Wednesday, January 21, 2015

STL in Ames Iowa



January 19, 2015                                                                 in Ames since december 8, 2014

Guess who is HAPPY: This sister! Oh my word. December was a COLD month and this week it was above 30 all week and I had forgotten how much I LOVE THE SUN!!!!!!!! I was just on cloud nine all week. It was freaking AWESOME......and then I get a letter from Elder Sumsion in NJ who said it's been "cold" this week...cold being near 20 degrees. hahahahhaha perspective is a wise friend.....

So yes: guess who had a good WARM week in Iowa: This sister. Sister Barney and I both stayed here in Ames, so we are excited to both finish our missions here. Weird. Never thought I would see the day. Good thing there is SO much to keep us busy so we don't think about it too much. :) This transfer is going to be "NUTS!" We have 2 MLCs, 6 ZTM, 5 exchanges, interviews with President, Sister Barney's departing temple trip, and (we pray) a baptism. We counted a full 14 working days in our area. hahahaha NUTS! 

Guess who loves being a sister training leader: This sister. It's a lot to think about, but it's a lot less worry than training and a lot less stressful thank being trained. It's fun to be at a point in my mission where I feel like I know enough about the work to not feel like I'm drinking through a firehose anymore........but now I just have all the responsibility stacked on top of my shoulders instead! hahaha This week was a lot of trying to find a balance between "doing all you can do" and "relying on the Lord." We are to give our heart, might, mind, and strength.....and then our hope and faith that the Lord will take it all and make something BEAUTIFUL of it. :) If anyone has any advice on how to do that balance better: PLEASE SHARE!!!! :)

Guess who had the coolest investigator ever: This sister. Fi--- is pretty much our only investigator right now. But she's AMAZING! Student at ISU (go cyclones!) Her sister is a member of the church, so she let the sisters in her door right before I got to Ames and we have been teaching her ever since. She LOVES the Book of Mormon, but is scared to leave her Baptist roots/family. She switches off churches every other week with us, but we think she'll prepare herself to be baptized on the 14th of February. If you would like, she could use some prayers for STRENGTH!

Guess who has seen 4 accidents happen in the past 6 week: This sister.
Guess who loves "big" cities (for Iowa, that is): This sister.
Guess who feel UBER protected: This sister.

Guess who saw miracles this week: This sister. TWO times this week we had a dinner appointment at 6:00 and found ourselves with 20 minutes to spare before the lesson. Twice! So we tried this one potential we hadn't tried in forever, expecting to maybe catch them home, maybe set up a return appointment......instead they invited us in and we taught a first lesson. TWICE!!!!!! (To give you some perspective: that has only happened to me a handful of times in the last 16 months of my life....) Unfortunately, we were late to the dinner with members....TWICE!!!! I am so sorry if this has ever happened to any one reading this: please know it's for a good cause! hahaha --------- One of them was this MANSION of a house and Sister Barney and I were so intimidated (because everyone in Iowa lives in tiny apartments/duplexes) but we felt really prompted so we go and turns out this guy is the founder of Ortho2. Dad, would you mind switching computer systems at your office so we can baptize this guy? Thanks!

Some of my themes running through my head this week:
"It's ok, you don't need to think about home right now!" :)
HE WILL LEAD YOUR LIFE AS YOU TRY TO FOLLOW HIM! -from a really cool lesson we taught

:) I think that's about it. Kill it out there in PC, NJMM, and NYC. 
Guess who loves her family and misses all 5 of you? This sister.
-Sister Chloe' Sumsion