Monday just started off with Pday and we did the normal Pday things...running around trying to get errands done and yet relax. Ha,. That doesn't quite work that way on a mission. I did some shopping and I guess the best thing that happened was Zach. He is the nicest, sweetest person ever! He is a geologist that used to play USA Hockey up in Lake Placid and actually knows a lot about the Restoration because he has done geological studies on the Hill Cumorah for his work. Apparently, the Hill Cumorah is a geological anomaly (not normal) due to certain attributes and mineral deposits. He used other big words I don't remember, but anyways, he toured all of Palmyra and now he is reading the Book of Mormon. We were just blown away when he interrupts us during the First Vision and he's like, "oh yea, and then Moroni shows up right?" haha. Anyone who just brings up the name Moroni and can pronounce it right is obviously a golden investigator. We are going to see him tonight and his little daughter.
Tuesday, I went to Corning on Exchanges!! Now that was weird. We had to go help out a dear member clean her house because she has been fighting viral meningitis and that broke my little heart, because I love that family to death and yet they keep serving others. There are so many people that I know, who I want to be like when I am older, so many great examples. We taught a recent convert at a coffee shop, which was weird... I didn't quite feel the Spirit there... but then we had a ton of free time. I took Sister G with me and we did some tracting. It was interesting because I had never tracted hardly at all when I was in Corning, Now I do it all of the time. I remember how scared I used to be and now it is just a matter of resisting Satan's rationalizations in my mind of 'ehh, they aren't home." No, that person looks to busy..." and just go and do it. Nike's logo at it's finest. You gotta just do it, and the Lord will finish it. We actually got in some homes and everyone was a Corning Inc. Scientist from India. I taught my first two ever Hindu families. Very interesting. Once actually is non-denominational, and insisted we take $20 for a copy of the Book of Mormon. haha I tried my best to explain that wasn't allowed, but he wouldn't listen. In the end, I gave the money to the Branch President. We also found some cool potentials and didn't freeze. I could remember a ton of roads once I was back in Corning. It was funny how many memories came back. I also got to talk to some of the members and it was just a great day.
Wednesday we came back and had District Meeting. We talked about overcoming our fears and we actually had this cool object lesson in the gym using rope. It was fun. We had a few appointments that day, but not too much with Thanksgiving coming up. We tried our best to do some administrative work.
Thursday was THANKSGIVING! It was interesting. We started out seeing Jim and teaching him about the Priesthood. We are trying to get him ordained next month. Yaayy! My companion started to not feel so well, so we came in for lunch and found out that one of the elders in the Unit had broken his ankle in 3 places at the Turkey Bowl. The elders were freaking out and had to pack and get the elder picked up by the President all within 3 to 4 hours. 1 game of football changed a mission completely for this elder. :( He left for Idaho within 24 hours and has a 4 to 5 month recovery time before he can come back out. YIKES!! Make good choices people! I am grateful for my health and all of those blessings. We then had to help them and relaxed at a members and had a good turkey dinner. :) After dinner we had to start driving for Utica because MLC was the next day. We were all falling asleep in a mini van. ha ha. Long car rides no longer bother me. My mission has completely changed that. 3 to 5 hours car rides are easy peazsy. But we did have this apple pie/cheesecake concoction. That was super duper!
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| 1 Year Service for all of us |
Friday was MLC. It was good to see so many friends. :) We did the usual things, not too exciting this month. We ate food and drove back. We had to make quite a few stops for the Zone leaders because they went on exchanges. We had to stop in Greene, NY for about 45 minutes. Me and my companion went tracting in another area to kill time and gave out a Book of Mormon and got a few referrals for those Elders! It was super sweet to just get out and go, even if it was not our area. It took 6 hours to drive back, so we got home at like 10 pm and fell asleep.
Saturday we taught some investigators. We also found W and L. W is an old single man. We taught him in the apartment complex's open laundry room and he is now progressing and reading everything we give to him. We also accidentally talked to L, she was a cute lady outside that we thought was someone else. :P Oops Mistaken Identity! She let us right in and her older Sister was a Mormon. We are going back tonight to see where it ends up. I also dedicated my first home. Apparently you don't have to hold the Priesthood to do that. It is just a prayer, so that was cool to learn and do. So, we have been doing that to a few homes of our investigators and less actives to help with the occasional paranormal activity. #UpstateNYprobs.
Sunday, we taught sharing time on Gratitude. There are some super cute kids in the Elmira ward. We then had a blast seeing some investigators and we had a super fun dinner with 2 member families. I have had 3 turkey dinners this week and they were all so good. My favorite though was teaching this investigator family. We call them BSG (it's their initials) and we haven't seen them in 2 weeks, but they have been reading and praying and that is huge! I has no religious background and one has bad health problems and one just works a lot. But, we had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation and they enjoyed it and I could honestly answer their questions for hours. I have to make sure that I don't do 20 years of learning in 45 minutes of conversation. It can get real deep, too fast and I am not the best at being simple. It's just one of my quirks I guess.
This has been a fairly good week for Thanksgiving. I still taught 20 lessons during the holidays which is 18 more than last year!!
Everyone stay warm and safe. I am grateful for the gospel, for my family, for the knowledge I have, and for the many people that God has put in my path so that I could meet them and have them help me to become a better person. I am grateful that God knows me better than I know myself and that He has a plan for me. I am grateful for Chocolate, Target and Mints! I am also very grateful for my Savior!
The Church is TRUE!
LOVE, Sister Kylie Williams
