I'm getting old!!! (Week 50)

Hello again my dear family!

     I can't tell you how happy I was to get your emails and to hear all that is happening with you!! I love getting letters and emails! Thanks for the pictures! I loved seeing Rachel! Also, I already told Estee in my letter that I wrote to her that you will be taking pictures at her reception so that I can see it...so take pictures please! Thanks! I can't believe that she is getting married tomorrow. That's so weird! Do you know where Austin Arts is going on his mission? That's great for him though! Dad- you said the apples and peaches/pears will be coming in soon and you are going to give them all away?? You do know there is such a thing called mail, or drying them and then sending them in the mail...right?? Yes! :) Mom - I got the package and loved it and Kellie I got your letter as well!! I am so excited to open all of them on sunday! Thanks!

     I feel like there is so much that I want to say, but I don't have a ton of time to write it all, so I will try to at least get the highlights and hopefully that will be good! First, I am on such a streak of getting mail and I love it! I got a letter friday, package and letter saturday, letter on monday, and two letters yesterday! Woot! I love it! haha Getting mail is the best and something that I took for granted before I came out here! ha 

     Last week, I had to make two calls to less actives who are around here to get some more information from them. Sister Jang made me call them...arg. The first one I had to call at work cause that was the only number I was given and it was one of the most awkward phone calls of my life. She was like 'how did you get my number?' It was so weird and I felt so bad but had to do it, so I just tried to be really nice. I got a phone number out of her! Then I called another woman, she answered, and I told her my name, who I was, and I was just telling her that we were new to the area, and she said something and hung up on me! The nerve! It was just so rude of her and not classy at all. At least she could have just said no. I feel bad for her though and hope that everything will be good. 

     The past few days have been super hot and super humid!!! Today is just miserable!! I hate it! We decided to walk to the library yesterday which is about three miles one way and we about died. Worst idea ever! haha I will be glad when it starts to cool off! Last night there was a huge thunderstorm with lightening and everything, and now the river around here is super high and flooding a street that is right next to it. It is crazy cause we were just down there last night!

     So, as far as transfers go...Sister Jang is getting transferred down to Blacksburg Virginia to open up a new area for sisters. This will be her last transfer so she will die there. I will be staying here in Bridgeport and getting Sister Peck as my new companion. She has been out for l think five or six months. I don't really know her but I think that she is really nice.  We were super surprised though. They told us last night, and there was just silence, and then we were just like what?! haha I guess there a lot of Koreans down in Blacksburg and President wants her to be a good influence on them down there. Crazy! WE were not expecting that! So, it should be interesting!

     I am excited for my birthday although it will be really weird! Celebrate for me there! ha Can you believe that it will also be my year mark of when I went through the temple? Go to the temple for me since I can't! I love the temple! I hope that you all are doing well and that you are enjoying life! I feel like this transfer is going to be another big refiner's fire for me and so I am just trying to prep myself for it. Start praying for me! :D Love you all!!! Next time I will write you I will be 22! Ah!

                                             Love, Sister Higgins

hello! (Week 49)

Well hello again!

        Another week has come and gone. Crazy how fast time is going! Thanks for all of the emails! I opened up my inbox and had so many! Mom- tell Sister Neilsen I say hi! She is just wonderful and I love her so much! No, I didn't buy any sandals cause we are not allowed to wear sandals here. I was talking about my danskos. Sorry! Yeah, I did buy some new clothes. Goodwill and Salvation Army seem to have a lot! ha I don't need any new clothes though unless you want to send me like a cardigan or something! Dad- like president would give me a cupcake! haha He is so busy already! For my (birthday) package, I would say it would be easiest to send it to me before transfers, so that means I would need to get it by the 28th cause transfers are the 29th. Sounds like you guys have been busy!

       This week was another interesting week. Sister Jang has been having some health problems this week with her shoulders and back so we have actually had to stay inside a lot. She has just been so exhausted and in so much pain this week and I feel so bad for her. She takes ibruprofin but I guess it really doesn't do anything to help her. I keep telling her that she needs to do something to help her feel better or to get it checked out, but she won't do anything. So, we're just going along doing what we can. I have had a lot of time to study and read while she has been sleeping and it has been wonderful! I just love my study time soooo much because I always learn so much and it makes me feel so much better! The Book of Mormon is truly so powerful and inspired and it was saved for our time because we need it to help us get through all of our hard times and struggles, and because we can come so much closer to Heavenly Father because of it. It is an inspired and powerful book!

         We came in contact with a former investigator this week and that was a really cool experience. We knocked on her door and she came out and was all defensive to us. She said that she knows about our church, has never read the Book of Mormon because she has been told that it has crazy and bad things in it, and that she has been told that we are a cult. Wonderful! We started talking to her and eventually she had to sit down so she told us to sit down too. We ended up talking to her for like an hour and a half and taught her the restoration. It was cool because you could literally see her walls coming down and her whole attitude changed as we talked to her. We told her things and she was just like I didn't know that or things like that. It was just such a cool experience to see her at the beginning be so annoyed and defensive to us, and then as we talked to her see those walls come down in a way. Bearing testimony works! We have a couple new families moving into the ward, so now our ward is getting really big. It's so different to be in a big ward now! I am getting used to it though and liking more as I get to know everyone better. Our area is still so hard though!!  Haha

         We had a relief society bbq on Friday and that was wonderful. Our president is from either samoa or tonga, so it was soooo good. There was so much food and it was all really good! Then they sent us home with leftovers! She is so funny and loves us! They haven't had sisters here in a couple years, so it was interesting at first. But they are liking us more and more and so that is great to see.  Life here has still been rough because sometimes Sister Jang does things that I just don't understand or that are frustrating, but I'm sure I annoy her at times too. That's life though. She is so funny though and loves people, and we have fun together! Things are slowly progressing here so that's good. It's just taking a long time though!

          Well, I know this isn't the longest email, but we've got to head out, and get some other things done today! I love being a missionary though because I am learning so much!! It is such a wonderful experience and I love it! It is so hard but so worth it! I love you all!!

                                       Love, Sister Higgins

Happy Click Day! (Week 48)

Hello, hello!

       Thanks for the emails! Lots of exciting things happening! Thanks for all of the info! I like feeling somewhat in touch with everything but basically don't feel like I know about anything. It's so funny how people talk about things now and I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about!! I am in such a bubble...but it's a good bubble! I don't like it when I hear some types of regular music because it kills the spirit and it's not church music! I'm going to be so awkward when I get home! haha It's just interesting though because there is SUCH a difference when you completely immerse yourself in church music and then when you hear not church music!Being out here I have come to appreciate church and uplifting music even more! Thanks for always playing it on sunday mom! Gold star for you! We are still teaching our Syrian family, but haven't seen them in a couple of days. It's good! They are so cute! There is no flooding for us here. That is so awesome about Elizabeth Harrison! What an experience!  Also, when did aunt linda and uncle ray decide to move to Idaho?!?! Crazy! How does Grandma feel about that?

       So, this is going to be a shorter email but I will get in what I can! This is basically a rundown of how our whole week went. Hot and humid, tracting, rain, door slamming, hot and humid, more tracting, eat, someone took a book of Mormon!, RAIN, door slamming, hot and humid, more tracting, more RAIN!!! haha And, now I can close my email! I have never been so hot in my life I feel like! This week was miserable because it was so hot and humid and so bright! I got sunburned and I also am developing some good tan lines! I have a nice one that is from my sandal! There was so much rain this week too!! All the time it seemed like and it just dumped it! We only got caught in it a couple of times but got drenched! It just comes down so quickly though! We did a lot of tracting and trying formers and it's all coming but very slowly! I am learning so much diligence, patience, and hard work. I know that you just have to keep working hard and keep trying! I may not see the benefits of it all right now but it will come later. Down the road, the long term things will be so worth it because I keep going now even though it is hard. The Lord will bless us as we keep working hard!

        I had interviews with President and it was amazing!!!! I love that man soooo much! He is incredible and I am so grateful to have him as my mission president! He knows how to help me exactly the way that I need help! Oh, one downer though. I found out that Sister Patchett was still really struggling in Parkersburg, and she finally decided to go home :( She flew out today to go home. It makes me so sad, but right now that is maybe what she needs? I know that we needed to be together though and that I needed to help her. He said again that I was the only one in the mission that she could be with. So amazing!!! I love her so much and will be forever grateful to her because she taught me so much!!!!!

       So, I know this is really short but I have to go. The librarian here is meanish and I have to write President still. Pictures are in the mail coming to you. Sorry!!! I love you!!!!

                                           Love, Sister Higgins

Happy August! (Week 47)

Hello there,

Wow, can you believe that it is already august 5th?! Crazy!! That means that my birthday is less than a month away and then I will be 22!!! Holy Cow!! Weird! Mom- Um, I have no idea about birthday gifts at all. More sleep? I will ponder that!

This will be a shorter email and I am trying to even remember what all has happened this week. Rain, rain, and more rain. It is driving me nuts! It is nice, then, humid, then rains a ton, stops for a bit, and then rains some more. It makes it so much fun to go out tracting and walking!! One awesome thing that I did today that made this email come late is that I went turtle hunting today with the elders and a member!!! It was so much fun!!! We didn't catch any turtles, although we kept hooking them and then they got away. It was great to just get out there though onto a farm and nature and to just take some time to enjoy what God has created and to have fun with everyone. Our elders are crazy but so much fun! We went hiking some too, but mostly I think the thorns just found me, so now I am all scratched up but that's ok. It was a lot of fun!

We ended up not having president interviews this past week because we had an unplanned event happen. We got there and were just starting our meeting and then president would come interview us after he had made some phone calls. A few minutes in his wife (who was sitting next to me) kind of made some noises. Then she got off her chair and turned around so she was like kneeling with her head on the chair, I was wondering if she had dropped something and was going to get it or something like that. Then all of a sudden her body just locked up and she like shot into the air and flew backward and landed on her head. It was so loud! The elders were all kind of like, uh... the zone leaders went to go get president and one kid then called 911, so I just got down there and tried to help her, talk to her and 'assess the situation.' I felt like an emt! haha President came in and I think the look that he had on his face will forever be ingrained in my mind because it was just so filled with emotion. She had gotten knocked out but finally came to, and was so embarrassed. They spent some time together alone and we all were waiting in the hallway and then finished our meeting in a different room. So, we are supposed to have our interviews this week.

We found a family that is from Syria and speak Arabic and some English, that are interested in learning more. We were able to get them Arabic book of Mormons and they want to come to church with us this week, so that's exciting. It should be interesting to teach them since they don't know a ton of English, but if they are ready the spirit will teach them more than we can and that's what matters most, because we aren't the converter. The real converter is the holy ghost and we are just instruments in the Lord's hands that try to just get the environment right for them to feel the spirit.

It has been a long and exhausting week cause we are just trying to find people, so we are tracting and 2x2ing and trying to find less actives all the time. It is hard to stay all the way positive when you have to do that all day long, but oh well. The Lord knows what I need to learn right now, so I am trying my best. Look for the tender little mercies everyday!!! I still feel like I am in a funk with a lot of different things and Sister Jang and I have different ways of doing things, but oh well. We are making it work. I love you all and hope that you are doing well!!    

                       Love, Sister Higgins