Satan's in the Car!

     This week was a weird one. I felt like we were doing hard work and then I look at our numbers and I wonder what happened. 

     Puru and Preeti are officially moving on the 6th of September. We are sad to see them go but we are referring them to the missionaries up there and they are excited to stay in touch with the church. Puru got a better job up in Sacramento and it will be cheaper for them to live up there. This is also good news for me because now it will be even easier to visit them when I am done with my mission because all of my family lives about 30 minutes away from Sacramento.

     I think my favorite thing that happened this week though was yesterday. We got to church and Patricio was giving a talk! It was short and sweet but so good! He closed with a cute statement. He said "It is fun to be a Mormon!" He is doing so well! 

     Church was all around good yesterday. We had a good disussion on tithing and fast offerings in gospel essentials and then had a fun lesson on following up in relief society. Yesterday was all about missionary work, and it really got the members thinking. 

     Madelene left us a note this week that we weren't too happy with. She told us that she can't have visitors and that there was a family issue that needed to be taken care of so now she might be gone until November. We tried to get a hold of her but she never answered so we have decided that we need to drop her. She isn't taking this seriously enough and we want her to be more anxious to get baptized. So we will give her a little bit of time.

     We were also able to pick up an investigator that the Westlake elders were teaching. Her name is Wendy and she just moved into our area on Friday and Saturday. It was a terrible time to move in because we had a camp out and a wedding those two nights so a lot of the members were busy and were unable to help unpack. We had a few people show up which was great and she actually moved next door to the members who were having the wedding. They were so great even though they were busy. They have been doing as much as they can to help and make her feel welcomed. We haven't been able to officially teach Wendy yet but we have been able to help her and make a good connection.

     And here is all of the random stuff that happened or that I was thinking about.

This week we had some car issues. We had to be jumped three times, so we finally went in to the car shop. It took three hours to replace the battery and change the tires. Ridiculous right? We were going to have some of the other sisters come pick us up so that we could go work in our area for a little bit but by the time the elders got back to us to see what we needed we only had an hour left. We were so hungry though! For some reason we hadn't eaten breakfast so by the time we got to dinner (at 6) we were so ready to eat! It's funny how sitting at the mechanics wears you out. It has got to be all of the worldly stuff going on there. They have music playing the TV on and people talking about random things. 

      We did a ton of service on Saturday. We helped Wendy move but then we also helped with another wedding. Yep, that is my third one here. I should be a wedding planner when I get home. Lots of new ideas and cute things to try. It was weird too because we also had our dinner appointment at the wedding again. This time though it was at 7 and it was crepes! Yum! While we were there though it made me think. Sorry mom and dad but I really do want a reception. I want my friends to be there and celebrating with me. And I want a cute outside reception. Ok, now I promise I am done thinking about that stuff already haha.

OH OH OH!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KIERA AND MIRANDA!!!!! I forgot to mention both of them last week! I can't believe Miranda is 22 and Kiera is 21! I remember when Miranda was turing 12. I was so jealous of her going into Young Womens and leaving me behind in primary. And Kiera, we go too far back to even remember a specific birthday with her! Oh the good 'ol days!

    This week in my studies I found a great quote that I loved. It is by Elder Holland (go figure right?) it says "The past is to be learned from but not lived in." Amen! How many people do we know that need to apply that into their lives? Pretty much all of them I think.                                                         

     Ok, I also have a question. Sister Thompson and I were talking about how competitive parents were these days with their children and how their kids HAVE to be the best at everything. What is wrong with average? I can see needed to be good at school to get into college but really? Why do sports have to be the main focus? Why can't kids just go out and have fun every once in awhile? It's good for them! Let them breathe for five minutes!

      We also visited this older lady this week. She is so sweet! She is a friend of a member and came to church last week to hear the member speak. She was talking about our talks and mentioned this quote: "Be quick, be brilliant, be gone." haha I liked it. More so for testimonies though.

      Oh, funny story. We went to our Indian investigator's home this week and she was cooking lunch. We walked in and it smelled REALLY strong of onion. Ok, that isn't too bad. But then it was hot outside and her friend was there. A few minutes after being there her friend tells her that she should turn on the a/c because we were probably hot. Good idea! It was warm in there. At least I thought it was. The a/c turned on and the onion hit us like a thousand bricks. Our eyes were burning SO bad! When it was finally time to go we knelt down to say a prayer and I thought, "oh good! I can close my eyes for a minute and stop the burning." I don't think I have been so wrong. The second I started to pray the burning intensified. The onion couldn't leave my eyes which made it so much more painful! I closed the prayer as fast as I could and our investigator started to laugh at us. Our eyes were watering pretty good at this point and she told us that she was used to it but that our eyes couldn't handle it yet. Wasn't that the truth! Remind me not to cook with so much onion in a small apartment. Totes to the foreign mission.

    I promise I am almost done. I just need to add in the compliment now. This week we will go with Sister Nielsen! She has been so incredible with helping the work move forward. She is so willing to help in any way that she can even while she is trying to balance things at home. We are so grateful to her and all that she does for us. 

   Now that this email is a thousand years long. I will let you all go. Have a fantastic week and to all of you in school have fun back to homework! ;) Love you all!

Sister Skeeter

      

Eternity in the Here and Now

 

     Hey guys! Yes I am calling you guys because that is what you are. Not Elders and Sisters. Sometimes I miss using that phrase, but then other times I think "I should probably be more grown up anyway." Just so you know and to follow up on my goals. I am failing at more dignified language. One of these days I will be better.

   Uh oh, this one is going to be short. Dang it! I have a lot to say today!

This week felt really fast but looking back on it I feel like transfers were a long time ago! I'm not even sure what happened this week.
      We found a less active this week. We were knocking in a neighborhood and a young man opened the door. We were able to talk to him for a little bit and he told us that he was baptized by his uncle when he was younger. He then told us that religion didn't interest him but that maybe in the future he would see a need for it. I am determined to get him to see the importance of it right now. Especially since he is college age. That is when I needed religion the most. Sadly though, he is YSA so we referred him to the Elders and we are hoping that they can get in contact with him.
       We were also able to teach Millie a couple of times this week. We went over and did some service for her and then read some of the Book of Mormon. She has been staying strong which is great and now she is planning on going to the temple with the ward to start doing baptisms for her family names! She won't be able to do the baptizing part but she wants to do the confirmations after so that will be a neat experience for her. I wish we could go with her and be there for her first time in the temple. I also just really want to go to the temple. I have been dying to have a companion with a birthday but no such luck yet. One of these days I will be able to go.
       We were also able to meet with Madelene this week. She is doing well and is excited for her baptism! She is still working toward the 6th of September and is coming to church each week, even when she doesn't feel well. I love watching people make church a priority.
     Ok, one other update. We taught a PM/LA family this week and we have really been working on getting the wife more active and the husband more interested. We committed them to read and pray together each night last week. When we went on Saturday Sister Vudmaska says "You girls are going to be so proud, we have been reading every day. Sometimes we get really tired though, so we only read a few paragraphs each night." I was so happy to hear that! They are doing more than a lot of members! They also told us that Brother Vudmaska was the one to remind Sister Vudmaska that they forgot to pray one night so they knelt down together and said their prayers together. Brother Vudmaska is going to get baptized. We will hopefully be committing him to baptism tonight!

   Also a few weeks ago we ate Lavender ice cream. It was interesting! Not bad, but it reminded me of the essential oils haha. That was for Kayla Hi Kayla! (No not you Mikayla, a Kayla out here in T.O. :)

This week in RS we talked about eternal families and something that I have been studying this week was the millennium. I made a realization and then the teacher yesterday said the same thing. We are in eternity now! Our time on earth is included in eternity. It isn't just something that is going to start when we leave this earth life. I knew this already but I didn't really realize that until this week. So there you go. Love learning knew things each day! Having study time is the best thing ever! I wish we could just study all day every day.

    Anyway, my time is up! I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Sister Skeeter

Totes to My foreign mission

Funny quotes from this week that, taken out of context, sound completely ridiculous:

"It's crumbly but in a moist way."

"Hey! I didn't erase anything with my head!"

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel...and its not a train!"

     This week was full of miracles! We started doing this dinner message that was based off of S. Gifford Nielsen's talk given in October about how missionaries and members can work together. We give the members a piece of paper that has our names on it a few of the investigators names and needs and then a place for the members to write the names of people they want to start working with. We then commit them to pray for us by name as well as the investigators. I saw miracles in the other areas when we started this message and we are continuing to see the miracles.

     The first one this week was when we went to go see an investigator named Madelene. Sister Thompson and I were telling Sister Dixon how hard Madelene was to teach and that she does everything but she won't be baptized. The first thing that Madelene does when we get to her house is pull out her calendar and ask when she can be baptized! We were not expecting that at all! So exciting! So she is now set with a date of September 6th. We are hoping she will push it forward, but we are happy that she is considering baptism now.

     The next was that we went and saw Puru and Preeti. They are an indian couple that the elders found. Sister Thompson and I have been struggling to decide if we should drop them or not but each time we decide to let them go for a little bit they start progressing again. So this week we went over to see how they were doing and the spirit in their home had totally changed. They were so happy and so different. They told us that they had been praying together which is a huge deal. They read over scriptures that we had given them and Puru told us that he while he was reading them he realized what he needed to do to be a better father and husband. It was so exciting! We were also able to teach them the word of wisdom yesterday in a member's home. The interesting this was that Puru had just been telling Preeti that he wanted to quit smoking and drinking but had to find the drive and will power to do it. During the lesson things went really well. We talked to Puru about how we could help him and found out what he was willing to do. We committed them to live the word of wisdom at the end and they both seemed excited to do so. After we left they stayed behind and talked to the member for awhile. They told her that that was the best lesson that they had ever had. Puru was so excited and ready to finally quit his bad habits. He was so humble and ready to change it was incredible to see the difference.

     This whole week my companions and I were talking about what kind of food we were craving and yesterday at dinner we got all of our cravings. The members had no idea what kind of miracle they were helping with but it was definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. I like to think that He gives us the food that we want every once in awhile to show us His gratitude for our service. 

    We were also able to go on exchanges this week. Exchanges are my favorite days in the transfer. It is a day for me to learn and see how other sisters work. This one we saw many miracles but for some reason it was different. It was one of those days that I was so spiritually exhausted and work seemed really hard. It was good for me to see the miracles however. It showed me that even when the work is hard I need to keep pushing forward and the miracles will still happen. It was fun to work with Sister Snow though. She is a powerful missionary who loves to work. 

   Oh in case you were wondering. The movie Charly. Sad right? Well guess what. There is a man in our ward and that story is based off of his life. Want to know the saddest part? The ferris wheel thing was just hollywood making the movie cuter. LAME!

     Compliment of the week goes to Miranda Kay. Ever since Junior High she has always been an example to me of how to show Christ like love and to stand up for what she believes no matter what the situation is. I am grateful that I have been able to know her for so long. 

   Oh! Guess what I realized last night! Yesterday was my year mark for going through the temple! WOO! I don't feel like it has been that long at all! Sometimes I feel like life at home and time have just been put on pause. I half expect that when I get back it will still be October of '13 and all of my friends will be single again and living at home. I dread the day that I have to come home and face the fact that nothing will be the same (ha random tangent).ANYWAY, I have been dying to go to the temple, ever since I have been on my mission. I am praying that I don't get sent to some far away city in December so that I can actually go on my birthday. I have yet to be able to do a session as a missionary, and that has been my goal since I got set apart. It will happen before I get home. Hopefully. 

Well, it is time for me to go. And thus I end mine epistle. I am Sister Woods, daughter of Woods. Amen