What a week! It felt like so much happened! I can't wait to tell you allllll about it.
First shoutouts!
Happy Birthday to Razzie Boy -- October 3rd! and Boo Boo -- October 9th!
Congrats to Megan and Matthew.. Welcome to the fam Matty poo! ;)
Also! Congrats to Sierra and Taylor!!!! All of my friends need to stop getting engaged...... hahah
C Dizzle, How are you doing????? Is your foot better?!
Mom Dad I need you to go see Bernard for me! I saw someone on a Jazzy crusin' town. I haven't been able to get him off my mind.
Angela Marie, how are you feeling?
Utica's Uniques:
---> We can see our breath in the morning when we go out to run. *gasp*
---> They put all their trash and yard debris on the side of the road to be picked up.
---> New Hartford has the cutestt Fire Department. Pics to follow.
---> Tried another Pizzeria this week! I think it takes the Cake. "SLICE" is the name.
THE WORK:
Our beautiful Alieanna is doing soooo good. Last Monday we had the special privilege of going to the mission home to have FHE with President and Sister Rogers. It was a BLAST! Alieanna, Sheaquanna and Shea's baby sis Arianna came. It was a perfect evening. We showed them the 20 minute Restoration video and testified of its' truths. I have seen that a handful of times and every time something new sticks out to me. This time it was the tiny little seedling that is shown at the very end of the movie when it is all said and done. I've always wondered why that would be the last shot, but it occured to me that it is depicting what the whole journey of Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Restored Gospel started with: a seed. A "grain of mustard seed" that was in the heart of a 14 year old boy that grew into a beautiful Oak tree. (or whatever tree is the biggest out there haha.) I loved that.
We got Alieanna to come to a session of General Conference, Sunday Morning! YEAHHHHH. I think that it was a little long for her... hahah but she endured it valiantly. So proud of her. She is progressing better then we could ask for. I truly feel blessed and privileged. to be a part of her life and her conversion. She is amazing inside and out!
We are still only able to meet with Nate that Semi-Great (ha ha jk jk) only one time a week, but when we do we always have a good lesson with him. We decided that he is going to try to prove us wrong until he can't. He's just always got somethinnnn to say, that stinker. For only seeing him once a week, he is actually making pretty good progress. He has started to read more, which is great! We invited him to come to a session of conference, but he didn't show. Figures. I think getting him to church is going to be a battle.... yayyy....
Sister Daniela Sykora, my beloved Czech. She is doing well! We tried setting up with her, but she was sick at the beginning of the week... I told myself there is NO WAY that I am letting ONE WEEK go by without seeing her. So I told Sister Thao that we were going to go over later in the week and take her OJ and cough drops. So we did. Haha! We went on Thursday.. I think. She was so excited to see us and sooo grateful for our peace offering! We really only wanted to stop by for a sec and say hi, see how she was doing. She is gifted with the tongue of "chatty cathy" and we stayed for almost an hour. heheh I love her so much. She told us a little more about herself and her life. She's been through a lot.. she is so incredible and such an inspiration to me! She told us she loves having us over and to me she said that my laugh and smile are contagious. ha ha that made my day. :) We asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing and she said yes! So we got the AP's over there to do it for us. She called us later that night to tell us how it went. She is sooo stinkin' cute! Gah! We saw the elders the next day and got talkin about her. They said to us, "You know she's in OUR area right?" I shot right back and said, "YOU CAN NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!" Hahaha they just laughed and complied.
We've got a few potentials... not too many though. We are trying to build our pool. There is one potential though, her name is Randi Jackson. I can't remember if I mentioned her last week or not, but we met her a week ago Sunday in Clark Mills where one of our Homebound Sister lives. Last week we tried getting a hold of her, but she was never home when we called. Yesterday, we had on plan to go see the sister in Clark Mills and wrote down Randi's name too hoping that we'd be able to find her. (we weren't exactly sure where she lived because the house we met her at was one she was cleaning for her mom -- mom rents it out) Okay now here is where the Lords timing is sooo perfect, and soooo great. During the morning session of Conference, Sister Hungerford (the homebound) called to let us know she needed to cancell. We called her back after the session was over to see what was up. When we did, she told us oh just kidding you can actually come! So we go, see her have a good little lesson and as we were leaving there was Randi Jackson in the flesh walking on the street towards us. (God doesn't do random) We chatted and caught up, asked how she was doing, blah blah blah. She's super busy. Mother of 4 and works 40 hours a week. She is finally moving into her own place (living at sisters right now) by the end of this week and will have her own home phone so it should be a bit easier to get in touch with her. She was telling us that she really does want to come to church though and her little brother does too. He's 19. When she was telling her brother about us, he was asking her what the difference was between our religion and all the others. Ohhhhh commeee at ussss! A perfect question to answer with the points of the Restoration. We taught her the Resto right then and there and I actually had the opportunity to recite the First Vision to her. I have never in my life felt the spirit work in and through me so powerfully then I did in that moment. It was by far the most powerful, spiritual experience I have had as a missionary. It was beautiful. We told her we'd keep callin and get her to church next week! I'll keep you posted. :)
WEATHER:
Soooo maybe half the trees have started to turn colors. There is still a lot of green though! It has cooled off quiteeee a bit here. Like I said earlier, you can see your breath in the mornings. Nooooo! hahahah that is never a good sign. It is beautiful out today. The sun is shinning and it actually feels nice. :)
CONFERENCE:
How good is General Conference? How bout them three new apostles!!!! Aren't they the cutest?
The first weekend in October and April are easily my favorite out of the entire year. I was reflecting on where I was at a year ago watching conference and it was in the MTC! How crazy is that?? I had a much more comfier spot this year at the Mitchell's home on Saturday. Sunday we weren't quite as spoiled. ;) The Mitchell's are a very missionary oriented family. They have a son out right now serving in... Vacaville, California! Mom, Dad I believe you know where that is?! And then they have a son who is getting ready to go here in the next couple of months. He should be getting his call here really soon.. He said all of us missionaries can be there when he opens it. :)
The first weekend in October and April are easily my favorite out of the entire year. I was reflecting on where I was at a year ago watching conference and it was in the MTC! How crazy is that?? I had a much more comfier spot this year at the Mitchell's home on Saturday. Sunday we weren't quite as spoiled. ;) The Mitchell's are a very missionary oriented family. They have a son out right now serving in... Vacaville, California! Mom, Dad I believe you know where that is?! And then they have a son who is getting ready to go here in the next couple of months. He should be getting his call here really soon.. He said all of us missionaries can be there when he opens it. :)
Brother and Sister Mitchell literally made us a THANKSGIVING FEAST!!!!! Homemade Pumpkin and Apple pie included!! hahahahh it was absolutely INCREDIBLE. My taste buds have never been so happy! We got there around 12 and didn't leave until 6:30 ish. It was so fun being with the Elders and the Mitchell's. It felt like I was at home.
I am going to have to go back through and read the talks and maybe try to choose a favorite because they were all just sooo good! I have always loved Conference, but as a missionary it is something special. I feel like a received a lot of personal revelation and things I needed to hear. I hope you did too! It would take too long to sum up all that I loved, so I am going to share with you some of the amazing one liners that were thrown out this past weekend from the greats of our church.
"We don't marry perfection, we marry potential."
"Exaltation is our goal. Discipleship is our journey."
"Hold tight! Sail on!"
"It will all work out."
"WHAT LACK I YET?"
"Ship shape and Bristol fashion."
"I am the pilot"
"Maternal love has to be divine." (Mom I thought of you the whole time YOUR favorite apostle was speaking.)
"It's never too early and it's never too late."
"We have the power to choose belief over doubt."
"Turn to him." (one of my faves)
"We will be different!"
"Ponderize and elevate your thoughts!"
I love love loveeee hearing from the prophet and apostles. I know their words and counsel to be true! It is my prayer that we can all accept their counsel and not see it as "barriers" keeping us from missing out on something great. I want to bear my testimony to all of you that I know President Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet on the Earth today. I know that the three new apostles were truly called of God. I know that this church is true, with every ounce of my being I do. It has brought me more joy then anything else in this life could possible offer. I love my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I am SO thankful that I have the sacred privilege of being one of His missionaries. I know that He and Heavenly Father love us so much. Ve jmenu, Jezise Krista, Amen.
Until next week my family and friends!
S laskou,
Sestra Freddddova
The Mitchell's are SAINTS.
*more pictures to come from this email
No comments:
Post a Comment