Sounds like everybody had a great Thanksgiving in Mesa. It was really great here in Richmond! We went to Misty Gholson's house with her and her 5 kids. I will have to email pics later...running short on time. Her kids are 13, 9, 6, 5, and 2. It was soooo fun! We had some different foods for Thanksgiving than I am used to and it was all really good. We had collard greens, mac & cheese, macaroni salad, lil smokies, sweet potato pie and then a lot of the traditional foods. In the evening we went to the Thompson's house and they had over the elders and a bunch of other young families who didn't go home for Thanksgiving. We had banana pudding there...they had a lot of food left by the time we got there. We went late just for games! The banana pudding sucked me in. It's so good. How did I never have it before VA?!?! And then after that we went to Sis. Campbell's with the elders and we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. It was another P-Day, so I took a nap! Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and my VA family took good care of us!
So yep, transfer calls last night. I am staying in Richmond and Sis. Stoehr (steer) is coming here. She has been with Sis. Dickson in the Manchester Ward the last few transfers. She has been out 9 months. Sis. Adaniya is replacing elders in Charlottesville with Sis. Cooper. That should be a lot of fun! I don't really know much about Sis. Stoehr, but everytime I see her she is really positive and upbeat and I do know she is a hard worker. That is so good because Richmond needs a serious overhaul, so it's good that we are both new to the area and have no bias about members or areas of the city. She was trained by Sis. Cox during her last 2 transfers in the mission.
We have recently been talking a lot in meetings about how important the Sacrament is. Getting people to church in the areas I have served has been a struggle, but it is "the most important meeting to the salvation of our souls." I can't remember where that quote came from, but I like it. What I've learned in a nutshell about the Sacrament on my mission: The sacrament itself is more than just remembering Christ. We should remember Him always as we covenant to do. The important part about sacrament is receiving the remission of our sins. It's like we are being rebaptized each Sunday. The remembering is just a fraction. We should think throughout the sacrament about the covenants we made at baptism and repent and think of how we can be more like Christ. It's in D&C 20:77 and Moroni 4:3 where we can read the prayer for the bread where the covenants we make are listed. It's the renewing of our covenants (done in mind and heart) which makes the sacrament so important...more important than even General Conference. As we promise to keep those covenants each Sunday, the Lord promises us a remission of our sins and His Spirit. So it really is like baptism!
We had a really funny experience last week. We were tracting on this street and one lady comes up to the door and says "one minute" and she was on the phone. And suddenly she says on the phone, "let's pray". So she starts with the Lord's Prayer and then keeps going on. After a minute or two she starts getting louder and her voice has a rythm to it and then she started stomping eventually and raising her arm. She was getting really into it. At close to 10 minutes of us waiting and laughing (inside and out! we couldn't help it!-she had her back to us!) I said "ma'am" and got no response. She was so into her prayer! We finally had to leave for a lesson and so we just left a card. I wanted to talk to her so bad! It really puts into perspective what Christ means when He says to pray in our closets and secret places. Hahaha we are still laughing about her. Here are some quotes: "And we pray for those in the institutions. We know you died for them too." "And we love everyone, even if they're gay." I would have to say this was the highlight of last week because it was so unreal and soooo funny. I love Virginia! Oh and Sis. Ibrahim made us some good African food too. She made this spicy spinach tilapia dish with mashed white yams and fried plantains. I love my life!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Hey from Richmond, Monday, Nov. 22
Hi family! Sounds like Ashlyn's baptism was really nice. I'm sad I missed it, but I am so happy that she made the decision to be baptized.
I spent 4 days last week at the Leadership Training Meeting. It was so awesome! We were trained on how to not just teach lessons or just invite people to do things, but how to teach to the people and their needs and how to help them keep committments. We've had trainings on those things my whole mission, but it is a new training program that will begin at the MTC in May. Our mission is one of those that is trying the new program out to fix any kinks. I think it's great. We've been having Zone and District trainings on it since Pres. Perry got here and it's really helped us a lot. In the evenings I was with Sis. Niemela and Sis. Butterfield in the Gayton area. We had a Thanksgiving dinner with one of the Gayton members. I love pumpkin pie! Feel free to send pumpkin goodies my way this holiday season. The member here in Richmond that we are having Thanksgiving with doesn't like pumpkin pie, so I won't get any on Thanksgiving. But we'll probably make some rounds to find some :) We are eating Thanksgiving dinner with Misty and her 5 kids. Her daughters Joyce and Ashley are recent converts and she has started to come back to church since their baptism. They are such a fun little family. They have a lot of trials in their lives, but they find a lot of happiness in the gospel. It's refreshing to see families/individuals like this who literally see the change in their lives when they let Christ back in. I read somewhere, probably PMG, a line that goes something like, we don't truly have faith in Christ until we start living the principles and ordinances of the gospel.
We had a fun FHE last week with the kids from the projects. We meet with them every week along with the elders. We usually meet at the park, but now because it's so dark we are meeting at the Ibrahim's house. They live in the Gilpin Court projects. The elders make us call them when we enter the area and they wait for us outside and walk us in. It's kind of funny, but really nice. The Ibrahim's are the best. They are from Nigeria and she is a great cook. She had dinner for us last week and we are going again on Wednesday for dinner too. She pulls out a regular dinner plate and fills the whole thing with rice and then slaps on fish, beef, and the best fried chicken ever. We passed those over to the elders and offered to help dish our own. The elders must have been so full, because those plates were loaded. Haha. She is a really good cook! We are teaching the lesson tonight and I hope she has food again :) We are having a charades activity and it's going to be so funny. We are bringing props for bonus points. We have randomly collected a drum and a trumpet and some other various items recently, so we thought it would be perfect to use them tonight. We've wondered what to do with them and now we know. Haha
So yesterday the 5 of us missionaries and Sis. Naylor (senior couple sister) sang in sacrament meeting. I thought I was going to pass out. We sang a song called Servants of Our God. Sis. Campell in the ward wrote and composed it and a few weeks ago walked up to us and said you're singing in church in 3 weeks. It's a good thing she told us, otherwise I might have politely declined. I don't know how it sounded, but I hope okay. Haha. Never again, never again.
Have a great Thanksgiving!!!!!!
I spent 4 days last week at the Leadership Training Meeting. It was so awesome! We were trained on how to not just teach lessons or just invite people to do things, but how to teach to the people and their needs and how to help them keep committments. We've had trainings on those things my whole mission, but it is a new training program that will begin at the MTC in May. Our mission is one of those that is trying the new program out to fix any kinks. I think it's great. We've been having Zone and District trainings on it since Pres. Perry got here and it's really helped us a lot. In the evenings I was with Sis. Niemela and Sis. Butterfield in the Gayton area. We had a Thanksgiving dinner with one of the Gayton members. I love pumpkin pie! Feel free to send pumpkin goodies my way this holiday season. The member here in Richmond that we are having Thanksgiving with doesn't like pumpkin pie, so I won't get any on Thanksgiving. But we'll probably make some rounds to find some :) We are eating Thanksgiving dinner with Misty and her 5 kids. Her daughters Joyce and Ashley are recent converts and she has started to come back to church since their baptism. They are such a fun little family. They have a lot of trials in their lives, but they find a lot of happiness in the gospel. It's refreshing to see families/individuals like this who literally see the change in their lives when they let Christ back in. I read somewhere, probably PMG, a line that goes something like, we don't truly have faith in Christ until we start living the principles and ordinances of the gospel.
We had a fun FHE last week with the kids from the projects. We meet with them every week along with the elders. We usually meet at the park, but now because it's so dark we are meeting at the Ibrahim's house. They live in the Gilpin Court projects. The elders make us call them when we enter the area and they wait for us outside and walk us in. It's kind of funny, but really nice. The Ibrahim's are the best. They are from Nigeria and she is a great cook. She had dinner for us last week and we are going again on Wednesday for dinner too. She pulls out a regular dinner plate and fills the whole thing with rice and then slaps on fish, beef, and the best fried chicken ever. We passed those over to the elders and offered to help dish our own. The elders must have been so full, because those plates were loaded. Haha. She is a really good cook! We are teaching the lesson tonight and I hope she has food again :) We are having a charades activity and it's going to be so funny. We are bringing props for bonus points. We have randomly collected a drum and a trumpet and some other various items recently, so we thought it would be perfect to use them tonight. We've wondered what to do with them and now we know. Haha
So yesterday the 5 of us missionaries and Sis. Naylor (senior couple sister) sang in sacrament meeting. I thought I was going to pass out. We sang a song called Servants of Our God. Sis. Campell in the ward wrote and composed it and a few weeks ago walked up to us and said you're singing in church in 3 weeks. It's a good thing she told us, otherwise I might have politely declined. I don't know how it sounded, but I hope okay. Haha. Never again, never again.
Have a great Thanksgiving!!!!!!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Weekly News from Richmond
We had the Primary Program yesterday. It was really good. We have a pretty small Primary, but pretty much all of the kids sang and sang good! Because of being in Singles for a long time, I have missed out on lots of Primary programs. But I've had 2 in the last 6 weeks!
This last Wednesday the whole mission had a car fast. So no car from 10am-5pm. No big deal for most elders who aren't even in a car and they also all have bikes. Long day for sisters who have feet as the alternate mode of transportation. We had to move a lesson because we couldn't get anyone to come with us and it was really far away! I like the idea of a car fast, but 7 hours is long! If we had small areas like they do in South America it wouldn't be a big deal. Our area is surprisingly large. We will be doing it the 2nd Wednesday of every month, so we'll plan better next time. More advance notice.
I found out on Saturday night that this upcoming Tue-Fri I will be attending a Leadership Training in another area along with a few other sisters and all the DL's and ZL's. They do it every couple of months and I'm up now. So we've been last minute trying to figure out what Sis. Adaniya is going to do. She will be with Hermana Law and in the evenings I think I will be in the Gayton area with another sister who serves there that is also going to the training. It's kind of a mess. Normally they just have all the sisters stay at the mission home, but the 3 of us going from the Richmond Zone have to come back to Richmond. So we'll miss out on the fun sister stuff. Unless of course we talk to Sis. Perry and she lets us join in ;)
We taught quite a few lessons this week with most of them being recent coverts and less active members. There are a lot in the Branch! This area is just so different from my others. Hardly any of our new investigators keep their appointments, which in Norfolk most of the people kept their appointments! It's weird because we really don't teach that many investigator lessons throughout the week. I don't really like that! I can't figure out why either. I really feel like there is a family that we are supposed to find that we haven't found yet. I like Richmond and the Branch is really diverse, but I have really missed Norfolk this week. I hope to see Sis. Vawdrey at the training, but I don't know if she gets to come or not. David Payne is supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, so I hope that's still happening!!!
We have one investigator with a baptismal date, Jessica. I think I mentioned her before. She's the one who was a member until her mom had her name removed when she was younger. She wasn't able to come to church again yesterday, so we might need to move her baptismal date back another week or two. She is doing well, but still needs to be taught a lot. We have had a few sisters in the ward come to the lessons and that is really helpful for her. She really likes everyone she meets! Her concerns are more social and cultural that doctrinal. Whenever we teach her doctrine she has her doctrinal questions answered without having to ask them, which is great. But she has concerns about not wanting to take out her piercings and she has tattoos and things like that. Lots of people have those concerns, but that is small potatoes compared to gaining a spiritual witness of Christ's church.
This last Wednesday the whole mission had a car fast. So no car from 10am-5pm. No big deal for most elders who aren't even in a car and they also all have bikes. Long day for sisters who have feet as the alternate mode of transportation. We had to move a lesson because we couldn't get anyone to come with us and it was really far away! I like the idea of a car fast, but 7 hours is long! If we had small areas like they do in South America it wouldn't be a big deal. Our area is surprisingly large. We will be doing it the 2nd Wednesday of every month, so we'll plan better next time. More advance notice.
I found out on Saturday night that this upcoming Tue-Fri I will be attending a Leadership Training in another area along with a few other sisters and all the DL's and ZL's. They do it every couple of months and I'm up now. So we've been last minute trying to figure out what Sis. Adaniya is going to do. She will be with Hermana Law and in the evenings I think I will be in the Gayton area with another sister who serves there that is also going to the training. It's kind of a mess. Normally they just have all the sisters stay at the mission home, but the 3 of us going from the Richmond Zone have to come back to Richmond. So we'll miss out on the fun sister stuff. Unless of course we talk to Sis. Perry and she lets us join in ;)
We taught quite a few lessons this week with most of them being recent coverts and less active members. There are a lot in the Branch! This area is just so different from my others. Hardly any of our new investigators keep their appointments, which in Norfolk most of the people kept their appointments! It's weird because we really don't teach that many investigator lessons throughout the week. I don't really like that! I can't figure out why either. I really feel like there is a family that we are supposed to find that we haven't found yet. I like Richmond and the Branch is really diverse, but I have really missed Norfolk this week. I hope to see Sis. Vawdrey at the training, but I don't know if she gets to come or not. David Payne is supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, so I hope that's still happening!!!
We have one investigator with a baptismal date, Jessica. I think I mentioned her before. She's the one who was a member until her mom had her name removed when she was younger. She wasn't able to come to church again yesterday, so we might need to move her baptismal date back another week or two. She is doing well, but still needs to be taught a lot. We have had a few sisters in the ward come to the lessons and that is really helpful for her. She really likes everyone she meets! Her concerns are more social and cultural that doctrinal. Whenever we teach her doctrine she has her doctrinal questions answered without having to ask them, which is great. But she has concerns about not wanting to take out her piercings and she has tattoos and things like that. Lots of people have those concerns, but that is small potatoes compared to gaining a spiritual witness of Christ's church.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Another Week in Richmond
Richmond is just so different and it's great! There are a lot more opportunities for "creative finding" around here. Just like Phoenix does First Friday, so does Richmond. Friday night we set up a free hot cocoa stand on Broad St. and between us and the elders we passed out anything we could to whoever would listen. We were able to set up some lessons and get some phone numbers. It was really cool and not traditional finding which was so nice! There were a lot of people who didn't want to listen, but we planted many seeds! The missionaries who serve in the singles ward also were there and we heard they found a family. Since they are in the singles, I'm hoping that family will get passed to us...hoping they live in our area of course. Last night we did some finding at the MCV hospital and found out some information for coming to volunteer. There is a big cancer center, so I hope we can volunteer there! While there I saw Sis. Augustine from the Newport News 2nd Ward. I forgot that she worked there and commuted. So it was great to see her. She is having her 2nd c-section in 9 days from now! She is pretty much the exact same story as Neely with trying forever to get pregnant and all the stuff that goes along with it and she also has a 5 year old, but she has girls.
We've been able to have some great lessons with some of the young families in the ward this last week. They are all so excited about the Branch and love everyone in it. It really is a family here in Richmond. We met with the Shafer family last night. They are here for dental school. They live out of the area and were assigned to come to the Branch. They are awesome!!!! They both served missions and are still interested in sharing the gospel and helping to fellowship and teach! She's been out with us twice and has a powerful testimony. We talked to them about how it's inspired of the Lord for them to be where they are and that if they continue to go about doing good the Lord will lead them to people who are prepared to hear the restored gospel. I love Ch.9 in PMG! We read with them "Find Them That Will Receive You" and parts from "Go About Doing Good". It is a promise to all that if we seek to do the Lord's will then He will allow us opportunities to invite others to come unto Christ. It doesn't mean those opportunities will necessarily result in a baptism, but surely cultivating a seed for future acceptance. I hope that in your families you have made a goal to pray and seek for missionary opportunities. I love this quote from I think Elder Uchtdorf, "When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer." I know that prayer is only part of it. We have to seek for opportunities and have faith in the Lord that He will help us to know what to say and what to do. Sharing the gospel doesn't have to be big and grand. It can be a simple declaration of our belief, it can be sharing a pass along card to the checker at the store, or it can be inviting someone over to teach them about FHE. Missionary work brings more joy into our lives! Read the First Presidency message at the beginning of PMG for some really sweet promised blessings.
Yesterday we taught our investigator Jessica and brought Sis. Derricott with us. Sis. Derricott was baptized on October 9th and has a really solid testimony of the Restoration and of Joseph Smith and is excited about learning more through the Book of Mormon. Her excitement is really catching and Jessica LOVED her and loved being able to ask her questions about her conversion and how she has been able to overcome opposition in her life. Jessica is getting baptized on Nov. 28th and it is going to be a great day for her. She was baptized at 13 and then a few years later without her knowledge her mother had her name removed from the records. She recently was put back into contact with missionaries and after a whole ordeal the sisters discovered the whole story and now she is preparing to be rebaptized. I had never heard of anything like this before. What an opportunity to be baptized again! Her daughter is almost 5 and is soooo smart. When we taught Jessica on Friday Rosie was combing and playing with my hair during the whole lesson. It was really therapuetic. I need one of those copper head things that are amazing. I don't know what they are called. Does anyone know what I am talking about?
The extra hour of sleep for daylight savings killed me. I was so tired yesterday! And I woke up early today, but luckily went back to sleep. My body is on such a system right now. It's weird. I wonder what I'll be like when I get home. Are my days of sleeping in over? Nah, probably not :)
I love each and every one of you! It is always great to hear how you are doing and of course see how you are doing in pictures. I hope you are doing well and that you are all happy because of the gospel!
We've been able to have some great lessons with some of the young families in the ward this last week. They are all so excited about the Branch and love everyone in it. It really is a family here in Richmond. We met with the Shafer family last night. They are here for dental school. They live out of the area and were assigned to come to the Branch. They are awesome!!!! They both served missions and are still interested in sharing the gospel and helping to fellowship and teach! She's been out with us twice and has a powerful testimony. We talked to them about how it's inspired of the Lord for them to be where they are and that if they continue to go about doing good the Lord will lead them to people who are prepared to hear the restored gospel. I love Ch.9 in PMG! We read with them "Find Them That Will Receive You" and parts from "Go About Doing Good". It is a promise to all that if we seek to do the Lord's will then He will allow us opportunities to invite others to come unto Christ. It doesn't mean those opportunities will necessarily result in a baptism, but surely cultivating a seed for future acceptance. I hope that in your families you have made a goal to pray and seek for missionary opportunities. I love this quote from I think Elder Uchtdorf, "When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer." I know that prayer is only part of it. We have to seek for opportunities and have faith in the Lord that He will help us to know what to say and what to do. Sharing the gospel doesn't have to be big and grand. It can be a simple declaration of our belief, it can be sharing a pass along card to the checker at the store, or it can be inviting someone over to teach them about FHE. Missionary work brings more joy into our lives! Read the First Presidency message at the beginning of PMG for some really sweet promised blessings.
Yesterday we taught our investigator Jessica and brought Sis. Derricott with us. Sis. Derricott was baptized on October 9th and has a really solid testimony of the Restoration and of Joseph Smith and is excited about learning more through the Book of Mormon. Her excitement is really catching and Jessica LOVED her and loved being able to ask her questions about her conversion and how she has been able to overcome opposition in her life. Jessica is getting baptized on Nov. 28th and it is going to be a great day for her. She was baptized at 13 and then a few years later without her knowledge her mother had her name removed from the records. She recently was put back into contact with missionaries and after a whole ordeal the sisters discovered the whole story and now she is preparing to be rebaptized. I had never heard of anything like this before. What an opportunity to be baptized again! Her daughter is almost 5 and is soooo smart. When we taught Jessica on Friday Rosie was combing and playing with my hair during the whole lesson. It was really therapuetic. I need one of those copper head things that are amazing. I don't know what they are called. Does anyone know what I am talking about?
The extra hour of sleep for daylight savings killed me. I was so tired yesterday! And I woke up early today, but luckily went back to sleep. My body is on such a system right now. It's weird. I wonder what I'll be like when I get home. Are my days of sleeping in over? Nah, probably not :)
I love each and every one of you! It is always great to hear how you are doing and of course see how you are doing in pictures. I hope you are doing well and that you are all happy because of the gospel!
Bishop Cluff and his family
My farewell to the sisters at Book Club...definitely their idea :)
Talbot Hall St. in Norfolk
Halloween with the elders in Richmond Branch
Pretty fall leaves!
Monday, November 1, 2010
I'm Coming Home February 22nd
Halloween was fun. We dressed up like elders for the Friday night Trunk or Treat. We carried our backpacks around and borrowed some ties from a member. It was funny and everyone guessed what we were. I think the elders were jealous because they didn't dress up. Haha. A lot of the members brought friends and/or relatives that were either less active or not members, so we have a lot of good referrals to follow up on! This last week was a pretty cool week.
I have decided to come home on February 22nd. I decided that those 6 weeks would be great to stay on the mission, but I think I want to do what Pres. Millburn would suggest and that would be to go home when the prophet originally called me to. Extending would be cool and I would probably have really awesome experiences, but what I can do back home during those 6 weeks will also be very important to me. I want to go to the mission reunion in SLC during General Conference and we also wanted to come back to visit my mission too. I prayed hard about it and asked the Lord to just help me feel good about a decision because I really had no idea. And as I pondered about it I just decided that staying in the mission an extra 6 weeks will cause me to miss out on some other things I really want to do. So that was that and I'll be home in less than 4 months.
Richmond is so pretty! The fall here is so pretty. The trees are so pretty and they line the streets. The spring is really pretty too. The houses are very historic and a lot of them built in the early 20th century. Lots of history and things to do, but I probably won't do a whole lot of them, so we'll be busy when we come back. Richmond is sooo different than my other areas in so many ways. There are a lot of professional working people as well as a lot of VCU students. It's a really cool diversity. I love all of my areas! I really have served in the best areas!
Sis. Adaniya and I have a lot of fun and we eat really good food. She knows how to cook all the Japanese food, so I am loving life. She is happy to have a companion that appreciates it!
The Branch is so fun and full of returned missionaries. A lot of RM sisters! Because it's small and a lot of people work, we don't really get many opportunities for them to come out with us...yet. I am all about doing what we need to so we can have member involvement. There is a much higher success rate in retention when members are involved. So we are going to try and start working on refining that and in the process seeking for referrals. I don't think referrals will be a problem coming from this Branch. I am back having 7 missionaries in one ward/branch. We also serve with the zone leaders and they are a trio and we have this new proselyting senior couple in the branch too. The Naylors! The first thing they say to me is Christy says hi. I was so confused until he said he was from Ephraim. I guess he is the neighbor of Christy's parents there in Ephraim. Haha, how cool! What a small world!
Last week was a test of our faith for sure. We set a goal to find 9 new investigators and when we went out Saturday morning we still had a big fat 0. We kept our spirits up all week as much as we could and knew the Lord inspired our goal of 9 new investigators. All of our lessons cancelled on Saturday, so by the time it was time to leave the house Saturday morning, we were just really enthused for the day. Yes, sort of sarcastic. We knew the Lord would provide us with the Spirit to show us what to do and we prayed for angels to help the people we met feel the Spirit. So at the end of the day, the Lord blessed us with 9 new investigators! And it was so awesome! I am out of time, so I cannot really finish explaining my story. Just know the Lord answers prayers and will alway give us ways to strenghten our faith!
I have decided to come home on February 22nd. I decided that those 6 weeks would be great to stay on the mission, but I think I want to do what Pres. Millburn would suggest and that would be to go home when the prophet originally called me to. Extending would be cool and I would probably have really awesome experiences, but what I can do back home during those 6 weeks will also be very important to me. I want to go to the mission reunion in SLC during General Conference and we also wanted to come back to visit my mission too. I prayed hard about it and asked the Lord to just help me feel good about a decision because I really had no idea. And as I pondered about it I just decided that staying in the mission an extra 6 weeks will cause me to miss out on some other things I really want to do. So that was that and I'll be home in less than 4 months.
Richmond is so pretty! The fall here is so pretty. The trees are so pretty and they line the streets. The spring is really pretty too. The houses are very historic and a lot of them built in the early 20th century. Lots of history and things to do, but I probably won't do a whole lot of them, so we'll be busy when we come back. Richmond is sooo different than my other areas in so many ways. There are a lot of professional working people as well as a lot of VCU students. It's a really cool diversity. I love all of my areas! I really have served in the best areas!
Sis. Adaniya and I have a lot of fun and we eat really good food. She knows how to cook all the Japanese food, so I am loving life. She is happy to have a companion that appreciates it!
The Branch is so fun and full of returned missionaries. A lot of RM sisters! Because it's small and a lot of people work, we don't really get many opportunities for them to come out with us...yet. I am all about doing what we need to so we can have member involvement. There is a much higher success rate in retention when members are involved. So we are going to try and start working on refining that and in the process seeking for referrals. I don't think referrals will be a problem coming from this Branch. I am back having 7 missionaries in one ward/branch. We also serve with the zone leaders and they are a trio and we have this new proselyting senior couple in the branch too. The Naylors! The first thing they say to me is Christy says hi. I was so confused until he said he was from Ephraim. I guess he is the neighbor of Christy's parents there in Ephraim. Haha, how cool! What a small world!
Last week was a test of our faith for sure. We set a goal to find 9 new investigators and when we went out Saturday morning we still had a big fat 0. We kept our spirits up all week as much as we could and knew the Lord inspired our goal of 9 new investigators. All of our lessons cancelled on Saturday, so by the time it was time to leave the house Saturday morning, we were just really enthused for the day. Yes, sort of sarcastic. We knew the Lord would provide us with the Spirit to show us what to do and we prayed for angels to help the people we met feel the Spirit. So at the end of the day, the Lord blessed us with 9 new investigators! And it was so awesome! I am out of time, so I cannot really finish explaining my story. Just know the Lord answers prayers and will alway give us ways to strenghten our faith!
Pictures! from Norfolk
My favorite mermaid in Norfolk!
Bro. Corry and some of his relatives/friends. He always has random people show up at his house during our lessons. Haha
Elder Carter and Elder Beus were the tall companionship in Norfolk and we were the short companionship.
David Payne...getting baptized in Norfolk Nov. 20th
The Drake family...they know Craig and Christina from Philadelphia
Monday, October 25, 2010
Hello from Richmond!
I am officially living in Richmond now. How weird. I never thought I would live in Richmond, but it's really cool and a lot more diverse than Newport News and Norfolk. There is no military, which is a bummer, but we have a lot of people that attend VCU. It's diverse because we have the really nice historical homes, but then we also have the Projects. As sisters we have areas that we cannot go to unless we have an appointment and then only during the day. We call it the "never zone". And we also have areas that we try not to be in after 5pm unless we have an appointment. It's weird because I came from Norfolk, which is super ghetto. But ghetto doesn't necessarily mean dangerous I guess... Don't worry, we are careful!! I know what you are all thinking. But trust me, we are not being silly sisters. We are following the restrictions. The Branch is small and they have most of the leadership positions filled by members called in from other wards. So half the ward is out of our boundaries. We have a few African families and a bunch of college students. Two of the YW, both from the African families, when they met me were in amazement of my hair. I wore it down and they kept touching it and telling me they like it. Haha. After Sacrament started I realized that I was one of 2 people with blonde hair and the other ladies was dyed. I tend to stick out with my blonde hair. That's strange because I'm in America. Haha.
Because it's a branch, there aren't as many members and apparently a lot of the women work too. Church is at 11am. I've had 9am church my whole mission and then for almost 3 years before that, so it's different meeting later in the morning. We don't get out till 2pm, so we were starving after! We get an hour of study in the morning before our bishop meeting, which is different. I've never had Sunday study! It's great.
Sister Adaniya is great. We are very similar to each other as far as the work goes, so it's going to be a good transfer. She is a convert of 5 years (sweet!!! to have a convert for a comp!) and her dad was baptized a couple of years ago, but her mom and brother have still not joined. She is Japanese Okinawan, but 2nd generation raised in Hawaii. She likes foreign foods and is a good cook, so we are going to eat good this transfer. We are both excited because she hasn't really had any comps that are into foreign things really. She has done some traveling, so we are going to have a lot of fun this transfer. And we both have some really good ideas of how to help the area grow.
We have a recent convert named Raymond Woods. He got baptized not too long ago at the age of 90. Sound familiar?
I told you about the prank we pulled on the elders right? About the Black Woman perfume on their handlebars? I hope so. Well Elder Meacham finally got me back. He dumped this really smelly cologne into my purse. We were out with a member in Norfolk and I was in front of her and Sis. Vawdrey and they both were like you have to walk behind us, you stink. So now everywhere I go I smell like stinky man cologne. Hopefully with P-Day I will have time to wash my bag. Haha.
Well here is my address:
3300 W Grace St, Apt 3
Richmond, VA 23221
Because it's a branch, there aren't as many members and apparently a lot of the women work too. Church is at 11am. I've had 9am church my whole mission and then for almost 3 years before that, so it's different meeting later in the morning. We don't get out till 2pm, so we were starving after! We get an hour of study in the morning before our bishop meeting, which is different. I've never had Sunday study! It's great.
Sister Adaniya is great. We are very similar to each other as far as the work goes, so it's going to be a good transfer. She is a convert of 5 years (sweet!!! to have a convert for a comp!) and her dad was baptized a couple of years ago, but her mom and brother have still not joined. She is Japanese Okinawan, but 2nd generation raised in Hawaii. She likes foreign foods and is a good cook, so we are going to eat good this transfer. We are both excited because she hasn't really had any comps that are into foreign things really. She has done some traveling, so we are going to have a lot of fun this transfer. And we both have some really good ideas of how to help the area grow.
We have a recent convert named Raymond Woods. He got baptized not too long ago at the age of 90. Sound familiar?
I told you about the prank we pulled on the elders right? About the Black Woman perfume on their handlebars? I hope so. Well Elder Meacham finally got me back. He dumped this really smelly cologne into my purse. We were out with a member in Norfolk and I was in front of her and Sis. Vawdrey and they both were like you have to walk behind us, you stink. So now everywhere I go I smell like stinky man cologne. Hopefully with P-Day I will have time to wash my bag. Haha.
Well here is my address:
3300 W Grace St, Apt 3
Richmond, VA 23221
Thursday, October 21, 2010
October Pictures
The Kreitzer's with Vinolia Simmons
At Wasabi, the Tepanyaki place
We get creative when we tract...when no one is home
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Transferred - email from Oct. 18, 2010
So we got our transfer calls last night. Based on some things Pres. Perry said to me in interviews last week I thought I would get to stay another transfer. But I am being transferred to.................................the downtown Richmond Branch! My companion will be Sis. Adaniya. She came out 1 transfer before me and was in the trio in NN1 right before I got there. She is from Hawaii! I don't really know much about her, but that and that she is a hard worker. So it's going to be awesome! Sisters have only been in the Branch for 6 months because of the danger risk. Sister Case opened the area, so she's been excitedly telling me all about it. Apparently there are areas we cannot enter after 5pm and some areas we cannot be in period as sisters. That's kind of like Norfolk except we didn't have actual restrictions...we just follow the Spirit. It's a way different experience than anything else in my life and I love it! Mom and Dad, you'll just love visiting my areas. Haha. In the Branch we serve with the Zone Leaders and they are usually a trio, so there will be 5 of us. I'm excited for the new change because change on the mission is great. BUT, I am super bummed about leaving Norfolk 2. I love this ward. The members are so great and so supportive and the area is just one of a kind. Sister Vawdrey has been awesome to serve with. We are so depressed to be separated, but we knew it was coming. Pres. told both of us a change in companions was happening.
When I spoke with Pres. we had a really random conversation about all sorts of things. At one point I think he was encouraging me to marry a younger man. Haha. It's likely to happen, let's be honest. Last P-Day we had a zone sports day and Elder Ghelfy, one of the Spanish elders was making fun of me because I am "going to be so old when I get home". At conference he asked how old I was and we ended up figuring out we were the same age for another 2 days anyways. So at P-Day he was telling me that I would be 27 when I get home and all sorts of lies! And I told him he was old then. But he said because I am a sister that makes me old and that I am going to be single forever because I am going to be old when I get home. I was so mad at him! He is blacklisted from the cool elder list.
So I got a phone call from the office the other day saying that I need to decide now if I am going to be going home in February or April. Ahhhh! I don't know. That's forever away! I am supposed to let them know asap. How can I make that decision so far in advance? I didn't think I would be given an option because Pres. Millburn said that we go home whenever our release date is...Feb 22. But Pres. Perry is a little different and he lets us decide. So I need your advice and opinions on what you think. Please, send me these in your emails next week because I told them I will let them know after I hear from my family about it. I keep thinking, it's just 6 weeks why not stay? And then I keep thinking how I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get home, so I should go in Feb so I can start figuring it out before school application dates close in. Ahhhh! I really have NO idea what I'm going to do when I get home.
Yesterday we had dinner with the coolest family. The Peterson's are such a sweet family and are in Norfolk for med school. She reminds me so much of Christina, it's crazy! They have the cutest son too with the whitest hair! His name is Brayden. He served in Russia, so he said he'd make us Russian food. We had Solyanka (soup with pickles, sauage, bacon, olives, random things) and then Pelmeni (potstickers basically). It was so good and we ate both with lots of sour cream.
We also went by Sis. Dietz house and she had a friend over who when they were both in Hawaii had been scheduled to be baptized, but then her husband wouldn't let her. It was so cool to talk to her and she has been thinking lately about church again, so we are going to start to teach her and hopefully through a lot of prayers and fasting her husband will soften his heart. There are so many amazing things that are going to happen here next transfer and I'm excited for Sis. Vawdrey to get to experience it! And somehow hopefully I'll get to hear about it!
We taught David Payne the Word of Wisdom this week. He is a sweet tea drinker and at the end we asked him "Will you start now to live the Word of Wisdom?" He said hold on a minute and picked up his tea, took one more drink and said okay now I will. Haha. It was so cool. He has so much faith! He has been really sick, so he couldn't come to church unfortunately, but next week!
We taught this awesome lady named Sheilia this week. Her 7 year old daughter Alexis was there and so excited for us to come. Her mom tried to schedule when her kids would be at school so there wouldn't be a distraction, but there was early out and when Alexis walked in and saw us, she's like "yes they're here". Haha, it was so cute. She has a 5 year old son named Dylan. He's so tall. I've never seen a 5 year old that tall ever. The lesson went really well and she came to church! It is so hard to get people to come to church here after just one lesson, so we were so excited! And her kids of course loved it. It helped that it was the Primary Program too. We found Sheilia tracting to find the apartment number of a less active member. They are friends and upstairs/downstairs neighbors, so it's sweet. We left a note for the member on her door and she randomly showed up to church last week. It was so cool. That never happens. She actually had recently come back to church, just in the Mt. Pleasant Ward with her fiance who is also coming back to church. We are going to see the member tonight and talk to her about encouraging Sheilia and sharing her testimony with her. So cool!
Well the next time you will hear from me I will be in Richmond! Maybe I'll find that BBQ place. Hmmm...can you look it up and tell me where it's at?
I love you all and hope you are doing well!
When I spoke with Pres. we had a really random conversation about all sorts of things. At one point I think he was encouraging me to marry a younger man. Haha. It's likely to happen, let's be honest. Last P-Day we had a zone sports day and Elder Ghelfy, one of the Spanish elders was making fun of me because I am "going to be so old when I get home". At conference he asked how old I was and we ended up figuring out we were the same age for another 2 days anyways. So at P-Day he was telling me that I would be 27 when I get home and all sorts of lies! And I told him he was old then. But he said because I am a sister that makes me old and that I am going to be single forever because I am going to be old when I get home. I was so mad at him! He is blacklisted from the cool elder list.
So I got a phone call from the office the other day saying that I need to decide now if I am going to be going home in February or April. Ahhhh! I don't know. That's forever away! I am supposed to let them know asap. How can I make that decision so far in advance? I didn't think I would be given an option because Pres. Millburn said that we go home whenever our release date is...Feb 22. But Pres. Perry is a little different and he lets us decide. So I need your advice and opinions on what you think. Please, send me these in your emails next week because I told them I will let them know after I hear from my family about it. I keep thinking, it's just 6 weeks why not stay? And then I keep thinking how I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get home, so I should go in Feb so I can start figuring it out before school application dates close in. Ahhhh! I really have NO idea what I'm going to do when I get home.
Yesterday we had dinner with the coolest family. The Peterson's are such a sweet family and are in Norfolk for med school. She reminds me so much of Christina, it's crazy! They have the cutest son too with the whitest hair! His name is Brayden. He served in Russia, so he said he'd make us Russian food. We had Solyanka (soup with pickles, sauage, bacon, olives, random things) and then Pelmeni (potstickers basically). It was so good and we ate both with lots of sour cream.
We also went by Sis. Dietz house and she had a friend over who when they were both in Hawaii had been scheduled to be baptized, but then her husband wouldn't let her. It was so cool to talk to her and she has been thinking lately about church again, so we are going to start to teach her and hopefully through a lot of prayers and fasting her husband will soften his heart. There are so many amazing things that are going to happen here next transfer and I'm excited for Sis. Vawdrey to get to experience it! And somehow hopefully I'll get to hear about it!
We taught David Payne the Word of Wisdom this week. He is a sweet tea drinker and at the end we asked him "Will you start now to live the Word of Wisdom?" He said hold on a minute and picked up his tea, took one more drink and said okay now I will. Haha. It was so cool. He has so much faith! He has been really sick, so he couldn't come to church unfortunately, but next week!
We taught this awesome lady named Sheilia this week. Her 7 year old daughter Alexis was there and so excited for us to come. Her mom tried to schedule when her kids would be at school so there wouldn't be a distraction, but there was early out and when Alexis walked in and saw us, she's like "yes they're here". Haha, it was so cute. She has a 5 year old son named Dylan. He's so tall. I've never seen a 5 year old that tall ever. The lesson went really well and she came to church! It is so hard to get people to come to church here after just one lesson, so we were so excited! And her kids of course loved it. It helped that it was the Primary Program too. We found Sheilia tracting to find the apartment number of a less active member. They are friends and upstairs/downstairs neighbors, so it's sweet. We left a note for the member on her door and she randomly showed up to church last week. It was so cool. That never happens. She actually had recently come back to church, just in the Mt. Pleasant Ward with her fiance who is also coming back to church. We are going to see the member tonight and talk to her about encouraging Sheilia and sharing her testimony with her. So cool!
Well the next time you will hear from me I will be in Richmond! Maybe I'll find that BBQ place. Hmmm...can you look it up and tell me where it's at?
I love you all and hope you are doing well!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Another Week
Aiden is soooo cute! He looks a lot like Tyler. Wasn't one of the other kids 7lb12oz? Ashlyn? How do Ashlyn, Hazen, and Rigg feel about the new baby? I'm glad Tyler approves. He looks like a good big brother! How cool Tyler got a certificate for being smart. He must take after his aunt :)
I was thinking the other day how I'll have to take Ashlyn and Tyler on a road trip to Eagar with me when I get back. Make sure I get the new address for Cody's family.
We've had a good week, but it's also been a really weird week. I'll spare the details of the really strange events.
Erica was just too much for us this week. One funny thing...we were looking at Erica's conference notes and one thing she had written down was "God reveals His gospel to His chosen serpents." Yes, serpents. Didn't you know. Apparantly she didn't find anything strange about that because she didn't say anything to us. Isn't that crazy? Another funny thing...ok I've told you about Erica, I don't know how much though. She has some mental illnesses and we're not quite sure her accountability level, but in school she gets a's and b's, so we're not sure about it all. Anyway, so somedays we teach her it goes really well, but others not so well, which is more often. It's a little frustrating. We've been debating as to whether we should stop teaching her. She comes to church but we think it's really because she wants to get out of the house and she can get free stuff (like raiding the lost and found) and she has Sis. Cobb to pick her up. So here's the funny story: Sis. Cobb was teaching about developing talents in Gospel Principles and had an object lesson. She had 3 people come up and gave them each a gift bag and inside was full of candy. The first looked inside said pretty much thanks but no thanks and threw the bag in the garbage (part of the object lesson). Erica was shocked and I heard her say, well you didn't have to throw it away, I'll take it. The next looked in the bag and quietly sat down, not saying anything. Then the last person looked in her bag and was so excited and wanted to share. But while Sis. Cobb started explaining it all, Erica went all the way across the room over to the garbage, got the candy out and took it back to her seat saying, well if he didnt want it, I do, I'm going to take it. It was hilarious. She was so focused on the candy being thrown in the garbage that she didn't even listen to the point Sis. Cobb was trying to make. We officially decided last night that we have to stop teaching her. When we feel like we have to bribe people to keep committments, it's not right. She wants to come to church, but she's not willing to consistently keep committments and she doesn't really care about reading or praying. She gets mad when we ask her about it too. She's a really great person, but we are just not going to continue teaching her. Maybe later on she'll be more ready.
We've seen David a couple of more times this week too. He is so cool. He knows the gospel is true, so whenever we teach him he just accepts the teachings as true. It's so cool. That is how Rodney was too. We hope his twin 15 year olds come along too.
Well sorry for the lame-o email. It really was a strange week, but we still had fun together!
Love you!
Sister Talbot
I was thinking the other day how I'll have to take Ashlyn and Tyler on a road trip to Eagar with me when I get back. Make sure I get the new address for Cody's family.
We've had a good week, but it's also been a really weird week. I'll spare the details of the really strange events.
Erica was just too much for us this week. One funny thing...we were looking at Erica's conference notes and one thing she had written down was "God reveals His gospel to His chosen serpents." Yes, serpents. Didn't you know. Apparantly she didn't find anything strange about that because she didn't say anything to us. Isn't that crazy? Another funny thing...ok I've told you about Erica, I don't know how much though. She has some mental illnesses and we're not quite sure her accountability level, but in school she gets a's and b's, so we're not sure about it all. Anyway, so somedays we teach her it goes really well, but others not so well, which is more often. It's a little frustrating. We've been debating as to whether we should stop teaching her. She comes to church but we think it's really because she wants to get out of the house and she can get free stuff (like raiding the lost and found) and she has Sis. Cobb to pick her up. So here's the funny story: Sis. Cobb was teaching about developing talents in Gospel Principles and had an object lesson. She had 3 people come up and gave them each a gift bag and inside was full of candy. The first looked inside said pretty much thanks but no thanks and threw the bag in the garbage (part of the object lesson). Erica was shocked and I heard her say, well you didn't have to throw it away, I'll take it. The next looked in the bag and quietly sat down, not saying anything. Then the last person looked in her bag and was so excited and wanted to share. But while Sis. Cobb started explaining it all, Erica went all the way across the room over to the garbage, got the candy out and took it back to her seat saying, well if he didnt want it, I do, I'm going to take it. It was hilarious. She was so focused on the candy being thrown in the garbage that she didn't even listen to the point Sis. Cobb was trying to make. We officially decided last night that we have to stop teaching her. When we feel like we have to bribe people to keep committments, it's not right. She wants to come to church, but she's not willing to consistently keep committments and she doesn't really care about reading or praying. She gets mad when we ask her about it too. She's a really great person, but we are just not going to continue teaching her. Maybe later on she'll be more ready.
We've seen David a couple of more times this week too. He is so cool. He knows the gospel is true, so whenever we teach him he just accepts the teachings as true. It's so cool. That is how Rodney was too. We hope his twin 15 year olds come along too.
Well sorry for the lame-o email. It really was a strange week, but we still had fun together!
Love you!
Sister Talbot
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