Kindra as a Sister Missionary!

JANUARY 6, 2014 So Sister Hyatt got emergency transferred out this week. President called on Monday and we celebrated the new year by saying goodbye and becoming a duo. It was really weird too, usually they tell you right where you are going and you go to your new area if you are ET'd, but she was picked up by the sister training leaders and taken to the mission home for new years eve. I guess two sisters went home for medical purposes and so they split up some trios :( Not nice, but if that is Gods will than it is His will. Also, I did get boots. We went to Target last week and I got a pair that have actually been really nice. Not lined super well, but I think they will last a long time and I wear multiple socks so my feet are toasty :) So no more worrying about my toes! It is cold out here though. Yesterday church was sent home early, during Relief Society one of the YM came in to tell us that they are calling off church because of the freezing rain turning the parking lot into a big ice sheet. But the roads were fine. They were slushy but not bad at all. Our parking lot at the apartments was also a sheet of ice! So we ate and ended up staying in for a little bit, but we felt that we needed to go to an appointment that we had scheduled with a new investigator so we went, and I am glad we did! Because the roads were fine. We got a nice big long rain storm last night that melted the ice and the snow. Its 38 degrees today and feels warm! Haha, man do I hate winter... It sounds like you had a great seminary lesson. Im glad that you still did your Christmas lessons after the holiday, and it sounds like it was perfect timing to help add to your lesson. And I bet they loved the chocolate letter! I know Sister Wiehl enjoyed hers a lot! We had a ton of sweets from Christmas so we were eating any for a while, in fact we were giving them away, so S. Hyatt didnt get any of the letter, but I think S. Wiehl was not upset about that haha all to herself! Well I have a ton of letters to respond to from everyone, so thank you for thinking of me everyone, and know that I will write back to you... some day soonish! But Mondays just get eaten up and I wonder where the time goes. Im sending out some pretty post cards from the Moravian bookstore, so hopefully thats okay with everyone! Im also glad that you are keeping up the lights. I think they are pretty longer as well! As long as they are not red and green... Lets see what else happened this week? Oh on Saturday we got to attend a baptism for 3 of the 8 year olds in the ward. They asked us to speak on baptism so we gave a joint talk on how baptism is the gate to the straight and narrow path leading back to living with God and our families again. Then we talked about the covenants of taking upon us His name, always remembering Him, and serving Him to the end. Then we talked about the blessings we are given, how baptism is not complete without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (how funny that our baptism isnt complete until God gives us the best gift we will ever receive! I like that) and how we can repent and continue to change and to come closer, and how its the start of a new life because now we have a constant companion (the Spirit) to guide us on our path back to Heavenly Father. It turned out really well! Then we tried to take some pictures of us with the three kids who were baptized, and they were all blurry :( So thats sad. But life goes on! So lots of miracles are happening this week. We havent been able to meet with Cindy and Gentry because of how busy they were for the holidays, but we set up an appointment with them to meet again! HUZZAH! I love them a whole lot :) Then there is a family who the elders were working with before S. Carrigan and I doubled in, the Tobias family. And when we got here we were not able to get in to see them. We tried to set up appointments but nothing ever held. So they were in the back of our minds because we knew that we needed to meet with them. Well I havent ever met any of them. But yesterday one of their sons came to church with a friend in our ward. And guess what? He got up and bore his testimony about how he knew the church was true, how he had been searching for the truth and he has known since the first time he attended a service that this was the true church. So we were introduced to him after sacrament meeting and he told us who he was and I was blown away! We talked about teaching him and how we would need parental permission since he is only 17, he said that his family has meet with missionaries in the past and that sisters they had met with previously were very pushy, so he didnt think that they would meet with us, but he wanted to. So I was confused, I thought he was talking about me and S. Carrigan being pushy, but we had only talked to them maybe 3 times! I was feeling bad that I hadnt done enough for them. Once we checked the teaching record we realized they had met with different sisters. Which made me feel better! And I learned that I appreciate filled records. So fill out your forms people! It helps others after you know what is going on! And relieves me of guilt which I like :) Anyhow, our ward mission leaders family knows them and said that they wanted to be involved in the process of teaching because the son talked to his parents and the whole family wants to meet with us HUZZAH!!!! How cool is that? So we might have a family to teach! Which would be so awesome! Ive never taught an investigator family before! So I hope that it works out how it seems that it will! What else happened? Well the Ortega family is pretty much re-activated! And Ray is even coming with them! Hes been at church 3 times now :) He left early the last time, but we are working on him slowly and carefully. They werent at church this week because the girls were out of town and I guess Ray was in the ER or something. We will find out tonight when we see them. Weve got a pretty good setup for P-days. We teach the Ortega, then we go to the Relitz family for dinner, this week we have an appointment with Pamela who is an investigator. But the Ortegas and Relitz happen every monday, which is nice. It makes planning on Sunday night go quickly, and then we enjoy our p-day eve :) We also got a new investigator this week. Her name is Katherine, she is the mother of a member in our ward. We met with her and taught her the Restoration, I guess she had meet with missionaries in the past so she had a large print Book of Mormon from them, which is good because she cant see very well. But we gave her an assignment to read 2 Nephi 31, which talks about the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism. We called her a few days later to see how she was doing, she told us that she tried to call us a few times because she read the section 3 times and still didnt understand it. Also she read the introduction because she wants to read it from beginning to end. AWESOME! I freaked out, Ive never had an investigator respond so well to an assignment, let alone do it multiple times! Well she was the appointment we went to last night after all the rain. She also had a friend of hers that lived close to her that was interested but only spoke spanish. So the spanish elders were invited and we reviewed the Restoration with Katherine and taught the restoration to Iris her friend, well the elders taught her because I dont speak spanish. The lesson was a little hectic because it was in two languages and at two levels, but after we walked out we talked to the elders and she was agreeing with everything they said. She is interested in learning more, but she lives in a place where they wouldnt be able to visit. So they are going to work on finding a place that they can meet and teach. Also during the lesson Katherine's son was there and he was kind of interrogating her and making her really answer our questions when she would give us answers like 'everything' or 'Christ gave me a new life' so that was good. We learned that she said she knows its true. She is preparing to be baptized and she wants to come back to church every week. HUZZAH FOR ISRAEL! Basically, it went really well. And we are gathering the flock here in Bethlehem. slowly but truly. Well I love you dearly! Thank you for your letters, love, prayers and words of encouragement. I love hearing form you each week and I hope this week goes as well as last week! Especially adjusting back to work and school after the Holidays. One lucky thing about being a missionary? The work never stops so no adjusting back and forth, its kinda nice. Anywho, love you all! Mostly you mommie :) Talk to you next week! Love, Sister Wilson :)