Thank you to everyone for telling me how cute Violet looks in her pink cast. Thank you for the description of the way she likes to stomp around in her pink cast. Thank you for the picture of Violet in her pink cast. But, could I ask you to do one more thing concerning Violet's pink cast? Could you PLEASE tell me HOW she got into that pink cast? And as soon as possible? THANKS.
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| Violet broke her ankle jumping off the end of a slide sorry Brooke for neglecting this slight detail |
Wednesday we went to Zone Conference. Sister Woodbury is basically Mom and President Woodbury is basically Dad. Sister Woodbury came up to us Sisters and told us the sister she was waiting on was late and asked which of the four of us would be comfortable learning a skit within 5 minutes. Of course I volunteered. She took me out into the hall and told me that she had re-written the words to "the Happy Working Song" from Enchanted and that we were going to be fairies that came in and helped some messy missionaries (played by the assistants) to clean up their apartment. It was really fun, even though I didn't have time to learn the words. Then, she got up and spoke about courage and quoted the words from "The King and I" about how if you pretend like you're not afraid, eventually you WON'T be afraid. She and President spoke about something that Dad wrote me about last week. If we see a goal of the person we want to be, and then act like we're already that person, we will become that person.
President went on to talk about how important the Book of Mormon is in conversion, which I loved. I been frustrated thinking that too many missionaries and members around this area focus on trying to prove that the Church is true through the Bible alone. If all we needed was the Bible, than there wouldn't have been need for a restoration because there wouldn't have been a falling away. The Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith with the priesthood and truths that he restored are essential in our church. The Bible is, too. But our church isn't just the Bible. The misled churches are just the Bible. We shouldn't focus on trying to convert them by playing their game. Their game is incomplete and not fun. We need to convert them by using ALL of our resources and facets. President Packer has a really good analogy of playing a piano. All of the keys work together to make music. If you hit one note over and over and never went to any of the other notes available to you, you would be doing the piano and the listeners a boring disservice. The Bible is important and it is scripture. But I don't think that the Lord would have required such great sacrafices from ancient and modern saints to preserve and compile the Book of Mormon if it wasn't essential to our testimonies and salvation. Anyways, I loved President's stress of the Book of Mormon in teaching. Oh yeah. Also, there are quite a few members in Kentucky that have been apostatizing and they've been forming coalitions to track down recent converts and ruin their testimonies. They've been hacking into private blogs to find the names of recent converts.
Thursday we didn't have any miles left for the month that we could drive so we spent about 4 hours in the sun. I drank as much liquid as my bladder would hold and I still got dehydrated. Which reminds me, they should come up with some covert diaper that missionaries can wear so that they won't have to be in pain for hours on end as they tract and teach. They should also make rules that Sister Missionaries can't talk about marriage. It bugs me how many sisters talk and talk about getting married and dating and husbands and traits of husbands and ex boyfriends and raising kids and how quickly they'll get married after the mission and blah, blah, blah. I'm not on my mission to find a husband. When I get home I'll worry about that. I know I'm supposed to learn things and traits that will help me down the road. But talking about it all the time is really annoying. If you want to get married so badly, go home and let the rest of us be missionaries. That was rude. But, I'm a missionary, not a saint.
Sunday was Harry Potter's Birthday.
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| Harry Turns 10 |
We also spent a couple hours in the emergency room yesterday with one of our investigators. She's fine, she just ran out of her medicine and started having seizures and stuff so we had to help her out. The emergency room was more like a quick care. No one was at the front desk of the emergency room when we walked in. We sat there forever. The nurses weren't even walking, they were more like crawling from one patient to the next. We finally got into a room and sat for another couple hours while her doctor played on the computer. Then he gave her some shots and some very strong drugs to take home with her without having to check her background or anything. As we were leaving, this young girl and her boyfriend who are on drugs real bad (they live near us) came in and I couldn't help thinking how she'll be given more drugs from the hospital without any questions if she acts sick enough. Oh well.
There's this man named Brother Noe who is like a cartoon character who is in the library every time we're here. He has a lazy eye and rat-like teeth. He hunches over and is skinny and so shy that he stutters. He's a very, very sweet man. His twin brother just got out of jail on Saturday and came to church with him this week. I kid you not, I almost looked around for the candid camera when I met him. I've NEVER seen twins that old that look that much alike. The only difference is that the new twin has a thin mustache and wears an AWFUL hairpiece. It looks like he went to a party store and bought a Halloween wig and rested it on his head. It's dark black and sticks up everywhere. He also has the exact same eye problem as his twin and they talk the same. I seriously didn't believe there were two Noe's until I saw them standing next to each other. I thought that Brother Noe was trying to be funny and putting on a wig and pretending to be someone else. It was CRAZY. I want SO BADLY to get a picture of it for you all. I've NEVER seen a hairpiece as bad as the new Noe's. And when I commented on how alike they look, the old Noe said, "If I had a hairpiece we'd REALLY look alike." The new Noe got mad at him for that. It was hilarious. It's also awesome that when you pluralize Noe it sounds like you're saying, "There's the nose." or "Let's go sit by the nose." It reminds me of my best friend who I hate who just got a new nose...
Our zone is doing a 40 day fast and today is one of my assigned days. President Woodbury asked the whole mission to do a fast tomorrow so that we can find a weakness of our and change it. He wants us to sacrafice even more so that we can do what he was assigned by Salt Lake to do: DOUBLE baptisms in our mission. That's CRAZY. We work so hard for the baptisms we get and now we have to double those. He's an inspired man though and told us that if we look for more things to sacrafice, we'll see more miracles. It's awesome. Anyways, I'm not allowed to fast for two days in a row so today I'm going to fast something I'm very attached to, and completely addicted to: cracking my knuckles. I've had anxiety about it all week. I'd much rather fast food. I've never gone 24 hours without cracking my knuckles ever since I started in the 3rd grade.Pray for me. Seriously, please!
I'm glad that the missionaries have moved out of the house. They shouldn't be setting that kind of an example for Rex and Nina. None of those things you wrote me about are things that missionaries should be doing, and there's no way those missionaries can claim they aren't aware of the rules; we are required to read from our handbook every day.
I'll be praying for President Teshima. I've also been praying for Brother Webb and Lexi and Zane. Any updates on them?
Thanks, Dad, for the scriptures. I love how much knowledge and advice I can get from all of the people I have back home. It is very much appreciated and treasured. Mom, I understand what you mean about reorganizing. I just always seem to think that I know a much better way to go about everything. It's hard to let other people run things in a way that you disagree with or see faults in. Situations like that are where I've been trying to learn patience and humility... TRYING. Thanks for the pictures of the trip. I loved them. I still haven't seen what India looks like though. You told me she has red hair, but I didn't get to see her face or head. Also, I'd LOVE the Pinky Book, please! [reader: the Pinegar family compiled a book that was recently printed in hard-bound and presented to our Grandpa Rex for his birthday which is a tribute to his Pinky the Elephant stories he has told for 3 generations-worth of children now. All artwork and text by Rex and his children and grandchildren, of which Brooke is one and contributed. It's been a 2-year-long project and instantly priceless to us all. We're ordering her a copy and can't wait to share it with her. Hopefully it's mission-approved!!]
Word of the Week: Plum, meaning "all the way". Willard's son punched a man so hard that he was knocked plum out of his boots. Sherry can't walk around too much or she gets plum wore out. Gail Childress lives in a holler that's plum out in the middle of nowhere.
Extra Blessings: Sister Gossett, Lauren, Shannon, Mom & Sister Correia.
I love you all. I love the scriptures. I love the Spirit. I love this gospel, this good news. Be cautious! Be aware that there must be opposition in all things. God is real. He wants all men to be saved. But that also means that the devil is real, too. Read 2 Nephi 28. That chapter lays out the way he works to destroy all men. Verses 20-22 tell us that he'll use any tactic he can. Don't anger against that which is good; rejoice in it! Don't be content in thinking that you've done enough to secure your salvation. Always look for ways to improve and for ways you can serve God! And whatever you do, don't ever doubt that there is an adversary and a hell. As sure as there is a heaven and a God, there is a hell and an adversary. The one loves you completely and the other hates you completely. When you fall, don't shy away from Christ, RUN towards him. He wants all to come unto him so that He may heal us! He knows you'll make mistakes. That's WHY He prepared the way for us. Don't disrespect Him or His sacrIfice by refusing the be healed. Put on the whole armor of God EVERY DAY. (Ephesians 6:11-21)
The Church is TRUE! Share it!
Love Yuns,
Sis Nelson
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