Week 12

Okey dokey, I'm going to try to make this a very long email, for a couple of reasons. 1. Last week's was short. 2. It was a very busy week! 3. The community college's library is going to close from this Friday to January 7 (a TUESDAY! Why do they hate us???) so I'm going to have to use the local public library for the next couple weeks. That might mean that I get on a little later than usual, and my emails will probably be shorter too. Lame. Plus, at the local library, if you're not a member, you have to pay. I may just try to get a library card, since that would make it easier.

Of course, you all might hate long emails! Sorry! I'm FORCING you to learn about my life and what's going on in my mission. Enjoy! Can you believe that I've been out for three months? I feel like I was just marveling about being out for two months, or one month... 12 whole P-Days

Actually, I don't even know if some of you even read my emails. Lyvia and Quinn never email me :(

So, last P-Day was disappointing, as I mentioned, because the local community college was closed. That kind of threw our whole day off. It's one thing when you KNOW that you won't be able to email long, it's another when you're not expecting it. This week, I was talking to the librarian here, and he said that, because of the snow, they went ahead and just CANCELLED finals week! Can you believe that? So the grade you had at the end of classes was just your grade. It sounds like something out of Harry Potter :) but that would be terrible if you were going to try to do really well on finals and get your grade up. On Monday, I also made some Lime and Chicken Enchiladas and froze them (because Saturday was Sister Richardson's birthday!). I don't know if I made them right, and I don't know if it was really good to freeze them, but oh well. They tasted good anyway. We also got haircuts at the local Walmart! Hooray for Walmart haircuts!

Now, Tuesday was a long day. We went on exchanges! I don't remember if you remember what exchanges are, but basically, for sisters, it is when the sister training leaders come to your area, and you spend the day with one of them, while your companion goes with their companion. It was very odd. Last time I went on exchanges, I was in a three-person companionship, so it was me, Sister White, and the STL. This time it was just me and the other sister. It has been so long since I've been anywhere without Sister Richardson that I felt very strange. You just get so used to being with your companion! I'm sure that it will just get worse as time goes by. I'll probably get home and be scared to go to the store by myself or something. Or, on the other hand, I'll be so tired of having someone with me all the time that I'll want to just be alone all the time. Hopefully I won't go to either extreme, actually!

But Sister Minyard, the STL, and I had a very good day. She taught me a lot in the short time that we were together. She taught me about tracting (going door to door looking for people to teach). Sister Richardson and I have been receiving kind of mixed messages about tracting. Originally, she was told that we were kind of phasing out tracting. Then, our district leader told us that we were supposed to try to tract for two hours every day. Which is kind of a lot! Basically, what I understand is that we are supposed to tract when we can and to help us find new people when we aren't through other methods. Sister Minyard taught me about how we can really get to know the people who answer the door. We need to view them as individuals, instead of just random people on the street.

Also, our mailman definitely didn't come through the whole storm (Thursday through Monday). So, on Tuesday, we got 9 pieces of mail: I got 2 letters, and Sister Richardson got five letters and a package. That was an unprecedented amount of mail!

I also drove on Tuesday while on exchanges! That was freaky. It's weird to drive again after not driving for so long, but I'm kind of used to it. After all, I never had a car while I was at school. But there was still some ice on the roads, so I was a little nervous.

Our district leader is dying (in missionary terms). So we had our last district meeting with him on Wednesday.

We went to Broseley, a small town to the east, and were trying to visit a less active member. What do you do when the door is four feet off the ground?

Go around back, of course! Even when it's awkward, we don't give up on people.

On Thursday and Friday, we spent a lot of time at the church building. Ward members put up nativity scenes around the church, and so we were there to give church tours. While we were there, we also got to decorate the ward's Christmas tree!

Not the best picture of me, but you get the idea.

The ward Christmas party was Friday as well. It was a dessert potluck. I thought I was going to be sick from eating sugar, but it was good!

And Saturday... the day that we were all waiting for... Transfer calls! bum bum bum... I wonder if transfer calls ever become routine when you're a missionary? I know that my heart started beating faster when the STLs called us Saturday night! It's nerve-wracking. Here's my transfer doctrine: I'm staying in Poplar Bluff! Yay! We're not being whitewashed (when both missionaries are transferred and two completely new missionaries come in). My new companion is Sister Reed. She has been on her mission for nine months now, and she will be follow-up training me. I don't know what that exactly means, other than I'll be junior companion again! Sister Richardson is heading to St Louis, and she's going to be companions with someone from my MTC district! That's pretty cool.

Actually, it's a little weird how you start getting to know people in the mission. I guess there are only around 70 sisters, so it's not that weird... But Sister Reed was training Sister Hobbs, who you might remember as one of my MTC companions. Then their apartment flooded, so they were emergency transferred to other areas. Then apparently Sister Hobbs had to go home for some medical concerns. I found that out this week! I don't know for certainty, since rumors tend to fly when you're three hours from the center of the mission, but that's what I hear. It's sad to hear. She can come back sometime in January, according to the rumors, but I think that I would find it very difficult to come back out on my mission if I had to go home for some reason. I don't know why.

So, since transfer calls, a lot of our work has been having Sister Richardson say good-bye to people. She's been here for six months! One third of her mission. I'm speculating (speculation only!) that I will only be here for the next transfer. I kind of hope that I'm wrong. I like Poplar Bluff, and it's amazing how quick you come to love the people you're serving. But I know that there are people in every area that I will love as well.  

Also, remember that zip line I was describing last week? Well..

Yeah. That doesn't even get all of the pole in the picture.

In my personal study this week, I've been spending my time in Helaman. It's really amazing to read about these people, and to see how they can make the same mistakes over and over again. It's even more amazing, because we find it so difficult at times to recognize that we make those same mistakes! But there was a scripture that I liked. It is talking about the people who were members of the church of God. These are the people who were more humble, while the rest of the professed members of the church were being lifted up by pride. The prideful were persecuting the humble. "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and strong in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling of their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." (Helaman 3:35)

There's so much that I like about this scripture! First, they fasted and prayed. One thing that I've really realized on my mission is that it is a commandment to fast and pray. It's not a suggestion, or a "hey, these things might help you out! Try them!" Nope, God has commanded us to pray and fast. The reason He did though was to strengthen us!

They were sanctified because they yielded their hearts to God. What does it mean to yield your heart to God? I'm not really sure. I think it is what I'm trying to learn here on my mission. To me, it means not holding anything back. It means that you can't say, "Alright, here's my heart. But I'm going to just keep this one little corner, ok? You can have everything else, but this part right here I'm keeping for me." It has to be a complete submission to God, a complete sacrifice of our selfishness and our wants. Prayer can help with that. The purpose of prayer is to align our will with God's. So every time that we have a meaningful prayer, we should be giving up a little of our selfishness, and a little of our desire to have life go our way.

But the part of this scripture that really stood out to me was the phrase "wax stronger and stronger in their humility." I'd never thought about humility in that way. When I did, I realized that this means that pride is weakness. When a person is prideful, they place more reliance on self than on God... but humans are infinitely weaker than God! No wonder it's called being lifted or puffed up: it's all hot air. One good poke and they'll be deflated. True strength comes from relying on God. It comes from acknowledging that you can do nothing without Him. There are so many scriptures about how God will give people power and strength when they turn to Him and offer their hearts as a sacrifice.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas. Send me pictures of you and your Christmas decorations and your Christmas baking! It doesn't feel much like Christmas for me yet, though Sister Richardson and I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music. I guess Christmas = family in my mind, so I will be thinking of you all a lot! Only 9 days until we get to talk! I'll have more info on that next time, but if nothing else, we can call that day and make sure that everything's all set up. Weird to think about!

Hope everyone enjoys their Christmas break! Have fun baking lots of food and treats. I might try to make fudge today. It's seriously my downfall though. I'm nervous.

Love you all! Merry Christmas! TALK TO YOU SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!