Yesterday was one of those Felix Felicis days. I might've mentioned this before, but it's like when Harry takes it to get information from Slughorn. After he takes it he decides to go see Hagrid and Hermione is like, "what are you doing, you're supposed to go see Slughorn," and he's like, "I just have a really good feeling about Hagrid, I'm going to go see Hagrid,"
and of course that's how everything works out for him in the end. Well, yesterday we were talking to the elders and they were getting on our case about our investigator Gloriah, she didn't make it to church and they were like do you want to see her get baptized....uh, yeah....then they mentioned do you want us to go see her. Which struck a chord for me like they didn't trust us and I started walking away so I wouldn't get too defensive, but they kept picking at it. I finally got away and we were walking to Gospel Principles and I was chanting CHARITY NOW! Like the quote from Seinfeld...Serenity now! When we get into Gospel Principles guess what the lesson was on....So Sister Seymour, What's the definition of charity? God has a dad-like sense of humor.
So Gloriah was priority uno. She is super solid and I've been teaching her this whole time I've been here. She just has a hard time keeping appointments. We went to her house to drop in and as I was sitting in the car about to get out, I felt like, you just need to go to Amy and Sarah's. I didn't know if we needed to necessarily take Sarah on a team-up with us, but we needed to see them. (Sarah is the girl that got baptized a couple weeks ago) So we drive to post and see Sarah. She was at work, but we talked with her sister Amy a bit and we mention we wanted to take Sarah, because she is pretty good at helping us open people up, which we wanted to do for Gloriah. Well, Amy said she was at work, but her husband Garrett said that her work is super chill and they don't really have set hours, so she can leave early, so we followed him to her job and she came out and said to Garrett, DID YOU CALL THEM?
We find out that she planning on getting another nose ring right after work and we told her we just felt like we needed to see her and she was like Jesus, you can't do this, I need to get that nose ring.
Totally acknowledging it wasn't just a coincidence and it wasn't us. She agrees to come with us, but when we try to see Gloriah, she wasn't available until a couple hours later. Then we visit a couple other people and Sarah is getting antsy because the place she was going to get her nose pierced was closing soon. I totally laid it out for her. I was like you can go right now if you want. We aren't going to stop you, we aren't going to be mad at you, but you know this is not what your Heavenly Father wants you to do. She kept addressing Christ saying, Jesus, no I earned money to get it done, I've been looking forward to it. All this stuff. I honestly didn't even care, because she already has a nose ring which she was planning on taking out and the one she is getting she can hide easily, but this is for some reason a turning point decision God is having her make. Well, she decided to go for it, but by the time she made that decision she was out of time and they closed. She was pretty upset...I really hope not at us. But I think she recognized that it was a decision between her and God. Let's hope.
We saw Gloriah without her and Gloriah had visited Salt Lake the week before and she visited the temple and felt right about getting baptized on October 3rd. So happy for her!!
We found out this morning that we are both staying another transfer as well as our district leader. He'll be getting a new trainee and Elder Christiansen will be getting switched out.
We have been inspired by our ward mission leader who is fluent in pig latin to pick it up. It's pretty slow, but has been entertaining us. I'm ettpray lowsay, utbay I'm ettinggay etterbay. We have been trying to figure out what to do with words that start with vowels and I asked the ward elders at dinner, yeah like octopus. Would it be octopusay? E.Christiansen died laughing.
Considering my last post was almost entirely on the woes of struggling with my district leader, I probably should address it. It got a lot worse and now its getting better. We found out this week from his companion that he thinks I'm prideful, which I think he is just confusing my lack of charity for pride. Of course having a lack of charity is prideful, so in the end I guess he's justified. Either way, he still called every night, which was good, I just made them stiff, awkward and short. I'm starting to realize I need to just fake it 'til I make it. Do the actions and then the respect will follow. Respect on both sides.
We got this exciting family of investigators this week. It's a single mom with four kids, 2 are older than 8 and they all sat listening intently as we talked about Christ and the Restoration. The elders tried them before, because they are listed as a part member family, but they got divorced, so the mom doesn't really know anything about the church. The elders told us to go try them, but when we first
visited she said yeah you can come by maybe sometime on Saturday, totally seeming not interested, but when we came on Saturday she let us right in.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...[Sept. 7, 2015]
An ode to coconut oil. The most versatile jar of gunk I have. It easily takes off my waterproof mascara with a delightful eye massage every night. I use it on the ends of my hair because it's like the
natural oil of your head, but my ends are so far from my scalp, so it is keeping them healthy and letting my hair grow long. It takes off rings easy if they happen to get stuck on your finger. You can use it while cooking, but the jar I have has olive oil as well and was meant for hair, so it has whatever other crap in it as well, so I don't use it for that. But the best part is I have had the same small jar for
at least 6 months and it's not even halfway done. It can be used for so many more things, so much potential, but this is as far as I have ventured with it.
Now for this week, I'm going to take the advice of Thumper's mother and without anything nice to say, I'm going to just not say anything at all...or at least try to. It's hard for me to edit stuff out....I'm
kind of an open book. But just, these are my thoughts, so take them with a grain of salt and I hope I don't offend anybody.
We went to the temple on Tuesday! It was fantastic, well the actual temple part of it. It was amazing. I would start to think of questions I have and revelation would just flow and everything I needed was
instantly answered. I would not even be here if it wasn't for revelation I received in the temple, revelation I by far wasnt even looking for, over 19 months ago.
We went to the Kansas City temple. I went to it before when I was in Topeka. Going to the temple is a super rare thing, especially since we don't have one in our mission, so it was really awesome and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. But when we got back that night I just turned to my companion and we decided, stupidly, because of actions of another person, it ruined it for us.
That night I had decided that I was done. I had given him a good month full of chances and all he did was burn bridge after bridge I attempted to build. I just lost whatever trust I did have for him.
Then on Friday, at zone training, I had an epiphany and realized that we were having a trend with a few of the people we are working with asking for advice with drama at work. They just keep getting in tiffs with girls that just don't like them. The girls feel either threatened by them, or for some reason or other they just feel like being bullies to the people we are working with. One girl asked me, what would you do if you were in my situation. I said I would ignore them. IGNORE HIM. A lot easer said than done, since ---- [I am editing this part out for her to protect her from herself.]---- I can't just avoid him. It's really just a matter of forgiving him and moving on. It's hard because I just want him to not be a pain, but you can't do that. You can't make someone change. Agency is real and you only have it for yourself. The only thing within my control is how I let his actions affect me. It does not matter whether or not I am justified in being angry or offended or hurt. (Wow, I really sound like the most sensitive sissy on planet earth, but missions have a way of poking at the deep wound of a weakness you cover and hide even sometimes without realizing it.) I don't know his back story and I don't know the reason behind his actions, but God called him to be [who he is] at this time. He also commanded me and all of us to love all of His children and we are not exempt from ANY of His commandments. But we aren't expected to trudge through them on our own.
Sunday I had another slap in the face revelation. I was watching the addiction recovery videos they just put out. SO GOOD. Seriously check them out. I realized HELLO SISTER SEYMOUR, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE ATONEMENT? Why the heck do you think it won't apply in your situation. It's the coconut oil of gifts God gives us. You can use it for any trial you are going through. If Christ can change water to wine and can give that guy the ability to get over his coccaine addiction and her meth addiction, he can give you the ability to have charity for [this person]. Give it over to Him!
I realized that because of my lack of charity for one person, that was affecting my charity for others. I've made that decision that I want to change, and today was the first day at it and I completely failed, but guess what, tomorrow is another day and I know that without a doubt Christ is there with me and for me ALWAYS. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, I'll try again tomorrow.
I love you all! Thank you for all your support!
pics- splits with the STLs. Sister Mitchell...my old comp was with me
and she let me rant and was an awesome friend like always. I learned
so much from this chika and she's going home soon.... :(
BIKE WEEK! ...and they said there's no hills in Kansas....this was
Wednesday, but Sunday night it was 8:30pm and still 95 degrees outside
and the weather app said it felt like 100...
district and comp pic at temple.
natural oil of your head, but my ends are so far from my scalp, so it is keeping them healthy and letting my hair grow long. It takes off rings easy if they happen to get stuck on your finger. You can use it while cooking, but the jar I have has olive oil as well and was meant for hair, so it has whatever other crap in it as well, so I don't use it for that. But the best part is I have had the same small jar for
at least 6 months and it's not even halfway done. It can be used for so many more things, so much potential, but this is as far as I have ventured with it.
Now for this week, I'm going to take the advice of Thumper's mother and without anything nice to say, I'm going to just not say anything at all...or at least try to. It's hard for me to edit stuff out....I'm
kind of an open book. But just, these are my thoughts, so take them with a grain of salt and I hope I don't offend anybody.
We went to the temple on Tuesday! It was fantastic, well the actual temple part of it. It was amazing. I would start to think of questions I have and revelation would just flow and everything I needed was
instantly answered. I would not even be here if it wasn't for revelation I received in the temple, revelation I by far wasnt even looking for, over 19 months ago.
We went to the Kansas City temple. I went to it before when I was in Topeka. Going to the temple is a super rare thing, especially since we don't have one in our mission, so it was really awesome and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. But when we got back that night I just turned to my companion and we decided, stupidly, because of actions of another person, it ruined it for us.
That night I had decided that I was done. I had given him a good month full of chances and all he did was burn bridge after bridge I attempted to build. I just lost whatever trust I did have for him.
Then on Friday, at zone training, I had an epiphany and realized that we were having a trend with a few of the people we are working with asking for advice with drama at work. They just keep getting in tiffs with girls that just don't like them. The girls feel either threatened by them, or for some reason or other they just feel like being bullies to the people we are working with. One girl asked me, what would you do if you were in my situation. I said I would ignore them. IGNORE HIM. A lot easer said than done, since ---- [I am editing this part out for her to protect her from herself.]---- I can't just avoid him. It's really just a matter of forgiving him and moving on. It's hard because I just want him to not be a pain, but you can't do that. You can't make someone change. Agency is real and you only have it for yourself. The only thing within my control is how I let his actions affect me. It does not matter whether or not I am justified in being angry or offended or hurt. (Wow, I really sound like the most sensitive sissy on planet earth, but missions have a way of poking at the deep wound of a weakness you cover and hide even sometimes without realizing it.) I don't know his back story and I don't know the reason behind his actions, but God called him to be [who he is] at this time. He also commanded me and all of us to love all of His children and we are not exempt from ANY of His commandments. But we aren't expected to trudge through them on our own.
Sunday I had another slap in the face revelation. I was watching the addiction recovery videos they just put out. SO GOOD. Seriously check them out. I realized HELLO SISTER SEYMOUR, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE ATONEMENT? Why the heck do you think it won't apply in your situation. It's the coconut oil of gifts God gives us. You can use it for any trial you are going through. If Christ can change water to wine and can give that guy the ability to get over his coccaine addiction and her meth addiction, he can give you the ability to have charity for [this person]. Give it over to Him!
I realized that because of my lack of charity for one person, that was affecting my charity for others. I've made that decision that I want to change, and today was the first day at it and I completely failed, but guess what, tomorrow is another day and I know that without a doubt Christ is there with me and for me ALWAYS. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, I'll try again tomorrow.
I love you all! Thank you for all your support!
pics- splits with the STLs. Sister Mitchell...my old comp was with me
and she let me rant and was an awesome friend like always. I learned
so much from this chika and she's going home soon.... :(
BIKE WEEK! ...and they said there's no hills in Kansas....this was
Wednesday, but Sunday night it was 8:30pm and still 95 degrees outside
and the weather app said it felt like 100...
district and comp pic at temple.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Do you like pinecolada's...[Aug. 31, 2015]
Sarah got baptized! She's 16 and has had a rough life, but she is the most charitable person I know. She has such a big heart for everyone. There is a couple people that we are working with who have been given the short end of the stock with life, just like Sarah, but they choose to look inward and blame God and others for their problems as well as the bad decisions they make for themselves.
On a side note, so I, um yeah, gave into temptation really bad this week....the Tuesday before last for lunch at district meeting the big topic was how horrid sugar was and everything. Just another innocently delightful thing that Elder Jones despises. Well, last Tuesday we were putting our lunch in the fridge and we noticed the milk jug of veggie sludge that Elder Jones drinks. It was conveniently located next to a communal pitcher of granulated sugar. The thought came....I voiced it to Sister Chappell who laughed and I grabbed the milk jug. The milk jug was about a quarter full and I poured in a few tablespoons, more than I was planning, but the deed was done....I shook it up and put it all back and all during district meeting I was shaking in my boots. Regret filled me until we all were back in the kitchen eating lunch and the conversation of how sugar would be counted as a poison if it wasn't sweet was brought up. He took out the jug and kept shaking it around as he was preparing his lunch. Then he would go on how people think oil and fat is bad for you, but it's really not, but sugar is ALL bad. He took the cap off the jug and licked it with no reaction....I like wasn't breathing from how nervous I was....WHY DID I DO IT! Then he would go on how sugar is more addictive than coccaine and he let one of the elders try it and goes on how he we are all attracted to fit people, because we are then closer to our resurrected state. Then he finally took a swig from his veggie gunk and he looks confused and turns to the elder he had try it
and says.... yeah normally it's not that spicy. He goes on how Jesus is depicted in pictures as being super fit, because we are more spiritually in tune when we are.
I don't know if the sugar had an effect on the spiciness of it, but I was in the clear. He still doesn't know it, so everyone reading this is sworn to secrecy....spiking drinks missionary style FTW #ThingsNotToDoToDiabetics
We helped out the primary yesterday. All the teachers went to the 5th Sunday lesson and it was us, the elders and Sister Bohman. We did singing time which went okay, despite the fact I don't know half the songs. Then the elders did sharing time which went really good. The kids were a little crazy, because we had a lack of adults...none....but the elders were really good with the kids. I'm
okay not being a primary worker for a reeeeeeally long time, though!
Sarah and U.S. And Elder Jones. When we asked her who she wanted to baptize her she said the most experienced missionary...so she chose Elder Jones. (She was super worried about falling down.)
On a side note, so I, um yeah, gave into temptation really bad this week....the Tuesday before last for lunch at district meeting the big topic was how horrid sugar was and everything. Just another innocently delightful thing that Elder Jones despises. Well, last Tuesday we were putting our lunch in the fridge and we noticed the milk jug of veggie sludge that Elder Jones drinks. It was conveniently located next to a communal pitcher of granulated sugar. The thought came....I voiced it to Sister Chappell who laughed and I grabbed the milk jug. The milk jug was about a quarter full and I poured in a few tablespoons, more than I was planning, but the deed was done....I shook it up and put it all back and all during district meeting I was shaking in my boots. Regret filled me until we all were back in the kitchen eating lunch and the conversation of how sugar would be counted as a poison if it wasn't sweet was brought up. He took out the jug and kept shaking it around as he was preparing his lunch. Then he would go on how people think oil and fat is bad for you, but it's really not, but sugar is ALL bad. He took the cap off the jug and licked it with no reaction....I like wasn't breathing from how nervous I was....WHY DID I DO IT! Then he would go on how sugar is more addictive than coccaine and he let one of the elders try it and goes on how he we are all attracted to fit people, because we are then closer to our resurrected state. Then he finally took a swig from his veggie gunk and he looks confused and turns to the elder he had try it
and says.... yeah normally it's not that spicy. He goes on how Jesus is depicted in pictures as being super fit, because we are more spiritually in tune when we are.
I don't know if the sugar had an effect on the spiciness of it, but I was in the clear. He still doesn't know it, so everyone reading this is sworn to secrecy....spiking drinks missionary style FTW #ThingsNotToDoToDiabetics
We helped out the primary yesterday. All the teachers went to the 5th Sunday lesson and it was us, the elders and Sister Bohman. We did singing time which went okay, despite the fact I don't know half the songs. Then the elders did sharing time which went really good. The kids were a little crazy, because we had a lack of adults...none....but the elders were really good with the kids. I'm
okay not being a primary worker for a reeeeeeally long time, though!
Sarah and U.S. And Elder Jones. When we asked her who she wanted to baptize her she said the most experienced missionary...so she chose Elder Jones. (She was super worried about falling down.)
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Make a wish, take a chance, make a change and breakaway...[Aug. 24, 2015]
We had dinner with this family. She's not a member and he kind of broke away from the church for awhile. They are coming back and we had a really good time with them. They are so nice and super open and everything. They fed us this awesome meat from their crockpot and these like small pumpkins things they grew in their garden. We asked them how we eat it and they were like we are trying to figure that our ourselves. They even have this greenhouse cupboard thing set up in their house. They also have this super sweet great dane. Once they showed us this dog bed they built him out of reclaimed wood, I just knew it and was like, you guys would be awesome Oregonians and the second I said it I remembered seeing they had Oregon license plates. The husband is the one from Oregon and he's from Scappoose. Yeah, I can recognize my own kind...
Last Monday, we were talking to Elder Jones, we normally do improvement plans on Monday mornings, but for some unbeknownst reasons we've been blessed with hitting standard and so he was just calling us to see how we were doing and we mentioned since it was going to be our car week we wanted to make sure to get the red car, because it was our turn for that one. It was his bike week, so it was all the same to him, but the other elders had the red car and we were pretty sure they weren't going to give it to us. Just a side note, this is my reality, there's few things that I can look forward to and this is one of those things...okay I'm pathetic, anyways it was more on principle that it was our turn for the red car. So naturally, E. Jones asks us what is so awesome about this red car....well let me tell you. First off its a Toyota, so automatically better. It has better visibility and the best part, it has a usb we can listen to our music with. He then was like, so you like to listen to music...uh yeah music is my life...I think that's what got to him. He then attempted to commit us to give up music. Sister Chappell was so bothered by this that she looked up quotes from prophets of how important music is. She gave him a printout and he said it was going to burn his eyes out and to quote him he said, "I hate music." I can't watch the news, but this explains the earthquake that probably occurred in Vienna from all the great composers rolling in their graves. To be fair, I think he was joking, but its Elder Jones, so I really can't even tell.
We had a baptism this last Saturday, but we couldn't go, mainly because it was in Oklahoma....it was for Jordan! I've taught her like 2 or 3 times, so it was like the easiest thing ever. She is 9 and basically I think they weren't active when she was 8 and now they are and she was out of town the first month I was here. She had her grandpa do it; hence, it being in Oklahoma.
We went on exchanges on Thursday. I've had 3 exchanges since I've been in Junction and all of them I was the one that went to Salina. It's a pretty cool place, but I much prefer Junction. Both STLs have been my companion at one point or other and one of them we even had 3 people that have been both of our companions, and she served in Junction so we had a lot to talk about.
We have a baptism this Saturday for Sarah! She is one of the investigators that moved up from Oklahoma and they were investigating the church down there. She is the nicest person ever. She is 16 and lives with her sister that's in her 20s. We have been teaching both of them, but her sister hasn't been progressing as much. She likes to Bible bash with us which is kind of a joke, since my Bible knowledge goes as far as, wait, what book is the story of Esther in?? Well, she did mention about the Priesthood and that she doesn't believe there is such a thing of having Priesthood authority and then she said everything I have to say about the Priesthood so I just looked at Sister Chappell like, "help!" and she gave me the look of, "hey, I'm the trainee here!" So the only thing in my arsenal to pull out was Hebrews 5:4 and I read it to her and she's like well I've never seen that before let me get out my Bible and as she was opening it she glanced at Hebrews 6:1 and in her Bible version it pretty much said, okay we've talked about this over and over again, just drop it and get baptized. It was so crazy. She took it as her answer and dropped it.
Well, Bible bashing still gets you nowhere. We came back the next time and she had questions about grace and we got in the whole, aren't we all saved? discussion. We couldn't get anywhere really, but she came to church with her sister the next day and guess what Relief Society was on. The Gift of Grace. She was eating it up and talked with a lady that made a comment during it and they got in a good discussion. She'll come around. We just need to get her reading the BOM.
Which reminds me, a few days ago we were leaving our apartment for the day and I turn around and ask Sister Chappell, how many BOMS do you have on you? She just gave me this very concerned look....
Lately I've been focusing a lot of my studies on Charity. At the beginning of my mission I had the desire to really learn how to not get stressed and I kind of realized that what I really need to work on is turning outward when things start getting bad and the natural thing to do is turn inward. It's so clear that is exactly what the Savior teaches any time that He is going through a trying time.
To sum everything up, things are going well, Sister Chappell is an awesome companion and I love training! I'm doing everything as I normally do, but inexplicably everything is coming together and the Lord is blessing us therefore we are earning the respect from District Leader Jones and I'm not as stressed out. I'm slowly learning to trust him....to solve the car problem he asked how we asked the elders for the car, and if we tried asking nicely. After that conversation that made me feel like a two year old, I swallowed my pride and we nicely asked the elders for the car....and miraculously they gave it to us. The Lower Lights never sounded so good. This is going to be one of those posts that I'll look back on and be embarrassed about....c'est la vie. But seriously I think this is coping mechanism of how I get through things. I focus on the little things that don't really matter, because if I spent all my time stressing about the big things my brain would turn into mush.
We have several progressing investigators and they just keep coming in. Why is it working out now and doesn't work out other times, I don't know, but I know this work is so much bigger than us and I'm so grateful and humbled by everyone that is helping us.
Last Monday, we were talking to Elder Jones, we normally do improvement plans on Monday mornings, but for some unbeknownst reasons we've been blessed with hitting standard and so he was just calling us to see how we were doing and we mentioned since it was going to be our car week we wanted to make sure to get the red car, because it was our turn for that one. It was his bike week, so it was all the same to him, but the other elders had the red car and we were pretty sure they weren't going to give it to us. Just a side note, this is my reality, there's few things that I can look forward to and this is one of those things...okay I'm pathetic, anyways it was more on principle that it was our turn for the red car. So naturally, E. Jones asks us what is so awesome about this red car....well let me tell you. First off its a Toyota, so automatically better. It has better visibility and the best part, it has a usb we can listen to our music with. He then was like, so you like to listen to music...uh yeah music is my life...I think that's what got to him. He then attempted to commit us to give up music. Sister Chappell was so bothered by this that she looked up quotes from prophets of how important music is. She gave him a printout and he said it was going to burn his eyes out and to quote him he said, "I hate music." I can't watch the news, but this explains the earthquake that probably occurred in Vienna from all the great composers rolling in their graves. To be fair, I think he was joking, but its Elder Jones, so I really can't even tell.
We had a baptism this last Saturday, but we couldn't go, mainly because it was in Oklahoma....it was for Jordan! I've taught her like 2 or 3 times, so it was like the easiest thing ever. She is 9 and basically I think they weren't active when she was 8 and now they are and she was out of town the first month I was here. She had her grandpa do it; hence, it being in Oklahoma.
We went on exchanges on Thursday. I've had 3 exchanges since I've been in Junction and all of them I was the one that went to Salina. It's a pretty cool place, but I much prefer Junction. Both STLs have been my companion at one point or other and one of them we even had 3 people that have been both of our companions, and she served in Junction so we had a lot to talk about.
We have a baptism this Saturday for Sarah! She is one of the investigators that moved up from Oklahoma and they were investigating the church down there. She is the nicest person ever. She is 16 and lives with her sister that's in her 20s. We have been teaching both of them, but her sister hasn't been progressing as much. She likes to Bible bash with us which is kind of a joke, since my Bible knowledge goes as far as, wait, what book is the story of Esther in?? Well, she did mention about the Priesthood and that she doesn't believe there is such a thing of having Priesthood authority and then she said everything I have to say about the Priesthood so I just looked at Sister Chappell like, "help!" and she gave me the look of, "hey, I'm the trainee here!" So the only thing in my arsenal to pull out was Hebrews 5:4 and I read it to her and she's like well I've never seen that before let me get out my Bible and as she was opening it she glanced at Hebrews 6:1 and in her Bible version it pretty much said, okay we've talked about this over and over again, just drop it and get baptized. It was so crazy. She took it as her answer and dropped it.
Well, Bible bashing still gets you nowhere. We came back the next time and she had questions about grace and we got in the whole, aren't we all saved? discussion. We couldn't get anywhere really, but she came to church with her sister the next day and guess what Relief Society was on. The Gift of Grace. She was eating it up and talked with a lady that made a comment during it and they got in a good discussion. She'll come around. We just need to get her reading the BOM.
Which reminds me, a few days ago we were leaving our apartment for the day and I turn around and ask Sister Chappell, how many BOMS do you have on you? She just gave me this very concerned look....
Lately I've been focusing a lot of my studies on Charity. At the beginning of my mission I had the desire to really learn how to not get stressed and I kind of realized that what I really need to work on is turning outward when things start getting bad and the natural thing to do is turn inward. It's so clear that is exactly what the Savior teaches any time that He is going through a trying time.
To sum everything up, things are going well, Sister Chappell is an awesome companion and I love training! I'm doing everything as I normally do, but inexplicably everything is coming together and the Lord is blessing us therefore we are earning the respect from District Leader Jones and I'm not as stressed out. I'm slowly learning to trust him....to solve the car problem he asked how we asked the elders for the car, and if we tried asking nicely. After that conversation that made me feel like a two year old, I swallowed my pride and we nicely asked the elders for the car....and miraculously they gave it to us. The Lower Lights never sounded so good. This is going to be one of those posts that I'll look back on and be embarrassed about....c'est la vie. But seriously I think this is coping mechanism of how I get through things. I focus on the little things that don't really matter, because if I spent all my time stressing about the big things my brain would turn into mush.
We have several progressing investigators and they just keep coming in. Why is it working out now and doesn't work out other times, I don't know, but I know this work is so much bigger than us and I'm so grateful and humbled by everyone that is helping us.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
And I Caaaann't stand em!...[Aug. 17, 2015]
If you don't recognize the title then it's been much too long since you've seen Singing in the Rain.
This week has been the most crazy week I've had in a long time. I don't feel stressed, because my stressors have changed. If that makes sense? Normally it's numbers and the work in general that stresses me out, but the work is going fantastic, which helps me feel I'm following the Lord's will. Plus, greenie miracles are real and awesome!
Yet my stomach still decided it wanted to hate on my esophagus and share the fun of stomach acid with it. I woke up in the middle of the night with a burning in my bosom and it wasn't divine revelation. Then I had it off and on all week....
Each transfer and district and area there is always something different that is your trial of faith and this time it's def not the area, because junction city is the best place on earth. Sister Chappell, my companion, is fantastic! So humble and ready to work. We are so busy all the time with one appt after another and we are seeing so many miracles! This past week we pretty much contacted the dozens
of people that I've been trying to get a hold of since I got here. We have had so many investigators and less actives open up to us and I am so excited for them to allow the Atonement to work on them. There is truly no greater thing on earth than to witness someone honestly be changed through that power.
I used to be better at writing specifically about people and their stories and concerns and what not and I think I just kind of got used to it all. Everyone is so different, but there is still patterns that happen when we make contact with everyone. They get excited and want to change and depending on how strong there faith is they will either make it over their trial of faith or they lose their momentum and get lulled into carnal security (I just read that this morning...can I just get a quick pitch in here of how awesome the Book of Mormon is?) Our job is to help them with it all...help them recognize their trial
of faith, guide them to tools that will help them. Then love them, teach them, encourage them, pray for them, etc. Then if they fail we have to somehow not put that failure on ourselves.
I think the hardest part about this transfer is definitely keeping our district together. Districts without unity FAIL. And I know it's so inspired the people that are in our districts. The vast difference
between our last two district leaders has taken its toll. Elder Jones is such a solid missionary and is the most consecrated person I've met. It's inspiring! but most of all it's intimidating. I really enjoying joking around with other missionaries and it's what keeps me going and I feel pretty confident at knowing how to keep everything professional, but fun. Our beloved district leader though is still working at the whole joking around part...it's kind of like trying to joke around with your TIWI (our beloved electronic car nanny) you can do it all you want, but more than likely it's not going to reciprocate it back and occasionally it'll rebuke the spirit out of you. I hate getting stressed out, but I know more than anything, this is what I need to learn now. I need to learn to stand up for myself and
not let outside influences let me question what I know. I need to continue learning signs that my body tells me I'm getting too stressed and just tell myself to not get stressed! That works rights?
Actually, what I'm really focusing my studies on (when I'm not attempting to study for every other person that is struggling and not able to find the answers for themselves) is faith. I have the faith
that we will receive miracles and I have the faith necessary for all this jazz to happen, but I was studying Jesus the Christ the other day and it told the story of Peter and it hit me like a brick. Peter had enough faith to ask the Savior to walk on water with Him and it happened. But when outside influences got in the flippin way he lost sight of it all and ultimately failed. (At least that's how we see it in ourselves, but Christ always comes and gets us before we sink) I feel like I have enough faith for this work to go forth, but when things start not going the right way I start stressing (aka fearing or
losing faith) and I look inward and I start to sink. Sinking is SO not fun. In the words of Modest Mouse, Even if things get heavy let's all float on...shall we?
A not so awesome picture of me and my companion.
This week has been the most crazy week I've had in a long time. I don't feel stressed, because my stressors have changed. If that makes sense? Normally it's numbers and the work in general that stresses me out, but the work is going fantastic, which helps me feel I'm following the Lord's will. Plus, greenie miracles are real and awesome!
Yet my stomach still decided it wanted to hate on my esophagus and share the fun of stomach acid with it. I woke up in the middle of the night with a burning in my bosom and it wasn't divine revelation. Then I had it off and on all week....
Each transfer and district and area there is always something different that is your trial of faith and this time it's def not the area, because junction city is the best place on earth. Sister Chappell, my companion, is fantastic! So humble and ready to work. We are so busy all the time with one appt after another and we are seeing so many miracles! This past week we pretty much contacted the dozens
of people that I've been trying to get a hold of since I got here. We have had so many investigators and less actives open up to us and I am so excited for them to allow the Atonement to work on them. There is truly no greater thing on earth than to witness someone honestly be changed through that power.
I used to be better at writing specifically about people and their stories and concerns and what not and I think I just kind of got used to it all. Everyone is so different, but there is still patterns that happen when we make contact with everyone. They get excited and want to change and depending on how strong there faith is they will either make it over their trial of faith or they lose their momentum and get lulled into carnal security (I just read that this morning...can I just get a quick pitch in here of how awesome the Book of Mormon is?) Our job is to help them with it all...help them recognize their trial
of faith, guide them to tools that will help them. Then love them, teach them, encourage them, pray for them, etc. Then if they fail we have to somehow not put that failure on ourselves.
I think the hardest part about this transfer is definitely keeping our district together. Districts without unity FAIL. And I know it's so inspired the people that are in our districts. The vast difference
between our last two district leaders has taken its toll. Elder Jones is such a solid missionary and is the most consecrated person I've met. It's inspiring! but most of all it's intimidating. I really enjoying joking around with other missionaries and it's what keeps me going and I feel pretty confident at knowing how to keep everything professional, but fun. Our beloved district leader though is still working at the whole joking around part...it's kind of like trying to joke around with your TIWI (our beloved electronic car nanny) you can do it all you want, but more than likely it's not going to reciprocate it back and occasionally it'll rebuke the spirit out of you. I hate getting stressed out, but I know more than anything, this is what I need to learn now. I need to learn to stand up for myself and
not let outside influences let me question what I know. I need to continue learning signs that my body tells me I'm getting too stressed and just tell myself to not get stressed! That works rights?
Actually, what I'm really focusing my studies on (when I'm not attempting to study for every other person that is struggling and not able to find the answers for themselves) is faith. I have the faith
that we will receive miracles and I have the faith necessary for all this jazz to happen, but I was studying Jesus the Christ the other day and it told the story of Peter and it hit me like a brick. Peter had enough faith to ask the Savior to walk on water with Him and it happened. But when outside influences got in the flippin way he lost sight of it all and ultimately failed. (At least that's how we see it in ourselves, but Christ always comes and gets us before we sink) I feel like I have enough faith for this work to go forth, but when things start not going the right way I start stressing (aka fearing or
losing faith) and I look inward and I start to sink. Sinking is SO not fun. In the words of Modest Mouse, Even if things get heavy let's all float on...shall we?
A not so awesome picture of me and my companion.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
The beat goes on and on and on and on and...[Aug. 10, 2015]
I love training! Sister Chappell is the bomb.com. She already has the first vision memorized and recited it in a lesson and she invited for baptism and got someone on date. She is the most easy going person on planet earth and is super, super humble.
We have had the CRAZIEST past few days since transfers. I don't even know what is making them crazy, we are visiting lots of members these days and seeing so many miracles. We had 3 investigators at sacrament, which was so awesome. Thankfully they were all in the ward, because in the branch there was a talk given and it was on the importance of families, but I think the word constitution was mentioned the most and polygamy was brought up and overall the spirit wasn't incredibly strong during it....bleg.
There is a giant contrast between district cultures from last transfer to this, considering only 3 of the 8 missionaries have stayed and E.Howell and E.Jones could not be more different. Both great missionaries, but very different ways to go about doing it. I think also, because it has been such a chaotic past few days it's just been stressful and we just all need to settle in and get our stuff together.
We met with a less active that pretty much only came to church, because her mom was in town, but I managed to get a return appt out of her and she was so nice! Her mom was also there and I think it helped to lighten things up. We got to know her well and the most miraculous thing of all....she just bought a cello and wants to learn....I think we'll be seeing more of her ;)
I think I influenced Sister Duffin more than I realized, by the time she left, she got a new haircut, bought makeup and pierced her ears. I turn my companions into babes...what can I say? Haha...okay, I didn't say I influenced her for the good necessarily.
Going to transfer devotional was hard! I hate saying goodbye to people and I knew so many of the people going home, so well! Two were my past companions and several I had worked closely with. It literally
feels like saying goodbye to your family every 6 weeks and it sucks.
This blog post is scattered and I don't have any pictures...I'm a terrible person. Oh also, I randomly fell down in the bathroom, because I slipped on nothing, it was ridiculous and I also am obsessed
with how many wrinkles I have by my eyes...I'm 22 going on 62.
On that note, have a great week! Love you all!!!
We have had the CRAZIEST past few days since transfers. I don't even know what is making them crazy, we are visiting lots of members these days and seeing so many miracles. We had 3 investigators at sacrament, which was so awesome. Thankfully they were all in the ward, because in the branch there was a talk given and it was on the importance of families, but I think the word constitution was mentioned the most and polygamy was brought up and overall the spirit wasn't incredibly strong during it....bleg.
There is a giant contrast between district cultures from last transfer to this, considering only 3 of the 8 missionaries have stayed and E.Howell and E.Jones could not be more different. Both great missionaries, but very different ways to go about doing it. I think also, because it has been such a chaotic past few days it's just been stressful and we just all need to settle in and get our stuff together.
We met with a less active that pretty much only came to church, because her mom was in town, but I managed to get a return appt out of her and she was so nice! Her mom was also there and I think it helped to lighten things up. We got to know her well and the most miraculous thing of all....she just bought a cello and wants to learn....I think we'll be seeing more of her ;)
I think I influenced Sister Duffin more than I realized, by the time she left, she got a new haircut, bought makeup and pierced her ears. I turn my companions into babes...what can I say? Haha...okay, I didn't say I influenced her for the good necessarily.
Going to transfer devotional was hard! I hate saying goodbye to people and I knew so many of the people going home, so well! Two were my past companions and several I had worked closely with. It literally
feels like saying goodbye to your family every 6 weeks and it sucks.
This blog post is scattered and I don't have any pictures...I'm a terrible person. Oh also, I randomly fell down in the bathroom, because I slipped on nothing, it was ridiculous and I also am obsessed
with how many wrinkles I have by my eyes...I'm 22 going on 62.
On that note, have a great week! Love you all!!!
Monday, August 3, 2015
Woah, that's a wot of gweenies!...[August 3, 2015]
The Zone Leaders in Topeka created a video where they were giving a news brief on last transfers, transfers that were happening. They were doing it in funny accents and at one point they said the title of this blog and Sister Duffin and I have been quoting it all transfer.
Apparently, we were just being prophetic though. So through a series of unfortunate events I'm now pregnant about to
give birth on Wednesday to a 5 bouncing baby missionaries. Junction City has 3 other sets of Elders and we all will be training. The Branch is getting white washed though (both missionaries are leaving) Elder Jones is stepping down from AP to fill Elder Howells shoes and he is training not one (because that's too easy...right?) but two missionaries. So now our lovely junction district will have 5 greenies
and 4 non-greenies.
As mission culture states, each missionary has a mission mom and dad, if you're a sister, your DL is your dad and your trainer is obvs your mom. If you're an elder your trainer is your dad and the oldest sister in your district is your mom....me. I spent 9 months of my mission thinking this was the most retarded thing ever, but then I realized this gives me full right to call a random elder Dad, which highly entertains my 12-year-old sense of humor. Plus, your trainer really
does feel like someone who is introducing you into this crazy world of mission life. My parents split after 6 weeks as my mom got her visa and took off to Brazil....okay it gets weird if you look into it too far...especially if you look into my now polygamist district. Yep, enough with that!
Both the Ward and Branch Elders had a baptism on Saturday. Both guys are so solid. The 2nd one already is tight with the Stake President and has met Elder Sitati from the 70. Sometimes I just want to scream at these Elders, "How do you do it?!!"
But I don't think they would even know the answer to that. Mainly because we, as missionaries, literally do nothing. Okay, maybe not literally, but compared to what God and His other peeps are doing, it's pretty much nothing.
I know that faith precedes the miracle and I had/have SO MUCH faith for this area. Yet why aren't we seeing the results? I think any time you aren't seeing success (well at least for me) it's God's way of telling you, you can do better; you need to improve something. Then you need to give up your pride, put on a cloak of meekness and figure it out. Or in the words of my loving mother and older sisters, put on
your big girl pants. I used to recite in my head all the time, faith is a principle of power. Which it is, there is so much power in just positive thinking and full-heartedly believing something will happen...but faith ALSO is a principle of action.
It's so easy to figuratively think of all these things, but so much harder to actually apply. How can I act better on the faith I have? I have no idea, but I know that this is yet another pivot point in my mission and I think God is telling me to step it up.
I'm so scared for this next transfer, but I am sooooooo excited for some greenie miracles!!
Wait, I got one more story! So, we were driving to go see one of our investigators that hasn't kept her appts or texted us back. We met her through the elders, because she lives next door. So as we were driving along and turned into the alley to get to her place, we realized that a big garbage truck was blocking the way and then it started backing up towards us. So, I yelled, "emergency back-up!" And backed out of there. (It's against the mission rules to back up without a backer)
well as luck would have it all 4 elders were in their car right after the garbage truck and they slowly pulled up to us and I yelled there was a garbage truck! E.Howell leans out the window and in a nasally voice yells, I saw that, your grounded! Then they drive off. The whole incident was so ridiculous that I was cracking up so hard I couldn't
breathe.
I also have gotten about 5 aggressive drivers from the Tiwi since I've been in Junction. They are just doing a lot of repaving and stuff and it feels less aggressive than a speed bump when it has gone off. I think the Tiwi just hates me...it's okay, the feeling is mutual. 😑
One pic was with my old companion Sister Mitchell. We went on exchanges, because she is the STL here and she thought it would be fun to blow confetti. It's a long story how she got the confetti...it involves road kill...I mean the confetti isn't roadkill itself, ew, but I'm too lazy to write the whole story out.
Another pic for Juan's baptism the Elders made the official looking baptism programs and then the VIPs got the other programs that had this on the front.
Apparently, we were just being prophetic though. So through a series of unfortunate events I'm now pregnant about to
give birth on Wednesday to a 5 bouncing baby missionaries. Junction City has 3 other sets of Elders and we all will be training. The Branch is getting white washed though (both missionaries are leaving) Elder Jones is stepping down from AP to fill Elder Howells shoes and he is training not one (because that's too easy...right?) but two missionaries. So now our lovely junction district will have 5 greenies
and 4 non-greenies.
As mission culture states, each missionary has a mission mom and dad, if you're a sister, your DL is your dad and your trainer is obvs your mom. If you're an elder your trainer is your dad and the oldest sister in your district is your mom....me. I spent 9 months of my mission thinking this was the most retarded thing ever, but then I realized this gives me full right to call a random elder Dad, which highly entertains my 12-year-old sense of humor. Plus, your trainer really
does feel like someone who is introducing you into this crazy world of mission life. My parents split after 6 weeks as my mom got her visa and took off to Brazil....okay it gets weird if you look into it too far...especially if you look into my now polygamist district. Yep, enough with that!
Both the Ward and Branch Elders had a baptism on Saturday. Both guys are so solid. The 2nd one already is tight with the Stake President and has met Elder Sitati from the 70. Sometimes I just want to scream at these Elders, "How do you do it?!!"
But I don't think they would even know the answer to that. Mainly because we, as missionaries, literally do nothing. Okay, maybe not literally, but compared to what God and His other peeps are doing, it's pretty much nothing.
I know that faith precedes the miracle and I had/have SO MUCH faith for this area. Yet why aren't we seeing the results? I think any time you aren't seeing success (well at least for me) it's God's way of telling you, you can do better; you need to improve something. Then you need to give up your pride, put on a cloak of meekness and figure it out. Or in the words of my loving mother and older sisters, put on
your big girl pants. I used to recite in my head all the time, faith is a principle of power. Which it is, there is so much power in just positive thinking and full-heartedly believing something will happen...but faith ALSO is a principle of action.
It's so easy to figuratively think of all these things, but so much harder to actually apply. How can I act better on the faith I have? I have no idea, but I know that this is yet another pivot point in my mission and I think God is telling me to step it up.
I'm so scared for this next transfer, but I am sooooooo excited for some greenie miracles!!
Wait, I got one more story! So, we were driving to go see one of our investigators that hasn't kept her appts or texted us back. We met her through the elders, because she lives next door. So as we were driving along and turned into the alley to get to her place, we realized that a big garbage truck was blocking the way and then it started backing up towards us. So, I yelled, "emergency back-up!" And backed out of there. (It's against the mission rules to back up without a backer)
well as luck would have it all 4 elders were in their car right after the garbage truck and they slowly pulled up to us and I yelled there was a garbage truck! E.Howell leans out the window and in a nasally voice yells, I saw that, your grounded! Then they drive off. The whole incident was so ridiculous that I was cracking up so hard I couldn't
breathe.
I also have gotten about 5 aggressive drivers from the Tiwi since I've been in Junction. They are just doing a lot of repaving and stuff and it feels less aggressive than a speed bump when it has gone off. I think the Tiwi just hates me...it's okay, the feeling is mutual. 😑
One pic was with my old companion Sister Mitchell. We went on exchanges, because she is the STL here and she thought it would be fun to blow confetti. It's a long story how she got the confetti...it involves road kill...I mean the confetti isn't roadkill itself, ew, but I'm too lazy to write the whole story out.
Another pic for Juan's baptism the Elders made the official looking baptism programs and then the VIPs got the other programs that had this on the front.
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