Support Details and Updates April 18, 2011

Business:

Thank you for going on the pants search. I love those pants. also, if it's not too late and you feel so inclined, my white button up shirt with the mandarin collar and tie in the back would be mighty handy too. I've been sweating buckets and I'm finding that I need more clothes that are a little lighter weight.

Thanks for supporting our local missionaries! You will be blessed :)

I AM getting the family newsletter and it makes my week every time I get it! It's so beautiful!

Don't worry about Pammy's address, I got it :)

Hooray for Hannah! I sure love her. She's great.

I absolutely adore you, mom and dad. You are such shining examples to me and I hope you know highly I think of you.

 

Updates:
 Craziness...transfers are happening again but I have no clue where these last 6 weeks went. But I get to stay! hooray! We really weren't sure what would happen, but I think Hermana Waite and I are really starting to make the most of our companionship so I'm excited for a fresh start with her. We had a TON of big changes last transfer, so not a whole lot changed for this one. Our district is mostly staying the same, except that Hermana Gerhartz (one of my first companions for the first few weeks) is going home. I'll sure miss her; she's such a great example to me and actually reminds me of Lauren in a lot of ways. There are about 23 missionaries going home in 6 weeks, so there will be some mighty big changes then, but I'm super happy for now.

Our investigators are doing quite well. One man named Elhy is going to get baptized on May 1 and we're out-of-our-minds excited. He's already doing member missionary work and sharing the cool things he's learning about the gospel with his coworkers. We had prayed and fasted for a number of our investigators to be able to get work off on Sundays so they could come to church (they need to come a minimum of 3 times before they can be baptized). Elhy was the only one who actuallyconverted his hope to faith by trying to ask his boss. He had a whole plan to approach her to ask for sundays off and was just looking for a good mood opportunity to talk to her when SHE asked him if he was happy with his schedule. He said "Well, actually, I need sundays off so I can go to church." She said she would try to arrange something for him, so we're 90% sure it'll work out for him :) AAAAHH!!! I love miracles! He's in the middle of the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi, but he's studying so so diligently and always has great questions for us.

We started teaching a family this week, the first family I've ever gotten to teach. A member in the English ward has been their good friend and basically guardian angel for the last 10 years or so. The father can't find a job and it's taking a great toll on his happiness and their family as a whole. They are such sweet, kind people and their 14 year old daughter has been trying really hard to find friends with high standards. Guh. She's so good. Hermana Waite is AMAZING at helping their 7 year old son to be involved in the lessons. It was so cool: we sat down and chatted for a just a few minutes, and then the kids ran off to the bedrooms, only to emerge a few minutes later with 4 copies of the Book of Mormon. We taught them about the Restoration and it went pretty dang well, I think. We had the father say the closing prayer, and it was just the most beautiful feeling to be kneeling with a family and seeing and feeling their faith and love for each other and the Lord. Oh my gosh I almost cried.

We have another investigator whose parents are super evangelical and they're always amazingly kind to us. His parents were listening in yesterday to our lesson and even sang along to "How Great Thou Art" when we sang it to begin the lesson. To be honest, the lesson didn't go all that well, mostly because our investigator insists that he doesn't want help to be happier, that he's afraid to make any effort, really because he rthinks that the higher to climb, the farther you can potentially fall. It's a front, I'm pretty sure, because otherwise he wouldn't allow us to keep coming and constantly tell us how good he feels around us and how glad he is for our friendship. I think it's another case of thinking too much and not acting enough. He won't come out of his house and interact with other people and shift his focus off of himself and onto others who may need his help. Anyway, the lesson was going in a really negative downward spiral, so I thought about what mom told me this summer about how thanking Heavenly Father is one of her very favorite things to do, so we went around the room and each listed 3 things we were grateful for. It completely changed the mood of the lesson and sour frowns were replaced with smiles and laughter. Awesome.

We asked his dad to give the closing prayer, since he mostly joined our lesson for the last bit anyway. He had expressed his gratitude for Hermana Waite and I coming to teach about the gospel, but then he said something like "Well, I guess I should pray since Paul taught that women ought to learn in silence. "

Wow, sir.

Dang misinterpretations of Bible verses.

Anyway.

You are all immensely precious to me and I love to hear from all of you

Be good! Happy Easter!

Love you more than all the machismo in the world!

Hermana B