Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Week #4 in NC
Hola Familia! (y mis amigos)
How is everything going? It seems that everyone is going to the Gilbert temple! How great that you guys (mom and dad) were ushers at the temple:) that is incredible. Such a great thing to be happening there, helping the missionary work there progress!
Well, I realized the past few weeks I have been telling you literally every detail of anyone we visited!! ..haha What I'm learning is that as sad as it is, week to week we tend to lose some of our teaching pool for different reasons like. Some people decide that they aren't actually interested, I guess. So. I am going to try and cut down on the stories this week!
Okay. This week we got a media referral which comes from church headquarters. This happens when someone goes on mormon.org and requests something from the Church, like a Bible, a Book of Mormon, a video, or a missionary visit to learn more.
So, we went to find the people who had requested a missionary visit, and the lady was a bit confused why we were there haha! We explained she must have been on the mormon.org page and requested something. She said, "Oh yeah! We just started trying to go back to church, but we don't have a Bible." We gave them a Bible and a Book of Mormon. We also shared a scripture with them from the Book of Mormon and introduced its history and purpose to them. We asked them to commit to read a chapter before the next time we come visit. They said they would read it! We left soo excited! They are SO ready for the gospel. Everything was just perfect. So, we went back a few days later and brought a member with us. We taught about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was SO POWERFUL. It was so good.. the Spirit was super strong. The wife kept saying that it made so much sense.. what we were teaching about prophets and stuff. But the wasn't interacting much or really talking at all. We tried asking him more questions to just him, but he wouldn't really answer us. When we left, they said they would read more together from the Book of Mormon (or listen to it from lds.org, they like to do that, too) They also said they would come to church!
But then THE HARDEST DAY OF MY MISSION SO FAR came on Sat. night when they texted us and told us that it's best if they just stick with what they already know and are comfortable with. I WAS DEVASTATED. Seriously, that was the hardest day of my mission so far because we had such a good lesson with them and she seemed SO ready. But then they said, "Thanks, but no thanks." So sad. But, people have their agency...
Ok. Funny story.. But also actually a really good experience. We haven't been getting fed that much by the members.. The elders have meals like every single day every meal of the day! And we have 2 MAYBE 3 meals a week. So we told the ______ family (my adopted abuelitos) that we don't have dinner very much and so they said, "Well come and eat at our house sometime this week!" We said, "Alright!" So they called us Friday morning and said that we could come for dinner that evening. But, we had an appointment set up for 6:30 So, we thought we could call them and ask to push it back to 7pm so that we could have dinner first. They were fine with that and we went to the _____'s for dinner. We planned to visit the other family later that evening. When we went to leave their house, my companion, Sis. Moore, couldn't find the keys to our car! This was the night that it was 16 degrees outside!! ok. So it was freezing. We are standing outside and she dumps her purse out! We couldn't find the keys anywhere! Then she realized she had locked them in the car! Something she would NEVER normally do. We had to call the mission office and then wait for someone to get back to us with the spare key to open the car. Of course, this ALSO meant that we had to cancel (yet again) with the other family for our appointment. We felt SOO bad. But, we began to realize that there was undoubtedly something that we were being protected from. For some reason, this was the second time that something prevented us to meet with this family. We still don't know why.. either something on the way there we were being protected from or whatever...?? We don't really know. But, we know that the Lord did everything He could to make it so we didn't go over there.. and I am so grateful for His love and protection. We had so much fun while we waited at the ____'s house for the key. They have puppies and I got to hold one of them!! We aren't allowed to hold babies but nothing says I can't hold puppies!! haha We could have been really annoyed or upset that we weren't able to go to our appointment, but we realized it was truly a blessing.
Also this week, we visited with Sister ______ and Brother _____ and they are doing so good. We love them so much. They are our favorite family here. Her aunt is also in the branch and has several kids. We have been visiting her as well and she is our other favorite! hahaha When they all came to church yesterday we were SO happy. It was a great day. We had 4 investigators at church!
Our investigator, ______, who is 13 is still doing amazing.. she is currently trying to decide through prayer on a date that she wants to be baptized. She is still nervous that she needs to know EVERYTHING, but we are trying to help her feel confident in what she already knows!!
Our investigator, _______, who already postponed her baptismal date is just struggling a lot. So we are working with her, praying with her, and for her a lot. Please continue to pray for her, too!
A girl in our branch, ______, is 25 and preparing to go on a mission. She has been SO helpful this week its so great! she gave us 5 referrals of her friends and we met with 2 of them already!! One of them wants to be baptized, but she is moving in like 2 weeks! So we will teach her and then when she leaves we get to teach her on Facebook! Then we will get her in touch with missionaries wherever she moves to. The other friend said she has been baptized already, in a different church. We are trying to impress upon her why the power of the Priesthood is so important...that it's necessary to be baptized by the proper authority. Pray for these girls, too! :)
Well.. I don't know that there is much else from this week to share!! My emails are always so long haha. Sorry:) It's a lot to read, I know.. But I would love to get some old fashioned letters........... if anyone wants to write me... :( I think I have gotten ONE letter to the 25 letters my companion has received since I've been here!
Oh. one more thing...I have always loved this scripture: Alma 7:11-12.
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and aafflictions andbtemptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will ctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him adeath, that he may bloose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to csuccor his people according to their infirmities.
But, my mission president this week in our zone conference had us read it and put the word "ME" and "MY" where its says "his people" and "their" throughout those verses. It really personalizes it and makes it so much more powerful.. I love it. It's our new favorite thing to share with people. Read it, and try that..
We haven't taught anyone in Spanish this week.. so it's been hard to keep up on the language. For some reason the elders teach all in Spanish! Plus, we are getting referrals for all English-speaking people, so its hard to think that we need to focus more in finding Spanish-speaking people to teach. By the way, most of the Spanish-speakers are from Honduras here...kinda interesting, huh! But, as frustrating as it is that we aren't using Spanish much, at the same time, I know that there is a ton of work for us to do here on the English side as well.. and that's where we have to start!
Well. I love you all very much and I pray for you every single day. I saw a quote the other day that said, "What if you woke up with only the things you thanked the Lord for the night before?" It has really made me think about how much I have that I need to thank my Heavenly Father for. Always.
It has been quite cold here!! But it is going well overall.. we are really so blessed. We teach a lot for just having opened this area and being here just a month. I will talk to y'all again soon. Love you, and hope to hear from you through some sort of letter or something throughout the week ;)
Love,
Hermana/Sister Weller
Monday, January 20, 2014
Letter #3 from NC
Well.. Where do I even start?!
hmm.. this week was great again.
Our investigator who had a baptismal date unfortunately had to push the date back because she has some things she needs to take care of before she's ready to be baptized.
So February 8th is the new date for her! But she is amazing.. her family and everything is not so great. They have a lot of different problems, and she is the one shining star of hope in that family. Its going to be great to see how being baptized and following Christ helps her and her family.
Yesterday we contacted a Spanish-speaking family that was so fun! They are Catholic and the husband had SO many questions about so many different things. They don't really know anything about the Church, so it was just random things about religion in general. We are pretty excited about them because they have 4 kids.. the youngest is 9 and the oldest is 20. They were super super nice and interested in talking and asking questions. The cool thing is that we prayed to have a Hispanic family to be teaching by the end of last week and we found them yesterday!
We are still teaching the 13 year old girl, ____. She is just so amazing and elect. I can't wait for her to finally be baptized, but she is really reluctant to set a date or even really consider it right now. She wants to know everything!!! So we started from the beginning with her and we are just going through all of the different lessons to make sure she really knows everything. The thing is, her dad is not active in church, but the other day when we were teaching her-- he came in the room and sat and listened to us teach her! That was good!
Ok.. a couple of really funny things: The other day we went on an exchange with the lady in our ward who was so excited to be able to "be a missionary before she dies", Sister ____. She and her husband are our adopted grandparents...they are so awesome:) Anyway, we went out to this trailer park area to find a referral and since it has been raining a lot, the roads are really muddy and have huge puddles. So, we are driving through the grass and she gets STUCK in the front yard of the person's house we were trying to find! SO embarrassing haha!!
Sister Moore and I got out of the car and tried pushing the car out of the mud and we couldn't stop laughing! Because we were laughing so much, it was pretty ineffective! hahaha. Then a chunk of mud flew up front the tire and landed in Sister Moore's hair and we just lost it. It was hilarious!!
Then the guy who lives inside came out and was like "Do you need help?" We were like, YES! haha
So, he got his big truck and pulled us right on out of the mud and we left. We were too embarrassed to tell him why were there in the first place...haha. Sister ____ was thanking the Lord the whole way home in her car.. it was so cute! She is a convert to the church and just loves the church so much. She has a solid testimony and we love that she's helping us out.
Then...get this!!... last night at a dinner appointment at a member's house the husband informs us that he used to be TAYLOR SWIFT'S BODY GUARD.!!???!! I was freaking out.. I was just dying when he told us that.. haha. (Raini has been to a couple of Taylor Swift's concerts and LOVES her...can you tell?) We were asking him so many questions, it was funny. I can't believe he knows her personally! He knows a lot about her... even her social security number! He went on tour all over the world with her!!! It was so cool. haha. He might hook me up with a pic from her Speak Now concert that he still has! Woohoo!!
Well.. back to missionary stuff...haha...We have been visiting many members of our branch who've kind of fallen away this week, trying to get more of the ward roster to come back to church. One family has a really sad situation because the husband is a return-missionary, but they have been inactive for about a year. It's obvious he wants to go back to church so bad. We could just tell when we were visiting them the other day. It broke my heart because his wife seems to not share his same desire to come back to church:( He said they will be there this next week though... we will see.
Oh! So, a couple weeks ago we met this lady, ____, when we were trying to find the apartment of the family I was just talking about. She was getting her daughter into the car and we started talking to her. She gave us her phone number to set up an appointment with her for a better time later that week. But then, she cancelled on us and wouldn't answer our texts after that. So, we stopped by again the other day when we were passing by and she opened her door! Yay! We told her that if she wasn't really interested, it was okay... just tell us that and we will stop bothering her. But, then she was like, "No... I am just going through a really hard time right now. I just moved here and it's been really hard." She almost started crying right then and there...you could tell she really did want God in her life... I felt so bad for her. I wanted to just give her a hug!! We told her that this Gospel could change her life and help her get through those difficult times in life. She said, "Okay, but right now isn't good.. maybe in a few weeks?" We told her, "Of course!" So, we are going to get back up with her in 2 weeks and see how she is doing. (Did you notice that "get back up with her"...??? hah) She is a young mom and I think there may be some family issues...that's why she just moved here. I really think stopping and talking to her that day was SO inspired. I think she is ready for the Gospel right now. And, I want it for her so badly! Pray for her, please.
Well, our other family that we found last week that are kinda crazy... well, the mom is just craZY.....well, she might be getting evicted from her house this week. I don't know why she hasn't tried getting a job or anything...she just gambles. So, I am not sure that we will be able to make much progress with her right now with all that going on. And, if they have to move.. we won't be able to meet with them anymore, obviously.
So, this morning in our companion study we were super inspired about something... we just need to work harder!!! We both felt this same inspiration...we need to work with our current active members who have friends they want to share the Gospel with. It's the members of the church that actually get things moving with people in the area! I know what it is like to have a friend you have always wanted to share the Gospel with. So, I know there must be people around here who have friends they know would benefit from the Church in their lives. And there are several people here who are feeling like since we are sisters, instead of elders, their friends (usually the women) will actually be receptive to us, as women! So, that's exciting. We just want to leave a legacy here in Wallace... we are the first sister missionaries to come here...we want to set a great standard for all the rest who come after us! They will remember us and say..."Oh, yeah..those sisters came here tore it up and made a difference." haha.. They need strong members here.. the branch is just so small.
I know that this is the reason we are here! It makes me so excited about the work here in Wallace...I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is amazing how much i get out of it every single day. I have never really read it and understood it like I have been this time around.. reading it everyday for meaning, not just inspiration, helps you understand the story line so much better. If you can read more than just one chapter at a time...it's like a great novel! I have a hard time putting it down most of the time!
Oh, I really need people's physical home addresses so I can send more letters. My companion gets letters like every single day of the week haha! Problem is, we have just a short time to email and then the rest of the day we can write letters so.. yeah:) Help me out! I love you all so much!!!
If you are gonna send another package soon.. i could use some slippers. my feet get soooooo cold every single morning. its freezing!! haha. also some healthy snacks would be great:)
Okay...one last thing..It's crazy how much I have realized that nothing I used to care about in the world really matters. I understand how people come back off their missions and have a hard time with reality..cause this is really where I would want to spend the rest of my life...sharing the most important thing with people and helping them change their lives for the better. It's crazy...my companion was freaking out about that the other day because she only has 6 months left now!! She hit her year mark the other day and she started panicking a bit. But I get what she means! After doing this a year I bet it will be tough to know you have to go back home and be a normal person. haha
Okay...well, have a good week!! I love you all so much. Pray earnestly, read the scriptures, and go to the temple!!
I miss it! I miss you all!! I pray for you every night.
Again, love y'all so much,
Hermana Weller
hmm.. this week was great again.
Our investigator who had a baptismal date unfortunately had to push the date back because she has some things she needs to take care of before she's ready to be baptized.
So February 8th is the new date for her! But she is amazing.. her family and everything is not so great. They have a lot of different problems, and she is the one shining star of hope in that family. Its going to be great to see how being baptized and following Christ helps her and her family.
Yesterday we contacted a Spanish-speaking family that was so fun! They are Catholic and the husband had SO many questions about so many different things. They don't really know anything about the Church, so it was just random things about religion in general. We are pretty excited about them because they have 4 kids.. the youngest is 9 and the oldest is 20. They were super super nice and interested in talking and asking questions. The cool thing is that we prayed to have a Hispanic family to be teaching by the end of last week and we found them yesterday!
We are still teaching the 13 year old girl, ____. She is just so amazing and elect. I can't wait for her to finally be baptized, but she is really reluctant to set a date or even really consider it right now. She wants to know everything!!! So we started from the beginning with her and we are just going through all of the different lessons to make sure she really knows everything. The thing is, her dad is not active in church, but the other day when we were teaching her-- he came in the room and sat and listened to us teach her! That was good!
Ok.. a couple of really funny things: The other day we went on an exchange with the lady in our ward who was so excited to be able to "be a missionary before she dies", Sister ____. She and her husband are our adopted grandparents...they are so awesome:) Anyway, we went out to this trailer park area to find a referral and since it has been raining a lot, the roads are really muddy and have huge puddles. So, we are driving through the grass and she gets STUCK in the front yard of the person's house we were trying to find! SO embarrassing haha!!
Sister Moore and I got out of the car and tried pushing the car out of the mud and we couldn't stop laughing! Because we were laughing so much, it was pretty ineffective! hahaha. Then a chunk of mud flew up front the tire and landed in Sister Moore's hair and we just lost it. It was hilarious!!
Then the guy who lives inside came out and was like "Do you need help?" We were like, YES! haha
So, he got his big truck and pulled us right on out of the mud and we left. We were too embarrassed to tell him why were there in the first place...haha. Sister ____ was thanking the Lord the whole way home in her car.. it was so cute! She is a convert to the church and just loves the church so much. She has a solid testimony and we love that she's helping us out.
Then...get this!!... last night at a dinner appointment at a member's house the husband informs us that he used to be TAYLOR SWIFT'S BODY GUARD.!!???!! I was freaking out.. I was just dying when he told us that.. haha. (Raini has been to a couple of Taylor Swift's concerts and LOVES her...can you tell?) We were asking him so many questions, it was funny. I can't believe he knows her personally! He knows a lot about her... even her social security number! He went on tour all over the world with her!!! It was so cool. haha. He might hook me up with a pic from her Speak Now concert that he still has! Woohoo!!
Well.. back to missionary stuff...haha...We have been visiting many members of our branch who've kind of fallen away this week, trying to get more of the ward roster to come back to church. One family has a really sad situation because the husband is a return-missionary, but they have been inactive for about a year. It's obvious he wants to go back to church so bad. We could just tell when we were visiting them the other day. It broke my heart because his wife seems to not share his same desire to come back to church:( He said they will be there this next week though... we will see.
Oh! So, a couple weeks ago we met this lady, ____, when we were trying to find the apartment of the family I was just talking about. She was getting her daughter into the car and we started talking to her. She gave us her phone number to set up an appointment with her for a better time later that week. But then, she cancelled on us and wouldn't answer our texts after that. So, we stopped by again the other day when we were passing by and she opened her door! Yay! We told her that if she wasn't really interested, it was okay... just tell us that and we will stop bothering her. But, then she was like, "No... I am just going through a really hard time right now. I just moved here and it's been really hard." She almost started crying right then and there...you could tell she really did want God in her life... I felt so bad for her. I wanted to just give her a hug!! We told her that this Gospel could change her life and help her get through those difficult times in life. She said, "Okay, but right now isn't good.. maybe in a few weeks?" We told her, "Of course!" So, we are going to get back up with her in 2 weeks and see how she is doing. (Did you notice that "get back up with her"...??? hah) She is a young mom and I think there may be some family issues...that's why she just moved here. I really think stopping and talking to her that day was SO inspired. I think she is ready for the Gospel right now. And, I want it for her so badly! Pray for her, please.
Well, our other family that we found last week that are kinda crazy... well, the mom is just craZY.....well, she might be getting evicted from her house this week. I don't know why she hasn't tried getting a job or anything...she just gambles. So, I am not sure that we will be able to make much progress with her right now with all that going on. And, if they have to move.. we won't be able to meet with them anymore, obviously.
So, this morning in our companion study we were super inspired about something... we just need to work harder!!! We both felt this same inspiration...we need to work with our current active members who have friends they want to share the Gospel with. It's the members of the church that actually get things moving with people in the area! I know what it is like to have a friend you have always wanted to share the Gospel with. So, I know there must be people around here who have friends they know would benefit from the Church in their lives. And there are several people here who are feeling like since we are sisters, instead of elders, their friends (usually the women) will actually be receptive to us, as women! So, that's exciting. We just want to leave a legacy here in Wallace... we are the first sister missionaries to come here...we want to set a great standard for all the rest who come after us! They will remember us and say..."Oh, yeah..those sisters came here tore it up and made a difference." haha.. They need strong members here.. the branch is just so small.
I know that this is the reason we are here! It makes me so excited about the work here in Wallace...I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is amazing how much i get out of it every single day. I have never really read it and understood it like I have been this time around.. reading it everyday for meaning, not just inspiration, helps you understand the story line so much better. If you can read more than just one chapter at a time...it's like a great novel! I have a hard time putting it down most of the time!
Oh, I really need people's physical home addresses so I can send more letters. My companion gets letters like every single day of the week haha! Problem is, we have just a short time to email and then the rest of the day we can write letters so.. yeah:) Help me out! I love you all so much!!!
If you are gonna send another package soon.. i could use some slippers. my feet get soooooo cold every single morning. its freezing!! haha. also some healthy snacks would be great:)
Okay...one last thing..It's crazy how much I have realized that nothing I used to care about in the world really matters. I understand how people come back off their missions and have a hard time with reality..cause this is really where I would want to spend the rest of my life...sharing the most important thing with people and helping them change their lives for the better. It's crazy...my companion was freaking out about that the other day because she only has 6 months left now!! She hit her year mark the other day and she started panicking a bit. But I get what she means! After doing this a year I bet it will be tough to know you have to go back home and be a normal person. haha
Okay...well, have a good week!! I love you all so much. Pray earnestly, read the scriptures, and go to the temple!!
I miss it! I miss you all!! I pray for you every night.
Again, love y'all so much,
Hermana Weller
Monday, January 13, 2014
A few more tid-bits...
These are some more details from Raini via some chatting back and forth with Jonathan today on email:
He asked her about her camera...if it's ever been found/returned...
No...I still don't have a camera...I would love a new camera.. its really sad not having a way to take pictures
I am so sorry you have to buy me a new one. I am still pretty upset over that whole thing. I had so many pictures I hadn't saved anywhere!! ugh. I am pretty for sure that it was stolen. :(
He then asked for more details on the "weird food" she mentioned...
Ugh, the food...for real...it's not good...they call it country food: it's basically rice with some kind of gravy stuff with fried chicken wings..and some strange corn mashed stuff...haha...that's typical.
Oh, and they have some funny ways of saying things out here...like,
"mash the lights"...that means, "turn off the lights" haha!
And, "we got up with someone" means "we met up with someone"...it's so funny!
Letter #2 from North Carolina
We are so happy to hear that she's having another great week doing the Lord's Work! We received this email today...
OHHH MY!!!
Honestly, the Lord is working miracles here and I am so grateful to be in this mission, in this area witnessing them!
This week was great. After p-day last week we went to dinner at a member's home.. when we got there it was interesting because we didn't realize her husband was not a member of the Church! When the elders had gone there for dinner in the past.. the husband always went into the other room to eat and stayed hidden while they are there because he doesn't want to hear it. BUT. We when we went, he came into the kitchen while we were eating (kinda weird country food btw. haha) and started talking to us. He was asking us where we were from and stuff like that... then we said we were gonna share a message and so he left the room. We tried to convince him to stay and listen but he was like "eh...I will make you a deal, next time you come for dinner I will listen to what you have to say...plus, that one (pointing at me) talks funny, shes got an accent. I could listen to her talk all day." Haha!! It was sooooo funny because HE has SUCH an accent.
It's so southern and country here..haha But anyway...so, he goes into the other room watching TV and we began to talk about the restoration with Sister ____, his wife.. but. As we are teaching the volume of the TV slowly gets quieter and quieter until by the end the husband came and sat down and listened to us! We involved him in the conversation to try and find out why he doesn't give the church a chance. We wanted to know his beliefs and stuff.. It's so sad because his wife has even been through the temple and she wants to be sealed to him. (In the temple, members of the Church make more specific covenants with God to live the commandments of the Gospel; one of the ultimate covenants is that of Marriage, being sealed together for time and all eternity) So we are going back for dinner next week and I am so excited because I think we can make a difference with him!! We got in the car after and we were like, "What just happened!?! That was so cool! We are totally going to help him feel the Spirit of the Lord!" So that's exciting for next week!
Then.. I went on exchanges for the first time on Wednesday with the sister leaders (like district leaders, but only girls!) in Hampstead and that was fun! I liked seeing a new area and learning different things from the sister I went with. We did some door-to-door for like 10 mins in a neighborhood and I took the lead on the second house.. we knocked and it was SO good! I was so proud of myself! It didn't even feel super awkward or anything haha.. it was pretty natural. It was a younger guy with a girlfriend and a daughter inside. He said we could come back.. so we got an appointment for those sisters to come back and meet with him but he said his girlfriend might not be interested.. But we will see! I told them they have to let me know how it goes!!
Then.. we FINALLY caught up with this girl to follow up from last year when she had met with the elders. Her name is ____. She is 13yrs old and ELECT as they get! She learned about the Church about a year ago... but her step mom isn't a member and lives with her dad... who isn't active in the Church anymore. But, she said she "loves the story of Joseph Smith" and she reads the Book of Mormon all the time!! I was like WHAT?! That's so cool! She is so spiritually sensitive. I CANNOT wait to see her progress.. This week is going to be great for her.
She reminds of Kaylie SO MUCH! (a friend of Raini's who met with the missionaries last year at college and ended up joining the Church!) It's cool. Oh, even though she speaks Spanish, she also speaks a lot of English..so we do a combination of the two when we teach her.
Then yesterday we found this family that is gonna be fantastic! The mom is SO funny and she has 4 kids all of baptism age. Her daughter came in the room when we got there and were talking and we could tell that she was intrigued a little bit. She is 12. When we left, we gave them both Gospel of Christ pamphlets. The mom felt that God was punishing her and she knows she needs to be going back to Church and that she knows she needs to stop doing certain things in her life. She is super great. :)Pray for her...she needs it!
OH! and we had this family who the mom is a less active and the dad is not a member and hasnt ever let her take their 2 little girls to church.. because he doesn't agree with organized religon. Well, he actually came and sat in on the little scripture study my companion did with her exchange sister on Wednesday---and now he is taking the lessons!!!!!
THEY ALL CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY and he said he liked it and the mom was crying during sacrament meeting.. she was totally feeling the Spirit a lot. Oh man! This is SO exciting to be a part of this work...helping others come unto Christ... Like I said last week, this area is SOOO ripe...I think we had 4 or 5 people a that we had visited this week ATTEND CHURCH. It's just so amazing.
Anyway... We are doing so great out here. I love my companion. During companion study we have been having really good discussions about things we learned and implementing them into our teachings and practicing the things we are not as good at.. its just really great.
We are going to be a great companionship by the end of this transfer!! We hope that we don't get separated anytime soon!! She only has 6 months left of her mission and we realized she could potentially be here the rest of her mission! It would be fun if we could be together that long.. but who knows what the Lord has in store.
I want all of you guys to go and read in Preach My Gospel (I think its page 160) it's titled "The Importance of Members". Every member should read this and try to understand that they are so important in finding people who need the Gospel in their lives. We as missionaries CANNOT do all of this on our own. We need as much help as we possibly can get.. and when someone is brought into the Church by someone who cares about them and can support them all the way through even when the missionaries leave, they will feel the reality of the truth of the Gospel so much more. And it will become more meaningful to them and they won't fall away.. So please help the missionaries out as much as you possibly can!! "Lift where ye stand" .. do your part in sharing the Gospel with those you come in contact with everyday!
Also. Feed the missionaries meals!! We only have 2 meals for the next two weeks... and we are gonna starve!!! Or we will keep surviving off the candy supply we have accumulated. haha. NOT good..
Oh.. Saturday night the Bishop told me he wanted me to give a 20 talk on Sunday morning! So that was fun cramming!! haha. But I talked for 25 mins!! I was so surprised. It was a good talk, too. It was about God the Father.
After church one of the members came up to us after church and said- "Which one of you just came out on your mission?" and I was like oh.. me. haha..and she said, "I can't even tell! You both are just such great teachers!"
Such a compliment!!! I seriously love it out here:))
Ok...I'm saving the best for last:
Remember our investigator, ____ from last week?? She was a former investigator with the elders that we followed up on, and we went to her home...her nephew was there, too... and she wanted to start meeting up again..anyway
Well, she is getting baptized the 25th of this month. WOOOOOOOOOOHOO. We are so excited!!!
Ok, well that's all for this week! Thank you so much for the packages..they were GREAT! I love you sooooo much!
LOVE,
Hermana Weller.
OHHH MY!!!
Honestly, the Lord is working miracles here and I am so grateful to be in this mission, in this area witnessing them!
This week was great. After p-day last week we went to dinner at a member's home.. when we got there it was interesting because we didn't realize her husband was not a member of the Church! When the elders had gone there for dinner in the past.. the husband always went into the other room to eat and stayed hidden while they are there because he doesn't want to hear it. BUT. We when we went, he came into the kitchen while we were eating (kinda weird country food btw. haha) and started talking to us. He was asking us where we were from and stuff like that... then we said we were gonna share a message and so he left the room. We tried to convince him to stay and listen but he was like "eh...I will make you a deal, next time you come for dinner I will listen to what you have to say...plus, that one (pointing at me) talks funny, shes got an accent. I could listen to her talk all day." Haha!! It was sooooo funny because HE has SUCH an accent.
It's so southern and country here..haha But anyway...so, he goes into the other room watching TV and we began to talk about the restoration with Sister ____, his wife.. but. As we are teaching the volume of the TV slowly gets quieter and quieter until by the end the husband came and sat down and listened to us! We involved him in the conversation to try and find out why he doesn't give the church a chance. We wanted to know his beliefs and stuff.. It's so sad because his wife has even been through the temple and she wants to be sealed to him. (In the temple, members of the Church make more specific covenants with God to live the commandments of the Gospel; one of the ultimate covenants is that of Marriage, being sealed together for time and all eternity) So we are going back for dinner next week and I am so excited because I think we can make a difference with him!! We got in the car after and we were like, "What just happened!?! That was so cool! We are totally going to help him feel the Spirit of the Lord!" So that's exciting for next week!
Then.. I went on exchanges for the first time on Wednesday with the sister leaders (like district leaders, but only girls!) in Hampstead and that was fun! I liked seeing a new area and learning different things from the sister I went with. We did some door-to-door for like 10 mins in a neighborhood and I took the lead on the second house.. we knocked and it was SO good! I was so proud of myself! It didn't even feel super awkward or anything haha.. it was pretty natural. It was a younger guy with a girlfriend and a daughter inside. He said we could come back.. so we got an appointment for those sisters to come back and meet with him but he said his girlfriend might not be interested.. But we will see! I told them they have to let me know how it goes!!
Then.. we FINALLY caught up with this girl to follow up from last year when she had met with the elders. Her name is ____. She is 13yrs old and ELECT as they get! She learned about the Church about a year ago... but her step mom isn't a member and lives with her dad... who isn't active in the Church anymore. But, she said she "loves the story of Joseph Smith" and she reads the Book of Mormon all the time!! I was like WHAT?! That's so cool! She is so spiritually sensitive. I CANNOT wait to see her progress.. This week is going to be great for her.
She reminds of Kaylie SO MUCH! (a friend of Raini's who met with the missionaries last year at college and ended up joining the Church!) It's cool. Oh, even though she speaks Spanish, she also speaks a lot of English..so we do a combination of the two when we teach her.
Then yesterday we found this family that is gonna be fantastic! The mom is SO funny and she has 4 kids all of baptism age. Her daughter came in the room when we got there and were talking and we could tell that she was intrigued a little bit. She is 12. When we left, we gave them both Gospel of Christ pamphlets. The mom felt that God was punishing her and she knows she needs to be going back to Church and that she knows she needs to stop doing certain things in her life. She is super great. :)Pray for her...she needs it!
OH! and we had this family who the mom is a less active and the dad is not a member and hasnt ever let her take their 2 little girls to church.. because he doesn't agree with organized religon. Well, he actually came and sat in on the little scripture study my companion did with her exchange sister on Wednesday---and now he is taking the lessons!!!!!
THEY ALL CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY and he said he liked it and the mom was crying during sacrament meeting.. she was totally feeling the Spirit a lot. Oh man! This is SO exciting to be a part of this work...helping others come unto Christ... Like I said last week, this area is SOOO ripe...I think we had 4 or 5 people a that we had visited this week ATTEND CHURCH. It's just so amazing.
Anyway... We are doing so great out here. I love my companion. During companion study we have been having really good discussions about things we learned and implementing them into our teachings and practicing the things we are not as good at.. its just really great.
We are going to be a great companionship by the end of this transfer!! We hope that we don't get separated anytime soon!! She only has 6 months left of her mission and we realized she could potentially be here the rest of her mission! It would be fun if we could be together that long.. but who knows what the Lord has in store.
I want all of you guys to go and read in Preach My Gospel (I think its page 160) it's titled "The Importance of Members". Every member should read this and try to understand that they are so important in finding people who need the Gospel in their lives. We as missionaries CANNOT do all of this on our own. We need as much help as we possibly can get.. and when someone is brought into the Church by someone who cares about them and can support them all the way through even when the missionaries leave, they will feel the reality of the truth of the Gospel so much more. And it will become more meaningful to them and they won't fall away.. So please help the missionaries out as much as you possibly can!! "Lift where ye stand" .. do your part in sharing the Gospel with those you come in contact with everyday!
Also. Feed the missionaries meals!! We only have 2 meals for the next two weeks... and we are gonna starve!!! Or we will keep surviving off the candy supply we have accumulated. haha. NOT good..
Oh.. Saturday night the Bishop told me he wanted me to give a 20 talk on Sunday morning! So that was fun cramming!! haha. But I talked for 25 mins!! I was so surprised. It was a good talk, too. It was about God the Father.
After church one of the members came up to us after church and said- "Which one of you just came out on your mission?" and I was like oh.. me. haha..and she said, "I can't even tell! You both are just such great teachers!"
Such a compliment!!! I seriously love it out here:))
Ok...I'm saving the best for last:
Remember our investigator, ____ from last week?? She was a former investigator with the elders that we followed up on, and we went to her home...her nephew was there, too... and she wanted to start meeting up again..anyway
Well, she is getting baptized the 25th of this month. WOOOOOOOOOOHOO. We are so excited!!!
Ok, well that's all for this week! Thank you so much for the packages..they were GREAT! I love you sooooo much!
LOVE,
Hermana Weller.
Monday, January 6, 2014
First P-day in First Area...
Raini's Mission President sent us a short "generic" letter last week after she had arrived with these pics.
But, more importantly, we received Raini's first letter from the mission field today!! She was able to get online for a while this morning, and if you don't already know, she's also allowed to FB for proselyting purposes. So cool!!
Also, Just to update everyone on her new area and some of the demographics:
Hermana Weller is assigned to serve in a small town (pop: 4,000) called Wallace, in the middle of nowhere, NC. The main state highway (2-lanes) goes through the town and turns into "Main St." for a while, then picks up again after you blink. Wallace is a farming town and has a pretty hefty population of Hispanic people. The Church is very small there (though there are many other big Christian denominations like your typical southern towns) and it seems Raini and her companion will be working mainly with the Spanish-speaking folks.
Hello! Oh man. I am so glad today is P-Day!
So this week has been pretty great:) I love it her in the little town of Wallace. It is SO small haha.. very very country. Luckily we do have a car so we are actually able to get around.. Our area is HUGE geographically but people that came to church.. very small. The ratio of people who come to church to people on the branch roster is about 1:3. So we feel a huge responsibility for us here to get those inactive members back to church!! There are SO many. We have been trying to get out and see them during the time we have to go out and do stuff, but we have only actually talked with a couple of them. And most of them are hispanic! woohoo!
We opened this area for sisters--it's been an area for elders (the male missionaries are called "Elder ___"), so this is also why it has been a bit of a tough week..we had to start from ground zero of knowing absolutely no one.
It was so great though...when we got to our cute little house and it was all decorated from the ward with a banner and some chocolate and Martinellis! And then we got all settled in and then a young couple from the ward came by and were like, "oh come on over and eat dinner with us!"
There is just one branch here in our area. It is combined Spanish and English.. which is kinda tough because I think there is a bit of an imaginary boundary drawn with the people... the Hispanics have translation throughout sacrament meeting. I guess it used to be two separate branches but it wasn't working very well so they combined. There is seriously so much work to be done here it is great!!
Lots of "work to do", like the stories below indicate:
So let me tell you a little bit about some of the highlights of this week. Oh. before I start. My companion is Hermana Moore and she has been out a year this month. Although this is the first time she has ever been a Spanish sister... she is not fluent, but she grew up going to a bilingual elementary school. She used to be fluent, so it is just a matter of having it come back to her. But that has been tough because neither of us know exactly if we are saying things correctly or not! haha.
So, we went out one day to visit some of the less-active members of the Church.. we went out to Rose Hill "home of the worlds largest frying pan" (which I didn't get to see :/ yet.) and started knocking on doors. No one would answer their door!! We could even hear people inside and they didn't answer the door. Then! we got to this one lady, Hermana ___'s house. Luckily, we had a member of the ward with us who is 19 and a convert for about 2 years.. she is Honduran! so she speaks Spanish! haha. Hermana ____ answered the door and she let us right on in! She only speaks Spanish. So we started just talking to her about her family and then I asked, "Can we share a scripture with you?" She said yes. So, I opened up to Alma 32 and read verse 21.
"21 And now as I said concerning faith—afaith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye bhope for things which are cnot seen, which are true."
I asked her how her faith was lately and how she would define faith.. we discussed faith. Then she shared how she loved the Church when she used to come but then someone in her family died and then she started falling away.
But. Let me tell you. I know that the gift of tongues is real. Wow. When we were there I felt the spirit SO strongly as I was talking about having faith in Jesus Christ. I could feel the Lord using me as an instrument in his hands to speak to her. And after we left I was just like woah! I taught in Spanish.. and although I didn't understand everything she was saying back to me, ___ the 19 year old member with us, was there to help us understand what she was saying and she was helping us teach her! The Lord has prepared people like her to be here to help us help his lost sheep!
And, ___ told me that my Spanish was really good. So I was so happy.. all this work for the last 6 weeks in Mexico finally got to be used!
Next. Yesterday was such a good day. SO GOOD. It was Fast Sunday first of all.. (once/month we purposefully go without food and water to practice the Law of Sacrifice and to draw closer to the Lord; it is alos our Testimony meeting each month on these Sundays) which is always great. But also we had an investigator there with us! The other day we went to this house of a previous investigator and her nephew answered the door. He told us that he had met with her with the missionaries in the past but lost interest. His aunt was super interested, tho! Her only issue was baptism.. she felt her baptism a long time ago in a different church should be fine. So, at church we had a Sunday School lesson about the importance of the Priesthood and it clicked for her!! She got it!
Next. Testimony meeting was so good! I loved it. And when they blessed the sacrament they did it both in Spanish and English.. and when I heard it in Spanish this time (even though they always did it in Spanish in the MTC in Mexico) I got this overwhelming feeling of love for the Hispanic people. Mom, I remember you telling me about this on your mission! But honestly. I suddenly just have this love for them and all I want is to speak Spanish fluently so I can go find those who need us..who need the Savior in their life!!
Next..there is this cute older couple, Brother and Sister _____. They are like my new adopted grandma and grandpa haha. They speak both Spanish and English, but it was so cute during testimony meeting.. Sister _____ got up and said, "I have been really sick. But I didn't want to die right now..I'm not ready. Because I want to be a missionary!! Quiero a ser una misionara!"
So, then we came by their house and she was just so happy because now she can be a missionary with us there now she can go out with us to help bring lost people back.. I just started crying because she is so ready to help us and go out with us and do this work that needs to be done so badly!
Next. After church we studied and then went to visit some more people. This time someone answered the door! Sister ____, a member of the church who we are hoping will come back soon, was taking down her Christmas ornaments so we offered to come in and help her.. she has two little girls but her husband is not a member and he is not very into the church. She told us she has been wanting to come back lately!!
Finally.. ugh I don't have a lot of time but this is the best story of the week!!
After we left Sis. _____ house we went to the next people on our list but apparently it's not their house anymore. haha. But it was an interested family. We started speaking Spanish to them and they let us in. They are the ____ family. It was just me and my companion this time though so we had to just go for it by ourselves in Spanish!! It went well.. we didnt teach a whole lot of stuff, but we are going back on Saturday to teach a really solid lesson to the whole family!:) They seemed receptive and I am just so excited. We were so amazed and just so grateful when we left. We were amazed at what just happened. How did we find them? How did we teach in Spanish and actually have them want us to come back!?? hahah..we know it's the Work of the Lord. He is preparing people who need His gospel and we are here for them! So that was the miracle of the week. I am so excited to teach them. Pray for them, please!
The members of the ward are so excited to have us here.. so many people at church told us yesterday that they want to help us get people back to church and go on exchanges with us! So it is great here. There is much work to be done.
Ok. Today is SO cold. I am probably gonna die soon haha.. but its all good. This little town is so adorable!
I love you guys soooo much and I miss you tons. But now you can send me letters throughout the week! I will write you on
P-days:)
I know this is the true Church of Christ! and I know I am a child of God. This week, try and pray as a family during family prayer for someone who you can share the gospel with.. also you might try and make a family mission plan with goals on how to help bring others to the Lord. :)
Con Amor,
Hermana Weller
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Hermana Weller is in North Carolina!!
We were so happy to hear from Rain on Monday as she was in route and arrived in NC. If you didn't read on FaceBook already--she had some bumps in the road on the transition from the MTC to the mission field: camera stolen/all MTC pics gone; 2 hours of sleep and a red-eye from Mexico City airport all by herself (no other missionaries were even in the same airport gate); problems with phone/calling card in Atlanta airport and couldn't call us; asked a random stranger to borrow her cellphone and we were able to speak for about 5-10 mins is all. But, thankfully her mission president was kind enough to let her call us the evening she arrived! She sounded to much better and said she was able to sleep, regroup and focus on the plane, only to be blessed with a missionary opportunity right on the plane with a man who spoke very little English sitting next to her! She was able to spend the rest of the flight speaking Spanish the entire time and sharing a little about the Gospel of Jesus Christ by telling him about her mission and the Book of Mormon. And then, during the drive with the President and his wife from the airport, there was another sister who came from Guatemala who didn't speak English and Raini was the only one who could really communicate with her. So, she was pretty excited about the opportunities to use the language already on day one!
Also, there are some great members of the church there in North Carolina who've already been in contact with me and gave me her address and even a photo of her and her first companion and trainer, Sister Moore!
She is serving in a small town in the middle of nowhere called Wallace. They are both new to the area as they are opening a brand new Spanish Sisters Area! I guess her companion has been out a little while but just was switched over to Spanish-speaking. I have no idea her background with the language...so will be interesting to find out!
But,
Here's a pic and address:
You can mail letters directly to this address as well as care packages. :)
Sister Raini Weller
6324 NC Hwy 41
South Wallace, NC 28466
She got lucky and is assigned to a car area! Yay, since we never did buy a bike yet. ;{ And I guess there are quite a few Hispanics in this small farming town, so her Spanish will come in handy. Also I was told that a kind member of the church in this town who owns a restaurant is willing to feed them anytime for FREE! So she won't go hungry. Awwe! Such a comfort!
Jonathan and I were already on Google Earth checking out the house where she is living and "driving" down the street...haha. She is going to have a great experience there, I'm sure. I can't wait to hear from her!
Thank you again for all your prayers, love and support. It's going to be a wonderful new year...2014 will bring great things.
Also, there are some great members of the church there in North Carolina who've already been in contact with me and gave me her address and even a photo of her and her first companion and trainer, Sister Moore!
She is serving in a small town in the middle of nowhere called Wallace. They are both new to the area as they are opening a brand new Spanish Sisters Area! I guess her companion has been out a little while but just was switched over to Spanish-speaking. I have no idea her background with the language...so will be interesting to find out!
But,
Here's a pic and address:
You can mail letters directly to this address as well as care packages. :)
Sister Raini Weller
6324 NC Hwy 41
South Wallace, NC 28466
Jonathan and I were already on Google Earth checking out the house where she is living and "driving" down the street...haha. She is going to have a great experience there, I'm sure. I can't wait to hear from her!
Thank you again for all your prayers, love and support. It's going to be a wonderful new year...2014 will bring great things.
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