Wasn't that broadcast great? I can't wait until they get facebook set up for our mission! I KNOW how to find people online! haha! I've been doing missionary work on the internet since the runescape days........... I think it's splendid! Plus I'm super lazy (we all know that) and would much rather do missionary work in an air conditioned room than on a bike.... but as luck would have it, I'm still in a car for at least 6 more weeks... watch them switch me over right at the front of August.... the hottest month of the year. Oh heavens...
Pageant sounds crazy. Mary used to be blond several years ago. I thought it was weird that they changed her to brown. Have they got her new clothes yet? Her old costumes are pretty nasty...
Allyson writes me about every other week, so I'm well aware that she is doing well. :) Thanks for the update though! I'm not happy with A'leese. She said that she would write me "every week" and send me stuff and whatnot. I haven't heard ONE WORD from her. I expected Diana to be getting married last August, so it's about time! Is it still the same boy that she kept holding hands with last year?
I knew the parable of the Mule (It's pretty common...) But it is a great one, isn't it?
Districts are larger than areas.
Here's the breakdown:
Area: The smallest unit of boundaires. Each area has one companionship (per language, if avaliable, example our area has us and the Spanish Elders.)
District: A group of 3-5 areas (Usually divided by language, so our District is all English, and there is an all spanish district that covers similar boundaries to ours.) Our District has the Rowlett 1 Area (Our area) The Rowlett 2, Heath, Forney, and Rockwall Areas.
Zone: A group of 3-9 Districts
Multi-Zone: A group of Zones (duh)
Mission: Duh.
We work as closely with the Hermanas and the Spanish Elders as we do with the other Missionaries in our district. We often meet people at walmart, or whatever that do not live in our boundaries, or we meet people that speak spanish... We always just forward ayone who is interested to the person who is able to teach them best. We also do service with the Hermanas and Elders sometimes too. Those are great questions though! It's something I don't really think of very often, cuz it's kind of the Norm here, but I guess that real life people like ya'll probably wouldn't understand. ;)
The 12 week program is the training program that new missionaries need to do for the first 12 weeks of their mission. It's an extra hour of companionship study, and you need to do a bunch of things every week. It's like what I needed to do online before I went to the MTC, only out of a book instead of online.
Oh yeah! That reminds me of something else, Transfer calls came this week. I am staying in Rowlett..... (FOREVER) but Sister Otto will be leaving. I have been branded as a one-transfer companion. :( My new companion is Sister Christopherson. She's cool. She likes Dr. Who, and she used to work at Joanns.
I think that's it...
Love ya'll! BYEE~~
~Sister Sanders
Dear President,
I don't even know what to say anymore. This week was as crazy as three wombats in a bucket. We recieved around 15 referalls over the course of two days, and we have been working like crazy to contact them all, but each time we contact one, we get two more. I guess the Lord decided it was finally time to give us the miracles we've been working for all transfer. On top of the referalls we saw many more miracles.
We followed up with the guy that we went "cookie tracting" into. At the time we met him, we didn't say anything about the church, we just gave him the cookies and "blessed" him to have a nice day. This last week, we were returning to have dinner with his neighbors who are members in our ward, and they told us that after we had given him the cookies he came over and told them that he was dying of cancer, and that he had been depressed, but our stopping by "made his day." He was so happy to know that people cared about him, even if they didn't really know them. He said he knew from our name tags that we belong to the same church as this neighboring family, and he wanted them to tell him what they believed. We were extatic to hear this information, so we went over and talked to him again after dinner. He said he was really busy then, but we were welcome to swing by anytime we are in the neighborhood.
Next miracle? Her name is Megan. She was a media referal, but we were not super extatic to receive it, because it said "Call first, DO NOT COME OVER." But, we knew it couldn't hurt anything to call, so we did. We called and asked when we could come over, and she said that we couldn't, but she said she wanted to visit our church on Sunday, we gave her the time and the place and that was it. We doubted whether or not she would actually come, but believe it or not, half an hour before church, she called us and said "I'm wearing a salmon dress and a pink cardigan, where are you?" We sat with her in the lobby and asked a few quick, get to know you questions, and she went through all of church with us. She introduced HERSELF to members, and asked when she could start taking the lessons. She's... basically the dream referall. She is so perfect and prepared! We plan on teaching her the message of the restoration this week, and inviting her to be baptised.
Another splendid end-of-transfer miracle, Brother Norton Diazed finally joined our church through baptism! One year from now he will be able to be sealed to his wife, who has been praying for this miracle since the day they met. But even more insanely wonderful than that-- before the baptism, we met with his wife, Sister Diaz, and we asked her to call or visit and personally invite another Part Member family in the ward; the Maxon family. Brother and Sister Maxon have been married for about 2 years, and you would never know that Brother Maxon wasn't a member. He comes to church EVERY Sunday, apparently, it was one of the conditions they established before she would agree to marry him. But, he's devoted Catholic. We have met with him numerous times, pleading him to take the lessons, but he's always replied with "I have my religion, and you have yours. I only come to support my wife, I do not believe the things you teach." Despite "not believing" they showed up at the baptism. He was one of two non-members there (The other being a relative of Norton's, who dashed before we could pounce on her after the baptism.) Sister Otto expressed mild disappoinment afterwards when we texted Sister Durrant with our number. I responed with; "It's not that bad. At my last baptism, we only had one non-member... BUT, he got baptized today. Expect miracles. 7 weeks from now, Brother Maxon could get baptized!" She then laughed, knowing Brother Maxon's attitude towards the church. Unbeknownst to us, at that same time, Brother Maxon was confessing to his wife that he felt something (the spirit!) and he wanted to take the missionary discussions!!! The told us this yesterday at church, and I about died of shock!
There are many many more minor miracles that we have seen this week, but alas, the clock is fighting against me. For now, I just want to thank you for all that you have done in inviting us to be more obedient. I know that obedience is a test of faith, and as you excersize your faith, you will see miracles. They may take time, but you will see them.
I'm going to miss Sister Otto, expecially after this fantastic week we've had together.... but I know even greater things await with Sister Christopherson!
~Sister Sanders
