Alma 10:11

Hi Family!

This week was great! The scripture I sent is one I read this morning, and it reminds me of General Conference! I am so excited for General Conference! We have been listening to last Octobers GC to get ready for this weekend. How awesome that we have a Prophet of God and Apostles of Jesus Christ who talk to us! Man, that is great.

Before I forget, Happy Birthday to Brooklyn this Sunday!!!! How exciting! I hope you get an awesome cake and lots of fun presents, like Barbies!

Oh yeah, I'm getting surgery a week from today. Sort of psycho. I'm a little bit freaked out about it, but I'm sure it will all be fine. I'll go in on April 3 at 7 am and then it's an out-patient surgery so I'll go home that day, probably not out to proselyte though. Just pray for me, not just for during the surgery, but that I can feel peace before hand!

This week in tender mercies:
Monday: we had a great comp study about extending commitments more boldly, and when we went out we applied what we learned, and it was so awesome! I really like being a missionary. A lot.

Tuesday: Sister Arnold and I have been figuring out a way to make the TC schedule with excel. The TC leaders take like 20 hours making it every transfer, and it can be done in about an hour, so we're trying to make it foolproof for other people. But it was so fun to work with Sister Arnold. She is awesome and hopefully the two of us will be TC leaders together.

Wednesday: We had zone conference! I love zone conference. It is seriously the best. It's like being at the MTC all over again. We learned so much!

Thursday: We had a great day at the TC and I worked with Sister Arnold again on the schedule. We also met with our RS Pres to figure out the ward so we could know who to visit, so that was super nice.

Friday: We went out to lunch with Sister Witters (the Bishop's wife, we live in their basement). She is just the CUTEST! She reminds me a lot of Mom, so that's nice. She is gonna have us help her paint this Thursday, I'm excited. Then, that night we had our investigator come into the TC to watch the Joseph Smith movie. It was so awesome. That movie just slams people with the Spirit.

Saturday: We were out trying people, and we met this guy in his garage. We talked to him for a little bit, and then his wife came home and we talked to the both of them. They told us that their daughter had passed away last September, and they were so broken up about it. Things like this are so much harder when you don't have the gospel. We were able to tell them that they would see their daughter again and that they could be with her forever. It was so good. It's just crazy when you are walking down the street, you meet a stranger, and within about 3 minutes, they are sharing their whole life story with you and breaking down in tears. It's because they can recognize that we really are representatives of Jesus Christ. It's so amazing.

Sunday: We had one investigator at church, which was AWESOME! We have a lot of investigators who are so GOLDEN, but they just won't come to church! So it's awesome when one finally does!

Monday: It was pretty slow at the TC, so I started to watch the YW broadcast from last week. Then I remembered how 4 years ago, I sang in GC so I looked it up. Sister Hawkes sang in it as well, so we watched it together! We were like 2 rows away from each other! It is so CRAZY! Then the two of us walked over to the cemetery since it was so nice outside. Sister Hawkes only has 10 weeks left. I could die. She has become one of my best friends and our relationship is so special. I can't imagine being here without her. We just talked about all of the changes that we have seen in each other over the past 8 months, and how much we would miss each other. Man, missions are so awesome, because I never would have made the friendships that I have made. The only bad part is that you are constantly saying goodbye to all of these people that you love. Luckily, we can still be friends after the mish. She is so excited to meet all of you because of all of the crazy stories I would tell about you :) I can't wait to have her meet you and you meet her! She is so special to me.

I am so grateful that 1 year ago I decided to finally follow Heavenly Father's specific plan for me. I have not regretted it once, nor have I looked back. It has made me happier than I ever could have been at home. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I am so grateful to wake up every morning at 630 and to work my tail off until 1030. It's the best thing that I could ever be doing. How wonderful.

The pictures are:

1. Gorgeous flower from a Magnolia tree. These are EVERYWHERE and it's beautiful. This little girl picked them for us when we were talking to her Dad, it was so cute. 

2. She also picked this one. We ended up leaving with 4 flowers haha

3. Sleepover at the Oakview Sisters apt. We decided do to masks-sks-sks. We look pale and kind of freaky, but oh well.

4. One of the gorgeous Nebraska sunsets. It is so pretty here. I was able to take the picture because I wasn't driving! I haven't driven this week since I lost my tiwi card- we have to log in to this system so it can track our driving. I was the first person in the whole mission to lose theirs! What an honor! haha Luckily, I got it another one last night.

5. Daffodils and tulips are coming up at the TC. It's awesome. Everything is getting so green now! All of the grass is green and the trees are getting there soon. I love it so much!

So, this morning for my Personal Study, it said to write home and ask your family how they have been blessed by obeying a specific commandment, and I choose TITHING. Please send me your responses :)

Word on the street is that you didn't do a Sunday night lesson!? What?! You are supposed to do it no matter who is there, ya big goofs!
The other word on the street is that Laura is sending me a package. If you could possibly put my mustard and white striped purse in there, that would be AWESOME. My purse is falling apart. Also, the charger for the GPS got smashed... so if someone has a car phone charger or something that they are not planning on using, that would be awesome. It just needs to be the USB cable, that isn't a normal size, but not the mini either. Like what you plug in to charge Mom's phone.

Well, I am so grateful for all of you and for all of your love and your support. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for making me a better person. Thank you for getting me on a mission. Thank you for your examples. I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Proctor

Alma 4:15

Hello my favorite family!

Thank you for letting me know about my ss card. That is a huge relief :) How did your Sunday night lesson go? I would love to hear a summary of what you all discussed each week (what kind of missionary would I be if I didn't follow up ;)  ).

This week has been great. We had transfers last Wed/Thursday and both Sister Davis and I stayed the same. I'm grateful, I really like having her as a companion. The Bellevue 2nd Ward also got Elders! It's crazy! But it's really fun. Luckily, they are good missionaries. It's weird though because right now we share a car. But it's fun to hear all the miracles/tell all the miracles to each other. One of them is named Elder Saunders from Whidbey Island! Apparently he was in the Lamb's ward and he knew Jordan. This is his first area. He's a great missionary. Small world!

This week in Tender mercies:
Tuesday: A beautiful P-day and we spent most of it outside. The picture is of me and Sis Davis in our backyard. She is GORGEOUS. It's so fun to be her companion. Not because she's gorgeous, but for other reasons too.

Wednesday: A great day at the TC, we welcomed in all the new missionaries. How fun. It's starting to smell like how it did when I got here since it's getting warmer and it's bringing back so many memories. I love it.

Thursday: We had a great weekly planning session, and it's just cool to see how much both Sister Davis and I have progressed. I am so grateful to be able to be changed and to become better.

Friday: I had a great talk with Elder Watson. He is such a great leader and I am so grateful to serve with him. Then, on chat, we had a miracle!!! First of all, to preface this, we have been doing a 40-day fast. It's where you give up certain things or do other things for 40 days to become a more consecrated missionary. We haven't been eating sugar unless we're at a members house, I drink one glass of milk a day, etc. Dumb things, but they make a huge difference. Well, one other thing was that I couldn't complain about chat anymore. It's amazing what happens when you just stop complaining about something. Granted, we still got a lot of dumb chats, but my attitude changed as I consciously made sure that I didn't say a bad thing about chat. Well, we had this chat on Friday with someone who was an atheist. She said that she liked how much Mormons valued families and had high standards and so she was asking us if she would still be accepted if she didn't believe in God. We of course told her that the reason we have such high standards and value families was because of our belief in God. She just said she didn't think she could ever believe it. So then we invited her to pray, but before she could pray,we told her all of the ways that we had felt God's love and the Spirit. We taught her how to pray. And then we told her to settle down and to focus her thoughts. And to just let herself feel of God's love and that we would wait until she got back on.

About 5 minutes later, she got back on and she said, "I feel loved. I feel blessed. I know that God knows I want Him to be proud of me. 20 minutes ago, I would not have thought this was possible." She then accepted the invitations to have the missionaries come and teach her. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! How awesome! I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father is so willing to let people feel of His love, if we just ask!!! I invite all of you to listen to the talk "You Matter to Him" from Elder Uchtdorf and then to pray and ask God to let you feel of His love and then to just pause. I think you will be amazed at how much He really does love you.

Saturday: We were out trying people all day long, but it was great! We met a lot of great people and had a good time. We met this crazy man named Ricky that I do not have the time to write down all of the crazy things that were said. But know that I had to bite my lips so that I wouldn't laugh out loud. He was crazy and so funny.

Sunday: We were in the TC in the morning and I took this family on tour. They were not members and it turns out that the Dad in the 60s had studied with missionaries and he said the only thing he didn't like was that women couldn't have the Priesthood. I did everything I could to explain to him why, and he wouldn't have it. So the last thing I could do was like what Alma does in Alma 4:19 and bear down in pure testimony to him. I told him about what it was like being surrounded by honorable and worthy Priesthood holders in my family. How I have never felt degraded or made to feel like I was less. I knew that every Priesthood holder esteemed womanhood and motherhood to be of one of the most noble calls and a divine role. How grateful I am to be a woman in this Church. I am grateful to always feel like I have such divine worth and potential. Thank you, all of your Priesthood holders, who have shown me that respect, who have served me with that Priesthood, and thank you for all of the wonderful women in my life who who me how great womanhood and motherhood can be.

So, my subject line is from something that I read this morning. What I loved about it is that no matter how discouraged Alma was, the Spirit of the Lord did not fail Him. That promise is true for us as well. No matter how hard life may seem or how much we wish other people would change and just do what is right, The Spirit of the Lord will never fail us. Beautiful.

Well, it is getting to be super hot here. I am so nervous about June/July. Yikes. Apparently that means there are going to be a lot more bugs. :( I'm in the same place Sis. Belka was in when we first got here. Within a few weeks her legs were COVERED in chigger bites. I hope that I don't get them. So gross.

So, we got a new vacuum this week. Our old one was from the 1970s probably. This new vacuum is amazing. I went crazy vacuuming our apartment and car. I felt a little bit closer to Dad as I was doing it ;) Sharing the same hobbies :) Dad, there is this attachment that is called the contour tool, it's on some bissell vacuum if you want to look it up. But it's genius, it's rubbery and it has these comb things on it so it's genius for reaching hard to reach spaces and stairs/rounded things. Unfortunately, as it states on the thing, it is not to be used on pets. haha. So funny.

This has been a great week. Tomorrow is my 8 month mark! Crazy! Which means that I only have 9 months left, since I'll most likely be coming home before Christmas. That is downright crazy. Oh FBI, I am getting surgery here. I am calling today to schedule the day. So, that will be fun. I'm excited to not have to worry about it anymore. It has been sort of hurting the last few weeks.

Well, it sound like you are all doing great and I'm glad about that. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I am excited to hear how the Sunday night lessons go and your prayers! I love you all so much. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to play a part in the Lord's work. Nothing is better. I love you and miss you all.
Love,
Sister Proctor

P.S. If you're sending Jared cookies, it's a lot cheaper to send them to Nebraska... :)

 

Mosiah 26:14-39

Hello Family!

First off, before I forget I have a challenge for all of you! Remember how Jake said that once a month he wanted to have a family lesson thing at Mom and Dad's house on Sunday nights? Well, I want you to do that. But, every Sunday night. Whoever is there. You can even use the scriptures that I send as the subject of my letters. Then discuss it. 10-15 minutes is all it takes. But I know that it will help bring our family even closer together!!!

Also, I STILL don't know if you got my social security card. Is no one else concerned enough to tell me this!? I know you all have smart phones and can email right away, SO PLEASE let me know. For reals. I might go crazy.

OK, sooo. This week was great. It is so stinkin' warm here. I LOVE IT. Today it's supposed to get up to 80 degrees. We plan on spending the rest of our P-day on the deck writing letters and soaking up some sun. Beautiful.

Monday: Our district had a Cinco de Marcho party!!! Everyone loved it and it was SO much fun! After we ate we went and played soccer. President Kunz was there for a minute and he loved it.

Tuesday: We were at the TC and I started feeling really dizzy/lightheaded. So I laid down then I just slept the rest of the night... there wasn't any other news for this day, so sorry it was lame :(

Wednesday: I was sick again. But I read a ton in the Book of Mormon. I have been really studying it rather than just reading it, and I love it so much more. The Book of Mormon is amazing!!!

Thursday: I didn't feel sick, so that was good. They are doing something new at the visitors centers, where when people give us referrals we don't just call and ask if they want missionaries and send them on their way, we stick with them. They become our investigators too. So now I have like 34 new investigators all over the world to keep in contact with and teach over the phone or through texts. It's crazy. Awesome, but crazy. I was able to call a lot of them on Thursday.

Friday: We were weekly planning and then I started feeling dizzy again! what the heck! I laid down for a while and then we were on shift at the TC so I just went to the sick bed again. I was SUPER out of it. I don't know what the deal was.

Saturday: Feeling better, I sang a duet with Sister Pryde of "His Hands" for TC training. People were crying. It was really good. Everyone asked me if I did musical theater in High School. If only. Then that day, I started feeling dizzy again in the middle of a lesson! So annoying! So I went over to our ward mission leaders and he gave me a blessing and I have been fine since. I promise I am eating right and getting enough water and sleep- so that's not why I was feeling dizzy or lightheaded :)

Sunday: Laura's Birthday!!!! Also, we got to go visit our recent convert Michael and his family. I love them and it has been hard not seeing them everyday like we did last week. Also, I think we found the culprit to why I was feeling dizzy. This last two weeks our car has been in the shop (from when Sis. Belka and I ran over the ladder on the freeway), and we have this car that is about to get sold, but it used to be an Elder's car. And apparently they are loser Elders because I don't think it has EVER been cleaned. So we cleaned it out and left the windows open to try and air out the boy smell, but it would still smell musty. Well, on Sunday, Sister Davis checked the glove compartment for something and there was a Book of Mormon in there that was wet.... and had blue fuzzy stuff on it... yes, it was molding. So, we had to wait until we got back home, because it looks bad to see missionaries chucking a Book of Mormon. It was so gross. So maybe the fact that I have been breathing in MOLD for the last week and half is why I was feeling so dizzy, who knows. So gross.

Monday: We had district meeting. We find out transfers tomorrow so it was our last one all together. It was a lot of fun. We went to IHOP :)

Pictures:

1-Cinco de Marcho!!!

2-All of the Sisters at TC training

3- hard to see, but the moldy Book of Mormon

4- drawing of our district this transfer. Yes I am the one with the sombrero

5-My district

6-Me right before we came into the library!

I am glad to hear that my nieces and nephews are feeling better (minus the Christensen boys, but hopefully they are feeling better by now). I am glad that you all had a fun weekend with Laura's Phineas and Ferb birthday. Man, does she ever stop talking about Phineas and Ferb?! What a great theme for her birthday party ;) hahaha.

I am so happy to hear about the changes in (our friend), not that I think he needed changes, I hardly knew him, but that he came back from the mission a changed person! This is exactly what I want!!! Sister Davis and I have been talking a lot about changes that we need to make. I feel in the 6 weeks we have been together we have both grown so much, because we are willing to change! It's amazing what happens when you are willing to change, you change must faster and it's actually enjoyable. The fact of the matter is, Heavenly Father wants to make you better. Don't fight it. Just be the person that He knows you can be. Don't live beneath your privilege!!!

On Thursday I will be done with my 5th transfer and after that I will have 6 1/2 to go. Crazy stuff. I don't think that I will leave Bellevue 2nd, or Sister Davis. So, that's nice. But word on the street is that we will be getting Elders in our ward too! So that is AWESOME! Hopefully, they are good Elders and not ones that have copies of the Book of Mormon molding in their car. But, seriously.

I was reading through my journal before my mission the other day and I read something that I had totally forgotten about! Do you remember when the ball joint thing broke on the van?! (all signs would have pointed to getting rid of the van, but no, it lives on). Anyway, do you also remember this was the time that my car was freaking out and so I couldn't drive it to work? Well, I would have normally driven the van to work, but I was complaining about driving it on the freeway with the crazy steering so I didn't and Jared let me drive his car. What a tender mercy that was!!! We all shuddered at the fact that I could have been driving the van on the freeway when that thing decided to break and who knows what would have happened. This was towards the end of April, after I had received my call, but I was still debating if I really wanted to serve and I was freaking out about leaving all of you. Well, when this happened, and I knew what COULD have happened, I knew that Heavenly Father was watching over me. I knew that He would continue to watch over me on my mission and watch over all of you. So, it made everything OK. Heavenly Father is really great. I love how much He loves all of us. What a great thing.

Anyway, I've got to send my weekly email to my mission president, so I will be off. I love you all and am grateful for the examples you give to me. Thank you for supporting me and making me better. I love you!

Love,
Sister Proctor

Happy Cinco de Marcho!!!! --On Location

Hello Family!!! It's the best day of the year!

It was great to hear from you! I'm glad to hear that Ella is doing better. Seeing that picture of her in the hospital bed is enough to break your heart. Oh my goodness. I'm glad everyone is getting better.

Tuesday: For P-day we went to this really cute place in downtown Omaha called Old Market. It's totally my kind of place. There are just a bunch of really cute stores and cobblestone pathways, I loved it. They also have a pretty sweet theater that when I come back to visit I will definitely hit up. That night we met with Michael and helped him get ready for his baptismal interview. He is such a happy boy now, it's amazing to see what the gospel can do for his whole family.

Wednesday: I went on exchanges with Sister Hawkes!!! Her and I have been dreaming of a day where we could be companions and even though it was only for a day, it was awesome! She is so great, and it was so fun to be with her. We met a lot of really great people. AAAAND she is serving in the ward where President and Sister Kunz go, so Sister Kunz came on a team up with us. AMAZING!

Thursday: One of our investigators was getting surgery the next Friday and so she had a Priesthood blessing before she went in. It was AMAZING!!! I love Priesthood blessings.

Friday: We met Michael's grandparents and he had his baptismal interview. His grandparents are just SO excited! The grandma has been praying for YEARS for the missionaries to find her daughter and grandkids. Little did she know that her daughter sought out the missionaries! Prayers are answered in mysterious ways, but they are always answered the best ways.

Saturday: What a phenomenal day. Michael was baptized. Before his baptism, they all came into the trail center to remember where it all began. We were all bawling like babies, but it was just so special. Michael said he loves the memorial room because it is the first time he felt God's love. He said he could feels it there the most. It was so special. Then we went to his baptism. I have never cried at a baptism, but I had the waterworks on. This family means so much to me. I have loved them since the moment I met them at the Trail Center. And to be able to see the help and the progress that they have made has been remarkable. They will always hold such a special place in my heart.

Sunday: Michael was confirmed. I peaked my eyes open and I could see his face as a circle of Priesthood holders had their hands on his head. You could just see the light radiating from this little boy. It was so sweet. I can't imagine not coming on a mission and not knowing this wonderful family. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity.

Today our whole district is having a Cinco de Marcho party. We have been counting down all week long. We've got everything made and we are going to have a pinata and then play soccer (futbol). It's going to be so fun. I'm glad that even if you all can't do Cinco de Marcho because of all the sickies that it will still be celebrated :) I love it. Remember when Laura and I were taking a nap on CdM and Michelle texted us: "why siesta when you can have a fiesta!" hahaha. I was thinking of that this morning. So funny.

The pictures:
1: Those are gummy rats and gummy spiders. So sick.

2: The gummy rat.

3: At Old Market. So fun.

4: All the sisters that came to Old Market. Me, Sis Baker, Unice, Ford, Hawkes, Davis

5: At Michael's baptism

6: All of us in the Memorial room the day Michael got baptized.

7: That was me this morning. I figured I haven't sent you any of the gem pictures of me, so I should start again.

It is starting to feel like spring here. The tulips are poking up out of the ground and the sun is shining bright! It's the best!!! I'm so grateful that I didn't have to deal with a Nebraska winter. Hopefully the little bit of the next one that I will experience won't be too bad :|   We had a tornado warning on Tuesday night. It was raining LIKE CRAZY!!! We were on the base housing and the command post got on and cancelled all flights. It was cool. Seriously, Jack and Isaac would love it here. There are huge planes EVERYWHERE all the time. They fly super low too. We'll have to come back and visit. Back to the tornado warning, we obviously survived, and I didn't even see one. So hopefully we won't have to worry about those...

So, I talked to Sister Kunz today. We are planning on getting my hernia fixed. She told me this morning though that missionary medical would pay for me to fly out and then to have our insurance cover it... The only problem with that is that I do not want to come home. I think that would be SO hard. So we'll see what happens. They will also just pay for me to have it done here, the only issue is that it is tithing money... ugghhhhh. I am so sick of this dilemma. I want it to just magically disappear.

In the meantime, I really like Sister Davis. We both are doing our best to constantly be progressing and growing. She is so supportive and so willing to do any crazy idea I have. She is teaching me a lot about how to really support someone. I am grateful for that.

Happy Birthday Laura on Sunday!!!! It's on daylight savings day, which means your birthday is one hour shorter, which means you should probably celebrate it all week long. It's only fair.

Sarah said she would like my weekly email forwarded to her.

Well, I hope you all start feeling better soon!!! Being sick is NO fun. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all of the love and support you give me. I have a few questions that have gone out, but never been answered, like such as: Did the video that I sent you work? Were you able to watch it? Mom and Dad did you ever get my social security card in the mail? --this one is kind of huge and would be GREAT if I could know.

Thank you again for being such a great family! I wish you all a Happy Cinco de Marcho!!!

Love you,
Sister Proctor