As you know, we had transfers this week. I think I hate transfers and the changes that come with it. I guess the mission is designed to get you used to changes, and losing companions. But I really do feel blessed to have been able to stay in Bloomfield. In the first week alone, I feel like I have grown a lot. Since I know the area, I have had to make a lot of the decisions as to where to go and who to see. I've gotten to step out of "Greenie" shoes and lead.
We had a game night this week for less actives and investigators so they could get to know other young families in the ward. I think it went pretty well, if I do say so myself. Yeah, there was a little awkwardness at the beginning, but by the end, everyone was laughing! Hopefully, we'll be able to do these somewhat frequently.
I also made a huge batch of Mom's famous chocolate chip cookies for transfers. I brought about half the batch to the stake house for the missionaries to eat while we waited for everyone to arrive, pair up, and transfer to their new areas. I should have known that with so many 19 year old boys, they would go pretty fast! (I saved the rest of them for breakfast, and for the party.) Although, they didn’t' turn out as well as Mom's, I always forget to add more flour since the altitude out west is so different from back home.
I say this a lot, but I am so grateful for the time built into the missionary schedule for scripture study. Occasionally, something happens, and I will miss out on scripture study. I never knew what a HUGE difference reading the scriptures can have on your day! Scripture study really does give your day a huge sense of stability, assurance and peace! The difference is becoming almost black and white to me. I was reading out of, Preach My Gospel, this morning and one of the activities was to read sections from Moroni and Mormon. This message means a lot more than we sometimes remember. The restoration is magnificent, and it is often easy to become casual in our testimony of it. But when you really internalize the restoration, the message is magnificent! It happens in our day! Heavenly Father won't stop speaking to his children. The Book of Mormon prophets plead with us to believe their words. I feel a bit like Mormon sometimes. It is so frustrating when the people we visit with just don't get it! As Mormon says, if there are weaknesses, they are the weaknesses of man (aka two 21 year old girls). Moroni takes every opportunity he has just to write a little bit more. It's the 11th hour! (D&C 33:3) If anyone knows what lonely is, it is Moroni. . . yet he persevered in sharing the one message that has such eternal importance. I love D&C 14:8. What a blessing to bear record of things that you will "see and hear." There are HUGE opportunities and blessings in store for missionaries. I don't want to become like a turkey that learns how to fly. . . but then walks home. I think I'm realizing that complacency is one of my greatest fears.
I can't believe I'm coming up on my 4 month mark soon! I feel like I just got out of the MTC. And June is only a month away . . . and guess what!?! I will probably be coming home in June 2010 (since that is when President Anderson goes home, and that is my early transfer date, and I hear that sometimes they make sisters go home on the early transfer if the next transfer would put them a month beyond the expiration date on the ministerial certificate.) Anyway, that’s a long way of saying, that in June I'll only have a year left. Crazy right? Ok well, I love you, and will try to get a whole bunch of letters done today!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Ropin' Missionaries
It’s transfer time again! And I’m staying in Bloomfield 2nd Ward for another transfer! But Sister Crossley is leaving for Cortez, Colorado, and Sister Weatherston will be my new companion. I didn’t anticipate staying at all! So I’m kind of a mess. Sister Crossley had me convinced that she would be staying and I would be leaving. I feel a little stressed out. Even though I’m not the senior companion this next transfer, I feel “in charge” of all the investigators, less actives, and potentials (since Sister Weatherston won’t know what has been happening in the area). I feel hugely inadequate. All our investigators and the entire ward just adored Sister Crossley. (I compare this to the Chantilly Ward back home, imagine how Elder Swensen’s companion would feel if he were transferred). I will miss her a TON, and I KNOW our investigators will too. I just hope they still let me come! I also worry that my “greenie” stereotype within the ward will be difficult to overcome. I was kind of a wreck last night, but one of the ward missionaries called both Sister Crossley and I at about 10 pm last night. She told me that I have her confidence and that Heavenly Father and President Anderson wouldn’t have left me in this area if they didn’t know I could do it and am up to the challenge of taking charge a little bit. She basically just told me that I was a good missionary, which I really needed to hear right then. This transfer will be a huge opportunity for growth, I’m sure. I have a LOT of anticipation for this transfer, and don’t really know what to expect.
In other news, today was an excellent Preparation Day! One of the families in our ward has a huge ranch and they let Sister Crossley and I come up and learn how to rope! It was so much fun! They even let us keep the ropes so that we could keep practicing! They have their own rodeo arena as part of their ranch, and it was so much fun to see all the horses and steers. Then, we got back into our “city girl” roots and went shopping. I needed some more summer clothes, so we made a trip into town.
I think the ultimate highlight of the week was the baptismal date from last week. As I mentioned, we have a new emphasis on committing people to baptism. One of our investigators was SO excited to get baptized, but we hadn’t had the chance to tell them about the fact that the investigator needed to be married first. I was terrified of bringing up this requirement, because I didn’t know how our investigator would handle it and I also wasn’t sure whether or not they had already told a lot of family. But we went over there on Monday night to briefly go over the baptismal requirements. I had been praying all day to have the Spirit with us so that I could explain this topic with love. We had also prayed that our investigator would be prepared to hear about the marriage requirement, and would be aware of it. Well we were HUGELY blessed. Not only was the investigator still excited to get baptized, but they had already been thinking about marriage and was wondering when we would bring it up! I sensed that they were actually relieved that we brought it up! I’m not surprised that I was so scared to extend the invitation. The adversary does NOT want Heavenly Father’s children to get baptized, but he also knows how important family relationships are to our eternal progression as well! We stepped forward with faith…into the dark. We followed our mission leaders’ advice, not knowing beforehand how it would go, and everything turned out just perfectly! I’m so excited! That was definitely one of the highlights from my mission experience so far!
We also met with a less active this week who decided that they want the missionary discussions again!!! They even invited a friend to listen in as well! That was above and beyond what we were asking!
One funny thing that happened this week: We were teaching one of our investigators about the importance of scripture study. We pointed out that in Alma 31, Alma talks about how the word of God is more powerful than fortifications, or armies or ANYTHING and how he gave up the judgment seat to preach it. After the lesson, we tried to commit the investigator to read their scriptures each day this week. THIS was the response we got:
“Well, it was kind of like this TV show about midgets that my granddaughter and I were watching. I said that I HATE little people. And my granddaughter didn’t think that was nice of me. That is a very interesting show all about midgets.”
WE really didn’t know how to transition back onto a gospel topic with that one. So we just didn’t even try.“Yeah, scripture reading is really important. We’ll see you next week!”
Love you all! Hope all is going well for you. I don’t have much time to write letters this week, sorry. But I love you and appreciate your support. Hope all is going well for you!
PS We also had the neatest baptism. We found the woman, but the Spanish elders taught her. The baptism was all in Spanish, but the Spirit was so incredibly strong! I loved hearing "JesuChristo" -- that was about the only word that I recognized!! The woman got baptised even though her husband didn't agree with it. She basically just told him, "This is between me and the Lord, and you don't need to worry about it." She comes to our ward even though Relief Society is all in Englsih. It is so sweet to see the returned missionary spanish speaking sisters translate for her. It sounds like her husband might finally be interested! Yay!
We also tracted into some Spanish people this week. One of us (I'm not telling who!) went up to the women and gave them a pass along card, smiled, gave them a thumbs up and just said "Jesu Christo...moy bien!" So funny! They just laughed at us :) I think there were more funny things that happened but I can't remember tham all! Yikes.
In other news, today was an excellent Preparation Day! One of the families in our ward has a huge ranch and they let Sister Crossley and I come up and learn how to rope! It was so much fun! They even let us keep the ropes so that we could keep practicing! They have their own rodeo arena as part of their ranch, and it was so much fun to see all the horses and steers. Then, we got back into our “city girl” roots and went shopping. I needed some more summer clothes, so we made a trip into town.
I think the ultimate highlight of the week was the baptismal date from last week. As I mentioned, we have a new emphasis on committing people to baptism. One of our investigators was SO excited to get baptized, but we hadn’t had the chance to tell them about the fact that the investigator needed to be married first. I was terrified of bringing up this requirement, because I didn’t know how our investigator would handle it and I also wasn’t sure whether or not they had already told a lot of family. But we went over there on Monday night to briefly go over the baptismal requirements. I had been praying all day to have the Spirit with us so that I could explain this topic with love. We had also prayed that our investigator would be prepared to hear about the marriage requirement, and would be aware of it. Well we were HUGELY blessed. Not only was the investigator still excited to get baptized, but they had already been thinking about marriage and was wondering when we would bring it up! I sensed that they were actually relieved that we brought it up! I’m not surprised that I was so scared to extend the invitation. The adversary does NOT want Heavenly Father’s children to get baptized, but he also knows how important family relationships are to our eternal progression as well! We stepped forward with faith…into the dark. We followed our mission leaders’ advice, not knowing beforehand how it would go, and everything turned out just perfectly! I’m so excited! That was definitely one of the highlights from my mission experience so far!
We also met with a less active this week who decided that they want the missionary discussions again!!! They even invited a friend to listen in as well! That was above and beyond what we were asking!
One funny thing that happened this week: We were teaching one of our investigators about the importance of scripture study. We pointed out that in Alma 31, Alma talks about how the word of God is more powerful than fortifications, or armies or ANYTHING and how he gave up the judgment seat to preach it. After the lesson, we tried to commit the investigator to read their scriptures each day this week. THIS was the response we got:
“Well, it was kind of like this TV show about midgets that my granddaughter and I were watching. I said that I HATE little people. And my granddaughter didn’t think that was nice of me. That is a very interesting show all about midgets.”
WE really didn’t know how to transition back onto a gospel topic with that one. So we just didn’t even try.“Yeah, scripture reading is really important. We’ll see you next week!”
Love you all! Hope all is going well for you. I don’t have much time to write letters this week, sorry. But I love you and appreciate your support. Hope all is going well for you!
PS We also had the neatest baptism. We found the woman, but the Spanish elders taught her. The baptism was all in Spanish, but the Spirit was so incredibly strong! I loved hearing "JesuChristo" -- that was about the only word that I recognized!! The woman got baptised even though her husband didn't agree with it. She basically just told him, "This is between me and the Lord, and you don't need to worry about it." She comes to our ward even though Relief Society is all in Englsih. It is so sweet to see the returned missionary spanish speaking sisters translate for her. It sounds like her husband might finally be interested! Yay!
We also tracted into some Spanish people this week. One of us (I'm not telling who!) went up to the women and gave them a pass along card, smiled, gave them a thumbs up and just said "Jesu Christo...moy bien!" So funny! They just laughed at us :) I think there were more funny things that happened but I can't remember tham all! Yikes.
Mandolins and Violins
Hello!
This week was exciting. We tracted into a Spanish woman last transfer who decided to take the missionary lessons with the Spanish Elders. After only 6 weeks of study, she’s decided to get baptized! Yay! We also set a baptismal date with one of our own investigators this week. It’s pretty exciting!
Yesterday, we were leaving a sticky note for one of our investigators, when we heard someone playing bluegrass music on the other side of the street. We looked over and saw an older man sitting outside his house playing, so we went up to him and found out that he was playing a mandolin. It was so fun to listen to! He asked us if we play any instruments. When he found out I played the violin, he explained that the mandolin is just like the fiddle, as far as fingerings go. Then he got out his fiddles and asked me to play with him! It was incredibly fun! He started on the mandolin when he was 8, but then picked up the violin in his 30s. Due to his bluegrass training, it was really hard to follow him, he used a lot of embellishment that made it difficult to keep time. I explained that I learned classical violin, and therefore, couldn't fiddle very well. It would be so fun to learn how to do that better after the mission! Anyway, the guy plays bluegrass with one of the brothers in our ward. They go up to the bluegrass festival in Durango every year and perform together. They were just up there on Friday as a matter of fact!
We had interviews with President Anderson this week. After the representative from Church headquarters came in last week, there has been an increased focus on letting people know “Our Purpose” right up front. “Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.” Well, they asked us to invite people to pray about our message and consider being baptized on the very first lesson! We’re excited about this, but it will be interesting so see how everything works out, since when you do this, people don’t know exactly what all the commandments are that they will be asked to keep. I guess that’s where faith comes into play. If they receive an answer that they need to be baptized, then it will make it a little easier to keep those commandments. It is a little scary to teach those difficult commandments though, after someone already has a baptism date.
In interesting news, we met a woman who is an energy worker. She has intuitive powers, and said that she saw two little cherubs floating around Sister Crossley. They are twins, and are looking for a good mother…and she also said that they want to come soon. So that made us laugh a little bit . Soon eh?
We taught one of our investigators about the Joseph Smith story this week. I’ve never heard someone explain how they felt the Holy Ghost in a cuter way. “It’s like I have goose bumps…except, I can’t see them! They are on the inside!” Me too! I felt. I love having a reconfirmation of the truth nearly every time I teach.
I was reading about the Spirit World today, and there was a quote about how there is a thousand times more work to do there than there is to do here. I loved thinking about that. Sometimes I get frustrated teaching people who aren’t progressing. But it made me realize, that whatever they learn here, in this life (which IS the time to prepare to meet God) will only help them progress faster in the next life when missionaries on that side continue the teaching record there.
Well, that’s pretty much it. Thanks for your love and support! Ay Yo Nen Shney = I Love You!
This week was exciting. We tracted into a Spanish woman last transfer who decided to take the missionary lessons with the Spanish Elders. After only 6 weeks of study, she’s decided to get baptized! Yay! We also set a baptismal date with one of our own investigators this week. It’s pretty exciting!
Yesterday, we were leaving a sticky note for one of our investigators, when we heard someone playing bluegrass music on the other side of the street. We looked over and saw an older man sitting outside his house playing, so we went up to him and found out that he was playing a mandolin. It was so fun to listen to! He asked us if we play any instruments. When he found out I played the violin, he explained that the mandolin is just like the fiddle, as far as fingerings go. Then he got out his fiddles and asked me to play with him! It was incredibly fun! He started on the mandolin when he was 8, but then picked up the violin in his 30s. Due to his bluegrass training, it was really hard to follow him, he used a lot of embellishment that made it difficult to keep time. I explained that I learned classical violin, and therefore, couldn't fiddle very well. It would be so fun to learn how to do that better after the mission! Anyway, the guy plays bluegrass with one of the brothers in our ward. They go up to the bluegrass festival in Durango every year and perform together. They were just up there on Friday as a matter of fact!
We had interviews with President Anderson this week. After the representative from Church headquarters came in last week, there has been an increased focus on letting people know “Our Purpose” right up front. “Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.” Well, they asked us to invite people to pray about our message and consider being baptized on the very first lesson! We’re excited about this, but it will be interesting so see how everything works out, since when you do this, people don’t know exactly what all the commandments are that they will be asked to keep. I guess that’s where faith comes into play. If they receive an answer that they need to be baptized, then it will make it a little easier to keep those commandments. It is a little scary to teach those difficult commandments though, after someone already has a baptism date.
In interesting news, we met a woman who is an energy worker. She has intuitive powers, and said that she saw two little cherubs floating around Sister Crossley. They are twins, and are looking for a good mother…and she also said that they want to come soon. So that made us laugh a little bit . Soon eh?
We taught one of our investigators about the Joseph Smith story this week. I’ve never heard someone explain how they felt the Holy Ghost in a cuter way. “It’s like I have goose bumps…except, I can’t see them! They are on the inside!” Me too! I felt. I love having a reconfirmation of the truth nearly every time I teach.
I was reading about the Spirit World today, and there was a quote about how there is a thousand times more work to do there than there is to do here. I loved thinking about that. Sometimes I get frustrated teaching people who aren’t progressing. But it made me realize, that whatever they learn here, in this life (which IS the time to prepare to meet God) will only help them progress faster in the next life when missionaries on that side continue the teaching record there.
Well, that’s pretty much it. Thanks for your love and support! Ay Yo Nen Shney = I Love You!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Happy Belated Easter
Thanks to everyone for all your letters. All the missionaries in my area make fun of me for getting more mail than anyone. I do get a lot more mail than other people. I thought it would wear off by the time I got out of the MTC and the novelty of writing a new missionary was gone...but the stream has been pretty consistent. Which I LOVE. I'll take the teasing....cause I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks y’all!
This week flew by really fast! But I don't feel like I have very many stories to share! Anyway, the weather here is crazy! There are so many dust storms. We came in from tracting one day and I had sand in my ears, teeth, hair and clothes.
Some of the families here bought baby chicks for Easter, and it was so fun to play with them. They dyed them Easter colors...which was kind of interesting! On Easter morning, we read from Jesus the Christ for our study. I love the passages about Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. I just wish there was more time to study in the morning. I would have never thought that I would think an hour of study wouldn't be enough! For Easter, we took cookies and copies of, "The Living Christ," to as many of our investigators as we could. I LOVE, "The Living Christ". I didn't appreciate it very much before...but it is profound, testifies of the reality that He is very much involved in this dispensation. Mom, you're so right. Holidays are very different on a mission. But I feel very strongly that Easter is the most sacred holiday, and it is a privilege to be a full time messenger for Christ's church at this time of year.
On Saturday, we sang at the nursing home again, but we made the Elders in our district come with us...so I wouldn’t have to be a soloist again. One of the residents came up and belted along with us. One of the Elders (who was in my MTC district, but who shall remain nameless) started giggling at this, which ended up being really bad because his laugh is infectious. I started laughing as well. Good thing I was sitting at the piano with Sister Crossley, and so people couldn't really see my face. Oh brother. Good times at the nursing home.
Today, the Elders are ganging up on me and are going to make me play soccer. For the past few weeks, I’ve been sitting out of the sports games. I guess I’ll just grin and bear it. Four of us are also going to practice a song to sing as a musical number for a Zone Conference. In high school I was really into music, but everyone at BYU was better, so I no longer considered myself a “musical” person…so it is weird to be put into that stereotype again. But it’s also kind of fun. It’s not very often that the male voices out number the girls, so it’s nice to be needed..haha.
I love you all very much. I'm grateful for your support. Have a wonderful week! As the Navajos say, (phonetically spelled as always ;) “Tlot Diyin nichk ha lone ah”…. or “God be With You!”
This week flew by really fast! But I don't feel like I have very many stories to share! Anyway, the weather here is crazy! There are so many dust storms. We came in from tracting one day and I had sand in my ears, teeth, hair and clothes.
Some of the families here bought baby chicks for Easter, and it was so fun to play with them. They dyed them Easter colors...which was kind of interesting! On Easter morning, we read from Jesus the Christ for our study. I love the passages about Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. I just wish there was more time to study in the morning. I would have never thought that I would think an hour of study wouldn't be enough! For Easter, we took cookies and copies of, "The Living Christ," to as many of our investigators as we could. I LOVE, "The Living Christ". I didn't appreciate it very much before...but it is profound, testifies of the reality that He is very much involved in this dispensation. Mom, you're so right. Holidays are very different on a mission. But I feel very strongly that Easter is the most sacred holiday, and it is a privilege to be a full time messenger for Christ's church at this time of year.
On Saturday, we sang at the nursing home again, but we made the Elders in our district come with us...so I wouldn’t have to be a soloist again. One of the residents came up and belted along with us. One of the Elders (who was in my MTC district, but who shall remain nameless) started giggling at this, which ended up being really bad because his laugh is infectious. I started laughing as well. Good thing I was sitting at the piano with Sister Crossley, and so people couldn't really see my face. Oh brother. Good times at the nursing home.
Today, the Elders are ganging up on me and are going to make me play soccer. For the past few weeks, I’ve been sitting out of the sports games. I guess I’ll just grin and bear it. Four of us are also going to practice a song to sing as a musical number for a Zone Conference. In high school I was really into music, but everyone at BYU was better, so I no longer considered myself a “musical” person…so it is weird to be put into that stereotype again. But it’s also kind of fun. It’s not very often that the male voices out number the girls, so it’s nice to be needed..haha.
I love you all very much. I'm grateful for your support. Have a wonderful week! As the Navajos say, (phonetically spelled as always ;) “Tlot Diyin nichk ha lone ah”…. or “God be With You!”
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
General Conference as a Missionary
General Conference was wonderful, but that goes without saying. We had Zone Conference last Tuesday, and President Anderson urged us to cherish our General Conferences as missionaries, because it is the only time in our lives that we are working along side the general authorities in full time callings, as witnesses of Christ. Zone Conference was absolutely wonderful. It was interesting to hear many of the same things President Anderson talked to us about appear in General Conference as well. Specifically, he told us, as Quentin Cook did, to not dwell too long on the commonalities between others of a Christian faith. Because of the restoration, we can come to know deity in a way other denominations cannot. The restoration of the gospel took place in our day, that's why we are called Latter-day Saints.
Apparently, in Priesthood Session there was a story about missionaries finding a lady that had been "lost" or "dropped" by other missionaries. That message fit right in along side our Zone Conference, in which we focused a lot on using area books as Liahona's to find individuals who may not have been ready for the gospel then, but who are prepared now. But the REALLY exciting thing about General Conference was that a good number of people who we invited to come to General Conference came! Some of the people thought it was too long...and booked it out of the chapel as soon as conference was over, or in one case, right in the middle of a session. But the person we thought was LEAST likely to show up...came, and thoroughly enjoyed it....and even took copious notes!
I may have mentioned a few weeks ago that we tracted into a Baptist preacher. Well, we went back to see him last week and invited him to General Conference. He said something to the effect of, "You are some of the only Mormons who I can really feel and tell have truly let Christ into your lives. I can always learn more from people who study about Christ. So, it will be a pleasure to hear Thomas S. Monson." It was so exciting to see him there! He told us that one of his Mormon friends had given him a Book of Mormon recently. How interesting it was to find out that a member felt prompted to talk to him about the Church around the same time we were visiting with him! We've come to find out that there are several members in Bloomfield who know him. That made me think how easy it is to justify not sharing the gospel with someone because they are very strong in their own faith, or in the case of the preacher, PREACH a different faith. It just goes to show that we cannot judge who is ready. It will be interesting to see what happens with this man. He may be interested out of a mere intellectual curiosity, but maybe that will bud into something more.
The preacher reminds me of a cross between an old cowboy, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Whenever we visit with him, his wife is always there and he always refers to her as "Mama". It's super endearing. He made Mama teach us how to wink, last time we saw her. He also offered to give us one of his paint horses. Crazy right? Can you imagine us riding a horse as missionaries? Anyway, I wonder what will happen here. He may brush us off and dismiss our message. He may learn out of intellectual curiosity, or maybe, he could be the next Sidney Rigdon, who urges his congregation to study the Book of Mormon as well. One point of clarification, we don't know if he is a preacher that ministers on Sundays or if he just runs Bible camps. He talks a lot about "his preacher boys" who are training to become ministers. He also teaches Navajos how to read the Bible. So to be perfectly honest, his exact line of work as far as the ministry goes, is somewhat ambiguous.
I love you all. Have a great day!
Apparently, in Priesthood Session there was a story about missionaries finding a lady that had been "lost" or "dropped" by other missionaries. That message fit right in along side our Zone Conference, in which we focused a lot on using area books as Liahona's to find individuals who may not have been ready for the gospel then, but who are prepared now. But the REALLY exciting thing about General Conference was that a good number of people who we invited to come to General Conference came! Some of the people thought it was too long...and booked it out of the chapel as soon as conference was over, or in one case, right in the middle of a session. But the person we thought was LEAST likely to show up...came, and thoroughly enjoyed it....and even took copious notes!
I may have mentioned a few weeks ago that we tracted into a Baptist preacher. Well, we went back to see him last week and invited him to General Conference. He said something to the effect of, "You are some of the only Mormons who I can really feel and tell have truly let Christ into your lives. I can always learn more from people who study about Christ. So, it will be a pleasure to hear Thomas S. Monson." It was so exciting to see him there! He told us that one of his Mormon friends had given him a Book of Mormon recently. How interesting it was to find out that a member felt prompted to talk to him about the Church around the same time we were visiting with him! We've come to find out that there are several members in Bloomfield who know him. That made me think how easy it is to justify not sharing the gospel with someone because they are very strong in their own faith, or in the case of the preacher, PREACH a different faith. It just goes to show that we cannot judge who is ready. It will be interesting to see what happens with this man. He may be interested out of a mere intellectual curiosity, but maybe that will bud into something more.
The preacher reminds me of a cross between an old cowboy, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Whenever we visit with him, his wife is always there and he always refers to her as "Mama". It's super endearing. He made Mama teach us how to wink, last time we saw her. He also offered to give us one of his paint horses. Crazy right? Can you imagine us riding a horse as missionaries? Anyway, I wonder what will happen here. He may brush us off and dismiss our message. He may learn out of intellectual curiosity, or maybe, he could be the next Sidney Rigdon, who urges his congregation to study the Book of Mormon as well. One point of clarification, we don't know if he is a preacher that ministers on Sundays or if he just runs Bible camps. He talks a lot about "his preacher boys" who are training to become ministers. He also teaches Navajos how to read the Bible. So to be perfectly honest, his exact line of work as far as the ministry goes, is somewhat ambiguous.
I love you all. Have a great day!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Public Relations Campaign in Bloomfield
Brr. It snowed last night, and since we have zone conference tomorrow, we had to wash our car. One of the members here lets us use their hose every Monday. One of the Spanish Elders in our area is sick, so we offered to help them wash their truck as well. It was pretty fun. We made a mini snowman! Also, Sister Crossley had a brilliant idea for a "public relations campaign" that we could do right here in Bloomfield! We made up flyers to advertise General Conference. One of the ward missionaries let us come over and design the flyer on her computer. We gave them to the members to hand out yesterday, and we have also been using them in our tracting. After all, Thomas S. Monson was called as a prophet to speak to the world, not just our church. We are hoping to post our flyers in the Farmers' Market and the Triangle Cafe, and maybe some gas stations around town. We had to get approval from the stake president, and he was really excited about the idea, so that was good.
What else happened this week? Last week for P-Day we played a massive game of dodge ball with all the missionaries. The Elders set up tables and chair racks as barricades. It was super funny. We had to use tennis balls, basketballs, and volleyballs because we didn't have very many soft, bouncy ones. Sister Crossley video recorded it, I'll have to start doing video recordings as well.
We also had dinner with some of the Navajo families in the ward this week, and I got to try Navajo Tea! I learned about one more ceremony this week as well. I talked about the "Coming of Age" ceremony a few weeks ago. But now I know about the "Laughing Party" as well! Apparently, whenever a baby is born, the first person who can make the baby laugh has to throw the child a party. They must provide gifts for the child to give out so that it won't become selfish. I wish I could remember and had time to go into more detail. It really is a fun tradition. It reminds me a lot of Mary Poppins' laughing scene.
MOM! I almost forgot. I wrote my mission office last Monday to ask if I could order you a mission name tag in Mandarin Chinese. (My mom took her name tag to a Primary activity about missions/missionaries and couldn't find it afterwards.) My mission office said they were excited to do it for me, (I explained the situation, and was going to do it as a surprise.) But they called the MTC, who directed them to the Salt Lake City Mission Department, who said that they were not allowed to do that. But the Sister in my mission office said that if you were to call Salt Lake City yourself, you would probably have more luck. She asked if you still spoke Chinese, and I told her about how you were going back to school to learn more. She said that "we are going to need all the Chinese speakers we can get pretty soon." It made me so excited. The way she said it made me wonder whether or not she knew something I didn't know. I realize that I'm speculating a TON....and that nothing will probably happen....but President Monson asked the Church to pray for new areas to be opened to missionary work. Last Conference he talked about how he meets with leaders of other countries. How cool would it be if they announced that China was opening? I know, it's TOTALLY unlikely right now...but exciting to think about. I'm sure there will be a flood of people begging to go there when it is opened. We talked with a family who is very familiar with the Church. The mom was wearing a Chinese T-Shirt and told us that their two little girls were adopted from China. It made me think of you.
One of our investigators came to church yesterday! We were so excited! We also had a senior missionary couple talk about the, Strengthening Family Program and the, Addiction Recovery program. There is a verse in 2 Nephi that talks about never giving up on people, because you NEVER know when they will come back into the church. I'll have to look up the reference. It is good for those days when you think people will never change, and that talking to less actives and people who aren't interested is useless.
We met a lady this week who started her own church. It was kind of a tense discussion, but she showed us her "singing dog". She sang, "You are My Sunshine", and the dog would sing along. Except it sounded more like the dog was CRAZY and wanted to bite this woman's head off for trying to make it sing.
We LOVE reading the Book of Mormon with our investigators. It just calms the situation down and brings the spirit. We were in a Bible bashing situation with a family who believes that all churches that worship on Sunday are wrong and that Saturday is what the Bible tells us to do. But after we read the Book of Mormon with them, they calmed down, and said they liked it.
Okay, I know my email this week was really random. My email is WAY more disorganized than usual...but I feel a little rushed today because we're trying to make it to Farmington in time for a Luncheon. Anyway, I love you! Have a good week!
What else happened this week? Last week for P-Day we played a massive game of dodge ball with all the missionaries. The Elders set up tables and chair racks as barricades. It was super funny. We had to use tennis balls, basketballs, and volleyballs because we didn't have very many soft, bouncy ones. Sister Crossley video recorded it, I'll have to start doing video recordings as well.
We also had dinner with some of the Navajo families in the ward this week, and I got to try Navajo Tea! I learned about one more ceremony this week as well. I talked about the "Coming of Age" ceremony a few weeks ago. But now I know about the "Laughing Party" as well! Apparently, whenever a baby is born, the first person who can make the baby laugh has to throw the child a party. They must provide gifts for the child to give out so that it won't become selfish. I wish I could remember and had time to go into more detail. It really is a fun tradition. It reminds me a lot of Mary Poppins' laughing scene.
MOM! I almost forgot. I wrote my mission office last Monday to ask if I could order you a mission name tag in Mandarin Chinese. (My mom took her name tag to a Primary activity about missions/missionaries and couldn't find it afterwards.) My mission office said they were excited to do it for me, (I explained the situation, and was going to do it as a surprise.) But they called the MTC, who directed them to the Salt Lake City Mission Department, who said that they were not allowed to do that. But the Sister in my mission office said that if you were to call Salt Lake City yourself, you would probably have more luck. She asked if you still spoke Chinese, and I told her about how you were going back to school to learn more. She said that "we are going to need all the Chinese speakers we can get pretty soon." It made me so excited. The way she said it made me wonder whether or not she knew something I didn't know. I realize that I'm speculating a TON....and that nothing will probably happen....but President Monson asked the Church to pray for new areas to be opened to missionary work. Last Conference he talked about how he meets with leaders of other countries. How cool would it be if they announced that China was opening? I know, it's TOTALLY unlikely right now...but exciting to think about. I'm sure there will be a flood of people begging to go there when it is opened. We talked with a family who is very familiar with the Church. The mom was wearing a Chinese T-Shirt and told us that their two little girls were adopted from China. It made me think of you.
One of our investigators came to church yesterday! We were so excited! We also had a senior missionary couple talk about the, Strengthening Family Program and the, Addiction Recovery program. There is a verse in 2 Nephi that talks about never giving up on people, because you NEVER know when they will come back into the church. I'll have to look up the reference. It is good for those days when you think people will never change, and that talking to less actives and people who aren't interested is useless.
We met a lady this week who started her own church. It was kind of a tense discussion, but she showed us her "singing dog". She sang, "You are My Sunshine", and the dog would sing along. Except it sounded more like the dog was CRAZY and wanted to bite this woman's head off for trying to make it sing.
We LOVE reading the Book of Mormon with our investigators. It just calms the situation down and brings the spirit. We were in a Bible bashing situation with a family who believes that all churches that worship on Sunday are wrong and that Saturday is what the Bible tells us to do. But after we read the Book of Mormon with them, they calmed down, and said they liked it.
Okay, I know my email this week was really random. My email is WAY more disorganized than usual...but I feel a little rushed today because we're trying to make it to Farmington in time for a Luncheon. Anyway, I love you! Have a good week!
Squirrel Meat and Marriage Proposals
I think all of you know my history with squirrels. I hate them. When I was working in Washington D.C. two summers ago, two of them jumped on my back. They would also sprawl out by my park bench and wag their tails, anticipating me to feed them...which for the record, I refused to do. Well, this week one of my favorite families in the ward tried to get me to eat squirrel. I knew that they would never let me live it down if I refused to eat it, and I knew it would make a good story. So I leaped right into the experience and choked it down. My eyes started watering, and I could feel myself start to gag. I didn't want to throw up right in their kitchen, so I made myself swallow the bite before I could fully chew it. I just kept picturing this gristly meat and a furry tail going down my throat. The wife was worried about me, I looked so sick. Well, her husband had finally gotten a big enough reaction out of me that he felt it was okay to tell me the truth. It was only hamburger meat put in a small dish. My gullibility has been very entertaining to them lately. I should just learn to never believe anything anyone tells me!
I also got my first marriage proposal of the week. We were contacting former investigators...there are a TON to go through. We were trying to get out of one particular home because one of the individuals had been drinking and we needed to move on. As we walked out to the gate, the guy followed us out and asked Sister Crossley and I if we were married. I just looked at her like a deer in the headlights. "How are we going to get out of this one?" I thought. Sister Crossley smiled, and said. "Someday." He replied by saying, "Well, you know...I'm available." It was one of those situations we just had to laugh off. This experience has kind of been the theme of the week.
I wish I had more stories for you...but not much happened. We did meet one girl about our age who is super interested in the church. I'm SO excited to get to know her better. I just love her already. One of our investigators gave us a Navajo stuff, so exciting! Sister Crossley is keeping the Navajo religion booklet, and I'm keeping the Navajo Bible I think. But it is big, so I might need to mail it home.
I think this transfer period will be exciting. We picked up three new investigators on Saturday, and a lot of the people we were working with last transfer period seem to be ready to move forward soon. I feel like lots of good things are about to happen. I am excited for this area and love being here.
I love all the mail I've been getting from friends, family and ward members. I usually try to reply within two weeks. Well, that's about it. I love you all. I love this time in my life, being a missionary is wonderful.
I also got my first marriage proposal of the week. We were contacting former investigators...there are a TON to go through. We were trying to get out of one particular home because one of the individuals had been drinking and we needed to move on. As we walked out to the gate, the guy followed us out and asked Sister Crossley and I if we were married. I just looked at her like a deer in the headlights. "How are we going to get out of this one?" I thought. Sister Crossley smiled, and said. "Someday." He replied by saying, "Well, you know...I'm available." It was one of those situations we just had to laugh off. This experience has kind of been the theme of the week.
I wish I had more stories for you...but not much happened. We did meet one girl about our age who is super interested in the church. I'm SO excited to get to know her better. I just love her already. One of our investigators gave us a Navajo stuff, so exciting! Sister Crossley is keeping the Navajo religion booklet, and I'm keeping the Navajo Bible I think. But it is big, so I might need to mail it home.
I think this transfer period will be exciting. We picked up three new investigators on Saturday, and a lot of the people we were working with last transfer period seem to be ready to move forward soon. I feel like lots of good things are about to happen. I am excited for this area and love being here.
I love all the mail I've been getting from friends, family and ward members. I usually try to reply within two weeks. Well, that's about it. I love you all. I love this time in my life, being a missionary is wonderful.
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