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