Letter home -- Charley's angels, and the X-Men
Monday, we had an adventure trying to get Sister Lyman a hair
cut. It didn't work. So we went to the Comte's, and helped them cook dinner for
our appointment with Bobby: home made chicken pot pies, which were actually
pretty good. Our lesson with Bobby was over the commandments. Over all, it went
pretty good, but It didn't go as well as we'd hoped. He accepted everything we
told him fine, but for some reason likes to get caught up on the wording in the
scriptures, and some of his questions are hard, like what words mean, most of
it is abstract stuff, like "what did he mean when he used this wording in
this context," or something, so a lot of times I feel like I'm swinging in
the dark trying to hit his answer to him, bit it's really hard, and a little
disappointing.
Tuesday was pretty quiet. We had an appointment with Sister
Pullan -- brother Pullan left Monday to do a 5-week tour in Turkey. We're not
sure exactly what he's doing over there, but he said it's not supposed to be
dangerous. Anyways, we visited Sister Pullan and the kids, and had taco Salad,
but it was a sad salad. They were starting to get low on food, so we had
lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and hamburger with home made taco seasoning. It
wasn't a lot, but it was still yummy. After dinner we went on a pinecone hunt.
Then it was bedtime, so we helped put the kids to bed. I read 3-year-old
William the story "you are special," about the Wemmiks and
woodcarver, where Punchinello only has dots, and then visits Eli, and Eli
reminds him that he's special because he made Punchinello, and he doesn't make
mistakes. I really needed that story. I haven't really been having a hard time,
but it's always good to remember we're special and have specific gifts that are
specially tailored to us and how we use them is important. It was good to have
that little reminder. I think it's amazing how even 3 year olds can be inspired
to help someone, and little William will probably never know he helped me.
Wednesday we went and helped a new member move in from up in the
Berlin area. It was us, the German Elders and Sisters and then the Zone leaders
as well, because they were doing on a split with the Elders. So 8 of us were traveling
together. And we got lost. No one had ever been to see these people, or knew
where they lived or even to that part of town before. All we had was an
address, and thankfully Sister Heywood had their Navi so, we were eventually
able to figure out where we were supposed to go. I was murmuring silent
prayers that we'd find it, and I don't think I was the only one. It was
fun. We helped with the move, and then about 3:00 we headed out to our next
appointment a little later than we would have liked, but still managed to make
it on time. I was praying so hard that we'd catch the train, or that things
would just work out. And they did. God really does here and answer our prayers.
At our next appointment, with the Andersons, we talked about talents and why
they're important to share. We showed them the Mormon message
"extraordinary gift," about the teenaged blind self taught pianist
who can listen to a song 2 or 3 times and then sit down and play it. It was a
pretty cool lesson, even though we had some trouble keeping the kids focused.
Aber trotz dem war es toll, because we each have gifts that are specifically
tailored to our personalities and abilities. These gifts were given to us in
the manner we have because we were the best suited to bless others loves with
them. And don't you forget that you are special.
Thursday we went running, then did study as normal. Then we went
to Zumba for contacting. We got Genehmigung from President Stoddard so that we
could get onto the base and have more contact with people. And we've gotten a
couple potentials and a number, and almost got a new investigator that day. She
drove us most of the way home, and we invited her to take the lessons. Her name
is Julie, and she's originally from the Philippians. Anyway. During Zumba, we
got a text from Sister Pullan asking us if we could come help her clean. Her
husband just -- not really deployed, but had to go to Turkey for work for 5
weeks, so she's alone with the kids, and they were both sick today, and so we
got over there as fast as we could, and then helped her just get her house in
order. It took us about 2.5 hours. But we finished the job, and it looked and
felt so much better after. Then we got a call from our next appointment, Sister
Peterson canceling. Sister Peterson is the new Relief Society President, and
one of members had a huge flooding catastrophe in their basement, so the house
was kind of a mess, and she's is getting treatment for some disease that's really
bad, and just got back from a huge vacation, and her 2 daughters are coming
home from the States Friday morning, and so she was just so overwhelmed
she didn't know where to start. So she called Sister Peterson and asked for
help, and when she called us, we just said that we could come, too. We spent
the next couple hours there helping to just get things in order. We finally got
to the point where they could handle it, and they said we could go. Just in
time for our next appointment at 18:00. So we got there, and sat and talked,
had dinner, then for our spiritual thought, we pulled out the Visiting Teaching
message of the month, and shared our testimony on how humility and meekness are
actually strengths. And I have realized that we receive so much piece of mind
when we are able to exercise self-control. It's amazing the help we get when we
are trying to be more like Christ. I know that as we continue to practice and
learn, that we will feel ourselves grow closer to Christ and we will have a
desire to continue. Just like in Alma 32, how it talks about the swelling of
the seed, and how it "begineth to be delicious to me." Those words
have been tried and proved true so many times. And I give my whiteness. They
are true.
Subject line Explination- For some reason the Comtes have been
trying to guess our names with out looking at our ID after they sign us on base
(it's part of the safety for closed military bases). And they couldn't guess
mine, so we gave the, the clue "Celebration," "in the
bible," "and it's the name of a grocery store in Delta, Utah,"
almost, if not more than a week ago, and forgot about it. So, Thursday, on the
way home from the Ashles, Bro. Comte texted us and said that he'd searched
"J grocery stores in Delta" or something like that. And then said
"it's 'Jubilee'!" We told him good job. Then he said that he's
changing us in his phone to "the X-Men," because brother Comte
has this thing where each companionship in the American ward has a
different name in his phone. (The last companionship was Charlies Angles, not
sure why). I laughed and had to explain to Sister Lyman what he meant,
because she hasn't seen any of the "X-men" movies. Then we called him
Professor X, and he asked who Sister Comte was, I said Mistique, but I don’t
know if he liked that. He never replied. I thought it was really funny, though.
Friday was semi-uneventful. We had studies, and weekly planning
like normal. But the high light of the day was going over to the Comtes and
having another lesson with Bobby. Today, it was totally chill; we played five
crowns, and discussed some of the specifics of what we do as missionaries, and
gave him a triple combination and a King James Version of the bible, and talked
about cross referencing. We'd been over it a little before in our last lesson
when we went over the word of Wisdom, and introduced him to D&C. He got so
excited to have the Doctrine and Covenants with the Book if Mormon, and said
that he was going to be using it. That man is a cross-referencing beast during
our lessons, and it is amazing. He is really searching for the truth, and
praying, and it's been amazing to watch him as he comes closet to Christ and
his demeanor has completely changes in the 3 weeks that we've known him. He's
planning on coming to church this Sunday, and we are so excited. There's a
potluck after church, and he's planning on asking the bishop some of his
questions, too. We're so excited for him and the progress he's making.
Saturday was spent almost all day helping with a move. We got
there and none of their stuff had been unpacked, the household goods had just
gotten there that morning. Sister Foote had torn her ACL, and their kids are
16, 14, 10, and 6, so they were helpful, but they still needed more people. So
they'd called us. And -- we'd volunteered. But, there were other people there
helping, we just stayed the longest and ended up helping do -- actually, quite
a lot. We got several dozen boxes unpacked, cleaned all the dishes, and got
the, put away, as well as helped with some organization, like in the kids rooms
and stuff, and get their new couch into the house. Brother Foote had to leave
for a bit, and so Ryan (the 14 year old) and Sister Lyman and I were the manpower.
We helped move some of the furniture from room to room -- it wasn't big, but it
wasn’t something that a child could have done, so. But, yeah, the majority of
our time was spent in the kitchen cleaning the appliances, and dishes, and
organizing. Mensch, it took forever, and we didn't even finish everything. Then
we walked around the building to our next appointment. See, the nice thing
about working with the military is that most people live on one of the 4 bases,
so they're decently close together. So, yeah we got to serve all day. It was
really cool to watch the stress slowly disappear from Brother and Sister
Foote's faces as we unpacked and made short work of their kitchen. Man, that
kitchen was beastly. They have about 10+ boxes with dishes, appliances,
silverware, and dishcloths. And we got them all unpacked, cleaned from being in
storage for 3 months, and mostly organized and put away. It was amazing. I
think we were blessed to work that fast, because they needed it.
Sunday, Bobby came to church!! He had so many questions and
wanted to find answers in the scriptures, which he was doing the whole hour. Bishop
Horner said it was the coolest thing to look at him from the stand and see him
flipping through the Bible and Triple, searching and cross-referencing.
And, get this. After Sacrament Meeting, he took his stuff to another room
and studied the topics from Sacrament. While he was in the other room,
apparently a couple, members came over and were helping and discussing with
him. It was great. Then, after church, we had a linger-longer potluck shindig,
and we were all hungry. But Bobby? Not for physical food. He was going to
corner the bishop, but Bishop Horner was talking to other people and Bobby
didn't want to interrupt. So he talked to the Sunday school teacher, who is
super knowledgeable in scriptural facts and history and stuff, and another couple
members, and they were able to answer all his questions. It was AMAZING, and he
was so happy after. The light in his face . . . Man, I wish I could have gotten
a picture. He has changed and progressed so much in the last 2 weeks since we
started teaching him. Amazing and miraculous are the only adjectives I can
think of to describe this situation. It is absolutely amazing, and a privilege
to witness this first hand. I wish you all could see this. It is the sweetest
thing on the planet.
Anyway, I love you all, wish you the best, and hope "your
family is doing well." Have a good week!!
-Sister Montgomery
