Happy New Year Everyone!!!
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| Yesterday tracting we found the oldest black church in Fayette county! Awesome!!! Flat rock! haha Kinda like Round Rock! <3 |
Well just like in the MTC emailing is one of the most stressful things of the week! I never know exactly what to say or how much to say! It's the only hour and a half of the week I get to communicate with, most importantly, my Mom, my family, and the outside world so I have to make full use of it! Out here it's even a little more stressful because we have to use this time to email our mission president, too! Where in the MTC we did that on a totally different day that didn't cut into our normal emailing time. :/ Our emailing routine was pretty different in the MTC and I got pretty used to it in my 2.5 months there! Change is HARD! So when this email doesn't make sense that is why. :) I'll probably forget something or someone or describe something weird, but I have limited time now and I'm just trying to get used to a new place! Hopefully the spirit will help you understand what I'm really trying to say instead of what I'm awkwardly typing. ;) OK rant over!
This week was another hard one! I'll feel like I'm adjusting better, then the next hour I feel knocked down and discouraged again. What a rollercoaster! Still trying to get used to the new place, being a real missionary, meeting new people all the time, new rules, and all of the other stresses that come with missionary work.
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| New Year's eve! Martinellis, homemade doughnuts, and a fried oreo!! <3 |
Opening a new area with a not very old trainer and a greenie has been hard! It's hard to get used to being with a different person all the time, after just getting so used to the last companion! Anyways. I started getting a chest cold the last few days at the MTC and I was finally able to get rid of it about Tuesday. But Sister Smith was sick so we stayed in most of Tuesday. Then Wednesday she wasn't feeling good again, neither was sister Brough, one of our roommates. So the 4 of us were stuck in the apartment. So sister call and I got out of the house, after resting all morning, and went to Walmart to get stuff for our sick comps. Well actually having to leave the house and function made us realize we were getting sick, too! It really wore us out to go to the store, so we all stayed in and rested Wednesday, too! This week we didn't have any appointments planned because we are so new still and trying to grow a teaching pool! So at least we didn't have to cancel on people! :) :/ haha We got a great idea to go to the church and get a bunch of church DVDs to watch back at the apartment. We watched a few movies and videos that I've watched a bunch with my family so that made me miss them a lot and get a bit homesick. :( So that was our New Years Eve! We did do some sparklers and confetti at night. Oh we also had Martinellis and home made doughnuts so that was pretty fun! That also reminded me of home and our New Years traditions! I missed mah family a ton this week!! :( New years day no one felt better again! I really really missed my college football that day too. We weren't doing anything at all so I just wanted to lay there and watch all the great games I knew were going on that day. :( I did get to watch The Testaments in Mandarin though! Highlight of the day... :/ :) haha
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| Georgia is so pretty!! |
Friday morning we had New Missionary Training! So we got taught from President Harding for a few hours about how we can improve our work. It was really motivating and it made me sad that we were sick! It was also a great meeting because I got to see Sister Kirkham, Sister Hendricks, and Sister Lindsay again! I've missed seeing familiar faces and even speaking Chinese with them! Sister Hendricks is about an hour away in Lost Mountain, so we never get to see her. :( But Sister Kirkham and Lindsay are in my stake so I see them sometimes.
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| Post first lesson ever Waffle House trip! SO GOOD! Made me miss my family tons! and texas(; |
After the meeting we were all really tired, but I wanted to work. So I sat down and called a whole bunch of "potential investigators". People in our area who'd been contacted or shown interest in the church before. I called 45 people! We were only able to get 1 appointment from those calls, but I was glad to have something planned to do the next day! It was good to see the fruits of my labor. I counted it as a huge miracle. Another miracle was that we got a member present even though it was super last minute!! This lady is a sweet old black lady who's lived here for 9 years, and lives by herself. She's Methodist and loves God, Christ, and the Bible. She was a little senile and forgetful. We taught her the first lesson, and I testified about the Book of Mormon at the end. She was actually pretty receptive! We also told her about church meetings and the ward family that she could be a part of so she didn't feel so alone. She really liked that idea. She didn't go to church yesterday, but she said she'd go next week! We gave her a book of Mormon, invited her to be baptized, and are meeting with her again this Saturday! She didn't accept baptism immediately, but we'll work on that. ;) It was super awesome to finally teach a first lesson after being new and sick and not having any plans for almost 2 weeks! It was a much needed miracle.
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| Another of the Flat Rock church |
Then Saturday night I was nervous about what we were going to do the next week, now that we were starting to feel better and we still didn't have any appointments. I didn't really want to tract all day because that hasn't felt very productive or fruitful to me. I only want to do Heavenly Father's will for me. I want to do what he wants. Long story short Mama (Sister) Brough suggested that I have a real, out loud conversation with Heavenly Father, just like my Mom's taught me to do my whole life. I felt like my Mom was talking to me again through her!! I knew I needed to do that. I told him everything I was feeling. I wanted to have faith and confidence that no matter what was happening I was following His plan for me. I wanted to know that I'm doing His will for me. If I know I'm doing His will, I'm ok with knocking on doors and contacting all day. I want to build up this area in His way. I don't know how to do it so I have to follow His will! I'm even ok with being here an extra transfer, if I know it's His will. I prayed to have trust and faith in His will for me. I tried to do just as one of my favorite lines from Come Thou Fount says, "Here's my heart. Oh take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above." Hard to do!! Then I also fasted for that yesterday.
Church was really good. We met a lot more members and were able to see how blessed we are to have a ward so dedicated to missionary work! Since coming out on the mission, the sacrament has meant a lot more too! That was awesome. The testimonies were all great and so were the lessons. They seemed to be exactly what I needed! Later that day we were out tracting and I had a feeling that we needed to meet with members that night. It was weird cuz we had other plans and it would be really last minute! I was confident that it was the spirit prompting me to do that. So we saw some cool tender mercies tracting, but I don't have time of course! :/ Later I decided to start calling members to see who was available. We got some appts. for later in the week, but I still really felt like we needed one that night. Miraculously, one of the members said we could visit that night! Huge answered prayer! We went over to the members house and shared a message about the faith cycle. I told them that they were an answer to my prayers and it was just a great meeting! It was good to get to know them, strengthen their faith, and build our relationship with them. After how down I felt the days before about not being able to work, Heavenly Father really answered my prayers. That showed me that I am doing ok and I'm doing His will for me. I'm glad I followed the spiritual promptings I got. I don't know what will happen next with that family, but I feel confident that I was doing His will.
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| And a random picture of my favorite family who I think about and miss every single day!!! <3 |
This week I will continue to strive to follow the spirit in all that I do. I will always try to be just a little better than the day before. That's all I can do! I'm so grateful for that experience and that God showed me His hand in my life and His work. I don't know what we're gonna do all week... But I do know that we'll follow the spirit and do His work. My testimony is growing a lot through all of these hard times and occasional tears. ;) Highlight of the week will be going to the Atlanta Temple tomorrow!! :D I'm soooo excited! It's been a long 3 weeks without going to the temple! :/
Keep praying for me and I appreciate all of the support! You can totally still send Dear Elders and letters if you want to(; oh and no news on visas at all... so that's cool! We'll see what happens next week! (next Wednesday is transfers!)
-Sister Oviatt
