Change is Good, Right?

We got a new investigator this last week, and the word I would use to describe her is interesting. Tiffany is really sweet, but definitely interesting. She's 25 years old and dresses like a school girl. Button up shirt, sweater vest, skirt and stockings. She rocks the look, which is pretty impressive. We walk into her apartment for the first time and there are Anime posters on the walls, little dragon statues on the book shelf and her husband has World of Warcraft up on the computer. Didn't think I would see this down in Alabama, but I love Tiffany anyways. She's studied with missionaries before she just has a hard time retaining everything. It's cool because she has a lot of the same beliefs and viewpoints that we do and she's excited to learn more. She hasn't ever been to church because she works every Sunday, but we're hoping that will change pretty soon. Wayne is still progressing in his usual way, but he's gotten more involved in the lessons. We've figured out that we have to start our questions with "Brother Chappell, what do you think...." or "How do you feel, Brother Chappell?" The question has to be pointed at Brother Chappell or else Sister Chappell starts to tell us what she thinks and we are on that topic for 10 minutes, and then 20 other ones before we can bring it back without her getting upset that we're interrupting.

Our ward was just combined with the branch on Sunday. It's exciting but a little nerve wracking for me. I was just barely getting names and faces down for the people already there, and now I need to work on the people who just joined. How will I be able to remember everyone's names?? I guess if I just greet them enthusiastically every time, maybe they won't notice that I don't know their name? I hope that this idea works for a little bit while I adjust myself. Sometimes I don't think it's fair that we have name tags and other people don't. I feel like I'm at such a disadvantage. We're still working with less actives and the members. We're going over tonight to visit J.P. and Crystal with Sister May. They just had a baby and sweet Sister May agreed to make them dinner. We arranged this before we found out that the Mays are no longer in our ward, so we're going to try to get other members from the newly combined Vestavia Hills ward to come with us to meet this AWESOME family. J.P. really wants to come back to church but I haven't been able to figure out what's holding him back. Hopefully some encouragement from the ward members is all he needs.

Cat Hair and Rental Cars

This week we did service a couple of different times for April Cook. She moved apartments so we helped her set up her bed in her new apartment and clean out her old one. April wanted her bed up high so she could have some storage underneath it. It turned out pretty cool, actually. At her old apartment, Sister Thorup and I had to take apart her vacuum cleaner to see why it wasn't working properly. She has two cats and her vacuum was so full of cat hair that the hose was clogged and wouldn't suck even when we dumped out the canister. It's funny because we literally just had a training about cleaning the day before and we were able to apply that to our service. We also found some fun toys in one of her closets, so Sister Thorup and I decided to have a "companionship inventory" with them.

Holidays just kind of sneak up on me now. I didn't even think about Labor Day until Sunday afternoon when missionaries were talking about libraries being closed. I hope ya'll got to enjoy the three day weekend. We got enjoy it a little differently. Our recent convert Kathie is so tight with President Hanks. He gave her permission to take the three of us {Thorup, Haslam, and Woodard} out of our area and up to Huntsville to visit her family. So we had a nice little road trip yesterday that kept us busy the whole day. The sad thing is that my batteries for my camera died and I wasn't able to get any pictures of our adventure.  Oh well.....

We had to take our car in today because the axles are being recalled for some reason or other. They looked at our car and decided it needed new axles. Because of some deal, we were supposed to get a rental car free of charge while our car is in the shop. We didn't have all the details to share with Enterprise because the Church set up that policy so we didn't have all the answers. We spent about and hour or more at the rental car place trying to get the payment figured out {who's insurance was going to pay for it, the Church's or the dealership}. We went in to the dealership around 9:30 and didn't get a rental car until almost 1. But the person helping us was super nice and it wasn't really that bad. It would have been worse if someone on either side became frustrated or impatient. It just goes to show that our reactions really matter. 

IF I were to have a favorite part of missionary work, it would definitely be working with the members, whether they are active, less active or recent converts. One of our lessons this week was a new member lesson with the Black family {formerly the Bells until Yolanda and Lawrence were married.} Sister Thorup came up with this great activity to illustrate the concept of faith. In Sandpiper Apartments there is this open grass field with trees around it and that's where we set up a maze with string. We tied string to the trees and to chairs, leading to one particular tree that had pictures of Jesus Christ. We blind folded this family, gave them an egg in their left hand that symbolized something they held dear, told them to hold onto the string with their right hand and let them go along the "path of life." We had the elders helping us and it worked out so each person had a guide. If anyone ever ran into trouble, they simply raised their egg to ask for help. The purpose of the activity was to show them that life is crazy and you never know where you are going, but so long as you have faith in Jesus Christ and listen to the Holy Ghost, you will be able to make it back to live with Him. It was a big hit and the family really enjoyed participating in it. 

I also love love love the youth, in general and in our ward. I'm hoping to work with them more as we try to get Kionnee Bell and Jordan Cross fellowship and get to know the girls. I talked to the Crowley twins on Sunday and they seemed more than willing to help make sure these two girls are included. I'm excited to see what they do.
Life is still good in Vestavia Hills. We're adapting to being in a trio and we work pretty well together. Sister Thorup, Sister Haslam and I wore red dresses on Sunday, our first official one together since last week was stake conference. It was a big hit with the ward members. We got lots of comments and it was a good way to get their attention for them to see who their missionaries were. I think it might be a little tradition for us the next two Sundays before transfers to match each other. Store contacting is not as awkward for me anymore; I actually kind of enjoy it. It's fun to talk to people and get to know them. I try and lead the conversation so that they ask what we are doing here in Alabama. {"I'm not from here, can you explain....." "Where's that at? I'm not familiar with this area."} I feel like I'm not forcing anything onto them when they bring up religion and what we as missionaries do.

I'm trying to push myself to be better every day {I'm not sure if it's working, but I'm definitely trying}. It's hard, but I would encourage ya'll to push yourselves to be a little bit better than you were the day before. There's no point in staying the same when this whole world was created with the purpose of changing and becoming better. 

Ya'll are amazing and I thank you for your examples. As they say in the South, have a blessed week!

Hastening the Work and Eyebrows on Dogs

We got to go to the temple this weekend with 5 recent converts while they did baptisms for the dead. It really got me thinking about family history work. It's pretty great that the temple provides names and the ordinances get done for people on the other side of the veil, but wouldn't it be cooler to be able to take your own family to the temple? There is this lady named April Cook who is preparing to be endowed in a couple weeks, when she hits her year mark of being baptized. She came up with this really awesome idea to give her family names to all those that would be accompanying her that day. So on Friday she was baptized for several women in her family and one of her guy friends was baptized for some men, including her grandfather who had passed away a couple years ago. You could just see the difference family history made in April's life. She was bouncing up and down with the BIGGEST smile on her face and afterwards she told us how amazing she felt while both the men and women's ordinances were being completed. I miss being able to perform baptisms for the dead, and I've decided that once I get home from my mission that I'm only going to take personal family names when I go to the temple. I can see the difference it's made in April's life and I want that for myself and for my family on the other side.

Along with temple night we also had stake conference this weekend. Elder Parker of the Area Seventy came out to speak to us and that was pretty cool. Saturday evening's session was really cool because it was all about hastening the work, every talk. Stake President Slezak talked about the stake goals regarding missionary work and I really like the four things that they are trying to do. First they have asked everyone to pray daily for missionary experiences. A missionary experience doesn't have to be teaching your neighbor or your friend a discussion about one of the gospel principles. A missionary experience can be simple and short, like inviting someone to attend a church activity. The second thing the stake is doing is trying to have a gospel conversation every week. They are going for a simple conversation, simply talking about why they do what they do in their life. Why they go to church for three hours every Sunday. Why they're buying so many boxes of ice cream sandwiches for the youth activity they're helping with. They try to talk about WHY they do what they do. Third, they want to have missionaries teaching discussions in members homes. I really like this one because it helps a lot with retention of recent converts. When people have others that they know in the ward, it's easier for them to go to church and to become involved in conversations and in activities. There are so many blessings for everyone when ward members get involved with the full time missionaries. The last thing that the stake leaders are encouraging is people attending convert baptisms. This shows the convert support and love and there is nothing greater than someone covenanting with God to be a better person and seeing the happiness that the gospel brings into someone's life that didn't have it before. If you're looking for ways to get more involved with missionary work, I would strongly encourage starting with these four things.

I think all this talk about working with the full time missionaries and inviting them into your house really stuck with Betsy Crowley because Sunday afternoon after stake conference was over she invited us and the elders over to her house for lunch. That was a really good experience because her boyfriend who is not a member was there with his two boys and we were able to show him that Mormons aren't weird, that missionaries are regular people. Betsy didn't want us to be too bold or pushy with him because he is content with his faith and isn't looking to change. She was asking us lots of questions about our missions, though, and I'm pretty sure it was half curiosity and half wanting to show Scott that we are all about serving others and not forcing our religion down other people's throats. It was also a good opportunity for us to get to know Betsy's three kids, her twin girls Ashley and Catherine and her son Jeffery. Gosh I love the youth. I swear Catherine is my twin, even though she already has one. Catherine loves dance and theater, reading, being creative, serving others and the gospel. She's already planning on going on a mission because she wants to help others and do all the things that you do on missions. She and her siblings are amazing. I'm definitely planning on using them to help us with missionary work. Hopefully they will click with Kionnee Bell, who just got baptized in April and is having a rough time with coming to church and doing good things. Being a teenager can be rough if you don't have the right friends to help you make good decisions.

The Crowleys' have this cute fluffy dog named Jake. Sister Thorup was reminded of her dog and she told this story of how she would draw eyebrows on him back home and it was really funny. After hearing this story the kids insisted that Sister Thorup draw eyebrows on Jake. 

Exciting Times

Exciting times are happening in Vestavia Hills. Last night the Assistants to the President called us to tell us that we would be getting another companion, Sister Haslam, and would become a trio. We're here now in the computer lab so Sister Haslam can email her folks and get them her new address. So ya'll get to hear from me again! Woo hoo! 

It was kind of a crazy night last night as we prepared the apartment for Sister Haslam's arrival. Since Sister Thorup has been here forever, she's spread her stuff all over the apartment and had turned the second bedroom into her second closet. We had to clean that bedroom up so that Sister Haslam had somewhere to put her stuff since our walk in closet was full. We also sat in the hall while the elders came in and moved the bunk bed from the spare room into our room. I'm now on the top bunk, so that's pretty fun. I think it's kind of funny, because earlier that morning we had decided to move our desks and rearrange the front room so we could have a change of scenery, and then we ended up rearranging the rest of the apartment, so our whole place has been re-done. 

I'm excited to be working in a trio. I've never met Sister Haslam before, but she seems really sweet and I think we're going to get along just fine. At least that is my hope. This is definitely going to be an interesting rest of the transfer

Member Missionaries and Groceries

I love working with the members and I think everyone should do it. See if the missionaries have any investigators and invite them to do lessons in your home. That's always awesome when we can get investigators into members homes so that the investigators have familiar faces on Sunday when they go to church. If you see someone new in the ward, go up to them and talk to them. Our biggest thing is having fellowship for our investigators and recent converts. Ask your missionaries what they need, even if it's just something small to you, it's huge to them. Member missionaries are my favorite people ever!! We went to a dinner appointment last night and just in casual conversation the mom was telling us about two families that she wants to share the gospel with and thinks would love to have the missionaries over. It was awesome, because we hadn't even asked for referrals and she was giving us people to go see. This lady is amazing!

The elders had a pretty good idea that we helped them execute. We chose a place to draw out the Plan of Salvation in chalk and wrote "Mormon.org" at the bottom of it. It was really fun to do and I feel like it was a pretty creative way to share the gospel and let people know our beliefs. Hopefully at least one person logged onto Mormon.org because of this.

So my favorite story from this week includes a new born, a mom and two other kids. Sister Thorup got permission to go down to her first area, Greenville, for a baptism. She took her old companion because they are the ones who found this guy and taught him. We did an exchange and I stayed here in Vestavia Hills with another sister. Sister Gustafson and I were walking the aisles of Wal-Mart looking for people to talk to and we turned the corner {into the cookie aisle} and saw this huge MOUNTAIN of food right in the middle of it. Turns out, this mountain was actually in a cart and a little mother holding a new born with two other children around her legs was trying to push it. So of course we ask her if she would like us to push it for her around the store. I wish we had found her sooner because she had just finished and was heading to checkout. We had to start loading another cart while the first one was unloaded onto the conveyor belt. This little momma spent $636 on groceries for her kiddos. Long back story short, after living with her brother, they were all evicted, they haven't had much food the past several weeks and her car is acting up so she's worried it won't start again and she won't make it to the store to get food. This sweet little woman was doing all she knew how to provide for her three little ones. She doesn't want them to go hungry so she loaded that cart as full as she could possibly get it. We've set up a teaching appointment for this Wednesday and I can't wait!

Movings and Weddings

We had a really good week last week, aside from us spending two hours in the Urgent Care for Sister Thorup's arm. We're working with a lot of less actives in our ward and a few investigators. Brother Chappell might be getting baptized in September. Sister Thorup is guilt tripping him a little bit since we are pretty positive that she will be leaving next transfer. Speaking of transfers, we just had them on Wednesday. Elder Posadas went to Decator and we got Elder Veenker, a new missionary from Utah. He is pretty cool and seems so prepared to be serving a mission. He seems to be doing a lot better than I did my first week in the field. Elder Arnold is adjusting to being a trainer but seems to be doing fairly well. He's a good example for Elder Veenker to follow.
 

We helped someone move out and attended a wedding on Thursday. I feel like we are losing all of our solid ward members who aren't crazy. We've had around 70 people move out of our ward, most of them to Utah. Brother Hintze was one of our ward missionaries that helped us out a lot and Sister Hintze was in Young Women's. Our ward is a turnover ward so we get all the students that are attending UAB and they move out once they are done with school. But we also get lots of new people once school starts up again. The wedding we attended on Thursday really didn't feel like a wedding. It was two of our recent converts, Yolanda and Lawrence. Yolanda was baptized in February and Lawrence was baptized in May. Yolanda and her two girls and her dad have been living in Lawrence's one bedroom apartment for the past few weeks because Yolanda's lease was up and they had bed bugs and they didn't want to sign a new lease if they were going to move in with Lawrence when they got married a month later. So it's kind of a complicated story but everything is good now. Bishop May performed the service in the Relief Society room and it was a pretty quite affair. Yolanda told us the wedding was going to start at 7, but she didn't even show up till 6:50 and it didn't start till 7:15. We assumed they would be bringing something to decorate with, but when they didn't, the Georges and Sister Thorup and I searched in the Relief Society and Young Women's closet for stuff so it wasn't so plain for them. Afterwards, they invited us out to dinner to celebrate with them. Take a guess as to where we went with this black family. Golden Corral is the best way to celebrate a wedding, obviously. I'm not complaining, though because Sister Thorup and I were paid for. I love this family so much because they are so funny and love to be happy. They may not have it all together, but together, they have it all.

 

On a more spiritual note, here are some of my favorite quotes from Sunday's Relief Society lesson.

"We ALL have trials. It's just a matter of how we handle those trials."

"If you just have a spiritual shell, you will crumble under pressure."

"Just because we do all the right things doesn't mean everything is automatically peachy keen."

"There's a positive  for every negative ."

"Be thankful for the weeds. They teach us that when we pull them out, we can be beautiful."

Bug Bites and Transfers

Sister Thorup and I sat for two hours in the doctor's office waiting for someone to come look at her bug bite. We noticed it on Saturday and it grew on Sunday and there was a line going up her arm towards her heart. Kathie {who is a recent convert and works at the UAB hospital} was concerned about the trail going towards Sister Thoroup's heart so she had us go to another member's house where they are both head ER people. They said it's called cellulitis and we should get it checked out so we went this morning. The service at the Urgent Care wasn't very urgent. We sat in the room for about a half hour before the doctor even came in, and then another twenty minutes for someone to give her a shot and send us on our way. So that's how I've spent most of my P-Day today. Sister Thorup just Google'd it and apparently if it's not treated it could become life threatening, so I am so thankful that we took those two hours to get it taken care of.

We had transfer calls on Saturday.  Sister Thorup and I are staying together! Yay!! She has mixed feelings because she has already been here for four transfers {six months} and she knows this will make it a thousand times harder to say goodbye to the people here. She loves this area and we make a great team, but she also wants to see other areas of the mission. We are both excited for this transfer because we have a lot of potential with several people. Elder Posadas is leaving this transfer, so we had a dinner at Kathie's to say goodbye. Kathie got baptized in May because of Sister Thorup so they have a really tight bond. Kathie loves having the missionaries over and all four of us have grown close to Kathie and her husband Mike and their grandson who has been staying with them. Elder Posadas made plantain and green banana chips, Elder Arnold made sticky rice and Sister Thorup and I made brownies. It was a good dinner. We're sad to see Elder Posadas go, but he's going to do great wherever they send him. Both Elder Posadas and Elder Arnold will be training this transfer.

No baptismal dates yet but we are working towards a couple. Our favorite family is a part member family. The husband JP is less active but wants to start coming back and the wife Crystal is interested in learning more. They have two little girls, Ember and Jade. Crystal is about to have another baby, she hopes within the next two weeks. There is a recent convert who kinda went less active but has started coming back to church and the elders have started teaching her husband, so we're hoping he will get baptized soon as well. He likes to meet with the missionaries and seemed to enjoy church yesterday. Brother Chappell is still slowly progressing in his way but we are going to get him baptized this transfer since Sister Thorup is staying but this will most likely be her last transfer here in Vestavia Hills.

Civil Rights and New Best Friends

It poured last Monday and we got caught in it. It was super fun though cause we were walking around this park that is across from the Civil Rights museum in downtown Birmingham. There were statues and signs that told a little bit of the history of the area. We saw the statue of the four little girls who were killed when someone bombed the Baptist church. It was really interesting to learn new things about the Civil Rights movement.

My interesting story for this week includes my companion getting a new best friend. We got dropped off at an appointment by a member in what's called "Southside" about a half hour drive from our apartment. We couldn't get anyone to come out and get us, so we were hanging out on a street corner waiting for the bus. Everyone is so friendly here in the south, some even a little too friendly. We simply said hello to a guy across the street and we ended up hearing his whole life story about crawling in some bushes and getting poison oak and how he writes Christian rap songs. Sister Thorup wanted a picture just in case he "got famous one day." We were not expecting him to put his arm around her, which explains her expression in the picture. Luckily for us, we met an inactive member of the Church down in Southside. He approached us and talked about how three of his siblings served missions and he likes to talk to missionaries whenever he sees them on the streets. He found out we were stuck without a ride, so he insisted on driving us home. We had to walk to his house to get his car, so we got his address. You know we will be visiting his family soon with cookies and a lesson about the gospel. Jimmy Stout is so cool and I hope he starts coming back to church soon.

We got a revised ward roster this week since we had 68 people move out of the ward. It used to be 4 pages and now we're down to 2. Sister Thorup went through and highlighted all the active members in pink and the inactive/less active members in blue. There is wayyyy too much blue on these 2 pages, so we've decided to clean up a bit in the Vestavia Hills Ward. We're going to be focusing on those members who haven't been to church in awhile. We met with one family already last night, J.P. and Crystal. J.P. is a member, but his wife and two girls aren't. He has expressed interest in coming back to church and loved the idea of us going back this week and teaching a lesson. I'm way excited to meet with this awesome family again. It reminded me a bit of home when we were there visiting. It was about 7 in the evening when we went over, and they were all in their pajamas. The girls were watching a movie and doing dishes and the house looked lived in, like ours is. J.P. is in the middle of a work project, so there was paperwork everywhere and Crystal was helping him. It was a bit chaotic, but there was a feeling of love and family, something I haven't felt in other homes that I've been in out here where there's only a mom and kids or where someone smokes and everything is just covered with the smell. It was so nice to be in a family friendly environment where the Spirit could dwell even among the paper work. I'm excited for this family.

Adventures of Week 3

I cannot believe I'm starting my fourth week here in Alabama. I've been here for a month already! The time sure does fly by so fast.

This week was another good week. It rained so Sister Thorup and I decided to walk in it and go store contacting. We put on jackets and boots and just enjoyed the walk. We passed one other person out in the rain, a man named David. He seems pretty cool and he seemed to like the Mormon.org card we gave him. Maybe something will come of this contact, maybe not. At least we tried! That's sometimes all we can do is try and let people use their agency to accept.

I went on my very first exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. It was an interesting experience because they are the Spanish sisters in our area. I went to a new apartment for the night but I was still in my area speaking Spanish. I know enough Spanish to know what's going on but not enough to communicate back. I just stood there while Sister Pickett contacted or taught a lesson. The Spirit was still strong in the lessons, though. It showed me that it doesn't matter what language you speak, you can still feel the Spirit. 

We had a baptism this week, but I had no part in it. We went because Sister Thorup had taught him a few of the lessons. It was cool to be able to feel the Spirit even though I didn't know him personally.

 

I'm including a picture of how creative the elders have gotten when it comes to making food. We were over outside their apartment trying to correlate our investigators and their investigators for ward council. Elder Arnold being a typical boy and looking for food wanted a hot dog but they were out of buns, but not tortillas. They made me try it too and it was actually pretty decent. Elders are funny.

That's about as exciting as it gets around here. We're still teaching Wayne, hoping he'll stop smoking soon so he can be baptized. Here's a picture of him and his wife. These two are my favorite people. Hope ya'll have a blessed week!

I'm in LOVE

It's official. I have fallen in love with Alabama. I love it here and I don't ever want to leave. I love the people and the way they can talk forever. They are so nice and you can strike up conversation with almost anyone. The homes of Alabama are so pretty with their sloping green lawns and abundant green trees. I even enjoy the weather here {it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be}.

We visited the Chappel's again on Thursday. Sister Chappel loves to hear her own voice and sometimes I feel like she's the missionary because it feels like she is teaching the lesson. But I honestly don't mind it.  I love to listen to Sister Chappel talk because she can say the best things. We're trying to help her husband overcome smoking so he can be baptized. Thursday's lesson was focused on receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sister Chappel would make comments on what we were talking about {sometimes turning them into long tangents} and I love some of the things she said. I pointed them out to Brother Chappel, hoping his wife's testimony will help him realize the importance of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sister Thorup and I know he will be baptized soon because he does have that desire and he knows the gospel is true. He's been coming to church with his wife ever since she was baptized 11 years ago. As soon as he turns to the Lord to help him get rid of the things in his life that shouldn't be there, all will be well.

As we were driving away from the Chappels', we can see downtown Birmingham. With the sky turned red from the setting sun and the city's twinkling lights below and the Spirit still with me from the Chappels' lesson, I fell in love with Birmingham. I'm so happy this is where the Lord sent me.

Friday was such a great district meeting. Elder West {our district leader} read us a letter that his dad had written and it really helped me as we're struggling with our investigators. I realized that I need to have patience and respect for others' agency.

"When people focus on the light, the darkness fades away." All we can and should do is focus on what people, our investigators, are doing right and what we can do to bring more light into their lives.

"Some people will need time; time to accept what they hear and time to change themselves."

"You aren't going to see baptisms everyday, but you will see miracles."

I had a really touching experience in church yesterday that made me really miss my home ward. In Relief Society, at the end of the lesson, the teacher had her twin daughters and her son sing a song about the strength the youth need today and they were holding hands and it was so precious. It reminded me of our youth and how amazing they are and that they really do need to be strong to stand in today's world. I know it can be hard but we all need to hold fast to what we know to be true. We must rely on the Lord to help us through this life if we want to truly be happy.

Remember the Lord

I would have written yesterday on P-day, but we got caught up helping a family move and spending time bonding with our zone. And by "bonding", I mean getting hit in the face three times with a soccer or volley ball. It was great, reminded me of home and my three rough brothers!
We also had a sweet recent convert take us out to get our nails done. Kathie sure does love to spoil us since Sister Thorup was her missionary and has helped her through some rough times. I'm just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
It was kind of hard to say goodbye to my district last Wednesday. We had all become really close and I didn't want them to leave. But they are all in good places and doing good things, so I'm happy for them. My trainer Sister Thorup is so amazing. She is such a hard worker and has been here in Vestavia Hills for like 6 months, getting lots of results. She leads by example and kind reminders and I have already learned so much from her.
We have four investigators right now. Three of them started with Sister Thorup's previous companion Sister Murry and one we just got on Sunday evening. So I have my first investigator! The three are all so close to baptism. Arshawn is 17 and waiting on his mom's permission for baptism. He loves the church and can't wait to be baptized. Brother Chappel has been going to church with his wife since she converted ten years ago. Sister Thorup is confident he will be baptized soon, because he went from smoking a pack of cigarettes a day to just half a cigarette a day. He is so close to kicking that habit. We asked him last week to pray about a baptismal date and are meeting with him tonight to see what his answer is. According to Sister Thorup, Linda finally received a testimony of the Book of Mormon and was able to answer all of the baptismal interview questions. We think it's only a matter of time before she commits.  Catherine is the brand new investigator we just got. She and her father are from Kenya and haven't seen each other in seven years. He joined when he came over to the United States and now that she's here, she wants to know why her father joined this church. I have high hopes for Catherine.

My bike should be here within the next week or so, so that's good. Sister Thorup likes to drive anyways because it's so hot and there are a lot of steep hills. I'm hoping we'll at least get some bike riding in when my bike comes, though. I think it might be more effective when we go out contacting, to be able to talk to people on the streets.

I'm excited for a new week of work and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us. Each new day is a great learning experience and I am hopeful of the things I will learn.

I hope all is well with you. Remember that the Lord has His hand in everything you do!

Alabama, Day One

So we made it to Alabama yesterday afternoon and spent time at the mission president's home with him and his sweet wife before going to the hotel. I love Sister Hanks. She is so sweet and so kind. She reminded me a lot of my mom, and it was good to have a motherly figure for at least one night after my two weeks in the MTC and having little contact with my own mother. It was a fun and spiritual evening, all at the same time. 

There was a Hermana at the Atlanta airport who joined us, making a total of 18 missionaries. She was at the Mexico MTC and had been at the airport by herself since about 7 until we showed up at 1. We didn't even know about each other, but we have bonded so fast. Sister Calamity, Hermana Taylor and I all slept in the same hotel room last night and had a blast telling our MTC stories and laughing our heads off. But we were all in bed by 9:30 cause we were so tired.

Today was another bittersweet day because they split up our zone and sprinkled us all over the mission. I'm serving here in Birmingham with Sister Thorup, but I haven't been able to remember what our area is called. I'm sure time will help me to remember it, and then I won't be able to forget it!

I am truly grateful for this opportunity God has given me to serve Him and His children here in Alabama. I can't wait to see what new adventures await me!

MTC, Week One Done

This is how my first week at the MTC went:

Sister Voss {my host} got me all set up with my name tag and books for class, then dropped me off at my classroom where I met my district and teachers. There are four companionships, two sisters and two elders. All of us are going to Birmingham and we will all be on the same flight when we leave. We're all pretty happy about that. We have grown so close in such a short time. The four elders remind me so much of my brothers and the sisters have become sisters to me. It has been such a neat experience to see how much all of us has grown in the gospel since being here. We had a really cool open discussion about the Plan of Salvation yesterday during study time. 

My companion is Sister Calamity from Cedar City, Utah. She is part Navajo and so sweet. We get along great and have a blast studying and preparing lessons together. Yesterday was our first Training Resource Center lesson with and investigator. It was such a cool spiritual experience, and we didn't even use the lesson we had planned for Patty. She had some questions for us that we answered for her. One of the questions was about what trials we have had that affected our lives, and why didn't we turn away from God? I was prompted to share with her our experience with my little sister Marissa, who was a miscarriage. Patty has a son who passed away and she is still grieving over his death and where he is right now. I was able to share with her my knowledge of the spirit world and where Marissa and Patty's son Joseph were. I also told her that if Joseph didn't have a chance to hear the gospel on Earth, that is where he would be taught. The Spirit was so strong in the room last night, and I am so certain Marissa was in there by my side, helping to testify the truth of my words. Sister Calamity and I will be visiting with Patty again tomorrow, and we can't wait!

 Sister Calamity and I!

 {Left to Right} Sister Robison, Sister Maxwell, Sister Calamity, Sister Woodard

This has been what my schedule was like:

We arise and get out of bed by 6:29. Our branch president likes us to do this, and be in our room for quiet time by 10:14, so we do.

Breakfast is at 7:00 and morning class starts at 7:30. We have class with Sister Porter until lunch at 11:30. Sister Porter served for 5 1/2 months in Birmingham waiting for her visa, and she tells us fun stories about the area and the people. One time they made a street contact and asked if they could leaver her with a prayer. As Sister Porter opened the prayer "Dear Heavenly Father..." the lady repeated {insert black lady voice} DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER! And Sister Porter wasn't sure what to do, but she continued the prayer, with the lady repeating words and such. When she closed, the lady said "amen, amen, amen." It was really funny and all us missionaries were cracking up the whole time. 

Class with Brother Meteer starts at 12:15 and goes until 3:15, when we have personal study until 4:30 and dinner starts. I like Brother Meteer. He has a different way of teaching than Sister Porter so some of the others don't like him as much as we all like Sister Porter, but I'm learning a lot from him. He is mine and Sister Calamity's Progressive Investigator and I'm learning a lot about how to teach someone. He portrays Adam, an investigator he taught on his mission who wasn't really sure if there is a God and if there was, God didn't care about him. It's been interesting to try to teach someone who is curious but not really open to learning about God's love and the gospel.

 

After dinner, we have district study and zone study. Last week Brother Norman would come get us to watch the other missionaries' TRC lessons, then afterwards give us a topic to study in the classroom. This week we teach our own TRC lessons during that time, but still have a topic to study.

Some days we get done by 8:15 and have gym time until 9:15. If we don't have gym time, we stay in the classroom until about 9:30 because they don't like us to be in our residence halls until then. So we basically live in our small classroom, but we find ways to make it bearable and even fun. 

Sunday was my favorite day in the MTC. I learned so much without being cooped up in a classroom all day. Relief Society was awesome with two speakers and several of the branches meeting together. After lunch, we had sacrament meeting as a branch. It was so weird to me to have the bread and the water over within 5 minutes. We were asked to write talks on the Book of Mormon and be prepared because the branch presidency wouldn't tell us who would be speaking until 30 seconds before we were to get up if we were chosen. I was prepared, but I'm glad I wasn't chosen. 

For the Sunday evening devotional, Sister Sheri Dew spoke to us about working with the Spirit of God on our missions and using the divine enabling power of the Atonement. It was a really good talk. After the devotional they show films until 9:30. My district stayed to watch Elder Bednar's talk "The Character of Christ." IT WAS SOO GOOD. Seriously, look it up and watch it cause my words can do it no justice.

I have seriously grown so much in just the few days of being here. I am so happy the Lord called me on a mission and I obeyed. There is nothing I would rather be doing than serving the Lord. 

The Wait is Over, the Trials are Not

Well, I'm here in Provo with my parents, spending some time with them before I report to the Missionary Training Center TOMORROW! I can't believe it's here. My time to serve the Lord in the mission field has finally come. It's been hard waiting for my report date, but it's been great at the same time. It has shown me the different tactics that Satan uses to try to get me off course. He has tried to use distractions, {such as boys, worldly gain through work and school, activities that I would be missing out on} and self worth issues {I don't know enough to be a missionary, people won't want to listen to me, I'm not good enough to preach the gospel, etc}. If you have been experiencing the same things I have been, I encourage you to stay strong. Think about the righteous reasons that led you to desire to serve a mission. Always be on the Lord's side and you will conquer Satan.
I have a friend who has recently started taking the missionary discussions and we were talking about questions he could ask the missionaries. I was thinking how grateful I was that my friend had someone to answer his questions. Then I realized that that would be me very soon, and I started to panic, thinking I was not prepared enough to be doing this, crying repentance to the people of Alabama. But I have felt a calm reassurance that I will not be the one teaching, but rather it will be the Holy Ghost doing the teaching and I am merely the vessel through which He works. Although I haven't memorized all of Preach my Gospel and the scriptures before I enter the MTC, I have been prepared enough to teach with the Spirit. I was blessed to have been born and raised in the Church. I grew up attending Church meetings, going to Primary and ward activities, learning lessons in Young Women's, and participating in service projects. When I was getting set apart, my stake president told me and my family that he could tell that I had been prepared to serve a mission, which was comforting to hear. So even though I don't yet know the best teaching methods to use, I know that as I trust in the Lord and invite the Spirit into every lesson, I will be able to touch hearts and make an impact in people's lives.
This morning at breakfast, my parents were telling me how hard a mission is. Both served missions, in the same mission, actually{that's where they met!} so they know what they are talking about. My dad wasn't prepared for how challenging it would be. People only told him the good sides to a mission, not the rough sides. But he says he wouldn't have done it any other way, that his mission made him who he is today, which is a strong priesthood holder who fulfills all of his church callings and takes care of his wife and family. I know that my mission will be hard. I'm not expecting it to be easy. As I learned on my stake trek when I was about 15 or 16, "I can do hard things." That trek was the hardest thing I had done until the point, but it was also the most fun I have ever had. I'm counting on my mission to be the same thing, the hardest thing I will ever do, but also the most fun thing I will ever do. One of the apostles said "My mission was the best two years FOR my life." I truly believe my mission will be the best eighteen months for my life.
This is my last post before going into the mission field. I'm hoping I will have some time on Preparation Days to post, but if not you'll be hearing from my mom as she relates from my letters all that is happening in Alabama. I hope you all have a happy Tuesday!