Finding Families

I'm loving my new area!!!! Here are some reasons why:

1. We switched apartments with the hermanas and so we are actually in our area now. Blessings already.

2. Just this week we have added 5 FAMILIES to our teaching pool! I loved teaching the YSA age group, but nothing beats teaching a family.

3. Being with a missionary that has been out for a long time is heaven. I love it!

4. Sister Pitcher is just incredible. I want to be like her when I grow up.

5. I love the ward members here! And we have dinner almost every night!!

6. The Meredith's in this ward are related to the Meredith's in Malta!

7. The people here are talented, crazy, and insane. I love them all.

That's how much I love my new area. I mean, just look at all the exclamation points.

We spoke in sacrament meeting and I recycled one of my talks. I've never done that before, but I think I'm going to do it when I can get away with it. It is a brilliant idea and they do it in the Book of Mormon.

Transfer meeting this week was incredible. We had an inspirational speaker named Dan Cook speak to us. He was a former NFL player, but his career ended when he was paralyzed on one side. He has since recovered, but has some miraculous stories. I think everyone there was smacked by the Spirit that day. Sadly, they had the mission choir perform and so I wasn't able to take any notes, but something I remembered: "There are 12 notes in music. Everyone has access to those same 12 notes. So what is the difference between a good songwriter and a lousy one? Organization and order of the notes. We need to have 3 things: passion, imagination, and creativity." I gave that no justice, but there you have it.

Like I mentioned before, I love teaching all of these families. This was something we wanted to emphasize this transfer and the Lord is already blessing us with so many! We have a part member family that is already planning on their sealing. There is another part member family that is simply trying to create a better life for their kids. An investigator is just praying and praying that her boyfriend's heart will soften so that they can be married and baptized. And then there is the seven-year-old boy who begged to have us come over to his house so that his mom could hear our message as well. Every family is so different, but we have a promised blessing that if we live the gospel, we will be blessed. Especially as we do it as a family. "Families are a pattern of heaven."

Not much else to say. We are busy and tired, but I just love this thing we call a mission.

I loved studying Chapter 2. I hope you caught on to the importance of studying. I certainly did when I pondered those questions of, "How did Joseph Smith's study impact millions of life?" I have seen how studying for others can lead to miracles. The hours before 10 am for a missionary are so crucial!

One of my favorite ways to study is to have a question or topic to start me out and then let the scriptures and other resources take it from there. The English major in me comes out sometimes and I study certain characters in the scriptures or dig deep into the stories. I simply love studying the scriptures and know that "drinking from the deeply and frequently" opens the door to more blessings.

Chapter 3 will change your life. I have watched it shaped my own as I study and teach this principles over and over again. Not to mention that Lesson 1 is our unique message to the world!! Think of how the Restoration has blessed your life?? And then WILL YOU share with me your thoughts to that question? Doing so will help me even more specific blessings to those I teach.

Mucho amor! (I don't think that is the correct way to say it, but that's why I am not a Hermana.)

Love Sister Neener (: