Phew. Now that I got that off of my chest, I'll start my weekly run through.
Monday: We emailed and found out that my FBI Clearance was in SLC! Halleluyer! Then we did shopping and chilled at the apartment for a few hours. After that, we went to FHE, and then went on exchanges. Sister King is the Sister Training Leader, so we basically do exchanges each week.
Tuesday: I read a talk during studies from a BYU devotional in 2006 called "The Very Root of Christian Doctrine" by Thomas B. Griffeth, and it was suuuuuuuuper good. I want everybody to read it!! Its amazing. It talks about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Then, Sister Harrison and I went to an "Old Folks Home" that she and her companion Sister Christensen volunteer at each week. We played Chicken Foot, which was hilarious and reminds me of Mexican Train a bit.
After that, we had lunch at a pong and fed TONS of fish. I mean, swarms. It was pretty awesome. We finished planning some lessons for the day, got the bikes off the rack of the car and headed over to a lady named Autumn's house. We read in the Book of Mormon with her and talked about how she could get her nonmember boyfriend to be interested in the church without being too pushy.
Then, we taught some boys in their ward, and the boys' friend, about Captain Moroni, and how they can be like Captain Moroni! That was pretty cool. Then, we had some yummy Taco Bell for dinner, and went tracting before our appointment.
Here's where it gets cool. We didn't have any success tracting, but just before we went in to our appointment, we got a phone call from a "Mr. McCloud." He'd called over the weekend, saying that he'd found a Family History pamphlet with their number on it, and would like to learn more about how to research his family. They called him back, but he never got back with them. Well, Mr. McCloud happened to call right then and asked if we could meet him at the Family History Center that night! The FHC was open, so of course we said yes and set up an appointment.
Then, we taught a lesson to two adorable little girls named Mia and Aleena (who looks like a little kid version of Sister Kyles) and that was adorable. They both prayed super cute little prayers and loved the Plan of Salvation.
After the lesson, we booked it over to the FHC and there met Mr. McCloud- and his wife, AND his teenage son! Because I took a Family History class, I was able to really help them out. We started his family tree on familysearch.org (which is a free website for members and nonmembers) and we helped him find some members and names that he'd never even heard. It was amazing. I know that I was on that exchange to help Mr. McCloud and his family. Towards the end, they all got emotional and told us that they loved us and thanked us for our help. The Spirit was so strong. Sister Harrison shared a thought about families and how God puts our families together, and then invited them to church. At first Mr. McCloud just said, "We have our own church." But then, his wife suggested that they could visit, so he continued and said,"But for you, we will visit. For you." I talked with his wife about how in our church, families are forever, and she loved that. We also told them the layout of church, and how none of the leaders or teachers are paid, and that there is member participation. They also loved that idea! It was amazing, and I was supposed to be there.
Then, we exchanged back :)
Wednesday: It was kind of a slow day. We printed flyers and emailed our ward email person so that she could send out the information on our Why I Believe fireside. That took FOREVER. Then we went to a place called Chill... which is a Milkshake Bar owned by a member. Its pretty much AWESOME, and I have a feeling Brayden would LOVE it. There's a kid thats a member that works there, and is about his age, and is working on his mission papers. He reminds me a lot of Brayden too, so thats nice. He's pretty excited to hear where Brayden is going. Anyways, so we went to Chill... and put up some of the flyers for our Why I Believe fireside.
After that, we went and visited AJ, an awesome girl in our ward. We talked about grace and the Atonement, and our part. We assigned her to read the talk His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox. Which EVERYONE should read, by the way. Its amazing. We also listened to part of a Michael S. Wilcox cd on temples. The part we listened to with her is something I call "The Parable of the Keys and the Locks." Its amazing, beautiful, and really stresses the importance of family history. Its about a girl and a boy... Well, its just too long. I'll try and find it to email it to y'all. Its beautiful.
Then, we visited this lady who is in her 40's and has breast cancer. Her name is Kristin. There used to not be sisters in her ward, but now there are, so we all visited her together. That was fun! We shared the same "parable" with her, and she loved it. Family History is SO important.
Then....
BRAYDEN GOT HIS MISSION CALL!
Okay, here's how it went on my side of things. It was 9:30 and I hadn't heard anything from President Pingree yet. I had texted him a little earlier, asking if he'd heard anything from my family, but nothing. I was getting sort of upset and freaking out on the inside, so I prayed. Because that's what you do when you don't know what else to do. You pray, sing some hymns, and eat some chocolate. So I was frantically eating and writing in my journal, when we got a text on the phone. Sister King looked at it, grinned and handed the phone to me. It was a text from President Pingree that Brayden had gotten his mission call to the Chile Santiago North Mission!! I smiled super big, celebrated on the inside, asked Sister King to text President Pingree a "Thank You!" and promptly took up half a page in my journal to write in huge, capital letters, where Brayden was going on his mission. Then I had to go into the other room because I was just so happy, excited and proud of my little brother that my eyes started sweating a little. When I was done writing in my journal, and ready for bed, I was walking back into the room to sleep and Sister King asked if I was okay. I just said, "Yeah, I'm just so proud of the kid!" And my eyes started sweating a little bit more. It must have been pretty hot in our apartment.
Congrats, Brady-Boy!!!
Thursday: We had Zone Conference, and here's the cool part- it was ALL about Family History! Which is what the Spirit led us to focus on with people all week long! That is a miracle. #TCIT (the church is true!)
After that, we visited Jen. No, not the Jen in Caldwell, but a different one who is also awesome. She has EDS (I think thats it..) and MS. Basically, her joints don't stay together very well and so her knees often dislocate, her fingers pop out of place, her shoulder dislocate, etc. She's a pro at keeping herself together though- physically and spiritually, and emotionally. She's amazing. She's only 26 I believe, and she's a hero in my eyes. I love her. It must be something with all these "Jen" people that I meet, because they are all so wonderful. Anyways, we shared that "parable" with her, which she loved, and then left.
We had dinner at some Mexican restaurant called Gringo's with Michele who will probably be a famous singer soon, and her mom. Fun!!!!
Friday: We did weekly planning since we couldn't on Thursday. We erased our whole mirror- we have a huge mirror on the wall of our eating area where we write out the names of our investigators and members who need some extra love- and rewrote everything. Now it looks much more organized, clean, and manageable.
We were supposed to volunteer at NAM but ended up not having time. We were busy doing a lot of stuff for the fireside, and for visiting teaching.
People! Just do your visiting teaching!
And that's all I'll say about that.
We also ate some more yummy stew that we made for dinner! YUM!
Saturday: We ate some yummy Chick Fil A sandwiches for lunch. I, myself, had the number 2 deluxe chicken sandwich without any tomatoes or pickles, and I loved it. A lot.
Then, we went over to Kaylan's and had her help us find some people that we don't know on the ward list. Also, she has a gong in her house, so of course I hit it. I guess I was too timid about it because Kaylan had to wind up and show me how to properly hit the gong. My bad!
Then, we went to "The Waterway" and talked to a cute old man named Pete about family history, and some other dude in his 40s/50s that had been in charge of a marathon earlier that day! Anyways, he told us to "follow your heart" which I already do anyways, so he totally stole my saying... And he told us that Mormons are "exceptional." So there you have it, folks! We are exceptional! The guy also told us to take a stack of posters that say "You're doing great!" that they used for the marathon. So now we have a ton of motivational posters.
After that, we visited Ashley and helped her do some family history. Hooray! That was fun, and we found a lot of stuff. She's only been a member since January, so its been fun to literally start from scratch. From nothing and build up. So cool! We gave her and her little sister each one of those marathon posters.
Then, we went to a cupcake place called "Treat" where I bought the chocolate lovers cupcake, and to "Fuzzy Peach" for some fro-yo with Kaylan and with Janae. I saved the cupcake and just ate my fro-yo (red vevet and chocolate fro-yo covered with crushed oreos and chocolate chips) which was delicious. They also had a huge game of Connect4 in the middle of the place, so we had fun with that. Then we went home and ate dinner. Yeah, late dinner, but we needed it.
Sunday: I bore my testimony in testimony meeting, which was fun. Its kind of weird to be up at a podium and to be in front of more than 20-30 people. But it was nice.
One of our investigators, Frank, brought his sister Daisy and their cousin Fatima to church. They're both 12. That was hilarious, and adorable. They LOVED it, and want us to come over for dinner. Cute huh?
We also ate with AJ and her family for dinner. It kinda reminds me of Sunday dinners at Grammy's house. Nice :)
Then, we visited Jennifer (another one) and had an AWESOME discussion about the Second Coming.
Which made me TOTALLY PUMPED for life.
And today, I get to email y'all! Halleluyer!
Also, sorry if any "L's" are missing... this key is kinda stuck.
Alright. Now everybody, go read the talks "The Very Root of Christian Doctrine", "His Grace is Sufficient", do your visiting/home teaching, do your family history, and prepare for the Second Coming.
love y'all!!
com amor,
Sister Shell
Um, also. Hold the phone.
I hit my HALFWAY mark this week.
As in I've been out here for 9 months. And I only have 9 more to go.
I don't know how to process this.
Gah.
I may "lamoni."
LAMONI (vb)- to be so overcome and exhausted by the spirit or a strong emotion that one collapses to the ground, unconscious. See Alma 18:40-43 and Alma 19:13-14
OH GOODNESS!!! I almost forgot something else that's important!!!
The sister missionaries in Montgomery texted us and told us that...
DERRICK IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON MARCH 15!!!! For sure!!!!!
And I am so super excited.
:D
Oh dear, I forgot something else that was hilarious.
I have an announcement.
I am now officially and totally a missionary.
Why am I saying this now?
Because the other night, Sister King heard me teaching people in my sleep.
Yupp, I'm a missionary "at all times, in all things, and in all places."
#YOSO (you only serve once)
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| Sister Shell ringing a gong because "Gongs are sooo cool!" |
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