Well this has been a crazy two weeks (I didn't get to write much last week because of transfers)
So my last week was Sister Wilkes was so rushed! We had to say goodbye to many people and then packing and preparing to take over the area took up a lot of time as well. I was so sad to have to go, but I have found that the Lord likes to switch things up when I get a little too comfortable. Change pushes me to try harder and to be better. And the call to train a new missionary has definitely done that for me. I still don't know the area too well. But I have been able to manage alright. And sister Steele doesn't know the difference anyway haha fake it til you make it right?
we've had bad luck with technology... Sister Wilkes dropped the phone in the TOILET! Hhaha so here 2 days before my new companion arrives, she breaks the phone. How am I suppose to set up appointments or plan out the week!?!! But we put it in rice and miraculously it worked! later in the week the phone fell out of my pocket in the parking lot. An old man saw it and put in on our car door... thank goodness for the kind people in the world! Then I ran my ipod through the washer machine... The glass on the screen cracked. I put it in rice and now it kind of works. You just got to be careful that you don't get a glass sliver in your finger. And THEN we got brand new ipads for our mission!!.... And I dropped mine down the stairs the first day!!! .... haha just kidding ;) ... I am trying to be so, so careful with it!! But I'm waiting for something terrible to happen! I don't feel like I should be trusted with it!
The meeting for the I-pads was so cool. I have been a little reluctant about the whole i-pad thing. You all know me... I am just not so interested on being up to date with the newest gadget. But after this meeting I was greatly humbled at the amazing privilege and opportunity I have to be one of the very first missionaries with an I-pad. We are only the 9th mission to receive an ipad. Technology is the direction that missionary work is going. If this work is going to hasten, we have got to do missionary work in a new way. Elder Perry in the mission President's fireside side that this time is the greatest era in the church's history. It is comparable to the events of the first vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and when all worthy men could receive the Priesthood! I have heard that quote several times now and it shoot chills up and down my spine every time! We live in a time when the world is being prepared for the second coming of the Lord. I feel the Spirit so strongly every time they talk about it. The Lord's work is hastening. He is sending out his servants into the vineyard for the last time before His coming. And these new tools have been a long time coming. The Brethern have been preparing for this with the 12 week program for trainers that they put out and with the lowering of the age. Elder Perry said you would have to be blind to not see how the Lord has been working and preparing. Our mission are going to be pioneers in this new age of missionary work. We get to be some of the firsts. There are still some glitches in the system but things are coming along. We have to put EVERYTHING in our areabook onto the ipad. We have an app for the areabook and we can update lessons on the go. We no longer report our key indicators because President Morgan will know exactly who we taught and when and how many lessons we had when he gets a report from our ipads. Things will be a little slow while we get use to it, but once it is up and running, we will see this work take off.
So Sister Steele is a lot of fun to be with. She is from Russia originally. She lived in and out of orphanages in Russia until she was 10. She was adopted by an American family. Her life story is crazy... it could be a movie--a movie that would make you cry and then feel so happy at the end because things got a lot, a lot better for her. And look where she is now! And I get to train her :) She is most self conscious about her English so we role play a lot to help her feel more confident teaching and explaining. :) She is still learning the gospel and understanding it. I love teaching and helping her understand. It took me a while to adjust how I teach her. I try to eliminate any words that are too big and I make sure to stop and to ask if she knows what a certain word means. If I don't she won't say anything. I think learning to explain things as simply as possible to her is really going to help me to teach investigators more effectively. Sometimes I think I am explaining things so clearly when in reality it goes over their head. So you have to stop, and try to explain again and again until they get it.
I have been so humbled by her humility and faith. She knows her weakness and she relys on the Lord to be her help and strength. We've had some really amazing lessons together and then Lord is blessing us with new people to teach!
This first week together has been really good. We have had some great lessons! Mary-Ellen has a baptism date for Dec 21. Please keep her specifically in your prayers. her husband is a returning less active. She has had several bap dates. I am praying that she will have a spiritual experience praying or reading so her testimony can be strengthened. We got in contact with Steve Valentine finally this week. We answered some of his questions about the 3 degrees of glory. We will see him hopefully next week again.
So I am singing in the Christmas choir!! I am so sos so sososososososo excited!!! I love Christmas songs! Ah :) I am just so happy they asked me. And Sister Wilkes is in the choir too! So I get to see her for at least 3 times for practices :)
Well life is good. I hope this email is long enough for you mother ;) I love you all! I hope you have a great week!
Love Sister Lounsbury
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