Monday, November 4, 2013

Letter Dated November 4, 2013

Alrighty,
This week was pretty good! :)  We didn't get to teach as many people as we would have liked, but it was still really good! :)
This week was a little bit different! :) haha we'll start with P-day.
So on P-day's we normally get to go to the church and play volleyball with the other missionaries in our district, but last week we didn't get to because it was the end of the month, and so we didn't have very many miles left that we could drive, and we decided it would be more wise of us to use those miles to teach people instead of going to the church to play, but it was still a really fun, productive P-day.  We had the opportunity to go do our shopping and get all of the good ol' necessities, and it was pretty nice because Sister Winkler needed to get some stuff to get settled in, and still needed some time to unpack.  :) so we got to clean our apartment up and get all settled in. :) And write letters and all that fun stuff! then We had dinner at the Greenways. :) yay for that! man I love them so much! :) They're always making sure that we're okay and taking really good care of us! :) and their kids are soooo adorable! haha! I do think that their little boy is sad that Sister Walborn left though...maybe now I'll become his favorite ;) haha Just kidding! :) and then we just set out to meet up with potential investigators for the rest of the evening.
 
Well then Tuesday we had the amazing Belen come out with us to come to a lesson with a man named William that lives near us.  We tracted into him and he accepted a Book of Mormon and then invited us back for a lesson! :) So we were really excited! We had planned for him in our studies and had a lesson plan and then....we knocked and no one answered the door....and I don't mean like, "oh, he must have forgot.  No one is home." he was intentionally ignoring us, which is always frustrating.  Especially when you have a member with you for a lesson.  Ugh.  Later we stopped by and he answered and tried to give the book back and said that he had been at the doctors earlier this week and so that's why no one was home to answer the door...uh-huh..that's why I could hear you talking and walking around in your little trailer home huh. haha! no it's fine.  But at least he told us he wasn't interested.  So now we know and we aren't bothering the heck out of him by stopping by all the time. haha But anyways, later that night we had a lesson with Valerie! It was so awesome! oh man! I love her so much! I wish I could just carry her around with me all day in my pocket! haha She is always making us feel so good about ourselves, and is so uplifting all the time! oh man, I just love teaching her! She's one that really wants to learn and listens so intently and is always asking questions! She's the best! The spirit is always so strong at her lessons!  I wish you all could meet her! :) Oh!! aand, We had a super awesome experience! we were walking around town because we were about out of miles and still had places to go later in the week, so we decided to walk to find potentials and go tracting.  Well after a real long time of nothing, no one being home or not being interested, we decided to walk down one street in order to find another that we were unsure where it was, so we walked down and started tracting along the way, and we continue down, and there is this lady just staring at us through her screen door...and her door was the next door...so we had an awkward moment of do we continue, do we talk to her...what in the freak is she doing? So I stop in front of her house and make eye contact with her, and she opens the door really excitedly and asks if we are doing a bible study, so we ask if we can come and talk to her for a little bit about what we're doing. She immediately let us in and just started spilling her whole life story to us! She goes on and on about how hard her life was, and how she got caught up in drug abuse, and how she suffers from bi-polar, and how she had been sexually abused and promiscuous and so on...(let me tell you, as missionaries we hear a lot of crazy stuff.) But it was so sad, and she told us about how she knew that God was there and that she had been searching for the right religion for the longest time and that we were just an answer to her prayers.  She told us that she had been praying for a long time to send someone to help her get on the right path, and that we were the answer! She was immediately asking for our "literature" and setting up a time that we could come back and help her to learn.  She was so excited and happy that we had come.  I could just feel how sincere her heart was, every time she'd talk about Christ or our Heavenly Father she would start to tear up and cry.  You could just feel how much they meant to her.  and it was super neat because after we got out of there, Sister Winkler and I were talking and we both had been praying in our hearts to find someone to teach, and then there's Amy! oh man! it was so awesome! We get to go teach her tomorrow! and we're so excited!
 
OH MY GOSH!!! I CANT BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU!!  One of our Less Active Part Member Families came to church for the first time since I've been here! It was sooooo awesome! They finally got a car and all came and sat In church with us (not this last sunday but the last, on the 27th) It was so awesome! and then on Wednesday they  came to the trunk or treat! :) can I just tell you how much I love our ward out here! oh my gosh! they are so cute! there were some of the cutest costumes, and their trunks were decorated so cute and awesome! I loved it! They were so welcoming to everyone and made everyone feel at home.  :) it was so fun to get to go to the Trunk or Treat! :) that was a fun experience as a missionary!
 
and then Halloween! :)
Thursday at about 2:30 we got another companion for the next little while because her companions (she was in a trio) are sister training leaders and they had to drive to Pittsburgh for a leadership training and so she got to stay with us.  It was Sister Averett! We had a lot of fun! on Halloween we had to be in at 6pm and so we had worked for quite a while and then Sister R picked us up for dinner! :) They fed us mummies for dinner. :) haha they were so cute! it was like pigs in a blanket, but they cut the hot dog to look like a person, and they wrapped them up! it was so cute and fun! haha after dinner we got to go to the apartment to clean and replenish our 72 hour kit. :) we also made some yummy cookies and played a game when we were done! It was tons of fun! haha and probably one of the only times that I'll get to be in at 6 as a missionary! :) It was fun with three of us, we had great fun and conversation! :)
 
Those are pretty much my big moments this week! haha we had so much fun! :) I've learned so much! We are able to learn to love others so much more than we ever imagined as we serve them, any kind of service, big acts or small ones. :) and I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers.  Even the prayers of our hearts.  I'm soooo thankful that I get to be here! I am learning sooo much! I love all of you so much and I can't wait to get to talk to you again next week! I hope you're all doing great!