September 13, 2010
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! What the heck! This is my last week! hahaha, I was explaining my feelings to some members last night at dinner and Sister James told me that the week before her brother came home from his mission, he said that his feelings were so "bipolar". hahaha. She explained it perfectly the way I feel. Bipolar as in getting really excited to come home to see you all and go to the temple again but then getting super nervous and scared because this is the way I've lived my life for the past 18 months........now what lies ahead for the rest of my life and how do I go about getting back into that life? Like school and work and all that jazz. During church yesterday, I started to have a little hyperventilating moment inside of me when I realized that I only have one more Sunday on my mission. One more Sunday where I run around like crazy! This is just a little bit scary! But I know you guys will keep me super busy and preoccupied :) And I know everything will work out fine too. It always does. But all in all, I do feel very at peace about coming home. Those hyperventilating moments just come every now and then, but then I am at peace again, haha. Oh my, I still can't believe it. By the way, when will we get to go to the temple???
ANYWAY, we had a great week this week. We got to see the Wolfford's and we are seeing them again tonight. We talked about them starting to do family prayer and family scripture study together and they told us that they had already talked about that just a couple days before. They are just so fantastic!!! We are doing a Family Home Evening tonight with them to help them get in that groove of doing that too. They are seriously people that I will look up to my whole life and remember them with such fondness!!! It's going to be hard not being able to see their baptism. But as long as they do it, then that is all that matters. Speaking about cool people and referrals, this ward is so amazing at being member missionaries! There was another family who brought their neighbor to church last week and we met with her in their home this past week. Her name is Dawn and she is great. Hasn't really had much religious exposure in her life but she's so sweet and open. She has an 8 year old daughter who is totally into going to church too. I'm telling ya, a lot of awesome things are going on right now!!
We also found a new investigator named Stephen. We met him at a public forum on campus. He was on the phone and Sister Johnson just slipped him a Mormon.org card as he walked by and about 5 minutes later he came back and asked her a bunch of questions. We met with him this week and he is way cool! He knows a LOT about the bible and his dad was some kind of christian minister, but the questions he asks are not trying to bash. They are totally sincere and he seems like he is really trying to figure this stuff out.
One other fun thing for this past week.....the YSA branch had a BARN DANCE! :) hahaha. We invited some investigators so we showed up for a bit. I think it was totally preparing me for having fun going country dancing again some day! :) Don't worry, we didn't dance or anything. We helped out in the kitchen and talked to people, but it was still fun watching people learn how to square dance.......or I should say TRYING to learn how to dance! And another cool thing about it, it was a combined YSA activity for people in other stakes as well. So I saw a girl from my first area in Elizabethtown and then a kid from my second area in Dover! That was so fun to see them and talk to them again! Almost like bringing back my mission to one area :) And of course, since those areas were at the beginning of my mission, they told me "I thought you'd be long gone by now" hahaha. Not quite yet guys.
This week is going to be an awesome week too. Hopefully it'll be the best, most amazingly spirit-filled, full of miracles week of my whole mission. That's what I'm praying for anyway. You guys can pray that I can have that kind of week too if you want. But we are going to be seeing everyone we possibly can. We even got an appointment to see Karen Rath (who was supposed to be baptized in July but dropped us) so I could give her my info and say goodbye to her. Oh and get excited because I'm going to bring home some Amish treats! mmmmmm, they are so good! :)
I hope you guys have a fantastic week! Love you all SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much! See you in 8 days! Oh, and I will be checking my email again next Monday, so you can still write to me then too :) I'll still be here! Love you!!
Love, Holly
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Week 72 - Wow, only 2 weeks!
September 7, 2010
Hello!
I can't believe it's only two weeks now! Even though this transfer has been a little rough, it's been going by really fast. I can't wait to see you guys again though! We'll have some fun :)
This week has been pretty awesome. Last Tuesday, the other sisters moved into a new apartment, so we helped them do that and we happened to do it in the middle of the day and on the hottest day of the week. OH my goodness! My eyes and my body the rest of the day were just exhausted, haha. It was a fun day though. Let me tell you a little about the Wolfford's. They are such a great family! They've probably been the most unique, amazing teaching experience I've had my whole mission. It's like the way missionary work really is supposed to go! haha. The neighbors who are members, the Burgess's, play such a huge role in this, I love it. But the Wolfford's came to church on Sunday and Bill said that it was his favorite meeting he's been to so far (fast and testimony meeting). He even said he felt prompted to go up and share his testimony but he pushed that thought down because he wasn't ready to do that. Then, it being fast Sunday, we didn't have any dinners signed up which is kind of a bummer. But all of a sudden after church, the Wolfford's called us up and said how about you come over to eat at our house and then we'll have our lesson. Oh man, they are just so great and so prepared! During there lesson, we taught the plan of salvation and one of their boys, Cameron, must have learned it in primary one week because he was helping us teach it! It was so cooool! We also talked a lot about baptism too. They say that they know they are eventually going to take that route, but Bill says he just needs to get over the fact that he's been baptized before. He didn't fully quite grasp it yet. BUT THEN Brother Burgess started talking about the Holy Ghost and how it is our constant companion after we are baptized and receive that gift and that really hit him! After our lesson, we went outside and was talking to the Burgess's and Bill came running back out and told us he had one more question, do Mormons baptize by just faith? You know he's really thinking and contemplating it. It's such a testimony builder to me too! I know I said it before, but this has been the most interesting and perfect teaching scenario I've had my whole mission! We're teaching them again tonight and I'm still secretly hoping and praying that they will be baptized before I leave! If not, that's OK too. It would be really fast trying to do that, but I'm still really hoping for that! haha, I know, it's really selfish of me. As long as they do it sometime, it'll make me happy!
Another family in the ward brought their neighbor to church this past week! This ward has just been amazing with giving referrals! We are also having dinner at their home tonight and this neighbor is coming over as well so we can start teaching her. Her name is Dawn. After church on Sunday, I went up to go talk to her to tell her it was nice to meet her and told her hopefully we'll get to see her again next week and she said "Ya! I really liked this!" If this ward keeps this up with inviting their friends, it'll actually be the way the prophet and apostles always want it to be like! haha, it's great!
Amber is still set to be baptized on Oct 23rd. We had an amazingly spirit filled lesson with her this past week. She was telling us how she doesn't feel worthy of receiving all these blessings and being baptized because of the life she used to live. She's such a cutie. But she has that desire and really wants to change her life around, so we definitely told her how she IS worthy and this is why the Lord has brought her to this point. She is always worthy to accept the gospel. :)
Let's see, what else.......this week has just rushed by! I know these next two weeks are too because this week is already full of things to do and next week I need to start saying goodbye to people! Wow! Good things are going on though and I am super excited to continue to see miracles for the next two weeks! I know they are going to happen! I love you guys a lot and can't wait to see you in two weeks!!!!!!!!! Have a fantastic week! Stay happy, stay strong and keep sharing the gospel!
LOVE YOU!
Love, Holly
Hello!
I can't believe it's only two weeks now! Even though this transfer has been a little rough, it's been going by really fast. I can't wait to see you guys again though! We'll have some fun :)
This week has been pretty awesome. Last Tuesday, the other sisters moved into a new apartment, so we helped them do that and we happened to do it in the middle of the day and on the hottest day of the week. OH my goodness! My eyes and my body the rest of the day were just exhausted, haha. It was a fun day though. Let me tell you a little about the Wolfford's. They are such a great family! They've probably been the most unique, amazing teaching experience I've had my whole mission. It's like the way missionary work really is supposed to go! haha. The neighbors who are members, the Burgess's, play such a huge role in this, I love it. But the Wolfford's came to church on Sunday and Bill said that it was his favorite meeting he's been to so far (fast and testimony meeting). He even said he felt prompted to go up and share his testimony but he pushed that thought down because he wasn't ready to do that. Then, it being fast Sunday, we didn't have any dinners signed up which is kind of a bummer. But all of a sudden after church, the Wolfford's called us up and said how about you come over to eat at our house and then we'll have our lesson. Oh man, they are just so great and so prepared! During there lesson, we taught the plan of salvation and one of their boys, Cameron, must have learned it in primary one week because he was helping us teach it! It was so cooool! We also talked a lot about baptism too. They say that they know they are eventually going to take that route, but Bill says he just needs to get over the fact that he's been baptized before. He didn't fully quite grasp it yet. BUT THEN Brother Burgess started talking about the Holy Ghost and how it is our constant companion after we are baptized and receive that gift and that really hit him! After our lesson, we went outside and was talking to the Burgess's and Bill came running back out and told us he had one more question, do Mormons baptize by just faith? You know he's really thinking and contemplating it. It's such a testimony builder to me too! I know I said it before, but this has been the most interesting and perfect teaching scenario I've had my whole mission! We're teaching them again tonight and I'm still secretly hoping and praying that they will be baptized before I leave! If not, that's OK too. It would be really fast trying to do that, but I'm still really hoping for that! haha, I know, it's really selfish of me. As long as they do it sometime, it'll make me happy!
Another family in the ward brought their neighbor to church this past week! This ward has just been amazing with giving referrals! We are also having dinner at their home tonight and this neighbor is coming over as well so we can start teaching her. Her name is Dawn. After church on Sunday, I went up to go talk to her to tell her it was nice to meet her and told her hopefully we'll get to see her again next week and she said "Ya! I really liked this!" If this ward keeps this up with inviting their friends, it'll actually be the way the prophet and apostles always want it to be like! haha, it's great!
Amber is still set to be baptized on Oct 23rd. We had an amazingly spirit filled lesson with her this past week. She was telling us how she doesn't feel worthy of receiving all these blessings and being baptized because of the life she used to live. She's such a cutie. But she has that desire and really wants to change her life around, so we definitely told her how she IS worthy and this is why the Lord has brought her to this point. She is always worthy to accept the gospel. :)
Let's see, what else.......this week has just rushed by! I know these next two weeks are too because this week is already full of things to do and next week I need to start saying goodbye to people! Wow! Good things are going on though and I am super excited to continue to see miracles for the next two weeks! I know they are going to happen! I love you guys a lot and can't wait to see you in two weeks!!!!!!!!! Have a fantastic week! Stay happy, stay strong and keep sharing the gospel!
LOVE YOU!
Love, Holly
Week 71- already???
August 30, 2010
Hi! :)
I just wanted to let you guys know that I got my flight plans in the mail on Saturday! AAAAHHHHH!!!! I started hyperventilating, hahaha. I've sort of not really believed that this time is coming, but this made it a little more real. It's weird but I am really excited to see all of you again! Oh and as for next weeks email, since the library will be closed on Monday, I'll probably write to you guys on Tuesday. So you can expect it then, but don't forget to write to me too! :)
So this week was a lot better then last. And we finally got to teach the Wolfford's last night! (Bill, Jenifer, Gunner, and Cameron). They are the family that some members referred to us. Oh my gosh, it was a great lesson! Bill straight-forwardly said "I'm all primed and ready for you!" haha, they are great. He's read in the Book of Mormon up to 1 Nephi 7 before we started teaching them and he's really been studying it and digging into it. He says that a lot of the things he is learning about the church are already things he has believed all his life, but hadn't found a church that shared the same beliefs and that he really does feel that God has put him on this path. He also says that he feels he's been mormon all his life without knowing it, haha. I followed up and asked if they've been able to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true yet and he says that's the part he's scared about. He knows the answer he will get but that he's not ready to ask the question. So silly. The Burgess's (the members) are great though and they testified and the Wolfford's really look up to them. It's great too because he already knows so much because of the Burgess's, knows that we are there to eventually help him to baptism, so nothing is a surprise. I LOVE it!!! This seriously is the best way for missionary work.
We had a lesson with Jess this past week on the word of wisdom. This is something that she is definitely going to struggle with. This will be the thing that will determine her baptism. Dangit, I hate cigarettes!!! She's going to pray about it though and try to find strength from God, so we'll see how she is feeling by our next lesson.
Oh! And we had a lesson with our chinese investigator, Shawn. We talked a lot about baptism and he says that a lot of the things he is learning make sense to him and he feels the peace as he is learning about it. So we invited him to pray about baptism and he said that he knows what answer he'll get but that means that he is committed to become christian. haha, it's funny how all these people already KNOW what answer they will get but they are scared. Shawn is great though and we just need to continue to help him gain that faith in Jesus Christ. Then I'm pretty sure he'll be good. :) So when we teach the young single adults, we teach on campus in the spiritual center. That's where we have church too. Anyway, so we were teaching Shawn in there and this kid walks into the room and just sort of walks around, looking at pictures and lingering. Eventually, as we were wrapping up with Shawn, he came up to us and was like "excuse me, what group are you from?" So we told him (his name is Daniel) and he asked us if it'd be ok if he sat in and listened. Of Course!!! :) We found out that he has a copy of the Book of Mormon and has read Moroni's promise to pray about it and took that challenge to heart. He said he felt he got an answer of no it isn't true, but he's still searching. It was a great Q&A time we had with him! We invited him to church and he said that he would definitely try praying again to see if now is the right timing to receive a yes answer. It was a cool experience!
Well, I hope everything is going so well for you all at home! I love you all so stinkin much and can't wait to see you in just a few weeks! Have a great week this week! Keep staying strong and sharing the gospel with people around you!!!! :)
Love, Holly
Hi! :)
I just wanted to let you guys know that I got my flight plans in the mail on Saturday! AAAAHHHHH!!!! I started hyperventilating, hahaha. I've sort of not really believed that this time is coming, but this made it a little more real. It's weird but I am really excited to see all of you again! Oh and as for next weeks email, since the library will be closed on Monday, I'll probably write to you guys on Tuesday. So you can expect it then, but don't forget to write to me too! :)
So this week was a lot better then last. And we finally got to teach the Wolfford's last night! (Bill, Jenifer, Gunner, and Cameron). They are the family that some members referred to us. Oh my gosh, it was a great lesson! Bill straight-forwardly said "I'm all primed and ready for you!" haha, they are great. He's read in the Book of Mormon up to 1 Nephi 7 before we started teaching them and he's really been studying it and digging into it. He says that a lot of the things he is learning about the church are already things he has believed all his life, but hadn't found a church that shared the same beliefs and that he really does feel that God has put him on this path. He also says that he feels he's been mormon all his life without knowing it, haha. I followed up and asked if they've been able to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true yet and he says that's the part he's scared about. He knows the answer he will get but that he's not ready to ask the question. So silly. The Burgess's (the members) are great though and they testified and the Wolfford's really look up to them. It's great too because he already knows so much because of the Burgess's, knows that we are there to eventually help him to baptism, so nothing is a surprise. I LOVE it!!! This seriously is the best way for missionary work.
We had a lesson with Jess this past week on the word of wisdom. This is something that she is definitely going to struggle with. This will be the thing that will determine her baptism. Dangit, I hate cigarettes!!! She's going to pray about it though and try to find strength from God, so we'll see how she is feeling by our next lesson.
Oh! And we had a lesson with our chinese investigator, Shawn. We talked a lot about baptism and he says that a lot of the things he is learning make sense to him and he feels the peace as he is learning about it. So we invited him to pray about baptism and he said that he knows what answer he'll get but that means that he is committed to become christian. haha, it's funny how all these people already KNOW what answer they will get but they are scared. Shawn is great though and we just need to continue to help him gain that faith in Jesus Christ. Then I'm pretty sure he'll be good. :) So when we teach the young single adults, we teach on campus in the spiritual center. That's where we have church too. Anyway, so we were teaching Shawn in there and this kid walks into the room and just sort of walks around, looking at pictures and lingering. Eventually, as we were wrapping up with Shawn, he came up to us and was like "excuse me, what group are you from?" So we told him (his name is Daniel) and he asked us if it'd be ok if he sat in and listened. Of Course!!! :) We found out that he has a copy of the Book of Mormon and has read Moroni's promise to pray about it and took that challenge to heart. He said he felt he got an answer of no it isn't true, but he's still searching. It was a great Q&A time we had with him! We invited him to church and he said that he would definitely try praying again to see if now is the right timing to receive a yes answer. It was a cool experience!
Well, I hope everything is going so well for you all at home! I love you all so stinkin much and can't wait to see you in just a few weeks! Have a great week this week! Keep staying strong and sharing the gospel with people around you!!!! :)
Love, Holly
Week 70 - a lot of good stuff!
August 23, 2010
Hellooooooo!
It was so good to hear from all of you! Thanks for your emails. This week has been pretty good. A lot better then last week! Sister Johnson has started to get over her bronchitis and feeling better and I've gotten over my cold, now we can just be hard at work! I got the most EXCITING news on Saturday night! There is this girl in our ward named Kaitlin Moss who has been going out with us to prepare herself for her mission. She got her mission call on Saturday night, called me up and said "L-Dawg (that's what she calls me), would you be willing to go tracting with ME after your mission?" I freaked out and asked her if she was going to Boise and she said yes!!! YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for her! Heck yes I'll go tracting with her in Boise! I was seriously so excited, I was jumping and dancing around our apartment. It'll be so fun to have her out there and (selfishly) for me to still have a part of missionary work! hahaha. Are there any sisters areas near by our area? She better make sure to call me up to let me go out on exchanges with her! Yay! She goes into the MTC on November 17, so it'll be a while but I'm still stoked!
We were also able to set two of our investigators with a baptism date. The first one is Jess. She is married to a less-active member and lives in his active mothers home so Jess has been able to see what a change the gospel brings into their home. She's gone to several Relief Society activities too and she loves all the women. We've met with her quite a few times but this time we were finally able to set her with a date. She is set for Oct. 16 :) Ya, it's after I leave, but there is things she has to work on and I'm just excited that she's working for that day.
Our other investigator who is set with a date is named Amber. She is actually Jess's sister-in-law. Amber is married to Jess's brother. The sisters had met with her for quite a while a couple months ago but then things went on in Ambers life that made it to hectic and busy to keep meeting. She even had a baptism date for June but didn't get to it. But Amber came to a Relief Society activity and we got an appointment set up with her. As we visited with her she was telling us how she felt so bad that she didn't have time for the sisters but she wants to start working toward baptism again. She didn't want to steal Jess's thunder though, so she decided to do it after Jess's baptism. So she is set for Oct. 23. I'm so happy for these two! They are awesome girls!
Fall semester for Penn State started today so it is CRAZY busy!!! Everyone has been moving in, there are tons of Uhauls everywhere and the roads and Walmart have been packed! But you know what that means, right??? Lots and lots of work to do!!! We have a public forum tomorrow at the student union building, so I'm pretty sure we'll have tons of people to talk to. :)
Last thing that kind of made me sad.........with the new mission changes, they have a leadership training meeting for all the zone leaders, district leaders, trainers and some sisters. Me and another sister in this area were invited to go and I was soooooooooo excited about it! It is going to be in Harrisburg so I was going to be able to see that area again and I was excited to learn whatever they are going to have us learn. Well.....last night the zone leaders called Sister Cahoon and I and told us that we were uninvited. Sad, huh? I asked why and they didn't really give us a legitimate answer but the some of the other sisters still get to go. So that really bummed me out yesterday. Plus we blocked off all of thursday and friday to go and now we have nothing set to do! Do a mad rush of finding appointments I guess. I am just hoping that the reason he uninvited us is because President got some spiritual prompting that something AMAZING is going to happen to both sets of sisters here over those days. Let's hope so!!!
I love you all soo soo much! I'll see you in less then a month! Woah!! Have a great week and I'll talk to you all soon!
Love, Holly
Hellooooooo!
It was so good to hear from all of you! Thanks for your emails. This week has been pretty good. A lot better then last week! Sister Johnson has started to get over her bronchitis and feeling better and I've gotten over my cold, now we can just be hard at work! I got the most EXCITING news on Saturday night! There is this girl in our ward named Kaitlin Moss who has been going out with us to prepare herself for her mission. She got her mission call on Saturday night, called me up and said "L-Dawg (that's what she calls me), would you be willing to go tracting with ME after your mission?" I freaked out and asked her if she was going to Boise and she said yes!!! YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for her! Heck yes I'll go tracting with her in Boise! I was seriously so excited, I was jumping and dancing around our apartment. It'll be so fun to have her out there and (selfishly) for me to still have a part of missionary work! hahaha. Are there any sisters areas near by our area? She better make sure to call me up to let me go out on exchanges with her! Yay! She goes into the MTC on November 17, so it'll be a while but I'm still stoked!
We were also able to set two of our investigators with a baptism date. The first one is Jess. She is married to a less-active member and lives in his active mothers home so Jess has been able to see what a change the gospel brings into their home. She's gone to several Relief Society activities too and she loves all the women. We've met with her quite a few times but this time we were finally able to set her with a date. She is set for Oct. 16 :) Ya, it's after I leave, but there is things she has to work on and I'm just excited that she's working for that day.
Our other investigator who is set with a date is named Amber. She is actually Jess's sister-in-law. Amber is married to Jess's brother. The sisters had met with her for quite a while a couple months ago but then things went on in Ambers life that made it to hectic and busy to keep meeting. She even had a baptism date for June but didn't get to it. But Amber came to a Relief Society activity and we got an appointment set up with her. As we visited with her she was telling us how she felt so bad that she didn't have time for the sisters but she wants to start working toward baptism again. She didn't want to steal Jess's thunder though, so she decided to do it after Jess's baptism. So she is set for Oct. 23. I'm so happy for these two! They are awesome girls!
Fall semester for Penn State started today so it is CRAZY busy!!! Everyone has been moving in, there are tons of Uhauls everywhere and the roads and Walmart have been packed! But you know what that means, right??? Lots and lots of work to do!!! We have a public forum tomorrow at the student union building, so I'm pretty sure we'll have tons of people to talk to. :)
Last thing that kind of made me sad.........with the new mission changes, they have a leadership training meeting for all the zone leaders, district leaders, trainers and some sisters. Me and another sister in this area were invited to go and I was soooooooooo excited about it! It is going to be in Harrisburg so I was going to be able to see that area again and I was excited to learn whatever they are going to have us learn. Well.....last night the zone leaders called Sister Cahoon and I and told us that we were uninvited. Sad, huh? I asked why and they didn't really give us a legitimate answer but the some of the other sisters still get to go. So that really bummed me out yesterday. Plus we blocked off all of thursday and friday to go and now we have nothing set to do! Do a mad rush of finding appointments I guess. I am just hoping that the reason he uninvited us is because President got some spiritual prompting that something AMAZING is going to happen to both sets of sisters here over those days. Let's hope so!!!
I love you all soo soo much! I'll see you in less then a month! Woah!! Have a great week and I'll talk to you all soon!
Love, Holly
Week 69- I love you all SOOOOOO much
August, 16, 2010
Hello my dear wonderful family!
How are you all doing? I hope you are all holding up wonderfully and doing ok. I love you guys a lot! I'm not going to make this email long because I'm going to write everyone an individual email. So I'll just basically go over the things that happened this week to let you know all that is going on out here in State College.
So it's going pretty well! My new sisters name is Sister Johnson and she is from Mt. Vernon, WA.......and Abilene, TX. Raised in WA but more recently from TX. She is doing great though and excited to be a missionary! It's really interesting to see the difference between the two different missionaries that I've trained. And boy is it two different experiences!!!! hahaha. It's going great and Sister Johnson is trying her best. She got sick her very first day out here though. Sad, huh? She started out with a cold, with sore throat, cough, runny/stuffy nose, etc. That stinks to be sick right off the bat! But the ward members have been great to her and have brought her lots of cough drops, tissues, chicken noodle soup, orange juice, etc. And while we've been tracting, there have been a couple people who made her some herbal tea to help her. It's been precious. There really are some great people in the world! She thinks it's turning into tonsillitis so we did have to stay in for a bit on Friday night......which makes me go stir-crazy. But I guess if we don't let her get a little rest, it's never going to go away. Actually yesterday was quite a crazy Sunday!! The way church normally works for us on Sundays goes like this......we have PEC at 7:30 for our ward, so the other sisters come with us and do their personal study at the church since we share the car. Then after PEC, sometimes we do a split and two missionaries go to our home ward at 9:00 while the others go to the PEC/university branch at 10:00, which is over on the Penn State campus. Then they come back and go to Relief Society for their own ward. So Sundays are usually pretty nutty, but yesterday it was even more nutty! After we got out of PEC yesterday, we found out that one of the other sister missionaries was sick and throwing up. haha, good way to start the day! So we decided to take her home along with Sister Johnson since she wasn't feeling well still and let them rest. Then Sister Cahoon and I tried to manage three wards by ourselves, jumping back and forth from the church, to campus, back to church, etc. Crazy, crazy day! Then after all of church was over, luckily neither companionship had solid appointments for the night so we managed to work everything out great. We saw one of our investigators, had a dinner appointment with someone in their ward. I'm glad for the way the night worked out, haha. And I am also very grateful that Sister Cahoon was healthy so we could still go to church and go out and work. I hate sitting inside!!!! I'm taking Sister Johnson to the doctor today to get some medicine or something and hopefully she'll recover soon enough.
We did get a new investigator this week. He's way cool! His name is Shawn and he is Chinese. He's cool because he really wants to learn about God and what that really means. He did an exchange program in Alabama and lived with a minister so he learned a lot about Christianity through him. He gets so confused though with everything the world tells him, which is understandable. As we were talking about prophets and how we have one on the earth today, he got really excited and was like "REALLY????????" haha, it was cute. I'm excited for him to learn more. :)
Well it's definitely been a crazy first week of the transfer, probably one of the craziest ones I've had. But everything is going great here and I'm so excited for all the miracles that are going to happen this transfer! You guys are in my prayers, every prayer! I love you lots and can't wait to see you soon enough. Have a great week, keep a positive attitude and outlook and remember how wonderful the plan of salvation is!!!! It's such a blessing that we can know of it! Love you lots!
Love, Holly
Hello my dear wonderful family!
How are you all doing? I hope you are all holding up wonderfully and doing ok. I love you guys a lot! I'm not going to make this email long because I'm going to write everyone an individual email. So I'll just basically go over the things that happened this week to let you know all that is going on out here in State College.
So it's going pretty well! My new sisters name is Sister Johnson and she is from Mt. Vernon, WA.......and Abilene, TX. Raised in WA but more recently from TX. She is doing great though and excited to be a missionary! It's really interesting to see the difference between the two different missionaries that I've trained. And boy is it two different experiences!!!! hahaha. It's going great and Sister Johnson is trying her best. She got sick her very first day out here though. Sad, huh? She started out with a cold, with sore throat, cough, runny/stuffy nose, etc. That stinks to be sick right off the bat! But the ward members have been great to her and have brought her lots of cough drops, tissues, chicken noodle soup, orange juice, etc. And while we've been tracting, there have been a couple people who made her some herbal tea to help her. It's been precious. There really are some great people in the world! She thinks it's turning into tonsillitis so we did have to stay in for a bit on Friday night......which makes me go stir-crazy. But I guess if we don't let her get a little rest, it's never going to go away. Actually yesterday was quite a crazy Sunday!! The way church normally works for us on Sundays goes like this......we have PEC at 7:30 for our ward, so the other sisters come with us and do their personal study at the church since we share the car. Then after PEC, sometimes we do a split and two missionaries go to our home ward at 9:00 while the others go to the PEC/university branch at 10:00, which is over on the Penn State campus. Then they come back and go to Relief Society for their own ward. So Sundays are usually pretty nutty, but yesterday it was even more nutty! After we got out of PEC yesterday, we found out that one of the other sister missionaries was sick and throwing up. haha, good way to start the day! So we decided to take her home along with Sister Johnson since she wasn't feeling well still and let them rest. Then Sister Cahoon and I tried to manage three wards by ourselves, jumping back and forth from the church, to campus, back to church, etc. Crazy, crazy day! Then after all of church was over, luckily neither companionship had solid appointments for the night so we managed to work everything out great. We saw one of our investigators, had a dinner appointment with someone in their ward. I'm glad for the way the night worked out, haha. And I am also very grateful that Sister Cahoon was healthy so we could still go to church and go out and work. I hate sitting inside!!!! I'm taking Sister Johnson to the doctor today to get some medicine or something and hopefully she'll recover soon enough.
We did get a new investigator this week. He's way cool! His name is Shawn and he is Chinese. He's cool because he really wants to learn about God and what that really means. He did an exchange program in Alabama and lived with a minister so he learned a lot about Christianity through him. He gets so confused though with everything the world tells him, which is understandable. As we were talking about prophets and how we have one on the earth today, he got really excited and was like "REALLY????????" haha, it was cute. I'm excited for him to learn more. :)
Well it's definitely been a crazy first week of the transfer, probably one of the craziest ones I've had. But everything is going great here and I'm so excited for all the miracles that are going to happen this transfer! You guys are in my prayers, every prayer! I love you lots and can't wait to see you soon enough. Have a great week, keep a positive attitude and outlook and remember how wonderful the plan of salvation is!!!! It's such a blessing that we can know of it! Love you lots!
Love, Holly
Week 68 - Beginning of the Last
August 9, 2010
Hi everybody!
Here it is....the beginning of the last transfer. And guess what? I'm going to be training again. Yay! I'm excited to have a little greenie who has that greenie fire! It'll be a great way to end the mission and we are going to see SO many wonderful miracles! It'll be the best transfer yet! Guess what else? Sister Anderson (who I trained before) is going to be training too!! Cool huh? She's an amazing missionary! I'm so excited for her! Sister Westbrook is going home though, so that's a little sad. Exciting for her, but sad for all of us who she is leaving. This week was full of goodbye appointments and LOTS of dinner appointments. Even lunch appointments. I'm surprised I haven't gained 500 pounds just this week! Maybe by the end of this next transfer I will, who knows, haha. I'll miss Sister Westbrook though, we've had a great transfer together and a whole lot of fun! :)
Since this week was full of a whole bunch of goodbye appointments, not a whole lot more really happened. BUT two appointments that I am absolutely excited about. The first was with Elizabeth. We met with her on Friday and taught her the plan of salvation. She loved it! Right now she is studying Buddhism because it's been the closest thing she has found to what she believes. But she can't get over the fact that they don't believe in one God and that Christ was the Son of God. She also has been looking into Dowism (sp?) but I guess they don't really believe in prayer and she is a huge pray-er. So when she heard the plan of salvation she was like "wow! I totally believe that this could happen!" She was so excited about it all. Elizabeth is great! We invited her to be baptized and she said she would definitely pray about it and pray about all the things we have been teaching her. She is going through a lot right now though, trying to figure out wedding planning and moving and a whole lot more, so it may be a while until she's ready to be baptized.
Then we have a new investigator, Karen! She's awesome too. We tracted into her house earlier this week and she let us in right away. She is newly married as of like 2 months ago. Cute! She told us that she has family that lives in Tremonton, Utah (they aren't members) but she goes out to visit every now and then. She's seen the SLC temple from a distance and thinks it's beautiful! Of course! She said that she has no knowledge about the church though and she's really interested in learning. So we set an appointment to bring her a Book of Mormon and she was really intrigued by it all. It's fun to be able to see people learn of the gospel when they have never heard a thing about it before. She's really interested in the Book of Mormon too. She told us that she had never really thought of people living here on the American continent but that it makes sense. She also told us that she talked to her family in another part of Pennsylvania about meeting us and had a good discussion with them. All good signs, I'm loving it!
One other cool story. A family in our ward brought their neighbors to church with them yesterday!!!! They seemed to really enjoy it too! The members have talked all about the church with them and have given them a copy of the Book of Mormon and even talked about us meeting up with them. So we got to meet them yesterday and get an appointment with them. I'm so excited to teach them! It'll be fun to have a brand new greenie get to teach them too. I'm telling you, great things are going to happen this transfer!
This isn't very long, I know. Probably a relief to you guys though, haha. I remember just skimming through other missionaries emails because they were so long. So this will be a good break. I love you all soooooo much! Hope to hear from you all next week. Keep staying strong and keep being amazing member missionaries! :)
Love, Holly
Hi everybody!
Here it is....the beginning of the last transfer. And guess what? I'm going to be training again. Yay! I'm excited to have a little greenie who has that greenie fire! It'll be a great way to end the mission and we are going to see SO many wonderful miracles! It'll be the best transfer yet! Guess what else? Sister Anderson (who I trained before) is going to be training too!! Cool huh? She's an amazing missionary! I'm so excited for her! Sister Westbrook is going home though, so that's a little sad. Exciting for her, but sad for all of us who she is leaving. This week was full of goodbye appointments and LOTS of dinner appointments. Even lunch appointments. I'm surprised I haven't gained 500 pounds just this week! Maybe by the end of this next transfer I will, who knows, haha. I'll miss Sister Westbrook though, we've had a great transfer together and a whole lot of fun! :)
Since this week was full of a whole bunch of goodbye appointments, not a whole lot more really happened. BUT two appointments that I am absolutely excited about. The first was with Elizabeth. We met with her on Friday and taught her the plan of salvation. She loved it! Right now she is studying Buddhism because it's been the closest thing she has found to what she believes. But she can't get over the fact that they don't believe in one God and that Christ was the Son of God. She also has been looking into Dowism (sp?) but I guess they don't really believe in prayer and she is a huge pray-er. So when she heard the plan of salvation she was like "wow! I totally believe that this could happen!" She was so excited about it all. Elizabeth is great! We invited her to be baptized and she said she would definitely pray about it and pray about all the things we have been teaching her. She is going through a lot right now though, trying to figure out wedding planning and moving and a whole lot more, so it may be a while until she's ready to be baptized.
Then we have a new investigator, Karen! She's awesome too. We tracted into her house earlier this week and she let us in right away. She is newly married as of like 2 months ago. Cute! She told us that she has family that lives in Tremonton, Utah (they aren't members) but she goes out to visit every now and then. She's seen the SLC temple from a distance and thinks it's beautiful! Of course! She said that she has no knowledge about the church though and she's really interested in learning. So we set an appointment to bring her a Book of Mormon and she was really intrigued by it all. It's fun to be able to see people learn of the gospel when they have never heard a thing about it before. She's really interested in the Book of Mormon too. She told us that she had never really thought of people living here on the American continent but that it makes sense. She also told us that she talked to her family in another part of Pennsylvania about meeting us and had a good discussion with them. All good signs, I'm loving it!
One other cool story. A family in our ward brought their neighbors to church with them yesterday!!!! They seemed to really enjoy it too! The members have talked all about the church with them and have given them a copy of the Book of Mormon and even talked about us meeting up with them. So we got to meet them yesterday and get an appointment with them. I'm so excited to teach them! It'll be fun to have a brand new greenie get to teach them too. I'm telling you, great things are going to happen this transfer!
This isn't very long, I know. Probably a relief to you guys though, haha. I remember just skimming through other missionaries emails because they were so long. So this will be a good break. I love you all soooooo much! Hope to hear from you all next week. Keep staying strong and keep being amazing member missionaries! :)
Love, Holly
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Week 67 - Cooling Down
August 2, 2010
Hey again my favorite people in the world! :0
How is everyone doing? Great I hope! Thanks for all your fun emails! It's one of the many highlights of my week being able to read about what's going on in everyones life!
It's been a fun week. Last week, I don't remember if I told you but it was sooooooooooo stinkin hot! It was only in like the low 90's but with the humidity, it was pretty rough. But this week, it has cooled down a lot.....and less humidity! It's been wonderful and a lot easier to walk around in.
So as I was thinking about what to write about, I was having troubles thinking of something good. But then all of a sudden everything just came to my memory all at once so I have lots of completely RANDOM things to talk about today!
First of all, the amazing investigator Elizabeth we found, we have had a hard time trying to get a hold of her. We called and stopped by many times this week and haven't been able to get a hold of her. We were worried she got antied or something and was avoiding us. BUT she called us this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) She said that she has barely been home for the last week and she had lost our phone number. But we called her again on Saturday and left our phone number again and she called us back to set up another time to meet! Yay. They have to move into her mom's house because of financial difficulties so she has been in the process of doing that and also thinking a lot about church, so she has been thinking of lots of questions to ask us! Elizabeth is so great! I love miracles! Just when we are in despair, the Lord blesses us!
Some other cool things happened this week. I have been really really really praying hard to see lots of success for my last transfer. Since 2 baptisms fell through this transfer, I've been feeling a little saddened. So I've been trying to "wrestle with the Lord" and pour out my heart to be able to see miracles......even to help teach and baptize a family (that's my transfer goal!) Here's the stories: first a member in our ward called us and said that he has a neighbor family that he has been working with who have been asking lots of questions. They said that they were interested in coming to church, but first they wanted to read up and learn a little bit about the church. So he asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and some of the introductory pamphlets. When we gave it to him on Sunday, he was excited to tell us all about this family and that they would hopefully be at church next week. But it's a family of 4 and they seem really interested, so are my prayers being answered? I sure hope so!!!!
Next is another family that we have sort of been working with, the Kondash's. They are super cool but so busy, so we don't get to see them very often. We stopped in and taught the Plan of Salvation to the parents and they want us to come back to teach it to their sons. They are planning on feeding us this Friday, so hopefully it'll be a great lesson too. They seriously ask the most perfect questions and tell all their friends about their "Mormon girls!" haha, I love it.
Every week we also do what is called a 'public forum' on Penn State's campus where basically we get to set up a booth and talk to people. It is a closed campus, but they allow us to do this once a week. But last week we talked to this really cool Asian kid named Shawn (american version of the name) for a long time and he told us that he lived in Alabama for a while and worked with some Christian groups but really didn't understand the nature of God or anything. So we told him we would teach him about it and he was excited to come to church too. Asian's are seriously the nicest people ever! In the city, my favorite people to go up and talk to were the Asians and the Indians. They were all so kind and polite! So I'm pretty excited about Shawn.
Last of all, we helped Jess and her member husband, Jacob, move from the basement of her parent-in-laws home to an apartment above the garage. They needed to move out because another one of the Benedict's sons was going to be moving in to the basement. So we thought we'd be of help and help move things up, not thinking much of it. Just to help reduce the stress of moving. Well, we found out yesterday at church from Sister Benedict (the member mother in law) that it was a lot more help to them then we thought. She said that Jacob and Jess had moved a little slower then her other son was planning on, so their would probably be an overlap of moving. She said that there probably would have been a blow-out between brothers over it and that we came in just at the right time to get everything moved out so the other boy could move in. Pretty lucky huh? It's fun to hear about these things after the fact. :)
So lots of good potential that we are working with! I seriously love this work and I am going to work the hardest I have ever worked these last 6 weeks! Oh man I can't believe that it is here already. Keep praying that we can see miracles and baptisms here in State College please! Your prayers are very well appreciated and loved! Thank you so much! Love you all and I hope everyone has a great week! Miss you!
Love, Holly
Hey again my favorite people in the world! :0
How is everyone doing? Great I hope! Thanks for all your fun emails! It's one of the many highlights of my week being able to read about what's going on in everyones life!
It's been a fun week. Last week, I don't remember if I told you but it was sooooooooooo stinkin hot! It was only in like the low 90's but with the humidity, it was pretty rough. But this week, it has cooled down a lot.....and less humidity! It's been wonderful and a lot easier to walk around in.
So as I was thinking about what to write about, I was having troubles thinking of something good. But then all of a sudden everything just came to my memory all at once so I have lots of completely RANDOM things to talk about today!
First of all, the amazing investigator Elizabeth we found, we have had a hard time trying to get a hold of her. We called and stopped by many times this week and haven't been able to get a hold of her. We were worried she got antied or something and was avoiding us. BUT she called us this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) She said that she has barely been home for the last week and she had lost our phone number. But we called her again on Saturday and left our phone number again and she called us back to set up another time to meet! Yay. They have to move into her mom's house because of financial difficulties so she has been in the process of doing that and also thinking a lot about church, so she has been thinking of lots of questions to ask us! Elizabeth is so great! I love miracles! Just when we are in despair, the Lord blesses us!
Some other cool things happened this week. I have been really really really praying hard to see lots of success for my last transfer. Since 2 baptisms fell through this transfer, I've been feeling a little saddened. So I've been trying to "wrestle with the Lord" and pour out my heart to be able to see miracles......even to help teach and baptize a family (that's my transfer goal!) Here's the stories: first a member in our ward called us and said that he has a neighbor family that he has been working with who have been asking lots of questions. They said that they were interested in coming to church, but first they wanted to read up and learn a little bit about the church. So he asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and some of the introductory pamphlets. When we gave it to him on Sunday, he was excited to tell us all about this family and that they would hopefully be at church next week. But it's a family of 4 and they seem really interested, so are my prayers being answered? I sure hope so!!!!
Next is another family that we have sort of been working with, the Kondash's. They are super cool but so busy, so we don't get to see them very often. We stopped in and taught the Plan of Salvation to the parents and they want us to come back to teach it to their sons. They are planning on feeding us this Friday, so hopefully it'll be a great lesson too. They seriously ask the most perfect questions and tell all their friends about their "Mormon girls!" haha, I love it.
Every week we also do what is called a 'public forum' on Penn State's campus where basically we get to set up a booth and talk to people. It is a closed campus, but they allow us to do this once a week. But last week we talked to this really cool Asian kid named Shawn (american version of the name) for a long time and he told us that he lived in Alabama for a while and worked with some Christian groups but really didn't understand the nature of God or anything. So we told him we would teach him about it and he was excited to come to church too. Asian's are seriously the nicest people ever! In the city, my favorite people to go up and talk to were the Asians and the Indians. They were all so kind and polite! So I'm pretty excited about Shawn.
Last of all, we helped Jess and her member husband, Jacob, move from the basement of her parent-in-laws home to an apartment above the garage. They needed to move out because another one of the Benedict's sons was going to be moving in to the basement. So we thought we'd be of help and help move things up, not thinking much of it. Just to help reduce the stress of moving. Well, we found out yesterday at church from Sister Benedict (the member mother in law) that it was a lot more help to them then we thought. She said that Jacob and Jess had moved a little slower then her other son was planning on, so their would probably be an overlap of moving. She said that there probably would have been a blow-out between brothers over it and that we came in just at the right time to get everything moved out so the other boy could move in. Pretty lucky huh? It's fun to hear about these things after the fact. :)
So lots of good potential that we are working with! I seriously love this work and I am going to work the hardest I have ever worked these last 6 weeks! Oh man I can't believe that it is here already. Keep praying that we can see miracles and baptisms here in State College please! Your prayers are very well appreciated and loved! Thank you so much! Love you all and I hope everyone has a great week! Miss you!
Love, Holly
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