Changing Times, Changing Leaves

Man! Weeks are fast but so long! We had exchanges this week and Sister Johnson came here to work with me. It was super fun! She is an amazing teacher! Just great! She pushed me out of my comfort zone and I realized I need to be more bold. I think I am getting to comfortable with this area. It feels like home. That's is going to kick me in the rear soon! We got to visit with a lot of less actives this week which I didn't even realize until we reported on Sunday.  We were a lot more successful than we thought! 

We go help Sally a lot and at first she was really apprehensive about church stuff. Now she is reading the Book of Mormon. She gave us her friend to go visit, Marge. She made it sound so delicate and scary for us to see her. She didn't want us to use her name when we went to her and she was nervous, therefore we were nervous. Our hearts were just pounding knocking on Marge's door. She was an angel! Holy cow! It was such a relief! We offered our service to her and she gladly took it and we are going back this week!

We had a family move in our ward several weeks ago. The mom was so excited they had sister missionaries! So she invited us over for dinner this Sunday. It was so fun! The kids are such good missionaries. Maggie gave a friend a BOM and now she is taking the discussions and going to church! (in Madison) The kids played guitar for us and sang together in harmonies. So fun! This morning her mom called us, I am pretty sure she was crying, just thanking us for taking the time to come over and how much it meant to her that her kids got that interaction and that they were able to be happy with the move. It was certainly humbling to hear that. I hope I can be that missionary kids can look up to. If I can just make a good impact, wow, that would be great!

I had my first mission migraine. Not fun! It happened in the middle of a lesson with the Stolls and I just could not read. I couldn't see. I leaned over to S. Weaver and told her and she did a great job just taking over and me just sitting there. I couldn't even think. I got to take a 20 minute nap which made it bearable but wow! I need to keep some Excedrin on me!

Funny story! So the Elders gave a BOM to a guy working out at a park about 2 months ago. It totally did not work out. Last week when we were emailing we happened to sit by him. He leaned over and asked me if we were from the church. I said yes and he was welcome to come, gave him our card. He said some Elders had invited him and he didn't know why he didn't go. After we told the Elders and they figured out who it was and told us his story and how he had thrown the BOM away. We went to the library again and he was here. He came up and slipped Sister Weaver his phone number! It was so funny! We didn't really know what to do. It was probably him flirting but what if he wanted to know more. So we called and set up an apointment at the church. We invited the Schroeders who are awesome. She can blaze a hole right to your soul and he is a 6'6 marine :) Our perfect back up!

But yeah, great week! I love the work and am happy! I ate salmon this week! It wasn't too bad, but I definitely won't be buying any for myself. I love you all a ton! We get to see our mission president this week for interviews so it should be good! Love you all!

Love you more than all the changing leaves on the trees!

Anne!

It's always darkest before the dawn

It is always so hard to recall the week. Pday to pday is so short but the week is an eternity! It got cold this week. Crazy! One day it was 84 and the next 42. Chilly! Broke out the tights, cardigans and jackets! Thankful it is supposed to warm up a little bit at the end of the week. Not winter yet. But winter is supposed to hit harder this year than last. Apparently bad winters come in pairs. 

We took Sally on a church tour this week. We went in the chapel and I played some songs for her, she felt the spirit and everything. We invited her to church and she just said no. She is so sweet though, I think something traumatizing happened and she has an aversion towards churches. She did feed us a lot of food though. We ate lunch at home when she called us and told us she just bought us a pizza. So of course we go over there and eat the pizza. Then we have dinner. Then we go to mutual where we got fed more. All in all, I became a beached whale. 

I am sorry to say I don't really have the best news to report concerning our investigators. We got hardcore, abruptly dropped by Gina. Patti also cancelled coming to church and our appointment and won't reschedule. She wants a break. Granted I am not giving up hope, especially for her. She has been amazing and kept all commitments up to this point. I know the Lord will strengthen her, she is going through some hard times. We also found out another investigator was meeting with us so she could get money from the church.. no bueno. And no new investigators. But the work still goes on. The members are working hard to help us teach and find people for us to teach. It is always darkest before the sun rises. It is funny though, me and Sister Weaver were talking about this. On paper we really did have a bad teaching week, if we are being honest. However, I feel like we have changed enough that it will not drag us down! We still have good attitudes and smiles! We know that God will bring to pass miracles! He is shaping and molding us, I wouldn't rather have anyone else mold me! I love this work and I love being a missionary! I love our ward, it really is a family. I love my companion, she is such an amazing example of courage  and pressing on! I started the Book of Mormon over again. I am doing a faster pace read this time where I have to read ten pages a day, so usually I have to read during meals and at night. I love it! I decided to study faith this time.It is interesting because it revolves so much around action words, and those action words revolve around keeping the commandments. Doing what the Lord would have us do. Like Nephi says  "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." The Lord will provide a way. Nephi didn't build a ship in a day.

Beside people are just so nice to us. We do get tender mercies all the time. We went to Harriet's yesterday and Jim printed out photos of us cooking together and gave us German chocolate. Then Harriet gave me some really nice flats that she had only worn once! Just a happy week. One lady opened the door BECAUSE we had name tags. It was so strange. She already had a Book of Mormon, but doesn't need us to come back because she has connections in Madison but she did ask for us to pray with her and was super nice. That was a huge tender mercy after tracting for an hour in the cold with not much success. But yeah, good week! 

I love you more than I love technology!

Anne!

More Than All the Corn

Guess who finished the Book of Mormon today! I did! And I LOVED it! I really read a lot this week! I had over 80 pages left on pday last. I don't know why I felt such a desire to finish it so fast. But now I can say it took me 4 and a half months which is sweet. I don't think I have ever sat down and read the Book of Mormon like that. And I am so excited to read it again! It is the best part about finishing, you get to start over! 

So let's see, what happened this week. Tuesday night we taught Patti with the Edgars and it was great! She agreed to take all the missionary lessons so we are teaching her tonight in the Edgar's home. It is lot of pressure teaching member's friends but it is the best because you get to see more people enjoying the joy of the gospel and sharing it. We didn't get home until later then we would have liked to though. This week was bad with getting home on time. Something always came up last minute. We are definitely going to do better about that. We need as much help as we can from the Lord.

Wednesday was Sister Weaver's birthday! I love birthdays while having companions because I get to enjoy it just as much! She woke up and I had decorated with balloons and a happy birthday sign. Then I made pancakes and eggs. Then pancakes turned out great even though I had never made them before, so wahoo! We may have eaten a donut too for breakfast. Sadly though Sister Weaver got sick on her birthday though. But it was good because she had to take a nap which is one of the best gifts you can get as a missionary. Therefore I got one too because we have to stick together! I just realized that is why I finished the Book of Mormon so fast! She had to rest a lot. Thankfully I haven't gotten sick yet... I am trying really hard not too. 

Thursday was a great day besides weekly planning and staying in sick most of the day. Sally made us lunch and she is just very adamant in making sure our mothers know we are getting taken care of! And oh boy are we! It is so humbling. Then we went to dinner at a member's house and their little girl had been excited about us coming all day. She made up a dance for us but her mom told her she couldn't because the music she picked was music we couldn't listen to. So she ran up stairs and came down all dressed up in her leotard and she had changed the music to a primary song so we could listen! It was so cute! It almost made me cry! Boy, am I going to be a blubbering mother when I grow up! 

We helped Harriet this week bake food for her husband's uncle's funeral and we finally are getting some spiritual progress out of her! Her husband, Jim who is a nonmember, also is really liking us being in their house. He doesn't do the spiritual thing, yet, but he is super friendly to us! I just love Harriet. I had a dream where a came to their house after my mission with a bag slung over my shoulder with all my stuff and I moved in. I told them my dream and they got a kick out of it. They said they would totally let me move in though! It was funny!  

Saturday we brought Megan, a "wayward" youth, to our lesson with the Stolls and she just loved it! The Stolls loved her too! We had a lot of cancelled appointments that day though so we, especially I, were kind of frustrated. So of course if appointments go through you go tracting which is not the best thing when you've had rejection thrown at you all day. BUT we taught four doorstep lessons and gave away 3 BOMs so it turned out awesome! 

Sunday was ward conference and they talked a lot about missionary work, which of course we love. Our bishop is very passionate about member missionary work. He feels a great responsibility to have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward. He asked each person to give us one person to teach. We have a great ward! Being a missionary is awesome! I love it! Again, our ward just takes care of us so well! Our investigators too. 

I hope my lovely fam has a fantastic week this week! I love y'all so much! I am glad you got home from your trip safely! I am glad you enjoyed your game dad after a long week of work! Yes we do have BYU fans out here. They are all pretty big cheesheads though. Occasionally you will find a Chicago fan too. It is a pretty big rivalry. And I loved your story mom, even if you think it is lame :)

I love you more than all the corn here! There is a lot!

Anne

Preparation Day on a Tuesday Throws Everything... All is Well

I have no idea what happened this week. It has been a long one! Tuesday pdays are just no good, it throws me off. All is well though! Sally gave us a ridiculously good and ridiculously easy peanut butter cookie recipe. So I ate a ton of cookies this week. We made them and gave them to a lot of people though. I think we made like 8 batches. It was fun! We street contacted this guy named Gary. It was one where he was sitting right there but it feels so impolite to interrupt someone in the middle of their smoke. Just kidding. So we go up the courage and went and opened our mouths. He had read the whole bible when he was locked up. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and got a return appointment for that night. We went back and this boy told us no one had lived in that house for a month. I love when that happens. I just hope he reads from the Book of Mormon. 

We did lots of service this week. We trimmed bushes and it was rather fun. I see why Molly enjoys cutting hair! It was fun chopping away. We got to meet the new missionaries in our district this week. I am starting to get old out here! Elder Stephens and I have been in Sun Prairie the longest now! Weird stuff. I am not the newbie. I got an awesome package this week! You guys just know me too well! I love this ward. I am already getting scared of leaving even though I am not at risk of leaving until October! 

We weeded Marie's yard for two hours in the warm sun. It felt good to be outside in the green grass. Getting your hands dirty. Sally, another lady we do service for, had us come over and unload her groceries because she just had surgery on her hand. She ended up giving us a bag of food. She said she was doing it because our moms would appreciate knowing we are out here getting taken care of! We sure are. We get way more than we deserve! She also finally read the Book of Mormon! It only took us 7 months to get her to touch that thing! She also accepted a church tour. Hearts were softened this week! 

Huge miracle! We visited a lady named Patti. She is a member referral from a year ago. They really want her to get the lessons and the last missionaries who taught her kind of dropped the ball. We have knocked on her home a million times! Monday she was there and let us right in! We couldn't stay long so we read a verse from the BOM and left her with the commitment to read 10 minutes everyday and she said she would! Well she invited us to dinner for today! Which is good and bad because we really wanted to teach her with the members and you can't exactly invite other people to dinner. Lo and behold she invited the members on her own! So that is what we have tonight. Extra prayers for tonight! This is my first time teaching a member's friend and it is nerve racking! Expect miracles! 

We followed up on several people who we gave BOMs to a couple weeks ago and they have been reading! So cool! They don't want to meet yet but still reading. 

We also did a lot of stuff this week with family history. We were able to talk to a part member family through it and we taught the 12 year olds Sunday School. We made them cookies, figures. Guess what we forgot. It was fast Sunday of course. We have ward conference next week so they moved it to this week. All was well though, we hid them in the kitchen. It is rather comical, there is a little cricket infestation in our church building. So there are crickets in the chapel now and you can totally hear them chirping! Not the best background noise for a meeting! We were a little early to a meeting at the church so Sister Weaver was crawling under the pews catching crickets and throwing them outside. It was funny. 

So overall a great week! Chuck full of miracles! The Lord is on our side. I still don't like working on holidays though. It makes me to nervous after losing our teaching pool over the fourth. But we are still intact. I am gaining such a testimony of the Book of Mormon! That is what it all relies on. Whether it is true. There is no way it couldn't be, it is a great reminder of me to keep going. It's purpose is to convince others of Christ. It brings us close to him then any other book. We can know of a surety of his love through this amazing book. I love the opportunity I have to read and study from it every day. Just beautiful! 

I love you all! Thank you for all your love and support!

I love you more than all the weeds in the world!

Anne