The subject line is because we went on exchanges this week and Elder Biesinger left me a surprise. On monday hed gotten a package that contained, drumroll...... Cinnimon brown sugar poptarts. First thought that came to my mind was "I want one" But i restrained my self becasue you do not poach another mans poptarts. My mom sent me some disney land mickey suckers, and I had been trying to bargain with him the night before the exchange, the deal was 2 suckers for one package of poptarts. HE originally turned me down, so I fortified myself to try not to think about the pop tarts. He said that they were numbered and would know if I took one while on exchanges, so I didnt look for them. I am eating breakfast with Elder Gerasimov when he brings in a silver package, on it there is a note: "This may or may not contain Cinnamon brown sugar, Bon Appetit!" I almost shed a tear, thus the subject line. I had already eaten and was full, but I ate the poptarts anyway. So Elder Biesinger bought my eternal Loyalty, and 2 mickey suckers. Yeah we are just the best of friends on Left Bank, Elder BIesinger supplies me with poptarts and geeks out with me over super hero movies we cant see, Elder Schwieghardt keeps me in shape(we run a lot and go outside to workout so we have to get up at 6:00 I am so happy about it!) And Elder Gerasimov is Ukrainian, and his sense of humor gets me everytime.
Now on the Serious, We got a new Investigator! His name is yoori and he is so cool, he is a business man and is learning english and Java(programming language). HE was pleasently surprised to find out I can read Java, and write a little bit. He has a large family for a Ukrainian:4 kids, and we asked him to come to church and he wanted to, but declined because every week on sunday he visits his mom, and he doesnt know how much longer he will be able to see her, he is pretty golden. We have another Potential Investigator named Pasha(paul) and we found him on Pravda, and almost walked past him, when I said "Hey we should talk with him" He is super interested in the gospel, but doesnt live in Dnepr, but lives just out side the city, and is often in left bank for groceries and such. He begged us to call him so we could meet again another day, and so we will! I learned a lesson on accountability Saturday during exchanges, As district leader, when on exchanges I am supposed to provide training for whoever I am with. During the extra hour of study we were supposed to have we just kind of messed around because we got distracted with something. Later that day we had a lesson, and it was just not as powerful as it could have been if we had focused better in studies. This experience opened my eyes to something that our district needs help with, and that is focus, so we are going to talk about focus in studies in distirct meeting, and I am personally going to repent. Usually we are a lot more focused, but we are starting to lose it. I know how it feels when you have a good focused study where the spirit teaches you, and now I know how it feels when you goof off for a bit. As missionaries we always have to learn to change the way we behave when we start slacking off, because there is no one babysitting us during studies, except for The Holy Ghost, and that thought should make us work more dilligently than at any other time in our life. Thats all, Love you!
Hey Buddy,
First off...I forgot to tell you that the recording did work and it was so awesome to hear your voice. Please do more of them! Also you could say little messages to each kid individually, which I think would help them. Especially sis and cam.
Also the letters came in the mail this week!!!!! It was so great! It totally made my week and was so exciting. I loved reading through them and the messages you sent us. The kids were so happy. I would love more letters if you can do it. Even if it's just to me...or the family. You don't have to worry about doing one for everyone everytime. I really appreciate the time and effort you spent on each one!
Spring is HERE!!! We are loving the nice weather so much. We spent all day yesterday getting the yard cleaned up and organized. It looks great and is so nice to have the kids playing outside regularly again.
I've been thinking a lot about what you wrote about the adversary. I have a real strong testimony that when things are going to be really good for the kingdom of God he will do all he can to stop it. That has been one of the hardest forces to fight in my marriage with Curtis. When we got married I KNEW we were supposed to be married and that Heavenly Father had a plan for us. He tried so many different things over the years to end our marriage. I tired of the fight sometimes and wanted to give up, but Heavenly Father always found a lifeline for us to see and it would save our marriage. Even when I first started speaking the adversary would work hard to make things at home fall apart so I would feel guilty and wouldn't want to speak anymore. I tell you all of this because I want you to remember that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Satan knows that plan and doesn't want us or His plan for us to succeed. We are a threat. You as a missionary is one of his biggest threats. He will always try but we can't give him the power to discourage us. I had a meeting with the Bishop a couple years ago. Things were hard with Curtis and I and it was a rough time, right after Dakkon left. I opened up to the bishop about how hard Satan worked to cause marital problems and disfunction in our home. That I was tired of fighting and he always seemed to just work harder to cause problems. The Bishop gave me advice that has permanently changed my view on this. Years ago I became afraid to read the scriptures, go to the temple etc. I knew if I tried to do something righteous he would cause something bad to happen. I would try to do those things still, but I lived in fear with it. When dad and I would go to the temple we wouldn't tell you guys or even talk to each other about it. I would say something like, "let's go on a date and dress up". That was how dad knew I wanted to go to the temple. So the advice the bishop gave was this.
"Sure the adversary will work against things. But why are you giving him so much power? You living in fear like this makes him stronger and signals to him that it's working. When something happens acknowledge what it is and move on with the thought...'that won't stop my plan or thwart my goals'. Regardless of the fight he is putting up don't allow it to discourage you at all. Take the power back from him and remember he may have power to bruise your heel, but you have the power to crush his head."
I never realized that me living in fear of it was making it stronger until this moment. It was a valuable lesson for me and I hope you will remember it too. Our testimonies don't come from an angel coming down and telling us that the church is true. Think of Laman and Lemuel. They saw angels literally all the time and still they did not follow. That is why Heavenly Father builds our testimonies line upon line, slowly, one small miracle or experience at a time. They are stronger when the are built like that and will last our lives if we continue to believe everyday.
Well, I loved your story last week about the food! You were inspired last week when you wrote both of your emails to me. One Monday I could tell that Julie Biesinger was having a bad day because of a Facebook post. I texted her that I had a couple fun emails from you about Elder Biesinger that would cheer her up. (Don't tell her Elder about this next part). She responded that she has spent the morning crying because of his email. I guess he had a down week and was discouraged. She was so thankful to get the email and that you specifically said, "tell Elder Besieger's mom that his Russian is coming along better than he says." She said it was just the message that she needed and was so grateful for your inspiration as a District Leader to be mindful of her Elder and her as a mother. So that was really awesome!!! We went to lunch this week and had a lot of fun.
We have a lunch planned this week with any of the moms in the area for Saturday. One of the out of town moms is going to be here. It's based off the Facebook mom group we have. We are still trying to find moms so find out if your Comps mom is on Facebook and give her my email so I can contact her and add her if she is interested. Or tell me her name so I can look her up. This week we found a couple more. Here is who we hav-e
Montgomery
Olsen
Knorrp
Walker
Harris
Jeffery
Biesinger
Peterson
Bates
Novakovich
Rice
Vanbuskirk
Bryson
Robison
Miller
So feel free to give my email to any other missionaries that want to have their parents added...unless you don't have time to talk about that kind of stuff of course.
So I loved your emails last week! You sounded so happy and excited about your new district and companion. I am so glad about that!!! We are all doing good. Josh is doing 100% better so thank you for the prayers and know that it has really helped. He is a different person. It is great. The kids go off track this week on Thursday and we have an entire month off!!!! Then when we go back they only have 5 weeks of school until we go to Lake Powell and they are all off for the summer! A track this year is awesome!!! Cam's heart is stable. It did get a little worse, but remains to be stable at this point. We have at least a few years before we could be looking at anything major, so that is awesome!
Dakkon should get his mission call this week!!! We are excited. He and ethan had their wisdom teeth out last week. I could get an email to sister Sullivan once we receive the call and maybe she can tell you...or would you rather just wait until pday?
Questions-
1-Are there areas in the mission that are more desirable than others? safer? nicer? cleaner? Where does Left Bank fall in that?
2-Are things still going good with your new comp?
3-Favorite thing about your district?
4-Favorite thing about being a DL?
5-Is it hard to be a DL?
6-Anything you are struggling with mentally, physically, or spiritually?
7-Any last requests for a package? specific candy or treat?
8-Any thing I can put in the package for your companion?
9-How is the weather now?
10-Still happy and positive?
11-Any guesses for Dakkon's mission call?
12-Should I tell Sister Sullivan or just wait to email you next week?
13-Spiritual lesson for the week?
14-Special message for me if you have time:)
15-You haven't sent pictures for 2 weeks...I need more pictures!!!!
Well, I love you so much!!!! Thank you for being amazing and doing such a great job. You are an example to so many. We are proud of you and love you. I pray for you continually. I miss you and love seeing the time fly by!
Love you so much!!
Mom
So each area has its perks and its downsides, Left Bank reputedly is the most dangerous, run down, dirty area in the mission, but like nothing happens here, and its like not even way dirty Left bank perks: You are close enough to center to pick up mail if you have it, and you can get pretty much anything you want. LIke my area is better than Sketchville, but the people here smoke and drink more, and there are 100s of thousands of them. Yeah we go running alot now, we run like 4-5 miles some mornings. My favorite thiing about my district is district meeting, and we are all so funny, and we are just having a blast. I love being able to do call ins because they are so fun, also I get to call on people to say prayers so that is fun the best part is proably being able to recieve revelation for my district, there have been many times where something will just come to me. It is just a little more time consuming being a district leader, and people depend on me for a lot of stuff. No I am perfectly fine, I was kind of concerned becasue sarah hadnt emailed me back since she got on the mission, but she just emailed me today. I am really sad that I am missing batman vs. superman, and so is elder biesinger, so we are morning with those who morn by morning with eachother. I need a pair of leather gloves, we did service this week and I ripped myself a few new blisters. I cant think of any specific treats. It was warm, and then it dropped back down to 0 and it has snowed a few inches the last few days. It was funny because it was snowing on the first day of spring. Still happy and positive. My guess is Kiev Ukraine, Russian speaking, or Alabama, SOuthern speaking. Yeah tell Sister Sullivan I was going to beg to get to call you for it, but my guess is the answer would be no. I will send pictures. I love you!
It is hard to write so many emails, but I will try, so I really love the recorder and I think that it is a good idea. I miss you a lot and I love all the stuff youve sent, I literally nearly cried when I found the Frisbee in the package, my feet have only gotten better, your such a good mom. Elder Schweighardt is awesome and we get along so well. Everyone is always jealous that I have a mom like you, so thanks for everything, I love you bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment