Howdy!
How is life in your neck of the woods? Is it getting any warmer there? It appears that I spoke to soon about the good weather.. haha.. It was cold this week. But that's ok.. I know that it will eventually be summer and I will be complaining about the intense heat. Haha.
This past week has been... challenging. Monday was such a blast down in Chattanooga! I love hanging out with everyone! I will have to send you some picutres soon! :]
Tuesday was crazy!! We went to our car to start the day and it wouldn't start. It sounded like it wanted to turn over, but it just wouldn't. So we had Brother Montgomery come look at it and he didn't have any luck either. He said that he thought that the fuel pump had gone out on it and that we should call someone to come tow it to the Toyota Dealership in Cleaveland. (We drive a 2010 Toyota Carolla.. How could the fuel pump have already gone out?!) So we called the mission office and told them, and they said to call someone to tow it.. so we did. The tow truck guy got there and put it into neutral to move it so he could get it on his truck and one of the tires got stuck in a little dip so he decided to see if he could maybe start it.. well the stupid thing started right up!! So we called the Mission office again and Elder Mann, the maintenance guy, told us to take it into Cleaveland anyway to make sure that there wasn't something wrong. So by this time it was already like 2:00 in the afternoon and we had to drive 30 minutes.. We got to the Toyota dealership and they hooked their computer up to it and it said that it didn't show any history of anything being wrong with it.... apparently all of the new cars have computer systems on them and if the computer doesn't show any problem, then they can't do anything... so we pretty much wasted our whole day for nothing.. it was lame.. and we wasted like 60 miles.. But that's ok.. Sister Yarrington and I had a good laugh about it later.
Wednesday we went tracting for 2 hours in the morning and the we went to the library to look at Mormon.org. I love that website!! Have ya'll looked at it yet? President Griffin also asked us to go to LDS.org and look up Elder Bednar's on The Role of an Apostle.. you should totally go watch it! It was really good! Here are some of my favorite things that he said:
* An Apostle is a missionary.
*You don't have to personally experience the trials of sin to be able to bear witness of the Atonement and it's cleansing and strengthening power.
*Thier role is to find individuals and families. To help strengthen them and encourage and uplift them.
* The longer you serve, the more you realize how great your responsibility is. (I have realized as a missionary that that statement is SO TRUE!!)
* "Knowing that I will be strengthened by his hand, knowing that as ordinary as I am, I can press forward knowing that I will have the help I need"
*"As we are increasingly converted, we become more consistant and true to what we know. So it's one thing to know it's true, it's another thing to consistantly be true to what you know."
* As members, we need to have more than a testimony. We need to never be ashamed to give a reason for the hope that is in us!
I love going on the website and feeling uplifted and enlightened. It's like a spiritual boost! I needed that on wednesday especially after a hard tracting session. We tracted into a woman who was a 7th day adventist and she just wanted to bash.. it was hard to see her not willing to even consider that the Book of Mormon could be scripture! She gave us a pamphlet on Ellen White.. Their "prophet"... It was.. um.. interesting to say the least. haha
Thursday was pretty uneventful. We went to an appointment and they weren't there.. so we went with a member to visit a less active woman. She is elderly and doesn't get out much. It was really cool to listen to her talk about all of the family history that she has done and I have realized that I want to read some of the stuff that has been done for our family. After, we went to another appointment and they were home... they just wouldn't answer the door. So you can probably guess how we were feeling at this point.. it's been like that a lot here in Dayton.. we tract into people and schedule return appointments and they either don't come to the door or they are not home... I wish that people would just tell us up front that they aren't interested.. It would make it a whole lot easier on us.. That way we don't spend all morning planning a lesson for them and not even be able to teach them.. But that's ok.. I have learned a lot about just preparing anyway.
Friday was District meeting here in Dayton. We went a little early so that I could practice the piano.. I have to play for district meeting and for relief society.. I get so nervous that I mess up and lose my place all the time... but I can tell that I have already learned a lot more than I knew before my mission. It is a good opportunity to strengthen a talent. After district meeting we went to lunch with everyone. We went to Ayala's. It's a really good mexican restaurant! And the waitor is super funny! Sister Yarrington and I had been there a few weeks earlier with our Zone Leaders and he remembered me and said that I have the most rediculously hard name ever.. haha I laughed so hard. But it is true! Noone here can say my last name! The other day Sister Yarrington even called me sister Chrunchianson! I laughed so hard! We have so much fun together! I just love her! After that we had yet another person cancle on us so we went to another elderly woman's house to visit with her a little bit. We then went to dinner in Soddy Daisy with a member. Can you believe that there is really a town called Soddy Daisy. We asked the member what brought her here and she said that she was looking at a map and decided that she HAD to live in Soddy Daisy because of how stupid the name of the town was! We were rollin on the floor laughing.
Saturday was hard for me.. I was strungling with some personal motivation issues and we had a lot of people cancle on us.. But we got to go to the Hilliards again and I just love them! Sunday was amazing! I needed it after a hard week! It's was plugging myself in and charging my battery. I got a priesthood blessing from Brother Montgomery and Brother Hilliard and it was beautiful! I am so grateful for the Lord and for his love for me.. even when I am weak. I know that He is very mindful of me and of this work and that He wants to help us in this area.. I have come to understand that I am being tested to see how dedicated I am to this work and to build my spiritual muscles so that I can help lift others. I am so grateful for the chance that I have to be here. I think that it has been more for me that for anyone else. i know that the Lord is shaping me into what He needs me to be! I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for the Atonement that makes up for all that we lack!
I love you all!! I am off to Knoxville for the day! I get to see SIster Stapleton and all of my other favorite people so I am pretty stoked!!
Have a wonderful week and Keep me in your prayers. You are in mine!
LOVE,
Sister Chris
