Dear Mom and Dad,
This week was...not very great but not bad either. I don't
know if that makes sense. But it was difficult in a lot of ways but not in
other ways. I don't really know how to explain it other than to tell you that
I'm okay.
On Monday, we went to see the Wilcox family. They are this
super awesome family who is super missionary minded and they have a ginormous
house. They love missionaries and they love helping us whenever we need it. We
went over when they were getting ready to make dinner and they invited us for
dinner. I hadn't really eaten all day and they were having tacos which I was
craving so we took them up on the offer. It was really good. They had a friend
over from Hawaii. i can't remember her name because it was Hawaiian and it was
hard to pronounce but she gave us a referral for a friend of hers who lives in
another ward but she thought it would be better for sisters to go over there. I
hope we will be able to help her. We haven't gotten the chance to go over yet
but we definitely will.
On Tuesday, we had district meeting. We also had our zone
leadership meeting. I love that meeting because it is always a testimony to me
that some of the best missionaries are in this mission. I find it really
amazing that 18, 19, 20 year old young adults are sitting around a table,
discussing how to help other people come unto Christ and how to help their
stewardships be better missionaries. It's crazy that we do that...and it's
crazy that I get to be a part of it. We had a wonderful district meeting in
which Elder Judy, our awesome district leader, trained us on teaching
missionaries are happy missionaries and he talked about teaching the members.
When missionaries come visit you, you should ask them to teach you the lessons
we teach investigators. We have had some really powerful experience with that.
I love it. We ate lunch with the assistants because they owed me for my
birthday. We went to The Habit. You all would love it. I love it. It has really
yummy burgers and really yummy salads and they sell tri-tip too. Have you ever
had tri-tip? It's a really expensive specific cut of a cow, I think. I'm not
sure what kind of cut though. We did some service for old people. We played
Bingo with them and this fun card game called Kings in a Corner, which you
would enjoy. Then we did some arts and crafts with them. You know how artistic
I am...which is to say, not artistic at all. We ate dinner with the Bellistons.
He is our new ward mission leader. They have crazy kids but they are cute.
They're younger boy says some crazy things. We took Ashley Olsen out with us to
see M. But M wouldn't sit down long enough for us to teach her so we
taught Sister Robinson. It was kind of sad. Ashley is really sweet. She is
thinking about serving a mission but she's not sure yet.
Wednesday was kind of unproductive. We had a long day but
didn't do a ton. We did see the Adams for dinner. They are super nice and fed
us yummy burgers. then we went to see our investigator, E, with a laurel named
who is super sweet. She is probably going to go to BYU-I. Our
lesson with E was kind of all over the place but he was talking through
everything on his own! It was really cool. He was talking through his problems
and concerns on his own and it is our goal to just be there and let him do
that. We decided we are only there to teach him and extend commitments that are
going to continue to help him talk himself through his concerns. He will get
baptized eventually and I think he knows that. He just needs time.
Thursday, we had weekly planning. I was struggling a lot
that day for some reason and I told Sister Russell. She thought I should call
Sister Clark, who is in charge of emotional health issues so I did. Sister
Clark really helped me. She committed me to do the breathing exercises Leslie
taught me when I was seeing her and to pick something from the Adjusting to
Missionary Life handbook to work on daily. So we are doing that for a week. I
will account to her at our Mission Leadership Council on Friday. It has helped
a little and I'm sure it will continue to help if I just focus on what I need
to do. We are painting this woman's fence for her so we did that for about an
hour. We are going back this week to continue working on it. We had dinner with
the Hutchasons. I love them so much. they are about the sweetest people ever.
They made chicken cordon bleu (I'm not sure how to spell it). It was so good. I
haven't had that for the longest time! I remember when Brit would make it. We
took Marissa Olsen out with us to see the Echeverrias. They are moving so we
were goign to see if they needed any help. They didn't but they had books that
we looked through...you may be getting a package with some books in it, just so
ya know.
Friday was leadership training for all the district leaders,
zone leaders, and sister training leaders. It was really good for me because
when I had called Sister Clark she asked if I wanted to be released from my
calling and I told her no because I knew that would only add to my anxiety--I'd
feel like a failure. But Friday morning I was questioning that decision so I
prayed to Heavenly Father to help me to know what to do--if I should, in fact,
ask to be released. It was amazing to me how often President and Sister Clark
said in that meeting that "you are called to be a leader at this time for
a reason." They had every confidence in me, and I know that this is just a
bump in the road. I know I can make it through as long as I rely on my Heavenly
Father. We got some training on how to help our stewardships so that was really
nice. I actually contributed to the conversation which I am learning isn't as
hard as I originally thought. It is really great to see that my comments do
actually help people. Sister Russell came away with a lot of things to work on
and she has six weeks to do it before she goes back to Nauvoo (did I tell you I
have another visitor center sister?? Apparently, God just likes me to be with
them). I want to do everything I can to help her improve but I can't do that if
I'm struggling. I decided that I was going to do my best to be happy through
everything and then I could help her become the best missionary she can be. I
hope I can help her. We stopped by to see the woman's whose fence we're
painting, because she had a birthday present for me! She gave me some CDs that
she recorded herself. They are cover songs and we can listen to a few of them
but not a ton of them. It's okay though. It was sweet. We got to see a recent
convert, too. She's so sweet. She is so wise and great. We
are trying to get her to church but she hasn't been coming.
Saturday was a day filled with service activities. We
started at D's house and weeded for her. Then we went to the church to
help A set up for her baby shower. It was fun! Then we actually
got to go to the baby shower. That was a blast. We got to decorate onesies and
Sister Russell and I made a missionary! We put a tie on it and then next to the
tie, a name tag that said "Elder Baby." We ate dinner with the
Hardens and Sister Harden's parents and the elders from her parents ward--Elder Dale and
Elder Shillabeer. The latter is from England and he's hilarious! He was making
me laugh through the whole dinner. He has only been out a transfer so he's
pretty new. We had a movie night after dinner. We got to watch Passage to
Zarahemla. It was so good but the ending was so sad! I cried. It's okay though.
Sunday was pretty good. I was trying to be strong all day
for my companion and I think I did a pretty good job. We ate dinner with Sister
Robinson. She's such a sweetheart. She's working on going to the temple. I'm
proud of her. We saw the Echeverrias again. they are looking at a house within
the ward boundaries! I'm so excited! We then saw the Robertsons. they are so
great. I love that couple.
This week was rough and I'm feeling a tad homesick and my
companion is struggling too but I know I can get through just about anything if
I put my mind to it. I love her and I want to help her so I hope I'll be able
to.
I got my birthday presents! I appreciated it all.
I love you all so much and I'm so grateful to be here even
when it's hard. I pray for you daily and I hope you can feel that!
Always <3,
Sister
Abigail Reese
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