Ok, that is a pretty cool bow tie. You can tell Brother Farrier that I approve :)
Lookin' good mom. Haha! Dang those rolls look good! We had some pretty tasty rolls that Sister Bird made for us at the zone outing last week.
THAT IS A TON OF WOOD CHIPS! Wow. ...I don't even know what to say! Haha! I wish I had been there to help. One thing I have noticed on my mission is that just about any kind of physical labor is really enjoyable. I do so much mental work now that I miss all the cleaning and yard work and dishes and everything. Is that weird?
Well, It has been a really fantastic week. And guess what? I remembered to bring my little note book with me, so I can actually remember what happened. :) I don't think I will get all of it in the email, but I will have time to write a letter today too, so have no fear.
A couple of funny things first though, before I get into the details of the days of this last week.
I got your letter on Saturday Sam. :) Hurray! Thank you for all of the rules that you sent regarding the letter A. I liked the color coding by the way. That was really nice. I do have to correct you on one thing though. You said something to the effect that you hoped I was staying ward in the chill October weather. No worries there! We have only had one really cold day so far. For the most part it is in the 70's or 80's still. Sunny and warm/hot. The trees are changing color but nothing else seems to be aware that ITS OCTOBER. Pretty crazy. Thank you for the well wishes on staying warm anyway though. I am definitely doing that. Haha!
So funny story from a Sunday or two ago that I don't think I ever told you about. In sacrament meeting one of the talks was on faith and how it works and how to use it. It was a really good talk, but I won't go into much detail here except to say that there was a story about two sister missionaries who ran out of gas in the middle of no where and decided to put water in the tank and pray for it to turn into gas. After all, Jesus turned water into wine. It didn't work and the point of the story was to illustrate that unanswered prayers don't mean you don't have faith etc., etc., Any way, after sacrament meeting Jon ( He was baptized a little bit ago.) came up to me and said that during that story he was thinking "Cryer would do that." What?! I laughed and said, "Yeah well, it would have worked for me. I would have had enough faith." That got both of us laughing.
Ok, so on Tuesday I had an exchange with Sister Smith.
She is one of our Sister Training Leaders. I had a blast serving with her for a day! It was super fun. I got to go to her area which was nice because I didn't have the stress of trying to make sure we had things scheduled for every minute of the day. I didn't know the area, so I could help and advise, but in the end it wasn't my decision. That was awesome! It was a really fun day though. Sister Smith is a hoot!
The first lesson that we taught that day was with Sister F. She is a less active, and it was really different for me because she is around 40 years old. I am used to teaching YSA's so that was kind of different. It was an interesting lesson. We were talking about family history and how people who die without a knowledge of the gospel need our help to progress. That got her onto a train of thought about the spirit world and we found out that she believes that peoples spirits go into animals after they die, and while they are waiting to be resurrected and receive their own body again. ...Uh... not really! Haha! We tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail. Eventually we gave up and just moved the conversation on. The other thing that was kind of bad was I called her by her first name. Singles ward has ruined me.
Our second lesson of the day was with an older couple. They are less actives as well and they are so sweet! I love them! Brother N actually used to be a branch president. So he has a lot of knowledge and he hasn't forgotten any of it, he is just out of the habit of going to church. We taught them the restoration. I was able to recite the first vision and the spirit was so strong! Brother N told us that he knows that what we were saying was true. "I know this is true" he said. Yes! Now he just needs to know it enough to do something about it. I think they are getting there. :) Sister N is really receptive to it as well, she just has trouble with coming to church because Sunday is when they do things with their kids and grand-kids. Any way, it was a really great lesson, and we got Brother N to cry. He felt the spirit. He knows it is true. It was so good. :) That was my favorite lesson of the day.
After that we headed back to the apartment to do the exchange report. Sister Smith gave me a ton of good advice. I have been a little overwhelmed with all the things that I am trying to do and study. She said that as long as I am living the five anchors I am good. She also suggested that I try color coding things and categorizing everything under one of the five anchors. I thought that was a great idea, so I am going to try doing that for a while and see what happens. :)
Quick funny story. Sister Smith asked what my favorite type of music was. I told her that I really liked the old jazz and big band. She said she wasn't surprised because my tone (when we were singing the hymn that morning) kind of sounded like that style. Really?! Sweet! :)
We also taught Hermico and Skylar. They are Samoan. Skylar is 9 and Hermico is his mom. My first time teaching a child! AHHHHH! I felt SO unqualified. I didn't do a whole ton of talking, Sister Smith did most of it, but I helped a little. :) It was a good time though. At first we weren't sure if we were going to be able to teach them because we were knocking on the door for a while and no one was answering. Samoans sleep a lot. We just kept knocking and after a while we heard movement in the house. Then we saw the curtains on one of the windows move and suddenly there were cute little brown faces peering out at us. We went over to the window and tried to tell the kids to go get there mom. Then we went back to the door and knocked some more. We got in eventually! and were able to teach a lesson about baptism.
We had dinner with Sister N. I ate everything except the mac and cheese. You have spoiled me mom! The stuff was so grose. I tried to eat it, but eventually I had to stop. I felt like if I ate anymore I might be sick. I felt bad that I hadn't eaten everything. But I honestly think I did my best!
We tried to contact a referral after dinner but no luck. As we were getting back into the car a dog ran around the house and got to the car right as Sister Smith closed her door. He got up on his hind legs and looked into the car and then walked around a bit. He actually looked like a pretty friendly dog, but you never know. Any way, that is my first dog story :)
I GOT TO PUMP GAS FOR THE FIRST TIME! That was really awesome!
I have never done that before. We had been thinking of going to get Andy's but we didn't have time. Pumping gas was just as awesome though! I didn't even mind that we didn't get Andy's :)
We have had some miracles in the area! We have been doing a ton better on getting lessons, and we have been working on finding every day so that we can meet the standard of 2 new investigators a week. When I got back from the exchange we were already almost at 3 new investigators and 7 lessons. We are usually at 7 by Wednesday or Thursday, so we are definitely seeing Heavenly Fathers hand in the work! Fasting really does work!
So that was Tuesday :)
We had an awesome District Meeting on Wednesday. We talked about the atonement. My favorite part was when Elder Swainston had us all share our favorite scriptures about the atonement. It brought the spirit into the room so strongly! And the really cool thing was that all but one or two of them were from the Book of Mormon.
We had a lesson with Anthony, and then we were planning to have a lesson with a potential but he never showed up. Dang it! I was really hoping. He had sounded like he really would come when I talked to him on the phone. Oh well. We also contacted a less active and he is going to be coming to the Halloween party that the ward is doing this Friday. He has a friend named Felix as well that we got to talk to a little bit. Well, I say we. Really it was Kalia, one of the members with us, that talked. We could hardly get a word in edge wise! I had to laugh about it when we got back to the apartment. So, who was the missionary in that situation? haha!
Thursday was a really good day. We have a less active that we are working with named Jon Mayer. (I try to convince people that he is the singer, but no one seems to buy it.) He is doing good. We are working with him on prayer right now. He has done some things in his life that he regrets and he doesn't see how God can trust him or why he would want to hear from him. We are helping him to overcome that. Any way, it was a good lesson. After that lesson we went to see a girl named Alex and ended up teaching her as well as her room mate Bonny! That was awesome. They are super open to new ideas and learning, we are just hoping that they are actually learning to find truth.
Cool experience in that lesson actually. We asked Alex what it would mean for her if our message was true. She said that was a great question, and could she ask us a question. We said sure and she asked what we would do if the Book of Mormon wasn't true. The minute she said that I felt the spirit testifying to me that the Book of Mormon is true. It was amazing and I said that in answer to her question, I couldn't tell her because the Book of Mormon is true. It just is! I suddenly realized that I had come to a point in my testimony where I literally couldn't deny the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing and I got to bear my testimony to them that the Book of Mormon is true. It was so cool! :)
After dinner we didn't have any one signed up and no scheduled appointments so we headed back to the apartment to start weekly planning. As we sat down on the couch to start we both had the feeling that we needed to be out working and talking to people. I looked at Sister Reese and said, "Do you feel like we should go out?" "Yes" she said. Dang! It was a little chilly, not to mention dark and we didn't want to do it. But we did. The minute we got outside the apartment we saw a guy sitting on the other side of the street. We walked over and talked to him for about 20 minutes, gave him a book of Mormon and got his number. It was awesome! We also got to contact a referral that we had gotten a long time ago and give her a book of Mormon.
Friday was a bit rough. Not much happened. Most of our lessons canceled. Zach, he was our golden investigator, texted us to dump us. That was a bit depressing. He is trying to patch things up with his girl friend and he doesn't want the church to get in the way. NO! We tried to get him to meet with us one more time, but he said no. For now we have asked him to pray about it, he says he is going to keep reading in the Book of Mormon, and we are praying for him.
Saturday was pretty slow as well.
Sunday we went and had lunch with Alex and Jenny (another one of her room mates) and Travis (Jenny's boyfriend). Travis is a religions major and he had a bunch or historical biblical questions for us. Eventually we told him that we couldn't answer all these questions he had, but if he was interested in learning if the church is true we would be happy to help show him how he could find out for himself. He didn't really ask any more questions after that.
Sunday night we did a little bit of tracting and were able to meet a few people. Michael, we left him with a Book of Mormon, and offered to teach him more. He seemed interested but he wasn't sure that he could commit to anything because of his schedule. We also met a girl named Lyra, and set up a time to meet with her on Wednesday. We are not sure what her interest level is right now, but we will find out!
Love you all! Hope you have a great week :)
Love, Sister Cryer (email dated 27 October 2014)
She is one of our Sister Training Leaders. I had a blast serving with her for a day! It was super fun. I got to go to her area which was nice because I didn't have the stress of trying to make sure we had things scheduled for every minute of the day. I didn't know the area, so I could help and advise, but in the end it wasn't my decision. That was awesome! It was a really fun day though. Sister Smith is a hoot!
The first lesson that we taught that day was with Sister F. She is a less active, and it was really different for me because she is around 40 years old. I am used to teaching YSA's so that was kind of different. It was an interesting lesson. We were talking about family history and how people who die without a knowledge of the gospel need our help to progress. That got her onto a train of thought about the spirit world and we found out that she believes that peoples spirits go into animals after they die, and while they are waiting to be resurrected and receive their own body again. ...Uh... not really! Haha! We tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail. Eventually we gave up and just moved the conversation on. The other thing that was kind of bad was I called her by her first name. Singles ward has ruined me.
Our second lesson of the day was with an older couple. They are less actives as well and they are so sweet! I love them! Brother N actually used to be a branch president. So he has a lot of knowledge and he hasn't forgotten any of it, he is just out of the habit of going to church. We taught them the restoration. I was able to recite the first vision and the spirit was so strong! Brother N told us that he knows that what we were saying was true. "I know this is true" he said. Yes! Now he just needs to know it enough to do something about it. I think they are getting there. :) Sister N is really receptive to it as well, she just has trouble with coming to church because Sunday is when they do things with their kids and grand-kids. Any way, it was a really great lesson, and we got Brother N to cry. He felt the spirit. He knows it is true. It was so good. :) That was my favorite lesson of the day.
After that we headed back to the apartment to do the exchange report. Sister Smith gave me a ton of good advice. I have been a little overwhelmed with all the things that I am trying to do and study. She said that as long as I am living the five anchors I am good. She also suggested that I try color coding things and categorizing everything under one of the five anchors. I thought that was a great idea, so I am going to try doing that for a while and see what happens. :)
Quick funny story. Sister Smith asked what my favorite type of music was. I told her that I really liked the old jazz and big band. She said she wasn't surprised because my tone (when we were singing the hymn that morning) kind of sounded like that style. Really?! Sweet! :)
We also taught Hermico and Skylar. They are Samoan. Skylar is 9 and Hermico is his mom. My first time teaching a child! AHHHHH! I felt SO unqualified. I didn't do a whole ton of talking, Sister Smith did most of it, but I helped a little. :) It was a good time though. At first we weren't sure if we were going to be able to teach them because we were knocking on the door for a while and no one was answering. Samoans sleep a lot. We just kept knocking and after a while we heard movement in the house. Then we saw the curtains on one of the windows move and suddenly there were cute little brown faces peering out at us. We went over to the window and tried to tell the kids to go get there mom. Then we went back to the door and knocked some more. We got in eventually! and were able to teach a lesson about baptism.
We had dinner with Sister N. I ate everything except the mac and cheese. You have spoiled me mom! The stuff was so grose. I tried to eat it, but eventually I had to stop. I felt like if I ate anymore I might be sick. I felt bad that I hadn't eaten everything. But I honestly think I did my best!
We tried to contact a referral after dinner but no luck. As we were getting back into the car a dog ran around the house and got to the car right as Sister Smith closed her door. He got up on his hind legs and looked into the car and then walked around a bit. He actually looked like a pretty friendly dog, but you never know. Any way, that is my first dog story :)
I GOT TO PUMP GAS FOR THE FIRST TIME! That was really awesome! 
I have never done that before. We had been thinking of going to get Andy's but we didn't have time. Pumping gas was just as awesome though! I didn't even mind that we didn't get Andy's :)
We have had some miracles in the area! We have been doing a ton better on getting lessons, and we have been working on finding every day so that we can meet the standard of 2 new investigators a week. When I got back from the exchange we were already almost at 3 new investigators and 7 lessons. We are usually at 7 by Wednesday or Thursday, so we are definitely seeing Heavenly Fathers hand in the work! Fasting really does work!
So that was Tuesday :)
We had an awesome District Meeting on Wednesday. We talked about the atonement. My favorite part was when Elder Swainston had us all share our favorite scriptures about the atonement. It brought the spirit into the room so strongly! And the really cool thing was that all but one or two of them were from the Book of Mormon.
We had a lesson with Anthony, and then we were planning to have a lesson with a potential but he never showed up. Dang it! I was really hoping. He had sounded like he really would come when I talked to him on the phone. Oh well. We also contacted a less active and he is going to be coming to the Halloween party that the ward is doing this Friday. He has a friend named Felix as well that we got to talk to a little bit. Well, I say we. Really it was Kalia, one of the members with us, that talked. We could hardly get a word in edge wise! I had to laugh about it when we got back to the apartment. So, who was the missionary in that situation? haha!
Thursday was a really good day. We have a less active that we are working with named Jon Mayer. (I try to convince people that he is the singer, but no one seems to buy it.) He is doing good. We are working with him on prayer right now. He has done some things in his life that he regrets and he doesn't see how God can trust him or why he would want to hear from him. We are helping him to overcome that. Any way, it was a good lesson. After that lesson we went to see a girl named Alex and ended up teaching her as well as her room mate Bonny! That was awesome. They are super open to new ideas and learning, we are just hoping that they are actually learning to find truth.
Cool experience in that lesson actually. We asked Alex what it would mean for her if our message was true. She said that was a great question, and could she ask us a question. We said sure and she asked what we would do if the Book of Mormon wasn't true. The minute she said that I felt the spirit testifying to me that the Book of Mormon is true. It was amazing and I said that in answer to her question, I couldn't tell her because the Book of Mormon is true. It just is! I suddenly realized that I had come to a point in my testimony where I literally couldn't deny the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing and I got to bear my testimony to them that the Book of Mormon is true. It was so cool! :)
After dinner we didn't have any one signed up and no scheduled appointments so we headed back to the apartment to start weekly planning. As we sat down on the couch to start we both had the feeling that we needed to be out working and talking to people. I looked at Sister Reese and said, "Do you feel like we should go out?" "Yes" she said. Dang! It was a little chilly, not to mention dark and we didn't want to do it. But we did. The minute we got outside the apartment we saw a guy sitting on the other side of the street. We walked over and talked to him for about 20 minutes, gave him a book of Mormon and got his number. It was awesome! We also got to contact a referral that we had gotten a long time ago and give her a book of Mormon.
Friday was a bit rough. Not much happened. Most of our lessons canceled. Zach, he was our golden investigator, texted us to dump us. That was a bit depressing. He is trying to patch things up with his girl friend and he doesn't want the church to get in the way. NO! We tried to get him to meet with us one more time, but he said no. For now we have asked him to pray about it, he says he is going to keep reading in the Book of Mormon, and we are praying for him.
Saturday was pretty slow as well.
Sunday we went and had lunch with Alex and Jenny (another one of her room mates) and Travis (Jenny's boyfriend). Travis is a religions major and he had a bunch or historical biblical questions for us. Eventually we told him that we couldn't answer all these questions he had, but if he was interested in learning if the church is true we would be happy to help show him how he could find out for himself. He didn't really ask any more questions after that.
Sunday night we did a little bit of tracting and were able to meet a few people. Michael, we left him with a Book of Mormon, and offered to teach him more. He seemed interested but he wasn't sure that he could commit to anything because of his schedule. We also met a girl named Lyra, and set up a time to meet with her on Wednesday. We are not sure what her interest level is right now, but we will find out!
Love you all! Hope you have a great week :)
Love, Sister Cryer (email dated 27 October 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment