Hello again!!
Sorry for not emailing yesterday! We had a crazy day of service and meetings (even though it was pday) so our zone leaders just told us to email today, so now I'm emailing! :) Thanks for all of the emails and for all of the pictures! It was great to see those and to hear how life is going! That is crazy about all of the snow and the storms that you have gotten there! It sounds quite exciting and fun out there :P The weather is changing and just being so crazy I feel like...at least out here anyway. I think everyone is going to get a big winter this year which I am not excited about because I hate being out tracting and working in that. I was hoping that I would get another mild winter but I don't think that will happen...especially cause I am up north in the top part of the mission. At least the Lord blessed me with a mild winter last year and not too bad of a humid summer, so I guess He has to try me in some way! :P
So,
on tuesday we had Mission Leader Conference (MLC) and it was amazing!!!! I learned so much there and am so grateful that I was able to be there and have that experience!! It was cool to be able to come together and really talk about how we as leaders can improve our mission and help it grow to new heights! There was a lot of good discussion and input which was neat to hear everyone's perspective. Then President spoke to us as well and it was just like a mind blowing experience!! haha It always is though! He really just knows how to speak directly to what we are needing and to teach it in a way that you learn so much from it! I just love having him as my mission president soooo much!! I can't remember who said it in conference, but I loved when they said that the Lord knew long before what mission we needed to go to, what mission president we needed to have, areas, and companions that we needed to serve with. That is so true!! I love this mission so much and I love President Pitt!! He has helped me so much out here and really cares about each one of us! Everytime it gets me that the Lord is so in the details of our lives! He knows exactly who we are, what we are going through, and what we need help with. He knows the experiences we need to have and He knows how to help us in small and big ways! I just love it so much and I'm so grateful to have a knowledge that our Heavenly Father really does love us so much that He does all of that for us! No wonder the very first thing that we teach people is God is their loving Heavenly Father!!! If they don't know that, then everything else that comes after won't mean as much because it's all been given to us by Him!!! I hope that all made sense!! :)
We went and saw Bxxx and Gxxx, who are our older couple who are so in love with each other! Gxxx is just so wonderful and was putting up scriptures from the Book of Mormon on her facebook page because she loves it so much. When we were over there this week she was talking to me, and remembered that I had recited something to them about Joseph Smith in one of our lessons. (it was the first vision that I told them) She wanted to know where she could find it because she liked it so much that she wanted to put it up on her page next. She said she knew it meant a lot to me because I had taken time to memorize it and she could tell I had emotion in it when I recited it to them. That was really cool because it does mean a lot to me because it's true and it did happen!! Reciting the first vision throughout my mission has always been a really neat experience for me because the spirit that is there when we recite it is so undeniable! I also had a really neat experience with it when I was in Morgantown my second transfer where I received so many answers to what I was seeking while I was reciting it! There's an undeniable power in that experience because of the meaning that comes with it. Knowing that Heavenly Father has again restored His gospel to the earth through Joseph Smith so that we could benefit from it, receive those saving ordinances that we need, and have lasting peace and happiness that we cannot find anywhere else! I think everyone should memorize the first vision so they know without having to read what happened. Then when that time comes to stand up for what we believe we will already be prepared to say the first vision and invite the spirit into our conversation! I just love Joseph Smith so much and am so grateful for all that he went through because he knew without a doubt that this church is true and that it is vital for us to have in our lives!! There is a huge difference when we do not let it penetrate deeper and deeper within us! It is so sad to see people out here who have lost their testimonies and don't care about the gospel anymore. Their life is so much harder, they are unhappy, and can't get through things because they don't have that knowledge of the gospel anymore. It does wonders for us! :)
On Thursday, we had Bridgeport's Light Up Night where they close down the main street and there are vendors there who give out free things and they have the christmas tree lighting and have a lot of fireworks and singing!! It was awesome!!! There weren't as many people there because it had been pouring rain that whole day and it still was drizzling but it was a lot of fun! We were able to talk to people and to just enjoy the whole experience! 'Brad Ford the Landlord' chased us down on the street and made us sing a song in the microphone for the crowd!! hahaha Good publicity for us I guess! :p It was super fun though and a good time to get our faces out there! All the guys at the funeral home love us too and are always talking to us and joking with us cause they think we are so cool....or that maybe we are uncool so we need friends to talk to. We'll go with that we are cool though! ha
Friday was an awesome but RAINY day!! It rained all day long and was super cold too!! So miserable, but we were out all day in it cause we never stop! We were out in Grafton all day long and everything seemed to keep falling through or people weren't home and it just kept raining! (I would say it was maybe one of the longest days of my mission, but that's ok!) It's amazing though how the Lord watches out for us though and knows exactly what we need even if at the time it looks like just another dropped appointment or something. We 2x2'd into a woman who was super nice and who let us right in and talked to us for a while. Turns out she has a sister who is a member and she wants to learn more. Later we had to go to the gas station to go to the bathroom and the cashier was kind of awkwardly walking around us but not saying anything. We OPENED OUR MOUTHS and started talking to her and she said that she used to meet with missionaries and wanted to talk with us again. Then as we were paying for something the girl behind was her neighbor and asked us if we went to the church in Clarksburg. We said yes, and she was like 'I used to go there all the time with my grandma and loved it!' Turns out she is a less active member that we had overlooked on the roster, and she said we could come by too! So, even though that day seemed hard we were able to see huge miracles because it was raining and because our other appointments fell through!! The Lord is in the details!!
Alright, I am like out of time, but last little bit!
On sunday it snowed like crazy! We got to our early meetings fine and there was no snow at all and then when we came out it was starting to dump it! We ended up only have like 45 minutes of sacrament meeting and then they canceled church because it was so bad. A lot of members didn't come and some got in accidents while coming :( We were supposed to have a lot of investigators and less actives coming to church, but ended up only have one less active! Don't forget the one! People were sliding everywhere and it was just crazy! ha We were supposed to go out farther into our area but that changed because we wouldn't have made it on the roads there. We haven't driven our car in snow though and I think it's just two wheel and we were a little nervous because people were getting really stuck and sliding everywhere right when you got on the road by the church. So, we ended up going with a member, who had 4 wheel!, and made it just fine! That meant though we really couldn't do any work though because we were carless and we really can't walk to anywhere in our area because it is too far out. So, we just had to be with some members, teach them, and then go home and do some extended study time! It was crazy! I'm glad that we're safe though and that it all worked out!!!
Well, that is a really short overview of everything that we did this week! It was a crazy busy week and we did so much, but it was a good week though! Things are going well and I am loving serving with Sister Richards!! Thanks for all that you do and I hope that you have a wonderful week! Lots of love!
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