Email August 26, 2013

Hello lovlies!!

Well, it has been quite a week! Things here are starting to warm up and the sun has finally broken through the clouds! I really hope it last because the cold just isn't very funny to me....at all! Haha I am learning fast and have had about 3 meltdowns about how hard this is and how I just can't seem to figure myself out...let alone open my mouth! We had district finding on Wednesday which is just a nice way of saying TRACTING. Yes I still hate it. Yes it is terrifying. Yes people are horribly rude. Anyway...Sister Eldredge made me knock on a door and talk at our FIRST house and I was mortified. I knocked and a really nice Aussie answered the door which is kind of a big deal because we don't meet nice Aussies very often. Anyway, she was a young mom with three adorable kids that I am not allowed to hold and I stumbled over my words and I am still not sure if what I said made any sense at all. All I know is that I said something about The Family: A Proclamation to the World and then smiled stupidly as she stared blankly at me. Feeling extremely silly, I blurted out, " I'm sorry. This is my first time doing this." She laughed at me and told me it was fine and GUESS WHAT!! We set up a return appointment with her and I love her and I am so excited about it because I was a big girl and I did it all by myself!! Now this might now seem like a very big deal to you but it is HUGE for me because after that, I got about 10 more doors slammed in my face before we stopped tracting because we had an appointment and it was pouring and I couldn't feel my face anymore! So yeah...I hate tracting. Nothing new.

I only get mail once a week and it takes much longer to get here than it does to get there so I have only gotten two little notes from Mama P and that's it but I am hoping to get the rest of your letters and things this Thursday when we have District Meeting! And please keep sending them even if it takes me a while to respond! I am SO busy but getting letters is better than a 5 year old on Christmas! It's so great!

We went tracting again the other day and every single person rejected us. It was awesome...Then we went to follow up with a potential investigator and her husband yelled at us to get off of his property. I almost cried...It was so terrifying! I don't understand why people have to be so mean. I am a sad 19 year old girl for crying out loud! Oh! Speaking of being yelled at, this morning I was vacuuming our car out at like 6:30am and the lady next door screamed at us! She said the 'bloody' word which is like the F word here. So yeah that was scary too...haha I won't be vacuuming the car in the morning anymore....Oh and more yelling....so this week at ward correlation on Saturday with Bishop Ween and the ward mission leader, we got chastised for having too many investigators who wanted to come to church because we didn't have enough members willing to take them. Crazy right!? So after that Sister Eldredge and I felt like we couldn't do anything right because at zone conference on Thursday we got in trouble for not getting enough people to church and then when we had 12 investigators confirmed to come, we got in trouble. It was not a good day...Haha lucky the Elders called us and told us to keep up the good work. I love our Elders. They are so amazing! It's like having my big brothers with me :)

We taught young women's yesterday which was kinda scary since I am pretty sure they all hate Americans...at least that's the excuse I'm using. They didn't participate at all and the leaders were not helping but other than that, it was good. Haha we taught on eternal marriage which was kinda ironic considering we're missionaries aka nuns right now! It was fun to teach though because members are a lot more forgiving than investigators (even if they hate Americans). We fasted this week as well as last week and guess what....Sunday is fast Sunday so yeah we are fasting queens but it is good because we see the blessings almost immediately! Last night we were in a lesson with an investigator and she invited her "brother and sister" from her African village over for the lesson and the brother was actually a preacher and we taught them the first and second lesson AND invited them to be baptized and they accepted! It was incredible! They are excited about reading the Book of Mormon which is awesome because sometimes it is EXTREMELY difficult to help people understand why they need to read it! But yeah it was great! We also had a first lesson with another beautiful African family and the father said straight up, "If this wasn't true, you wouldn't be here." So that was so great and we are so excited to help them and work with them and get to know them! Ah! It's amazing!

So I have decided that I am just about the worst missionary ever because I am terrified of people...just in general. That is what my latest meltdown was about. I couldn't even role play talking to our investigators because I was so nervous about it...but I know it will come and I will learn. Sister Eldredge is great and she pushes me but she is very patient with me so it is great! Hahaha something funny that she always does is that when our investigators don't speak English, she always says Jesus Christ in Spanish and it cracks me up because not a single one of our investigators speaks Spanish. It is so hard not to laugh every time. It totally pulls me out of the spirit in the lesson sometimes which is horrible but it is so funny sometimes that I just can't help it. The confused look on their faces is priceless. I haven't said anything to her about it yet because I love it. Haha oops...does that make me a terrible person? Probably. I will work on that.

Speaking of working on things, I never realized how imperfect I am. This obedience thing isn't hard but it is just so much to remember! We spend so much time calculating numbers and setting daily, weekly, monthly, and transfer-ly goals that are so in depth! It is exhausting but I am learning a lot about organization so that's good I guess! My brain is so tired and I sleep SO well at night but it is great because I know that I am working as hard as I possibly can! Prayers are encouraged and greatly appreciated still though! Missionary work is not easy!! Don't let anyone fool you! But it is so rewarding! I am growing so much and I am almost a big girl about talking to people...well kinda. I'll get it. Patience is the next thing on my list of things to learn!

Well that is all I have for you this week that I can remember! I love you all so much and I will try to respond to all of the emails I got! I have 30 minutes left and 16 emails to respond to so I am so sorry if I don't answer yours! Thank you for all the love, support, and prayers! I couldn't do this without all of you! Cheers!! :)