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| FIRST DAY IN THE FIELD!! With President & Sister Morgan |
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| All 36 new missionaries. 6 are visa waiters. |
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| Me and my two companions |
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| Our backless Chairs |
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| With one of my companions, we looked like Africa |
Hola Familia!
I'm gunna start with answering some questions, and go from there. First off, Debbie Doss is just outside of my area. Sad day, but it's crazy how small this world really is. I do not get updates on my visa. I will just get a call one day and find out i'm going! I have mixed feelings on the ARG thing, because I am loving it here! However I am super duper excited to go. That's a bummer that another solid family just moved out. More opportunities to be member missionaries! :) (Yeah, I know, I am totally missionary minded on that point)
This week has been hot. Over 100 hot. And it's real humid. I have found that I like the humidity though... And we did a ton of service. Thurs we helped our upstairs neighbor (and investigator) move apartments. He didn't move far, but both apartments are on the 3rd floor. We were dripping sweat. It honestly felt really good to do some hard physical labor! Then Friday we threw out a lady's food storage. All of the food was expired and for her to move it requires her taking 3 or 4 cans at a time. For us it didn't take long, but again it was real hot. She had a box of cereal from 2000! NO JOKE! it was crazy. Everything was ancient! Then Friday we helped a potential (now two new) investigator move his significant other's sister in to their place. again real hot. It's been really good, even though I am sorta sore, and we feel so productive! Just in case you are wondering, moving someone and being in a Tri limits productivity. We always have to be within sight and sound of each other... so production decreases. Little difficult to stay together. Sometimes it left one or two of us standing around while the other one or two finished something. It was weird!
Dad, don't worry, me and my companion still really like each other! They are so great! I am constantly amazed at how great it is that we are in companionships and that we are all different. We could not be nearly as effective by ourselves.
The past couple days has cooled off a little and it is SO NICE! However, last week gave me a new respect for elders on bikes.
Monday was Labor day, so we could not email and therefore we had a little extra time on our hands. Since I gained... weight in the MTC and since the members feed a sooo good, a couple of my skirts don't really fit me. So we went shopping. The big thing here is thrift stores. They are everywhere! And they have sales on holidays! best time to go shopping! It was really fun. Great p-day.
I have like 5 bug bites. That is probably the most I have ever had at one point in my life. I'm lucky i am not eaten alive like my companions! Oh and mom, carrots are not a repellant, because my companion eats more than I do and she get's eaten alive!
This week we have done a lot of member visits, trying to get them excited and involved in missionary work. At church the theme has been Divine nature and that we are children of God. We have chosen to carry that theme and talk to the members about it, because it does two things. 1) The members need to hear it. No one can here that enough, and it really invites the spirit 2)Everyone knows someone who needs to hear that message, so it brings a great opportunity for referrals. As I have been studying the Atonement, plan of salvation, and our nature as children of God, I have come to realize how central and powerful that knowledge is. It's amazing how simple, and yet under appreciated that statement is. One of the members said something that really struck me: "The only person who can take away from my self worth is me". How true that is.
This week I have also learned a lot about how important it is to validate other people. Its super cool to really look at other people and try to see what God sees. They are amazing! God makes no mistakes, and every one is SO talented. Even if they don't feel that way. I am blown away at how many people don't realize how amazing they are. So today, try and let people know how great they are.
Yesterday was zone conference. It was super good. It was all about perspective. It is crazy how much we limit our own potential. It is also amazing how much we can do with God. (if you have not read the bible dictionary definition of Grace, do it!) Me and the other sisters in my zone sang for it, too. That was fun!
Here are my daily miracles for this week! :)
Aug 26: This member of our ward, Sister Islaws is from Mexico. Tonight we had dinner with her and her family and I UNDERSTOOD HER! It was so exciting. I didn't understand every single word, but I got the gist of it. Yay!
Aug 27:Our investigator Bob said he is going to pray about being baptized. He said that for the first time in the year and a half since he has been investigating, he is really considering it!
Aug 28:God has changed my taste buds! No kidding! I have eaten things that I previously really really did not like (such as avocado and tomato and I did not gag. I am not saying that I found them profoundly scrumptious, but they were good. It is truly a blessing. We eat such a variety of food and members houses and it is great that i enjoy them!
Aug 29:We had dinner with some members. Last week, these members told all of us that our expectations were too high, and we needed to lower them (needless to say that was a rough lesson). However, today (despite our worries) we had a really really good lesson with them. The brother told us that if he had our faith he could do anything. Talk about confidence booster! It was great!
Aug 30: We did some service for a Lady in our ward. She is SOLID! But her husband is really not active. Almost no one in the ward has even met him, but today we did! he introduced himself to us and we talked for a minute. He was really nice.
Aug 31: A couple weeks ago, while trying to contact a less active (who had moved and no one knew it) My companions met this nice man named Bob. When he opened up the door and they introduced themselves, he immediately told them he needed to be baptized. Crazy right? So they said okay! and have been trying to set up an appointment with him since. He was moving apartments and was really busy, but today we finally were able to catch up with him. Turns out his significant other's sister is moving in with them, and so we offered to help. They made it seem like it was this huge ordeal, but us girls got the truck unloaded real quick. We then started talking with Bob, and his significant other, Theresa. Theresa told us bob needs to be baptized, which is true. He is super sincere and knows that he has to be baptized to be saved, we'll help him see that it's also essential that he is baptized in our church :). I then told Theresa that we'd baptize her too. She sorta laughed but she doesn't know I'm serious. We had a great mini lesson with them answering some questions and getting to know them. I can't wait for our lesson with them next week!
Sept 1: We got our 20 lessons this week! Our Zone has a goal to teach 20 lessons a week, and it is seriously a miracle that we got our lessons, because we had 2 cancel today and had to scramble to get our lessons. But we did it! It's amazing what you can do with god's help.
Sept 2: We have another investigator, Cory, who we haven't seen a ton lately. Last week we had a lesson and he committed to (and did) take out his earrings. That is something we have really had a hard time getting him to do, since he has had them for years and years. Today we made a surprise visit just to stop by and say Hi, and..... HE HAD THEM OUT STILL! It was sweet! We were really worried that he would put them back in as soon as we left, but he didn't. I really think he wants this and I can't wait for him to be baptized.
Sept 3: Cory set a baptismal date for next Saturday the 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HECK YES!
All in all, it has been a real good week that went oh so fast. Remember to love every minute, because one day you will wish for what you have now.
How is everyone doing? Is Sarah in that immersion program? You all sound great, which is nice to hear! I love the pictures!
Just FYI, next week we have mission conference on Monday, so I will have p-day (and emails) on Tuesday.
I love you all SO MUCH!
Love,
Hermana Sirrine
P.S. JOHNNY, EMAIL YOUR SISTER :) I want to hear all about your life!
P.P.S Leigh and Nate, hope you are doing great and loving school! Miss you both!
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