Monday was a little rough. Sister Foulke and I were in the middle of personal study when there was a knock at our door. We looked at each other in bewilderment wondering who it could've been. We opened the door to see President and one of the MSTLs. They came in and talked with us for a bit before President asked if he could talk to me alone. As you could imagine thousands of scenarios were running through my mind and I was trying to remember if I could've possibly done something to get into trouble. We sat down in a room by ourselves and I just outright asked him if I was in trouble. President just smiled sadly and shook his head and said that I wasn't in trouble. He then gently told me that my Grandma Rose, my dad' mom, had died that last night. I burst into tears and he just scooped me up and held me just like my dad would and I just sobbed. I knew that Grandma was in a much better state and place, I was mostly upset that I couldn't be there to help support my family through all of this, especially my daddy. When I had calmed down enough President asked if I wanted to call my family and I said that I would. So he gave me his phone and left the room to fill Sister Foulke in on what was happening. It was so wonderful to hear my parents' voices! The rest of the day was a little rough considering.
After they left I decided that I needed to do something with my hands to get my mind off everything so I dyed my hair. I chose an almost-black brown color. One bright spot of my day was that when we went to the church to go email Elder Aitchison told me I look like Snow White (I was wearing red lipstick as well as my freshly dyed black hair). The elders in our district are all pretty tall except for one. Elder L is 6' 2" but Elder Aitchison takes the prize at a height of 6'4". Honestly, I can't imagine what it would feel like to be that tall. To never have the struggles of cabinets that are too high. Or being unable to reach the fan chain. Life must be charmed when you're that tall.
The other bright spot was that we learned that, as a district, we found 42 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! Which was four more than the bargain for the nose hair required (See Week 9 Letter).... Mwahahaha... So we gathered all around and watched as Elder Shepherd to the massive pliers and pulled one of Elder Hayes' nose hairs out. I needed that laugh SO much! It was glorious.
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Tuesday, 6 September
Tuesday was my two month mark being on a mission. That was crazy to realize! I only had 16 months to go instead of 18. I literally have NO idea where that time went! My mind is seriously blown.
Sister Foulke was feeling under the weather that day so we stayed in for a bit in order to let her rest. So in order to help her feel better I told her the story of the musical Camelot, I even sang most of the songs for her! :D I love that musical so much! Even though I can't watch the end because it depresses me. :'(
Something that I wanted to do was to record myself singing a song that could be played at my Grandmother's funeral so that I could participate in it some way. So I went over to the mission office and Sister Snow accompanied me while I sang a song (Anthem of Praise by Sally Deford). She then asked if I could sing that song in a half hour for a devotional that was happening for the missionaries that we're going home the next day. So I did. :)
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Wednesday, 7 September 2016
District Council arrived once again. And Elder Burrup (one of the zone leaders) should be a comedian! I Honestly want emojis of all of his faces.
After District council we had an appointment with Rachel and we taught her how to do family history work a little bit. I was able to get on the FamilySearch app and do a teensy bit of family history work!!! I LOVE FAMILY HISTORY WORK SO MUCH I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH WITHDRAWAL!
Later that day we saw Carli which was sad because her mom was in the hospital again. :( Then we had a lesson with Marcus which was a little frustrating because he knows what he should be doing to be happier, he just simply isn't doing them!
We went to dinner and as missionaries we are supposed to leave a spiritual thought with the individual/family that is feeding us. We had forgotten to prepare one and the time came to give it and Sister Foulke simply stared at me. So I pulled out a scripture that popped into my mind out of thin air, Mosiah 28:41 (please read! :) and it turned out to be exactly what the family needed! There are no coincidences in life. And there is modern day revelation from God. Large and seemingly small.
We then had Ward correlation with Ephraim, again none of the Ward missionaries showed up. We feel so bad for Ephraim having to deal with irritating Ward missionaries.
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Thursday, 8 September 2016
So last week during exchanges there was an apartment that I felt strongly impressed to knock on and we finally went to that complex on Thursday (Bay breeze 522) and we knocked on the door and a really nice lady named Kristi opened the door and she talked about how she felt like we had something really special to share... But that we should have come over a week ago because she was moving that day. I cannot tell you how quickly and how low my heart dropped. To think, if I had just followed my prompting and knocked on her door last week she could have come closer to Jesus Christ. I felt so ashamed. I had received a prompting from God and I had put it off. And the consequence was that one of his children would have to wait longer to learn about the truth.
On a lighter note we went and we visited Reggie (see earlier emails) and he basically said that he wants Sister Foulke to marry him! XD What he actually said was, " I need a woman like you Sister Foulke... How old are you, 24?" I could only drink from my water bottle and cry with suppressed laughter as she just stared at him!!! XD Oh heavens above.... Life is still good when someone basically asks your companion to marry him.
We went home for lunch and we got a call from our STLs saying that one of the sisters was sick and her companion needed to go out with us. We said sure, why not! Another sister is always fun to have! So we had Sister Batulga with us for the day and that was super cool, she's from Mongolia and has an adorable accent!
We met with Victor Lopez who was going to have his baptismal interview the upcoming Saturday (patience, young ones, we'll get there :P). And then we met with Marcus, which is so discouraging because, yet again, he told us that he hadn't prayed, he hadn't read the scriptures, and he had smoked. It breaks our hearts to hear this because we can see how unhappy it makes him!
We then took Sister Baltuga back to her companion before we went to dinner with Khira, a member of the YSA Ward. She was SO much fun to talk to! :D
After dinner we went to a lesson with Luis... And he and his friend Dylan were so instructed the entire time. They would not stop "dipping". If you on't know what that is... Count your MANY blessings.
We then met with Victor Ranga.... WHY DOES HE HAVE SUCH A DIFFICULT TIME WITH PRIESTHOOD????? The one thing he has beef with is the priesthood and the need to make covenants with God by someone holding that priesthood authority. I don't understand.
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Friday, 9 September 2016
Friday was good because we had weekly planning! I love weekly planning! :D
So... Sister Foulke asked me to make up a regency romance story with her as the heroine #Emma&Jason4ever So I made up this huge and involved story about her and the title will be The Baron of Bedlam. I told her the story and she loved it... So who knows... I might be writing a bestseller when I get back :P
We had received a referral a few days before whose name is Jerry so we went to our first lesson with him and it went really well. He's a very sweet man, he was in a car accident a year or two ago which left him with permanent disabilities. But he is so kind and wants to truly come to know what Christ would have him do with his life.
After the lesson with him we had a lesson with Kristin. This time it was just Sister Foulke and I with her and she opened up so much more, it was amazing! She is so sweet, I wanted to just higher until I squeezed all the problems out of her life!
Later than night we had another lesson with Kelly (ship Ephraim and her so much!) (Mom Note: for those of the older generation: "to ship" two people means you think they would make a cute couple.) We were going through the Plan of Salvation and it was incredible! She knew a LOT and she had so many wonderful insights! She is honestly such a blessing!
After our lesson with her we had a lesson with Marcus that just was absolutely sad. He said that he didn't want to use the Atonement to help him quit smoking because he thought it would be so much more impressive if he quit by himself. I know that a person can NOT escape addiction by themselves. Because it is not just a thing we are fighting. We are fighting the thing we are addicted to, ourselves, the adversary, and all of his followers. We cannot fully and completely overcome an addiction without the help of our loving Brother Jesus Christ. We need His strength.
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Saturday, 10 September 2016
Saturday was a little bit of a rough day. That morning was my Grandma Rose's funeral. President gave me permission to Skype in so I was able to have that little bit of closure and to see the beautiful faces of the people I love. :)
Twenty minutes before Victor Lopez's baptismal interview was supposed to take place he texted us to say that he couldn't go through with it. We spent the next twenty minutes calling and texting him, trying to get him to respond to us. He finally answered our texts and we simply testified to him by saying "whatever you're going through, the gospel of Jesus Christ can help you if you choose Him." He then said that he would come. We and the district leaders waited an HOUR before he finally showed up. Sister Foulke was ready to strangle him for all of the stress that he had put us all through. I was none too pleased myself. He and Elder Shepherd went into a room to do the interview and another hour later they came out saying that Victor had some struggles that he needed to overcome with the mission president before he could become baptized. So that was super disheartening for us. But it is MUCH better that it happened this way instead of all of this surfacing after the baptism. :) So it all worked out for the good! :)
We had another lesson with Kelly who literally brightened up our day! :D Love her!
After Kelly we had an emergency meeting with Ephraim. We basically just barfed emotions all over him. We just told him what was going on with our investigators and he helped us sort things out and settle down. And then he gave us blessings.
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Sunday, 11 September 2016
After church this Sunday Ephraim and we went to Patrick's once again to play chess and talk about the gospel. I was watching so intently to figure out how on earth one plays chess. It was a little bit frustrating to me because it was not coming easily to me. But I slowly understood more and more as their game went on so there is hope for me yet! :D
There was a Young Adult Broadcast afterwards where Elder Cook (one of the 12 Apostles) spoke and here are two quotes that I loved!
"Enthusiasm is common, endurance is rare."
"Being sincerely Christlike is an even more important goal than being "authentic"."
After that we had another lesson with Kelly and it was wonderful, of course. Sister Foulke and I seriously ship Ephraim and Kelly! XD
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Lol, that is pretty much my roller coaster of a week. I love you all! You are all constantly in my prayers! *spiritual hugs and kisses
Sister Longo
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