Mom,
I sure don't miss watching the Superbowl. It's probably one
thing I was very grateful for yesterday--that I didn't actually have to sit
through the Superbowl! I heard who won though and they weren't expected to win
right?? I do miss your little smokies but Melanie made them while I was in
Alluvial so I've had some while I've been out.
Where in Cali was Dad?? Was he close? Not that he could have
come to see me because it's not allowed but I would have loved to know he was
close if he was close. I wish I had taken cooking more seriously before I came here because now
I want to cook and I don't know a lot of recipes. Also, I don't actually have
recipes so that's a problem. Hey there's an idea for my birthday! A simple
cookbook! And quick meals--we only have an hour for each meal. Even less for
breakfast. I love Hallmark movies! They are the best. I miss them. I will catch
up on all of them when I come home. As a sister training
leader, I need to be able to give advice to those under my stewardship but it
would be nice to have someone for me to talk to. It's okay though. I am strong.
I am glad people see the growth in me. I see the growth and it's really cool.
I'm really tempted to ask all about Downton but I won't. I
will catch up when I get home. I'll get home right in time to watch this season
and then the next!
On Monday we saw the S family. I'm not sure if I told
you about them last week but we were on exchanges and Sister Bennion, after we
had gone to see a less active, asked if we could knock a house kitty corner to
the house we had just been at so we did and the man opened the door and let us
in right away! It was crazy! Now, I was thinking that they were ready and
prepared to receive the gospel...but it turns out they're members we didn't
have the right address for. So now we do and it's all because of Sister
Bennion! The spirit works amazing things. Also an investigator we are teaching
with the elders, IS GETTING BAPTIZED! On February 8! the elders called
us on Monday night and asked us to meet them at the church and they told us
that she is getting baptized! It's so awesome! I'm so excited for her! She
came to church yesterday and she has to come to church next Sunday in order to
make it but I'm confident she will. She reminds me a lot of Courtney. I
absolutely love her. She has the cutest daughter, who reminds me a
little bit of Summer. It's great!
On Tuesday, We ate dinner with Sister Russell. The rest of
her family was at the temple. but halfway through our dinner, Brother Russell
came home and joined us because they didn't need him for baptisms. Then they
went to do a session at the temple after we left. Wish we could have gone too.
That would be cool. We then saw the G family. I love them so much but
their story is sad and I'll tell you why later on.
Wednesday, we went to see M and ended up teaching her
grandma who is a member instead. She has a hard time focusing but we were going
to try to have daily contact with her up to her baptism. We also saw the
McFarland's for dinner. they are great. We role played with them and the son said he wanted to invite the friend he was playing to church. I am not
sure he did but hopefully he will this week!
Thursday was actually really good! Usually it's the bad day
of the week but it wasn't this week. We did service for an older woman. We cleaned out some mason jars for her that were filled with old, old,
old canned foods My knuckles were scraped up afterward. It's okay though. I
just thought my hand was smaller than it was. We also did service for a woman
we met last week that was kind of argumentative at first. She told us she
didn't want us helping her if we were only doing it to work our way to heaven.
So we told her we wanted to. We ended up starting to paint her fence. It was
fun! Then we saw our new investigator. He's great! but he needs to be
more serious about learning. The bishop is trying to pass him off to the elders
because he's a single man but a solution would be just to take a woman with us.
So that's what we're going to do.
Friday, we had our mission leadership council. That consists
of all the sister training leaders and the zone leaders plus the assistants and
President and Sister Clark. It's great! I loved it! I know there is so much we
can do in our area to help it progress and we are going to implement some of
those things. After this council, Sister Russell and I had a really good
conversation about things she wanted to change and things that I noticed that I
thought she needed to improve. It was awesome. We saw the Gs. They are
wonderful. Well, sort of. I really love that family and want them to come unto
Christ but it doesn't look like they are going to take that step of faith.
Saturday was a rough day. We got a text from C G
telling us that she needed a break from all the pressure to come to church and
to be baptized. It broke our heart. We asked her if she didn't want us coming
over anymore and she didn't respond. I don't know what to do. I felt like we
were doing so well and then our family dropped us. It was so depressing and I'm
so sad that they don't want to learn anymore. I love them and I don't know what
we did wrong to cause this. In every lesson we were in, we felt the spirit and
we followed promptings. I just don't know what to do.
Sunday was rough too. M came to church which was good
and we saw her afterward. Then we saw the Hardens for dinner. they are super
missionary minded. i love it. We also saw the Olsens. Sister Russell was really
struggling so we went over there and Sister Olsen was our mom for an hour. It
was good for me too. She was super awesome and Brothers Olsen and Olsen (haha)
gave us both a blessing. In the blessing I got, he mentioned courage. Isn't
that word President Evans used when he set me apart? It was really helpful.
I would love pictures of everyone! I love pictures to look
at. It makes me happy :)
I miss everyone too but I love being here and i'm so
grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. It's the best
experience of my life. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Transfers are coming
up though so pray that I get to stay! or pray that I'll go where the Lord wants
me to go :)
I love you!
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
PS Can you
send me Vitamin D?
Dad,
I didn't really miss the Super Bowl at all. I missed the
commercials but I really didn't miss watching the Super Bowl. Not one bit. Also
it put a wrench in our Sunday because no one wanted to listen to us. Well, not
really, but some people had it on. I also miss Mom's little smokies. They'll be
there next year.
Mom told me you were in California but I didn't know where.
I can't believe you were so close! It would have been really cool to see you
but I know it's against the rules and President Clark would have vetoed that.
For good reason, I know. But it's cool that you were close. I love California!
but I would never live here. You probably wouldn't either.
On Monday, we went to an FHE with the Robertson family and
all their friends. It was an empty-Nester FHE. It was fun! Brother Robertson
told about the Smith family (as in the Prophet Joseph Smith family). It was
really cool to hear more about the family. Some things I didn't know. So that
was cool. Then Elder Cook and Elder Parkin called us and asked us to meet them
at the church. They are the elders in our area with us and we have been working
with some of the same people. they told us that one of the investigators we are
teaching together, M, is GETTING BAPTIZED ON FEBRUARY 8! I'm so excited! I
love her so much. She reminds me a lot of Courtney. And her daughter
reminds me of Summer a little bit. They are the best and i love them. She came
to church yesterday so that was good. She has to come to church to be baptized
one more time at least. Which will have to be this Sunday.
on Tuesday, we saw the Brown family again. I love them so
much. Brother Brown is so funny and I love them. they have cool conversion
stories though it took them forever to get through it. They both like to talk.
He has a lot of old cars. They are pretty cool. We didn't get to see a lot of
them because it was dark. Earlier in the day we had to take our car in for
maintenance. On our way home, we saw the assistants. It was great! They wanted
us to race them but I'm not a very aggressive driver and we have a Tiwi that
monitors our driving. We also saw the the Gs. I love them so much!
Wednesday, we met with this less active woman. the lesson didn't go all that well. Both of us could tell that what we
had planned to teach her wasn't what we were supposed to teach her but we
weren't sure what we were supposed to teach her. So we just went with it and it
didn't go too well. But we are trying to do better now. We ate dinner with the
McFarland family. It was great! They are awesome. Colton is really funny. He is
the oldest. We role played with them--we taught them the Restoration of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and it was fun! Colton was able to think of someone he
wanted to invite to church so hopefully he will!
Thursday, We did service for a woman. We helped
her uncan some gross canned food. then we cleaned the jars out. It was gross
and fun and I scraped up my knuckles! It was sad. And now my thumb hurts. Then
we saw M and she was wonderful. I love her so much. We ate dinner with the
Kelloggs. They are great. They have some darling children. We also saw the
G family again. I love them.
Friday was our missionary leadership council! It was really
awesome! I learned a lot and learned how to be a better leader. As leaders, we
are instructed and expected to have a model area so we are working on that and
we are going to do our best to apply the things we learned at our leadership
council. We ate dinner with the Hutchasons. they are great. I love that family.
We saw M again too. She's awesome. We taught her with the elders and I wish
I would have said more. I just never know when there are several missionaries
in the room whether I should contribute. We saw the Gs again and invited
them to the baptism on Saturday. They said they would text us in the morning.
Saturday we got a text from the Gs and C said she
wanted a break from the pressure to come to church and be baptized.
So...basically we got dropped. It was really sad. I'm depressed about it
because I love them so much and she isn't responding to our texts. We may go by
one more time to drop some stuff off that we got for her. I was sad. We saw the
Robertson's on Saturday though and that made things a little better. I'm just
trying to figure out what we did wrong and what we can change to be better. I'm
going to figure it out.
Sunday we had a rough day. We saw a lot of people. We saw a
recent convert/less active member who loves missionaries but won't come to
church. It's sad. then we saw the Fs. I love them. They have adorable
kids and it's really hard not to hold them. We also went to the Echeverrias. I
love them too. They are super awesome. We saw the Olsens because Sister Russell
needed a hug and a mom and Sister Olsen was there. Then her husband and father
in law gave us a blessing. It was nice.
You and Mom should definitely serve
a mission! It would be awesome and you would be able to know why I love it so
much. Yes, I am almost halfway done and I don't like it. I love being a
missionary and I know I'm here for a reason. I know there are struggles ahead
but I will do all I can to bring others to Christ
I love you!
Always <3,
I love you!
Always <3,
Sister Abigail Reese
No comments:
Post a Comment