Letter #55 04/21/14

I hope everyone had a Hoppy Easter! My companion and I received lots of candy (yay....) so we still got to have a taste of the holiday (no pun intended, Mom). Tuesday, we had a leadership exchange where we received training on using planning and goal setting to see success. It was just what I needed. I continue to see that throughout my mission, where right when I'm feeling stuck in a rut, we have a training and it picks me up again. What I wanted to focus more on was making sure we were planning effectively, instead of just putting down names to see, but actually having a purpose for them. As well as checking back on our plans throughout the day and replanning if needed. We got to see lots of unplanned opportunities while on our exchange and even see people that we had been trying many times before but never seemed to catch at home. That evening we went to the Family History center and learned how to do indexing. I got an easy batch that was already typed so I didn't have to try to interpret old English cursive haha. It was fun, but more work than I thought. It's cool to see how much genealogy work can be for everyone, no matter where we are or how old we are. Friday to Saturday, Sister Worden and I were on exchanges again and I had Sister Willard with me in our area. We had a lot of fun and kept getting asked if we were actual sisters (I guess we look alike?). Saturday morning, we were asked by some elders to help do some service at a family's home, taking down a shed and moving some wood. I had no idea what we were in for! There were probably about 20 missionaries that ended up showing up and it was needed. There was so much wood and although we made a huge dent, we left after about 3 hours and there was still some more work to do. It was a lot of fun. I got to wear jeans (which it's been a while for that)! And definitely some missionary bonding time as we created assembly lines get the job done more efficiently. We were pretty dirty by the end, I'm pretty sure I had a dust mustache haha, but it was great. So my miracle of the week was a total tender mercy. I received a call on Thursday from the mission office that a girl I had taught back in August was finally getting baptized this Saturday! Sister Chen and I had taught Savannah and her little brother and had everything set up, but last minute, her mom decided to say no to letting it happen ( I think just to spite her ex-husband). It was so heart-breaking, especially to see this little 11 year-old not understand why she couldn't get baptized. They have gone through a few other missionaries since then and had more baptism dates set, just to fall through again. Thankfully, it finally happened. It was great to be reunited in my old area and to see this wonderful family. Both Savannah and Devin were baptized by their dad and confirmed members of the Church on Saturday. It was so special to be able to see them do this (grateful my mission is small enough that I can return to old areas) and to feel the great spirit there. You never know when your efforts will bloom, but it's all about the right time! Yesterday, we had a wonderful Easter service at church. Although none of our investigators were able to make it, we had lots of less-active members come and family members of others who are not members of the church. I think everyone really enjoyed it and if just felt like a big family was there together. I'm grateful for having two Easters on my mission as it's really helped me to understand the true meaning of this holiday and to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ so much more. I am so grateful for His great sacrifice and what He has done for me and for you. He truly loves each and everyone of us and didn't have to go through all that He did, but He did so He could know how to help us. On the mission, I see so many situations that I was never exposed to before. It helps me to appreciate my life so much as well to realize how precious Christ's sacrifice is to know that He really can help these people. That is something I will never take for granted again. I love you all so much. And I hope you have a great rest of your week! Love, Sister Wightman