It's Practically August -- Crazy!

Hey everyone!  Is it crazy to anyone else that it's practically August?  I can't believe it!  I'm so ready for summer to be over, though.  Mosquitoes die in the winter!  It's a good thing I'm not going to the family reunion near Forks because I think I could give Bella a run for her money -- apparently I taste really, really good!

Our investigator M. gave Sister T. and me each a picture of Christ, which he drew himself.  We had given him the names of some LDS artists some time ago; the sketch in the photo is from one of Simon Dewey's portraits.  M.'s got talent!  I was very touched that he drew a picture for us.  He has such a good heart.  He was also concerned that drawing might be breaking the Sabbath.  We told him that if it was a picture of Christ, it was okay.

We met a hilarious couple this week.  They are stanch Catholic but they love Romney!  They loved us, too, and tried to get us to come to their church.  I told them we would go to theirs if they would come to ours!  They didn't like the sound of that.  The husband says that he doesn't believe in anything past the New Testament, which made me really sad.  I'm so grateful for living prophets.  The husband wouldn't let us teach much, but we got a few things in.  He wouldn't let us talk about the Book of Mormon but his wife asked the perfect question.  Turns out she loves Glenn Beck, and asked why he would leave the Catholic Church for the Mormon Church.  My answer?  "I'm sure that it was because he read the Book of Mormon, prayed to ask God if it's true, and received an answer that it is."  The husband wasn't very happy with my answer, but the wife actually seemed to think about it.

Personal study insight: Priesthood holders get to actually represent the Savior as they pass the sacrament.  How cool is that?  They literally represent the Savior passing the Last Supper to you!

The transfer angel passed us by!

Hey everyone!  The weather has been crazy here the past few days.  We are super low on miles right now (less than 20 a day for an area that takes in 2.5 counties), so we spent yesterday walking all day and it was HOT!  We were knocking on doors and, in the middle of a conversation with an elderly gentleman, I caught sight of myself in his screen door and thought, "Who on earth would want to listen to that crazy sweaty lady??" It was quite disgusting, but hey . . . what can I do?

Ironically enough, the most challenging thing in my life right now is my stupid mosquito bites!  I've tried everything!  I've even eaten whole cloves of garlic because they will apparently leave you alone if you have garlic in your system.  I have bites all over and since I'm allergic or something, they've swollen up so huge that I'm tempted to wear tights, to try to hide the ones on my legs . . . except it's so stinkin' hot!  Today I woke up with one right on the top of my knee cap.  It's so swollen that my knee looks twice as big as normal.  Gross!

J. is progressing towards her date of August 11!  She came with us to a baptism on Saturday in Choshocton and really enjoyed the experience.  She's already planning who's going to speak and all that jazz.  Her mother, Sister H., is already planning the huge celebration party afterward. :)  We're really excited for J.!

We taught M. the Word of Wisdom on Thursday and he "gave" us all of his cigarettes, ash trays, etc.  Wherever an ash tray or pack of cigarettes had been, we put little encouraging signs that I had made.  Jorgensen sisters, you would be proud of my signs -- one of them had "The Llama" on it.  Very awesome!  The OCM has a one week smoking cessation program with specific things that people need to do each day.  Did you know that it takes three weeks on average for the nicotine to leave your system, but if you take vitamin C three times a day, it only takes 4-7 days?  We had a little basket of stuff for him that was specific to the program.  We visited him the next night and he hadn't smoked all day.  He didn't look too good, though . . . We left two conference talks for him to read: President Eyering's "Give Me This Mountain," and President Uchtdorf's "On the Road to Damascus."  M. particularly enjoyed that one.  He came to church again yesterday and looks a lot healthier already!  He thanked us for doing a good thing.

On Friday M. had a doctor's appointment and found out that he has emphysema.  The day AFTER we taught him the Word of Wisdom!  He told the nurse that ironically enough, two girls had come to his apartment the day before and had stolen all of his smoking materials!  As Gandalf said, "I just gave him a little nudge out of the door . . .!"  M. is doing well, though.  He really enjoys church, especially the high priest group.  I think he likes hanging out with the "more experienced brethren" who are around his same age.

I've got to run.  I love you all!  Kyrie -- I'm so glad that you are back and happy!

Two baptisms coming up!

Wow!  What a whirlwind week.  If every week is like this one, my mission is going to fly by!  P.S. . . nine months on Thursday!  How crazy is that?  You all need to enjoy the next nine months because you're not getting rid of me again!  Without breaking the law . . .  or the commandments, anyway.

We had a great week here.  We now have one investigator on date for August 11 and another on conditional date for August 4th.  We are so excited! Watching people progress and gain their own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel has been so amazing!

We had six member-present lessons this week, two of which were with our bishop.  He is getting excited about missionary work.  He's seen us bringing investigators to church and now he's felt the spirit of missionary work while out teaching with us.  We're excited to keep the work moving along!

Here are a few awesome moments from the week:

1. We caught a bunny!  At home we have seagulls everywhere, in Powell it was geese, here it's bunnies.  They look like the bunnies in the Harry Potter 3 game, when you're performing the Lapiforus charm.  By the way, you know you've been on the mission a long time when you look at HP and it stands for High Priests and not Harry Potter.  I never would have thought that day could come! :)

 2.  We invited G. to the RS activity next month.  She put it on her calendar.  Yesterday she brought us some eggs that she'd gotten from a lady at work.  We also got some fresh milk from the B. family yesterday.  It's yummilicious!  I'm so spoiled here that it will be hard to transfer anywhere else!

3. We served lunch at the senior center, which was fun.  There was a country group singing karaoke, and the old people were really enjoying themselves.  I served the macaroni and potato salad, and did a very good job (if I do say so myself).

4. We found two new investigators, F. and E.  They are originally from Mexico, but they have lived in the U.S. for 15 years now.  We taught them the first two lessons, and Bishop came with us the second time.  He got to brush up on his Spanish.  Mine is extremely rusty, so now I know what it's like for foreign-speaking missionaries, their first day in the field!  It was definitely an adventure.  We're going to be handing them over to the Spanish Elders, though; they need someone who can help them understand the gospel completely.

5. We taught the Plan of Salvation to both M. and J., and both times I used my nifty Plan of Salvation puzzle.

6. M. is really starting to get it!  He says he is "leaning" towards accepting the gospel as true.  The Plan of Salvation really answered a lot of his questions.  We are so excited!  I love seeing the light come into people's eyes as they have that "I get it now" moment.

7. Favorite Sister T. quote of the week: "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free . . . that's in the hymn book, right?"

The old "run-away-when-they-see-us-coming" trick!

Hello everyone!  We had a super awesome week!  Heavenly Father blesses us so much.  We've been trying so hard to be exactly obedient and are really seeing the blessings. We found a super prepared guy from 2-2-5ing; he had a lot of questions that no one has ever been able to answer.  The Plan of Salvation answered all of them!  That was especially cool because it was on the 4th of July and it was super hot and humid and we didn't think anyone would be home, but we went anyway because we knew we should!

We went to visit one of our investigators and her son-in-law was there.  We taught him on the spot and he agreed to read the Book of Mormon.  He was very excited to hear that there are prophets on the earth today!

We found two other investigators this week through a member referral, and she brought them to church!  This was especially cool because we'd actually visited these particular investigators a few weeks ago and hadn't thought it had gone very well.  We are really excited to teach them again on Tuesday!

M. is officially progressing!  He is a very nice older gentleman.  He really wants to know the truth and is now dedicated enough to read and pray.  We had a chapel tour with him on Saturday with our ward mission leader and his wife, and it went really well.  He came to church yesterday -- YES!  We followed up with him and he said he enjoyed it and wants to have the same conviction that we all have, but he hasn't gotten an answer yet.  We're going to teach him more about the Spirit for our next lesson, and figure out how the Spirit has worked with him in the past.  He is reading and praying, though, which is really exciting.

Sister T. is doing really well.  I am so proud of her.  She's gaining confidence and together we are earning the trust of the ward.  Yesterday the gospel principles teacher was sick and so Sister T. and I taught an impromptu lesson with two investigators.  She did so well!  I have a lot to learn from her!

Sister T. told me last night that I have quiet dignity.  I tried not to laugh out loud!  What do you think of that, family and friends?  I told her you would all find that extremely hilarious!  She may change her views when she meets other sister missionaries, but we shall see.  I have definitely toned it down since coming out here (not too much, though -- don't worry)!

Sister T. loves huevos rancheros!  I finally found a brand of canned beans out here to substitute for the ranch-style beans that they have back home.  (For some reason I expected them to have Western Family brands out here.  Why would they have Western Family in the east?  I suppose that's one official blond moment that's happened lately.)

Well family, I've got to run!  I hope you're staying safe -- I love you!

Nunchuck skills . . . computer hacking skills . . . tree dodging skills . . .

Hey family!  What a week it has been!  Let me tell you a little about it!  First off, the crazy storms out here have been exciting.  On Friday we were downtown visiting a recent convert when we turned onto Luck Avenue.  The name is actually very important!  There are tall trees all along the road there and, as we were driving down it, it started raining like a banshee!  And the wind was worse.  Trees suddenly started blowing over, right and left!  The trunks just snapped -- couldn't take the pressure.

I watched this happening for a split second and then I immediately felt that we needed to get out of there.  I started looking around for the best way out, and a tree fell super close to us in front, blocking the way forward.  Then I looked back and saw a tree fall and block the road behind us.  I honestly felt like Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Rings, when Saruman closes one door after another as he tries to escape!  I saw a side street that we'd already passed and decided to try that route, when I noticed a tree starting to fall right beside us.  I quickly reversed, trying to avoid it -- which was good because if I hadn't, it would have fallen on the windshield and that would have been a lot worse than the small dent on the hood.  We went back to take pictures of the street later in the day, just in case we needed them for insurance or something -- and because it was crazy to see power poles splintered and traffic lights broken on the ground.  I will attach some pictures!  I hope my driving privileges won't be revoked since the accident was beyond my control -- I'll keep you posted on that.  The power in a lot of Ohio is out; some people have gas-powered generators to keep their fridges, etc. running, but most people aren't that fortunate!  Home Depot and Lowes were completely out of generators and almost out of flashlights!  Gas stations are closing down pumps because they're out of gas.  Cool experience, though, right?

Other highlights of the week:

Sacrament meeting at the B's house yesterday.  The church didn't have power so there was a small meeting at the B's for family . . . and the missionaries!  It was really cool to see the sacrament being blessed and passed in the home by worthy priesthood holders who were fathers, husbands and sons.  There was a testimony meeting afterward and it was all about missionary work.  All in the room were either converts or children of converts.  The Spirit was awesome!  All of them were tracted into, by the way.  I think Heavenly Father knows I need a boost with tracting.  Sometimes it seems so painfully less effective.  But if families like the B's are found through tracting, I can definitely keep going!

Found two new investigators.  Technically three, but one dropped us the next day, which was rough because she was super cool!  One was a referral from a member for his boss.  An investigator canceled so we visited the referral.  Talked with the wife and it was a great conversation!  We were able to teach the Restoration as well as about Temples, and a lot about repentance.  We were walking on sunshine that night!  We're going back this week to meet the husband.  Our second investigator was found 2-2-5ing another member referral.  The referral contact didn't go well -- he was not happy to see us.  But we knocked on his neighbors' doors, anyway.  Found a really cool girl a little older than us, and we taught her the Restoration; she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  We'll be teaching her the Plan of Salvation this week and we'll definitely bring a member fellowshipper along.  We're excited to see how they all progress!