Dear Family,
This week has been much better than the last 3 weeks. I have finally understood what I am supposed to be doing here. I am here to help my companion. She is going home in less than 2 months, and has started to freak out a little. I am learning a lot from her. Things that I normally wouldn't learn. It has been an experience, and much trials and suffering on my part. I have learned a lot though, we are supposed to learn from our trials. We gain much experience from them. It takes time, but it is always worth it.
This week has been, well. Very, very slow. The work is going much much slower than I would have thought could happen. It is okay though. The work will progress. It may progress when I am here, or it may not. Who knows? Well, the Lord does. I don't think that anyone else does though. It will all work out in time. Not our time, but the Lords.
This week has been full of many different things. This past Monday was the mission wide conference, and that was amazing! I loved hearing the words of God from the mouths of my leaders. It is amazing to be in one of those meetings! To feel the Spirit from all the missionaries, and the wonderful words. I wish that we could have meetings like that every month! It is great!
Well, that was Monday, and because of it, my P-day was split into two. We had P-day on Monday from 2-6, and then on Tuesday from 10-1. We went to Walmart. I have come to love Walmart. So very much! Everything is so much cheaper there than the grocery stores in Yucaipa. We have to go to Banning to go shopping, which means getting permission, but it works! :)
Lessons this week was really hard. Not a lot of people have welcomed us into their homes, and we have a hard time making appointments. It is fine though. We are learning, are finding the small things that will help us all. It is like starting over. I keep reminding myself that this is what is was like when Sister Young and I opened Highland. It is like a whole new area. Just a little baby. We are treating it like that too.
We have spent a few hours just making lists to organize the area. It is really different here too. There are sisters and elders in this ward. Neither of is are having the success that we should be having in the area. We (the elders and sisters) have decided that we are going to change the focus of everything. The ward has been focusing on the adult members, which is wonderful, but we aren't seeing the success. So, we have decided to change it. The Bishop here has mentioned that the success will be with the youth. So that is where we are going. The elders and sisters have planned a youth activity that they can bring their non member friends too. It is going to be great! We are doing an Olympics type of thing. We have lots of different games and activities that we are going to do, and we are going to make it a competition for them. It is going to be awesome! It is also all planned by the missionaries. So, lots of things that teenagers will like, because we are still teenagers. We cant wait! We are going to have it on January 18!! It is going to be fantastic.
This ward is also amazing. There are so many people that have shown their love for us. My shoulder has been hurting a lot this past week. It is from an old injury, but been really killing me. I ended up talking to our home share to see if they could do anything to help me, and they ended up calling one of the other ward members. Turns out we have a doctor in our ward. He came over to look at my shoulder, and it turn out that I tore my rotary cuff. For those who don't know, that means lots of pain when you move your arm in the direction of pouring out a can of soda directly in front of you. He ended up telling me to take it easy (very hard to so as a missionary) and then to take Ibuprofen for a couple of days with each meal. I did that, and then also put peppermint oil on my shoulder each night. The pain is now mostly gone! Still hurts, but now I can start strengthening the muscles in my shoulder. He told be how to do that, so I should be good! It is amazing the love that a ward can have for you!
The day after I found out what was wrong with my shoulder, we went to a members house for dinner. They made cottage cheese pancakes. I just wanna say, they are to die for! I loved them so much! You can't even taste the cottage cheese. It was amazing!! We ate dinner, and then shared a video for our thought. The elders ended up coming over to the members home. We were all just kinda chatting. I went to the kitchen to get some water, and the wife was in the kitchen. She saw me wince in pain, and told me that I should get a blessing. I had totally forgotten that I could do that. I remembered that I could do that when I was in Highland, but totally spaced that I could do that here too. I ended up asking them for a blessing and it was amazing. The blessing wasn't just about the pain in my shoulder. It was amazing about everything else too. Everything that had been on my mind, things that I was working through, were mentioned in that blessing. I was told that we all go through trials and afflictions so that we can learn. I was given my trials to grow. I needed to look at them as a blessing. It was amazing. I was also told that my work would only be done when Heavenly Father wanted me to be done. It was such a shocker. Amazing to know that the blessing we receive are truly from God. I needed that blessing, and I am so glad that there are members in the ward that are looking out for me.
I have come to really love it here is Yucaipa. It is not Highland, and there are somethings that are happening there that I am sad to be missing, but I know that I am supposed to be here. I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. Things may be going slow, but it is all in the Lords timing.
I love you all so much! I feel your prayers. They have meant so much to me, and I know that we are all being blessed. A mission was not in my plans, nor did I ever really want to go, but I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I know that I am serving a mission, not because my family wanted me to, or because everyone else wanted me to, I am serving because God wanted me to, and He knew that it would bless me.
I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! You are all in my prayers!!
This week has been much better than the last 3 weeks. I have finally understood what I am supposed to be doing here. I am here to help my companion. She is going home in less than 2 months, and has started to freak out a little. I am learning a lot from her. Things that I normally wouldn't learn. It has been an experience, and much trials and suffering on my part. I have learned a lot though, we are supposed to learn from our trials. We gain much experience from them. It takes time, but it is always worth it.
This week has been, well. Very, very slow. The work is going much much slower than I would have thought could happen. It is okay though. The work will progress. It may progress when I am here, or it may not. Who knows? Well, the Lord does. I don't think that anyone else does though. It will all work out in time. Not our time, but the Lords.
This week has been full of many different things. This past Monday was the mission wide conference, and that was amazing! I loved hearing the words of God from the mouths of my leaders. It is amazing to be in one of those meetings! To feel the Spirit from all the missionaries, and the wonderful words. I wish that we could have meetings like that every month! It is great!
Well, that was Monday, and because of it, my P-day was split into two. We had P-day on Monday from 2-6, and then on Tuesday from 10-1. We went to Walmart. I have come to love Walmart. So very much! Everything is so much cheaper there than the grocery stores in Yucaipa. We have to go to Banning to go shopping, which means getting permission, but it works! :)
Lessons this week was really hard. Not a lot of people have welcomed us into their homes, and we have a hard time making appointments. It is fine though. We are learning, are finding the small things that will help us all. It is like starting over. I keep reminding myself that this is what is was like when Sister Young and I opened Highland. It is like a whole new area. Just a little baby. We are treating it like that too.
We have spent a few hours just making lists to organize the area. It is really different here too. There are sisters and elders in this ward. Neither of is are having the success that we should be having in the area. We (the elders and sisters) have decided that we are going to change the focus of everything. The ward has been focusing on the adult members, which is wonderful, but we aren't seeing the success. So, we have decided to change it. The Bishop here has mentioned that the success will be with the youth. So that is where we are going. The elders and sisters have planned a youth activity that they can bring their non member friends too. It is going to be great! We are doing an Olympics type of thing. We have lots of different games and activities that we are going to do, and we are going to make it a competition for them. It is going to be awesome! It is also all planned by the missionaries. So, lots of things that teenagers will like, because we are still teenagers. We cant wait! We are going to have it on January 18!! It is going to be fantastic.
This ward is also amazing. There are so many people that have shown their love for us. My shoulder has been hurting a lot this past week. It is from an old injury, but been really killing me. I ended up talking to our home share to see if they could do anything to help me, and they ended up calling one of the other ward members. Turns out we have a doctor in our ward. He came over to look at my shoulder, and it turn out that I tore my rotary cuff. For those who don't know, that means lots of pain when you move your arm in the direction of pouring out a can of soda directly in front of you. He ended up telling me to take it easy (very hard to so as a missionary) and then to take Ibuprofen for a couple of days with each meal. I did that, and then also put peppermint oil on my shoulder each night. The pain is now mostly gone! Still hurts, but now I can start strengthening the muscles in my shoulder. He told be how to do that, so I should be good! It is amazing the love that a ward can have for you!
The day after I found out what was wrong with my shoulder, we went to a members house for dinner. They made cottage cheese pancakes. I just wanna say, they are to die for! I loved them so much! You can't even taste the cottage cheese. It was amazing!! We ate dinner, and then shared a video for our thought. The elders ended up coming over to the members home. We were all just kinda chatting. I went to the kitchen to get some water, and the wife was in the kitchen. She saw me wince in pain, and told me that I should get a blessing. I had totally forgotten that I could do that. I remembered that I could do that when I was in Highland, but totally spaced that I could do that here too. I ended up asking them for a blessing and it was amazing. The blessing wasn't just about the pain in my shoulder. It was amazing about everything else too. Everything that had been on my mind, things that I was working through, were mentioned in that blessing. I was told that we all go through trials and afflictions so that we can learn. I was given my trials to grow. I needed to look at them as a blessing. It was amazing. I was also told that my work would only be done when Heavenly Father wanted me to be done. It was such a shocker. Amazing to know that the blessing we receive are truly from God. I needed that blessing, and I am so glad that there are members in the ward that are looking out for me.
I have come to really love it here is Yucaipa. It is not Highland, and there are somethings that are happening there that I am sad to be missing, but I know that I am supposed to be here. I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. Things may be going slow, but it is all in the Lords timing.
I love you all so much! I feel your prayers. They have meant so much to me, and I know that we are all being blessed. A mission was not in my plans, nor did I ever really want to go, but I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I know that I am serving a mission, not because my family wanted me to, or because everyone else wanted me to, I am serving because God wanted me to, and He knew that it would bless me.
I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! You are all in my prayers!!
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