Jenna in West Virginia: Happy 9th of September! (I have no clever title!) (Week 52!)

Well hello there family!

Thanks for the emails! It was good to hear from you and to see pictures! I love pictures and I will try to send pictures of me today! Hopefully it will work! :) I do remember Jay Lessley (ward member who was killed in plane accident this past week.) That is so sad. Hopefully they are doing ok. I love you guys too! I have come to see out here just how blessed I am and how much family means to me because so many families out here are just so broken and torn apart. So, I like you guys!! (These next few comments are in reference to a trip we took this past weekend) That's funny but sad about your (bicycle) crash! haha I'm glad you are ok! So, you like (the movie) safe haven then? I've heard it's good; it's one I want to watch when I get back, ok?! Raquetball?! I'm jealous! Can we please play when I get back? I love raquetball! Yes, I remember the monastery (near Huntsville, UT). It was cool and we got honey I think! I am excited for Taylor (friend who is newly engaged)!

So, really, this week seriously just flew by soooo fast!! It was like it was tuesday and then we were waking up and it was already sunday!! It was really weird! Weekly planning on friday was weird cause we were already planning for the middle of september! What!! This week was pretty busy though with service, meetings, some lessons, and finding. It was nice to finally get to do some service for people cause we don't get to do a lot here cause everyone always calls on the elders! Lame! We moved a family though and that was good cause I showed the elders that I actually could lift and move things! I felt good! :p Then we helped a nonmember older woman organize her house cause she has tons of stuff crammed into her house. Not quite a hoarder but she needs help! At first she didn't want us to come to help and her son (who knows a member) kind of just made her do it, but while we were there we had such a good time. The member told us that she loved having us there, and we are going back this week! :) One thing I love about being a missionary is seeing how people have their walls go up when they meet you, but as you talk you can usually see their walls start to come down, and that was exactly what I saw in her! We didn't really even talk about ourselves except for at the very beginning. I kept firing questions at her about herself, and I think she really liked that because she saw that we really did care about her! It was fun, and we ended up getting a lot of different stuff from her for our apartment. So, I'd say it was a win win.

Oh, fun story. You know that guy that I told you about a while ago who really liked the church for polygamy? Did I tell you about him? Anyways, super nice guy who has gone through a lot and loves the church because we practiced polygamy. He doesn't understand why we stopped polygamy, and says that we should bring it back again...uh, no! So, I made cookies one day to give to a lot of different people to like us more (yay, for bribery!) and he about died because they were so good. So, apparently I'm a semi good cook after all! haha! He kept raving about it and wanted to know if I was available because he likes it so much! haha! He's in his 50's. We had a member with us and she was just hilarious and put a stop to that right there, along with what I told him as well. That was a funny lesson. Then last time we visited with him again Sister Peck was with us and he was still raving about the cookies. Interesting man! It's cool to watch him feel the spirit though and to see things make a little more sense to him. We have actually had some really spiritual moments with him, so we are definitely helping him see that God really is a part of his life, and helping him to see a greater light! I love it!

We played basketball on tuesday night at the church with the elders and some nonmembers and that was such a blessing! It was so wonderful and so fun! We have gone a couple times and I love it! The first time we went no one passed to me, cause I'm a girl. But, finally the next game everything was falling for me and so they were impressed with me and started passing it to me. It was a lot of fun! So, we go every now and then. Tuesday my shot wasn't the best, but I had some great defense skills and steals. One time the ball was going out and everyone just kind of gave up on it and started to stand around. I jumped after the ball, tossed it back onto the court, where it hit an elders leg and then bounced out, so then we had the ball again! haha They were all so surprised at that but thought it was soooo awesome! They all had to give high fives cause it was such a good play! I felt good! :)

Thursday we had zone meeting and it was really good! Our mission has been struggling lately, and so we are as a mission focusing on raising our faith and improving. We are shooting for 50 baptisms this month as a mission because usually we have like 17-18 a month, which is pretty low for a mission. Our meeting was all about faith and it was so wonderful! I felt like I was furiously scribbling notes the entire meeting because I kept having things come to me and answers to things that I was needing. It was the best! But, because I had such a spiritual high there had to be an opposition, and boy did it come. Friday I woke up and I just felt wrong. My body physically hurt, but more than that I didn't feel spiritual at all and I had no motivation at all! The entire day was such a struggle because I just didn't feel like doing things and I felt like I was somewhere else. It was so frustrating because I was doing all I could to get out of that, but I couldn't shake that feeling. Satan is such a jerk! So, that was just a hard day. Yesterday was stake conference and it was amazing!! I learned so much again and saw so many people that I knew. There are so many missionaries in our stake too! I got a blessing from President because he was there to speak. It was a great blessing and gave me more insight and council about how I can improve and shake this feeling off. Satan knows how good I can be and he is just hitting me with so much so that it hinders my progress. President talked about that some and how I can stop it. He said that this gospel is such a good thing and it's worth fighting for, and Satan is going to do all he can to stop us from achieving such happiness. And, since I'm a good missionary he is going to try to stop me too. I don't think I have ever studied as much as I have or prayed as hard as I have in the last few days! I am learning though and am definitely coming closer to my Savior as I try to understand even more about the gospel. I love my Savior though and know that He lives. I know that He knows exactly what we are going through and that He is always with us. He never leaves our side or forsakes us, but is there to lift us up and help us when there is nothing else to help us. I am just so grateful for my Savior!! Why are you grateful for your Savior?? I'm doing well though and am learning and experiencing so much out here! Thank you for supporting me and helping me through this amazing journey. I can't ask for a better opportunity than to serve my Lord! I love being a missionary even with all my challenges because I know it is shaping me into something even better than I can imagine! The Lord truly is hastening His work at this time, and we all need to be and can be a part of it!

I love you!!!!

Love, Sister Higgins

I put our vacuum together!!

We like Bridgeport at night!

Sis. Jang and Sis. Higgins in Bridgeport, WV

A pretty lake! I like it!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures so far. This was when we walked to the library and we about died from the humidity and heat! It was so bad! haha This just makes me laugh every time though! We are so pretty and cool!