September 3, 2009
Hi everyone,
My mind is so scattered about this past week, I don't remember a lot of what has happened. But I'll try to recall all the great things that have happened.
Last week, we got a call from a less-active member saying that she hasn't had missionaries come over in a long time and that she would like us to come visit her and her family. I guess missionaries used to go visit her at the end of last year, but according to the teaching record, they were really hard to get a hold of. So we went and visited her and her kids. She has a nonmember husband and 3 kids who aren't members either but she wants them to start getting involved in Young Men and Young Women activities. Yay, good for them! There is one little tricky part though......we found out on Sunday that the ward boundaries were redone. So the area that they live in is going to be moved into another ward. Sad huh? We have a lot of great members who are leaving our ward, but good thing the church is the same everywhere in the world. And the elders in that ward better take good care of this less-active family! haha, they better make sure that they get to church! :)
On Monday, we had another pretty cool experience at a less-active members home. Sister Gholson and her 2 kids come to sacrament meeting every now and then. Her husband is a truck driver and is gone a lot! When he is gone, she is pretty faithful in coming, but when he's there, she doesn't come to church. Anyway, back to the point of the story, when her husband, Dave, is home and we come to visit, he usually just leaves the room and says he doesn't do that "church" thing. He's a very nice guy and likes us a lot but just doesn't like to sit in. Well on Monday, we were teaching and he came home and just sat down with us! Wow, we didn't quite know how to take it. He told us to go on with our lesson and then he started asking a lot of questions. Then we of course invited everyone to church and Sister Gholson started to make some excuses and Dave said, "No, you will be going to church this week! In fact, we will ALL be going to church this week!" hahahaha, so he invited himself to go to church! :) He went from not doing the "church" thing, to inviting himself to go. It was pretty cool. Hopefully he sticks with his word and comes! We'd love to see him there!
All else is going pretty well. Cody is still hangin in there and still is set with his baptismal date! He came to church last sunday and really liked it! Oh, and his friend that he works with who is a member of our ward......they are now dating. How cute! Well, I hope everything is great for all of you! Miss you and love you lots and lots! Have a good week!
Love, Holly
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Week 19 - short
August 27, 2009
his will be a short email. Sad news first then good news. Sad news is that our investigator, Ron, who we set for baptism at the beginning of September dropped himself. :( He said he was going to be on the East Coast for a while and had to cancel our appointments. His wife has been giving him a lot of grief lately, so I hope that everything is ok for him! Good news now. Last sunday in church, one of the members ran up to Sister Deal and told her that she had someone for us to teach on Tuesday. So when we went to our appointment, this kid that they had for us, Cody, is absolutely golden! He's been taught by missionaries before and was almost close to baptism but a lot of things happened and he backed out or lost contact. But he works with one of the girls in our ward (Becky) and they became friends. She gave him a Book of Mormon and within a week of him having it, he's already up to Mosiah! Amazing right? He also went to the Washington DC temple grounds with Becky and said he felt so completely different on the grounds....in such a good way he's never felt before. So he is great! We just reviewed the restoration with him, got to know where he is coming from a lot and actually set him to baptism for Sept 26th. I never thought we'd be able to teach someone this amazing!
We got to see a less active family, the Meachers, at church on Sunday who hasn't been to church in a couple years. Actually, we stopped trying to visit them because we were never able to get in, except once. Then randomly on Sunday morning, we got a call from Sister Meacher saying she needed the address of the church because they wanted to go to sacrament. That was such a shock....but a good shock! And she is also feeding us dinner tonight. She really is such a sweet woman.
There is the highlights for this week. Transfers are coming up on Sept. 8 so if you're going to write to me....write to the mission office address. Or you can just wait until after transfers when I give you my new address. President hinted in interviews that he was going to transfer me to a new area. So that's what I'm planning on, but he's also been known to change his mind last minute. So we'll see. But atleast write me emails next week please!!!!!!! I'm tired of not having any mail or emails!!!
Love, Holly
his will be a short email. Sad news first then good news. Sad news is that our investigator, Ron, who we set for baptism at the beginning of September dropped himself. :( He said he was going to be on the East Coast for a while and had to cancel our appointments. His wife has been giving him a lot of grief lately, so I hope that everything is ok for him! Good news now. Last sunday in church, one of the members ran up to Sister Deal and told her that she had someone for us to teach on Tuesday. So when we went to our appointment, this kid that they had for us, Cody, is absolutely golden! He's been taught by missionaries before and was almost close to baptism but a lot of things happened and he backed out or lost contact. But he works with one of the girls in our ward (Becky) and they became friends. She gave him a Book of Mormon and within a week of him having it, he's already up to Mosiah! Amazing right? He also went to the Washington DC temple grounds with Becky and said he felt so completely different on the grounds....in such a good way he's never felt before. So he is great! We just reviewed the restoration with him, got to know where he is coming from a lot and actually set him to baptism for Sept 26th. I never thought we'd be able to teach someone this amazing!
We got to see a less active family, the Meachers, at church on Sunday who hasn't been to church in a couple years. Actually, we stopped trying to visit them because we were never able to get in, except once. Then randomly on Sunday morning, we got a call from Sister Meacher saying she needed the address of the church because they wanted to go to sacrament. That was such a shock....but a good shock! And she is also feeding us dinner tonight. She really is such a sweet woman.
There is the highlights for this week. Transfers are coming up on Sept. 8 so if you're going to write to me....write to the mission office address. Or you can just wait until after transfers when I give you my new address. President hinted in interviews that he was going to transfer me to a new area. So that's what I'm planning on, but he's also been known to change his mind last minute. So we'll see. But atleast write me emails next week please!!!!!!! I'm tired of not having any mail or emails!!!
Love, Holly
Week 18- Hershey
August 20, 2009
Hello my family!!
So not much to report to you for this week. I'm sorry I don't have a whole lot of great things to tell you this week. It's been a little rough but it'll all get better soon, atleast in a couple weeks.
So we had a great service opportunity last week. We went to serve a lady in the ward and help her with canning!!!! It was so fun and my first time attempting to can. She has a huge garden and has been so overwhelmed with too many fruits and veggies that we decided to help her out a little. So we learned how to can peaches and pickles and boysenberry jelly. It was such a great experience! And a great opportunity to be in her home because her husband is not a member so we could open him up a little more. He actually comes to church every sunday but is just stubborn when it comes to baptism. So we'll hopefully be able to break down his walls :)
We also did a sisters exchange this past Tuesday. It was soooo much fun!!!!! The sisters who are serving in Hershey came to us and we split off. I went with one sister in the morning to do some service, then we switched at lunch and I got to go teach and tract with another sister in the afternoon. It was seriously so great! In the afternoon, I went with a sister who has been out for 14 months...Sister Sonderegger... so I got to learn a lot from her. Her style of missionary work is definitely different then Sister Deals and I LOVED it! It made me excited again to have transfers come up and hopefully get to go learn from someone new. She was very good at really getting people involved in what she was talking about, asked tons and tons of questions and wouldn't take no for an answer. She says she wants to be a lawyer someday.....and she'll be a great one!
We also went to Hershey last P-day for a sisters P-day. It was way fun! Hershey is a fun little town! They have hershey kiss lightposts and a chocolate road. We obviously couldn't go to Hershey Park, but we did go to Chocolate World and got to ride on a free ride that taught us how they make chocolate. AND free chocolate at the end. Best P-day ever??? I think so! :)
Well I hope everyone is doing so good! I miss you all lots and lots and love you lots and lots!! Keep me updated, and keep staying strong! Love, Holly
Hello my family!!
So not much to report to you for this week. I'm sorry I don't have a whole lot of great things to tell you this week. It's been a little rough but it'll all get better soon, atleast in a couple weeks.
So we had a great service opportunity last week. We went to serve a lady in the ward and help her with canning!!!! It was so fun and my first time attempting to can. She has a huge garden and has been so overwhelmed with too many fruits and veggies that we decided to help her out a little. So we learned how to can peaches and pickles and boysenberry jelly. It was such a great experience! And a great opportunity to be in her home because her husband is not a member so we could open him up a little more. He actually comes to church every sunday but is just stubborn when it comes to baptism. So we'll hopefully be able to break down his walls :)
We also did a sisters exchange this past Tuesday. It was soooo much fun!!!!! The sisters who are serving in Hershey came to us and we split off. I went with one sister in the morning to do some service, then we switched at lunch and I got to go teach and tract with another sister in the afternoon. It was seriously so great! In the afternoon, I went with a sister who has been out for 14 months...Sister Sonderegger... so I got to learn a lot from her. Her style of missionary work is definitely different then Sister Deals and I LOVED it! It made me excited again to have transfers come up and hopefully get to go learn from someone new. She was very good at really getting people involved in what she was talking about, asked tons and tons of questions and wouldn't take no for an answer. She says she wants to be a lawyer someday.....and she'll be a great one!
We also went to Hershey last P-day for a sisters P-day. It was way fun! Hershey is a fun little town! They have hershey kiss lightposts and a chocolate road. We obviously couldn't go to Hershey Park, but we did go to Chocolate World and got to ride on a free ride that taught us how they make chocolate. AND free chocolate at the end. Best P-day ever??? I think so! :)
Well I hope everyone is doing so good! I miss you all lots and lots and love you lots and lots!! Keep me updated, and keep staying strong! Love, Holly
Week 17- hi again
August 13th, 2009
Hi again!
It has been quite the week, yet again! Never a dull moment on a mission. Well first let me tell you of the hard stuff before it gets to the good stuff because it all correlates together. Last week was a pretty rough week. On top of Sister Deal being pretty sick we had 12 appointment cancellations and one of our most favorite investigator couples dropping themselves. :( They have so much potential, I always said that the wife looked like she could be a relief society president or something. haha. But I know, I know, it doesn't mean we didn't plant a seed and touch their lives somehow. They'll get baptized sometime down the road. Then on Monday, we had a zone conference. We thought we were going into that with such high hopes to be spiritually lifted and to "fill our empty reservoir". But it ended up being more of a scolding to those disobedient missionaries and also how bad we've all been about our tracting and street contacting. So that just put us down even more, especially feeling terrible because Sis. Deal is always sick and we try to do the best we can. But we felt like we just weren't good enough. Well we were both feeling pretty doom and gloom until this week. We have an investigator, Ronald, who we've been meeting with for about a month or so now. I don't remember if I've told you much about him but he was a media referrel for a DVD and has let us come over each week to meet with him since. We have great discussions with him, he always has a lot of questions, and he recognizes that the Lord has sent us to him :) Well as I was teaching a principle of a lesson, Sis. Deal kept being prompted on finding a date to set him to baptism with. So she asked him if he'd prepare to be baptized on September 5th and these were his words...."You know, the Lord is really amazing. My wife leaves out of town for two weeks on September 4th, so yes I will prepare!" (his wife has no interest at all and gives him a hard time about meeting with us) but YAY!!! He is amazing, throughout the rest of the time there he kept saying "I'll keep preparing for Sept. 5th!" Wow. Satan always works his hardest before something really good happens! So I'll keep you updated on his progress towards baptism :)
Right after his appointment, we went to another appointment with an investigator named Margie. It was only our second visit and we taught the plan of salvation and she absolutely loved it all! She really liked how it was layed out for us! We also invited her to baptism.....of course when she knew it was true. She said yes she would, but wasn't ready to set a date yet. So two pretty amazing things in a row! That is seriously what we've been needing! So please keep praying for our investigators and for us!!! :)
One more prettty funny thing.....this is classic mormon stereotype! So our bishops son and our relief society presidents daughter are engaged!!!!!!! hahaha, isn't that classic??? And more.....they started dating on July 4th and got engaged on August 4th and are getting married in December. Soooooo mormon!!! haha I love it!!!
Well that's about all the excitement and drama for the week. Hope all is well for all of you. I love you and miss you! Keep me updated on everything! Love ya!
Love, Holly
Hi again!
It has been quite the week, yet again! Never a dull moment on a mission. Well first let me tell you of the hard stuff before it gets to the good stuff because it all correlates together. Last week was a pretty rough week. On top of Sister Deal being pretty sick we had 12 appointment cancellations and one of our most favorite investigator couples dropping themselves. :( They have so much potential, I always said that the wife looked like she could be a relief society president or something. haha. But I know, I know, it doesn't mean we didn't plant a seed and touch their lives somehow. They'll get baptized sometime down the road. Then on Monday, we had a zone conference. We thought we were going into that with such high hopes to be spiritually lifted and to "fill our empty reservoir". But it ended up being more of a scolding to those disobedient missionaries and also how bad we've all been about our tracting and street contacting. So that just put us down even more, especially feeling terrible because Sis. Deal is always sick and we try to do the best we can. But we felt like we just weren't good enough. Well we were both feeling pretty doom and gloom until this week. We have an investigator, Ronald, who we've been meeting with for about a month or so now. I don't remember if I've told you much about him but he was a media referrel for a DVD and has let us come over each week to meet with him since. We have great discussions with him, he always has a lot of questions, and he recognizes that the Lord has sent us to him :) Well as I was teaching a principle of a lesson, Sis. Deal kept being prompted on finding a date to set him to baptism with. So she asked him if he'd prepare to be baptized on September 5th and these were his words...."You know, the Lord is really amazing. My wife leaves out of town for two weeks on September 4th, so yes I will prepare!" (his wife has no interest at all and gives him a hard time about meeting with us) but YAY!!! He is amazing, throughout the rest of the time there he kept saying "I'll keep preparing for Sept. 5th!" Wow. Satan always works his hardest before something really good happens! So I'll keep you updated on his progress towards baptism :)
Right after his appointment, we went to another appointment with an investigator named Margie. It was only our second visit and we taught the plan of salvation and she absolutely loved it all! She really liked how it was layed out for us! We also invited her to baptism.....of course when she knew it was true. She said yes she would, but wasn't ready to set a date yet. So two pretty amazing things in a row! That is seriously what we've been needing! So please keep praying for our investigators and for us!!! :)
One more prettty funny thing.....this is classic mormon stereotype! So our bishops son and our relief society presidents daughter are engaged!!!!!!! hahaha, isn't that classic??? And more.....they started dating on July 4th and got engaged on August 4th and are getting married in December. Soooooo mormon!!! haha I love it!!!
Well that's about all the excitement and drama for the week. Hope all is well for all of you. I love you and miss you! Keep me updated on everything! Love ya!
Love, Holly
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