Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Hey hey!

We taught Vader again and he is set to be baptized on March 28th. It's right after transfers, so we are crossing our fingers we can help him to feel confident to move it up a week. Suddenly Ft. Eustis is booming. Well not booming, but way more than the rest of the time I've been here. We have a member referral we are waiting to meet. Supposedly this Sunday... And the senior couple on base, the Delaney's got a referral for us too. It's this man named Ryan who is from Kentucky. He has the sweetest accent ever. He is pretty desperate for religion. He didn't grow up going to church, but he had some bad experiences over in Iraq, so he really wants God in his life. We teach him on Saturday and we are so excited!

We also have 3 primary kids set to be baptized in March as well. One is the daughter of a lady who has recently started coming back to church. The other two belong to a couple that we randomly stopped by once and they were like "we want to come back to church". So they are really excited for their kids to be baptized. I love teaching primary kids. I've taught quite a few in my 5 months, so I hope it continues! They are the funnest to teach hands down.

We had a couple of really nice days and then it got cold again. We were told to expect light snow tonight. VA weather is so weird!

Everything is going really well. We have a mission conference on Friday that we are excited for. It is when half the mission gets together and Pres. Millburn and the assistants teach us for 5 hours. I always love the meetings. I learn so much and get so pumped to do the work. We had a zone meeting last Friday and it was really good as well. Sis. Dickson and I had to role play in front of everyone...I hate doing that! I had to with Sis. Cox and the last mission conference and it was so bad. But this one Sis. Dickson and I did good! I can role play just fine, except when I am in front of a group. Haha

Do ya'll remember that I hated birds? Well I've met someone that hates them more. Meet my comp Sis. Dickson. She runs and hides whenever there are birds near. I hardly ever see them and she's like "there's a big red bird over there." haha anyways!
Love ya!

Sister Talbot

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

It's Weird!

How is everything going? Going well here. Oh well minus the fact that my body is retarded, but what's new?! So my body has been getting really exhausted for a month and last week for like 3 days I could not stay awake and was a walking zombie. It was weird. We have a medical missionary and she told me to get tested for anemia. So I did and it turned up negative for anemia. So they don't know what's up, but they did give me Astelin for my allergies. Yep, they are already being super. And I had to go to the Chiropractor today to get cracked. He is a member and does it for free. My neck got all weird again like it does sometimes, so it's sweet that there is a chiropractor around. Sister Dickson thought he was going to break me...haha it was funny. So other than my body issues this week, it was a pretty normal missionary week.

We finally had an investigator to teach on Ft. Eustis yesterday. His name is Vader. They go by last names. He is actually RLDS, so it was funny teaching him. We kept asking him, so is this the same? Is this the same? Haha. He's cool and I think he might go on the temple trip to DC with the soldiers at the end of the month. That would be a good experience for him! And we also committed Corey and Lenae to go see the temple together too. It was a funny lesson because he was straight faced the whole time. At the end I finally asked him what he was thinking because he appeared to be weirded out or something. He smiled and said he thought the temple was cool. That was a relief, because I was like what did we say that would have weirded him out? Haha. He is so cool and I cannot wait for life to work out for them to be married, so he can be baptized. Sister Dickson and I are already planning on coming out when they get sealed!

We have recently gotten into a few less actives doors that missionaries have been trying for a long time. It's been so cool to talk to them. Some don't remember anything about the church and some are like I know I need to come back. We have made a goal to always have a member with us or have the lesson in a member's home to help the less active members bond and create friendships. It's is so crazy how willing the less active members are here to meet with the missionaries. I don't remember it being quite like this in NN1. Then again we had way more investigator's to teach. It's such a different area, it's weird how different it is just crossing over one road.

Well I am out of time. Oh how time flies on the mission. Oh I forgot to tell you. It's weird but all the members always guess I'm 23 or 24. I don't know why, it's weird. But I cut my bangs short again and someone told me I look like a little girl. Haha

Love ya!
Sister Talbot

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

New Pics

Sweet sign in Hampton. They had another one that said "God is like Tide. He gets the stains out."
                          
                I love this pic of Sis. Dickson! And yes, we use a dust pan to clean the snow of our car!
           We taught Lynn Walker in Hampton. She is so cool. She is from the Philippines and made us chicken adobo and lumpias yesterday. It was sooo good.
A cool old church that I really like!

Hello Again

So the myldsmail.net has started up this google email thing for us, so it gave me a new email address. It is now katy.talbot@myldsmail.net. The old one will still forward emails to my new one, but start to use my new one as soon as you can just in case.

We got transfer calls last night. Everything is staying the same. Sister Dickson and I will be together in NN2 again! We have been having a lot of fun and teaching and finding a lot of people, but still struggling to get these people baptized! This transfer we are really going to focus on and figure out what we can do and what we can change, so that these people will have the desire to become a member of the Lord's church. The "quality" of the missionary really affects the success in an area. It has been proven to me and I am convinced of it! So I need to figure out what I need to do to be a better quality missionary.

We had a lesson with a Hindu family this week. Hindu's have VERY different beliefs than we do, so we were so nervous! But when we got there the guy was like yeah I believe in Jesus Christ and that there is one "main" God. So we really had no need to be nervous. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he said he believed it all, but he doesn't believe in the important physical things like going to church, getting baptized, and well actually doing anything about his beliefs. So it was an "informative" lesson for him. But I've now taught a Hindu family!

We are now teaching this family from Burma...came here from Thailand though. They are awesome! They live in our apartment complex and we found them on one of the snow days when we went to check out the roads. The son is 16 I think and he speaks really good English. His parents speak little English, so we had him translate the first lesson for us. It went really well and they are excited about everything. We gave them the Lamb of God when we first met them and the son said he watched it 10 times. Hahaha. His name in Yinhoo (said yayhoo!), but he goes by Scott.

Hampton is getting new missionaries this week, so they have a set full time. We are sad to give it away, but it needs FT missionaries BAD! There is a lot of work to be done there. Maybe someday I will get transferred there...

Well I love you all and hope everything is going well! In my BoM reading I read 2 Nephi 31:20 today. I love this verse and it is a well used missionary verse. Do me a favor and pull out your BoM and ponder it and ask yourself what this means for you? How is this verse talking to you?

Well we are experiencing yet another snow storm. I remember Joseph Hamilton when I first got here telling me that we are lucky to get one snow the whole winter. This is time 5 or 6! It's so weird.

Love ya,
Sister Talbot

Friday, February 5, 2010

Baby, it's cold outside!

Katy's email from Wednesday, February 3, 2010

How's it going in AZ? Things are picking up here in VA. When I say picking up I mean literally. We had a snowstorm start Friday night and the snow is still around, but people are actually braving it now. It was a lot of snow actually for this area. Someone told us they haven't had this much since 1997. When this happens the city shuts down pretty much. They've been out of school all week, they cancelled church, and we were apt. bound all weekend. We were in Sat and Sunday and then Monday they said we could go if we felt safe. After being inside for 2 days, we felt safe enough! Haha. Monday was so warm and sunny, so it was a good day to be out. The roads are still covered in a lot of areas, but it's stayed warm enough that there hasn't been too much ice. People have freaked out about the snow, it's been so hilarious. When they hear I'm from AZ, they always are just like "oh this must be a lot of snow for you!" Haha, well not exactly.

So I have this curse I spread to my District Leaders or something. My first DL was emergency transferred out of Hampton and then my 2nd one went home sick. Now I'm on to my 3rd...Elder Frampton (from 1st Ward). Hopefully I don't curse him too. But I am back in my old district now!!! Yay! This is because my last one went home last week, so they combined our districts instead of bringing a new one in. So my first assignment from E. Frampton was to train at a meeting on how we can center our teachings on the Restoration of the gospel. I think it went pretty good, but I have never trained before in that setting.

I cannot believe transfers are already next week. I swear we just had them. I hope I can stay with Sis. Dickson...we think it would be fun to be shotgunned into Hampton. We love going to Hampton! We are teaching the wife of a member. She is from the Philippines and so cute. Here in NN2 we are teaching this woman named Latisha. We meet so many people whose name starts with La, it's hilarious. Latisha is awesome. She wants to find a church and to find the right one. She is really excited about learning and coming to church. She was so bummed they cancelled church last week! We love her! We are also teaching the boyfriend of a less active member. He is eating this up and doing so good. He wants to be baptized, but he said he thinks he might wait a year or so. Ahhhh! No way Jose! They are so cool and um younger than me. I just realized I am going to be 25 this year! Why didn't someone warn me I was getting old!?!

We are having Zone P-Day today. Volleyball and basketball. Too bad the sisters cannot play b-ball though!!! We can't play with the elders, which makes sense...but it's b-ball season! Haha

Love you all like Neely loves snowboarding. Have fun!

Sister Talbot

Saturday, January 30, 2010

New driver's license. Horrible picture of course! Why can't we smile?!
Jamestown sisters and us. Sis. Schorzman is in brown and my comp Sis. Dickson is next to me.
Cool sign I saw that Sis. Marvin had.

Cool gold plates I thought would be cool if dad could make some for the seminary.

Keara's cousin who is dating a recent convert of the singles branch. We had a zone breakfast and she was there and recognized my name and I recognized her.

Me in front of some river on one the cold days!

All the missionaries that finished the year in 1st Ward: Spanish-Lusk, Zobrist...Timmons, Bishop Hamilton, Frampton, Me, Sis. Cox

Email on January 27, 2010

Hey how's it going? It's another one of those weeks that feels like I just wrote yesterday. Will I ever get used to how time flies? Sounds like you've all had exciting weather! Well we've enjoyed a long stretch of sweet weather! We had one day of rainy, but a lot of really nice days. We heard it was supposed to snow this weekend though. Everyone tells us we've had a weird winter this year. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be actually, so I'm doing good!

I'll try and send pics this week. My hour runs away from me! Today has been the most relaxed P-Day ever. We took a nap and it was great. I've been so exhausted every night...I'm not sure I've stayed awake in personal prayers in days! Haha. There is a lot of work to be done here, so it keeps us busy. We are going to Hampton all day Friday, so that will be fun. We LOVE going to Hampton!

Last week we had exchanges. I went to Jamestown for 2 days with Sis. Schorzman who was Sis. Dickson's comp in the MTC. It was soooo different. It's the richest ward in the mission and so there really isn't anything ghetto.  People with a lot of money aren't necessarily open to talk to missionaries, so we got a lot of doors slammed in our faces in Jamestown. I think I can count the number of door slams in NN on one hand. The sisters weren't teaching any investigators-they taught Less Actives all day every day. Well that's not how a mission should be, so we hunted down about 8 investigators over the 2 days. I hope they can keep teaching them! They were really cool people.

Last night we went to Ft. Eustis for FHE and we actually had soldiers there this time. The senior couple (DeLaneys) taught a lesson and then we played Apples to Apples. Well that was fun and so awkward at the same time. Imagine 2 sister missionaries and a handful of single soldiers playing a game like Apples to Apples.......hahahaha

Well we are building up a good teaching pool here and we're lovin it. I'll have to tell you about some investigators next week. We've got some real solids.

Love ya!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Sister Dickson - January 21, 2010

Sounds like you've had yuck weather. We've had 5 days of amazing weather. I haven't had to wear a coat! It's been great. Before that though was frigid. The boots I got helped a lot. We heard it's supposed to dip down again tomorrow. :(

My new companion is Sister Dickson. We were in the MTC together actually. She is from Gilroy, CA and went to BYU-I for a year and then went out to BYU-Hawaii and was there before her mission. She is a fun spunky girl. She always wanted to go on a mission too! Her first 2 transfers were a lot different than mine that's for sure. Her trainer had only been out 3 months and so they had a lot of struggles together. I don't think she pictured a mission being like her first 3 months, so she was glad for a change. We've changed the area a lot and are in the process of building up a good teaching pool. It may take us all transfer, but she should be able to see a baptism. This area has been pretty dormant, so it's taking a lot of work and late nights, but soon it will be awesome!

Sister Dickson and I have been having a lot of fun. She missed out on a lot of fun, so we are making sure we have extra. Talking to everyone is yielding crazy results, but showing the Lord that we want people to teach. We are still teaching our neighbors downstairs (the Africans). I don't think they really understand what we are talking about, but it's fun to try! We are also teaching a LA member's fiance. He gets 100% of what we are saying, but I don't think he is spiritually converted yet though. We will teach him tomorrow and may set him for baptism!
That's so cool grandma is getting baptized. I bet Elder Arntsen is bummed it wasn't before he left. Oh well. Don't all the missionaries in Eagar go to Chandler? Haha.

It's crazy that this transfer is half over. I will never get over the time warp on the mission.

Well I love you and miss you!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Hello hello from NN2 - Jan. 13, 2010

It's been another exciting week in Newport News 2nd Ward. It's been so different here than 1st Ward. When I got to 2nd Ward they weren't really teaching anyone, so the teaching pool was zilch...only people who had no intentions of being baptized. Well I'm used to baptizing, so we decided to red zone to the end zone them (baptize or drop). Since Sis. Dickson and I've been together we've found over 30 new investigators. We had a zone conference yesterday and Pres. Millburn said he is really excited for us and this area. We are excited too! It's weird coming to an area that had missionaries and treating it like an area that didn't have missionaries. Oh and speaking of an area that doesn't have missionaries...Hampton. The missionaries were taken out of there before the end of this last transfer because of some drama going on and so there isn't anyone there now full time. But President informed us that he wants us to cover it until next transfer when hopefully someone will be put in there. Crazy! So we will be teaching the recent converts and the rest of the people they were teaching. So we should have a couple of Hampton baptisms this transfer hopefully. They were teaching a wife of a member and she was really progressing. Now we just need to go meet with her. I'm excited. I really like Hampton and I was actually hoping to get transferred in there sometime, so maybe I will next transfer! Sis. Dickson also randomly thought she would like to be in Hampton sometime too. So this works out pretty cool we get to work there. We'll probably go over there once a week or so.
So I was thinking of getting a haircut today. This ward actually has 2 ladies that do hair, but I think we will play volleyball instead. My hair is so long right now, it's crazy! Luckily my hair is pretty healthy.
We've been enjoying the oranges very much, thank you! Sis. Dickson's fave fruit are citrus and she says these are soooo good. Good as always!
That's awesome that grandma is going to get baptized! I'm really bummed she didn't do it 6 months ago!!! Haha.
Well stay tuned for the good news that will be soon to come from 2nd Ward. With good members and motivated missionaries there should be lots to write about soon.

I love you all and thanks for the letters. I love to get them from you.

Sister Talbot

Saturday, January 9, 2010

NEW AREA - NEW YEAR - NEW COMPANION - JAN. 6, 2010

It has been BUSY in the 2nd Ward these past fews days. Because of weather and mechanical stuff I didn't transfer until Saturday. Not a lot of anything was happening in the area before Sis. Dickson and I became companions. Not sure why because the sister I replaced is a good missionary. They haven't had a convert baptism in at least 6 months and probably awhile before that. But since we've been comps we've found 20 new investigators. That's HUGE! Which means we are so wiped out! I haven't even unpacked my bags all the way either. We plan till 10:30pm every night. It is CRAZY! The ward is so awesome too! We've had members call and leave a voicemail asking what can they can do for us. So once we get these investigators going with lessons we will be using the members a lot more. The Bishopric is so good too. I am really excited to see how this ward grows over the next however many months I'm here.
Saturday and Sunday were freezing here. Oh it was so cold! Sis. Dickson and I are on the hunt for boots today. I don't think I could survive the winter without them. Cross your fingers we can find cute, cheap, warm boots.
We went to Fort Eustis yesterday and taught the FHE lesson. Nobody was really there. But I guess school is justing starting back, so more people should come next week. We talked to them about inviting others to the services and sharing the gospel. It was cool.
The 2nd Ward isn't very diverse. No Africans. No Spanish. But we are hoping to change that. Downstairs from us is the African family that we are going to start teaching. They speak Swahili and Kalundi (I have no idea how to spell that) like the branch I taught in SLC. There are from Burundi and Tanzania. I only know one Swahili word! And they don't have the Book of Mormon in those languages...I already checked before my mission, so that's a bummer.
Time is passing by so quickly out here. People ask how long I've been out and it's weird to say 4 months. I feel like it's been only 1!

I love and miss you all.

Sister Talbot