Midweek SURPRISE!
Monday the library was closed and Tuesday I was in Pittsburgh, so that leaves e-mailing for Wednesday!
Monday (19th)
I SLEPT during P-Day. I love naps :D Afterward we taught Mariam and Domitila...I'm so glad Domitila is meeting with us again! It was great :D
Tuesday
We went on exchanges, so Sister Samuelson came up to my area with me--she came out the same time Sister Davidson did--2 transfers ago. We went to teach Claire, this super biblically aware person. It was interesting. She wants to meet with us one more time. We went to see Alexis--she's doing so well! She and Danial are hoping to get married soon! Later we got to go to the Padillas for dinner--I love them! Exchanges are always fun! At a Zone Conference, we were asked why we do exchanges and someone said, "Because companions are like french fries--no matter how good they are, you're sick of eating them by the time you get to the bottom of the box" haha
Wednesday
District Meeting! After lunch and companion study, we went to see Sis Wood and shared a Christmas message. That night we didn't have a dinner appointment, so it was top ramen at the church. Before mutual, we were able to teach both Soila and Bernard! Soila is SO funny. She's 14 and autistic, so it's interesting to teach her sometimes. I did a 6-week-sub in a behavioral unit before I came out and that helps me a lot. Bernard is doing so great and wants to get baptized either this year or next! Not many days left in this year, though lol
Thursday
We got to go talk to our people at Luthercare. That evening, we got to teach the Wong family. It was an awesome lesson on obedience. This is where I found out that David Archuleta is going on a mission! So cool! Oh..and on a music note...Lady Gaga is moving into the Lititz area. Oh ya haha. That night we went tracting and I was like, "I am so sick of getting rejected!" The next 3 houses either made return appointments or took a Book of Mormon!
Friday
We went to an appointment we'd made the night before, only to be stood up. Home for weekly planning and lunch and then we went out tracting. We headed to some apartments we'd been meaning to tract for forever. On the way there, we called a less active to set up a later appointment, and she was having a hard time, so we almost just turned around and went there, but I really felt we needed to go to these apartments. Well apparently that was the Spirit! The first three were no good, but Clara let us in the fourth door! We chatted a little, and then we asked if we could share a message...whole first lesson right there! Oh ya! And she has twin 8-yr-olds...great age :D lol. They're only there on the weekends, though. Later we went to the less active house and helped her finish some Christmas decorations and taught a lesson.
Next we got to go see Mariam and Domitila again...I love them! We're helping them with Personal Progress. Then we went to the Barber's and caroled to a couple of their neighbors. Then we went to the Fosters to go caroling--they came with us for over an hour! We'd sing a song and then one of the kids would hand them a pass-a-long card--it's my favorite type of tracting ever! The kids were so excited to hand out the cards. It was great!
Saturday
Christmas Eve!
After lunch, we had an appointment with Deven--an Italian woman I met on Tuesday. She became a new investigator! Then we went tracting for awhile. We had the best Christmas Eve ever at the Pratts--our Ward Mission Leader--I'm going to adopt some of these traditions! They always have Mexican Christmas eve. They'd invited a new couple from the ward over and a little family. Then we had a talent show..so fun! I played and busted out "In Our Humble Way" from Saturday's Warrior. Oh ya. Sister Davidson clogged. Others sang, played banjo, violin, piano, did sign language, and danced. It was so cool! Then we had to go to an appointment that stood us up. We still had extra time, so we went to Luthercare and met Clementina, a sweet woman that I hope we get to put into our Thursday routine.
Oh ya...President called and asked me to train again. I was shocked! I thought Sister Davidson would for sure. I'll be training for my last two transfers...that's the last 9 months of my mission training! Crazy! It also means I'm staying in Lititz (lid-its for those of you who need the help....dad....). I'll have been in Lancaster County (Lititz/E-Town) for 14 of my 18 months....nuts!!
Sunday
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
After church, we were going to stay at the church and have top ramen again for lunch because we had nowhere to go and low miles, but the Fosters drove us to their place for lunch. I absolutely adore their family. They have a daughter and three younger brothers...sound familiar? Their daughter is like right out of our home movies of me lol. She's 10. Then they drove us back and we headed to the Castro's for our Skype calls. SO good! I LOVED seeing my family!!! Sister Davidson now knows how awesome my family is too lol. We were all laughing SO hard! Sister Castro is German, so she made us an authentic German dinner! The meat was beef rolled around a bacon/mustard/onion mix and a pickle spear...it was fun to find the pickle inside! We also had potato dumplings and an amazing salad and rolls. The gravy was delicious too--with mushroom! Yes dad...I eat mushrooms now :D Dessert was a German Black Forest Chocolate Torte Cake...two layers...cherries..yum After dinner, we went to an appointment that stood us up. Then we went to Luthercare again and chatted with Marcene for awhile...our 102 years old friend :D Best Christmas ever!
Monday
We took care of stuff in the morning and then swapped the car for the Elder's minivan. Oh ya. Then we rode up to STATE COLLEGE to pick up Sisters Mortensen, Juliano, and Quijano. We all headed out to Pittsburgh where we spent the night at the sisters apartment out there (funny how I serve in Pittsburgh and have only been there 4 times lol...5 when I fly home).
Tuesday
Training meeting in the morning. We got assigned our new sisters--mine is Sister Page from Maine! There's probably a pic of her on web.me.com/jeannetopham. She's the redhead. She's awesome! We then drove back to State College with Sis Mortensen who is training and Sis Juliano who is training. Then Sis Page and I traveled back to Lititz and got in around 11pm.
Wednesday
Hey that's today! We had district meeting this morning (only 11 more to go, but who's counting?). After lunch and more studies, we went to see Alexis who wasn't home. We tracted for a little and then taught Sis Wood--best lesson I've ever had with her! We really invited her to make changes! It's exciting :D Then we went to dinner with the Brintons, who are awesome. Now we're e-mailing :D Later tonight, we are going to try and see another less active or tract and then switch cars back with the Elders.
Love you all tons!
Sister Denton
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
12/19/11- Letter to the World
I grabbed the wrong planner, so I'll do my best to remember this week! I'll try to use Sister Davidson's :D
Monday
We went to Sis Meza's house to make cookies! Super fun! We also made some chocolate covered popcorn and she gave us some more melting candies to make more at home...which has been perfect with the stuff my mom sent me. So much goodness! Afterward...I'm not really sure lol
Tuesday
We went out for lunch with a woman in the ward to El Rodeo. Afterward, we tracted until dinner, which we had at the church--cup a soup...o ya. We met with the bishop and then went to teach Mariam. I love that girl! It's so amazing to see her learn more about her true potential. Afterward we tracted :D
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we had lunch at the church and then went to pick up some Secret Santa stuff from one family to bring to another--seriously one of the best parts of being a missionary. Then we went to Sis Wood's house and then up to the Hilliers for dinner. Delicious dinner as always and then we taught the family a lesson. Afterward, we went to the church and taught Soila--our 14 year old investigator. That night we got to teach Anton again. It'd been awhile and we finally found a team-up that just clicks so well! He might come to church on Christmas!
Thursday
We taught Claire again...our biblical scholar. I don't know how long she'll be considered an investigator. She seems more interested in proving us wrong. We'll see. Then we went to Luthercare. One of the women we visited--Diane--died this week. That was kind of sobering. Afterward we tracted until dinnertime.
Friday
In the morning, we got to go see Alexis with our Relief Society President. Afterward we went to this awesome Mennonite buffet for lunch. After weekly planning, we had dinner and then went to teach Mariam with a young woman in the ward. It was awesome!
Saturday
The Christmas party! So good! It was epic :D I'm out of time, though.
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday
We went to Sis Meza's house to make cookies! Super fun! We also made some chocolate covered popcorn and she gave us some more melting candies to make more at home...which has been perfect with the stuff my mom sent me. So much goodness! Afterward...I'm not really sure lol
Tuesday
We went out for lunch with a woman in the ward to El Rodeo. Afterward, we tracted until dinner, which we had at the church--cup a soup...o ya. We met with the bishop and then went to teach Mariam. I love that girl! It's so amazing to see her learn more about her true potential. Afterward we tracted :D
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we had lunch at the church and then went to pick up some Secret Santa stuff from one family to bring to another--seriously one of the best parts of being a missionary. Then we went to Sis Wood's house and then up to the Hilliers for dinner. Delicious dinner as always and then we taught the family a lesson. Afterward, we went to the church and taught Soila--our 14 year old investigator. That night we got to teach Anton again. It'd been awhile and we finally found a team-up that just clicks so well! He might come to church on Christmas!
Thursday
We taught Claire again...our biblical scholar. I don't know how long she'll be considered an investigator. She seems more interested in proving us wrong. We'll see. Then we went to Luthercare. One of the women we visited--Diane--died this week. That was kind of sobering. Afterward we tracted until dinnertime.
Friday
In the morning, we got to go see Alexis with our Relief Society President. Afterward we went to this awesome Mennonite buffet for lunch. After weekly planning, we had dinner and then went to teach Mariam with a young woman in the ward. It was awesome!
Saturday
The Christmas party! So good! It was epic :D I'm out of time, though.
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, December 12, 2011
12/12/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!
Can you believe that it's almost halfway through December?! Crazy! As of today, I have 100 days left as a missionary. I cannot believe it! Time is flying by!
By the way, check out web.me.com/jeannetopham for updates on the mission! They'll also post pics, so you can try and find me :D Shouldn't be hard...there aren't many sisters...
Monday
After P-Day, we went to the Bushda/Archer. We're pretty much only teaching Mariam now. We taught about scripture study and following the prophet. I just love Mariam to pieces. She is so amazing! And she knows it's true! Afterward, we went tracting and the unthinkable happened. Normal intro and then "We're Catholic...we're not interested." "Okay...do you know anyone who might be interested?" "Hmm...well our neighbors, the Mccall!" "Okay. Thanks!" "His name is Dan." "Merry Christmas!" Usually when we ask if they know anyone who might be interested, we get one of the following responses:
No
I think everyone around here goes to church
I don't ask about their personal affairs
Well, you can keep asking them for yourself
I wouldn't want to give them false doctrine
Not in listening to you
Maybe my neighbor over there (usually a house we had just tracted with no success)
So ask you can imagine, we were super excited to have a name and a house and a real referral! So we went over, and this guy opened the door and I asked if he was Dan. "Yes..." "Your neighbor said you might be interested in our message--we're missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." "Oh! Ya I am interested! Come on in!" (WHAT?!?!) "Is there a woman home?" "No" "Ok, we can't come in then, but would you be interested in us coming by another time?" "Sure" "Awesome! What about tomorrow night?" "That works" "And have you heard of the Book of Mormon?" "No" "Oh! Well this is another...etc. Will you read the introduction by tomorrow?" "Ya" "Great! We'll see you then!"
SO COOL!
Then we went to follow up with a media referral we'd received. It said he requested a Book of Mormon. He seemed surprised and said he was Jewish. He was going out of town, but said we could come back in a couple of weeks. We started tracting around his house and found two people (neither of which lived there) who were interested, so we forwarded the info on to the respective elders. Keeley was particularly awsome. She's Christian and as soon as she realized we were too she was on board!
Tuesday
We started the day out by tracting and got a return appointment (RA)! Then we went to Sis Meza's for lunch and to help set up her Christmas tree (part-member family). We were also able to share a lesson w/ her husband, who we recently started teaching and it was great! Sis Meza was so happy! Next we went to teach Soila who we FINALLY got a hold of again and had a great lesson 3. She committed to be baptized on New Year's Eve (although her grandma didn't get her to church again, so she won't be able to be baptized on that day). They just moved and her grandma just had surgery, so we helped move some of her furniture around and then she took us out to dinner. After that, we went to the Reese's house. I love them! Last of all, we went to our appointment with Dan. It was a good lesson, but he didn't want to meet with us again. Sad day. He's a part of LCBC...a HUGE phenomenon out here (LCBCchurch.com or .org I think)
Wednesday
We spent a lot of time tracting this day! In the rain again. We got let into a couple of houses, one which ended up with a return appointment. She's actually a former and VERY knowledgeable about the bible. Should be interesting. After dinner, we stopped by the Paynes house. They're moving away this weekend--I really hope the missionaries find them there! Then we went to the church to pick out a song for Sunday (I played the flute). Last of all we saw Laura again...for the first time since she got married. They're getting it anulled now.
Thursday
After Weekly Planning, we went to LutherCare. It was spa day, so we did some more manicures. Afterward, we went to an appointment that fell through and did some more tracting before going over to Sis Bell's and doing a little service before dinner. After that, we got to go to movie night! We got permission to watch the recording of last year's Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert which features David Archuleta! The Day kids and Soila came. It was great! After Soila left, we got to teach Bernard the Word of Wisdom and he said he wanted to be baptized!!
Friday
Zone Conference! Then we went to the Vaughan's house for dinner where we got the exciting news that they are going to be sealed in April! Then we taught Mariam about baptism and confirmation and she committed to a date!!!! Then we went to Sis Heaton's.
Saturday
Relief Society Brunch and then studies in the morning. We did some tracting and then after dinner we had an appointment that fell through. We went out to Manheim to see the Stones and it was a great lesson.
Sunday
After church and studies, we went to the Blacks for dinner--love them to death! Then we got to teach Mariam again and found out that her mom won't let her be baptized at this point. PLEASE keep her in your prayers. Then we went to the Reese's again.
It was a great week and I am out of time! Love you all!
Sister Denton
Can you believe that it's almost halfway through December?! Crazy! As of today, I have 100 days left as a missionary. I cannot believe it! Time is flying by!
By the way, check out web.me.com/jeannetopham for updates on the mission! They'll also post pics, so you can try and find me :D Shouldn't be hard...there aren't many sisters...
Monday
After P-Day, we went to the Bushda/Archer. We're pretty much only teaching Mariam now. We taught about scripture study and following the prophet. I just love Mariam to pieces. She is so amazing! And she knows it's true! Afterward, we went tracting and the unthinkable happened. Normal intro and then "We're Catholic...we're not interested." "Okay...do you know anyone who might be interested?" "Hmm...well our neighbors, the Mccall!" "Okay. Thanks!" "His name is Dan." "Merry Christmas!" Usually when we ask if they know anyone who might be interested, we get one of the following responses:
No
I think everyone around here goes to church
I don't ask about their personal affairs
Well, you can keep asking them for yourself
I wouldn't want to give them false doctrine
Not in listening to you
Maybe my neighbor over there (usually a house we had just tracted with no success)
So ask you can imagine, we were super excited to have a name and a house and a real referral! So we went over, and this guy opened the door and I asked if he was Dan. "Yes..." "Your neighbor said you might be interested in our message--we're missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." "Oh! Ya I am interested! Come on in!" (WHAT?!?!) "Is there a woman home?" "No" "Ok, we can't come in then, but would you be interested in us coming by another time?" "Sure" "Awesome! What about tomorrow night?" "That works" "And have you heard of the Book of Mormon?" "No" "Oh! Well this is another...etc. Will you read the introduction by tomorrow?" "Ya" "Great! We'll see you then!"
SO COOL!
Then we went to follow up with a media referral we'd received. It said he requested a Book of Mormon. He seemed surprised and said he was Jewish. He was going out of town, but said we could come back in a couple of weeks. We started tracting around his house and found two people (neither of which lived there) who were interested, so we forwarded the info on to the respective elders. Keeley was particularly awsome. She's Christian and as soon as she realized we were too she was on board!
Tuesday
We started the day out by tracting and got a return appointment (RA)! Then we went to Sis Meza's for lunch and to help set up her Christmas tree (part-member family). We were also able to share a lesson w/ her husband, who we recently started teaching and it was great! Sis Meza was so happy! Next we went to teach Soila who we FINALLY got a hold of again and had a great lesson 3. She committed to be baptized on New Year's Eve (although her grandma didn't get her to church again, so she won't be able to be baptized on that day). They just moved and her grandma just had surgery, so we helped move some of her furniture around and then she took us out to dinner. After that, we went to the Reese's house. I love them! Last of all, we went to our appointment with Dan. It was a good lesson, but he didn't want to meet with us again. Sad day. He's a part of LCBC...a HUGE phenomenon out here (LCBCchurch.com or .org I think)
Wednesday
We spent a lot of time tracting this day! In the rain again. We got let into a couple of houses, one which ended up with a return appointment. She's actually a former and VERY knowledgeable about the bible. Should be interesting. After dinner, we stopped by the Paynes house. They're moving away this weekend--I really hope the missionaries find them there! Then we went to the church to pick out a song for Sunday (I played the flute). Last of all we saw Laura again...for the first time since she got married. They're getting it anulled now.
Thursday
After Weekly Planning, we went to LutherCare. It was spa day, so we did some more manicures. Afterward, we went to an appointment that fell through and did some more tracting before going over to Sis Bell's and doing a little service before dinner. After that, we got to go to movie night! We got permission to watch the recording of last year's Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert which features David Archuleta! The Day kids and Soila came. It was great! After Soila left, we got to teach Bernard the Word of Wisdom and he said he wanted to be baptized!!
Friday
Zone Conference! Then we went to the Vaughan's house for dinner where we got the exciting news that they are going to be sealed in April! Then we taught Mariam about baptism and confirmation and she committed to a date!!!! Then we went to Sis Heaton's.
Saturday
Relief Society Brunch and then studies in the morning. We did some tracting and then after dinner we had an appointment that fell through. We went out to Manheim to see the Stones and it was a great lesson.
Sunday
After church and studies, we went to the Blacks for dinner--love them to death! Then we got to teach Mariam again and found out that her mom won't let her be baptized at this point. PLEASE keep her in your prayers. Then we went to the Reese's again.
It was a great week and I am out of time! Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, December 5, 2011
12/5/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!
Well it's been a crazy week. This is the first week of our mission reverting completely to PMG definitions for numbers. Before, we could get "other lessons" while tracting, teaching members, street contacting, etc. Now other lessons are only those which are with an investigator, but without a member. It made for a huge decrease in numbers, which really shouldn't matter, but it is kind of disheartening to see 20 lessons a week drop to 2...continuous improvement right?
Monday
We went to teach someone at a pizza shop. He didn't show up, but we enjoyed wonderful food :D We also stopped by Wilbur's Chocolate Factory. We got to walk around downtown Lititz, which was pretty fun! We're going to do it again today with the other sisters. We taught the Bushda/Archer family and shared with them part of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. We followed it up by some tracting.
Tuesday
A member picked us up to take us down to a less active member's home for a lesson. She wasn't home, so they took us out to lunch on the way home. Afterward, we had 3 hours of tracting planned. The forecast had said rain, but all morning--in the car and at lunch--had been beautiful. Right near the end of lunch, it started raining...and didn't stop. We were SOAKED! We went to our 3:30 appt only to find they weren't home. We walked home and dried off/changed into dry clothes and backpacks. We went to dinner with an awesome family in the ward. Afterward, we stopped by Sis Russell's and had a good lesson.
Wednesday
The day started off with District Meeting. We came home for lunch, which a member had left for us, and then headed down to see Sis. Bell. I got to teach her a lot when I was in Millersville, so it's fun to see her again. We stopped by Sis Wood's for a lesson and then went home to finish up companion study and have dinner. Our last two appointments canceled, so we went out tracting for the night.
Thursday
After lunch, we did some tracting/street contacting and then got to go to LutherCare to volunteer. Afterward, we headed home to stop by Bernard's and see how he was doing. We went to our dinner appointment's neighborhood to do some tracting before dinner. We ate with the Blacks--I love them to pieces! Sis Black is just the sweetest woman in the world. During the lesson, one of the kids pulled their tooth out lol. We went to the Paynes next and were able to see Marie, their youngest daughter. Afterward, we went to an appointment with our RS Pres as the team-up, but they weren't there, so we went to a less active home nearby.
Friday
After Weekly Planning, we went to see one of our part member family investigators that we've not been able to contact for a few weeks. They weren't home, so we tracted for a couple of hours before our appointment. They weren't there, so we headed toward home to take our dinner break earlier rather than later. We ate at Ciro's--quite possibly the BEST Italian food I've ever had in my life. Mmm. And homemade gelatto. Oh yeah. We picked our team-up for our 5:30 appointment and headed over only to find that the wife wasn't quite as interested as the husband had been and we weren't going to be getting in. We dropped her off and headed out to the Blacks--a returning family that I LOVE!! We were able to teach the mom. Our 7pm canceled with us, so we stayed out in their area and went to a less active the bishop had told us to visit. She let us in! Last year when I tried, we only got to stand in the front door, but we gave a whole lesson and she said we could come back! We got to the car and found that our 8pm canceled, so we tried to contact another less active out in Manheim. She was buys, so we went to one more--a sweet woman I'd been able to teach a couple of times before. That pretty much summed up our night! So for having every single appointment cancel, it was a great day :D
Saturday
After lunch, we went to our first appointment where...guess what...he canceled. We went out finding for a few hours until we needed to come home for dinner. We ate and then headed out to contact a few member referrals with no luck. We had a 6:30 appt, but hadn't heard from our investigator for a days despite calls and texts. We went to the neighborhood near where we were going to meet him to tract for a little bit and he called! He came! It was almost an hour late, but we were able to teach him in a member's home AND he said the closing prayer! It was a wonderful prayer, too, asking the Lord to open his heart to the truth. Afterward, we went to the Bushda/Archers again and taught about prayer.
Sunday
We walked into the church to find it BEAUTIFULLY decorated! There are garlands and wreaths and bells and ornaments in the foyers and the chapel. It's gorgeous! Chruch was great--Bernard and Altagracia came again, as well as Bro Wong. After church, we went home to do companion study, and then it was off to the Collins for dinner! He's our ward mission leader and their daugthers are the BEST at giving referrals! They also said we could come over for Christmas Eve and to Skype on Christmas Day :D Afterward, we tried to contact more of their referrals and then headed down to see a less active/part member family we'd not seen for awhile. Turns out her phone fell into a bucket of water and that's why we've not been able to get ahold of her. We'll be able to meet this week sometime. Then it was back to the church for the Christmas Devotional, which was awesome. It was neat to see the new movies, too, because my friend Hillary has been working with the production of those!
So, it was a crazy week! It's now the beginning of another week, which means another chance to go out and work even harder to bring more souls unto Christ! I appreciate all of your prayers and love you all :D
Sister Denton
Monday, November 28, 2011
11/28/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!
'Twas a good week!
Monday
We got to go see a returning active family and share a message. I love seeing families come back to church! It's the absolute best!
Tuesday
We had leadership training in Harrisburg. It was really good--about aligning our goals to achieve power. Power is something I've been studying a lot lately, so it was neat to hear it talked about by our President and Assistants. After dropping the sisters off at their apt, we headed to the Stones for Taco Tuesday. I love the Stones family! They are SO funny! Afterward we went to Don and Laura's, a couple we're teaching.
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we went to the Cannons for lunch. It was great! As we went out to the car, I realized that I'd put the keys in my coat pocket, and then took my coat off and threw it in the back seat. Our remote doesn't work, so we manually lock the car. Bro Cannon tried to get them out, but couldn't, so we had to call the locksmith. We gave him a card for a free Joy to the World DVD :D lol. Afterward, we went to try and find some referrals and less actives. We went to the Bushda/Ramos and taught the 10 Commandments with the Brintons. It went well!
Thursday
Thanksgiving!
6:30-11am--getting ready/studies
11am--Luthercare--visiting with the women. Then we went with one of them to the Catey's Cafe and had Thanksgiving dinner. We'd been given a free dinner pass.
1pm--Mickles--this is a family in the ward that invited us a few days ago. So good!
3pm--Bushda/Ramos--they'd invited us the day before. They'd already eaten, so we had a plate of leftovers.
4:30pm--Stones--Super good food! Good thing, or we may not have been able to keep it down by this point lol. It was really fun, though! I love this family!
7pm--Fitzsimons--we went over to share a message and have pie..delicious!
8pm--Don and Laura--luckily this was just a lesson! Sis Brandon came with us. It was good! Don and Laura are now set with Jan 21 as a baptismal day!
Friday
Highlight was getting into the Day home! We haven't been able to for awhile. We actually ended up eating leftover Thanksgiving food with them :D I love this family! Sis Day just started another job, so they're going to be SO busy, but we'll make time!
Saturday
Beautiful day weather wise! Our first appointment was with Juanita. It went well. She has lots of questions, which I love! She doesn't attend a specific church, but is saved. One interesting conversation we had was whether or not the 10 Commandments are still in affect after Christ came. Her side is that grace is what saves us and we don't have to do anything. We read Matthew 5 with her. After trying to contact some referrals, we stopped by Burger King for dinner. We had a few minutes left in our break and were just sitting in the car looking at pictures and talking. I'd turned it partially on to have heat. When we went to back up, I realized it wasn't all the way on, so I tried to turn it on and it wouldn't start. We called our Fleet Coordinator (who was actually in my MTC district!) and explained the problem and he confirmed that we had a dead battery. Our district leader was nearby, so he got some jumper cables from an investigator and came and saved us. Gotta love car trouble lol. Our last lesson was with the Bushda/Ramos family, although only Mariam came. We taught the Word of Wisdom and she committed to live it! She is really progressing :D
Sunday
In the morning, we stopped by some investigators to encourage them in getting ready for church and it helped! Don and Laura came with their girls and two of the Day kids came! Woot! We had dinner with the Zinkes, a fabulous family in the ward. Then Sis Wright came with us to teach Bro Hancock, who became a new investigator. He was raised baptist, joined non-denominational and currently doesn't practice with a church. He agreed to read and pray!
The work is trucking along and time is flying by! I can't even believe it's December this week! That's crazy! I hope all is going well with everyone!
Love ya!
Sister Denton
Monday, November 21, 2011
11/21/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!
It's been a fabulous week!
Monday
We got to teach Danial and Alexis! He wants to be baptized! We watched the Restoration and they fed us an amazing dinner and we talked about the Priesthood.
Tuesday
We walked a LOT this day! For 5 hours! We walked to the hospital to see a less active member there and then continued on. We tracted some mansions (and I mean MANSIONS) for about three hours with no success and then walked home. On the way home, we walked by a person riding a horse and I "open your mouthed" her. O ya. We got to go to the Stones (recent convert) for Taco Tuesday, and that was awesome!
Wednesday
District Meeting! Elder Vellinga (who looks like Chazz for the record...he even said it was way weird when I showed him a pic of Chazz) is the new district leader and he's training a new elder from Alaska--Elder Cluff. It was a wonderful District Meeting. We taught Anton that night with some very boisterous members. Anton said he wants to just go through all the lessons! He's still willing!
Thursday
We got to go to Luthercare (the nursing home we volunteer at). It was ice cream day, so we took one of the women down and ate some with her. The activities coordinator gave us free meal tickets to come on Thanksgiving! So nice! We'll come in the morning and visit with some of the women and then eat with them! We got to teach the Bushda/Archer family. They're doing well.
Friday
Walking all day again, but it was AWESOME! We finally had some success while tracting! We got a new investigator--Juanita. She let us right in! I'm so excited to teach her. She GETS it. We went to dinner with the Ward Mission Leader--I love their family to death! Their daughter gave us two referrals! Rock on!
Saturday
This day was AWFUL until about 4pm when we met with someone we'd set an appt with the day before--Janell! She is another new investigator! She is SO wonderful! She's half Native American. We went to the Bushda/Archers and read the story of Ammon with them. Sis Bushda likened the scriptures! They finally clicked and she really got it! It was great!
Sunday
After a wonderful church service (two of our investigators came), we went to see Sis Bell, who's not been feeling well. We dropped by Alexis' and talked about tithing. Then we went to the Wong's. Bro Wong agreed to the bishop's invite to officially take the lessons! They fed us an AMAZING dinner and then we taught tithing. The rest of the night was studies.
Monday
We went to York today for a turkey bowl. We ended up playing at an AWESOME playground while the Elders all played football lol. It was fun to watch for awhile, though. I LOVE football!
Love you all!
Sister Denton
It's been a fabulous week!
Monday
We got to teach Danial and Alexis! He wants to be baptized! We watched the Restoration and they fed us an amazing dinner and we talked about the Priesthood.
Tuesday
We walked a LOT this day! For 5 hours! We walked to the hospital to see a less active member there and then continued on. We tracted some mansions (and I mean MANSIONS) for about three hours with no success and then walked home. On the way home, we walked by a person riding a horse and I "open your mouthed" her. O ya. We got to go to the Stones (recent convert) for Taco Tuesday, and that was awesome!
Wednesday
District Meeting! Elder Vellinga (who looks like Chazz for the record...he even said it was way weird when I showed him a pic of Chazz) is the new district leader and he's training a new elder from Alaska--Elder Cluff. It was a wonderful District Meeting. We taught Anton that night with some very boisterous members. Anton said he wants to just go through all the lessons! He's still willing!
Thursday
We got to go to Luthercare (the nursing home we volunteer at). It was ice cream day, so we took one of the women down and ate some with her. The activities coordinator gave us free meal tickets to come on Thanksgiving! So nice! We'll come in the morning and visit with some of the women and then eat with them! We got to teach the Bushda/Archer family. They're doing well.
Friday
Walking all day again, but it was AWESOME! We finally had some success while tracting! We got a new investigator--Juanita. She let us right in! I'm so excited to teach her. She GETS it. We went to dinner with the Ward Mission Leader--I love their family to death! Their daughter gave us two referrals! Rock on!
Saturday
This day was AWFUL until about 4pm when we met with someone we'd set an appt with the day before--Janell! She is another new investigator! She is SO wonderful! She's half Native American. We went to the Bushda/Archers and read the story of Ammon with them. Sis Bushda likened the scriptures! They finally clicked and she really got it! It was great!
Sunday
After a wonderful church service (two of our investigators came), we went to see Sis Bell, who's not been feeling well. We dropped by Alexis' and talked about tithing. Then we went to the Wong's. Bro Wong agreed to the bishop's invite to officially take the lessons! They fed us an AMAZING dinner and then we taught tithing. The rest of the night was studies.
Monday
We went to York today for a turkey bowl. We ended up playing at an AWESOME playground while the Elders all played football lol. It was fun to watch for awhile, though. I LOVE football!
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, November 14, 2011
11/14/11- Letter to the World
Well Hello World!
I don't have my planner, so I'll do a people report :D
Bushda/Archer
This is a family we're teaching--a mom and three kids. They came to church this week! That's probably the most exciting news! Daphne is really progressing--she's been reading from the Book of Mormon when we ask. We gave them all reading charts, so hopefully that will help.
Sis Hammond
Sis Cain had us, a bunch of other women, and Sis Hammond over for dinner, so that was great! She came to church this week as well. Her sister is a convert and her other sister is taking the lessons. We also got a media referral this week, and it turns out it's her daughter's family! Hopefully we'll start teaching them, too!
Bro Wong
He's doing great as well. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was a member! His wife is a member and they have an ADORABLE little girl. He's keeping commitments, coming to church, and is even helping the elders quorum with a move this week! The only problem is he doesn't know he's investigating lol. The Bishop is going to formally invite him on Wednesday.
Zach
His wife (the member) is out of town this week, so we didn't get to see them.
Danial and Alice
They are going to get married! Woot! This is a big improvement and will help Danial work toward baptism! Alice is a member who's recently come back. We're having dinner with them tonight.
Day Family
Bernard has been going to scouts, but that's about the only progress. We'll keep working with them!
Tomy and Laura
We taught the Law of Chastity last week and they are going to get married!!! They've been engaged for years, but they're thinking about marriage like next month! Sweet! And their 7-yr-old reads the Book of Mormon every day!!
Well I'm out of time. Love you all!
Sister Denton
I don't have my planner, so I'll do a people report :D
Bushda/Archer
This is a family we're teaching--a mom and three kids. They came to church this week! That's probably the most exciting news! Daphne is really progressing--she's been reading from the Book of Mormon when we ask. We gave them all reading charts, so hopefully that will help.
Sis Hammond
Sis Cain had us, a bunch of other women, and Sis Hammond over for dinner, so that was great! She came to church this week as well. Her sister is a convert and her other sister is taking the lessons. We also got a media referral this week, and it turns out it's her daughter's family! Hopefully we'll start teaching them, too!
Bro Wong
He's doing great as well. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was a member! His wife is a member and they have an ADORABLE little girl. He's keeping commitments, coming to church, and is even helping the elders quorum with a move this week! The only problem is he doesn't know he's investigating lol. The Bishop is going to formally invite him on Wednesday.
Zach
His wife (the member) is out of town this week, so we didn't get to see them.
Danial and Alice
They are going to get married! Woot! This is a big improvement and will help Danial work toward baptism! Alice is a member who's recently come back. We're having dinner with them tonight.
Day Family
Bernard has been going to scouts, but that's about the only progress. We'll keep working with them!
Tomy and Laura
We taught the Law of Chastity last week and they are going to get married!!! They've been engaged for years, but they're thinking about marriage like next month! Sweet! And their 7-yr-old reads the Book of Mormon every day!!
Well I'm out of time. Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, November 7, 2011
11/7/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!!
First of all, I got SUPER exciting news today!! There was a 20-year-old Chinese kid that I was teaching in State College. I'd "open your mouthed" him on a bus and we'd started teaching him and I just love him to pieces...he and Zack were two of the hardest people to leave. Anyway, HE GOT BAPTIZED LAST MONTH!!!!!!! We don't have communication with other areas, so I didn't know until President sent the list of baptisms for October. SO exciting!! Oh I love this work and I can't wait to congratulate him when I get home! The gospel is amazing!
On to this week :D
Monday
Halloween---nothing really lol. P-Day and then in at 6pm to deep clean. It is really nice to have the apt organized, though.
Tuesday
We went on exchanges! I got to go to Elizabethtown (my first area) with Sister Samuelson (another new missionary who came out with my companion). It was great! I got to see some less actives I used to teach and help get appointments with them. I also got to see Emma, a woman I taught and got to see baptized back in March. She's not been coming out, but she wants to start again. It was a good day!
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we went to teach a less active who forgot to call and cancel. We had dinner with the Meza/Huffman family and started teaching the lessons to Zach. Afterward, we went to teach Sis Hammond at the Stone's home. It was a great lesson!
Thursday
We got to have another Spa Day at Luthercare where we give manicures to the residents. We had dinner with the Knapps--best baked potatoes of my entire life. Pretty much everything else fell through.
Friday
We got to go and do service with the Meza/Huffman family--yard work. I've done more yard work on my mission then ever before in my life!! It was fun, though! We pruned bushes, raked, and used a leaf-blower. They also fed us a delicious lunch. Afterward we went home for dinner and then walked up to Main St to "open your mouth" a little before seeing Sis Heaton.
Saturday
We started the day by going to help Sis Hammond with her newspaper route again--good idea for some side income when I get home! lol We taught a lesson afterward--she's doing really great. We stopped by and saw Sis Bell and got to teach her a lesson on prayer and scripture study. Afterward, we went to the Cannon home to teach Alexis and Danial, though Danial wasn't able to make it. It was a good lesson anyway! Afterward, we did more finding time.
Sunday
Church was phenomenal! I love Sundays :D Afterward, we went to find Winford, but he wasn't home. We tracted for an hour and then went to see the Stones since they'd not made it out to church. We taught a lesson on family history and temple work that went really well. I love that family!!! We had dinner with the Fosters--one of my favorite families on earth. It was DELICIOUS and we played a rousing game of "Stump the Chump" where you ask questions about church that day and whoever answers, asks the next question and it continues until someone can't answer. We did it with gospel questions too. Ross (age 7) taught us a story to remember all of the apostles in order. I'll try and recount it:
President Monson was walking on the beach when he saw a man get hit by a ball. He noticed a ring start to form around his eye and pointed, saying, "Eye ring....eye ring." President Eyring continued on until he came upon a dwarf and he pointed saying, "Dwarf!" The dwarf saw his face and said "Eww!" They continued pointing and yelling "Eww!" "Dwarf" "Eww!" "Dwarf". I can't remember the thing for Packer, so I'll continue on. President Packer came up to a pear tree (Perry). Oh darn I can't rmember Nelson either...it had something to do with yelling again "Nels" "Son" etc..Then someone came up to an Oak tree. (Oaks) and as they continued walking, they saw a Mallard duck (Ballard). They noticed then someone royal coming toward them and said, "Great Scott! Hail (Hales) the King of Holland!" As they continued on the path, they went into an inn and found a pirate. The pirate pointed to a bed and said "Bed! NARRRR Bed! NARRRR" (Bednar) They continued into the kitchen and asked to see the Cook. The waiter came out and said, "Hello! My name is Chris. Our special today is Tofferson." (Christofferson) And then I can't remember how Anderson came into play.
Anyway, they told this story, and Sis Foster was like, "This is what happens when Bro Foster and Daren are in charge of Family Home Evening." Haha love that family!
We taught Laura about the Law of Chastity and then went in to finish our studies.
Love you all!
Sister Denton
First of all, I got SUPER exciting news today!! There was a 20-year-old Chinese kid that I was teaching in State College. I'd "open your mouthed" him on a bus and we'd started teaching him and I just love him to pieces...he and Zack were two of the hardest people to leave. Anyway, HE GOT BAPTIZED LAST MONTH!!!!!!! We don't have communication with other areas, so I didn't know until President sent the list of baptisms for October. SO exciting!! Oh I love this work and I can't wait to congratulate him when I get home! The gospel is amazing!
On to this week :D
Monday
Halloween---nothing really lol. P-Day and then in at 6pm to deep clean. It is really nice to have the apt organized, though.
Tuesday
We went on exchanges! I got to go to Elizabethtown (my first area) with Sister Samuelson (another new missionary who came out with my companion). It was great! I got to see some less actives I used to teach and help get appointments with them. I also got to see Emma, a woman I taught and got to see baptized back in March. She's not been coming out, but she wants to start again. It was a good day!
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we went to teach a less active who forgot to call and cancel. We had dinner with the Meza/Huffman family and started teaching the lessons to Zach. Afterward, we went to teach Sis Hammond at the Stone's home. It was a great lesson!
Thursday
We got to have another Spa Day at Luthercare where we give manicures to the residents. We had dinner with the Knapps--best baked potatoes of my entire life. Pretty much everything else fell through.
Friday
We got to go and do service with the Meza/Huffman family--yard work. I've done more yard work on my mission then ever before in my life!! It was fun, though! We pruned bushes, raked, and used a leaf-blower. They also fed us a delicious lunch. Afterward we went home for dinner and then walked up to Main St to "open your mouth" a little before seeing Sis Heaton.
Saturday
We started the day by going to help Sis Hammond with her newspaper route again--good idea for some side income when I get home! lol We taught a lesson afterward--she's doing really great. We stopped by and saw Sis Bell and got to teach her a lesson on prayer and scripture study. Afterward, we went to the Cannon home to teach Alexis and Danial, though Danial wasn't able to make it. It was a good lesson anyway! Afterward, we did more finding time.
Sunday
Church was phenomenal! I love Sundays :D Afterward, we went to find Winford, but he wasn't home. We tracted for an hour and then went to see the Stones since they'd not made it out to church. We taught a lesson on family history and temple work that went really well. I love that family!!! We had dinner with the Fosters--one of my favorite families on earth. It was DELICIOUS and we played a rousing game of "Stump the Chump" where you ask questions about church that day and whoever answers, asks the next question and it continues until someone can't answer. We did it with gospel questions too. Ross (age 7) taught us a story to remember all of the apostles in order. I'll try and recount it:
President Monson was walking on the beach when he saw a man get hit by a ball. He noticed a ring start to form around his eye and pointed, saying, "Eye ring....eye ring." President Eyring continued on until he came upon a dwarf and he pointed saying, "Dwarf!" The dwarf saw his face and said "Eww!" They continued pointing and yelling "Eww!" "Dwarf" "Eww!" "Dwarf". I can't remember the thing for Packer, so I'll continue on. President Packer came up to a pear tree (Perry). Oh darn I can't rmember Nelson either...it had something to do with yelling again "Nels" "Son" etc..Then someone came up to an Oak tree. (Oaks) and as they continued walking, they saw a Mallard duck (Ballard). They noticed then someone royal coming toward them and said, "Great Scott! Hail (Hales) the King of Holland!" As they continued on the path, they went into an inn and found a pirate. The pirate pointed to a bed and said "Bed! NARRRR Bed! NARRRR" (Bednar) They continued into the kitchen and asked to see the Cook. The waiter came out and said, "Hello! My name is Chris. Our special today is Tofferson." (Christofferson) And then I can't remember how Anderson came into play.
Anyway, they told this story, and Sis Foster was like, "This is what happens when Bro Foster and Daren are in charge of Family Home Evening." Haha love that family!
We taught Laura about the Law of Chastity and then went in to finish our studies.
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, October 31, 2011
10/31/11- Letter to the World
Hello World! Happy Halloween!
Monday
For P-Day we just stayed at home and wrote letters--so nice! That night, we got to teach Momma L's family.
Tuesday
In the morning, we went to Luthercare where we got to visit with Cara and Diane--Amy was busy. Amy is 102 and sharp as a tack! Next we taught Bro Shaw (our 79 yr old investigator) at Bro C's house with the Brintons. We watched the John Tanner story. It was Bro Shaw's b-day! It went pretty well and we committed him to talk to his family about baptism.
That night we had a ton of appointments fall through and ended up tracting. We've been doing our complex, but we decided to do a neighborhood a little while away so we have those aparments as an option later if we needed somehwere to tract for a few minutes. While walking by a strip we hadn't tracted, however, I felt inspired to tract them. So we did! One of the first doors was Carissa. She was just running off to work, but she was interested and took a Book of Mormon! I thought--she's why we needed to come here. Then we tracted into another man who was interested. Then we tracted into Vanessa.
For those of you who may not remember, here are past entries on Vanessa:
Alan--We open-your-mouthed Alan. We gave him a mormon.org pass-a-long card and asked if he'd ever had any of those questions. He said he wondered what happens when we die. We opened to Alma 40 and shared the scripture and he was happy! We talked about eternal marriage (he's engaged and has a 3-yr old) and the Priesthood and Baptism. He said he'd be baptized May 7! We went to visit him the next day and he said his fiance isn't interested and they couldn't learn anymore. We were really downhearted. He kept being on our minds, so we went back when we knew she was gone and talked to him again. He said he had good feelings about it and wanted to study, but he wanted his whole family to join a church together. He said he'd still read and pray. You can just tell he knows it's true! We keep praying for Vanessa, his finace, to soften her heart and be open to our message!
I can't find if I ever wrote more, but like a week or so later, we were in the complex again and saw this woman taking out the trash. We went to open-your-mouth her and saw that she had been crying--pretty hard it looked like. We got her to talk to us and she started bearing her soul. This little boy came running by and she called him Alan and we realized that this was Vanessa. Little Alan had been having nightmares, so we promised her that if she'd read from the Book of Mormon to him they'd go away. She also seemed commited to church. We went back to follow up later, though, and never got another response.
That was back in April. Skip to now. She opened the door and I saw little Alan and realized who she was. She said she'd been reading from the Book of Mormon and he hasn't had nightmares since. She said it was on her bedside table! At first, she said Sunday was her only day alone, but by the end, she said she'd come to the Trunk or Treat and Church! (She didn't end up coming because little Alan got sick and the Trunk or Treat was snowed out). Miracles are abounding!
Wednesday
Sis M took us out to a wonderful lunch. More appointments fell through, but we got to teach Momma L. All three kids went to mutual that night! Yay! We were at the church, too, because another of our investigators was meeting the bishop there. We ended up with 5 investigators at mutual! If only we can get them there on Sundays lol! That night we taught Anton. He didn't think we'd come back after last time. It was REALLY good, though. We committed him to read the WHOLE Book of Mormon rather than just church history stuff and he said he would!
Thursday
We've been teaching a returning active woman named Alice, and her boyfriend accepted the invitation to take the lessons! So he's a new investigator! That was really exciting. President came to District Meeting and we had interviews, which went well. We met with Sis H at the White's home. The Whites are one of my favorite families ever! I want to be like them when I grow up lol. They have a girl (oldest) with three little brothers, all within about 5 years of each other. Hmm...sound familiar? Afterward, we went to visit the Stones, a recent convert family I love to death. Their daughter is struggling doing her timed tests in math, so after the lesson, I got to work with her a little bit. I'm going to call her tonight because the next test is tomorrow so I can quiz her over the phone. I'm so going to be a teacher--all my aversions to the politics of it aside, I LOVE helping kids learn!
Oh ya--Bro Shaw called and dropped us this day. He talked to his pastor, his son, his daughter, and his son-in-law (a pastor in MD) and they convinced him that the only reason he's meeting with us is because he misses the companionship of his wife. We committed him to keep reading and praying and make the decision himself.
Friday
I've known this next couple since my original days in the field. Sis L is one of my favorite women ever and her husband Zach is amazing, too. Zach always comes to church, but has never had the lessons, but as of Friday, we're officially teaching him! He said it's mainly intellectual to learn what his wife believes, but he also agreed to read the Book of Mormon with Sis L! Awesome!
Saturday
The Ephrata elders had a baptism--and Momma L's family came! Yay! We went to the RS craft fair luncheon for our lunch break--best bread bowl and soup I think I've EVER had. And some of the best apple pie too! Oh ya...it snowed this day! Like a lot! We got to go tracting in it. Fun stuff lol. They canceled the trunk-or-treat, which was our plans for a good chunk of the night since we had investigators coming and members had planned to bring their friends. It getting canceled meant sister missionaries out in the snow. We walked to Sis H's house and taught her a lesson and she gave us a ride home.
Sunday
We used to have three Lancaster wards that all met at one buliding. While I was in State College, they turned it into four Lancaster wards that meet in two buildings. Because of this, we don't see the Elders as much as we did before. Because of the snow, though, their building was out of power and they came to our church! It was really fun to have 8 misisonaries in gospel principles lol. The only ones missing were the sisters, who attended the morning session of church. We had all three of our part-member family investigators at church! Awesome! And Zach gave some of his old suits to one of our investigators who didn't have any church clothes and he looked schnazzy! It was awesome!
After church, we had more canceled appointments. We had dinner at the Brintons--awesome family--and were able to practice teaching a lesson. He's a PMG scholar, so no pressure! haha.
Well that's it for the week! Missionaries are in at 6 today, which is when P-Day ends, so it's only P-Day today pretty much! We're going to go play basketball with the elders, I believe.
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, October 24, 2011
10/24/11- Letter to the World
Hello World! It has been a FABULOUS week!
Monday
P-Day per usual--errands and the basketball with the elders. We had a less active appointment set up today, but the daughter we set it up with failed to tell her mother and the daughter was conveniently at the movies lol. So we were driving back to Lititz when we got a call from Momma L. She had met with sisters before, but her sister, who was living with her at the time, was very against the missionaries coming over. She'd moved out that weekend, and Momma L called us in tears and told us that she and her children wanted the sisters back in their lives. We went over right away, taught them, and set up a return appointment. Four new investigators! The two daughters came to mutual this week and really enjoyed themselves! It was great!
Tuesday
We had some apopintments fall through in the morning. We went over to Sis Bell's house and did some housework and yardwork. We went to the Black's for dinner--awesome family. Next we got to go meet with Sis Hammond. Her sister lives in Vegas and is a member. She called Bishop and asked him to give Sis Hammond's info to us. She also turned into a new investigator and is planning to be baptized Nov 12! She is so wonderful! We love her. Next we got to go to the Hilliers. I love that family! Bro Wong is not a member, but is amazing and keeping all of his commitments. We're working toward helping him have a desire to be baptized now rather than sometime in the future. Last of all we went to some formers--Laura and Tomy. We picked them up as new investigators as well.
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we got to go see Sis Hartman, a returning member. We watched Prophet of the Restoration with her. It was really great! After dinner, we went to the chapel because we had THREE investigators come to mutual! So cool! We made sure they were all set and then headed home for some finding time.
Thursday
We got to go to LutherCare. Today was Spa Day, so we gave the women manicures. It's always fun to just sit there and chat with them! Sis Wong picked us up and brought us to Soila's house--she's a youth investigator. We set her with a baptismal date of Nov 30. She's excited for it! After dinner, we did more finding time.
Friday
We had lunch with the Bradley's. It's always fun to go there because it's always fancy--multiple courses and china and different utensils for everything. It was a delicious dinner with all the trimmings--chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, salad, carrots, green beans with baked apples for dessert. Perfect intro to fall! We went to teach Bro Shaw next--he's working toward Nov 12 at this point. He still needs to tell his family he's meeting with us--his son is a pastor. He is gaining a testimony of it, it's just hard to make the change. We had dinner with the Mccann's--delicious once again! We went to a baptism that night and Sis Hammond came with her granddaughter and Soila came with her grandmother! It was a double baptism--one in English one in Spanish, so one of the elders translated. 'Twas interesting!
Saturday
We started the morning by helping Sis Hammond with her newspaper route! We folded the papers and stuffed them in bags in the back of her car while she and her granddaughter through them out the window. Afterward we were able to teach her a lesson. We read from the Book of Mormon and got her excited for church. Next we went to the Stones--I LOVE them! They are a family full of recent converts. The mom's been a member all her life, but was less active a long time. The daughter joined in June, the dad joined in July, and another daughter joined in August. So cool! They are such a wonderful family.
After dinner, we tracted some and then headed out to Momma L's with the bishop's wife. It was a good lesson and we tried to commit them to baptism. Let's just say we'll try again lol.
Sunday
Fabulous! We had 9 less actives at church (which is just blowing our DL out of the water) and Sis Hammond came with her son and Bro Wong came per usual. It was the Primary Program, so that was really fun too!
Love you all tons! The gospel is true!
Sister Denton
Monday
P-Day per usual--errands and the basketball with the elders. We had a less active appointment set up today, but the daughter we set it up with failed to tell her mother and the daughter was conveniently at the movies lol. So we were driving back to Lititz when we got a call from Momma L. She had met with sisters before, but her sister, who was living with her at the time, was very against the missionaries coming over. She'd moved out that weekend, and Momma L called us in tears and told us that she and her children wanted the sisters back in their lives. We went over right away, taught them, and set up a return appointment. Four new investigators! The two daughters came to mutual this week and really enjoyed themselves! It was great!
Tuesday
We had some apopintments fall through in the morning. We went over to Sis Bell's house and did some housework and yardwork. We went to the Black's for dinner--awesome family. Next we got to go meet with Sis Hammond. Her sister lives in Vegas and is a member. She called Bishop and asked him to give Sis Hammond's info to us. She also turned into a new investigator and is planning to be baptized Nov 12! She is so wonderful! We love her. Next we got to go to the Hilliers. I love that family! Bro Wong is not a member, but is amazing and keeping all of his commitments. We're working toward helping him have a desire to be baptized now rather than sometime in the future. Last of all we went to some formers--Laura and Tomy. We picked them up as new investigators as well.
Wednesday
After District Meeting, we got to go see Sis Hartman, a returning member. We watched Prophet of the Restoration with her. It was really great! After dinner, we went to the chapel because we had THREE investigators come to mutual! So cool! We made sure they were all set and then headed home for some finding time.
Thursday
We got to go to LutherCare. Today was Spa Day, so we gave the women manicures. It's always fun to just sit there and chat with them! Sis Wong picked us up and brought us to Soila's house--she's a youth investigator. We set her with a baptismal date of Nov 30. She's excited for it! After dinner, we did more finding time.
Friday
We had lunch with the Bradley's. It's always fun to go there because it's always fancy--multiple courses and china and different utensils for everything. It was a delicious dinner with all the trimmings--chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, salad, carrots, green beans with baked apples for dessert. Perfect intro to fall! We went to teach Bro Shaw next--he's working toward Nov 12 at this point. He still needs to tell his family he's meeting with us--his son is a pastor. He is gaining a testimony of it, it's just hard to make the change. We had dinner with the Mccann's--delicious once again! We went to a baptism that night and Sis Hammond came with her granddaughter and Soila came with her grandmother! It was a double baptism--one in English one in Spanish, so one of the elders translated. 'Twas interesting!
Saturday
We started the morning by helping Sis Hammond with her newspaper route! We folded the papers and stuffed them in bags in the back of her car while she and her granddaughter through them out the window. Afterward we were able to teach her a lesson. We read from the Book of Mormon and got her excited for church. Next we went to the Stones--I LOVE them! They are a family full of recent converts. The mom's been a member all her life, but was less active a long time. The daughter joined in June, the dad joined in July, and another daughter joined in August. So cool! They are such a wonderful family.
After dinner, we tracted some and then headed out to Momma L's with the bishop's wife. It was a good lesson and we tried to commit them to baptism. Let's just say we'll try again lol.
Sunday
Fabulous! We had 9 less actives at church (which is just blowing our DL out of the water) and Sis Hammond came with her son and Bro Wong came per usual. It was the Primary Program, so that was really fun too!
Love you all tons! The gospel is true!
Sister Denton
Monday, October 17, 2011
10/17/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!
Monday
We're back in Lancaster which means back to basketball at the church with the Elders! Woot! None of the other sisters played, so the elders decided I was on the team of whoever had the ball. Haha...fine with me :D
Afterward, we tracted some and then went to a member's home for dinner. Next we went and had a first lesson with Victoria, who we'd met the day previous. She is so amazing and the Spirit was so strong! She committed to be baptized Nov 26. We haven't been back in contact with her, but I'm hoping she's just been busy.
Tuesday
We taught Bro. Shaw in the morning. He's working toward Nov 5. It was a good lesson. We had dinner and then some cancellations. Such is the life. It ended up being good, though. We got to stop by a couple of less-active families that I love and commit them to come out to church. We also went to the Day home and had an official lesson with a return appointment to make them formally investigators again :D
Wednesday
We went to see this sweet Pratt lady who has now been back to church for about a month. She's living with her boyfriend, so we talked about eternal marriage some. She lives in a trailer park, so we knocked some doors for a few hours. A lot of them are Spanish with limited to no English. When that happened, all I could say was the church's name. Haha..maybe I should've taken Spanish, eh? I called our Spanish elders and asked how to say "Can we watch this DVD with you?" so when we went back we could watch the Restoration. I was able to ask it, but the answer was normally no. We went to see another less active woman and watched The Lamb of God with her. That night we went back to a couple we used to teach. It was an interesting lesson. They're pretty set in what they believe, but both Sis Davidson and our team-up feel we should go back. So we will!
Thursday
We had a few people fall through and then went to volunteer at Luthercare. It was fun to visit with the older women I used to see! That night, we got to go to Harrisburg for a regional ward council training by Elder Zwick of the Seventy. The State College Sisters were there! And they got to come back and spend the night for Mission Tour the next day! I found out that Alan has a date, Kalea now has a date, and Zack is getting closer! I love those people!
Friday
We had Misison Tour from 9-4! Pure awesomeness. We heard from Pres and Sis Topham, Pres Rhem, and Elder and Sister Zwick. The afternoon session was particularly incredible. Afterward we had dinner with a family that I love to death and then stopped by Sis Russell's.
Saturday
We went back to the trailer park with not much luck. We stopped by some less actives with again not much luck. We ended up walking to downtown Lititz, "open your mouthing" some, tracting some, and walking back.
Sunday
Best day of the week! I love church. A bunch of less actives came, which was awesome! Mostly tracting besides that.
Well, I'm off to another week! Time just goes by so fast! On Friday I'll only have 5 months left. I plan to be able to say awesome things about those last 5 months!
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday
We're back in Lancaster which means back to basketball at the church with the Elders! Woot! None of the other sisters played, so the elders decided I was on the team of whoever had the ball. Haha...fine with me :D
Afterward, we tracted some and then went to a member's home for dinner. Next we went and had a first lesson with Victoria, who we'd met the day previous. She is so amazing and the Spirit was so strong! She committed to be baptized Nov 26. We haven't been back in contact with her, but I'm hoping she's just been busy.
Tuesday
We taught Bro. Shaw in the morning. He's working toward Nov 5. It was a good lesson. We had dinner and then some cancellations. Such is the life. It ended up being good, though. We got to stop by a couple of less-active families that I love and commit them to come out to church. We also went to the Day home and had an official lesson with a return appointment to make them formally investigators again :D
Wednesday
We went to see this sweet Pratt lady who has now been back to church for about a month. She's living with her boyfriend, so we talked about eternal marriage some. She lives in a trailer park, so we knocked some doors for a few hours. A lot of them are Spanish with limited to no English. When that happened, all I could say was the church's name. Haha..maybe I should've taken Spanish, eh? I called our Spanish elders and asked how to say "Can we watch this DVD with you?" so when we went back we could watch the Restoration. I was able to ask it, but the answer was normally no. We went to see another less active woman and watched The Lamb of God with her. That night we went back to a couple we used to teach. It was an interesting lesson. They're pretty set in what they believe, but both Sis Davidson and our team-up feel we should go back. So we will!
Thursday
We had a few people fall through and then went to volunteer at Luthercare. It was fun to visit with the older women I used to see! That night, we got to go to Harrisburg for a regional ward council training by Elder Zwick of the Seventy. The State College Sisters were there! And they got to come back and spend the night for Mission Tour the next day! I found out that Alan has a date, Kalea now has a date, and Zack is getting closer! I love those people!
Friday
We had Misison Tour from 9-4! Pure awesomeness. We heard from Pres and Sis Topham, Pres Rhem, and Elder and Sister Zwick. The afternoon session was particularly incredible. Afterward we had dinner with a family that I love to death and then stopped by Sis Russell's.
Saturday
We went back to the trailer park with not much luck. We stopped by some less actives with again not much luck. We ended up walking to downtown Lititz, "open your mouthing" some, tracting some, and walking back.
Sunday
Best day of the week! I love church. A bunch of less actives came, which was awesome! Mostly tracting besides that.
Well, I'm off to another week! Time just goes by so fast! On Friday I'll only have 5 months left. I plan to be able to say awesome things about those last 5 months!
Love you all!
Sister Denton
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
10/10/11- Letter to the World
Coming to you from Lititz once more!
Monday
We had P-Day and spent the last hour of P-Day at a little going away party--'twas fun! Then Sister Juliano and I drove off to Pittsburgh. We had a huge gathering of sisters--7 of the 9 of us--at the Pittsburgh apartment. It was a lot of fun!
Tuesday
Training meeting! We got to meet the three new sisters and realized that all three training sisters matched up, clothing wise, with each of the new sisters. We thought it'd be funny if we were assigned as such. We were! All of the other missionaries were laughing way hard as the two purples, two peach sweaters, and two black/whites were matched up. Sister Davidson is now serving with me in Lititz! It's great! We get along really well. We dropped Sister Franklin and Sister Samuelson off at their apartment around 10:30pm, drove back to Harrisburg to get our luggage around 11:30pm, and got to our apartment at 12:30am. Ya. Long day!
Wednesday
We had District Meeting first. It was so cool to be back at the Lancaster building! Elders Cluff and Valenga are our elders. There are four others as well, which will make for some great P-Day basketball action. We taught Bro. Shaw, a 78-year-old investigator who's working toward baptism on Nov 5. We also taught Alexis, a Chinese woman. She became a new investigator. Went to dinner and then went to the GORGEOUS new building that opened after I left to meet with Bishop.
Thursday
We got to go to lunch at a member's home and then help her in her yard with her less active son for a few hours. We went to dinner with a mostly active family and then went to see the Day family, who I love from before! Nadia, who is 5, is SO cute. She took a pass-a-long card and went and tracted on her neighbor's door while we were talking to her mom haha.
The rest of the week was great, but I've got to go! Love ya'll!
Sister Denton
Monday
We had P-Day and spent the last hour of P-Day at a little going away party--'twas fun! Then Sister Juliano and I drove off to Pittsburgh. We had a huge gathering of sisters--7 of the 9 of us--at the Pittsburgh apartment. It was a lot of fun!
Tuesday
Training meeting! We got to meet the three new sisters and realized that all three training sisters matched up, clothing wise, with each of the new sisters. We thought it'd be funny if we were assigned as such. We were! All of the other missionaries were laughing way hard as the two purples, two peach sweaters, and two black/whites were matched up. Sister Davidson is now serving with me in Lititz! It's great! We get along really well. We dropped Sister Franklin and Sister Samuelson off at their apartment around 10:30pm, drove back to Harrisburg to get our luggage around 11:30pm, and got to our apartment at 12:30am. Ya. Long day!
Wednesday
We had District Meeting first. It was so cool to be back at the Lancaster building! Elders Cluff and Valenga are our elders. There are four others as well, which will make for some great P-Day basketball action. We taught Bro. Shaw, a 78-year-old investigator who's working toward baptism on Nov 5. We also taught Alexis, a Chinese woman. She became a new investigator. Went to dinner and then went to the GORGEOUS new building that opened after I left to meet with Bishop.
Thursday
We got to go to lunch at a member's home and then help her in her yard with her less active son for a few hours. We went to dinner with a mostly active family and then went to see the Day family, who I love from before! Nadia, who is 5, is SO cute. She took a pass-a-long card and went and tracted on her neighbor's door while we were talking to her mom haha.
The rest of the week was great, but I've got to go! Love ya'll!
Sister Denton
Monday, October 3, 2011
10/3/11- Letter to the World
Okay world...this one is going to be a doozy, I think! It's been an AMAZING week!
Monday
The Philipsburg Elders came out to State College so we could play basketball. I wrote letters for most of the time, but when the elders left, Sisters Quijano and Juliano were still out, so I ran out and played them 2 on 1. I was the 1. And I did awesome! Since when do I play basketball? Dribbling, driving, shooting...it was awesome!
After P-Day, Heidi came with us to teach a potential who didn't show. We decided to go over to Caden's since we'd not seen him in awhile. He was sick, but we were able to talk to him for a little while and teach a little lesson. Heidi dropped us off at Wal-Mart and we picked up some saltines, sprite, and chicken soup for him since he hadn't eaten anything in awhile. We tracted the rest of the night.
Tuesday
Tuesday started with what might just be the very best experience of my entire mission. First, let's review the first time we met with Zack:
from July 11
Zack
He's new this week and AWESOME. We met him at a forum (we set up a table of Book of Mormons on campus) and we met with him. He's probable in his mid-30s and is a researcher at PSU. He really wants to research and find out if God is there! He said the closing prayer and it was SO sweet and innocent! "Hi God. I don't know what is true, but I want to know. I like you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." He came to all three hours of church and seemed to enjoy it. Our Branch Mission Leader is awesome and was at the first lesson, so is an AWESOME fellowshipper. He's actually going to have to do the appt tomorrow, since we'll be in Pittsburgh
Okay, that being said, we've been teaching him ever since...almost every week. A few weeks ago, he was really busy and took a break from us for a couple of weeks. When we met him again, you could tell how good it felt for him to see us again. The next week, he told us he'd been reading from the Book of Mormon--trying to do it every night! So this Tuesday morning, he said the opening prayer. Parts of it went as follows, "I've been reading the Book of Mormon and I feel the spirit of the Book of Mormon. I've felt a change in me, but I don't know what it is. Even though it's a rainy and stormy day, it's a beautiful day because I'm here with my friends and they are going to teach me about you." Oh my gosh! I didn't even know how to react. I am SO happy that he is feeling the Spirit! He's been so scientific about everything. Even that first meeting, I remember him saying that we couldn't tell him he'd know by feelings because it can't be proven. He said he couldn't have faith because he didn't have faith. I told him to live like he believes...come to church like he believes it's true, read the Book of Mormon like he believes it, pray like he believes in God. Then, if his life improves, he can know God is real! Well, he's been doing it! He gave up his tea he drank during work and now just drinks hot water every day. He comes to church. He's reading the Book of Mormon. I love it! I love him so much! Imagine how much our Heavenly Father loves all of his children--that's why we need to go out and share this gospel message with everyone!
So, the day didn't end there. We taught Leonel from India, who had canceled the last week. I didn't even really know how interested he was, but when I asked if he'd read from the Book of Mormon (expecting an "I didn't get a chance") he said, "I read it every day." "The Book of Mormon?" "Yes" "That's...awesome!...that's great!" I couldn't find words haha I was so excited. He only reads a few verses a day, but he's doing it!
Next was Suzanne, but she didn't show up :( She's avoiding us now. We went out to do a forum for a little while, but I was just on air from the first two appointments. We went back in for Alan. I love Alan too! He's also from China. We got to teach him part of lesson 3 and he said he'd come to conference (which he did :D). He is so innocent and so earnestly wanting this truth. We committed him to baptism and he asked his grandma (his grandmas are Christian, but his parents in China are not). She said it's up to him. We told him he could pray about anything, so he prayed for help on his test and it worked :D He said it was easier than he expected and now he has this sweet testimony of prayer--though we did emphasize afterward that we don't always get the answers we want, but we always get answers. He is so sweet and I just love him to death!
After dinner we went tracting. One of the first doors we knocked on was Nobuko. She let us in and we talked for like an hour! She was raised Catholic, but isn't really sure what she believes now. We had some good conversation though! She took a Book of Mormon :D
Wednesday
We got to teach Kalea! It went well. She was SO excited for conference. She is just so sweet! Next was Levi--another Chinese investigator. With him, language is a huge barrier. We discussed the Plan of Salvation more, but will probably have to do so again. That's alright, it's a good lesson!
Thursday
We had District Meeting, which was great, and then service. After that we got to go to the awesome Skinner family's house! I love them! He is the institute teacher out here. That night, we stopped by the Ponces, a hispanic family we met a few weeks ago. She let us in and became a new investigator! We'll have to turn her over to the elders, though (we're getting elders in State College...sisters will be only in the branch :D)
Friday
All of our morning appointments canceled! Sad day! We got to go to the Wesleys for dinner--a family that I just adore! After that we got to see Bro McAllister, who I also love. Both are recent converts in the ward.
Saturday
Conference! Woot! 'Twas great. All three appointments canceled, though. Sad day. Also, I found out between sessions that I'm leaving State College :(
Sunday
Conference Part 2! Double Woot! Kalea came to the morning session. Alan and Zack came to the afternoon. Alan took notes and told me he received answers to his prayers!!! Zack said he received some answers, but not as strong as he was expecting. Both were really sad when they found out I was leaving. I'm going to miss them so much! One of the talks that day was about feeling love as a missionary. I totally do for these two. I love Chinese people! I may just start learning Mandarin when I get home...who knows...senior mission to China? :D Also, President called and asked me to train this night.....in Lititz! I'm going back to Lancaster for at least 3 more months--that'll be at least a year of my mission! Crazy! I love it there and I'm excited to meet my new companion tomorrow. I'm driving to Pittsburgh tonight (Monday) after the branch's going away party.
I was very reflective this morning during my personal study. I wrote a lot. Ever since I found out I was getting transferred, really. This is the hardest time I've had leaving. Alma 26 is a huge comfort to me, though. My investigators are in the hands of the Lord. I also love Alma 26:9 with some changes, "For if [I] had not come up out of the land of [Utah], these [my] dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved [me], would still have been...strangers to God." I "open your mouthed" Zack at the forum. I talked to Alan on the bus. Not glorying in myself, but in the fact that I've been able to be an instrument in God's hand. I am forever grateful for my time here in Pennsylvania.
Here's a poem I wrote this morning:
My heart is lifted up in praise
as I learn of Thy mysterious ways
I seek to follow all Thy will
and find I'm blessed as I fulfill
"Less than the dust," dear Moses taught
"of infinite worth, a child of God"
We're nothing on our own, you see,
but with our Father, everything
I sometimes question my own worth
am I just another birth?
but something whispers quietly
"A princess now, a queen you'll be"
My God can make much more of me
than anything of myself could be
I'll hold His pockets, follow steadily
and climb the mountain of divinity.
The church is true. This is Christ's work. We are disciples of Him. I am so grateful for this!
Love you all so much!
Sister Denton
Monday
The Philipsburg Elders came out to State College so we could play basketball. I wrote letters for most of the time, but when the elders left, Sisters Quijano and Juliano were still out, so I ran out and played them 2 on 1. I was the 1. And I did awesome! Since when do I play basketball? Dribbling, driving, shooting...it was awesome!
After P-Day, Heidi came with us to teach a potential who didn't show. We decided to go over to Caden's since we'd not seen him in awhile. He was sick, but we were able to talk to him for a little while and teach a little lesson. Heidi dropped us off at Wal-Mart and we picked up some saltines, sprite, and chicken soup for him since he hadn't eaten anything in awhile. We tracted the rest of the night.
Tuesday
Tuesday started with what might just be the very best experience of my entire mission. First, let's review the first time we met with Zack:
from July 11
Zack
He's new this week and AWESOME. We met him at a forum (we set up a table of Book of Mormons on campus) and we met with him. He's probable in his mid-30s and is a researcher at PSU. He really wants to research and find out if God is there! He said the closing prayer and it was SO sweet and innocent! "Hi God. I don't know what is true, but I want to know. I like you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." He came to all three hours of church and seemed to enjoy it. Our Branch Mission Leader is awesome and was at the first lesson, so is an AWESOME fellowshipper. He's actually going to have to do the appt tomorrow, since we'll be in Pittsburgh
Okay, that being said, we've been teaching him ever since...almost every week. A few weeks ago, he was really busy and took a break from us for a couple of weeks. When we met him again, you could tell how good it felt for him to see us again. The next week, he told us he'd been reading from the Book of Mormon--trying to do it every night! So this Tuesday morning, he said the opening prayer. Parts of it went as follows, "I've been reading the Book of Mormon and I feel the spirit of the Book of Mormon. I've felt a change in me, but I don't know what it is. Even though it's a rainy and stormy day, it's a beautiful day because I'm here with my friends and they are going to teach me about you." Oh my gosh! I didn't even know how to react. I am SO happy that he is feeling the Spirit! He's been so scientific about everything. Even that first meeting, I remember him saying that we couldn't tell him he'd know by feelings because it can't be proven. He said he couldn't have faith because he didn't have faith. I told him to live like he believes...come to church like he believes it's true, read the Book of Mormon like he believes it, pray like he believes in God. Then, if his life improves, he can know God is real! Well, he's been doing it! He gave up his tea he drank during work and now just drinks hot water every day. He comes to church. He's reading the Book of Mormon. I love it! I love him so much! Imagine how much our Heavenly Father loves all of his children--that's why we need to go out and share this gospel message with everyone!
So, the day didn't end there. We taught Leonel from India, who had canceled the last week. I didn't even really know how interested he was, but when I asked if he'd read from the Book of Mormon (expecting an "I didn't get a chance") he said, "I read it every day." "The Book of Mormon?" "Yes" "That's...awesome!...that's great!" I couldn't find words haha I was so excited. He only reads a few verses a day, but he's doing it!
Next was Suzanne, but she didn't show up :( She's avoiding us now. We went out to do a forum for a little while, but I was just on air from the first two appointments. We went back in for Alan. I love Alan too! He's also from China. We got to teach him part of lesson 3 and he said he'd come to conference (which he did :D). He is so innocent and so earnestly wanting this truth. We committed him to baptism and he asked his grandma (his grandmas are Christian, but his parents in China are not). She said it's up to him. We told him he could pray about anything, so he prayed for help on his test and it worked :D He said it was easier than he expected and now he has this sweet testimony of prayer--though we did emphasize afterward that we don't always get the answers we want, but we always get answers. He is so sweet and I just love him to death!
After dinner we went tracting. One of the first doors we knocked on was Nobuko. She let us in and we talked for like an hour! She was raised Catholic, but isn't really sure what she believes now. We had some good conversation though! She took a Book of Mormon :D
Wednesday
We got to teach Kalea! It went well. She was SO excited for conference. She is just so sweet! Next was Levi--another Chinese investigator. With him, language is a huge barrier. We discussed the Plan of Salvation more, but will probably have to do so again. That's alright, it's a good lesson!
Thursday
We had District Meeting, which was great, and then service. After that we got to go to the awesome Skinner family's house! I love them! He is the institute teacher out here. That night, we stopped by the Ponces, a hispanic family we met a few weeks ago. She let us in and became a new investigator! We'll have to turn her over to the elders, though (we're getting elders in State College...sisters will be only in the branch :D)
Friday
All of our morning appointments canceled! Sad day! We got to go to the Wesleys for dinner--a family that I just adore! After that we got to see Bro McAllister, who I also love. Both are recent converts in the ward.
Saturday
Conference! Woot! 'Twas great. All three appointments canceled, though. Sad day. Also, I found out between sessions that I'm leaving State College :(
Sunday
Conference Part 2! Double Woot! Kalea came to the morning session. Alan and Zack came to the afternoon. Alan took notes and told me he received answers to his prayers!!! Zack said he received some answers, but not as strong as he was expecting. Both were really sad when they found out I was leaving. I'm going to miss them so much! One of the talks that day was about feeling love as a missionary. I totally do for these two. I love Chinese people! I may just start learning Mandarin when I get home...who knows...senior mission to China? :D Also, President called and asked me to train this night.....in Lititz! I'm going back to Lancaster for at least 3 more months--that'll be at least a year of my mission! Crazy! I love it there and I'm excited to meet my new companion tomorrow. I'm driving to Pittsburgh tonight (Monday) after the branch's going away party.
I was very reflective this morning during my personal study. I wrote a lot. Ever since I found out I was getting transferred, really. This is the hardest time I've had leaving. Alma 26 is a huge comfort to me, though. My investigators are in the hands of the Lord. I also love Alma 26:9 with some changes, "For if [I] had not come up out of the land of [Utah], these [my] dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved [me], would still have been...strangers to God." I "open your mouthed" Zack at the forum. I talked to Alan on the bus. Not glorying in myself, but in the fact that I've been able to be an instrument in God's hand. I am forever grateful for my time here in Pennsylvania.
Here's a poem I wrote this morning:
My heart is lifted up in praise
as I learn of Thy mysterious ways
I seek to follow all Thy will
and find I'm blessed as I fulfill
"Less than the dust," dear Moses taught
"of infinite worth, a child of God"
We're nothing on our own, you see,
but with our Father, everything
I sometimes question my own worth
am I just another birth?
but something whispers quietly
"A princess now, a queen you'll be"
My God can make much more of me
than anything of myself could be
I'll hold His pockets, follow steadily
and climb the mountain of divinity.
The church is true. This is Christ's work. We are disciples of Him. I am so grateful for this!
Love you all so much!
Sister Denton
Monday, September 26, 2011
9/26/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!!!
Man, being a missionary is AWESOME! Just sayin' :D
First of all, shout out to the THREE new South Jordan elders coming out this next Tuesday! They're all in the MTC now, I guess, but we're welcoming Elder Mouritsen, Elder Nelson, and Elder Spohn. Three points for South Jordan! Woot!
Monday
For P-Day we took pictures on campus, which was way fun. I'll try to send some pictures. It was just tracting after that
Tuesday
Tuesday was AWESOME! We had exchanges and I got to be with Sister Quijano from the Philippines. We came out together, but weren't in the same District since she's international. 'Twas so fun! We did a forum for a little bit (where we set up a table and contact people on campus).
Next we got to teach Zack for the first time in a few weeks! It was SO good to see him again and I think he felt the same. He said he'd been reading from the Book of Mormon and keeps it by his bed to read at night! Awesome! We taught the Law of Chastity and he told us it is needed in China. It's needed here too :D Zack is just amazing.
Next we got stood up by Leonel, but he later told us he had an advisor meeting that ran long, so we have an appointment with him again this week. Since we had lunch on campus, I got to play on the baby grand, which was wonderful :D
Next we taught Alan, a new investigator from last week, and set him with a date of October 9! Woot! He's a sophomore at Penn State from China. He's awesome!
We went to our dinner appointment and then went to teach the Rojass with Sis. Skinner. It was a lot of question and answer again, but it was just Sis. Rojas this time, which actually helped a lot. We knew they had an issue with people who don't believe in infant baptism, and that was the first question she had. I said, "Do you think babies who aren't baptized go to hell?" "No" "Then why do you do infant baptism?" "I guess it's a comfort." So Sis Skinner was able to tell about baby blessings! This church is so true!!
Wednesday
After District meeting, we were supposed to teach Caden, but he canceled, so we ended up tracting a lot. We got a lot of lessons, though, so it was good. We went to the Miles's, this awesome family from Mexico. While there, she called the Matts family we met a week or so ago and they had a great conversation. They seem to already be friends, which is awesome! Hopefully we can start teaching the Matts. We did more tracting tha tevening.
Thursday
After studies, we went out and tracted. Seems to be a favorite pastime :D One funny story...
*knock knock knock
*person sticks their head out from a back room--short white hair, collared shirt, slacks, sitting in an office chair with a phone. Sis. Denton's head registers "man"
*person says, "Come on in" in a high voice. Sister Denton's head registers "woman....or man with high voice."
We can't go in if it's a man...but how do we find out if it's a woman?
"Is there a woman home?"
"I am a woman..."
shoot...what now?
"Is there another woman home?"
"No."
"Okay, we'll just leave this card in your door then. Do you want us to come back?"
"I don't even know who you are."
"We're missionaries."
"Don't worry about it."
Okay, so it was super awkward. Especially because afterward Sis M was like, "Why couldn't we go in?" "We could." "So why didn't we?" "Because then she'll know that I didn't know she was a woman." And as our Branch mission leader pointed out....it's not like she didn't know. Lame.
Richie canceled on us. We taught Suzanne, one of our new investigators. She was awesome. We have another appointment next week.
We got to go teach a LA family. They were awesome! I forgot how much I love less active work! That's basically all we did in Lancaster.
Friday
We got to teach Kalea! She's still doing well, though not reading as much. She came to the RS broadcast though!
Saturday
Went to baptism for the other sisters--Alan Terrell Bao from China. Love that kid! He's 18 and awesome. We went tracting for awhile and after dinner went to the INCREDIBLE Relief Society Broadcast. Watch the talk by President Uchtdorf if you haven't already!
Sunday
Zack and Alan came to church! Yay! We had dinner with an awesome couple.
Missionary work is awesome! I'm out of time! Love you all tons! The church is true :D
Sister Denton
Man, being a missionary is AWESOME! Just sayin' :D
First of all, shout out to the THREE new South Jordan elders coming out this next Tuesday! They're all in the MTC now, I guess, but we're welcoming Elder Mouritsen, Elder Nelson, and Elder Spohn. Three points for South Jordan! Woot!
Monday
For P-Day we took pictures on campus, which was way fun. I'll try to send some pictures. It was just tracting after that
Tuesday
Tuesday was AWESOME! We had exchanges and I got to be with Sister Quijano from the Philippines. We came out together, but weren't in the same District since she's international. 'Twas so fun! We did a forum for a little bit (where we set up a table and contact people on campus).
Next we got to teach Zack for the first time in a few weeks! It was SO good to see him again and I think he felt the same. He said he'd been reading from the Book of Mormon and keeps it by his bed to read at night! Awesome! We taught the Law of Chastity and he told us it is needed in China. It's needed here too :D Zack is just amazing.
Next we got stood up by Leonel, but he later told us he had an advisor meeting that ran long, so we have an appointment with him again this week. Since we had lunch on campus, I got to play on the baby grand, which was wonderful :D
Next we taught Alan, a new investigator from last week, and set him with a date of October 9! Woot! He's a sophomore at Penn State from China. He's awesome!
We went to our dinner appointment and then went to teach the Rojass with Sis. Skinner. It was a lot of question and answer again, but it was just Sis. Rojas this time, which actually helped a lot. We knew they had an issue with people who don't believe in infant baptism, and that was the first question she had. I said, "Do you think babies who aren't baptized go to hell?" "No" "Then why do you do infant baptism?" "I guess it's a comfort." So Sis Skinner was able to tell about baby blessings! This church is so true!!
Wednesday
After District meeting, we were supposed to teach Caden, but he canceled, so we ended up tracting a lot. We got a lot of lessons, though, so it was good. We went to the Miles's, this awesome family from Mexico. While there, she called the Matts family we met a week or so ago and they had a great conversation. They seem to already be friends, which is awesome! Hopefully we can start teaching the Matts. We did more tracting tha tevening.
Thursday
After studies, we went out and tracted. Seems to be a favorite pastime :D One funny story...
*knock knock knock
*person sticks their head out from a back room--short white hair, collared shirt, slacks, sitting in an office chair with a phone. Sis. Denton's head registers "man"
*person says, "Come on in" in a high voice. Sister Denton's head registers "woman....or man with high voice."
We can't go in if it's a man...but how do we find out if it's a woman?
"Is there a woman home?"
"I am a woman..."
shoot...what now?
"Is there another woman home?"
"No."
"Okay, we'll just leave this card in your door then. Do you want us to come back?"
"I don't even know who you are."
"We're missionaries."
"Don't worry about it."
Okay, so it was super awkward. Especially because afterward Sis M was like, "Why couldn't we go in?" "We could." "So why didn't we?" "Because then she'll know that I didn't know she was a woman." And as our Branch mission leader pointed out....it's not like she didn't know. Lame.
Richie canceled on us. We taught Suzanne, one of our new investigators. She was awesome. We have another appointment next week.
We got to go teach a LA family. They were awesome! I forgot how much I love less active work! That's basically all we did in Lancaster.
Friday
We got to teach Kalea! She's still doing well, though not reading as much. She came to the RS broadcast though!
Saturday
Went to baptism for the other sisters--Alan Terrell Bao from China. Love that kid! He's 18 and awesome. We went tracting for awhile and after dinner went to the INCREDIBLE Relief Society Broadcast. Watch the talk by President Uchtdorf if you haven't already!
Sunday
Zack and Alan came to church! Yay! We had dinner with an awesome couple.
Missionary work is awesome! I'm out of time! Love you all tons! The church is true :D
Sister Denton
Monday, September 19, 2011
9/19/11- Letter to the World
Haha...funny story
I'm sitting in the library and there are these two boys behind me at another computer doing some sort of financial chart. I've not heard pretty much any of their conversation until just now--"The profit is not gross." Haha...that may be true, but what I heard was, "The prophet is not gross!" Ahh, joys of being completely surrounded by the gospel. Another sister just showed me a letter from home about her return missionary brother--apparently he's having trouble socially because he can't have a conversation without bringing up the gospel. Pretty sure I'm going to have that problem. Just sayin'.
Okay. Well Hello World! I hope all is going well! It's been a FABULOUS week!
Monday
It was my debut at early morning seminary! We got to teach "How to teach the Plan of Salvation to your friends." It was fun! Sis. Mcdaniel, the teacher, took us out to The Waffle House afterward. Yum! We went to play Ultimate, but I was SO tired, so I took a nap in the grass and used a tree root as my pillow. Did you know tree roots have sap on them too. Ya. 'Twas a good nap though! We met some great people who we'll hopefully be able to teach!
Tuesday
We got a new investigator--Leonel from India. We had met him tracting and taught him on campus. He believes in all Gods, but is willing to learn more! We went to teach Sis. Rich the Word of Wisdom, but she is still adamantly Baptist. She's also pretty busy, so she said we can drop by in November. We got to have dinner at Susanna 's house. I love her family! Then we went to teach the Rojas's with Sis. Skinner and her almost missionary son, but the Rojas's baby was sick, so we had to reschedule. We tracted more of the trailers there for the rest of the night.
Wednesday
We were able to teach Caden with a newly returned missionary, so that was fun! They got along pretty well. We also taught Alan--a new investigator from China. He is so sweet! His grandmothers are both Christian, so he's interested! Love it! We were going to have dinner at home, but President and Sister Topham called and invited us out to dinner. Texas Roadhouse! Yah! It was nice to get to talk with them more. They are really amazing!
Thursday
ZONE CONFERENCE!! Best day of the week! It was incredible. President Topham talked about his vision for the mission--Continual Improvement. It was great. He focused on just stepping it up each transfer--leaving the area better, the relationships with the ward better, and your own Christlike attributes improved. The Area Psychologist and his wife spoke and also did a great job. The highlight for me was the Assistants. First of all, they are two of my favorite missionaries--my first District Leader and first Zone Leader. Second of all, they're just awesome! They both shared some things that Elder Jay E. Jensen had shared when he visited Pittsburgh. Elder Nielsen spoke on recognizing revelation, which is something I've always struggled with. He talked about how even a passing thought to do something good can be from the Spirit. He shared an experience of being prompted to invite someone to be baptized. They said yes, but he said that even if they hadn't, he would've known the Spirit had instructed him to. I think that's awesome! He said it's impossible for us, as humans, to have a thought to do something good without it being revelation. Awesome! Elder Densley was next and he spoke about the 6 M's of Missionary Work--Mission President, Missoinary, Message, Media, Methodology, and Members. He focused on the last one and asking for referrals. He made this chart that laid out how to ask for referrals in a completely new way to me. It was AWESOME! After Zone Conference, both of us sets of sisters were recorded for the mission video. That night we had dinner with the Wesleys--one of my favorite families. We tried asking for referrals the Elder Densley way and it worked!! They started listing all sorts of people they could ask! It was AWESOME! Man, I love being a misisonary!
Friday
We taught a potential named Ponce. We didn't get a solid return appointment, but hopefully we'll be able to see him again in a couple of weeks. He's awesome. We went to an appt that wasn't there and then came back to teach Kalea. I just love Kalea! She is so amazing. I really hope I'm able to see her baptized! We went to Ashworth to follow up with some people and then our Ward Mission Leader picked us up to go out to the Ward Missionaries' house for a dinner/meeting. 'Twas great! We closed it up by teaching Shaun--another awesome Recent Convert.
Saturday
Another AWESOME day! After Branch Correlation, we tracted some and then went to Donnie's house. We received a text from Donnie this week that basically said, "My friend said you were in the area and I want to learn about your church. Here is my address." Awesome! So we went over. He is Muslim and his friend Matthew is Hindu. They basically just asked us questions and said they'd call us if they had more. We stocked them with pamphlets and headed on our way. Next we got to teach Levi--another Chinese investigator. He speaks very little English, but wants to learn! He came to Elder Oak's fireside last Sunday and we asked him what he thought. He said he didn't understand anything. We asked him how he felt and he gave us the thumbs up sign. We told him it was the Spirit! We taught a very simple Plan of Salvation and invited him to church again. We did just meet a member who speaks Chinese in the other ward, so we're definitely going to use him! All four sisters went to dinner with the Becks and it was wonderful as always. Next was the best part of the day--the baptism! It was an 8-yr-old girl, but every baptism is amazing. Kalea came, and the Spirit was just so strong! It reminded me of my baptism. The opening song was even "When I am Baptized," which I sang with some of my cousins at my baptism. It almost always makes me tear up. Kalea really enjoyed it and also had some questions about temples (the closing song was "I Love to See the Temple"). Wonderful day!
Sunday
Yesterday was great as well! Church until 3:30 and studies until dinner. All four sisters went to the Harrison's. They are SO fun! He's new in the branch presidency, so it was good to get to know them better. And for all of you cooks out there, google "pioneer woman cooks." She's apparently amazing and based on dinner, it's true! We had "Chicken Spaghetti"--an amazing casserole dish.
Well, the work goes on ever more! It's true, ya know? I love the Book of Mormon. I love the Prophet Joseph and know that he's a prophet. I can't wait to meet him! I know that Thomas Monson is a prophet and I can't want to hear his words, along with the Apostles, this weekend (RS General Session) and next. Start now to write down questions for conference! I did it last session and literally every single question was answered. It's amazing! God knows us individually and loves us. This is His church and I get to share it with others! "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"
Love ya!
Sister Denton
I'm sitting in the library and there are these two boys behind me at another computer doing some sort of financial chart. I've not heard pretty much any of their conversation until just now--"The profit is not gross." Haha...that may be true, but what I heard was, "The prophet is not gross!" Ahh, joys of being completely surrounded by the gospel. Another sister just showed me a letter from home about her return missionary brother--apparently he's having trouble socially because he can't have a conversation without bringing up the gospel. Pretty sure I'm going to have that problem. Just sayin'.
Okay. Well Hello World! I hope all is going well! It's been a FABULOUS week!
Monday
It was my debut at early morning seminary! We got to teach "How to teach the Plan of Salvation to your friends." It was fun! Sis. Mcdaniel, the teacher, took us out to The Waffle House afterward. Yum! We went to play Ultimate, but I was SO tired, so I took a nap in the grass and used a tree root as my pillow. Did you know tree roots have sap on them too. Ya. 'Twas a good nap though! We met some great people who we'll hopefully be able to teach!
Tuesday
We got a new investigator--Leonel from India. We had met him tracting and taught him on campus. He believes in all Gods, but is willing to learn more! We went to teach Sis. Rich the Word of Wisdom, but she is still adamantly Baptist. She's also pretty busy, so she said we can drop by in November. We got to have dinner at Susanna 's house. I love her family! Then we went to teach the Rojas's with Sis. Skinner and her almost missionary son, but the Rojas's baby was sick, so we had to reschedule. We tracted more of the trailers there for the rest of the night.
Wednesday
We were able to teach Caden with a newly returned missionary, so that was fun! They got along pretty well. We also taught Alan--a new investigator from China. He is so sweet! His grandmothers are both Christian, so he's interested! Love it! We were going to have dinner at home, but President and Sister Topham called and invited us out to dinner. Texas Roadhouse! Yah! It was nice to get to talk with them more. They are really amazing!
Thursday
ZONE CONFERENCE!! Best day of the week! It was incredible. President Topham talked about his vision for the mission--Continual Improvement. It was great. He focused on just stepping it up each transfer--leaving the area better, the relationships with the ward better, and your own Christlike attributes improved. The Area Psychologist and his wife spoke and also did a great job. The highlight for me was the Assistants. First of all, they are two of my favorite missionaries--my first District Leader and first Zone Leader. Second of all, they're just awesome! They both shared some things that Elder Jay E. Jensen had shared when he visited Pittsburgh. Elder Nielsen spoke on recognizing revelation, which is something I've always struggled with. He talked about how even a passing thought to do something good can be from the Spirit. He shared an experience of being prompted to invite someone to be baptized. They said yes, but he said that even if they hadn't, he would've known the Spirit had instructed him to. I think that's awesome! He said it's impossible for us, as humans, to have a thought to do something good without it being revelation. Awesome! Elder Densley was next and he spoke about the 6 M's of Missionary Work--Mission President, Missoinary, Message, Media, Methodology, and Members. He focused on the last one and asking for referrals. He made this chart that laid out how to ask for referrals in a completely new way to me. It was AWESOME! After Zone Conference, both of us sets of sisters were recorded for the mission video. That night we had dinner with the Wesleys--one of my favorite families. We tried asking for referrals the Elder Densley way and it worked!! They started listing all sorts of people they could ask! It was AWESOME! Man, I love being a misisonary!
Friday
We taught a potential named Ponce. We didn't get a solid return appointment, but hopefully we'll be able to see him again in a couple of weeks. He's awesome. We went to an appt that wasn't there and then came back to teach Kalea. I just love Kalea! She is so amazing. I really hope I'm able to see her baptized! We went to Ashworth to follow up with some people and then our Ward Mission Leader picked us up to go out to the Ward Missionaries' house for a dinner/meeting. 'Twas great! We closed it up by teaching Shaun--another awesome Recent Convert.
Saturday
Another AWESOME day! After Branch Correlation, we tracted some and then went to Donnie's house. We received a text from Donnie this week that basically said, "My friend said you were in the area and I want to learn about your church. Here is my address." Awesome! So we went over. He is Muslim and his friend Matthew is Hindu. They basically just asked us questions and said they'd call us if they had more. We stocked them with pamphlets and headed on our way. Next we got to teach Levi--another Chinese investigator. He speaks very little English, but wants to learn! He came to Elder Oak's fireside last Sunday and we asked him what he thought. He said he didn't understand anything. We asked him how he felt and he gave us the thumbs up sign. We told him it was the Spirit! We taught a very simple Plan of Salvation and invited him to church again. We did just meet a member who speaks Chinese in the other ward, so we're definitely going to use him! All four sisters went to dinner with the Becks and it was wonderful as always. Next was the best part of the day--the baptism! It was an 8-yr-old girl, but every baptism is amazing. Kalea came, and the Spirit was just so strong! It reminded me of my baptism. The opening song was even "When I am Baptized," which I sang with some of my cousins at my baptism. It almost always makes me tear up. Kalea really enjoyed it and also had some questions about temples (the closing song was "I Love to See the Temple"). Wonderful day!
Sunday
Yesterday was great as well! Church until 3:30 and studies until dinner. All four sisters went to the Harrison's. They are SO fun! He's new in the branch presidency, so it was good to get to know them better. And for all of you cooks out there, google "pioneer woman cooks." She's apparently amazing and based on dinner, it's true! We had "Chicken Spaghetti"--an amazing casserole dish.
Well, the work goes on ever more! It's true, ya know? I love the Book of Mormon. I love the Prophet Joseph and know that he's a prophet. I can't wait to meet him! I know that Thomas Monson is a prophet and I can't want to hear his words, along with the Apostles, this weekend (RS General Session) and next. Start now to write down questions for conference! I did it last session and literally every single question was answered. It's amazing! God knows us individually and loves us. This is His church and I get to share it with others! "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"
Love ya!
Sister Denton
Monday, September 12, 2011
9/12/11- Letter to the World
Hello World!
Well, another week has gone by. I don’t even understand how that is possible!
Cool thing for the week—after talking about the John Tanner movie two weeks ago, my Aunt and Uncle informed me that he was my 5th-great-grandfather. I knew we were related, but didn’t know how. This past week at dinner, one of the boys said, “Do you know who John Tanner is?” And I said, “Yes! He’s my 5th Great-grandpa.” He said, “He’s MY 5th great-grandpa!” I done eat dinner with my 6th cousins! Fun day.
I forgot my planner, so I guess I’ll talk about people :D
Kalea
She is doing GREAT! We taught her about tithing this week and she asked if she had to wait until she was baptized to pay it. Nope! So she paid it this Sunday when she was at church! She came to the CES fireside as well, which was awesome!
Caden
He hit some rough patches this week, but he’s doing a lot better. He keeps reminding us that he came from a Jewish background, so we can’t expect huge changes, and yet he is making great leaps! He’s currently planning on being baptized Oct 12.
Levi
He is from China and we have some communication barriers, but he really is interested in learning! He came to the fireside too! It was good to see him there. Our branch mission leader is doing a great job of befriending him.
Those are our main investigators right now. Have a great week!
Love ya,
Sister Denton
Well, another week has gone by. I don’t even understand how that is possible!
Cool thing for the week—after talking about the John Tanner movie two weeks ago, my Aunt and Uncle informed me that he was my 5th-great-grandfather. I knew we were related, but didn’t know how. This past week at dinner, one of the boys said, “Do you know who John Tanner is?” And I said, “Yes! He’s my 5th Great-grandpa.” He said, “He’s MY 5th great-grandpa!” I done eat dinner with my 6th cousins! Fun day.
I forgot my planner, so I guess I’ll talk about people :D
Kalea
She is doing GREAT! We taught her about tithing this week and she asked if she had to wait until she was baptized to pay it. Nope! So she paid it this Sunday when she was at church! She came to the CES fireside as well, which was awesome!
Caden
He hit some rough patches this week, but he’s doing a lot better. He keeps reminding us that he came from a Jewish background, so we can’t expect huge changes, and yet he is making great leaps! He’s currently planning on being baptized Oct 12.
Levi
He is from China and we have some communication barriers, but he really is interested in learning! He came to the fireside too! It was good to see him there. Our branch mission leader is doing a great job of befriending him.
Those are our main investigators right now. Have a great week!
Love ya,
Sister Denton
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
9/6/11- Letter to the World
Tuesday
Zack--it was an interesting lesson, but he is still meeting with us :D
Richie--Interesting...we're struggling with how to get him to obey the commandments we teach...
Rojas--A family we're teaching. Our team-up was AWESOME, so the lesson ended up going well :D
Wednesday
District Meeting--got an AWESOME talk...look up 4th missionary.
Oh! I am out of time. It was a great week! The work is awesome. The gospel is awesome. The church is true!
I love you all!
Sister Denton
Zack--it was an interesting lesson, but he is still meeting with us :D
Richie--Interesting...we're struggling with how to get him to obey the commandments we teach...
Rojas--A family we're teaching. Our team-up was AWESOME, so the lesson ended up going well :D
Wednesday
District Meeting--got an AWESOME talk...look up 4th missionary.
Oh! I am out of time. It was a great week! The work is awesome. The gospel is awesome. The church is true!
I love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, August 29, 2011
8/29/11- Letter to the World
So...I forgot my planner. I hope I can remember everything from this week! I may have to borrow Sis. Mortensen's!
This is week one of my second transfer of training!! Can I just say--I LOVE State College?! It's amazing!
Monday
So after our regular P-Day activities we deep-fried snickers and oreos. The process is as follows: Dip snicker/oreo in pancake batter, drop in a vat of boiling oil, once browned (about 10 seconds) remove, enjoy once cooled enough! 'Twas fun. We also had indian leg wrestling and arm wrestling competitions. 'Twas fun. Afterward we went to a lesson where our potential didn't show up and then tracted the rest of the evening!
Tuesday
Our first forum with the students back in town! After 30 minutes, we completely ran out of supplies--over 200 "Open Your Mouths"! Crazy! We ran home to get more and renew our bus passes and then we got to teach Zack. I love this guy! We taught him with Alan this time, who is also a genius, so it went really well! We did service at the food bank and when we got there everyone was like, "Did you feel the earthquake?" Apparently the earthquake from DC was felt up here in PA too! We were walking around and didn't even notice it :D We had dinner with an awesome recent convert family.
Wednesday
Something exciting this transfer is that we have a real district leader!! Woot! Elder Neely and Elder Lavata'i doubled into Philipsburg. And also, Elder Densley, my frist District Leader and one of my favorite people is the new Assistant! The other assistant is my first Zone Leader. If you've seen the pics, they are the two that look like Kyle and Cody haha. Awesome! So District Meeting was fun and Mama H came by, saw us, and bought us pizza! She has a son in England and says she loves to do things for the missionaries so that someone in England will do it for her son!
We met with Caden for the first time in a while and it went really well! We also got to see Susanna , one of my favorite people ever! Her two little boys are ADORABLE. We watched the Restoration DVD with them. Then we went to another new family's house for dinner.
We went to see if any of our people would make it to institute. They didn't, but the other sister's had some people there! One is Suzanne who is just amazing! She came to find out more about our church last Sunday and stayed all three hours. She went to FHE, institute, the relief society activity, and church again this week. Her boyfriend is a member and currently at BYU. She's so amazing! I'm super excited about her!
Thursday
We had another forum that we got a couple of potentials from. We also saw Zack and confirmed he'd be coming to church :D. On the way back from the forum, we were carrying this super awkward table and a box of foreign language Book of Mormons to storage and a girl stopped and asked if we needed help. She asked if we were from Hillel, which is the Jewish organization on campus. She was going to help prepare the dinner they have every Friday. We were supposed to teach Richie at 3:30, but couldn't get ahold of him and couldn't figure out where. We tried one place at 3:15 and then walked to check the other about 3:30. We thought he ditched us, so we went to help cook for the dinner as well! First time in a kosher kitchen, super cool! We chopped celery and opened TONS of cans. We found out later that Richie was at the place we checked at 3:15 at 3:30. We were able to reshedule later, though. We had dinner with another amazing new family. After dinner, she took us to Josiah's house. Josiah is a blind man who was a referral. He has a lot of questions about how to help his dead friends change their ways. It was a great lesson! He's moving to the other sister's area, but not until next week, so we taught him again Saturday. Afterward, the sister drove us to the Relief Society activity where we met some more new sisters. We got to meet another amazing new branch member there--Domitila. She was just baptized 4 months ago and she is on fire! She's willing to come out and teach with us :D
Friday
We got to teach Caden again! We watched the John Tanner DVD with him and talked about baptism. He was set with the 3rd, but we wanted to be sure he wanted this and was ready. He thought about it during the movie and afterward decided on the 17th. I feel a lot better about this date, so be excited for Sept 17th! Afterward, we got to teach Kalea again, who's also been out of town. She started reading the Book of Mormon! Woot! She also realized she's going to have to make a choice between the church she attends now and ours. She keeps going to hers to say goodbye, but then misses some people. Hopefully she'll come to ours on Sunday!
Saturday
Saturday was crazy. We had Ronnie first, who canceled. Next were our correlation meetings. Then we had Darius who didn't show up. Then was supposed to be Levi, but he called VERY apologetically and canceled, so we went tracting. Then we had to split to teach Jordan (the Chinese guy who overheard us last week) and Domenic (from Nigeria!) Both lessons went very well and they became new investigators! We got dropped off for a 15 minute dinner and then got picked up and dropped off at another members home who drove with us to Bro McAllister's, the 75-year-old recent convert. We watched the John Tanner movie with him too. Then another member picked us up and taught Josiah with us. We were planning to go over Lesson 2, but he had questions about Brigham Young and Joseph Smith! Sweet. Again, it went very well. Then another member drove us home. There's no way we could've done that day without members! EVERY lesson had a member there! They are amazing!
Sunday
Church was great. Zack came for the first hour and Richie made it for the third. We also had a recent convert come who hasn't been in awhile. It was SO good to see him there! We ate with a fun couple and then went tracting for a couple of hours until our appointment with Ruben from Turkey. Vaughn taught with us and it was an AMAZING lesson. The Spirit was so strong at points. Unfortunatley, Ruben did not feel it. It was really sad to see him not be interested because we really gave our all.
Oh--and Hurricane Irene hit this day. It was pretty much just rainy and windy, not bad at all. We actually had a tornado warning last week during church that was WAY worse. The craziest thunder and rain I've ever seen in my life!
So ya, 'twas a great week! Being a missionary is awesome :D Just sayin'! I hit my year mark this week--I can't believe it! Time goes SO fast!
I love you all!
Sister Denton
This is week one of my second transfer of training!! Can I just say--I LOVE State College?! It's amazing!
Monday
So after our regular P-Day activities we deep-fried snickers and oreos. The process is as follows: Dip snicker/oreo in pancake batter, drop in a vat of boiling oil, once browned (about 10 seconds) remove, enjoy once cooled enough! 'Twas fun. We also had indian leg wrestling and arm wrestling competitions. 'Twas fun. Afterward we went to a lesson where our potential didn't show up and then tracted the rest of the evening!
Tuesday
Our first forum with the students back in town! After 30 minutes, we completely ran out of supplies--over 200 "Open Your Mouths"! Crazy! We ran home to get more and renew our bus passes and then we got to teach Zack. I love this guy! We taught him with Alan this time, who is also a genius, so it went really well! We did service at the food bank and when we got there everyone was like, "Did you feel the earthquake?" Apparently the earthquake from DC was felt up here in PA too! We were walking around and didn't even notice it :D We had dinner with an awesome recent convert family.
Wednesday
Something exciting this transfer is that we have a real district leader!! Woot! Elder Neely and Elder Lavata'i doubled into Philipsburg. And also, Elder Densley, my frist District Leader and one of my favorite people is the new Assistant! The other assistant is my first Zone Leader. If you've seen the pics, they are the two that look like Kyle and Cody haha. Awesome! So District Meeting was fun and Mama H came by, saw us, and bought us pizza! She has a son in England and says she loves to do things for the missionaries so that someone in England will do it for her son!
We met with Caden for the first time in a while and it went really well! We also got to see Susanna , one of my favorite people ever! Her two little boys are ADORABLE. We watched the Restoration DVD with them. Then we went to another new family's house for dinner.
We went to see if any of our people would make it to institute. They didn't, but the other sister's had some people there! One is Suzanne who is just amazing! She came to find out more about our church last Sunday and stayed all three hours. She went to FHE, institute, the relief society activity, and church again this week. Her boyfriend is a member and currently at BYU. She's so amazing! I'm super excited about her!
Thursday
We had another forum that we got a couple of potentials from. We also saw Zack and confirmed he'd be coming to church :D. On the way back from the forum, we were carrying this super awkward table and a box of foreign language Book of Mormons to storage and a girl stopped and asked if we needed help. She asked if we were from Hillel, which is the Jewish organization on campus. She was going to help prepare the dinner they have every Friday. We were supposed to teach Richie at 3:30, but couldn't get ahold of him and couldn't figure out where. We tried one place at 3:15 and then walked to check the other about 3:30. We thought he ditched us, so we went to help cook for the dinner as well! First time in a kosher kitchen, super cool! We chopped celery and opened TONS of cans. We found out later that Richie was at the place we checked at 3:15 at 3:30. We were able to reshedule later, though. We had dinner with another amazing new family. After dinner, she took us to Josiah's house. Josiah is a blind man who was a referral. He has a lot of questions about how to help his dead friends change their ways. It was a great lesson! He's moving to the other sister's area, but not until next week, so we taught him again Saturday. Afterward, the sister drove us to the Relief Society activity where we met some more new sisters. We got to meet another amazing new branch member there--Domitila. She was just baptized 4 months ago and she is on fire! She's willing to come out and teach with us :D
Friday
We got to teach Caden again! We watched the John Tanner DVD with him and talked about baptism. He was set with the 3rd, but we wanted to be sure he wanted this and was ready. He thought about it during the movie and afterward decided on the 17th. I feel a lot better about this date, so be excited for Sept 17th! Afterward, we got to teach Kalea again, who's also been out of town. She started reading the Book of Mormon! Woot! She also realized she's going to have to make a choice between the church she attends now and ours. She keeps going to hers to say goodbye, but then misses some people. Hopefully she'll come to ours on Sunday!
Saturday
Saturday was crazy. We had Ronnie first, who canceled. Next were our correlation meetings. Then we had Darius who didn't show up. Then was supposed to be Levi, but he called VERY apologetically and canceled, so we went tracting. Then we had to split to teach Jordan (the Chinese guy who overheard us last week) and Domenic (from Nigeria!) Both lessons went very well and they became new investigators! We got dropped off for a 15 minute dinner and then got picked up and dropped off at another members home who drove with us to Bro McAllister's, the 75-year-old recent convert. We watched the John Tanner movie with him too. Then another member picked us up and taught Josiah with us. We were planning to go over Lesson 2, but he had questions about Brigham Young and Joseph Smith! Sweet. Again, it went very well. Then another member drove us home. There's no way we could've done that day without members! EVERY lesson had a member there! They are amazing!
Sunday
Church was great. Zack came for the first hour and Richie made it for the third. We also had a recent convert come who hasn't been in awhile. It was SO good to see him there! We ate with a fun couple and then went tracting for a couple of hours until our appointment with Ruben from Turkey. Vaughn taught with us and it was an AMAZING lesson. The Spirit was so strong at points. Unfortunatley, Ruben did not feel it. It was really sad to see him not be interested because we really gave our all.
Oh--and Hurricane Irene hit this day. It was pretty much just rainy and windy, not bad at all. We actually had a tornado warning last week during church that was WAY worse. The craziest thunder and rain I've ever seen in my life!
So ya, 'twas a great week! Being a missionary is awesome :D Just sayin'! I hit my year mark this week--I can't believe it! Time goes SO fast!
I love you all!
Sister Denton
Monday, August 22, 2011
9/22/11- Letter to the World
Okay world....I have 35 minutes, so this is going to be AWESOME because I just lived one of the best weeks of my entire life :D
Super Funny
Super Awesome
That's right...back to color coding :D
Monday
After P-Day, we went to find a referral. He wasn't interested, but we went tracting. The next house, a man was outside, so we went to talk to him and he gave us a giant box of tomatoes. We had 2 more hours to tract, what were we supposed to do with a giant box of tomatoes? So we carried it with us to the next house and set it to the side. The people talked to us for a little while, but weren't interested, so I asked if they wanted any tomatoes. They were discussing it when I mentioned that the neighbors had just given us the box. The woman responded that the day previous, she had given THEM a box of tomatoes. Super awkward. Anywho, we went to give some to a couple we'd met a couple of roads down who was super nice and invited us in and gave us water last time. They took some. Then we took some up the street to another woman we'd met who is older and super sweet. Turns out she LOVES tomatoes and thanked us. :D
Tracting the rest of that street was relatively uneventful. Actually...no it wasn't lol...at least not compared to regular tracting terms. We met a woman who ended up yelling at us. We got a return appointment with an older woman. We met a cool guy named George from Germany. We're teaching him tonight. Lol...we met this guy named Dan who I'd actually met before. I knew he looked familiar, but couldn't place him. Last time I met him, my companion and I had been walking through the library and he passed and just said, "Hi Sisters!" Well, no one but members of the Church call us sisters, and we didn't recognize him from the branch, but he was gone. We continued out the door and I wished I'd said something more. Next thing we knew, he came up behind us and just started walking with us on campus! Turns out his bro is LDS, though he's not interested at all. He just walked across the campus with us like we were all lifelong friends and as soon as we parted ways that was that, he was gone! It was like a whirlwind or something, but he was just a happy person. Okay, so back to Monday night. I walked up to hand him a card and was like, "Wait, do we know you?" "No" "Have you talked to sisters before?" "Not recently" "Oh--okay, well we're missionaries....(intro)" "Will you do me a favor?" "Um...okay." "Will you sing a song with me right here right now?" (Mind you we're standing in the middle of the road, but I am me and I do love to sing...) "Sure!" "I was in a Mormon church once and I know you sing this song....'Because I Have Been Given Much'" So we sang it. Right there in the middle of the road! He actually knew the song better than we did lol. And once it was over, he was gone again! I want to be like him though, he just changed our entire night! We were so happy afterward!
The moral of that story is...go make someone happy! :D
TuesdaySo we got to teach Zack again! If you'll remember from last week, he almost dropped us. We taught the Word of Wisdom with James and it was awesome! Before we even got into it, though, he asked some typically amazing Zack questions:
Next we had a forum, but they were painting our assigned area, so we went tracting instead. We had a member dinner with a cute new family and then went to a less active lesson. They canceled, though, so we went tracting again.
This is where we had our first awesome tracting experience! We've been struggling in this companionship to get other lessons while finding. Well, we did it! We got 6--a personal high! It's especially hard in neighborhoods, which is where we were! We met a COOL guy named Chase. He was listening and was just saying how he has a church, etc. So I was like, "Well, this is Jesus Christ's church--the only one on the earth today...." and talked along those veins. He asked what our purpose was and Sister Mortensen was like, "Really? It's to help you and your family to progress toward baptism." It was just like bam, bam, you know!? It was great! He said he wasn't interested in baptism, but knowing that was our end goal, he still said he'd be willing to meet again! I love the Spirit! We also met a cute young family that I hope decides to learn someday!
Wednesday
This was another day full of tracting, etc, though not quite as effective as Tuesday. We rode the bus up to Bellefonte and followed up with a referral and then walked to dinner after tracting some. Another family picked us up and brought us back to the chapel where we practiced our song for the baptism and then went out tracting again. We did get a cool referral tracting, but he lives in Pasadena, CA. :D
Thursday
We started the day off with a forum! And the zone leaders came, so it was really fun! It was neat to see everyone's different style of contacting. I met a SWEET girl from China named Susanna. One of the first things she asked was if she could join our group--um yes!! After that we all went out to lunch and then had District Meeting--no pressure to be in charge and have the Zone Leaders there lol. It was good, though, and then they interviewed Jane (who is INCREDIBLE) for baptism. We went and taught Richie the Word of Wisdom with Alan. He just started to quit smoking like that day, which was awesome and he agreed to avoid alcohol, but wasn't so sure about coffee or tea yet. As were were finding some afterward, we had two lessons OYMing, which almost never happens for us...and both agreed to meet with us! Next we went to dinner with this awesome family. I won't tell you there names, though, so I can tell you this hilarious story. They have 3 little kids and as we were finishing up dinner, we looked over and the little boy was standing on the coffee table with a puddle under him. His parents were like, "Aw! Did you just wet your pants?" As we're watching all this go down, he started splashing his feet in it and his sister came over and started playing in it. Haha. It was disgusting but HILARIOUS! That night we went to our appointment, but they weren't there, so we took our team-up to the Day's house (we met them last week). The boyfriend, Jordan, was there and we ended up talking to him for like 15 minutes! It was a great conversation and I REALLY hope we'll be able to teach this family! He'd looked through Jessica's Book of Mormon and took his own and said he'd read it :D Awesome! I really hope we're able to teach this family!
FridayThe morning was filled with more errand type stuff, but the evening was AWESOME! I just searched it, and I guess I've only talked about him in one letter! He was a HQ referral back in June. He read the whole Book of Mormon in like a week and basically just had the church on his short list as he was searching for the truth. Well he found it :D The other sisters have been teaching him and he was baptized Friday night! It was SO cool and he bore an awesome testimony at the end. The other sisters and I sang "I Am Not Ashamed" a song my cousin wrote. Zack and Richie both came!
Saturday
Again...phemonal day!! (AHHH 4 minutes left!)
We had three lessons with potentials that all turned into other new investigators!!
Sutton--we met him a while back and finally met with him. He is very into his church, but after our lesson, he is really going to seek it out! Woot! We're meeting with him again next week
Levi--He has very low English, but is willing to learn! I'd met him awhile ago, but when I called he said he didn't want to meet. Last week, I saw him at the bus stop again, and he didn't sit by me on the bus---till about halfway through when he rushed up, sat down, and said, "You believe in a different Jesus." The Chinese Church out here is very anti-Mormon, so we get a lot of that from the Chinese people. It made him interested, though! And while we were teaching, an older Chinese man was paying attention the whole time. he waved me down and said, "What church are you from?" I told him. "You said you're the only true church?" "Yes" "And you have a prophet today?" "Yes" He said his name was Jordan, "Like the prophet" :D He came to the church Sunday, too! But he's in the other sister's area.
Susanna--she's great (45 seconds!!)
Sunday
Ahh Just believe me when I say it was absolutely incredible!
This truly is God's work. Missionary work is amazing and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to serve!
Love ya!
Sister Denton
Super Funny
Super Awesome
That's right...back to color coding :D
Monday
After P-Day, we went to find a referral. He wasn't interested, but we went tracting. The next house, a man was outside, so we went to talk to him and he gave us a giant box of tomatoes. We had 2 more hours to tract, what were we supposed to do with a giant box of tomatoes? So we carried it with us to the next house and set it to the side. The people talked to us for a little while, but weren't interested, so I asked if they wanted any tomatoes. They were discussing it when I mentioned that the neighbors had just given us the box. The woman responded that the day previous, she had given THEM a box of tomatoes. Super awkward. Anywho, we went to give some to a couple we'd met a couple of roads down who was super nice and invited us in and gave us water last time. They took some. Then we took some up the street to another woman we'd met who is older and super sweet. Turns out she LOVES tomatoes and thanked us. :D
Tracting the rest of that street was relatively uneventful. Actually...no it wasn't lol...at least not compared to regular tracting terms. We met a woman who ended up yelling at us. We got a return appointment with an older woman. We met a cool guy named George from Germany. We're teaching him tonight. Lol...we met this guy named Dan who I'd actually met before. I knew he looked familiar, but couldn't place him. Last time I met him, my companion and I had been walking through the library and he passed and just said, "Hi Sisters!" Well, no one but members of the Church call us sisters, and we didn't recognize him from the branch, but he was gone. We continued out the door and I wished I'd said something more. Next thing we knew, he came up behind us and just started walking with us on campus! Turns out his bro is LDS, though he's not interested at all. He just walked across the campus with us like we were all lifelong friends and as soon as we parted ways that was that, he was gone! It was like a whirlwind or something, but he was just a happy person. Okay, so back to Monday night. I walked up to hand him a card and was like, "Wait, do we know you?" "No" "Have you talked to sisters before?" "Not recently" "Oh--okay, well we're missionaries....(intro)" "Will you do me a favor?" "Um...okay." "Will you sing a song with me right here right now?" (Mind you we're standing in the middle of the road, but I am me and I do love to sing...) "Sure!" "I was in a Mormon church once and I know you sing this song....'Because I Have Been Given Much'" So we sang it. Right there in the middle of the road! He actually knew the song better than we did lol. And once it was over, he was gone again! I want to be like him though, he just changed our entire night! We were so happy afterward!
The moral of that story is...go make someone happy! :D
TuesdaySo we got to teach Zack again! If you'll remember from last week, he almost dropped us. We taught the Word of Wisdom with James and it was awesome! Before we even got into it, though, he asked some typically amazing Zack questions:
- If we have to experience life to know what happiness is, did God experience earth life so He can know how happiness feels?
- Where did God come from?
- If our body is a temple, why does God give it cancer?
Next we had a forum, but they were painting our assigned area, so we went tracting instead. We had a member dinner with a cute new family and then went to a less active lesson. They canceled, though, so we went tracting again.
This is where we had our first awesome tracting experience! We've been struggling in this companionship to get other lessons while finding. Well, we did it! We got 6--a personal high! It's especially hard in neighborhoods, which is where we were! We met a COOL guy named Chase. He was listening and was just saying how he has a church, etc. So I was like, "Well, this is Jesus Christ's church--the only one on the earth today...." and talked along those veins. He asked what our purpose was and Sister Mortensen was like, "Really? It's to help you and your family to progress toward baptism." It was just like bam, bam, you know!? It was great! He said he wasn't interested in baptism, but knowing that was our end goal, he still said he'd be willing to meet again! I love the Spirit! We also met a cute young family that I hope decides to learn someday!
Wednesday
This was another day full of tracting, etc, though not quite as effective as Tuesday. We rode the bus up to Bellefonte and followed up with a referral and then walked to dinner after tracting some. Another family picked us up and brought us back to the chapel where we practiced our song for the baptism and then went out tracting again. We did get a cool referral tracting, but he lives in Pasadena, CA. :D
Thursday
We started the day off with a forum! And the zone leaders came, so it was really fun! It was neat to see everyone's different style of contacting. I met a SWEET girl from China named Susanna. One of the first things she asked was if she could join our group--um yes!! After that we all went out to lunch and then had District Meeting--no pressure to be in charge and have the Zone Leaders there lol. It was good, though, and then they interviewed Jane (who is INCREDIBLE) for baptism. We went and taught Richie the Word of Wisdom with Alan. He just started to quit smoking like that day, which was awesome and he agreed to avoid alcohol, but wasn't so sure about coffee or tea yet. As were were finding some afterward, we had two lessons OYMing, which almost never happens for us...and both agreed to meet with us! Next we went to dinner with this awesome family. I won't tell you there names, though, so I can tell you this hilarious story. They have 3 little kids and as we were finishing up dinner, we looked over and the little boy was standing on the coffee table with a puddle under him. His parents were like, "Aw! Did you just wet your pants?" As we're watching all this go down, he started splashing his feet in it and his sister came over and started playing in it. Haha. It was disgusting but HILARIOUS! That night we went to our appointment, but they weren't there, so we took our team-up to the Day's house (we met them last week). The boyfriend, Jordan, was there and we ended up talking to him for like 15 minutes! It was a great conversation and I REALLY hope we'll be able to teach this family! He'd looked through Jessica's Book of Mormon and took his own and said he'd read it :D Awesome! I really hope we're able to teach this family!
FridayThe morning was filled with more errand type stuff, but the evening was AWESOME! I just searched it, and I guess I've only talked about him in one letter! He was a HQ referral back in June. He read the whole Book of Mormon in like a week and basically just had the church on his short list as he was searching for the truth. Well he found it :D The other sisters have been teaching him and he was baptized Friday night! It was SO cool and he bore an awesome testimony at the end. The other sisters and I sang "I Am Not Ashamed" a song my cousin wrote. Zack and Richie both came!
Saturday
Again...phemonal day!! (AHHH 4 minutes left!)
We had three lessons with potentials that all turned into other new investigators!!
Sutton--we met him a while back and finally met with him. He is very into his church, but after our lesson, he is really going to seek it out! Woot! We're meeting with him again next week
Levi--He has very low English, but is willing to learn! I'd met him awhile ago, but when I called he said he didn't want to meet. Last week, I saw him at the bus stop again, and he didn't sit by me on the bus---till about halfway through when he rushed up, sat down, and said, "You believe in a different Jesus." The Chinese Church out here is very anti-Mormon, so we get a lot of that from the Chinese people. It made him interested, though! And while we were teaching, an older Chinese man was paying attention the whole time. he waved me down and said, "What church are you from?" I told him. "You said you're the only true church?" "Yes" "And you have a prophet today?" "Yes" He said his name was Jordan, "Like the prophet" :D He came to the church Sunday, too! But he's in the other sister's area.
Susanna--she's great (45 seconds!!)
Sunday
Ahh Just believe me when I say it was absolutely incredible!
This truly is God's work. Missionary work is amazing and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to serve!
Love ya!
Sister Denton
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