July 14 – 20: The days are long but the
weeks are short!
Can you believe July is almost over?? That means I've been doing
this for almost 6 FULL MONTHS!! I'm excited for how far we've come. :)
This week was BUSY. Soooooooo busy. Which was awesome!! I feel
like the past few weeks we've struggled finding anyone to teach and now
suddenly we have like 3 or 4 SOLID progressing investigators and we can't keep
up!! Which is amazing.
On Monday, after dinner, the sister we ate with was going to
drop us off at our appointment and she ended up staying for the lesson!
On Tuesday evening, the family that signed up to feed us also invited
one of our investigators!! It was
awesome. The ward has been doing an amazing job of reaching out to her and
showing her love!!
Then we taught a part-member family and challenged the father to
BAPTISM. The b word. And what did he say? Oh that's right. He said yes. He wouldn't say what date. Which is okay. :)
The mom had back surgery last Thursday and we took her flowers. We're probably going to go watch Meet the
Mormons with her sometime because that's about as much fun as we missionaries
have. And she loves us so
that's a plus.
Wednesday I was
GOING to be teaching district meeting, but instead the zone leaders came and
taught about Mission Leadership Council with the new mission president. I'm going to be teaching this
Wednesday instead. Literally the only change so far is that "Thirsty
Thursday" is now called "Harvesting Thursday" because a lot of
bars have thirsty Thursday specials. But that's the only change
so far!
Then we met a sister for dinner at the most Southern restaurant
I have ever seen in all my life. It's called Hartz and it was a fried chicken
buffet!! Literally. It was pretty good but so not good for you. We struck up a
conversation with the couple at the table next to us… and by that I mean they
commented on how fast the ice cream came out of the soft serve machine. (I got
a ton!) Then the sister told them that
they should let us teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. They weren't interested, but told us their
entire life story. The southern-ness was strong. So strong.
On Thursday, we saw our investigator again! Our lesson was on
prayer and scripture study as a family, but it turned into another gospel of
Jesus Christ lesson. We talked about the importance of baptism and the
technical answers of how it works ("no you don't need to know how to
swim") It was good!!! It was SO
good! She is sooooooo close but she
just doesn't know it! She wants to see a baptism first, and there should be 2
this weekend. I love teaching her! We were able to tell her that's she's on the
RIGHT path even things are getting so hard for her. She was getting teary-eyed
to hear it but it was so true. Satan works extra hard when people are trying to
do good things. :)
On Thursday night we had a plate of cookies so, like 30 minutes
before 9, we went and saw a less active sister. We were just going to drop them
off, but she invited us in! It was
awesome to just share a quick scripture with her. It really is the gospel of Jesus Christ that
helps people.
On Fridays we normally weekly plan, but we were so busy we
couldn't! We helped one member and then went out with another member! Then we drove to out to the country and had a
lesson. After that, we decided to stop
by and see an investigator that we haven't seen in forever. From there, we visited a member who has like
every health ailment everrrrr but she's still so happy and lively!
Then we had dinner with a member family that I love. We not only had homemade pizza for dinner
(DIVINE) but also fruit pizza for dessert. It was soo good. The family has a goal of getting to the
temple. They know what they need to do and they're getting there :) oh I love
them :)
OH after dinner we tracted and met a lady who ONLY speaks
Spanish!!!! It was awesome because SOMEHOW we communicated with her enough to
tell that she's interested and we got her information to give to the Spanish
speaking missionaries in the Biloxi ward. MIRACLES. It was awesome!! It makes
me want to learn Spanish because our attempts at Spanish were TERRIBLE. haha But all’s well that ends well, right? :)
On Saturday we were also super busy! We weekly planned and hit
up the library because our new car has a USB thingie where we can play talks
while we drive! Then we tracted and, on the VERY first door we knocked on, the
lady said "come on in!" Okay! We sat down and were ready to begin our
"we're missionaries" spiel but then they said "we're members!"
Whut. I knew for a fact that there aren't any members in that neighborhood
based on the ward roster. They had lived between here and Alabama for 3 years
and never moved their records. They haven't been to church in 3 years!! And he
had been like the elders quorum president and scoutmaster and all that! It
kinda terrified me that I'll just wake up one day and not have gone to church
in 3 years.
We taught another investigator with a sister from the ward and
it was great! We talked about following the prophet and she made me sing
"Follow the Prophet" with her. hahaha We challenged our investigator to pray about President
Monson and he wrote down word for word in a little notebook what he was
supposed to do. It was precious. He is
really earnest :) He gave us ALL fresh
strawberries and pie. Don't worry about me here, He is taking good care of us :)
On Sunday we went to ward council and then one of our
investigators came to church with her little boy. It was fun! He is so easily entertained by stickers. He
started putting them all over me, my companion and another sister during Sacrament
Meeting. Precious. And it's awesome to
see his mom feel comfortable in church :) The sister conducting RS mentioned her and
called her “Sister” and my heart was so happy :)
We tracted for a loooong time after church in rain. Not pouring
rain, but wet. We then went to dinner where
they served us like every type of uncooked vegetable ever. I felt so
healthy. :)
We were going to tract for 3 more hours after dinner to get our
weekly 7 hours of tracting but it was raining harder and we kept seeing flashes
of lightening so, instead, we took cookies to a family and talked to the mom
for a looooong time. It was definitely what we were supposed to do instead. :)
I love that we talked to her for a super long time and then instead of just
leaving, like a normal friend would have, we shared a scripture with her that
she said really helped :) I love it!
I think that's the weekly report! Just doing our thing being missionaries
:)
No super exciting church signs but I've seen a lot about buses
for VBS or Vacation Bible School :) I've also seen a couple for Katrina
services... I saw one that says "God, heal our land!"
Love,
Sister Nash
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| The kitschy gift shop from last pday :) DINO'S GIFTS! |
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| Wickett, the Shih Tzu |
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| The sunset :) |
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| How jealous are you? #watchtanpride |
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| Look at that dragonfly! |
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| and that sky! |
July 21 – 28: I'm in Clinton!
I am writing from the Clinton stake center! Because I'm now
going to be serving in Clinton!
I'll still be in a car share which breaks my heart but that's
okay. Biking is good for the soul.
So I was going to write a whole bunch about this last week, but I forgot my last transfer planner. And by that I mean it's packed in my suitcase somewhere in this church building.
I don't actually remember a lot about the beginning of the week.
And I've gotten really bad at writing in my journal. So I'm going to repent
about that.
This week I taught district meeting! I was really nervous but it
went really well. I taught about enduring to the end but more of the thought
that we as missionaries need to endure to the end as well.
We were going to tract one night this week, but we only had our
bikes and it was thundering like CRAZY and we saw lightening occasionally in
the distance so we thought that maybe we shouldn't. We were trying to think of
someone to take us to go see SOMEONE but couldn't. So we took the "stupor
of thought" as an indicator to just go ahead and tract anyways! And it
didn't rain! We didn't really talk to anyone and we tracted for like 2 hours.
On one of the LAST doors that we knocked on, we met a man who told us that he
was pronounced dead twice in one week like 5 years ago. We didn't really share
much (I've decided that the best way to GET a sermon is to knock on someone's
door and OFFER a sermon) but he told us that he was glad that we stopped to
talk to him. Success.
Saturday was the day of big excitement. We helped with bishop's
storehouse at the church in the morning and then went to the stake pioneer day
activity!! It was great. It was in Bay St. Louis (referred to as the Bay) and
it was a barbeque with water games and a water park! IT. WAS. SO. HOT.
Dripping. Death. Dying. Dead. It was so fun, though!
Then, on the ride home, we got our transfer calls! I found out
that I'd be coming here to Clinton!
Sunday I said goodbye to everyone! It was sad, but I was okay. I
did get a little teary eyed when Thelma and Ashley gave me a present with earrings
and a necklace and a paint set!! So nice.
Then packing yesterday and riding on the transfer van today!
My new companion seems great! I haven't really talked to her
yet, but she seems to know what's up. So that's good. :) I'm excited to get to
know her! And to do the 2nd half of her training. AH!
She has already emailed and she's just waiting on me. So I'm
going to sign off and we're going to go gather up all my stuff and then go
grocery shopping and unpack or something.
Love,
Sister Nash
July 29 – August 3: Here in good ol’ Clinton!
Here I am in Clinton! I like it so far. Our area is pretty nice :) But apparently there's something with the
sediment here so the roads are super super bumpy! Well and this place is HILLY.
SO HILLY. So many hills. I thought I liked biking but now I'm kinda dying. I
loved biking in Ocean Springs, but now my leg muscles are REALLY going to get a
workout.
And I'm in a car share again. I now would love to be called as a
sister training leader for the sole reason of having a CAR FULL TIME. I will
never take advantage of a car again. And for no mileage restrictions. It's the
little things in life :)
It turned out that my last week in Ocean Springs was bike week
and now my first week here was bike week. But that means that, on my birthday, we'll have the
car!
Training has been going well so far! Well, ask my companion but
I think it's going okay :) We're actually really similar, except that she grew
up on a cattle ranch and has 10 siblings. So we do have some fundamental
differences but we get along really well. She's got that greenie fire! The advice that one Elder gave me about
training was "just do what your trainer did for you." I'm realizing
just how great of a trainer she was.
Another thing that's CRAZY to me: I've been out for 6 months! I
know things!! I'm just now realizing how much it is that I really do know how
to do. With my trainer, I was learning everything and with my MTC companion
again in Ocean Springs, we were scared to be left on our own (without follow-up
trainers) but now I've been doing this for 6 whole months!! I at least a little
bit kinda know what I'm doing! Yeah! Several ward members have commented on
similar things... like "you're not timid like the new ones usually
are!" Which is humorous because I was like that but I'm not really
anymore!
So I got to Clinton and we took all my stuff to our SECOND floor
apartment. Carrying bikes up stairs is fuuuuunnn. :) We called our vehicle
coordinator and he told me to drive! Yay! So I drove on Tuesday to our apt and
then to Walmart and around to all of our lessons that night. We were mostly
trying potentials, but went tracting and met a lady who already had a Book of
Mormon and invited us in! :) I'm not the driver anymore. I just was on Tues and
Wed :)
Wednesday we had district meeting all the way out in Vicksburg
which was like a 35 minute drive. It was fun to get to meet the district! We had correlation meeting that night.
Thursday we went out visiting teaching! We went to Newks (like
Zupas) and had lunch with active and less active sisters and then went out
visiting with a sister from the ward.
The rest of the afternoon was spent tracting! Ohhhhh it's going
to take me a while to get used to this climate. I can't tell if it's more humid
or less humid or more hot or less hot. But it's miserable. We met a lot of
people, some more interested than others.
Then we went to the RS president's house for dinner and her AC
was out so she took us to a sandwich shop! Then she took us to a quilting RS
activity at the church! So I met a TON of people. It was grand.
On Friday we spent a good chunk of the day weekly planning cause
I don't know anyone and it took a loooooooong time. Then we tracted the rest of
the day. We were DETERMINED to get 7 hours and we had gotten really behind.
We've been getting a lot of members to go with us to lessons because we didn't
have the car. I really like taking members to lessons. Benefits: doesn't use
miles, we get member present lessons, investigators get to KNOW members and
getting members involved in missionary work. WIN WIN WIN WIN.
I'm excited to be in Clinton! It's fun being a trainer so far. I
feel like it was just perfect for me because my companion was already 1/2
trained and she wants to learn and be obedient! That's a big part. :)
I haven't noticed any church signs in Clinton so far but I did
learn a couple of new fun, Southern phrases:
"See
you next week! The Good Lord willing and the Creeks don't rise!"
(actually
referring to the rising of the Creek Indians.. not the actual crick. Who knew)
"I'm clean enough to be healthy and
dirty enough to be happy!"
Love,
Sister Nash
August 4 – 10: Helllloooo….
…from
the muggy, sweaty, hot South!
It's hot here. I'm wondering if it's a different type of hot
than Ocean Springs. Cause I was pretty much fine in Ocean Springs, but it's
soooo bad here. It might just be that now it's August and people have been
warning me since I arrived in Mississippi that August is the worst month. Also
the BEST month because of my birthday!!
This week has been a party! Or something. It's been something
for sure.
Last Monday was rather boring. I kinda like boring pdays though.
I get really burnt out on planning so when I don't have to plan every minute of
my day (including backup plans!) I don't. So I'm totally fine with a boring
pday. My companion has never had a fun
pday though so we're gonna switch it up. She bought Uno cards today so it's
gonna get wild up in here.
On Monday night we taught a man who got baptized in May! He's
awesome. He's from Cuba and is so dedicated to the gospel! We're going to be
teaching him and his wife tonight! (She
is from Venezuela and was out of town last week so a sister from the ward went
with us.)
After teaching him on Monday, we taught a young man (in his
early 20's) who is really interested in the gospel! We spent the whole lesson answering questions
about Moroni chapters 9&10 that he randomly read on his own. I was super
excited about his enthusiasm reading the scriptures. It was a good lesson :)
On Tuesday we had lunch with a sister is leaving to serve a
mission in the family history center in SLC! Her daughter lives in Provo and so
she keeps telling everyone that it's not a sacrifice to serve a senior mission!
She's cute. I've only known her for like 2 weeks now but I'll miss her! She has
done a lot for us and with us because she's preparing for a mission too!
:)
On Tuesday afternoon we were going to just tract and try
potentials all day but it was super hot.
So we biked to Walmart (close to our apt) and worked on some additional
inviting! AKA tracting in stores. I thought it went fairly well!
We did tract a lot on Tuesday and we met a family that just
moved into the area and they have been looking for a church!! She said that her
12 year old daughter wants to be involved in church but they don't know how!
Hello perfect golden investigator! We haven't gone back yet because she was
sick at the time of our return appt but we're going back soon!! :)
On Wednesday we had district meeting! There are 5 companionships
in our district and every one but the zone leaders are training so I actually
feel kinda old in my district! Weird!! I can't believe that I've been out for 6
months now. WEIRD. Since we got the car on Wednesday, we went out to Raymond
and did less active hunting! I LOVE less active hunting. It's taking the ward
roster and saying "hmmm I don't know these people. Let's go visit
them!" It's a little scary we might find active members and accidentally
offend them because we don't know everyone!! Raymond is way the heck out there
and a bunch of country. It was fun! We
got a map of Raymond from the county court office. Adventures!
On Thursday we had another lesson with the young man and 2
sisters from the ward. It went great! We
retaught the Restoration (he'd already been taught it) and it went awesome. We
clarified that we are not actually prophets (I get that a lot) and what the
priesthood is and why it's important. It went SO GOOD. The 2 sisters testified
of this church (both grew up Baptist) and the truthfulness of the gospel and my
companion committed him to come to church!!! I was like a proud mama. Training
last week was on commitments and she committed him good. She asked him
"will you come to church?" and he was kinda wishy washy cause he
didn't want to say he would and then break his word if something came up but
she committed him AGAIN "Will you come to church??" and he said YES.
And was he at church??? Sure was. :)
Friday we weekly planned (sometimes painful but always good) and
then tried potentials and less actives from the area book. I didn't want to but
that's the blessing of being a trainer. I
feel like I have to do things even when I don't want to so I can set a good
example. It's annoying sometimes but very productive. :)
That night we went tracting and a lady named Jessica invited us
inside. She was super sweet and had a lot of questions for us about religion.
And then she paused and was like "I have an unusual request." These are not words you want to hear like
ever but... her unusual request? "Could y’all come back so we can keep
having discussions about religion?" UM you're inviting us BACK? YES. We
stayed and talked to her for an HOUR. She is super Christian and super open to
learning more! We met her cute baby and her nice husband and they invited us
for DINNER in a week or two and it was perfect. Oh it was glorious.
Saturday we spent the morning at the stake women's conference.
It was great! We learned about emergency preparedness and food storage and
going to the temple and teaching by the Spirit and how to decide if your sick
child needs to go to the hospital. At my current stage of life, only one
workshop actually applied to me. It was
fun though and we got to talk with a lot of sisters from the ward. And get free
lunch.
That afternoon it finally RAINED! I didn't realize how much I
loved the huge rainstorms until I left Ocean Springs! This was the first time
it's rained since I've been here!! It POURED. But it only lasted like 20
minutes :(
Also that afternoon, we taught a second lesson to a lady who answers
the phone with "Praise the Lord! Hello?" In our last lesson with her, we kinda got off
on a tangent and woooooeeee it was fun. hahaha But this time, we taught the entire
Restoration and she hardly said ANYTHING! I was kinda worried. My ability to
not get lessons sidetracked sometimes limits the interaction of the person the
lesson is with. But afterwards she had
a ton of questions/concerns about prophets that were sooo good! Like "I
believe that I can personally communicate with God, so why do I need a
prophet?" Oh it was awesome to be able to answer specific questions and
concerns. I think that lesson was the
strongest I've ever felt the Spirit while teaching the Restoration. It was
powerful and I could feel it. We left right after we ended the lesson so that
she could feel the difference from when we were there and from when we weren't.
It was so good!! :)
Sunday was church and ward council! It was my first time in ward
council and they totally changed the process they use for their rescue list. It was awesome to witness! And then, in Sacrament Meeting, it was Sister
Carr's mission farewell and our investigator was there!! I thought he was on his phone during sacrament
service but he was actually reading from the Book of Mormon! We sat behind him
and, after the meeting, he stood up and walked out. We scurried after him to make sure he wasn't
leaving but he went straight to the gospel principles room and sat down for
class. Twas great. :)
I think that's about it for the week!
OH! I did find a couple of church signs here:
"God is
rich because He saves" <---- financial pun for ya
"God is not limited by our
limitations"
Love,
Sister Nash
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| Tracting! |
August 11 – 17: August is halfway
over and I'm so excited!!
Hello one and all! This week was something special.
On Monday we had a lesson with the couple that got baptized in
May. They are so great! It was the first
time I met the sister because she had been visiting her family in Venezuela. They're
going to be primary teachers teaching the Sunbeams! :)
Also on Monday night we saw a woman who has been taught everything. We talked about the Book of Mormon with her last time and this time we talked about it even more. We had a great lesson on the importance of prayer! She had prayed about the gospel when the sister missionaries first started seeing her but she hadn't since and didn't realize she was supposed to! It was a great lesson and the Spirit was really strong but then her friend came over to pick up something and Spirit GONE. Boo. But now that we know what she didn't know, we can go from there!
Tuesday was interviews! Our first interview with President Olson!
It was good. It was just different than interviews
with President McDonough. Which is okay. Plus this is President Olson's first
transfer doing interviews!
Tuesday night we helped a sister in the ward set up her 4th
grade classroom!! Reminded me of a certain sister and mother of mine.... :)
I didn’t feel very well on Wednesday or Thursday but on Friday I
felt better.
After dinner on Saturday, I figured we were just going to
tract forever but my companion suggested we go visit a family she had visited
with her first companion right before I got here. The family had been taught a few times and
then dropped the missionaries but said they were very open to missionaries
coming back. So we stopped by! They were super nice! It was a great lesson. It ended with their 7
year old daughter play a song on their keyboard and then they made me play one.
I played "Victory in Jesus." :)
Sunday's excitement came early! While we were studying
before church, we got a call from the RS teacher that day who told us that she
wouldn't be able to make it to church and could we teach RS for her? Uhhhh
sure! We didn't have a lesson manual and didn't get one until right before Sunday
School. I hope it went okay. It was
kinda “The Sister Nash Show” cause I played the piano too. My piano skills have
gone downhill just since I've left Ocean Springs because I don't play for the
nursing home every Tuesday and Thursday anymore!
After church we tracted for 2 1/2 hours! Woo! We met one guy who
really seems interested in reading from the Book of Mormon! We asked him when
we could come back and he said "Well, I'm retired! So whenever!" :)
Anyways! That's about all for this week! :)
Love,
Sister Nash
PS: I'm only kinda a little bit really excited for my birthday.
:)
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