The work progresses....

One email remains (one more P-Day next week, then she comes home the following Friday).

 

So it's been a rollercoaster of a week, with a lot of surprises and several moments of "I'm glad I won't be here in 2 weeks."

 

We went to pageant 3 nights in a row, getting home particularly late the night before and still rising bright and early as we are required to do. It was a lot of fun (though it was muggy the first day), and we even had an investigator come and do the tour with us.  She had a very positive experience and we're hoping it will continue to open doors for missionaries in the future. I know I won't live (stay in the mission field long enough) to see that to fruition.

 

That was another hard aspect about this week- weekly planning (which took us several short sessions over the course of 3 days instead of our usual single 2-3 hour session because of how much was going on) spent a lot of time planning things that I would likely not see, like setting dates several weeks from then. Sad, but the planning must go on. 

 

We had Zone Conference this week, before a pageant trip. It was a long drive and an even longer meeting.. It was nice to talk to President and Sister Badger (new Mission President and wife)- they even shared a lunch table with us. Poor them though- needless to say, I spent most of the time leading the discussion. I am a story teller.

 

Friday we drove the 1 1/2 hour to Quincy to see a member doctor there; I was approved for a few visits.  So I saw a chiropractor this morning - I'll be back Wednesday and likely Friday after that, and hopefully that's enough because that's all I'm approved for and that's all I have time for anyhow, with the following week being transfer week (he also goes out of town then, so it’s just as well.)

 

Saturday was lovely in that there were two baptisms (two different people the elders were working with), and we had several lessons, so the work progresses.

 

All my love

 

Christine

Still working hard



4th of July hiking - PDay

CHEEEECKEN!

It's been a long week and this coming week doesn't look too promising in the way of actually getting effective work done.

Monday was mercifully quiet and uncomplicated- another box is packed and will go out next week, containing more cold weather gear, stuff I don't need, and my brown boots.

Tuesday was a lot of finding after helping a member of the ward pack up her kitchen in preparation for moving to a much smaller apartment. We met this lady who 'had nothing to say' to us, but talked our ear off for an hour, telling us all her concerns about the church and the world and not letting us say more than a couple of words before cutting us off to keep talking. It was hard to disengage from her without being impolite.

Wednesday was fun in that we got to see BYU's acapella group 'Noteworthy' during our lunch hour, as they came and performed in the park here. We held district meeting in town as well. Then the Activity Day girls fed us dinner that night (I had my own little separate bowl from everyone else because it was ALL milk based. ): No cheese or anything for me. It smelled quite lovely though.) We had a lot of fun with them.

Thursday we got to see a man whose wife had been a member before her passing a few months ago. A member couple took us out because he lived about 30 minutes away (and he's a single man so we needed a lady with us). They bonded a little and we're hoping to teach him about the plan of salvation and help him be baptized and eventually get sealed to his wife.

Friday was a lot of service in that we continued to help the member from earlier in the week move stuff to a storage shed, then we went to the radio station to read stuff for the blind. We managed to see a less active lady as well. Slow progress- she's willing to read aloud and pray with us now, as previously she was not.

A lot of time got eaten up that day though, as I was trying to get some medical help. The last week or so I've been having shooting pains from my ring and pinky fingers up through my wrist, aching in each join up into my shoulder blade. Occasionally this happens, but normally it passes in a day or two. Well, unrelenting and beginning to go farther (up my neck and down my back), I figured it was time to call the mission nurse, who sent me to the mission office, who sent me to the mission president's wife. She tried to send me to urgent care where I could get a referral for physical therapy (as missionary medical won’t cover chiropractic since it’s a pre-existing condition), but there is no urgent care here, just an emergency room and a quick care clinic. The clinic tried to send me back to the emergency room, which I politely declined, as we'd been told very specifically by missionary medical not to go there. It’s expensive to go to the ER, especially when they'd likely send me home with some Ibuprofen and an “oh well”. I've been taking quite a bit of that and

 

Excedrin/acetaminophen the last couple of days. So I get to drive down to Quincy on Friday to see a doctor in the nurse's ward to get me a referral for physical therapy. I'd just wait to get home and talk to the family doctor, but 2 weeks is a long time to more or less prefer no use of my right arm.

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with an investigator whom we were having a hard time pinning down.

Monday (July 4^th)  was a lot of fun- we went out to a tiny town where some members live and went hiking on their property (thus the waterfall image), barbequed, and got to hold all sorts of animals; then we hauled back up to town to get picked up by some members to go to the ward shin-dig (our cars got grounded around 6, so we wouldn't have been there long otherwise) and we got some more coordinating done.

Wish us luck finding those who the Lord has prepared.

Our ward is treating us well, feeding us fairly frequently, and is supportive of our work.

Anyhow. All my love.

Last Zone Conference

President and Sister Jensen and Sisters Pope and Kurt

Last week we washed the car spic and span in preparation for a car inspection on Friday that never came. I'm a little peeved because naturally the very next day it got some hard core bird poop on it. =A= That's what we get for claying and waxing it. No good deed goes unpunished.

 

The whole week has been example after example of lessons and appointments falling through, which just makes the 96 degrees plus humidity such. a. joy. Please kill me. Mercifully, Wednesday was mostly inside as we helped members with some service and we planned our week.

Thursday I spent the day with Sister Famalaro, a cute little northern Californian, only 9 months out. We had lessons and got a fair amount done.

Friday was Zone conference, our last one with President and Sister Jensen. We sang “God be With You Til We Meet Again” and I gave my departing testimony. President hugged me, and I was able to see two previous companions. It was a good day. We also got fed by a member who had lived in Mexico for 20 years, so we got some authentic cuisine.

Saturday was its own little nightmare because it kept getting switched around, but we ended the day very pleased with it. We had picked up a new investigator who we think is going to progress very quickly.

Sunday was weirdly hard, since we expected to see several investigators at church, and not one came. And then we got a call from a recent convert saying she needed a ride to the ER.... it turned out she wanted to go because she had beg bug bites. ]: Unfortunately, her mom (a former investigator), unbeknownst to us, had just told her 'come straight home' from the place she got them, so we're pretty sure she's probably pretty mad at us (since it wouldn't surprise me that she now probably has a really unnecessary medical bill).  Life's a struggle. But on the bright side, we found a new investigator when this lady's son insisted we go talk to his mom about God. She seemed really open to the idea of modern day prophets. So here's to hoping.

There's a program that missionaries do for their last transfer now, called My Plan. It's meant to help missionaries transition back into regular last post-mission, and I do appreciate the excuse to be inside for an extra 30 minutes a week to do it. Tender mercies.

Anyhow. I love you guys.        Christine

June 20.....last area just days left until her return!



Sisters Pope and Kurt



cracked windshield - heat related?

Macombie Homies

So it’s that time of the year apparently, because it’s offensively hot outside, and naturally that’s when everyone’s too busy to talk to us and no one else wants to make eye contact with us either, so we knocked like 90% of the week. We talked to a lot of people though, so that was cool. 135 people talked to us long enough for us to invite them to do something.

 

This coming week is zone conference, the last one I will attend and the last time I will see my mission president before we get a new one, which is super sad because I’m very attached to President and Sister Jensen. I also received my departing packet this week, informing me of the things I need to know in preparation of my final week.  I have 32 days until I am home. A month. (Hope Jake is preparing for the changes coming.) (Jake will need to move out of his bedroom, to make room for her)  I’m trying to do it right these final weeks (because it’s really easy to want to pile out when it’s 96 degrees outside, plus humidity). So long story short I’m feeling a little trunky (wanting to pack her “trunk” and go home). It was weird looking at the calendar and planning things for people after I know I will be very gone.

 

We started working with an investigator that elders have been trying to work with for the last few months. We took her with us to Nauvoo for a performance by some BYU folk dancing troop. It seemed like a good time to do a hand off... Unfortunately she has 4 kids under the age of 10 and needless to say they didn't like sitting watching 90 minutes of people dancing in costume. Our member who came with us helped us wrangle them and the kids who sat behind us were polite enough to help try and keep them occupied. It seemed like a good experience all in all. Also it's an hour drive back and we didn't get out of there until 10ish so we also were pretty wiped out the next day. Wiped out enough that she didn't come to church the next day. Killer. We'll get with her again very soon.

 

The performance itself was really enjoyable- if that doesn't motivate you to work out a little more diligently, I don't know what will. Wow, some flexibility. I was very impressed and I'm excited to come home and be allowed to dance again too.

 

We have a new investigator, Breanna. We found her while knocking. It seems it’s the season to get married, as she was like the 6th person we knocked into that was going to a wedding shortly thereafter. We had an awesome doorstep lesson and will be back tonight to see her.

 

Things are going well with Sister Pope (newest companion) and I. We get along well and apparently she loves that I tell stories because she will occasionally prompt me to tell one when I have somehow miraculously stopped talking. (It was a goal to talk less, as I feel like I talk too much/am always sharing some story, but apparently right now it is welcome. Oh well.)

 

1/3rd of the way through the transfer. Where did those two weeks go?

 

All my love

Christine

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 13

This letter is late since Mom (blog editor) and Dad were out of town and service was suspect, so letters were traded, but this had to wait....my apologies... BUT, the next letter will be posted shortly!




So I'm finishing my tenure in Macomb, Illinois. My new companion is Sister Pope, from Magna, Utah, and we're getting along very well. I forgot my card reader this week so no pictures at this time. Next week.

An up and down week. of course we were very stressed packing up and shipping off Sister Carter. We had dinner with a couple of people, Wednesday night being the last night of the transfer, we had dinner with a member and a number of his nonmember friends. One of them got a little hostile (I would chalk it up to the 4+ Bud Lights he had knocked back), but apparently they had a good conversation after we left. Hopefully there will be fruit there someday. But on a more positive note, there may be wedding bells in the air as we help a couple be baptized and come to church. They have a super cute 3 year old and a 6 month old together and more or less haven't gotten married because they couldn't afford the surrounding bells and whistles (because you have to have a party to get married, I guess). I didn't really fully realize quite how much pastors and churches charge to marry people. ]: It's wild.

Anyhow. Love you. Hope Philmont is most fun. I am jealous. (Mom and Dad are spending this week at Philmont Scout Ranch/Training Center in New Mexico for MORE training….)

Christine

long letter for a busy week

Calls for transfers go out tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that all went next week.

 

Oh, I forgot if I mentioned this last email, but I lopped off like 4 inches of my hair to get a lot of the dead ends off. It feels but healthier and much more manageable, but it is a bit shorter now (still well past the shoulders though).

 

This week has been a hectic one.

We went to Carthage on Monday, which was pleasant. The weather was nice, and it wasn't particularly populated (though each of the rooms we visited in the jail didn't have room for any more people, so I guess packed is relative? Tiny buildings are tiny.) It is a very serene place. They play an audio click of a rendition of what it might have been like (sound-wise) to be in the upper room when the mob came to kill Joseph Smith and company. Very emotional. It never fails to amaze me how willing people are to hate to the point of harming other people. A lot of the jail is original or has been restored (apparently people had later bought and lived in it for a long time). There's a little visitor's center there and a handful of site missionaries. Apparently Nauvoo is the only place other than Salt Lake Temple Square where the missionaries at the visitors center serve full time there (the rest serving half the day in the field proselyting and the other half in the center itself). We spent the remainder of the day helping a less active member of the ward go through bags and bags of stuff.

Tuesday while knocking we met a guy who owned a shooting sports shop. I miss shooting terribly and will be pretty quick to find a bow of my own once I have the budget for it back home (priorities!).

Wednesday was interesting in that we shared a meal with a pair of returning active members (siblings). We also met another lady while knocking who had met with missionaries before.

 

Thursday - There is a senior couple in our district who we were going on exchanges/splits with (the sister was coming with us and the elder went with the elders that we share the district with). The Elder had been on a mission in his youth, but the sister had only gone out with the sisters in her ward once or twice before the mission and was not at all confident in any of her skills. So the purpose was to help them get familiar with teaching and being more comfortable/casual with people. So hopefully our experience with them was helpful. We had 3 lessons and really positive experiences- we were all grinning ear to ear by the end of it. Exchange miracles are real (we even found one new investigator!). We finished the night at a young couple's house. They're both return missionaries (they even served in the same mission/around each other frequently) and very newly married, so it was a little awkward third-wheeling occasionally. But it’s nice to see some people living the post-mission dream (and they were very much like me humor wise so I was just teasing them mercilessly about their cuddling).

 

Friday's our organized service day, so we get to record ourselves reading all sorts of things. I read country magazine this week, a little melancholy while people reminisced about dead relatives. But we livened it up by going back to the lady from Monday's house to finish off all the bags that needed sorting (but ultimately a ton of laundry and still no place to put it in her house, even after literally 20+ bags of trash gone, 6 bags of paperwork sifted away, and another 6 bags of goodwill donation). The lady's quickly approaching hoarder because she doesn't know how to manage her time or her button pushing sons. It's really hard not to try and jump in and help parent, especially when it seems like mom wants the help to tag team her kids. What I've learned from the mission- parenting is a two man job. Being divorced/single parenting will slowly kill you.

 

Saturday was the stake's big service project in our town, so lots and lots of people here. I even got to see a few from the area I started my mission in the first time around. Sweet, sweet memories.

 

Sunday - The sacrament itself is really the only relief. I look forward to a time where Sunday is not one of the busiest days of the week. After church though, we found 2 new investigators and shared a meal with a lovely member family.

 

Love

 

Christine

Mosquitos and investigators

I was getting the mosquito treatment earlier this week, and I for the life of me could not figure how, until we killed a mosquito in our room and started sleeping with the fan on to discourage any survivors. So I'm maintaining at a total of 22 mosquito bites this summer. Super sad that the sister missionary dress code to address the mosquito-borne illnesses proliferating in the African and Asian parts of the world. Only applies to said parts of the world. No pants for me.

 

This week has been an interesting series of ups and downs. We've done service at a couple of places this week, and have tried to be fruitful in our efforts, to varying degrees of success. And I swear this whole place runs 30 minutes plus late some days, just for fun.

 

But on the bright side, we have a new investigator and we met with an investigator we hadn't seen in a long time. Seems like we've built a good bond, so we're hoping to see her more often so she can reach her date of July 14th. We also got to go to the temple this week with the Relief Society president, which was very nice. Today we'll also be going to Carthage to see the jail, since the church has made it a historical site.

 

I'm doing well. Anxious for transfers next week. It's a tossup as to what could happen. And next email I still won't know because calls go out Tuesday.

Anyhow. All my love.

Christine

(little more than 6 weeks!!)

healthier and hard work

I am doing better health-wise this week. No days where I was down for body betrayal. I appreciate the book about elimination diet stuff, and I'll look over it when I get it, but there's no way I can do while I'm here- the members feed us very frequently (we actually are booked all this week in that regard), and for the most part they remember I'm dairy free. I tried soy-milk for the first time and enjoyed that. The members we live with also bought me a container of lactose-free vanilla ice cream, and it was delicious. I had a big bowl.

 

It sounds like it's been a good week for all at home- I'm glad to hear it! I can't wait to see the boys' new computers and to see mom's new vintage sewing books (I might have to look at them myself ;) ) We have not gotten IPad and I do believe it’s because our mission president is pushing against them- every mission I've heard of getting them has had a steady decline in obedience since their arrival. So it's going to be more interesting to see if the new mission president allows them (or if the mission department will even give him a choice)... But this is all conjecture.  (The IPads are to make it easier for the Missionaries to show the videos to investigators, schedule appointments, and get appropriate information…however, since they are connected to the internet, I imagine that the temptation of that can be too much for some.)

 

We haven't been directed to ask members to pray about who they could invite into their homes, but it’s a common idea, as I understand. We have a couple of different go-to lessons for members. My current favorite is inviting families to create some form of family mission plan.

It has been getting warmer, but we're scheduled for a whole week of rain as I understand, and the house we live in is very well insulated, so it remains cool all day inside. So far we have not suffered much in the way of heat, knock on wood. But I am coming to the end. 2 months to go.

This week has been noteworthy- Monday afternoon some hooligans graffitied the church building and suggested that religion was quote 'the opiate of the people'... But as we were not the only ones hit, it didn't seem to be specifically Mormon related. Our building just happened to be easiest because our north facing wall faces a corn field and nothing else, whereas most other buildings have suburbia on all sides.

We did a ton of service this week- it seems everyone's got that spring cleaning, so I feel like I spent most of this week in pants. A welcome change. We set up a couch and a desk and have taken in total dozens and dozens of trash bags to the curb. The most noteworthy of our house cleanings is a 25-year-plus hoarder who is finally agreeing to part with things. She's excited to find the things we've found in our excavations and has been willing to part with a fair amount of it. Progress!

We have started a regular service thing every week where we are recorded reading magazines or newspapers. They are then broadcasted so the blind can listen to them. I enjoy it because it makes me feel like I'm Cecil from the podcast 'Welcome to Nightvale'. I sort of want a microphone of some quality to do amateur voice acting stuff online when I go home... So I guess I have people I can talk to about that now. Get some direction as to good starter pieces. My companion however, is uncomfortable with the service as she's super self-conscious about her voice. But we'll see.

We saw a former investigator this week and she was sad we were no longer working with her. We had a small lesson and told her we couldn't work with her if she wasn't willing to keep commitments. Hopefully she starts to progress, but she didn't keep the commitment to come to church, so we'll see.

We did find a new investigator, which was a miracle in and of itself, as we dallied at a previous appointment and arrived just in time to have her appear at her house. She had forgotten about us but was super pleased to have caught us. We have a more formal appointment next week.

 

We had dinner this week with the bishop and there was this outpouring of love and adoration and he told each of us that we are fantastic missionaries and such. Then my district leader described me as bubbly (though not in an airheaded sort of way). It was an interesting experience.

And then my companion accidentally called 911 (butt-dial) and 2 sheriffs appeared at our mission leader's house after we had left. Woops.

Eventful week. Hope all is well at home. Love you!        Christine

new investigators and friends

We have had rain and sun and rain but no hail. Tender mercies, I suppose. The longer it stays cool the longer I'm not cooking. But we are just putting off the inevitable.

Things go well here- we found 3 new people to work with this week. Hopefully we actually see them again, but that is the running gag. One was a retired lady who let us in, we taught a great 1st lesson I feel like (though she was extremely adept at deflecting questions), she accepted a baptismal invite, and then declined to have us back the following week to follow up. Weird. Some conversating at least let us come back for a few minutes to see if she actually kept any of the things she committed to (reading/praying about the Book of Mormon, etc).

One investigator had us over for dinner (Her 13 and 15 year olds are members- she's not. Lots to work through, I guess.). She's inviting the spirit back into her house, as we have another meal scheduled this week as well.

There's a lady here who has a 3 story house and a bunch of squatters she lets live there because they have nowhere else to go. It's... Wild. She's a hoarder but she recognizes it and is actively trying to change, but she had a heart attack 2 months ago and isn't really the most mobile. The house has to be like 75 years old, too. We showered after we worked for a few hours at her house.

Speaking of experiences that should build character but I wish would stop happening, it seems either the lactose intolerance is getting more aggressive or its branching out into other normal things, such as maybe gluten. Me and the porcelain throne are friends. I am apparently not allowed to have other friends. I feel disgusting but we are trying to figure out what is a passable meal for me. So far we have rice. We're trying to branch out. As I write, I'm pretty light headed, which feels like my vertigo. I really can't win here. (Mom is sending a book that helped other family members – an elimination diet to see what is ailing her)

Oh, while knocking yesterday we met this Catholic lady from Boston with a very strong accent. She was lovely. She complimented me on my outfit and described me as "good girl meets steampunk". I find this acceptable as a representative of Jesus Christ.

 

The work is great, and members here are actively trying to fellowship and find people in their circles of influence to invite to meet with us. But not a whole lot of traction there. It's a struggle some days.

My companion and I are great. I love her to pieces. I'll be sad when we part, whenever that is.

Macomb is a university town, through and through. Everything ebbs and flows based on the school, which is why it’s so painful that they're laying people off in droves. They seem to have a variety of programs here, but I'm not clear on what. It's got a main drag and a town square where most of the noteworthy things (that aren't on campus) happen. There's a lake pretty close where you can fish and paddle boat and picnic and stuff. It's big enough to have a Wal-Mart and a K-Mart, plus the super market chains Aldi's, Fareway, Hy-Vee, as well as a little mom and pop one (Country Market?). There's also a Walgreens here, and a car dealership and a John Deere dealership. Lots of farms in the surrounding area. The Square has a comic shop and board game shop.  Fast food, we have 2 McDonalds, a Dairy Queen, a Wendy's, a Subway, Taco Bell, Jimmy Johns (akin to Jersey Mikes), as well as a number of diner/hole-in-the-wall type joints. The Asian food here I would not touch with a 10 foot pole, but the pseudo-Italian is pretty decent. Lots of Mexican places too.

We have meals planned with members almost every night this week. Definitely spoiled.

Love

Christine

 

 

warmer weather and thoughts of home

As of May 12th, it will be 10 weeks to go. 2 1/2 months sounds so much longer. Coming to the end.

It was good to see everyone (We were able to skype the day before – Mothers Day! YAY!), and as you probably guessed, the handful of people online at the time were pleased to hear from me as well. Minor celebrations in my skype window (We heard several bells and dings indicating new Skype messages).

A box went out today. It is weighty. It has the books inside it (apparently the box would have been almost $40 had I sent it in anything other than a flat rate box. Whoo.)

It’s been a whirlwind of up and down again. The dreary weather has more or less passed and beginning its steady climb into the unfathomably hot (and humid…ew), but it’s in the 60s again today and periodically sneezing from the sky; a very confused weather pattern indeed. Pattern is perhaps a strong term.

We found one new investigator who is the stepson of a member. We met a less active member of the ward, too.

People are -generally- kinder to us here, though the non-committal noises people make when we ask if we can share more with them is still frustrating. Is it really so hard to tell us “no I’m not interested”? I make sure to thank people who are direct in their declining. Maybe the lesson will spread.

We were more or less grounded Sunday because Sis. Carter was super sick. It was a little awkward when she was vomiting in the church bathroom, but what can you do? She sat in the foyer while I sat with a less active in the chapel, and so a member thought we were fighting. No, just need a quick exit to the bathroom when her body continues to rebel. But thanks for the concern (they and the mission nurse are trying to figure what’s wrong…and what to do about it).

I'm doing well enough. We have interviews this week, and I realized it will be the last one with President Jensen- we change presidents July 1, so my exit interview will be with a man I will have only briefly met. I'm looking at my things with an eye of 'what can I leave behind' and 'what needs to be mailed home'? I'll likely send one more box home just before it's time to go with a bunch of my missionary library, and whatever other odds and ends that can fit around it. I also picked up some vacuum bags on sale, so we'll see if we can cram more in there. d:

Anyhow. love you. Be well.

Christine

 

 

Christine LOVES letters in the mail box

Write to her!  You only have 11 weeks left!




Sister Christine Kurt
8515 Douglas Ave
#19
Urbandale, IA 50322-2924




Your letter will go to the Mission Office, and will be forwarded to her. 
This way, letters aren't left behind if she moves unexpectedly.

A funny thing happened on the way.......

Wah..... all the games she can't play!  Not now.....when she gets home!

That face!

It’s been a dreary week in terms of weather. Lots of on and off rain, but such is the mid-western life during this time of the year, apparently. At least it is not snowing!

 

Last week’s P Day was noteworthy in that we spent most of it sitting around in a comic shop waiting for the elders to meet us. They had all their Warhammer on clearance- 5$ for any of it. So I picked up a codex (they only had dark angels but I couldn’t resist) and a Warhammer fantasy audio drama. I’m a sucker for Warhammer. ):

  

We’ve met a few cool people this week, and we had a really good heart to heart with the group we lovingly call ‘the friends’. They’re the gaggle all living together. We’re beginning to get to the heart of some of the true issues with them, and Sister Carter keeps pointing out that it’s likely because of my presence. I apparently think very much like one of them, and he’s the consummate ringleader, so it’s tugging the rest into light, I guess.

 

Our car battery died sometime Friday night. How we cannot even begin to fathom, but as we live on a steep hill and the members we live with have been out of town the last couple days, I got to brave the lack of power steering (for a tiny ford, it sure didn’t not want to do anything) and the questionability of the brakes to get it off the driveway (which I’m sure has to be at least a 45* angle. It’s obscene.) A member drove out in the rain to give us a jump. Thank heavens for willing members who live close by.

 

My finds, the library where we email has LOTS of games (including the pen and paper Warhammer 40k and even Traveler!), and mah face.  Wish I could play them!

 

Love

 

Christine

new area, former companion

This week has been arguably better than last week. I’m in my new area- Macomb, Illinois. We share the ward with a set of elders, one of whom is our district leader. He’s a little older (24!) and definitely different (I can't quite gauge him other than he's very go-go-go) in the way of personality, so this should be interesting. But he aims to please, so I don’t expect it to be a conflict so much as I expect a struggle to mesh personalities well.

 

The area is not small by any means, but it is nowhere near the size of Fayette, and since we share it with the elders, it’s only half the size of the ward. We live with members, an older couple whose children are long since out of the house. They’re both on the Stake level. Very environmentally conscious and very precise about pretty much everything they do, so hopefully my controlled chaos isn’t too stressful for them.

 

Our Zone is the Nauvoo zone, and we have our district meetings every week in Nauvoo itself, so we get to see the temple every week. Unfortunately, as it’s an hour drive (and a lot of miles besides).

 

The district itself is huge- 5 sets of missionaries (normally I see 3 sets), and it used to be 6, plus the zone leaders ALWAYS come and visit.

 

My companion is Sister Carter! She’s great, I love her. We served together once before in Iowa City- it was her and Sister Dilworth who took me in when I came back out initially (in the middle of the transfer). So we’d only had 3 weeks together, but now we have another 7 (the transfer is running a week longer to accommodate the changes in the MTC)! I’m very pleased. We work well together. Sad thing is though, she goes home in the September 2^nd transfer, which means she HAS to go this next transfer so I can teach someone else the area; or I HAVE to go next transfer so she can train. We’ll make the most of it.

 

The weather is getting warmer, so I’ve for the most part forgone my jackets, save in the last hour or so in the evening. Tights are gone, and likely soon I’ll be switching to my flats for most days (we just received a box of cold weather stuff). It’s expected to get REALLY hot this summer, and I’m in one of the most southern parts of the mission, so I’ll be seeing some of the stickiest, hottest, humidest (is that a real word?) times of the year. Just in time to go home. Woo. Trying not to cut all my hair off.

 

We’re working with a few people here. One is a hair stylist with a couple of kids and a husband who’s turned off to Christianity.  She’s super enthusiastic and really wants this, but hesitates to move without her husband because she wants to go together, to share this together. Her mom is also working with us, but catching her is a little more iffy. Then there are 3 friends - two girls and a guy. He’s got insomnia and very intellectually geared, so I’m excited because this is right up my alley.

 

I'm doing better. I'm getting up a little more easily/on time, and I have yet to have a particularly horrible person talk to us.

 

Love, Christine

 

Rough week....and 3 months to go



Looks like they had a little fun on P day!

It’s been a rough week.

 

Monday was pleasant enough- we went to the Amish and picked up a few things- groceries mostly (you can’t really beat picking up a couple of boxes of hamburger helper for 65 cents a pop), but we picked up some hand-made soaps and jelly. It was very cute and just a pleasant reminder that there is a simpler way to live. I like it a lot, and the idea of keeping a garden of my own someday doesn’t seem too implausible (aside from my chronic lack of a green thumb) (sorry....that's moms fault!). But then I got sick (though I’d had no dairy as of yet that day and nothing clearly food-related as a problem), and the appointment we’d been looking forward to all week with a lady who really, really needs the Lord in her life cancelled. At least the night finished off with a lady we went to visit (a member of the church) told us we were inspired by God to come because her mother had just gone into the hospital and she needed help because she didn’t really understand how to use her track phone. We were glad to be of help, but honestly we felt like we had come because we wanted to see someone who actually wanted to see us. (wins for both of them!)

Speaking of people not wanting to see us, we had back-to-back days of the whole day knocking, and the whole day full of rejection. And not just rejection, but really cold, rude, snide rejection.  We smile, we’re polite, we’re not at all pushy, the first "no" we get we politely say good bye and leave, so why the most un-Christian behavior? I try to tell myself it’s because they don’t understand, because they’ve been misinformed about what it is we believe (we believe in Christ too…), but for people who profess to be Christians, where is the Christ-like behavior? One of the few ladies who were polite to us told us a joke. ‘A catholic priest gets up before his congregation and tells them he can tell them his whole sermon in three sentences. “We know there are millions of Catholics in the United States. We know there are millions of Protestants in the United States. We are looking for millions of Christians in the United States.” He sat down.’ We laughed and agreed with her… Jokes are funny because they have at least a particle of truth in them. That particle is a lot more than just a little particle here. The first day we came home feeling good, despite the commentary and how worn our feet felt. A member family had prayed for us that day, fasted for us, and given us a list of names of people who might be open to learning more. They fed us at the end of it. It was a good day despite other people.

Thursday was more pleasant, if only because we had a few appointments- a few people who actually wanted to see us, but then one investigator texted us after we got home and told us we didn't need to come back because his pastor and his mom didn't like the idea of him talking to us. I wonder why.

Friday, another investigator told us he needed to think and didn't want to meet us, most of the day was spent yet again, knocking and getting rejected. Saturday was more rejection.

Sunday we saw a few members, but honestly after this week I'm not sure we had the courage to really make a serious effort to talk to people that day.

So all in all, no one teach, no one to talk to, and the transfer is on Thursday. Hallelujah. I hate to leave my companion here, though I'm sure some new blood would be good for this area.

Every week we email our mission president and talk to him about what is going on in the area, and who we’re working with and how that’s going, etc. The email I got this week essentially read that I would likely get moved this transfer. Transfer calls are going out tomorrow, so I’ll be likely writing you from a new location next week. It’s possible I won’t get moved, but extremely unlikely.

My companion and I are still two peas in a pod. I am displeased to most likely be parted from her.

The 22^nd marks officially 3 months to go. (YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!)

Definitely relating well to the talk “But if Not” by Elder Simmons of the Seventy. (Click HERE to read the talk)

Anyhow. All my love.

Christine

Field and Dreams....and thoughts of home.

Field of Dreams bleachers

Field Of Dreams

signage

Giant Strawberry??

We're coming to the end of another transfer (the 21st), and a lot of people are going home this go around and next. I've been told I'll be moving this go around, so I'll have one more area (most likely a good size city, whatever that means) before it's time to come home. I have mixed feelings. The both of us work very well together, and honestly that’s the only thing I'm kind of bummed about with the impending move.

We went to the Field of Dreams last Monday. It's cute. It’s a tiny little field (non-standard size diamond) with a tiny little gift shop. No corn up right now, so nothing like the movie in that way, but apparently it's a beehive come summer. I think it might be a little more worthwhile then, but there was an article on one of the display boards that really made it sound a little more magical.

We're going to the Amish community again today. I'm on the lookout for neat things to pick up and maybe send home to all the good little girls and boys. And I made my planners for the next two transfers... The last one has a ton of pictures of the family and such, since it’s supposed to be, you know, tremendously trunky (I saw another sister had an airplane on hers and it read 'going home' but that's a bit much, even for me).

The work here goes well- we're working with an older man who is incredibly intelligent and asks really deep questions. It’s sometimes a little baffling and quite the challenge (though this was more of what I was expecting when teaching people- some sort of brain power while sharing these 'new' doctrines with people, as opposed to the weird baseless anti we get from time to time). He's retired from a very high stress, tight deadline, heavy pressure job, so he's pretty resistant to any kind of pushing we give him. We tried to set a date with him for May 4th, and it's totally doable, it's just a matter of meeting with him and getting him to church the next two Sundays. We fasted for him yesterday.

We were dropped by a young man this week- he's moving to New Mexico and likes smoking weed and loose women too much to keep talking to Jesus people, I guess. No real surprise there, but still disappointing. I wanted to know what he was like sober.

Speaking of sober, another man has been talking with us. He's very sincere in his desire, and he's been through a lot. He's been clean of drugs for 7 months now and has been on the right medication for a while as well (since finding the right cocktail is such a challenge), and attributes all of the changes in his life to finding God. Problem is that, like most churches, they get a little antsy when we start talking to anyone in their flock.

Anyhow. Another week, another chilly walk through the tiny neighborhoods of the area.

Love you!

Christine