Hello everyone!
I hope everyone had a great New Years. This week has been another adventure... as my weeks always are :) It did start off really great.
Monday we started off with a youth combined with missionaries game of dodge ball/scatterball. Best thing ever. We played for an hour and all of us missionaries were out of breath. ( I am so done with being out of shape). We were all merciless playing. The dodge balls were perfect shape so we had quite a few times of getting welts and also give a few welts in return. Most of the time, it was just us missionaries wacking other missionaries. We went a tad easier on the youth. Little did we know that we would all be so super sore the next few days. Sister Gass could barely walk and I could barely raise my arms. Thankfully, right after we saw a member who was a Chiropractor and I got an adjustment. Best thing ever! I haven't been to the chiropractor in a year and I missed it so much. We did the usual P-day things and took a 10 minute nap later because that's all the time we had. We had dinner with a member family and they had to show us their new Christmas presents--- mini go karts! They kinda forced all of us to go and ride with them before eating dinner. Slightly against the white handbook, and it's super awkward when members don't take no for an answer. Right after, we got invited to a dinner with an investigator. So much food! Megan is amazing though, she got engaged to her LA boyfriend in Utah this Christmas and we are just so excited! Now she can get baptized after they are married. She is progressing so well. She already looks and acts like a Mormon and asks the deepest doctrine questions during lessons. We had a lesson on foundations of testimonies after we slid more food down and talked about her plans for the wedding.
The weather here has started to get colder. The next day started off slow as we tried to call everyone we knew to get an appointment. Many people were busy and sick, so we had to go walking outside. We OYM'd a few neighbors outside... and got the usual results. Then, we got changed and did some service at the local food bank. It was very fun and we were checking imported food and other products to see if it was safe to use. We got to talk to others working at our station. The one we talked to the most was a girl named Onyx and she was really cool. We didn't get to go too gospel'y on her, but we shared a pass along card afterwards and she said she enjoyed working and talking with us. Seed are planted! We are going back and working tomorrow! We saw Nadine and also Jim. Poor Jim is doing worse. More opposition at work and he doesn't have the support system or good enough knowledge to confront people when they bring temple or priesthood misconceptions. So as of now, he is avoiding us. :( All we can do is wait and pray and try to find the right opportunity to help him. Satan is a really smart and cunning fellow. He is pretty good at doing what he does.. :( We later saw Will that night and also Brian. Will is progressing so well. No doubt he will get baptized within the next 4 weeks. Brian has read up to Mosiah in the BofM. He is coming to Church on the 17th !Whoo hoo!
Wednesday came along and we started having car problems. We had a District Meeting too, which is always good. We learned about commitments and how to make them better. We then went to go buy some oil for our engine because it was low, and then we noticed a leak by one of the filters. Lights started coming on too. So, we were told to wait and to take it in immediately. We drove to Elmira and got the card looked at. We talked to a few people waiting in the lobby. One guy was totally trying to avoid us the whole time, but one was a really nice army kid from Ft. Bragg and the other was a roofer that ended up taking a pamphlet and actually read it! He also invited us to go to the local casino to gamble and get the free buffet. We will see if he calls us back. :P Ha Ha, you can always still be doing missionary work, even in a car auto shop. I had a few lessons and then we to coordination withe WML.
Thursday was New Years Eve and I actually started to feel a little funny. My stomach was not doing so well. I ended up getting the stomach flu and yea, it was not super great. Before I realized what was going to happen, we still saw a few LA and saw Will again and actually taught Tom F (a new investigator) over Facebook. He is a solid smart guy and is now reading the Book of Mormon. But yeah, it was New Years Eve and I couldn't even eat dinner. We didn't do a whole lot. Great way to spend the holiday :) Luckily we weren't that busy.
Friday I was recovering, but I was very tired. We weekly planned in the morning and saw Rachel later. She is doing so well, she understands everything she reads in the BofM. Unfortunately, her coworkers are being ruthless with her about studying to be a Mormon. Thankfully, she has member support since she is dating a member family. I am done with all of this anti-Mormon and opposition we get all the time out here. People just need to be nice. We can't even teach people without someone else running in and throwing anti pamphlets at them! We tracted in the cold, found some potentials, and after dinner I passed out and slept. I woke up later and went to see Megan and Will.
Saturday I felt better. We were still struggling to set up appointments. We met with a LA that finally wanted to see us but is going through a ton of health problems right now and is so tender hearted that it totally shuts her down. Sister Gass got this amazing general conference story book that we took and we read a few stories. They are super fun to read and some are also pretty intense. For example: apparently Elder Oaks gave a talk in conference a while ago about an experience he had in Chicago where he almost died when a teenage gang member tried to steal his car. Elder Oaks was protected and got away by giving the gang member a lecture. Ha Ha! Only he could do that! We then continued tracting and trying to find more people. The potentials we had found the day before actually said that they were not interested, so we had to try to talk to some more people. We got in with the Fedenko's and they came to Church this week. 3/4! So good! Their kids bore their testimonies. They are probably my favorite LA family because they have great hearts and want to be good. They just have a few struggles that can easily be worked on if they allow us to continue to help them. They also make great cookies.
Sunday was Church and we got the Houston's, the Fedenko's and Will and Nadine to come. Great showing. But it could be better! Testimony meeting was awesome! The members were just bearing testimony on the truthfulness of the BoM and everyone was pumped about the New Year and trying to be better and read their scriptures more. There is literally such a thing as scripture power! We tracted more and contacted a bunch of referrals. It got even colder. I finally pulled out my biggest blue coat. It is so warm -- I just love it. I wish I could wear it all of the time. I enjoy being warm now. I've come to learn that my favorite temperature range is 50-75 degrees. ha ha :)
2015 is in the past. My one year of full missionary service is over. I now have 5 months left, and a new year ahead. Many people have asked me what is my New Years Resolution. Really, all I want for this year is to end my mission strong in a few months and then make a smooth transition to college. Easy enough. I want to remain motivated and truly learn the doctrine of Enduring to the End and relating to my missionary service. To help with that.. a wise man in my ward said yesterday, "It is the effort that brings the Spirit, and not the Spirit that brings the effort." I hope everyone can take that principle and apply it into their goals for the New Year.. and so will I.
The gospel is True!
Love Sister Kylie Williams
