So, yeah! I had a pretty awesome
week! We ran out of miles again so we had to bike which was great! It
was good for my health and it was pretty warm this week so we weren't
freezing. So... I also just saw the video that Cade sent... those
elders.... :) But yeah! So, with the skirt, I would send it through the
mission home. We have transfers in about 2 weeks and I heard there are
going to be huge changes. There are 17 sisters going home this next
transfer and only 6 are coming out. Pretty scary. We heard that right
now, there are going to be 7 areas shut down and that at least one
sister per zone will be training. It's always these months that we have a
very small amount of missionaries coming out. But the good thing is
that, just like with me, we will have a huge amount come out in the
spring and summer months which are just around the corner! I can feel
it! I am getting some serious spring fever!!!!
Como
Park was amazing! I am seriously going to have to bring you back here!
The zoo is completely free and it is beautiful! I found that my favorite
part was the conservatory. It was a giant greenhouse and it was filled
with the coolest plants! It also had a ton of orchids throughout the
whole thing! Then, at the end, there is a room that has a small pond
that is used for wedding receptions and it was filled with so many
beautiful flowers! I have pictures but I forgot my camera cord so I will
get them to you next week.I also saw a man there just sitting on a
bench painting flowers with watercolors and I thought that it would be
so fun! He was super good too! I decided that when I am done, I am going
to do a TON of drawing and painting because I think I have lost a lot
of my touch! The animals were beautiful and did some cool stuff! I got a
super good picture of a snow leopard. She looked at me right as I took
the picture and I loved it! I decided that I may have to make a water
color of it when I get home! They also had a beautiful tiger there so I
hope I got some good shots for you mom! :)
So,
we have been doing a lot of recent convert/ less active work this week.
We went and had a lesson with some recent converts in our ward named
the Nortons. They are a fantastic family! They are coming up on their
year date and are preparing to enter the temple in April! So we are
going to be going through some more in depth lessons with them instead
of just the regular discussions. And they are excited about that. They
have kept a tally of all of the sets of missionaries that they have had
since they were baptized and how many times they have heard the
discussions. I can't remember how many missionaries they have had but I
have heard that they have had the discussions 8 times! WOW! They are
such a good family though! They have had some recent adversity come to
them too. Their work schedules have made it so that Brother N
hasn't made it to church. So we are helping them to learn and supporting
them as they draw closer to their temple date! They have a sweet 11
year old daughter named E who is so awesome! She has about 9 months
before she turns 12 and she is counting down the days and months! She
can't wait to go and do baptisms for the dead and be in Young Women's.
She reminds me a lot of Billie when she was 11. :) It was great!
We
also had dinner with a woman in our ward named P. She is the super
awesome lady that said that I am refined and classy. Well... I wasn't so
classy or refined at dinner! She made us SO MUCH FOOD! So I tried to
take as little as possible of each food and it was so good! But by the
end, I was so bloated and full that I immediately had to use the
bathroom after eating. I felt so bad! Don't worry! I didn't throw up or
anything while I was in there but I sure was sick! Sister Turner laughed
so hard! :)
However, even with that struggle
we had a miracle!!! We received a referral named M from a woman in
Utah named J. J was adopted into a Latter-Day Saint family and
wanted to relocate her birth family. And she found M! When J
talked to M, she discovered that M was going to have a baby
and was going to put it up for adoption. So, they worked it out so that
J will be getting M's baby. M also brought up how she was
worried about life and how she wanted to understand why she was here.
So, J shared with her the basic doctrines of the church, and M was interested and wanted to learn more!!! However, M was living
with her mother who is not a fan of the church, So, when Sister Turner
and I went to meet M, we were scared to death! But we prayed that
Heavenly Father would let us in and help us to reach M. Well, we
got in and M was the one to answer the door!!! :) When we
introduced ourselves, she got so excited and talked about how J said
that missionaries would come! Then she asked if we set up appointments!
So we are going to be teaching her this week!!! I am so excited! She was
such a sweet lady!
We had a dinner on Friday
this week with the K family and I LOVE the K family! Sister
K is so much like Cheryl it's CRAZY!!! She is so stinkin' funny! And
her daughters are all so beautiful and fun! She has 5 kids, 4 girls and
1 boy. They are so much fun! We talked about everything from fishing to
why the Hunger Games movie was cast all wrong! (no joke, that's exactly
what we talked about). And we laughed so hard I thought my sides were
going to split! That Sunday was the best though. Whenever we go to the
K's for dinner, which is about 2 to 3 times a month, Brother K
isn't there because he has a crazy work schedule. He is also in the
Bishopric so he is super busy! But he came up to us this Sunday and
shook my hand and said, "So I heard that you had a super fun night a few
nights ago with my family." and when I looked at him he had the warmest
smile on his face, almost like he was thanking us. Later in the day,
Sister K took Sister Turner aside and said that her daughters were
so happy that night and loved us. She said that we were the kind of
influences and examples that her daughters needed and she was so
grateful. So, that was AWESOME!!! Especially since we have been working
super hard to increase our unity with the ward. We are really focusing
on helping the young women to have a good relationship with us so that
they too will want to come out teaching with us and hopefully go out and
serve themselves!
We also taught B. R.
this weekend too! I asked her if she had a CD player and she said no.
But she loves having us over. She is such a sweet lady! It was so
embarrassing too! We were biking for the last day and it was a little
chilly. So when we came into B's apartment, it was super warm and
inviting and I am going to admit, I dosed off for like 2 seconds and
almost fell off my chair. Then I was awake the rest of the lesson. Poor
Sister Turner on the other hand, had not slept well and was totally
falling asleep through the whole reading! When i read 2 verses with
B, I looked at her to let her know it was her turn and she said,
"it's your turn." So I very quietly said, "I just read 2". It was so
funny! :) And B had no idea because she has really bad eyesight. I
felt so guilty. So, we are going to make sure that this week we get
enough sleep so that it doesn't happen again!
We
went to St. Francis for the first time too to see a woman that one of
our active sisters asked us to visit. She was so fun! Her name was C
and she was really nice. It was funny too because she told us all that
we needed to know about World of Warcraft and Second Life. Two online
interactive games that she plays everyday. I think my favorite thing
that she told us was that every time the elders would stop by to see
her, she was raiding a castle or stuck in a dungeon and could come to
the door. It was funny! I kind of felt bad too because I thought of all
the cool things she could be doing and experiencing but she was stuck in
these game worlds and wouldn't leave to see the real world but, I guess
if she was happy, then I guess that's all you can ask for. She really
was a sweet lady.
On Sunday, we had the
opportunity to go with the elders to the Bishop's for dinner. It was
such a blessing too because we had to do two weeks worth of shopping and
we missed the mark by 2 days so we were all out of food. So, we decided
that we would have rice for dinner if no one signed up. Well, Sister
P saw that no one had signed up and she knew that it was fast
Sunday so she invited both of our companionships to dinner. They already
feed us every Wednesday. They are such stellar people! We decided that
they are our mission mom and dad. They are so amazing! We love them so
much!
Today we got to see the Super bowl. Yep.
President approved us to watch it on Monday. However, we already knew
what happened because S gave us play by plays over texts. He knows
that Sister Turner loves football. The elders knew too because they had a
less active giving them play by plays also. It was weird. But also fun!
I started working on a letter to Sister Hopkinson... I didn't get to
finish it though. It's going to be a busy Monday next Monday because I
STILL have to send out your Christmas package! I am so sorry! But trust
me, you'll love it! :)
Anyways, we are in for a
lot of tracting this week! We had to drop all of our investigators and
completely start over so it should be fun! I'm sure that it means that
the Lord is preparing His children right now for us to teach and help
bring closer to Christ! Well, I love you so much and I hope you guys
have an awesome week! I hope it stays warm for you too! It certainly
isn't warm here! But the Sun has been up longer and longer everyday! I
love you!!!!
Love,
Sister Carlee Jacklin
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