December 22, 2008

The highlight of my week was Zone Conference. I love President & Sister Summerhays so much! My favorite part of it was my interview with President. I had been struggling with an Elder in my district, and since there are 3 companionships in our ward, we work together a lot. It was to the point that I didn't feel the Spirit when I was around him because of my hard feelings toward him. I talked to President about this and how I know that it is my problem and not the Elder's. I know that when I am annoyed or frustrated that I choose to be. I was praying often for charity and patience, but I was still struggling and I was getting more and more annoyed with myself. President thanked me for sharing my struggle with him and told me that by telling him about it, it shows my desire to be good and to do better. He then told me a story about Howard W Hunter asking for a blessing because he was having hard feelings toward someone and it was literally making him sick. President then offered to give me a blessing. It was beautiful. He blessed me with the power that when I hear that Elder's voice next that I would feel the love of the Savior for him. I was also blessed that I would know that the Lord was working on and with that Elder and that I didn't need to worry about him. I hadn't even told President about my desire to help the Elder be a better person (partially because he bugged me, but mostly so he could be happier), but the Lord knew what I was thinking and feeling and He helped me to overcome it too. It was amazing, and it all came to pass. The next time I heard that Elder it was like he was a different person. I understood where he was coming from, what he was feeling, and most importantly what the Lord feels for him. It has made such a difference in my day to not have those hard feelings. I have loved it! The entire tone of my district has changed (all of us struggled with this Elder) but we have one by one grown to love and appreciate this Elder. The power of the Priesthood is amazing. I am so thankful to President and his inspiration to give me a blessing and for the blessing he gave. The rest of Zone Conference was great. As a part of it we did role plays, and since I was new, it was mostly me. With the help of Sister Wilcox I was able to do well and I felt confident. We also did a fun thing- President charged each of us with being a successful missionary. Two witnesses had to testify of our success and then we were convicted. (Basically two people said something nice about each person, but with a more dramatic twist) One of my witnesses was the very Elder that I had been struggling with, in fact that was the first time I heard his voice after the blessing. It was an especially neat experience. At the end of Zone Conference we all re-committed ourselves to the work. I shared a dream I had that my mission was over and I was so upset because I didn't get to teach people or share the gospel. I wanted to share what I had learned from all of my experiences, and that I've been given the experiences to share them with other people and have the chance to uplift them. It was a wonderful day!Congratulations to Danny & Tia! I am so excited for both of you! I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas and tell Tia all the stupid things Danny did as a kid (he ate my chalk that went with a little school house and chalkboard I had). I hope you know how much I love you and I'm proud of you. Thanks to the Moab Ereksons for a great Christmas package and to Ruthie Peterson for the first letter from a friend! You guys cleared the cobwebs in our mailbox! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for sending the money - I used to buy food for a great Christmas Eve Celebration we are hosting for our investigators that don't have family to spend Christmas with. I'm really excited about it. I love you all! Merry Christmas!

PS Hi! This is Alissa's Mom. Her preparation day (P-day) has changed to Mondays now, so her posts will be updated on Mondays or Tuesdays, depending on how soon I can sit down at the computer. Thanks for all your love, prayers and support for her. Merry Christmas.

December 13, 2008

So last week we had 7 new investigators! It was amazing! So far this week we haven't found any. But that doesn't mean we haven't been working, more like students are studying for and taking finals, and we haven't had time to go tracting. Besides, President Eyring said that a key indicator that is a zero just shows us what we need to work on. Sunday - Melissa Mae was baptized! It was a wonderful experience and her family, especially her mom, seemed very touched. She is such a great example to all of us. She is disabled and has to use a walker to get around (she literally can't without it) but she always has a smile on her face and it doesn't slow her down. The 1st Presidency Christmas Broadcast was also amazing! I love all of those men so much. They truly are Men of God and are called to lead His church today. Monday - We met with Melissa again. She had said Saturday that she wanted us to come over and talk, but she was very cryptic, so we were a little nervous. She just had some questions about polygamy and other stuff that people were throwing in her face. She didn't doubt at all, but just wanted to know more. She has such great faith. Then we read the Book of Mormon with her. The Spirit was once again there with great strength. Tuesday - We had 4 lessons back to back after district meeting! It was a great day. The best was with Candace. She wasn't there on Saturday when we went to meet with her, but was happy to reschedule and the lesson was amazing! We brought along Melanie Parker - which was perfect because they both want to be physician assistants. We really wanted to establish a relationship with Candace so that we'd be able to call her over break and continue teaching her when she got back. Then when she told us she was moving I was inspired to ask if she needed help. She had several large items, so Friday we brought the FSU Elders (Clasby & Rassmussen) with us and were able to spend time with her then. It was fantastic! We also had a great lesson with Seth. He is going home for Christmas and won't get back until a few days before his baptism on the 3rd, so we were a little anxious about that. Then we were inspired to look up the ward locations and times in his home town. He said he'd go and that he'd like us to call and remind him. I love inspiration! It is the only way to do missionary work! We also caroled to a girl that the TCC Elders (Lewis & Gleason) had found earlier. She was super receptive, but had to take a phone call and then leave for work, so we didn't really get to teach her. It was really awkward when she was on the phone and we asked her roommate how she felt about Christ. She was Jewish. Insert foot in mouth. We continued talking to her and it ended up okay, but it was really awkward for a while. Wednesday - Sister Wilcox woke up with a swollen neck. It was tender and it hurt to swallow, so after a lesson with Melanie Grosinbough, we went to the doctor (that's right- I wasn't the one that was sick!). He said it was most likely a swollen lymph-node and that it would go away. (which it has, she just looked funny for a few days...). We came back and contacted on campus for a bit, but it is finals week and it was raining, so not many people talked to us. Sister Wilcox started to hurt even more so we headed back to the apartment and she slept. Later the FSU Elders came and gave her a blessing. The Priesthood is the Power of God!Thursday - Erekson Raymond Short turned 18!!We had our last lesson with Melanie G. She will be baptized in Tampa on the 20th so all her family can be there. She is an amazing girl and the Lord has a lot in store for her to do. Sister Wilcox and I went on exchanges to go visiting teaching with some sisters in the ward. It was fun to do visiting teaching again (even if none of our appointments were there). It was also great to get to know Christine Morse (daughter of the dr we saw Wednesday) and I look forward to working with her more as she was just called as a ward missionary :)Friday - SERVICE! We helped Candace move in the morning and then went to the Ronald McDonald House and cleaned. (So we got to wear jeans pretty much all day) We talked to a woman who had just had a son a few days ago. He is premature, so she'll likely be at the house for a while. We talked to her about quiting smoking. She wants to and is trying, hopefully we'll get to talk to her more next week, and hopefully I'll remember a Word of Wisdom pamphlet. We tried contacting at Big Lots and talked to probably about 30 people, but the only ones who talked to us was a 6 yr old boy and his 2 yr old sister. When I asked the little boy what he wanted for Christmas he said that he wanted a house and a car for his mom. He was so sincere about it too. I wanted to give him a hug, but a high-five was all that I could do. He made my night.Saturday - is a special day. Its the day we get ready for Sunday! We are having dinner at Melissa Mae's tonight and she is super excited to have us over. Then we have another ward's Christmas Party. It is a family ward that has invited a lot of non-members, so they are bringing in extra missionaries. I'm really excited for that.So while our week didn't yield new investigators, we did have great lessons with members present, great service opportunities, great 'other lessons' and a really great week. I love being a missionary! I love you all!