Hello! (Week 37)

Hello again!! 

 

Thanks for the emails! It was good to read them and to hear what all has been happening with you guys this past week. This week went by pretty quickly again although some of the days were horribly long. Oh the life of a missionary! ha It's been good though and I have learned a lot! This may not be the longest email because we got to the library late and we have to go to dinner in a bit, but at least it is something for now! Dad- I best be getting some fruit leathers!!!! Yummy!! That's awesome that we have 3 missionaries going out! Who is this Jake kid? Where do they live? When did they come in? etc. When does Cassie leave again?  Let her know that I love her and am so excited for her! Sounds like you all had a fun trip back from Memphis! (weather delays, etc.) I'm glad that everything worked out! The Lord always is in the details! 

 

As for things here they are just going right along! Today was super hot!!! I thought I was going to die, and am pretty sure that I got sunburned! We are in the middle of a weird transition for our ward because some of the med school students have graduated and then the rest are going back home (utah!) for a lot of the summer. So, we will go down to a very small ward just trying to limp through til august. It should be fun! ha We had a ton of people at church on sunday because of all the families coming in as well as some other members. One woman talked to us and says she has a sister in our area who is already converted. She has read through the book of mormon, pearl of great price, and doctrine and covenants, and is now going through the book of mormon again with a study guide thing from byu. This week she is with her sister at the sacred grove and a lot of the other church history sites. She knows the church is true, and wants to come, but we have to get her husband to know it now too. She was so happy that sisters were here and said it would be perfect. We will hopefully meet her next week??? We were so excited though because it just like fell into our laps. We have been finding no success at all, so this was such a tender mercy from the Lord. Amazing!! I really hope that things work out there!

 

We did some service on thursday and friday at a school for troubled girls and it was awesome. A lot of our members work there, and one of them was in charge of food for their graduation so we helped prepare it. There was really only six of us, and we were running around like crazy but we got it done and it was super good! One exciting thing that happened there was that I was slicing cucumber and totally sliced my thumb as well!!! It was awesome especially the blood that was going everywhere but it was all good. I just silently went to the sink and took care of it. It's better now though. I always took for granted how much I use my thumb until I couldn't use it anymore! Thumbs are so important! haha

 

We had a zone meeting on thursday and that was absolutely amazing! Sister Patchett and I had to do a role play where the whole lesson was guided by the spirit, but we were both really nervous cause we didn't really know exactly what we wanted to do because they gave us only a few minutes to prepare it. The first few minutes were a little awkward, but after that things just clicked and it was amazing! The spirit came in so overwhelmingly strong that we knew exactly what to say. I was talking about prayer to the other sister we were teaching and things were just coming and I was saying them and they were exactly what she needed to hear and what I needed to hear as well. We worked so well and we both just knew what to say and how to teach it. It was completely by the spirit, and was just wonderful. I have never had that good of a role play before. The sister that we were teaching was just so amazed and had no critiques at all and didn't even know where to start if she had one because it was totally with the spirit. She said that some of the things we said she had not even thought of, but was now going to take that and tell it to the girl that she was portraying. It was cool to be a part of that. I also was doing a different role play with sister patchett and we were talking about trusting in the Lord, and I saw a picture behind her of Christ standing there with His arms outstretched and it was my answer. In that moment I knew that I could trust the Lord and that everything was going to be ok. He is watching out for me and knows what I need to reach my potential and He is there with me every step of the way here. It was like He was saying, 'It's ok, you can come into my reach and trust me.' Awesome! 

 

We've just had a good week filled with lots of little answers here and there and lots of laughter and fun as well. Even though we aren't finding really anyone to teach we are still helping less actives, members, and others in just how we act. Life is good and we are just working hard. Oh, the early transfer is still feeling right to me right now, and so that means that today is my half way point. So, now I'll be on the downhill. That is so weird and scary! Have I done enough and learned everything??? Ahhhh!!! Anyways, I love you all and hope that you are doing well! P-day is wednesday next week because of transfers (we should both be here) so I will talk to you on wednesday! I love you!

 

                                                   Love, Sister Higgins

Monday again! (Week 36)

Hi, hi!

Well, we'll see how long this email is cause I think there is a waiting list and I had to send some other emails before this. Thanks for the emails and pictures. You guys look good. Are you thinking of giving grandma my email address or this email? I am fine with whatever! Tell her happy birthday for me! Thanks. Shelby looks so pretty. No, I don't need the umbrella, the one I have is good. It just downpours for a bit and then it stops. It's crazy rain though here. I bought some black boots out here and they are the ones that have holes in them. Lame! They were good quality though. Oh well. My danskos are doing well. I like them! This week was good- no new investigators though. It will come though!

 

So, it this week went by really quickly for me cause here I am again writing to you. Next week I won't be writing til tuesday cause monday is a holiday. I am excited for monday though cause we are going up farther into our area with some members to have a picnic and fhe (family home evening) at a state park, and to go see a family cemetary or something. It should be fun. We are doing a lot of service this week. Part of thursday and friday we are going to a troubled girls school and helping a member who works there get ready for their graduation. I could do that in my major. We are making this big pineapple thing and I don't know what else. I'm excited! Some of the med school wives want us to do some type of 5k run with them on the 1st so we may do that. I don't know. We may play laser tag with our district sometime as well at the Greenbrier so that should be fun! They'll never know what hit them when I start playing! haha jk

I got my haircut this week and that was interesting but good. I just wanted a trim and a little bit of tapering around my face. The lady that cut it hit it off with me right away so that was a good thing. She loved to talk so we just went on and on. She had a ton of questions about the gospel, missionary work, and how I find peace/happiness in the world today, so I answered a lot of them for her. She was just cutting and cutting though, and my hair was about dry in the front when she finally stopped cutting! ha I was getting so nervous that I might be bald by the time that I left that shop. I would be a new missionary for sure. But, I got over it. I figured that I love the gospel so much and it has truly changed my life and means so much to me. So, I would be glad to sacrifice my hair to share the gospel with someone to help their faith be strengthened in Christ! My hair will always grow back right?! It was really neat though, because when I went to leave she called me a 'sweetheart', gave me a big ole hug, and slapped me on the shoulder and said, 'go get em tiger.' haha Yes!! The next day I came back and left a book of mormon on her chair with a note in it explaining that this was how I found so much of my peace and happiness in the world today, and that she should read it. I felt really good about it and I hope she takes the time to read it because I know that it will really bless her life.

 

This morning Sister Patchett and I did our own workout in the morning and then later we went to the park with a track on it and met four of the med school wives to work out with them. They all either walked or ran on the track together, so we did it with them. I ran for parts and walked for parts and it was really fun. The humidity when we were out there though sucked! I HATE HUMIDITY! ha We didn't realize though that they went for so long. They just kept going and going and going. We thought we were going to die...or maybe just fall onto the grass next to the track! We ended up going for 5 miles!!! It was awesome but I am already hurting from it! :) I was already sore cause we played ultimate frisbee again on saturday and I was running all around for that. I had some awesome catches with that though and some not so awesome ones as well! I had a really cool diving catch which earned me lots of high fives and mud stains all over! Success! One of the games my team was playing a man down, but one of the nonmember students was like, 'that's ok cause we have the scoring machine on our team' and then he looked at me! So fun!

We had a great lesson with our one and only investigator that will meet with us consistently and it went well. We still can't get him to come to church though. It was all about prayer and how prayer is so, so crucial to each one of us. It is our connection to our Heavenly Father and we need it for guidance! I bore my testimony to him a couple times, but there was one time that is was really neat. I was just talking and not really thinking all the way about what I would say, but everything that was coming out was powerful and what he needed. I definitley felt the spirit. The member was going to talk after that and she was just like 'uh, it's really hard to say anything after that. Maybe I should just say the prayer now.' It was neat. And...we kept talking with him, and helped him to recognize that he was feeling the spirit. He said he felt calm, peaceful, and relaxed. He loves when we come cause it's his one spiritual time in the week. It was really neat to be a part of that and to help him see that. So, it's all coming slowly but surely.

All right well this has become really long and I don't know what else to say. Oh, exept one woman who talked to us for a while was grilling us on when we would get married and if we would do it soon because we get married young. I just smiled and talked. Then she was wondering when we would have kids, if we would have them soon, and how many we would have. She said we were just 'baby makers!' ha I almost just busted up laughing at that. Gotta love West Virginia! I'm doing well and just chugging along! Learning a lot about myself, prayer, faith, humility, and trust. It will all work out though! I love it. I love being a missionary and I love this gospel, and I absolutely love the book of mormon!! It is true and there is a power in there for each one of us to feel as we just read it and apply its teachings in our lives! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
 

                                                                  Love, Sister Higgins 

 

Pictures!!

Here you go!!

                                                  Our fast way of melting butter!

 

The butter mints we made (my red dyed hand) for a member's wedding reception coming up.

 

These things are everywhere here!!!

Massive rainstorm!!! We braved it and went tracting in it, which was so fun but miserable! I also learned that I had holes in both feet, so my tights and feet were soaking wet for the rest of the day! I was pruny when I got home! ha

                                             I built a porch and made it into the newspaper!

writing notes to the ward roster because of inspiration= time consuming, hand cramps, and ink marks, but fun! 

 

 
                                               We just love our companionship!

                                        Happy Mother's Day since I'm a mom x2 now! :P

Playing with my camera while Sister Patchett talked to her family! I love my camera, and that scarf!

  I love this house!

 I built a bike trail with this! It was awesome but made us so sore! :) 

Sister Coleman on exchanges at SVU! So fun and the apartment was so nice!

 Running the chocolate race- 6.2 miles!

building the porch! 

 

Our district went caving and got dirty, but it was really fun!! 

Awesome owl!! We were so close to it as we were going by and watched it for a little while! It was so cool, but I thought he was going to fly straight towards me cause he was eying me with his beady eyes! The members that were with us were laughing because I was freaking our but was also so excited and fascinated to see it!

Tornado warning! 

I ate pollon! A member keeps bee's and was showing us a thing of honey and made me eat the pollon. It was sick, but I did it! 

The Greenbrier hotel which is super nice and all the rich people come to it! It was awesome!

I ate liquid gold at the greenbrier! It was delicious! :) 

Part of a golf course there (they are famous for that). 

So cool and pretty!! 

Alright, that's all that I've got for today. We need to go, but hopefully that suffices for the pictures that you have been wanting! It's a little bit of everything that I have been experiencing here! I really do the area even if it is slow. It's fun! I love you all!! :)

Yay for Technology!! :) (Week 35)

Well hello again!

 Long time no see! :) Oh my goodness, I can't even tell you how absolutely wonderful it was to be able to see you all yesterday! That was just so great and it made my day! I'm with you mom- I wasn't sure if I wanted to face time because it might be harder to say goodbye, but it was exactly what I needed. To be able to see all of your faces and know that you are still there (!) and to be able to just see you after 8 months was just awesome! I am so glad that we did that! Whoever created that I owe a lot to now! haha I never loved facetime as much as I did last night, even though we were stressing out and were trying to get a connection and it took us 15 minutes, but hey, it worked. That's all that matters! Thank you guys for being so great and for lifting my spirits and for talking! You all look great and seem like you are all doing well! I cannot believe how big Emry is!!  She looks so different from when I left and I was not expecting her to be so big! She is so cute though and I love her walking and her animal sounds! The boys look so good and big too and are so cute! I'm glad they still know my name and haven't forgotten me yet! :D

So, what to say, what to say. As we were facetiming our cell phone died, so we lost communication to our missionary world, and then on the way home we got lost for a little bit :/ Even though I have been there multiple times it just looked so different for some reason. I can't thank you enough for sending me a gps for christmas though because that reaffirmed that we were still on the right road, and we were going in the right direction. It was just weird though, so that put us home a lot later than we thought we would be home, but that's ok. We got home and our district leader said that 'he was so glad to know that his sisters were safe and talking to him again.' It was so funny! As I was writing that a thought came into my head that I thought was cool, so I will share it with you. We go on our road of life just chugging along and trying to do our best and looking for the signs and houses or people that are familiar to us and get us through the day. But in this life we can't do it by ourselves. We have to have Heavenly Father's help to get us through this life because He knows where we need to go (just like the gps will get you to the right road.) So, anyways, I don't know if that made sense but it did in my head :) If it didn't make sense then I'm sorry and you can take it off before you put this on the blog! ha

I think this week should be a good week because both Sister Patchett and I have a good feeling about it. We are laying that foundation and helping others in anyway that we can. I just know that we are going to have a breakthrough sometime and that we are going to see success here, but we just have to keep trying and working and it will come. Often times the Lord doesn't bless us with miracles until after we do our part and show Him that we are willing to let Him in and that we will keep working towards getting better. I don't know what else to tell you because I told you a lot yesterday and nothing is coming to my head right now, so I guess I will close. Sorry this isn't the longest email. I will have more to say next week to you guys! I hope that you guys are doing well and that you have a wonderful week! I love you all and it was so, so, so wonderful to talk to you and see you all in person! Only like 8 more months now! ha Have a safe trip to TN mom and dad, and tell grandma hello for me and that I love her! I need to write her again :) Take care everyone and know that I love you!!

                                                     Love, Sister Higgins!

P.S. Jenna sent over 20 pictures today!!!  They will be posted tomorrow.  I'm still on a learning curve with posting photos on the blog!  Excited to share them with you though.  Gail

May!! (Week 34)

Hello again!

 

Can you guys believe that it is already May?!  I feel like this week went by really fast but also really slow. Crazy! I am just losing all track of time here, but that's ok, because I just do what I'm told in the same area until I get told otherwise! Thanks for your emails. I loved them. Mom- thanks for sending pictures although I didn't get to see any of them :( I think it may be the computer. I will try next time though. I am so excited for Jordan Foster! Helsinki Finland sounds awesome! I was wondering if she would go so I'm glad that she is out on a mission! She will do great. Also, did you know that Mary did have a mission call! What is the name of her fiance? That's great about Sis Fisher, yay Montana! Also, Jacob Coakwell is in Ukraine so, close to Russia. If you see Chanel tell her hi for me. I am so happy for her. Let me know about Estee too. She wrote me and I wrote her back and haven't heard anything since. My back is still really hurting but oh well. I'll see what I can do. Also, how do you all like the missionary email from President? Dad- thanks for the offer of paying for extra miles but they are cracking down on it for everyone. No going over. Once you hit your limit you turn off your car whereever it is. I've never gone over but these elders do all the time! ARg!

 

Today it has been really rainy, cold, and windy and yesterday was the same. It is forecasted to be like this for the next couple of days. Boo! Church was good yesterday. Sis Patchett and I said the opening and closing prayers and we both bore our testimonies and people really liked it. I didn't cry much either! The ward I think is definitely starting to see the love that we have been showing and they are starting to warm up to us more I think. Yesterday it seemed like they were all talking about us and praising us and I don't know what else. My bishop was talking to us a lot as well and even joked with me! Yes! Also, we had a ward party on saturday and I said hi to a woman that has not talked to me the entire time I've been here and has just ignored us and she said hi back! Winner!! I was so excited even though it wasn't the best hi it was progress. I think that foundation and trust is definitley coming and it is making me so happy to see it! I'm doing something right. ha We got a new ward mission leader yesterday since our other one got called as the 2nd councilor. I think he will be really good and is super funny. I think we will definitely help him with his missionary work as well, so it was definitely inspired! We played frisbee on saturday and it was awesome. I was on exchanges with Sis Tuckett and that was fun but I think we both died a little. It was 4 on 4 and she was like 'you can tell I've been out for a year' and I was like 'well, you can tell I've been out for 8 months.' Isn't that crazy!! My 8 month click day is on mother's day! So, we ran a lot during the frisbee games and it felt so good, but at the end I was dying. I need to workout more! But, I totally dominated! One game my team lost 7 to 4 and I had all 4 touchdowns!!! One I caught the frisbee on my head and just held onto it as I slide on the ground. It was awesome! They called me the touchdown queen!

 

We have had some amazing lessons this week, and a couple were with some of our active members. We were all crying and the spirit was just overpowering there. They were like you guys always know exactly what we need to hear every time. It was neat because I had the thought that we needed to show them a certain video and that was exactly what they needed. It was so neat to be a part of that. That happened multiple times this week and we also had an amazing lesson with our recent convert. The elders never taught him after baptism lessons. The lesson went way off what we planned but it was exactly what he needed to hear. The spirit there was so strong and I have never felt so powerful as I promised him blessings and certain things to protect him. It was crazy but amazing! I love this gospel. We are praying to find a solid and prepared investigator because right now the few we have are not progressing at all. Prayers would be appreciated :) I am so excited for this transfer though because we are going to be able to do amazing things together! I am not even training sis Patchett because she is training me!! She is so prepared and amazing it is not even funny. I love it! The church is true and I can say that with all I know. I love being a missionary even though it is super hard and stretches me every day. I am so blessed because of it though. I am so excited to talk to you all on sunday!!! AHHHHH! Love you all so much!!!! Have a wonderful week!  

 

Lots of love, Sister Higgins