Kindra as a Sister Missionary!

February 10, 2014 But that is very pretty. I like snow in Oregon. It snows for a few days, everything shuts down so you can read a book, enjoy it, and not worry about work etc. And then it goes away and back to normal! Not PA! Its quite annoying. In fact I got the car stuck this past week... I mean thats kinda normal now because the snow gets piled up on the road. We keep a snow shovel in our trunk, and a member gave us a second one, which is nice. Its handy to be in a trio in the winter time, one driver (myself) and two minions to shovel out the car. Okay not minions, companions, but its nice to have two people who can push while one drives. But we were trying to contact a media referral we received this week, I was driving down the street and we already had gone around the block to try and find a parking place, and we were back to the house, I saw a spot and asked both S. Wiehl and Singleton what they thought about it, it looked iffy and I was a little worried. But they said go for it, we will only be here for a few minutes. So I did. And that was the end. I pulled in and then stopped and went to back in farther, and it wouldn’t move. The wheels were just spinning, even after I got off the brake. So we went and knocked on her door, since there was nothing we could do then, and she wasn’t home. POOPY! So we went back to the car. We tried digging it out, drive, reverse, nothing. So we had to call some members who had a bunch of boys. The 3 of them showed up and proceeded to spend the next 30-40 minutes digging us out with a metal shovel because of the ice. Turns out I high-centered the car. Yes the middle of the engine block was sitting on a big slab of ice. And they had to dig it out by laying on their sides and chipping at the ice with their metal shovels. I felt horrible. And once we got out of the car we realized that not only were we parking on the wrong side of the road (since it was only going to be for a minute or two) but it was also handicap parking. LOVELY. Story of my life. So that was a great wasted hour or so of our time, since it was 8 or so at night on the South side where the ward prefers us not to work, especially at night after dark. It was lovely. If I remember to get the pictures from Sister Singleton I will forward them to you. We also had a snow day this week where we were inside in the morning. Which is annoying as a missionary, but it worked out. We ended up walking to a few people and then planning our Missionary March Madness activity with the Youth. We are going to kick it off with an activity in a few weeks preparing them to be able to answer questions and helping them to realize that they do know enough. Then for the month of March there is a competition between the YW, YM and all the leaders (3 teams). There are things they can do to earn points and then at the beginning of April there will be another activity where the winners will get some sort of reward like ice cream sundaes served to them by the losing teams. But the whole idea is to get the youth more involved in missionary work. We are really excited about it, and I hope that one of us gets to stay and see the activity pan out! But transfers are March 3 or 4th I believe, so chances are I will be leaving just as its starting. But we shall see what happens! Anything is possible at this point... Also Katherine is scheduled to be baptized next Sunday! Its also ward conference which we were worried about since they are having meetings after the block, but Bishop is awesome and said, well Baptism is the priority so some of the leadership will be there to preside and attend etc. So we shall see how everything happens. Also exciting news is we are getting our iPads tomorrow. I am excited because of all the resources that will be opened up for us! The ability to show mormon messages in lessons, and show pictures and study materials! All of our records will be kept electronically and many many more things which we will be taught about tomorrow. It will be awesome! Mostly I am really excited to be able to show videos in lessons, they invite the spirit so strongly and so quickly, it is amazing what they can do! So thats also exciting. Hum, what else? Not a whole lot that I can think of. However Ashley did get set apart for her calling on Sunday! She is a primary teacher, and it was neat to be able to witness her being set apart! She has been a member now for less than 5 months! Its truly amazing to see the growth in her. She is already fellow shipping new members who are her age, and its amazing to watch. She also brought a friend to church with her and her 4 kids, (who were adorable! We drew pictures together for most of sacrament meeting to keep them occupied. I didnt realize that I needed to carry with me things to keep children occupied! I need to expand my resources, maybe Ill get a coloring book or something to take to church for Kylie and other kids). But it was a very neat experience to be able to be there when she was set apart to receive her first calling since I was also able to teach her when she was baptized. The gospel is true! What more can I say?! We are also now meeting with Brittany, who is a young single adult aged woman. She was been drawn to the Mormon faith many times and feels like it is right for her. She is reading the Book of Mormon and we have also been able to teach her in members homes which is very nice! She will be encouraged to go to the YSA branch however, so we wont see her at church, but she is in our area so we will still teach her. Missionary life = COMPLICATED! But its all good, there is no where else I would rather be right now! It might have taken a long time to truly adapt to the life, but its only do-able knowing that it is not forever. Knowing that I only have 9 more months to truly devote my time and service to the Lord and looking at how fast it is going is truly helping me to focus and put more effort into it. Bethlehem is booming! We have about 12 investigators who we are working with. Not all of them are progressing and they all have different levels of seriousness, but it is truly a great blessing to be here and working with all of these people at this time. We have a new investigator, her name is Kelly, and she has a cool story. So she was drawn to the Mormon faith and referred herself through mormon.org for about 2 months straight hoping someone would come. No one was coming because the system has been down for maintenance, but she has been trying to meet with the missionaries for 2 months now! Some how the office found out about her and called the Whitehall sisters and told them to get to her house tonight and give her a Book of Mormon today! I dont care if it is 10 feet or 10 miles over your line, get it to her tonight! So they did. And then they gave us her information because she was in our area. So Kelly now has a Book of Mormon and all of the pamphlets we use to teach. She is working though the Book of Mormon and has finished all of the pamphlets already. We taught her the plan of Salvation yesterday and she said it brought her a lot of comfort knowing what did happen after we died, because her biggest fear is that nothing happens. You die and thats it. She has a son and is planning on moving at the end of Feb to get away from a lot of bad family relationships, but we will get that information and send the mission president, missionaries, and bishop all of her information so that she wont be lost! She is truly ready to change and has been doing a lot of research on the faith, She has started reading the Book of Mormon online before she had a hard copy but then her internet went out, she was planning on coming to church this week, she even went out and bought a new outfit so she would have something to wear that she felt comfortable in, and then her son was throwing up all night. And we have had a few appointments set up that we have had to cancel because of weather. Then we set up a phone appointment to teach her over the phone because of the snow, and she feel asleep putting her son down and she couldnt hear the phone when we called. I tell you what, stupid Satan is working hard to keep her from gaining the knowledge of the gospel and then being able to be baptized by the proper Priesthood authority, and I tell you this much: he will not win this battle. There are too many people working for her and against you stupid satan! He kind of been super annoying lately. So I am calling him stupid! Anyhow, the week is going good! Sounds like everyone back home has been able to enjoy a little break and some sleep and staying inside, which is good! Im glad that you guys got some snow too, I was beginning to think we were getting all of it :) and thats just not fair for anyone! haha. Thanks for your email! I love you! Glad all is well :) Talk to you soon! Loves! Sister Wilson PS>>> Thanks for the emails and the pictures :) I love seeing home and its beautiful white blanket :) Glad you got to enjoy the snow for me! I look forward to having snow that leaves quickly when I return home! Love you! Talk to you next week. Enjoy Hawaii! Cant wait to see pictures!!!! Im glad that you get to go and that all of the travel stuff got sorted out. Glad that Garrets CO helped him out and is willing to help him out since it was out of his control. It pays off to be good at what you do and trusted by your supervisors! And you know I am realizing more and more how blessed we truly are to have the family relationships that we do. I love the fact that we are always looking forward to time together and for the love and happiness we have. I cannot wait until we are all together again, not sure when that will be with all of this military life now ensuing, but I am grateful to have such a family that loves, cares for and supports each other. And the fact that we have righteous desires to serve God and our country. We are a truly blessed family, and I wouldnt change anyone for the world! How did we get so lucky mom? Im truly amazed every time I think about it.