April 21, 2014

Here's this week's email!

A couple weeks ago we asked Sister Nix, who is also the YW president, if we could do a MTC night with the youth. We thought we could just help out but we ended up having to plan the whole thing. It was pretty stressful but we ended up doing it last Wednesday. We had the Elders do a couple things too but honestly we don’t get to talk to them very much, so we planned backups just in case. But even with all the stress it ended up really well. Sister Nix said it went great and a couple of the youth even came up to us after to tell us how much they liked it. The Elders did the calls and we did a game with Preach My Gospel, watched a missionary training video, and talked about how everyone is a missionary. Then we ended bearing our testimonies and we had the mom of the missionary in the ward come and talk about her son and bear her testimony on missionary work. The hardest was just keeping them quiet. I had to use a lot of my swimming lesson techniques to keep them listening and I even told them that! I told them that I had to do the same things to get 3 and 4 year olds to listen but it ended up working :0

On Friday we got to go to the temple, which was amazing! So cool that we got to go there on that day specifically! It was really awesome because the Relief Society went to the session before us so we got to see all of them as they came out of the session. And I also got to see some people from Plattsmouth that work in the temple. It was so fun. Then a Sister that was one of my old leaders met up with us for dinner. She finished her mission in December and moved back to Omaha!

Saturday, we literally did service all day. We did yard work for like 4 hours and then we went and helped this family pack and clean. I have never done this much service in my life, but the Bishop here is really pushing service and honestly the people here really do need it.

Easter was great! The Nix’s  got us a basket with a little chocolate and our favorite game to play with them, Pass the Pigs. It is a real Iowa game where you roll small dice sized pigs and get points based on how they land. It is hilarious! We ended up having an Easter lunch with a family in the ward and headed back to the Nix’s for dinner. It was great.

One thing that was super cool that we got to use a lot this week was the Church's video "Because of Him". It is a really amazing video and we tried to watch it with everyone we saw this past week. And it is so powerful. I know that it is past Easter but it really is for any time of the year. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch it and really share it with someone, whether it be an email or Facebook. It has been amazing to see that no matter the denomination, it is a great video about Christ and can open up the doors for any missionary opportunity!

Love you guys!

April 14, 2014

Enjoy this week's email!

We are working a lot with less-actives, but we are still really trying to find new investigators. We have one investigator that is really progressing, Becky. I think that I talked about her last week in my email, but she wants to take the lessons but really slow. But because they are so slow, she really gets to understand them which has been really amazing to see. She really likes everything that we have talked about so far and just says how it all makes sense, which is so cool to hear! 

This week has really just been a week of adventures. The Bishop has really been pushing for the missionaries to do more service, so that's what we have been doing. We went and did service at a member's friend's house raking leaves for like 2 hours and we helped the Nix's for a long time on Saturday with raking leaves, picking up sticks (not the game nor as fun as the game) and cleaning the porch off and all the lawn chairs. So naturally me and sister Harris also did: sword fighting (naturally I won), wheelbarrow rides, and had a huge water fight! All with the Nix's just laughing. And we have had some referrals for service from other people in the ward. Sister Harris is really great! We get along so well but sometimes that's a problem because we just want to hang out.

We also have seen lots of miracles this week. We have been able to meet a lot more people and have seen tons of miracles. We found out that some of the less-actives that we are working with have never let missionaries in before. One, Sister Thornberg, is in her 80's and when she went to open the door for us the other night, she just stood at the window for a minute and made faces at us just to be funny. We have a great relationship with her.

We have had tons of storms this week! Today we even got snow. On Saturday, the storm was so bad that we literally got golf ball sized hail. But we saw a miracle because of it. We were trying to see a potential investigator and she lives in an apartment. When we left the storm was just coming in and there were a couple people on the covered porch. Sister Harris hasn't been here for storm season, so we were so excited. We just watched it roll in with everyone on the porch and just talked to them all for like 20 minutes! So amazing! The storm also made it so we could have a longer lesson with a less-active family because it was so bad we couldn't leave lol.

It has been quite an adventurous week. I think that a lot of it is also the area. We were talking about it the other day (me and sister Harris) and this area you just have to be really bold. It's kind of the culture everyone is really humble and teachable and people don't really take offense easily. It's really cool! And I love it!

Love you guys!

April 7, 2014

Here's this week's email!

I have talked to Sister Bynum since she left. She emailed me quickly last week and let me know that she was home and talked a little of the things she is doing, doctors visits, etc. She is from Oregon; the younger one from Arizona was Sister Wagher.

Conference was absolutely amazing!! I loved Elder Bednar's talk and I loved how he talked about the Atonement  and all of the loads we carry! I love when he talked about the Atonement. For some reason he seems to put it into words that helps me to personalize and understand it better. All of the talks were so amazing! And I loved the emphasis on obedience! It was all so great!  We watched it at members' houses. Sadly the investigator and one of the less-actives (Michelle) we were planning on watching it with ended up not being able to watch it with us. But I know that our less-active, Michelle (there are a ton of Michelles in Red Oak, but this one is a less-active) is planning on going over to another member's to watch it later this week! It has been so amazing to see what fellowship can do! Michelle had surgery last week and one of the members offered to take her and her family dinner, and we talked to the Relief Society and got them to do dinners for her the rest of the week. We went over a couple times last week to see how she was doing and one of the times she called her husband, Shane, over and told us how much it meant that people were bringing them dinner. They were both almost in tears as they told us how much it meant to them that people were willing to do this for them, not knowing them well, and that it had helped Shane change a lot of his views about people in the Church (he has had a lot of REALLY bad experiences with family in the Church). It was so cool to see how something we as members would generally take for granted meant so much to them and to their family. They even said they did a shout out to the Church, the members that brought meals and to us. They kept telling us how they and their family would never forget what the ward did. It was amazing to see and to hear them talk about it.

This week we also had a great lesson with our investigator, Becky. She is taking the lessons but we are going really slowly. Missionaries in the past have really pushed her like to the point of her having a baptism date and her not even knowing it. But anyway we got done with the plan of salvation and all she could say and all she kept saying is that "everything we are saying just makes sense" that "she had never thought of it that way but of course that's how it would be because that makes sense!" I also told her how dad was a convert and she kept asking questions about how he found the Church, what it was that made him join, and how the family acted when he was baptized. You could tell that they were all concerns that she had but needed to voice. It was amazing!

Good luck with school. Love you!

March 31, 2014

Here's Sydnie's latest email!

Hey!

Glad that you enjoyed the pictures. It seems like every small town here has some sort of tourist draw to it and it's always really funny!  We have been trying to go to other towns at least once a week, but we usually go to Shenandoah at least once a week because that's where most of the members live. And we don't even really know a lot of the members that are in the ward other than the ones in Red Oak. And they have about 5 really active members and most of the less-actives live in Red Oak, but we are trying to go to another small town every other week or so. We actually have a ton of miles because of all the small towns, so it's been pretty good! 

It was rough with Sister Bynum leaving for me and talking to others that were working with her. It was her decision and it's what she needs right now, so not much more that we can all do. 

I loved that Broadcast! So cool to see everyone working together. I felt like it really united all of the women of the church but it was also really specific to each age group's needs. But it was amazing. We watched it with a less-active, Michelle. She is basically an investigator. She was baptized at 8 but went into foster care and hasn't been active since she was baptized. The sisters here have been working with her and her family (all non-members) for a couple months. But during the broadcast, we paused it a couple times because she just had so many questions. Then we stayed after the broadcast for another hour answering questions. It was so cool! 

It has also been a lot of fun now that it is spring. Everyone is having us help with spring cleaning and helping with their gardens! We got to go to an older couple's house on Saturday and till the ground so they can start planting soon. We are going over again later today to do it again! And we are planning on helping them plant the garden too. I have never gardened or canned as much as I have on my mission haha! But it's great! 

Have a great Conference weekend! Love you guys!