jay-dub's

So this week was much like last week...that is...we are working on finding people.We talked to a lot of people this week! 

Monday we had more quilting. I am now 1/3 of the way done!! yay! i have everything cut and all of the blue sewn together. It's so exciting to see this coming all together!! (Sis Carlile is taking pictures as we go along...so I don't have them with me!) That night we were able to visit with David. He is the director at Gazebo, the old folk's home, and has told Sis D and I that we both have a job if we ever want one. He's pretty cool! We were able to have a great conversation with him about the Book of Mormon and the atonement. It was pretty amazing.

Tuesday we woke up super early so that we could get ready for the day and then go to seminary and then go to College Station for Specialized Training and Interviews with President Mortensen!! [On our drive there...it was SUPER FOGGY!!! Never have I ever driven through fog, let alone fog that you can only see like 10-15 ft ahead of you!] That man is so inspired. I've come to love him a lot. Something I've learned since that is that we don't need the church, the church needs us. It is though our gifts and talents that we are able to unite with the Lord and come together on this special journey of life. When we invite others to serve, we allow them to feel needed. It is harder to tell someone "Hey! you need the gospel." If you approach it as "Hey!! The church needs you!" you will find more ready and willing hands to serve. They may not join the church at that exact moment, but you will be able to do your part in inviting them to come closer to you. (For mor answers on how to better attune your missionary work, So Clayton M Christensen's book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" or visit everydaymissionaries.org.) After our session of interviews, I got to go on exchanges with Sister McLean (again, I love her!!) because our companions were helping with the training. After, I got to stick around for the last 20 minutes of training because they (Sis McLean and Andreasen) had an appointment with an investigator. That was awesome to be able to see how the Spirit directs teaching to be different to each group. That evening we had dinner with the Jensen's and found out that Bro J was going to be in AZ this weekend and would take some things home if i needed to! Happy day!! I was so happy to get some stuff sent home :) At dinner we were able to "Master Teach" the Restoration to them. It was SO very powerful. I am grateful for the opportunity which I have to be a missionary!!

Side note- we've started listening to Christmas music. It's my favorite.

Wednesday we got our week started.We started with going to Alma's and reviewing conference with her. SHE HAS GROWN SO MUCH!! It is beautiful to watch the gospel change her. After we went to help clean and serve at Freedom Hill. We got the room mostly organized!! It's awesome!! After lunch, we went to go and visit a few potentials before we headed tout to Kruze Village to help with bingo. Did you know that older people out here don't say Cheetos like normal? I wish you could hear some of them say it. it sounds more like chEE-toe's. Sister D and I get a crack up out of it. After some tracting, we had dinner and went to correlation meeting. Per-usual, it was great!

Thursday we had the shortest planning session Sis D and I have ever had. It was 2.3 hours. We decided to reward ourselves by getting ice cream at the Blue Bell factory before going to our lunch appointment. Shame, shame I know...but they are dollar scoops there and it was a good incentive. Lunch was at the Gouge's and we were able to arrange to come out again this week to help pick up pecans. (I love pecans). After that and doing service at gazebo, we did some tracting and finding before heading up to the Jarnagin's for dinner and family history with Janice. That night proved to be pretty awesome. We all got a little more excited about doing family history!

Friday we had district meeting and we learned more about faith. It was a really great lesson and I was able to grow my testimony by sharing it. After lunch, we went back to the Jarnagin's to help her clean their window's. (They are putting their house up on the market :( ) After, we went to New Beginnings to help them out because we weren't able to help them on Tuesday or last week. I love the ladies there. They are so sweet and happy. That evening after dinner, we went to visit Sister Tieman. There were REAL, LIVE LIGHTNING BUGS GLOWING ALL UP AND DOWN HER NEIGHBORHOOD. CHECK OFF THE BUCKET LIST. Now all I gotta do is catch them and put them in a jar. THAT is still on the bucket list. Anyways, it was cool.

Saturday was the Scarecrow festival in Chappell Hill. We wanted to go contacting there and the weather was proving to keep the rain in the clouds. (It's been a beautiful gloomy all weekend.) and guess what...we got 25 contacts that day AND I got to see Sister Lambros from the Sealy branch. That was cool.BUT WHAIT!!! I FORGOT TO EXPLAIN THE TITLE OF MY EMAIL!!! So right as we were getting ready to leave, there was a knock on our front door. I looked through the hole and saw 2 people standing there...we got tracted out by the Jehovah's Witnesses!! Sister Davis told me to open it and so I did. We had a pleasant and wonderful conversation with them where we were able to give them a restoration pamphlet...because they gave us a watchtower. It was a funny exchange. As we were leaving to get in our car like 6 JW's turned the corner. Sis D whispered "They're surrounding us!!!" to me and pretty soon we were talking to all of them. It was an interesting start to the day. We did family history and then went out to visit and to try to find more people. That night we were so tired we watched The Testaments and we wrote cards to addresses that were PO Boxes. It was great.

Sunday we had the usual meetings and church. We came home, ate lunch, and got a call from the Elders. We are trying to come up with ideas about how we can work together better. It seems to be working! After studies we went to the Michel's to follow up on a commitment we had left them and invited them to do more. We had dinner with the Bigg's and we had deer for dinner! It was pretty good! After, we got to watch the women's session of conference! (FINALLY!!) It was amazing. Let me just say that it is wonderful!!

This week we were able to strengthen our testimonies. I've come to realize that when you're desperate, you can sometimes go to extreme measures. If you have the Lord on your side, you can do anything.

ps- the picture of me and the horse is the horse that is right by the church building. There is a field and it lives there. I love to pet it's nose.

--Sister Carling