Hello again (Week 33)

Hello,

 

So last pday was wednesday so it has only been a few days, but I feel like it took forever to get to this pday. Crazy! But, can you guys believe that it is almost May?! That is so weird to me! Time is going by really fast...usually, some days seem to just go on forever though, but that's ok because eventually each day ends. Thanks for all the advice and emails everyone! I felt so loved and popular! :) You all gave me a lot of things to think about, improve on, and to help me get through this! So, thanks for all the help and love. It truly does make a difference. I read this article somewhere that said that a mission is a family affair. Even though we are miles apart the family is what keeps the missionary going. You pray for us, support us, love us, write us, encourage us, and help us to feel better and that's what a missionary needs to get over different hurdles thrown our way! I love you guys! Mom- you can accept Hope (on facebook). haha I laughed about Sis. Little's comment (on a photo on facebook)!  Am I friends with her on fb? And yes, she finished her mission and went home on friday. Weird. She went home and I'm already a mother (trainer) of two! ha Please tell Lexis congrats (mission) and also Cecily and Ethan (engagement)! I was waiting for that one to happen and was surprised that it took so long. (Answering a question:)The standard of excellence has to do with numbers and not with who we are. Otherwise I would be exceeding it! :P It's getting .5 baptisms per month, and 2 baptismal dates, 2 at sacrament, 3 member present lessons, and 3 new investigators each week. I still have yet to get it, but whatever. I'm trying! Thanks for letting me know about the times (for calling on Mother's Day). We are going to figure it out and let you know hopefully next week. I'm thinking it may be later on in the afternoon/evening, if everything goes how I want it to. We'll see.

 

Sooo, I have baby #2 already and she is awesome!! Her name is Sister Patchett, she's 20, the baby of 6, and from Henderson, Nevada. She is tall, skinny, and beautiful, and I love her! She loves volleyball too and played in highschool!!! She is so my child!!! :) She is fresh out of the MTC and wants to learn all that she can and spread the gospel to everyone. It's so funny how as a missionary you are all over the spectrum with your emotions, but I have swung the other way again. We get along well, and have a lot of fun together, and our relationship is good. So, now we can focus on the work and helping this area. She has a lot of faith, and is just like what do we do next, and is wanting to learn and do all she can. She says that she has learned a lot from me, can feel the great love that I have for her so that makes her feel comfortable so she can tell me things that she has gone through and she is fine with telling me, and she thinks that I am wonderful and can teach her a lot. She was talking to our district leader on thursday on the speakerphone, and they were just going back and forth about how wonderful and fabulous I am as a missionary and that I am just so great! ha I was dying! I am so excited to work with her and think that we are going to do great things here. The Lord is definitely mindful of us and knows what we need to help us and keep us growing and learning. Last transfer was the hardest transfer by far but I learned so much that transfer! On the phone, President said that I would be just fine and have success, and that I would have the Lord much stronger with me this transfer because of what I have gone through. I have been praying for the Lord to lighten the burden that I have had and I definitely feel so much better. Sister Patchett is taking responsibility and wants to do what she can because of everything that she has gone through and how she feels about the gospel. My back hurts so badly though because of everything I guess. Sometimes we try and see who can pop our backs the loudest because she is always popping! ha

 

Yesterday, I tried ramps which are some type of onion here and I didn't like them. They are sweeter or something and now I am going to be smelling for the next couple of days because of the smell that they put off. But that's ok because someone said everyone is going to be smelling like it. ha I think I gained like 10 pounds yesterday because I was constantly eating yesterday. Everywhere we went it seemed like people were feeding us a meal. I think I had like 4 dinners or something. By the end we were so full and I was struggling to eat what I had, but I did it! I am going to be so fat!! The ward is wonderful though and is definitely warming up to us. I am being prideful right now and claiming that to me ;) We have had to gain the trust of the members back and to help them love missionaries again, and it is working. Yesterday our Relief Society President was talking with another lady and hugged me and was just like 'don't you just love her. I completely fell in love with her and think that she is so cute.' Yes! She was one that I thought didn't like us cause she never talked to us, but when we were doing service at the church she was there and I saw an opportunity to talk to her and jumped on it. We talked for a long time and they used to live in Springville and she just loved talking to me, and now she thinks that I am just wonderful! We may not be having the best numbers, but I know that I am helping the members here and that makes me happy! I have had a couple different experiences like that just in this area, and it makes me feel so good!! 

 

Dad, I did service on saturday of picking up trash around a city and we got these picker upper sticks and we got to wear bright orange jackets and I thought of you! :) I can't even remember what all has happened this week, but it has been awesome! I am doing well and learning so much! Thanks for all your support and love! I love you all!!                            

 

Love, Jenna

#$(*@#%^)%​^* (Week 32)

Hi!

Thanks for the emails!! I loved hearing from home and it was just what I needed right now. I don't like these monday to wednesday pdays. Meh I'm glad to hear that you all are doing well and keeping busy. That's good so then you don't miss me as much! ;) Mom- I heard about the (Boston) bombing. That's crazy! A couple from provo was actually visiting last week and they took us out to dinner on monday and the tv there had it on. So sad. I don't think you told me that Elliott got his mission call. Where is he off too? How is Sis. Scharffs holding up? She has sent me a few letters occasionally. She's so nice. What time is his farewell, so I know when not to call when we're figuring it out. I haven't even thought of mother's day in the past few days so I will try to figure things out and let you know. Why have I not thought of it til now?...I will tell you! (excuse my venting and feelings please.)

Right now, I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling. I feel like I have been on a roller coaster this whole transfer and it has been super hard. Then in this past week, I feel like that roller coaster I was on just let the seatbelt go and has thrown me out of the car. ha I am so just aaarrrgggg right now, and am so tired with all of it. Sister Gubler's homesickness I thought was slowly getting better, but it wasn't. it was getting worse and it all came to a head this weekend. She has just been trying to fake liking it here this whole time, but she was sick of it. She is sick of the work because it is hard, she wants to be home, and she feels like she's not doing anything. She just wanted to go home because she hates her mission, being a missionary, and is so tired. I have been doing everything I can to help her and nothing was working. We talked to President so many times in the past few days, and he did all he could to help her as well, but she just wanted to go home. So, monday we didn't even do anything, and basically President got to the point that he didn't know what else to do either so, she was to call her mom, talk, and decide to either go home or stay. After a long time, she decided that she was going to stay...just because her mom wants her here. 

I am just so frustrated with the area as well because it is going so slow, and it seems like whatever I do things don't seem to work out that well. We did have our best week with numbers last week, but our worst week with emotions. I feel like people judge me for the numbers that I have each week instead of the missionary that I am and how I help people and love them. I watch all these other sisters getting baptisms and the standard of excellence, and are just killing their area, and everything is going awesome for them, and then there is me. I can't seem to get this area going and i just feel so frustrated right now. It's like every time I get the short end of the stick in a way. Gah! I know I'm exaggerating some of these things, but I'm honestly just so tired, frustrated, and confused right now. Why do I not seem to be doing anything right?  So, President has decided to transfer Sister Gubler out of White Sulphur, and send her down to Back Creek (near Roanoke) with Sister Tuckett. Sister Tuckett is awesome and will definitely help her.  As for me, President talked to me and I'm training again... I did not want to train this transfer cause I feel like I just did a crappy job training. It's hard to train here for me cause I'm not entirely sure how to do it here and then trying to teach a new missionary here just sucks sometimes. But, President wants me to train so I'll train. I know the Lord has a purpose for me and knows that what I need is here and that this experience will help me. I just felt like I had been humbled so much this transfer and that I couldn't get more humbled, and then I got another curve thrown at me today. I'm a little leery for this transfer, but I'm just going to do my best and try hard. So, needless to say, this has been fun. ha 

Other than that, I'm doing well. I will be in White Sulphur still and I hope to just help in anyway that I can here. Oh, two people in Dublin that I helped teach are getting baptized. Why didn't it happen while I was there?! Meh. Always the planter! haha Well, I hope that you all are doing better than me, and that you have a wonderful week! Isaac- did you have any experiences like this? Any suggestions? Thanks! 

I love you all!!      Love, Sister Higgins 

Hi! (Week 31)

Hello!

 

Well today will definitely be a shorter email, sorry! We are at a member's right now doing emails because we are headed down to Covington for a district p-day soon. It's raining here though! Thanks for the emails! Mom- please tell Kim and Kaylie congrats, and also Shybree that I'm so happy and excited for her. That's awesome about Kenzie too! Dad- if you could send a paper copy of the 21 day that would be helpful! As for B*** in Covington (she's 16) we are seeing her today! She almost had a heart attack yesterday when I texted her about it! haha She wrote me a letter last week and it was so amazing!! She said in there that she wants to be like me when she grows up because I am so amazing!! Holy Moly! That made my day and almost made me cry! ha 

 

This week has been crazy! We had president interviews on Thursday which were good! They always are because we get to see President and Sister Pitt! yay! I love them! We got prizes because our zone won the bowling challenge! And they gave me an extra prize cause I almost had the high score for the sisters! ha It was a necklace which is pretty! Then I went on exchanges with the sisters from Southern Virginia University and I got to go there so I was a YSA missionary for two days!! It was so much fun! Ah!! I absolutely loved it! Their apartment is soooo nice, we were in a walking area, I got to see the campus, go to a forum, go to a mission prep class, and help students strengthen their testimony. There were a couple girls that I was able to really help after the mission prep class, so that was really awesome to be there! I was with Sister Coleman and she is just amazing! We didn't know each other that much before we started but holy cow we clicked so well! We had so much fun and by the end we had determined that we were going to serve together somehow before she goes home! haha I love her! She was amazed by me and couldn't stop giving me compliments. She said that she has never met someone so full of the Spirit and it is so strong and to never doubt that because I have it with me. It was so cool and we were able to be very unified during that time. It was such a good time to just talk through so much with her, get advice, and have fun!

 

On Saturday, Lewisburg had a chocolate festival!! Our ward mission leader wanted us to run in a 10k for it with them so that we could get our faces out there and talk to people! It was super cold and so hilly! Sis. Gubler's legs were cramping so we walked a lot but that was perfect because we got to talk with a girl for like 3 miles all about the church and she loved it! Then we got to have all sorts of chocolate! Yum!! It was cool! Then we helped build a porch! Yeah!

 

Yesterday was a hard day though cause we were both really having a bad day. Sis Gubler has been doing great but yesterday she was really homesick and I was just frustrated with everything! I was frustrated with myself, the area, things not working out, and all that! It seems like no matter how much we do nothing happens. But it's our test of faith and we are trying to serve the ward. It will get better though! I love you all!! Sorry this is so short!                       

 

Love, Sister Higgins!

hello (Week 30)

Well hi!

Wow, so many things I don't even know where to begin. Thanks for all the emails. I loved them. I was definitely ready to hear how home is. As for investigators listening to conference- we had zippo. It's been quite frustrating, but I thought we would have one watch it but oh well. All in the Lord's time. I wish it would just go faster though. I loved Pres Uchtdorf's talk because it was just so good and powerful and so many things he said I really needed to hear. I also loved Elder Cook's on missionary work. I needed some of that stuff too and so did our ward. You can't do missionary work without the ward helping you. And of course Holland was just amazing as well. Did you catch an overall theme this time? Also, another temple in Utah???  It seems like the weather is warming up there. For the most part it is here as well. 

Let's see, I think this area was really just supposed to humble me and break me until I am nothing. haha Wednesday nothing worked out, and on tuesday are you ready for this...we had eight investigators drop us!! Yay! ha Such a miserable day, but also a miracle because we were able to find all of them home and talk to them before they dropped us. It was so hard, but that night as we were talking it was funny because we both were feeling calm and ok. I just have to trust in the Lord and know that He is looking out for us and He knows what is best. He knows what needs to happen here in this area to help us further the work, so you just have to go with it, and keep working. It's hard though to keep pushing everyday and keeping your faith strong all the time when everything seems to be crashing and burning instead of building up. But, that's where I have turned to prayer and reading the book of mormon. I absolutely love reading that book because it makes me feel so good and I feel so peaceful as I read it!! I'm addicted to it and think that personal study is too short!! haha If I don't see any success here I know that I have had success with myself, because I have changed so much here. I have truly learned that you have to let the Lord have control and let Him do what is supposed to happen. He has a greater plan for each one of us and you just have to roll with the punches. Even though I have been knocked down so many times here I'm trying to find the good and I'm still saying hi to everyone and just being happy since I have the gospel of Jesus Christ and am His missionary!! Sis Gubler doesn't like saying hi to everyone, so she has been impressed since even though so many people ignore me I still say hi to everyone! ha This area is fun though. There are some awesome things here, and some of the ward members are just awesome!

Oh, this you probably won't like, but Mom you are reading this so I'm alive!! (although at the time I really wasn't sure what would happen). We went out pretty far into our area on Thursday to have dinner with some members and to see some investigators. When we left Lewisburg it was starting to rain/sleet, and kept doing that and getting harder. We were eating dinner and then we looked out and it had turned into like a full blown snowstorm. The flakes were huge!!! So, we ditched the plans we had there after and decided to head to Lewisburg to stay safe. We got out to the interstate just fine and were going along. I was going like 45-50 just to stay safe. We were talking about driving in the snow, and how you can know when you slide and what to do since Sis Gubler has never driven in snow. We were coming over the top of a really big hill as we were talking about sliding, and then we got to have a real life experience with it! All of a sudden we had no grip on any of the tires and the left side started swinging out so I turned left, then it went right, I went right, then left, then right. As I was turning right all of a sudden the whole car just swung around really fast and we were horizontal on the interstate as the car kept sliding. Then right as we were getting to the end of the pavement and to the ditch in the middle the car just stopped. I turned the car around and right then a car came over the hill, and then as we started going again a whole bunch of cars came over the hill. It was intense. Sister Gubler was just terrified in her seat because she was so scared, and I was just in a kind of shock even though I was laughing at times. It was a miracle. That hill was huge and as we started sliding I honestly thought we were going to slide down the whole thing, or we would roll into the ditch, or I don't even know what. My mind just blanked in a way. I know that the Lord was with us though because my reflexes to turning the car were spot on. I know that He was guiding my hands to be in the right spot, and that He was watching out for us. We thought it weird that no cars were around us, but now we know why and we are very grateful for it. I don't know why the car just suddenly stopped, but I know that the Lord made it stop because we needed to be kept safe. We found out later the interstate that we were on had been closed because there was a bad accident on it. My testimony was definitely strengthened and I know that the Lord is watching out for me!

Let's see, on saturday morning we helped build a bike trail by digging into the mountain and carving it out. It was awesome but I am so sore now. The Greenbrier State Forest is so pretty! That's about all I've got for now. Sister Gubler is doing fairly well.   Her homesickness is getting better. She has her moments, but so do I :p  We are trying to stay humble here because we need the Lord's help. It's been a struggle since we only have like 2 investigators and we can't find anymore, but hopefully I'm just planting seeds though. We're trying! I miss you all and hope that you are doing well. I'm doing well! Keep praying for us please! I can feel them strengthening me here!! I really do love it though even if it sounds like I complain a lot. I love it and am learning so much! The church is true!! :)

Lots of Love, Sister Higgins!

HI! (Week 29)

Ok ya'll,

 this is going to be super super short, so I'm sorry, but that's the way it goes today. I wrote some other emails and then had to do some stuff for President. It has been a very rough week. Sis Gubler is super homesick and it is really hard. She has so many times where she just shuts down and won't talk at all and doesn't contribute at all. It has been hard cause it seems like I'm the only one that talks in comp study and ah it's been rough. But I'm trying. We've had lots of calls with President and I had to write him some stuff today. Let's hope it gets better. Please pray for her and me! We need all the prayers we can get! yes, I got the easter package! Thank you so much! It was wonderful! At easter, I think I gained like 10 pounds! We had meatloaf, potatoes, green beans, rolls, frog eye salad, desseret, and snacks. It was good! Other than that nothing new here. Lots of dropped investigators, tracting in the snow, and hard days. but it's all good. I am praying so much more and love reading the book of mormon. I am learning so so much! Well that 's all I have time for today. I'm sorry this is so short! Next week I will write a long one. I love you all! Please pray for us!!