Hello Family!!
Hope you are ALL having a FANTASTIC time at the
Cabin. Not going to lie, i'm pretty jealous :) But i'll get over it.
Jacksonville is doing GREAT!!! WE HAD SNOW THIS WEEK!!! Pretty much
amazing. Fortunately, nothing shut down. Usually, if
there's even a snowflake the entire base shuts down, but the roads were
dry so everything went on as usual :)
We've seen incredible success here in Jacksonville,
compared to Southport. I swear every person we talk to has an interest
in learning more. The members here are incredible! When we take them to
lessons, they're pulling out scriptures and
readily participating in lessons. It's phenomenal!! We've set up a ton
of lessons, we've set VERY solid baptismal dates with a few of them. The
work here in Jacksonville is progressing VERY quickly!!!
Mom-- For your talk. Something I did to help me
prepare? I don't know. I can't think of a whole lot. I don't know that I
really prepared all that much for my mission.. Well. No. I take that
back. I learned how to have a good attitude. That
is KEY to really anything, is learning how to have a good attitude.
Another thing I did was I left everything behind. The mission call
specifically states "you will also be expected to devote all your time
and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind
all other personal affairs." One thing I said frequently before I left
was that I wasn't ready, but I was willing. And I was! I actually chose
to go on a mission. I would be devoted. I accomplished everything I
needed to before my mission, and came out ready
to have an "eye single to the glory of God." "No man can serve two
Masters", and I chose the Lord. I think those were two things that
really helped me prepare. As per what I wish I would've done to
prepare... Role plays and getting out of my comfort zone.
To this day I STILL hesitate to knock on a door or talk to somebody.
It's just naturally scary. Role plays help you get used to that. It's
practice that actually helps. Here's an example-- You can watch
basketball all day long to learn how to play, but it
isn't until you start shooting and missing that you actually figure out
the mechanics. The mission is very similar. You can hear stories about
how missionaries talk and teach, but until you actually practice
teaching, you don't get better. I wish I had had
more practice teaching the doctrines of the church, and practice
bringing up the church in everyday conversation. It isn't easy :)
Hopefully that helps :)
On to the best day I have had on my mission...
Ok so the day was Saturday. We started our day with
studies as usual. Then we finished some planning we needed to do.
Again, nothing special. After lunch, we went out to an area to spend an
hour in the area contacting before we had a lesson.
We talked to two people, super nice and hopefully develop an interest.
They were good contacts :) Then for the lesson we watched "Joseph Smith:
Prophet of the Restoration" with the family. This man is ready to be
baptized, he just has to pay some probation
fees and he'll be good to go. Super good experience with the family,
they loved the movie :) After the movie we went to another investigators
home. I hadn't met him yet, but he had recently had his leg amputated
due to Diabetes. Apparently North Carolina is
like the diabetes capital of the world. For anyone reading-- DO NOT GET
DIABETES. It looks terrible... Anyone, this guy has a pet wolf. Yes,
Kaiti, You read that correctly. A full-bred PET WOLF. Crazy right? Her
name is Tasha, and she is SUPER sweet. She's
beautiful! I'll try to get a picture next time we see him :) But that
was a good time spent with our investigator.
Our next appointment was with a less active part member family. We had dinner at their home. Nothing
special, but we spent like the whole time talking with them. They have a
three year old boy who is SUPER
funny. He already has a sarcastic sense of humor, it's hilarious. He'll
like mimic them and everything, super funny. The Dad, who is a member
asked about evolution and I was able to respond using my new information
from dad. Thanks for that by the way :) Which
led us into a conversation with the Mom, who is not a member. She comes
to church when He does. She basically said that she knew it was true,
but that her family was catholic and she didn't know how they would
react. So we sort of coaxed her into taking the
lessons again, and seeing where it goes. Basically, she's prime. She
knows it's true. We're just going to teach, and I can tell she's ready.
It was just a great experience and Elder Bentley and I are super stoked
about it :) :)
Then, in the middle of Dinner, we noticed it was
SNOWING!!! SO EXCITING!! So we went out for a second, then came back in.
After dinner, we drove to the Church and had a snowball fight with the
other elders here in Jacksonville. We were
freezing cold, but none of us had seen snow in like a year and we knew
we probably wouldn't see it again until we got home, so we just kept
playing. We made snow angels, tackled each other and wiped our faces in
the snow. Basically just had a super fun time
playing in the snow. Made us all so happy :D :D :D Then we went home
and planned. BUT IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER. Like seriously. It made me
SOOO happy to be a missionary. Gah. Just so happy :) I still have that
feeling!! I"M SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!!! like, for
real. Best experience ever. EVERYBODY should go on a mission. They'll
love it. :)
Ok I want to answer your questions:
1) Elder Bentley... I love this kid. Seriously.
He's awesome haha he's super funny and we get along super well. He
doesn't like tension, he's very friendly, he's 21. During his teenage
years he was pretty inactive. He didn't go to church
like at all. But then like 3 months before he got his mission call he
got really active again. Neat story :)
It's been like two weeks since we've been together
and we haven't fought once. It's awesome!! It makes me so happy haha WE
have like small fights, but they're playful. Like, I throw a snowball at
him and he whitewashes me. No bitterness,
no malice. Just fun :) and we both know it, so we get along very very
well. He's very willing to work hard.
The companionship is honestly completely even.
The idea of a senior companion isn't even thought of. We both just work
equally and do equal the work, and have equal say in what we do. It's
great. I swear it's like the dream companionship, and it scares me
because I doubt I'll have another companionship
this great. But I'll definitely enjoy it while it lasts :) If there's
anything else you want to know, just tell me. I'll try to answer those
questions :)
2) Bike and Car. Yes, we still have a car. However,
we trade it off every other week with the other Elders here. So, last
week we had the car. This week we're biking everywhere. Which might not
be very fun, because it is FREEZING down here
right now. haha but we try to bike more. I know I've been biking more
since I've been here than I did in Southport. But, we also drive a lot
too. So... I don't really know. We've killed our miles this month. We
have like 120 left. For the rest of the month.
Yeah... NO bueno.
3) It depends on the week when your letters come.. I
got your February 4th letter on February 14th. I think that may have
been delayed due to the Blockade from transfers, but I would say it
usually takes between 7-10 days for letters to
get here. P.S. your letter couldn't have been more perfectly timed with
the Evolution stuff. Basically the DAY AFTER I received the letter,
someone we were talking to asked about evolution and the church, and I
was able to pull all these references and stuff
about how the church doesn't have a specific stance, how some lean both
ways, there are examples and evidence for both ways, and the church
stands by basic doctrine and leaves science to science. I felt like an
expert ;) haha so thanks for that!!
Scripture for the day-- "for this purpose have I come" Happy hunting!! :)
I love you all family!! have a great time!!! I love you!!! :)
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!
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