Now your other questions must go a little more in depth then simple 1 or 2 sentence answers so I will give them each a paragraph. The first question: "How has your week been?" In a word: busy. We have been constantly on our toes jumping from one thing to the next. Monday we had a District P-Day in Lloyd Star (minus the Hazlehurst Elders because no one told them, oops) and partied it up with volleyball and card games. I learned how to play Skip Bo and Phase 10. Tuesday we had interviews in Floerence and since Monday was a holiday, we also had to email. So we woke up, got ready and had our studies, then we rushed to the library to email for an hour till they closed for lunch. We had lunch at Los Lobos, then returned to the library to finish emailing for 45 minutes before meeting the Red Star sisters to carpool to Florence. It was a 45 minute drive to the Florence building; we had a great district meeting as our Mission President called out individuals for private interviews. By the end of our meeting, he was still working on the elders, so as missionaries/young adults, we sang hymns, played the pianos, had "Mormon Hangman" and scribble contests, and ate healthy snacks provided by our Mission President and his wife. I had some bad bug bites on my legs from Sunday and petting Isabel (see last week's email), so Sister McDonough took a look at them, took pictures, and sent them with a description to the Mission Doctor. He said it was probably just a bad reaction to mosquito poison. (Good thing I have a pushy companion (Sister Baker) to make me take Benydryl and Clariton, no me gusta drugs.) We didn't leave the church till 8pm, ran to a Sonic for dinner and arrived home around 9:30pm. It was a very long night. Wednesday was a normal day except that we had apartment inspections and had to come in early for lunch and clean. But we rode our bikes and found ourselves all over town, including Hazlehurst for a missionary meeting with our Branch Missionary Leader. Thursday we finally had a member, Heidi Green, take us out with her to go visiting teaching (trying to encourage the sisters to use our services). It was neat to see other people's homes (going into members homes helps us identify them and fellowship.) Between visits, Sister Green took us to her house for lunch, we have a new tradition of having sandwiches whenever we're there and she didn't disappoint. We made one more visit out past Lake Lincoln. Then rushed to the Stronghope area for a few meetings and dinner appointment. Everyone kept telling us about tornado warnings and we even had a scheduled member run to if the sirens started going off (they didn't). Friday was another "normal day" with weekly planning that takes half the day and doing service for the Boone family with Sister Francois. We had dinner at 51 Diner with her also. Saturday should have been "normal" except it ended with a Branch function of watching "Joseph Smith--Prophet of the Restoration" (Good video, on Mormon Channel, go watch), so that threw us off. Afterwards the member we had carpooled with took us to Sonic for dinner. Then Sunday was relatively normal, but it's getting harder to go to church because it makes me feel like a regular member and then it's hard to get into missionary work afterwards.
So it wasn't so much of a "normal" week at all. In total we ate outside of our trailer 7 times (not including lunch just now), and 5 of those times were at restaurants, and 3 of those were at Sonic. I miss cooking.
Now to your other question, Mom: "Who are you teaching right now?" We didn't have many lessons in total, which is really disappointing but we're expecting to have a "normal" week so lots of lessons are to come! We finally met with our investigator Crystal, its been a month since we last saw her because she was never home or didn't answer the door when we tried. On Wednesday we finally sat down and talked a little more about the Plan of Salvation, she recently had a friend killed and I think it helped her feel the spirit and have more peace. Afterward we went tracting and had a woman put up a handmade "No Solicitors" sign as we walked past on the other side of the road, and every time we walked near she would go inside. Her kids seemed confused but said hello back to us. We don't sell anything but respected her wishes and stayed away, it still kinda hurts though. On Thursday we visited with a less active member Sister Tarbutton ("goat lady" as her neighbors call her) and had a chance to talk privately with her son, and after he left Sister Tarbutton commented how he was really bad at flirting and could have possibly been trying to flirt with us... Not sure how I feel about it, but if he was we weren't so I think we're safe. Sister Tarbutton said she's been using the children's Book of Mormon story book to help her in reading the Book of Mormon. She read about wicked King Noah this week and really liked it, I'm glad she's reading and understanding! On Friday we tried to see our investigator Deeann and arrived just as she was leaving to go pick him up from school, so into the car we went and chatted as we waited in line. We found out that she is related to practically half of our members, and Sister Tebbs blurted out, "Why aren't you Mormon?" Deeann didn't respond but gave Sister Tebbs a look and I just laughed. We had several appointments cancel on Sunday but it was okay because we had lots of tracting to do. We had the chance to visit with a less active and learn just how much renovation she's done to her trailer, it looks great! Dad and Mom, you would love to see all the things they've done and how inexpensive they've made it! The main trick is being willing to put in the work and time because they did pretty much everything themselves. But it truly looks great, makes me want to build my own house.
We had a really neat experience earlier this week, that made us see the hand of the Lord on Sunday. While walking around Saturday, we heard from a member, Sister Louque (*Luke), that her friend Rebekah had apparently been at another friend's house when we stopped by, which made her curious and so she asked the member for a Book of Mormon. Sister Louque called us and asked for good scriptures to mark for her and gave her the book that night. The next day we were tracting and were called out to by a man who thought we were someone else. As we approached the man walked away but the woman who was with him stood still and responded to our greetings. We talked for a moment and she said her name was Rebekah. I thought "How cool, she has the same name as Sister Louque's friend." Then a couple minutes later she said she had a friend who was a member and she had recently asked her for a copy of the Book of Mormon. We had unintentionally found Sister Louque's friend! Sister Loque had said she lived deep in the country and didn't give us her address. Surprise, surprise we were tracting right where she keeps some of her horses which was only about a mile from her home! She explained she was busy this week but would call to meet with us the week after, she was excited to talk to us. Yeah, my eyes just got big too.
Something is going on and its that the Lord is hastening his work to spread the gospel to all the world. I'm excited to hear that the Gilbert Temple is opening and that Brian is finally getting to Brazil. We have an elder in our district who is waiting for his visa as well. It's funny during district meeting hearing him sing in Portuguese while the rest of us sing in English. Haha!
I'm steadily growing up. Yesterday I had a set back as I got mad at my companions for a comment they had made that I didn't see as a joke. After a short while of my angry silence, we talked it over, I called Sister Cox and got some advice on how to not let it happen again. I apologized and my companions and I hugged it out (sisters hug; I don't know what elders do, probably punch each other).
This week I'll have been out 11 months. It both does and does not feel like it. It's interesting how everyone reacts when you tell them you've been out for almost a year, its starting to make me a little uncomfortable. But I'm glad. Surely I can last 7 more months. Right?
Everything thing feels weird. Especially as I look forward to the new transfer in 2 weeks. I could train, open, stay, anything could happen and though I feel like I could handle any curve ball the Lord decided to throw, I am also extremely nervous and I feel like a greenie again asking "Am I ready? Did I think this through?" But then I can't imagine not being here, in Mississippi, at this point in my life. I know the Lord has a time table that doesn't make sense to us, but it is precisely what we need. "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things... believe that he has all wisdom, and all power... believe that man cannot comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." (Mosiah 4:9)
How has the Lord blessed you this week? What evidence has shown His Hand? I can't wait to hear your stories.
"Blessed art thou, (enter your name); therefore and life up your head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keep the commandments of God." (Alma 8:15)
Yours truly,
-Sister Stewy
I really like this outfit and the sunshine, nice day :)
Daffoldills remind me of Grandma Hukill, they are every where here, and they are wild.
Spring is here!
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