
we stopped by. We were about to knock on his door when he threw open his
window, yelled "Sisters!," then came out to speak with us. What a
reaction! We asked about how life is going and gave him a Restoration
pamphlet. Definitely some potential there. : ) Then we had a Halliday
day, visited Faye Green, dropped off a Portuguese Book of Mormon for the
Leach's friend and a Bible for the Thues' friend, and then we drove
back to Hazen for dinner with the Lees.
At our Thues stop-by we ran into these three girls who shared
their gross grapes with us. Brinley and Taylor would eat the insides,
then Nikelle would take care of the outside skins. Gotta' love sisters! I
also got a cute video of their shed-to-trampoline jump.
Except when we got there she was still an hour away, so we decided to stop by the Pipps, and they were home! We got to talk for about half an hour, and Sister Pipp said to definitely come back next week! I'm so glad--we were nervous that they didn't want us to come over, but they're really just super busy. And then we finished weekly planning, which was productive, and then we visited with the Lees and Brother Lee is doing well. : ) They've been enjoying a regular Family Home Evening, and he's really seen how that helps his family.
Except when we got there she was still an hour away, so we decided to stop by the Pipps, and they were home! We got to talk for about half an hour, and Sister Pipp said to definitely come back next week! I'm so glad--we were nervous that they didn't want us to come over, but they're really just super busy. And then we finished weekly planning, which was productive, and then we visited with the Lees and Brother Lee is doing well. : ) They've been enjoying a regular Family Home Evening, and he's really seen how that helps his family.
This
Sabbath was truly a delight. I've been working on my talk since
Thursday morning, and I was able to deliver the same message as our
training was for MLC and it worked out super well. One nice thing about
being a missionary is that the Lord knows we just don't have time to
really think about Sacrament Meeting talks, so they always come together
super easy and quick. I enjoyed meeting Brother D Anders from
Bismarck--he was the other speaker of the day. And then
Sister R and I were part of sharing time, and we also taught the
Relief Society lesson on Missionary Work, which was amazing. By the end
of Church we were EXHAUSTED! Thank heavens for lunch hour! I had just
enough time to almost finish my new planner for the new transfer. Then
we headed to the Round's home to practice our musical number for next
Sunday, which went super well. I love the Rounds, and we topped the
experience off by giving our special three peas in a pod bff necklaces
to Liberty (and then one for each of us as well. We saw them in Walmart
and just had to get them!). And then we had dinner with the Clems in
Hazen, and they are delightful! Brother Clem was baptized just
11 years ago, and they've got quite the story and even though they're
amazingly busy doing truck driving, they're still doing missionary work
with their neighbors. : ) LOVE them. We will be good friends!
We
had a good stop-by at Nate F's home, and then we ended the day at
Becky's home, like we do, and it was fantastic. She's going through a
lot, but I know that she'll make it through.
Thank you all for your letters and prayers and support. : )
Love,
Sister F
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