Can you believe it's 2011? I just got used to writing 2010 on my planner and now I have to write 2011. That's just so weird. I hope you have all had a great start of the new year and have set some really wonderful new year's resolutions. If you can remember way back when I used to love setting resolutions. For 2009 I set the goals to learn to play the harmonica and to learn to cook some good foreign food. Well I did not accomplish those in 2009, but I did in 2010 thanks to Bro. Mitchell in Norfolk and Sis. Adaniya! My priorities changed in 2009 I guess! I think it was twice in my singles ward that I had to give a talk on the Sunday regarding the new year. I don't know why, but I just love the New Year. We have been sharing lessons with members about deciding on a 2011 Family Mission Plan. It's been really wonderful. Now we just have to follow up and see what they have decided to do. Pres. Perry teaches that mission plans should be 1-3 items. They need to be actionable items and ones that we will take accountability for. Yes, why set a goal and then plan to fail by setting too many or unrealistic goals. Some ideas that we are sharing is to use Preach My Gospel once a month for FHE, giving away 1 pass along card a month, go on exchanges with missionaries once a month, fast for missionary work once a month, 100% visiting/home teaching, etc. We are encouraging each family to decide what they think they can be accountable for and what they will actually make a point to do. There was this family in Norfolk and the first time I walked in their door I saw a small white board in the first room that had their family mission plan written on it. I liked that a lot! It's good to remind ourselves of our goals and track what we actually have done. Tracking could be done by tallying the number of pass along cards given away or by marking down the chapters in PMG that you have read. Doing this helps us to see our success and that we are accomplishing goals. We have been commanded to share the gospel, but the Lord has not limited us in how we do it. So whatever goals we set to help build the kingdom of God will be pleasing in His eyes! As a full time missionary, Sis. Stoehr and I set daily and weekly and transfer goals. I want to encourage you to establish a 2011 Family Mission Plan (if you haven't already of course!). Here are some missionary work scriptures that might give some inspiration and motivation to share the gospel: Mosiah 28:3, Alma 29:1, Alma 17:2, 3, 11, Moroni 7:37, Helaman 10:4-5 One thing that I have been thinking about lately is the sacrifices of people who have gone before us. We read of hundreds and thousands of people in the Book of Mormon alone who sacrificed their lives for the preservation of liberty and religion. We are not asked to give our lives, just some time and stepping out of our comfort zone. I know you will find more happiness as you share the gospel. And I would love to hear of experiences you have! There is nothing more exciting to a missionary than hearing of our family and the members having awesome missionary experiences.
We had to be in at 6pm on New Year's Eve and we had our weekly planning session. We had some custard nog (even better than egg nog!!!!) and cranberry Ginger Ale to celebrate. And Sis. Sanders provided us with some poppers. And we hit the sack before 11pm. Yep, we are exciting party people. And our neighbors downstairs are too. Not sure what time of the morning we heard them, but they were having a little too much fun! Haha.
This wasn't one of those weeks where anything huge happened, so here is a list of some of the little wonderful things:
Vernitta bore her testimony on Sunday
We had dinner at the Donahoe's house and were able to talk to their son in law about having the lessons and he is ready and actually seemed excited. I've been trying to set up a lesson with him for 2 months!
We had a dinner with the Henderson's (RS Pres) and it was so fun and we laughed till we cried with them. And then she referred her neighbor to us who we contacted the next day. He didn't set up a lesson, but said he would talk to Sis. Henderson some more and on Sunday she reported he came and talked to her and she invited him to learn more and so we will most likely get to teach him in a couple of weeks.
We had the Naylor's come to a couple of lessons with us this week and we got to be a quadruple companionship!
I got to do Julie's hair for the wedding/baptism the elder's had last Monday. It turned out cute and she looked good in the red flower.
Happy New Year!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Christmas in Richmond!
All the sisters at the ugly sweater party. We've got Sis. Schorzman and Sis. Niemela serving in Gayton...Sis. Stoehr, Hermana Law (who I went on exchanges with), and me, and Hermana Cowley...the hermanas serve in the Henrico Branch which is the whole Richmond Stake.
Too bad we didn't have this picture in time for our Christmas card!
The good ole elders and their ugly sweaters and mustaches. They got the hair for their mustaches from a family in the Branch. All the YW in the Branch pretty much have fake hair braided in, they had plenty to share with the elders. The AP's also came to the party.
The whole group that made it to the end of the party. It was the best ugly sweater party ever!
The Naylors! She got him a nice soft blanket and she got a snuggie! Yay for snuggies! Sis. Stoehr has been wearing the snuggie the last couple of day. Haha
This in on Christmas Day. We went out for a walk around the lake they have in their complex. It was nice and cold, but I got to wear the new hat, glove, scarf combo Sis. Campbell gave me. This was right before it started snowing.
Sis. Stoehr eating sweet potato souffle with her white elephant gift...an enormously long fork. Haha. It is collapsible
Good Times in Richmond
Filling up the font at the Monument building is quite the process compared to other buildings, so we decided to have some fun while we were cleaning/filling the font up. This is me in the font.
Us with Sister Vernitta Manuel. She was baptized 2 weeks and a day after we met her. That is not common, it was a miracle. She eats it all up and loves to learn. Sis. Soriano made a trip to SLC the week before her baptism and brought Vernitta back an extra large print triple combination. Vernitta has had 3 strokes, and because of that her eye sight is not so bueno.
Just another one of those weird random things we see as we drive the streets of Richmond.
This is my favorite of the random things we see as we drive the streets of Richmond. Apparently someone puts this car here every year. It is so funny to drive by. They have Santa at the wheel with lights under the car and presents on the trunk and a tree on top. As we stopped to take pictures, tons of people kept driving by the look at it. It was so funny! Everything you need and want for Christmas in a car.
Another picture with the kids from the projects. This was a good group this time. I'm not even sure who half the little kids are. They had a lot of friends this time. The elders taught this lesson and they committed each kid to give away the pass along card to someone for Christmas.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Hey!
The email before the call...dun dun dun
Christmas is coming so fast! We are spending Christmas Eve night at the Naylor's house (the senior couple) and having Christmas with them. We went and got them some fun stocking things and some slippers. It'll be so fun! They have a Christmas tree and everything. We are going to the Ibrahim's for Christmas Eve and having some African food I hope! And then the zone is having an ugly sweater party and white elephant gift exchange and then hopefully looking at some lights and on to the Naylor's. It's going to be soooo fun!
This last weekend we had the baptism for Vernitta Manuel. It went so well and she had family that came and they all wanted a Book of Mormon and to learn more. Her brother in CA already knows missionaries and was just supporting her all the way. The Branch even had a decent turnout at the baptism even though half the Branch is out of town! Sis. Stoehr, Sis. Naylor, and I sang "When I Am Baptized." It seems like I've been singing in a lot of special numbers lately, but nope STILL CAN'T SING! It's a good thing I don't get embarressed easily. We have this older man in the Branch named Brother Keene. He is the best thing to hit the Branch. He is the man when it comes to fellowshipping the recent converts. He is around 85, works full time, and is so sweet. His wife recently died and he lives with his son and daughter in law and his mother in law who is younger than him. Haha. He gets the over age 50 recent converts together on Saturday afternoons and they all watch church movies together. The night of Vernitta's baptism he already called and chatted with her and went by Sunday morning to pick her up. Oh yeah, he also picks all of the older recent converts up too because none of them drive. Well Bro. Raymond Woods drives (he's 90) but his car hasn't been working for awhile. The Branch is just so funny. We keep finding these single women to teach. Sis. Stoehr and I both feel like there is a family here that the Lord is preparing, but we just haven't found them. Sis. Adaniya and I felt the same thing. So we are still trying to find this family. Vernitta was confirmed on Sunday and has just fit right in with the Branch. It's so fun here. Parents, you're going to love it! It'll be different than any ward you've visited, but you'll love it!
We are still teaching Inez Thornton. She rocks! She has been really involved in all these other churches and she told us yesterday that she cut off all ties with the other churches. She was saying how they aren't getting it and they keep calling her. She knows this is right and there is no need for other churches. She showed up to church early yesterday and the Glen Allen elders luckily had met her the week before and spotted her and took her to Sunday School with them. So she had 4 hours of church yesterday. The Branch just started a FH sunday school class too, and she has been going to that! When she was talking to the Glen Allen elders they asked her if she had thought about being baptized (they know she's set for 1/15/11) and she said that she was and told them her date and said she "thinks the sisters are going to ask me to move it up" or something to that effect. We hadn't talked about it, but from what the elders said, she might want to. She'll be ready in time, so we are going to talk more about it tonight. Last night at the church they had the Richmond Mormon Chorale sing and we decided to go to see if any members brought friends and Inez was there and came by herself. She can handle being alone, which is nice because we don't have to always call her to make sure she is coming to church and yada yada. She is so cool! So many cool single ladies here in Richmond. Oh and she has a car!
Thursday we had snow pretty much from 9am to 3pm and it was coming down good. We couldn't use our cars, and it was snowing too hard, so nobody in Richmond went out. The city was deader than dead. It was so pretty. We had to go out in it because it was too inviting. I had been craving pizza for weeks and so we ordered in some Papa John's. Sis. Dickson and I did that last year. The new being snowed in tradition.
We had a lesson with the Thompson family last night. They are a really cute family that came to Richmond for med school and just haven't left yet. They've been here 10 years and have 3 cute little girls. We went around and said something we love about Jesus and the 2 year old looks at us and said "Cake" and we all just start laughing. It might be one of those you had to be there moments, but it was so funny. And the 6 year old on her own came up with her answer by herself. She said she loved Jesus because he created us. Cute!
Mom, that DVD is awesome! We've used it in a couple of lessons already. Everyone loves it. And it has MY picture in it too! It's really neat that is shows paintings of Christ when he was younger. It's been interesting to talk to people about Christ at this time of the year and see what they do to show Christ their love. The best things I think we can do are to love each other and treat each other like we do AND to be obedient. That's what Christ asks of us. One of my favorite obedience scriptures comes from one of my favorite Book of Mormon prophets...does anybody know? King Benjamin! Mosiah 2:22...all that He requires of you is to keep His commandments...
Well I hope you are all ready for Christmas. We have our Christmas Mission Conference tomorrow and then afterwards I am going to the Henrico spanish branch till Thursday morning. I am finally going zebra...even if it is just for a day and a half. Yes, per my request. They are trying to get us on more exchanges and because my time is limited I gave my opinion. Next, hopefully the country or the suburbs. In all my mission I've only served in the same type of place. City and ghetto. I don't really want to serve anywhere else because I love city and ghetto, but for an exchange it would be perfect! I'll keep you posted. And cross your fingers I get some gooooood Mexican food. I am already practicing my Spanish. I'm thinking caroling in Spanish!
Christmas is coming so fast! We are spending Christmas Eve night at the Naylor's house (the senior couple) and having Christmas with them. We went and got them some fun stocking things and some slippers. It'll be so fun! They have a Christmas tree and everything. We are going to the Ibrahim's for Christmas Eve and having some African food I hope! And then the zone is having an ugly sweater party and white elephant gift exchange and then hopefully looking at some lights and on to the Naylor's. It's going to be soooo fun!
This last weekend we had the baptism for Vernitta Manuel. It went so well and she had family that came and they all wanted a Book of Mormon and to learn more. Her brother in CA already knows missionaries and was just supporting her all the way. The Branch even had a decent turnout at the baptism even though half the Branch is out of town! Sis. Stoehr, Sis. Naylor, and I sang "When I Am Baptized." It seems like I've been singing in a lot of special numbers lately, but nope STILL CAN'T SING! It's a good thing I don't get embarressed easily. We have this older man in the Branch named Brother Keene. He is the best thing to hit the Branch. He is the man when it comes to fellowshipping the recent converts. He is around 85, works full time, and is so sweet. His wife recently died and he lives with his son and daughter in law and his mother in law who is younger than him. Haha. He gets the over age 50 recent converts together on Saturday afternoons and they all watch church movies together. The night of Vernitta's baptism he already called and chatted with her and went by Sunday morning to pick her up. Oh yeah, he also picks all of the older recent converts up too because none of them drive. Well Bro. Raymond Woods drives (he's 90) but his car hasn't been working for awhile. The Branch is just so funny. We keep finding these single women to teach. Sis. Stoehr and I both feel like there is a family here that the Lord is preparing, but we just haven't found them. Sis. Adaniya and I felt the same thing. So we are still trying to find this family. Vernitta was confirmed on Sunday and has just fit right in with the Branch. It's so fun here. Parents, you're going to love it! It'll be different than any ward you've visited, but you'll love it!
We are still teaching Inez Thornton. She rocks! She has been really involved in all these other churches and she told us yesterday that she cut off all ties with the other churches. She was saying how they aren't getting it and they keep calling her. She knows this is right and there is no need for other churches. She showed up to church early yesterday and the Glen Allen elders luckily had met her the week before and spotted her and took her to Sunday School with them. So she had 4 hours of church yesterday. The Branch just started a FH sunday school class too, and she has been going to that! When she was talking to the Glen Allen elders they asked her if she had thought about being baptized (they know she's set for 1/15/11) and she said that she was and told them her date and said she "thinks the sisters are going to ask me to move it up" or something to that effect. We hadn't talked about it, but from what the elders said, she might want to. She'll be ready in time, so we are going to talk more about it tonight. Last night at the church they had the Richmond Mormon Chorale sing and we decided to go to see if any members brought friends and Inez was there and came by herself. She can handle being alone, which is nice because we don't have to always call her to make sure she is coming to church and yada yada. She is so cool! So many cool single ladies here in Richmond. Oh and she has a car!
Thursday we had snow pretty much from 9am to 3pm and it was coming down good. We couldn't use our cars, and it was snowing too hard, so nobody in Richmond went out. The city was deader than dead. It was so pretty. We had to go out in it because it was too inviting. I had been craving pizza for weeks and so we ordered in some Papa John's. Sis. Dickson and I did that last year. The new being snowed in tradition.
We had a lesson with the Thompson family last night. They are a really cute family that came to Richmond for med school and just haven't left yet. They've been here 10 years and have 3 cute little girls. We went around and said something we love about Jesus and the 2 year old looks at us and said "Cake" and we all just start laughing. It might be one of those you had to be there moments, but it was so funny. And the 6 year old on her own came up with her answer by herself. She said she loved Jesus because he created us. Cute!
Mom, that DVD is awesome! We've used it in a couple of lessons already. Everyone loves it. And it has MY picture in it too! It's really neat that is shows paintings of Christ when he was younger. It's been interesting to talk to people about Christ at this time of the year and see what they do to show Christ their love. The best things I think we can do are to love each other and treat each other like we do AND to be obedient. That's what Christ asks of us. One of my favorite obedience scriptures comes from one of my favorite Book of Mormon prophets...does anybody know? King Benjamin! Mosiah 2:22...all that He requires of you is to keep His commandments...
Well I hope you are all ready for Christmas. We have our Christmas Mission Conference tomorrow and then afterwards I am going to the Henrico spanish branch till Thursday morning. I am finally going zebra...even if it is just for a day and a half. Yes, per my request. They are trying to get us on more exchanges and because my time is limited I gave my opinion. Next, hopefully the country or the suburbs. In all my mission I've only served in the same type of place. City and ghetto. I don't really want to serve anywhere else because I love city and ghetto, but for an exchange it would be perfect! I'll keep you posted. And cross your fingers I get some gooooood Mexican food. I am already practicing my Spanish. I'm thinking caroling in Spanish!
Monday, December 13, 2010
It's Snowing!
Hey! We woke up to snow and now are enjoying it! It's so pretty. I forgot how much I liked snow. Luckily it's not too cold out or I probably wouldn't like it as much. Haha. Wow, Christmas is coming up so fast. It feels like the beginning of December, but it's not! We have seen some interesting decor around here. One thing that people do here is get on their 2nd floor and fasten the string of lights to the top and then drop them off and call it good. And they use a lot of the rope lights. So we see houses with a bunch of lights coming straight down from one spot and then just pile at the bottom. There is no order to it at all. We have enjoyed that. Haha
We have had such a great transfer so far and it's only been one and a half weeks. We have seen lots of miracles so far. When Sis. Adaniya was here we kept going back to this one street called Garland Ave. Well when Sis. Stoehr got here she was looking at the map and pointed out that she liked Garland Ave. At the time we had 2 investigators on Garland Ave. and have been tracting around each time we went there. So her first full day here we went to follow up with a former investigator on Garland Ave. and did some more tracting and the second door we knock we meet Vernitta Manuel. As we were telling her who we were she looks at us and asks "so are you gonna come in?" So we did and we taught her the Restoration and then she came to Stake Conference that Sunday. Then we saw her pretty much everyday this week. And she came to church yesterday and just loved it! She is going to be baptized this Saturday the 18th at 4pm. She just loves everything we teach her. At Stake Conference Sis. Derricott bore her testimony and talked about quitting smoking and coffee and when we taught Vernitta the lesson after Stake Conference she brought it up how she used to smoke 1.5 packs a day and she was down to a half pack. She is still working on quitting...only a couple more left...so if she is able to stop by her goal of Thursday then she will get baptized on Saturday. She is so prepared it's not even funny. She is like David Payne in Norfolk...just unbelievably ready for the fullness of the gospel. The Ward Mission Leader picked her and Janice, one of the ladies the elders are teaching for church. On the way home Janice was talking about how she is just wanting more knowledge and not getting it. So Vernitta shared her testimony about how it's going to be fine and this is the right thing, etc. It was sweet to hear about that! And another cool thing is that Vernitta's brother in California has met with missionaries before and if I understood her correctly he has asked them to come back. He is being so supportive to her and just helping her to be excited. How refreshing that she isn't getting anti from him!!!!
We are also teaching a friend of Sis. Ibrahim's named Inez. Inez is so cool and she is also soooo prepared for the gospel. Referrals and prepared people are coming out of the cracks and it is sweet! Last transfer was so hard to find real solid investigators, but this transfer is so amazing. We love it so much because we are teaching people who want it and are keeping their committments. We still have those that don't, but it's nice that we have a handful of progressing investigators.
Most everyone here in the Branch will leave for Christmas break, so as a Branch we are done with Christmas parties except for the program next Sunday. The different families will probably have some things going on that hopefully we can join in on. As a zone we are going to have a Christmas Eve ugly sweater white elephant party. It'll be fun. Sis. Adaniya and I found a trumpet in our trash area once, so we cleaned it up and Sis. Stoehr and I will take that for our white elephant gift. We thought that would be funny. And the Ibrahim's signed up to have us for Christmas Eve, so instead of Mexican food I will probably have African food! Haha, so fun. I love this family.
We have had such a great transfer so far and it's only been one and a half weeks. We have seen lots of miracles so far. When Sis. Adaniya was here we kept going back to this one street called Garland Ave. Well when Sis. Stoehr got here she was looking at the map and pointed out that she liked Garland Ave. At the time we had 2 investigators on Garland Ave. and have been tracting around each time we went there. So her first full day here we went to follow up with a former investigator on Garland Ave. and did some more tracting and the second door we knock we meet Vernitta Manuel. As we were telling her who we were she looks at us and asks "so are you gonna come in?" So we did and we taught her the Restoration and then she came to Stake Conference that Sunday. Then we saw her pretty much everyday this week. And she came to church yesterday and just loved it! She is going to be baptized this Saturday the 18th at 4pm. She just loves everything we teach her. At Stake Conference Sis. Derricott bore her testimony and talked about quitting smoking and coffee and when we taught Vernitta the lesson after Stake Conference she brought it up how she used to smoke 1.5 packs a day and she was down to a half pack. She is still working on quitting...only a couple more left...so if she is able to stop by her goal of Thursday then she will get baptized on Saturday. She is so prepared it's not even funny. She is like David Payne in Norfolk...just unbelievably ready for the fullness of the gospel. The Ward Mission Leader picked her and Janice, one of the ladies the elders are teaching for church. On the way home Janice was talking about how she is just wanting more knowledge and not getting it. So Vernitta shared her testimony about how it's going to be fine and this is the right thing, etc. It was sweet to hear about that! And another cool thing is that Vernitta's brother in California has met with missionaries before and if I understood her correctly he has asked them to come back. He is being so supportive to her and just helping her to be excited. How refreshing that she isn't getting anti from him!!!!
We are also teaching a friend of Sis. Ibrahim's named Inez. Inez is so cool and she is also soooo prepared for the gospel. Referrals and prepared people are coming out of the cracks and it is sweet! Last transfer was so hard to find real solid investigators, but this transfer is so amazing. We love it so much because we are teaching people who want it and are keeping their committments. We still have those that don't, but it's nice that we have a handful of progressing investigators.
Most everyone here in the Branch will leave for Christmas break, so as a Branch we are done with Christmas parties except for the program next Sunday. The different families will probably have some things going on that hopefully we can join in on. As a zone we are going to have a Christmas Eve ugly sweater white elephant party. It'll be fun. Sis. Adaniya and I found a trumpet in our trash area once, so we cleaned it up and Sis. Stoehr and I will take that for our white elephant gift. We thought that would be funny. And the Ibrahim's signed up to have us for Christmas Eve, so instead of Mexican food I will probably have African food! Haha, so fun. I love this family.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Another week
Hello everyone! I hope you are doing great and enjoying the Christmas spirit. We had such a great day yesterday! It was Stake Conference and it was just so good. Pres. & Sister Perry were among the speakers. Pres. spoke about 1 Corinthians 12. I've heard him talk about it before, but this time he expounded more and it was so insightful. This chapter talks about the body of Christ and the eluding message is of unity. A few of the verses talk about how there are many members of Christ's body, but only one body. So as a member of Christ's church we make up that body of Christ and we are all necessary for it to be complete. He metioned how the feeble are necessary and shared a nice story and also shared a story relating to the "less honourable". I love this chapter in the Bible. It really does help to see that those we think aren't likely to accept the gospel or those we think aren't worthy...they are and they are necessary. I wish you could have been there because there is no way to paraphrase it. Also at Stake Conference Pres. Anderson spoke on the real meaning of Christmas. He shared great testimony and it was a great lead into the First Presidency Christmas Devotional that we watched last night. I hope you've all been able to watch it. It's on lds.org if not.
This new transfer has just been so wonderful. I love Sis. Stoehr. She is from Colorado, northern Denver. She was trained by Sis. Cox and has been out half her mission. She just came from the rich area south of here with all white people. This is quite a change for her, but she is excited to be in Richmond. That's helped me a lot too. I loved Richmond last transfer, but not the way I love it now. We have already seen so many miracles. The first full day she was here we did a little tracting around an investigator and we knocked on Vernitta's door. We tell her we're missionaries, give a brief rundown and she just looks at us and said "so are you coming in?" Haha, it was awesome! So we teach her the Restoration and she was really feeling the Spirit. Because of her background she knew she was too! She said she felt happiness as we shared the First Vision. She came to Stake Conference and it was such a good experience for her. As of Saturday evening she wasn't coming. I said to Sis. Stoehr that we had to get an investigator to church every Sunday this transfer and she said let's do it. So we prayed and then shortly after Vernitta called us and said she wanted to come to church. Ahhhh!!!! She just loved it and everyone kept asking her if she was coming back next week. She started out by saying that she wasn't sure and then by the end of talking to people, she was saying yes! We've had some other great experiences and great lessons too, but unfortunately not the time for them. Things this transfer are just so great. I feel freed almost. It's weird, but I know Sis. Stoehr and I will see the Lord's hand in many things this transfer.
I finally ate at Ronnie's Ribs. It was soooo good. And I will try and save more time next week to email pics to you! Can Santa grant me more time on email for Christmas?!?!
Oh one funny thing...we had a lesson yesterday with this man who was at his father's house and some pastor guy was there. When we found out he was a pastor I got the distinct impression twice in my mind not to invite him to sit in on the lesson. We had a member with us and she is bold and invited him/practically told him to come. So I was nervous about that. As we were talking about prophets he made a big stink and the member and he started arguing, so after some arm twisting we asked him to leave and he did and we were able to really have a good lesson after that. But that definitely made for an awkward and hilarious memory.
This new transfer has just been so wonderful. I love Sis. Stoehr. She is from Colorado, northern Denver. She was trained by Sis. Cox and has been out half her mission. She just came from the rich area south of here with all white people. This is quite a change for her, but she is excited to be in Richmond. That's helped me a lot too. I loved Richmond last transfer, but not the way I love it now. We have already seen so many miracles. The first full day she was here we did a little tracting around an investigator and we knocked on Vernitta's door. We tell her we're missionaries, give a brief rundown and she just looks at us and said "so are you coming in?" Haha, it was awesome! So we teach her the Restoration and she was really feeling the Spirit. Because of her background she knew she was too! She said she felt happiness as we shared the First Vision. She came to Stake Conference and it was such a good experience for her. As of Saturday evening she wasn't coming. I said to Sis. Stoehr that we had to get an investigator to church every Sunday this transfer and she said let's do it. So we prayed and then shortly after Vernitta called us and said she wanted to come to church. Ahhhh!!!! She just loved it and everyone kept asking her if she was coming back next week. She started out by saying that she wasn't sure and then by the end of talking to people, she was saying yes! We've had some other great experiences and great lessons too, but unfortunately not the time for them. Things this transfer are just so great. I feel freed almost. It's weird, but I know Sis. Stoehr and I will see the Lord's hand in many things this transfer.
I finally ate at Ronnie's Ribs. It was soooo good. And I will try and save more time next week to email pics to you! Can Santa grant me more time on email for Christmas?!?!
Oh one funny thing...we had a lesson yesterday with this man who was at his father's house and some pastor guy was there. When we found out he was a pastor I got the distinct impression twice in my mind not to invite him to sit in on the lesson. We had a member with us and she is bold and invited him/practically told him to come. So I was nervous about that. As we were talking about prophets he made a big stink and the member and he started arguing, so after some arm twisting we asked him to leave and he did and we were able to really have a good lesson after that. But that definitely made for an awkward and hilarious memory.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Another transfer...just not me!
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!
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!
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!
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