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| Items Sarah received in her "Greenie" Box |
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:02:34 -0600
I
absolutely love you and I am so incredibly glad I get to email you
every week. Thank you for all your emails and letters. I really
appreciate it.
Last Tuesday we met with a man named Joe. He is 68 and retired.
He is from Indiana. He was going to visit Florida and got as far as
Tennessee before he felt the Spirit telling him to come to Utah instead.
He showed up at church a little over a week ago and said that he came
to Utah to find out about the Mormons and get baptized. Joe is
absolutely amazing! He has been so prepared for the message of the
restored gospel. He is really amazing and is getting baptized this
Saturday. Also, we are taking him to the Saturday morning session of
General Conference next week, and he is very happy to be able to go and
hear the prophet's voice.
On Wednesday we tried to go up to Farmington to pick
something up. Sister Davis had gotten a box that came to the mission
office and it had to be refrigerated. One of the couples that works in
the office lives in Farmington, so they took it with them since it would
be closer for us to drive. Well, the directions we got weren't that
great. In the end, the couple had to just drive to us. It was kind of
embarrassing. We also got some yummy homemade pita and hummus on
Wednesday, and that was really good. On Wednesday night we were
teaching a family. The parents were recently remarried and their
children have varying levels of Gospel background. We are teaching the
nine-year-old boy who has not been baptized. While we were there, the
eleven-year-old daughter wanted to give us some dessert. They had Amish
friendship bread, so she asked us if we wanted some. Then, just to
make sure, she asked if either of us was allergic to Amish. It was the
funniest thing. I think she must have thought that Amish was an
ingredient, not a religious group. Ha ha. The bread was really good.
On Thursday we went to different auxiliaries to ask
for referrals. When we would get to the door of an auxiliary, we would
ask them if I could practice my door approach. (It isn't very good, and
I need all the practice I can get.) Luckily, most of them were super
nice and let me practice. I am still far from comfortable, but it gets a
little easier every time.
On Friday we had weekly planning, which always takes
a long time. We also went to Orange Leaf, which is a frozen yogurt
place that gives missionaries free ice cream. I am often surprised by
how generous the local members can be.
On Saturday we went to two different baptisms. We
had Joe come with us to the first one so he would know what he will be
doing in this Saturday. Everyone there was super nice to Joe and just
made him feel so loved. I am so glad that members are so welcoming and
encouraging.
On Sunday we went to meetings in four different
wards. It is sometimes hard to keep track of which investigator is in
which ward and who the bishop is and all that. It is definitely
different being in Utah. Instead of having several missionaries in one
ward, there are several wards or stakes for each set of missionaries.
It is really nice to be able to go to so many different wards, though.
I get to see how all the wards are different, but in many ways the
same. The Spirit is there in every meeting, and no matter how big or
small the congregation, you can tell that they love and appreciate
church.
On Monday we visited more auxiliaries and taught a
few lessons. We taught Joe again. In our lesson with Joe, there were
six members of the ward present. it was kind of crazy how much
fellowship there is.
That night there was a sisters' sleepover.
It happens every other transfer, and it is when all the sister
missionaries in the mission meet at the mission president's house and
have a sleepover. We get there around an hour before we are supposed to
be in bed, so we just have a little time to play a game and for the
mission president to give us a little message. It was a good thing, and
I enjoyed it. We were able to spend a little time in the morning
talking to the other sisters and just getting to know them a little bit.
Today, we went bowling with some of the elders in
our zone. It was a lot of fun! I bowled 108 in the first game and 171
in the second. I got a turkey, but I didn't quite manage to get four
strikes in a row. Next time, maybe...I have no idea when that will be,
but it was fun anyway.
I love you all so much. I can't believe how much I
have already learned and how much I learn every day. The Gospel brings
so much joy in my life, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to
share that with others.
Love,
Sarah
