New investigators!

Our Mondays are some of the busiest, which is hard. ): Get all the temporal things done so we can be spiritually minded during the week and all that... Sometimes (most of the time) it doesn't feel like an hour is enough to get everything I want to say to everyone...

We’re trying very hard to get members more involved; in a lot of places the members are super helpful, but in a lot of places they also aren't... Hard to get people to be gung-ho. Our meal calendar gets passed around here, but we have no meal coordinator, so no one tries to fill in the significant gaps... Maybe one or two meals a week here, in an area with a lot of members. Hm. (we try to feed the missionaries in our ward about once a month – the calendar is always full…the coordinator is very good).  We've been counseled to call members ourselves to find time to meet with them (since it’s not really about feeding us; it’s about getting into their homes and meeting them and getting to know them and getting them excited about missionary work)...

Speaking of which, we've had missionaries in our home many a time, but I can't really remember anything that they shared or any of it really sticking with me. What are some memorable things missionaries have shared? Why did they stick with you? We want to get better about sharing things with families that get them to think, to reach, etc. Thoughts?

We got 5 new investigators this week. Two Catholic couples and a woman who sat in on a lesson with one of our other investigators (she's a little along for the ride - good). One of the couples is from Africa and speak French and Ewe (I'm not sure I can explain how that is pronounced). They're both super active in their church, but were so dedicated to God and following him that they essentially said 'We will do whatever God directs us to do". Super powerful experience I think. There are some people out there who are just SO willing to do whatever the Spirit directs. I wish more people were like that. The other couple was a little more quiet. It seemed to be a pretty surprising assertion that God called a prophet again on the earth today and that they would need to look into it more... Curiosity perhaps, but it may go from there. Now the trick is to see them again. \ o /

I was reading a Marvelous Work and A Wonder and I loved it; finished it this week. I'm fascinated by the assertion that either the Catholic church or the LDS church is true, because if the Protestant movements are correct in their assertion that the Catholic Church (their mother church) was apostate, then essentially they inherited that Apostate condition and reformation isn't going to put it back exactly the way it was (especially if the number of protestant churches is any indication)... So they're pretty much automatically not the correct church? Woops. And it (in the intellectual sense I guess, since this doesn't really include revelation from God through prayer, etc.) comes down to, did Peter pass his authority on to his assistant (I forgot his name! ;-; The one that the Catholics believe their authority through.) or did he not? And I think that the revelations (literally the book of Revelation) given to John (the apostle with the most seniority of the surviving ones- wasn't he the last remaining one by that point?) instead of the other guy is rather telling? There’s so much more on the logical argument honestly, but that’s really not what a testimony is founded on anyway. 

We're trying a local cream soda I was telling you about last time around. Apparently bottled by the Amish community here. Sounds like heresy but delicious all the same.

Thank you for the miso recipes! :) (as requested…they wanted to make a wonton soup that we made at home before she left.  LOTS of miso paste left over, so I sent a few recipes).

<3 (heart….love)

Christine

A new companionship!

her beautiful braid again

OWL jammies!

Sisters Kurt and Marsh - they both look happy!

(General) Conference was really good. One of the newly called Apostles was supposed to be our speaker in a couple of weeks, so I'm going to guess that’s going to be changed, but it would be super cool to meet him (Renlund I think)... Some of it I found really inspiring. (General Conference is a twice-a-year worldwide gathering of the highest leaders of the church - they speak to us and teach us how to be better followers of Jesus Christ.  Listen to Conference HERE - stream to listen, watch, or download video, audio, or PDF)

I'm sure the movie is priceless. Cubs are a special bunch. (Mom, the Den Leader, made a movie with the Cub Scouts representing points of the Scout Law)

Looking forward to pictures of all the improvement stuff! The house will be so different by the time I get back.

I did end up getting pretty sick but not enough to stop working... just enough to look pathetic at every door we came to. Wooo.

My new companion is doing well. Occasionally she has moments where she's lost or discouraged (this area is particularly rough - we STILL haven't had any real investigator lessons),  and my being sick hasn't done her any good, but she's adjusting quickly and we get along super well. She did a study abroad in Japan (JEALOUS) and she worked at a boy scout camp (incidentally, with her mom) for a couple of years (both her parents are school teachers)...

Speaking of the work, lots more knocking, lots more rejections. Some are definitely more polite about it than others and I do appreciate the ones that have conversations with us before sending us on our way. Normally the conversationalists are very polite, ask us where we're from and stuff. I guess those ones are little more familiar with missionaries, but don't want to hear about our church regardless. It’s also really interesting to meet people who have lots of good things to say (they're the nicest, politest people I've ever worked with!) but still won't try to find out why/get that happiness for themselves. Logic at its finest?

(Last year they receive LOTS of Halloween candy, so I inquired as to whether or not I should send some.) I don't know how much love we'll get here from the members, but candy is always welcome. We figured we'd at least wait until all the candy went on sale at Walmart in Nov.

On a side note, we went shopping today- got a nice set of pans for 35$ (they were on sale from 70$ and are Farberware and steel, so it seemed good) so we don't have to try and brave the Teflon-flaking plans, so I can try and make wonton soup! Now I know why you had so much Bok Choy- they only come in the big bushels. Hm. Hopefully it goes well, because you end up with a lot of supplies for it! There's an Asian market too, so we found us some miso paste.

Please send us recipes for udon!  They sell udon noodles at the asian market. Specifically, any with Shrimp (my companion loves shrimp, but I am way okay with chicken too)... Anything that sounds relatively reasonable to make on the supplies list. As it is, I have sesame oil, oyster sauce and miso paste now, it'd be cool if we could use some of those too. (so, that's what I'll do this week!) 

Love,   Christine

New companionship

Braided herself....

Sinclair Dinosaur!!

So far so good! I've been in a pretty good mood all around all things considered. Still not sleeping well, but hopefully the mattress pad I'm buying today will make my bed a little less rock hard. Getting up is hard and staying awake is harder sometimes.    

            I'm getting sick. ):

Go team Scout! :) I miss scouting.

So far so good as a trainer. The Lord sent me a sister that's practically trained already (yay!).  So far so good with Sister Marsh!  While she was going to college in SC, She's 22, so not a youngin! She earned her bachelor’s degree from a South Carolina school (can’t remember which one). Before her mission, she went out a lot with the sisters, and even attended some of their meetings. So she had a pretty good idea of what to expect. She's very obedient and outgoing. She handles door approaches super well- way better than I did - who pretty much never opened my mouth at a door in the beginning. Which is especially good, since we've pretty much only been finding.

The weather has been good so far; hanging out in the 70s and 80s, though it’s a mite chilly in the mornings and at night.

We have smashed a lot of spiders lately, and they are significant in size. I'd appreciate it if you'd send some pictures and some descriptions on what the local spiders are like (since I can't look them up myself) in the next email, so I know if I should feel bad if I'm smashing them or not. S. Dilworth used to be able to ID them for me and tell me if I should crush them or not... Without her, I pretty much just murder the local wild life indiscriminately. I would also appreciate if you would look up if millipedes are poisonous or not. They're always everywhere in the mornings in the apartment and apparently leaving their smashed brethren around does nothing to dissuade them from continuing to visit us for breakfast. It might explain the random bites I keep finding all over my legs (even where I normally have boots protecting me)... They look like mosquito bites, but what do I know. ( Mom looked up spidery info – EW! – and printed out info for local spiderage and millipedes. Again….EW!) (some scary spiders – rare brown recluse, black widows, and garden varieties…. millipedes are harmless – they don’t bite and have wandered indoors by mistake.)

Nothing particularly exciting to report- just lots of doors closed and a few people who didn’t tell us immediately to hit the road. If nothing else, we're learning to perfect our door knocking technique. I just hope we find a bunch of people to work with before snow time. I don't like knocking in snow time and no one else likes us knocking in snow time either. ):

The Sister Training Leaders gave me a GPS- they apparently just had one laying around that they weren't using. So far so good with it, but we're going to see if we can get it updated for a reasonable price by a member (since we can't get on their website to do it ourselves) and the money you sent may go to that.... Iowa City has had a ton of building done in the last few years and even a 5 year old GPS struggles sometimes, so... Also get to try and find the AAA so we can get more recent maps as well.... But the GPS can't find it (what?). It’s a beautiful example of how we need to invite the members to assist us in the work.

Attached- I managed to Dutch braid my hair into a crown! (I would have never guessed she would do that.) I was so proud. Also attached is a dinosaur we found. I guess the Sinclair Gas stations out here sometimes have these by their little station. Too amusing not to take a picture. (such a tourist!)

Thank you to everyone for your prayers for her…

New leadership assignment

At the Nauvoo Illinois Temple
Carter Kurt Dilworth

Mom and Dad attended some big-deal Boy Scout training and she responded:  Yay scouting! Yay Woodbadge! Sounds like you guys had a good time. Hope it continues to go well.

I have yet to receive a second box since the you sent the things I asked for, but I expect to see it at transfers, since a lot of mail doesn't come when we're this close (to the Mission office). Mom sent a box and asked about it.

I'm kind of settling into spicy foods (slowly) - I have a bottle of siracha sauce and have been eating that with my make-shift pad-Thai

Anyhow, onto interesting events.

This week has been a roller coaster- one of our investigators nearly dropped us because they were not understanding what they were reading. We had a good lesson with the 14 year old, but honestly she's distracted because of some of life's difficulties.  I don't feel quite in the routine, but I must be since I'm the one keeping my companions on track, more or less. Still feel a little bit like a mother hen chasing my children on to the next appointment/plan. The cold is beginning to come, so I'm feeling even more antsy to find those who we'll be working with through the winter- I don't want to do this much finding in the snow.

We went to the temple (in Nauvoo, Ill) on Saturday with the member family we live with, so they, their 6 children and the 3 of us piled into their 11 passenger van for the 2 hour drive (one way). Needless to say I was super sick... But the temple was wonderful. Very peaceful... made extra peaceful because our session was delayed twice (totaling 30 minutes) so we got to sit and ponder extra... I was having a rough time focusing and because I haven't slept through the night once since night one, I as almost dozing off once or twice. Sorry. >>; But it was fun. I bought a mini hymn book while in Nauvoo and we saw much of the ward there for the Ward Temple Day. The drive back pretty much ended me, and I got out of the car, shed all my things, and meant to only nap for the dinner period... Apparently when my companions went to wake me, I could not be, so... I slept the rest of the day. I feel super bad for wasting that much time, but with how little I've been sleeping lately, some things can't be helped. I slept most of that night too, if that’s any indication just how wiped out I am.

Lots of little spiritual things, I guess. Mostly in studies, getting guidance and gentle reminders about what I need to be doing.

This week is transfer week, which means Mondays are normally a fateful day of waiting. Normally leadership calls come in the morning and then everyone else gets called the rest of the day. All of my calls have come between 9:30pm and 11pm at night. So imagine my freak out this morning when we get a phone call at 9:15AM from the Mission President himself... Telling my two companions that they are leaving, and that I am staying... because I am training a brand new missionary. I am going to be a trainer. What?!?

I'm kind of freaking out. I've been in this area 3 weeks and honestly I am not at all prepared for this. I don't know the area that well and I don't have a GPS, and I can maybe name half a dozen members when I see their faces. My companions keep telling me I'll be great and I'm very obedient but... I'm freaking out none the less. Much has to happen. I have to make sure I have all the addresses to places, see if I can get some more recent maps, see if I can track down a half way decent priced GPS maybe... I could use a few more extra prayers. Freaking. Out. Prayers, please.  WE all know she is a natural leader.... she needs to feel that, too. 

Anyhow, I know on some level it will be fine and I will be fine and my trainee will be fine and it will all be okay, but I also feel SO overwhelmed and I just... Wow.

Anyhow, I'll tell you all about her next week.

All my love.

Christine

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures!

Kurt Dilworth Carter

Sisters and Elders.... Kinda looks like Christine and her crew.  Yup, she owns the place.





California Ave.....homesick or feeling at home?

Here's a picture of my companions and I....and the Elders who share the ward (congregation).

Things are going okay here. We've been doing a LOT of finding. Lots and lots of knocking doors, talking to people on the street, and digging through our area book to find those people that sisters have spoken to before and might be interested in learning more. We've found several potential investigators that way, but this next week will tell if they are actually ready or not. One lady foiled us by hollering about a wasp behind my companion and shut the door while we were distracted. ): Rude. S. Carter is afraid enough of bugs without stuff like that.

Our current pool of investigators is still struggling a bit. The teenager we have been trying to work with is likely moving (her mom broke up with her other half and it looks like they won’t be able to stay in the place they're at).  Bummer.

The weather is beginning to shift. It’s been in the high 60s/low 70s this week, so I'm actually beginning to wear my warmer shirts and things. Not enough for jackets yet (though always need a jacket for the church building- man they keep that thing cold!)... (I understand!)

Speaking of the church building, fun fact- they regularly do Spanish and French translations for sacrament meeting, and even have a dedicated Spanish class in our ward (congregation). With the number of immigrants from South America and Africa, language often comes up as a barrier in teaching. My companions have been sort of self-teaching Spanish, but I just have no head for it right now it seems. I can get every 3rd word or so, but I don't know enough to string any semblance of words together to communicate anything back.

(I wonder how fluent she'll be by the time she gets home.....)

Did you know they actually do not have sprinklers in any of the lawns here in Iowa? They don't need it. D:  (oh..... so jealous.....)

Good luck with Wood Badge! It sounds like while it’s going to be a lot of work, you're going to have a lot of fun. (Mom and Dad will get some big-deal Boy Scout training soon, called Woodbadge)

My week has been pretty good all things considered. Most people don't yell at us, but a lot of them are at best coldly civil. Not too hard on the patience though. If they don't want this thing that will make them happier, fine. 

 We had a lady who apparently had met with the missionaries before and all but admitted it was all true- she kept saying "I'm a Lutheran and I'm going to stay a Lutheran"... Change is hard, but that’s what the Lord asks us to do.

Love, Christine

First week complete!

Notes in red are Moms commentary as a means of further explanation.

(In response to our news that we were without A/C for 5 days) I would trade for dry hot any day of the week. D: But yeah, no air conditioning sucks- I love getting into a building with it any chance I get, because often the air is drier there; much more breathable.

(In response to our commentary on scouting events we are involved in) Not a lot of scouting going on here, but that's probably only because I'm not around anyone who is actively doing it besides the occasional youth in a family we visit. Plenty of kids like to talk to me about Pokémon and stuff, though.

So it’s been a bit of an interesting week.

(Upon arrival, she joined an establish companionship of two Sisters, and so there were three, with her.)  One companion is quiet and really seems to struggle voicing her concerns. And punctuality has been a problem. I feel like I'm in this area to push getting things done, insist on us to our appointments and meetings on time... Sometimes the Sisters are on the ball, but I definitely feel like the mom/the driving force in this operation here, which is sometimes a problem because I'm not clear on where anything is. o: It’s a struggle, but one we’re working on! (So glad that she sees her usefulness there – her talents and skills will be put to good use)

We have few investigators. We've spent a lot of time knocking to try and improve our little pool to work with. We've gained one investigator since my arrival, and he was a previous investigator who didn't get baptized because he’s struggled to overcome smoking.. So, here's to praying and working toward miracles!

The weather has been mostly in the 90’s and humid; it rained the last two nights, so everything is extra moist. Ughhhhh.

We were followed around last night by a car... Turns out they were tailing us to let us know our tail lights were out. Woops. Glad it wasn't some scary people trying to kill us in the middle of suburbia. (We pray for safety and success every day!)

Time to think about what to send for Halloween….not easy because we are supposed to send only uplifting things…not devilish.  Last  year she received LOTS of candy from her ward (congregation) members, so I’ll try to keep that in mind this year, too. 

Think happy thoughts and pray for her!

SHE HAS RETURNED!

From Mom - Everything has been taken care of, and Christine was cleared to return.  She flew out last Saturday, and is quickly settling in to her new trio-companionship.

I'm well. It was coldish when I arrived- 65 degrees or so. Not so bad but I was dressed expecting heat. Oh well. It's warming up again... 74 degrees isn't so bad, but it’s muggy as all get out.

I'm in a trio in Iowa City. My two companions are Sister Dilworth, a 4 month old Idahoan, and Sister Carter, a 7 month old Sacramento native. We bonded immediately over being Californian.

The area is nice- we're more or less in suburbs, close to a college city. So we have a lot of options here. We share our area with a set of Spanish speaking elders. One is from Honduras and speaks barely a word of English. Poor kid. But he's a convert to the church so he's definitely a champ for putting up with this.

My companion from Cedar Rapids (from before she left the mission field) called and we had a nice chat. We'll likely see each other at transfers at the end of September.

Trying hard not to have home sickness. It’s kind of difficult starting totally over in getting comfortable and in the groove. Such is life.

I should be good for stuff for a while. I bought a bunch of things I forgot today (toothpaste woops)...

All my love

Sister Kurt