Thank you for the
letter.... I know it's hard and that you are busy, but those letters are
sooooooo helpful! I need physical letters!
An example of my
schedule when we have exchanges:
6:30—wake up and
start laundry—shower, eat, dress.
8:00—personal study!
I’m reading about Abinadi.
9:00—Companion
study—planned the exchange with sister Ficklin.
10:00—2:00—a rush of
emailing, laundry, shopping, and more planning.
3:00—Companion leave
and I’m alone with Sister Ficklin on exchange. We taught Evie Eastman at 7:00,
just read over 2 Nephi 31 and talked about baptism. Then at 8:00 we did a
service project for the Peirce family.
Tuesday we started
the morning with study and planning and then joined the Pierce family for an
early lunch at11:00. Sister Rawlinson gave us a ride at noon and we saw Tessa
and Kenny, Jan Clem, Kim Hutchins, Sister Blackwell (all less active members),
and then at2:00 we have a set app. with Jesse who wants to get baptized but he
won’t marry his live-in girl friend. He is a sweet guy though and he is doing
the best he can. After Jesse we saw Margaret and we practiced the baptism
interview questions with her and set an app. for the elders to interview her
the next day. Then we stopped by Dora and Eddie’s and tried to convince her to
come to church. Eddie loves church and I bet he will have a baptism date
soon—but Dora is struggling. At 5:30 the exchange was over. We had dinner with
the Cruces, the family we live with.
Did I tell you how we
live with a member family? The Cruces have 3 girls, but only one is still at
home in high school. She will be a senior this year. We share a bathroom with
her. I have a hard time cuz the kitchen is never free for me to make snacks or
gluten free treats…and their T.V. is always on! I seriously miss T.V.! But I
feel safe here and Brother is a strong priesthood holder so I appreciate that a
lot.
Can I tell you how
much I love Sister Magness? The first part of her mission was incredibly hard
and she has been really sick most of the time. She has learned the hard way
about reliance on the Lord. We work hard here. I’m learning the incredible
difference being busy makes. I didn’t really understand what missionary work
looks like until Claremore. Sister Magness loves me and I love her—we hug and
share stories—we understand our trials and our weaknesses. We try to help one
another. I’m so grateful for Sister Magness and her patient obedience and
example. It’s hard and I’m open with her and her with me and we both understand
each other’s weaknesses and we strive to help one another.
I will send you the
notes on my talk (on pioneer heritage given in Sacrament Meeting). I had
quite a few people afterwards tell me how amazing it was. how much they
loved it. so I'm rather proud right now about it..... :) but I'm
sure most of it was the constant prayer and the fast that morning..... I
was very stressed! I only worked on it for an hour Saturday night....
remember how we are busy here in Claremore? when was I ever supposed to
write a talk? Grandpa's stories were a hit though :) people really
enjoyed them! and did you know that the story of Amanda Barnes is in
"our heritage"? yup....
OKAY! on to the
real story now.
we have a standing
appointment with a guy named Terry. he is Brother Cruces co-worker (we
live at the Cruces house, fyi) and so Terry comes over to the house on
Tuesday nights and we teach them with Cruce family. this is a new thing,
just started about two weeks... and last Tuesday guess what happened?
we were teaching
about the first vision and praying to know for yourself if the Book of Mormon
is true. Brother Cruce broke in and bore the most amazing testimony and
shared his own converstion story. so cool. and while he is talking
Sister Magness looks over at me and whispers "extend a date"
I'm thinking
"What!?!" but I say "okay"
the next thing I know
I'm pulling out my Book of Mormon and looking like a totally awesome
scriptorian girl and I get him to read the intro to the book of Mormon, (the
last paragraph) and I promise him that if he continues to pray and to
read he will come to know the truth of it, he will come to know the truth of
what we had taught him about Joseph Smith. and then I say "and when
you come to know that these things are true, you will want to act on that.
Sister Magness and I believe that you can be ready for baptism on August
17. will you continue to pray and read and will you prepare yourself to
be baptized on that date?"
I'm looking him right
dead in the eyes the whole time, and he is looking right back. there was
barely a breath or a minute and he stated with a sure "absolutely, I will”.
so, I am out of time.
I had an exchange
this week as well.
so, one of pics is of
the exchange.
the other three are
because I got bored/weird on Monday and just ran around taking pictures!
One is a picture of me in the bathroom, very green! and another picture is of
my study area and my planner that I decorated :)
okay, bye!
