Another Week

Hi Family!!!

Well this week has been wonderful! On Monday we had P-day and then we went to this wonderful Spanish family and we read 1 Nephi chapter 2 with them. Their 11 year old daughter is a member, but the parents can't get married yet due to immigration stuff. But they are such a great family and they love having us come over and read the Book of Mormon with them so they can understand it better.

We have been finding a lot of new investigators. The only problem is trying to retain them. We get in a lot of first lessons, but then when it comes to the second lesson, it seems they either find another church, say they dont want us to come, or just down right ignore us. That's always fun.

One of the most important things is to teach people and not lessons, and so we are working very hard to meet peoples needs rather than just teach a lesson. Hopefully that will help us retain them more.

That wonderful family that we met who have the 8 year old who I helped pray for the first time called us and said they found another church. We told them that we still wanted to meet with them though and they were excited about that. Now, if we could just get them to join the true church, that would be great :)

I hope I don't sound like I'm super bummed out or anything. Yes, it is sad that people decide not to have us come over anymore, but things are still going great. In fact, this one guy that we aren't even teaching yet, but have been talking to for like the past month has a car that he can't sell and wants to get rid of. So he called us and asked us if there was anyone in our ward who needed a car and we figured there was, so we called the bishop and he said that he had been praying for this exact thing to happen and he knew exactly who it should go to. We got to tell the people who are going to be getting the car. They were SO excited. It was really fun.

On Wednesday, we had our cleaning day. I spent 7 hours cleaning, and it still wasn't done. We had an entire carful of stuff to take to goodwill and probably that much in supplies to take to the mission office. It felt like Christmas to me to get rid of all that junk though. It was awesome.

We also got to go to the temple on Friday. It was so great. Sister Myers and I did initiatories and then we got to go sit in the Celestial room for like an hour while we waited for everyone else to come out of the session. Then our whole zone got to sit and talk in the Celestial room. It was so awesome. The WQ temple is REALLY pretty.

Well, this week in the TC was really good too. Yesterday was especially good. This family came in. A grandpa, the mom, the dad and their daughter. The mom and the daughter were members. The tour took like 2 hours because the grandpa talked SO MUCH. I don't really know what he was talking about most of the time. He reminded me SO much of Mr. Bean though! hahahaha He kept saying "At any rate" and "That's at a nano-molecular level and I don't want to even get into that" and "Not paranormal but paranatural." It was really funny and weird to me at the same time. Anyways, the Dad is apparently a "dry Mormon." He does everything in the church, even has callings, but just isn't baptized. He said nothing really interested him in the church, and even though he hasn't had a drink in years, he wondered if he wanted one later after he had been baptized. So at the end, we were at the Salt Lake Temple Facade and I asked his wife and daughter what it would mean to them if their family could go there and be sealed.

They weren't super vocal about it and so then I told them what it meant to be sealed to my family. I was totally bawling and telling him that it meant the world to me to know that my parents promised to love and honor each other for eternity, that if anything happened we would be sealed and that it made our relationships more important. I told him that even if he didn't find certain aspects of the gospel interesting, that his number one interest should be his wife and daughter. And how he is keeping them from that eternal family. And that they are way more important than having the option to drink in the coming years. I then asked him if he would let me send the missionaries to his house, and he agreed. It was a really cool experience. I was super bold, but the mom and daughter thanked me so much at the end. So, that was awesome.

So, apparently, the sisters have a little saying when they are deciding what to wear in the mornings and it's "what would Sister Proctor wear" hahah. It's so funny. A lot of them come in and raid my closet. I probably would too if I had to come out with the old dress code. Woof.

So, it was winter here for like 3 days. It was freezing cold (only 50 degrees, but it felt FREEZING). And we didn't see the sun at all. I am not super excited for a Nebraska winter. Hopefully I'll be able to get through it haha. But, we decided we are going to need a lot of soup for lunches and dinners. So I would LOVE you to send me some soup recipes. Like Potato Soup, White Bean Chili, that Olive Garden Soup, some easy Chicken Enchilada soup, and whatever other ones you can think of. Writing all those down just made me really hungry.

Anyway, that's awesome that Reeve is in Chicago! I wonder how long he will be there!? That's so cool. Also, I can't believe that Jared's farewell is this Sunday! That is so exciting! I know that his talk is in outline form, but even just those would be really cool. Also, I want a TON of pictures of his farewell and the MTC. ALSOOOO, I can't believe the bike is finished!!! That is so sweet!!! What is going to happen to it while he is gone? I never got a picture of the playhouse being done... that could be cool.

So the pics I sent were of me like 10 minutes ago, the GORGEOUS sunrise this morning (the pic doesn't do it justice), my belly button :) hahah I wouldn't hate it if that didn't get forwarded on to anyone else :), and me and my roommates on Sister Hawkes' birthday. We got up at like 5 and decorated our whole apartment. It was a lot of fun.

So, I cancelled the surgery. So that's nice. Hopefully I won't have to worry about it until I get home. I was looking forward to getting to sleep in during recovery time though... hahah oh well.

We are going to go to the zoo next p-day with our district. I am so stinking excited. Apparently it's way better than the Hogle Zoo (who knew?!) hahaha. Also, I figured out why I got sent to Nebraska... do you remember the Ghost of the Bayou that was at the Hogle Zoo and I wanted to see it SOOO bad, but I missed it? Well, it is at this ZOO!!!! I was so excited when I found that out! Hahaha, obviously I know that's not why I was called here, but it's an added bonus :)

Dad, how did you get the exact address of where I live?

Also, just so you know, I print out all of the emails since I'm at the Trail Center. So if you feel bad because you didn't write me a hand written letter, and then you decide not to email me because it will take up partof my hour, worry no longer. haha. I love me some hand written letters, but if you can't, then you can email me and I will print it out.

I can't believe Jared is going into the MTC next week! That is so exciting. Just know that the first night and first morning is not how it is always going to be. It gets way better. And on Wednesdays and Sundays they have an icecream bar. But on Sunday, they have all these yummy toppings. Get there early if you can. Join the choir, because then you are guaranteed seats. My next P-day is on Wednesday because of transfers, just FBI.

Thank you Casey and Michelle for sending me the recipe! I knew I could count on you :)

Well, my hour is pretty much up. I love you all so much and I wish I could be there to drop off Jared at the MTC. However, I'm glad that now I'll get a letter from him every week :) Please make sure that his weekly email or any hand written letters are also forwarded to me. I am so excited. The MTC is the best place. I wish they had an EFY thing, but just let you go to the MTC. You learn so much there. Anyway, I love you all and I am so grateful for everything you all do and all of the love and support I feel from you every single day. Please continue to send me that love and support by sending me that package ;) I think Sis. Hawkes might get sick of me using her blow dryer every morning. haha.

I love you all very much and I miss you! Have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you!

Love,

Marf