Monday, November 18, 2013

Laughing with Heavenly Father

Hello everyone!!!!
Here's the report of the SUPER FUN week in Iowa!!! :) Seriously, my stomach is like quenching because I'm trying so hard not to laugh in this silent library and I can't wipe this grin off my face. Haha MOST FUN I've had in a little while. I absolutely love it here:):)
First off... I want to talk about how DUMB I am from my last email... I told one of our investigators what I had said in my last email and now she won't let it go:) Hahaha so embarrasing. I said Labor day.... and it was indeed VETRANS day... So sorry... also, I had a spell check! I typed 'couch' instead of 'coach'. So yes, I have a super good friend out here that we are working with and he is a COUCH.... haha I'm so dumb. So excuse my mistakes as I am typing a mile a minute:)
I THINK I AM SUPER JUMPY LATELY!!! Not sure why. So last night I woke up at like 1 cause I had to go to the bathroom. I came back in the room and heard Sister Carpenter stirring an knew that she was awake. I turned around and she was standing up right next to me and I screamed. At 1 in the morning. The people we live with were proabably so confused... haha THEN this morning, we were doing laundry and pacing around the hallway trying to clean when I walked past the bathroom and totally JUMPED when I saw Sister Carpenter going in to get her towels. She has scared me SO BAD this morning and hasn't even meant to! I'm such a scardy cat! We were laughing so hard.
Then the other night, I again woke up at like 1, and got on my knees and said a prayer because I thought the alarm had gone off. Then, super confused I started to get up and ready and I looked at the clock... it was one. So Heavenly Father just got a random little prayer from me at 1 in the morning:) Ahhhh I love Him. He has been laughing with me A LOT this week:):) I'm sure He's just shaking His head and smiling at me cause I'm such a dork sometimes... :) We have a great relationship Him and I:)
WE MADE GINGERBREAD HOUSES THIS WEEK!! Definately a tradition I am carrying on every december. LOTS of work, but super fun! Our ward is giving a gingerbread house to the Mormon Trail Center and Kanesville Tabernacle for the Gingerbread Festival and it is SO CUTE!! We met with the Young Women and Relief Society on Wednesday to decorate it. I just about died because it is so cute:) We're taking a few investigators down to the Trail Center and Tabernacle to see all the Gingerbread here in the next couple weeks, I AM SO EXCITED!!! :)
We've been having a TAD more member involvement lately!! Our ward still needs to get on the wagon of Missionary Work Excitement!! But we've been working with a few less-actives that the ward is starting to get excited about:) We're trying to get them to go out of their way to fellowship!! WE LOVE THESE PEOPLE AND WANT THEM BACK!!! The Lord wants them back and the members are starting to catch on:)
We did lots of service this week too! The weather has been SUPER nice and we've put on service clothes and gone out to rake leaves. LOTS of leaves. This WHOLE town is trees and it was BEAUTIFUL and now the leaves are all over. So it's a WONDERFUL opportunity for service and we've met lots of people through it. I love raking leaves.
One of our investigtors invited us to the Soup Kitchen this week for dinner. She volunteers at the local church every thursday for the soup kitchen and so we went and met with her and many of her church friends. They are all adorable and although they make fun of us "mormons" a lot.... we love them. We just ache for them to UNDERSTAND!!
WE HAD EXCHANGES THIS WEEK!!! With Sister Call and Sister McMaster! Sister McMaster was one of my companions in the MTC so it was SOOOOOO fun to go out with her again on Friday. She's the best:) Her and I went with one of the members in our ward ALL DAY to the little towns all around Red Oak and Shenendoah that we haven't even been able to make it to since I've been here. There are so many less-actives out there and so much work to be done!! We met with a few less-actives and they want us to come back! So we just have to figure out times in our schedule and figure out our car miles so we can get back down there again. We seriously need more missionaries in this area. We're praying, and President agrees that we could use them. All in the Lord's timing:) These little towns that we went to thought are SOOO small. Each town is like a half our drive away from the next nearest town. Sister Call asked our member "What do people DO in these small towns?!" our member goes "Drink and do drugs..." haha so that explains a lot:) it's a crazy experience:)
One of the couples in our ward went out on a trip to Hawaii this week! So we got to go over a couple times and help feed there dogs. They live on a huge farm, so we had a little photoshoot while the dogs were eating. Fun stuff:)
WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR AT CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! It's been a looooong time coming. She's been wanting to come forever but she hasn't been able to. She's 14, so we were able to go to young women with her and yesterday was the primary program. It was SUCH a good day:) We gave her a tour around the building and when we got to the baptismal font, I opened the curtain and the spirit was SO STRONG. We asked her how she was feeling and she said "I feel totally comfortable here". <3 THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!!! The members were SO wonderful to reach out to her and it was just a great day:)
Ahhhhh smiles all around:) On exchanges, Sister Carpenter was able to do A LOT as she and Sister Call stayed in Red Oak. They found a new investigator who is TOTALLY PREPARED and a while back we found this young lady that has 3 kids and her husband and she has been jumping from church to church. When we taught her the restoration she literally grabbed the Book of Mormon out of my hands and has intensly been reading it <3. Then a pipe burst in her house and they had to move. So we offered to help them move and then she never contacted us. We tried calling and could NEVER get ahold of her. We were SO SAD. But on exchanges this week, Sisters Carpenter and Call FOUND HER!!! She was SOOO glad that they found her because she had broken her phone and lost all contacts and had moved. BUT THEY FOUND HER! We're now meeting with her every week and she is SOOO going to get baptized. I KNOW IT. Miracles <3 So many of them!
I love it here... Thanksgiving is going to be CRAZY. We have no idea what we're doing... haha We are getting kicked out of our house because our family has their kids coming back home. So we'll be staying with the Glenwood sisters and HOPEFULLY having enough miles to drive here every few days. The family that we had planned to eat Thanksgiving with has 2 daughters that are having to work all of Thanksgiving day, so they are doing dinner another day. Then we had an investigator invite us over and another member, so we're still working out the kinks. It's gonna be a strange one.
Missionary life is crazy fun.... Every day is an adventure and I'm trying to SOAK UP all my time as much as possible!!!!
Life Of A Missionary:
-You NEVER stop thinking. Seriously my mind just goes and goes. SO MUCH TO DO:)
-Constantly passing mormon.org cards out. My bag is FULL of them.
-Missionaries have WAY too many journals. Daily Journal, People Journal, Comp Journal, Address Book, Study Journal, it's the best:)
-We're always baking. Everyone here loves cookies and I'm becoming a pro:):)
-We have sticky notes EVERYWHERE!!!! I have to have my sticky notes. Just bought some more:) Always writing notes and promptings
-We rate how SOLID doors are. "Ehh.... I give this one a 3 1/2. Love the color, but there is tape on the windows"
-Having bruises on our knuckles!:)
-And coming up with clever knocking songs
-Pulling out your best Happy Dance when we get to wear jeans!!
-Saying prayers at 1 in the morning ;)
-Getting the strangest stares and glares when I stand behind the car to back up my comp.
-Getting flustered when the mailman is late.
-LOVING Mondays when everyone else is hating them.
-Seriously laughing with Heavenly Father <3-- it's the best
-Obsessions with pens
-Laughing our hardest and crying our hardest all in the same day. <3
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!
I think I'm going to cut my hair again. Chop it off. I think I am. Today. I need a change and it's SO DEAD.
Guys, I love this work. I PROMISE that if you dedicate yourself to missionary work and sharing the gospel- going out with the missionaries as often as you can- That you're happiness will GROW IMMENSLY!!!! Serving others is true happiness. I promise you. Heavenly Father is SOOOOOO real. He's my Father and he gets me. Understands me. And it's the best feeling in the world :):)
I love you all! I think of you often and pray for you always:) PLEASE write! I love hearing what ya'll are up to!! Life is amazing! Face it with a smile. God ANWERS PRAYERS and just know that alllllllll the hard things you're going through and will go through.... You'll GROW through. Seriously, it's hard in the moment, but have FAITH AND HOPE and HOLD ON!!!!!!! Because you will never regret it :)
I hope you all know that I KNOW this church is the truth. It is it. Christ is THE WAY and only through our devotion to Him and His gospel will we EVER be able to attain TRUE AND ETERNAL happiness. It makes me laugh when people ask "why are mormons so happy all the time" IT'S BECAUSE WE HAVE AND LIVE THE GOSPEL TO IT'S FULLEST!!!!!! I promise that THIS is happiness. THIS is ETERNAL happiness!!!!! Just do it. *nike swoosh*.
Have an amazing week!!
-Sister Checketts:)
 
picture: EXCHANGES!!:) SO FUN

No comments:

Post a Comment