Valentines & Fairies

Howdy Ho, Ranger Joe!

OK, so my accent probably isn't as bad as I made it sound... but, great-time-a-day, ya’ll'd just be tickled if ya’ll knowed what I et this week - chicken livers! I must say they ain’t my favorite. There's a little restaurant here in Gretna that everyone says is just soooo good, and one day a member took us there for lunch. It's real down home southern cookin' buffet style. All sorts of stuff like fried chicken (and fried chicken livers), stewed tomatoes, pinto beans, corn bread, mashed potatoes just oozing with butter... and of course you can't forget the souse meat. I wasn't brave enough to try that - basically it's all the parts of the pig that they didn't use all boiled down and added vinegar to and let congeal.... at least that's what I was told....

Anyway, it's been a really good week. We have a few investigators that are really making progress. One of the couples finally came to church for the first time, and they had such a good experience, and even though they've apparently been taught a lot by the Elders (but of course we didn't know that because the Elders that served here didn't quite ever get the pen to the paper in keeping records....arggghh....) they seem to be really understanding the gospel and it's finally starting to click for them. Of course they have some ridiculous concerns about things like angels having wings. They said, "It says so in the Bible and there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise." But I've never had investigators before with such questions as they do and still are so willing to keep listening and learning. It was just amazing at church, though; everything that was said in sacrament meeting was just so perfect for them to hear. And then they participated and everything in Sunday School, Relief Society, and Priesthood, and everyone was so welcoming to them. Of course, they might have felt so comfortable in the classes because we were the ones teaching. We taught both the Gospel Principles class and the Relief Society lesson. We got a call at 6:45 in the morning asking us to teach the Relief Society lesson.... I love when that happens... but really I don't get all that nervous to teach anymore, but still speaking in church is a little different. I'm so impressed at Rick talking for 20 minutes in church all in Spanish!

I can't believe how fast I've been able to get to know and love somebody on my mission. It's crazy to think I've only known these investigators for 2 and a half weeks, but it feels like months! We also have an investigator that is from Ireland, I can't remember if I've told you about her, but she is just amazing as well. I can't believe I've only know her for that long either. She's someone I want to keep in contact with forever. So I might be picking up a wee bit of an Irish accent as well to go right along with my Southern.

I had a good Valentine’s day; it's so funny how everyone gives us food for any occasion they can think of. So we're well taken care of. I think I'll have to give up on trying to lose any weight before I come home; even our investigators feed us all the time here! But it was so funny, so Sis. Bell and I decided to buy the cheesiest little elementary school Valentine cards to send to people, so we got some with fairies and Tinkerbelle that came with stickers, and we decided to give them to the Elders in our district, too. I've never seen anyone so excited to get little Valentine cards; they crack me up. They promptly put the fairy stickers on the back of their nametags...

We were talking to one of our investigators husband who is just the nicest guy and knows everyone, and he was telling us that we may not know it, but everyone knows who we are in town and even the surrounding towns and are talking about us. I guess news travels fast when anyone new comes into town here, especially because we're two, young pretty girls, according to the man we were talking to. It was pretty funny. I don't even feel like we've talked to too many people. But of course, they know us.

Well, I'm getting kicked off the computer, so I have to end. But I love you all and thanks for the pictures and the news. I have the best family ever!

~Melissa

Losing My Grammar

Hey, how you?

You know, as much as I hate to admit it, I think it will take awhile for my grammar to recover from being in Virginia, I really do find myself saying phrases from around here before I catch myself. I don't think I talk "TV" anymore...

But I guess you want my address before I forget again. Sorry...

P.O. Box 933
Gretna, VA 24557

So, it's been a pretty busy week, I think we've finally met most of the investigators the Elders left. And I almost have the Branch members down, but everyone's related, so it's hard to remember all the connections. You definitely never want to say anything about anyone else, because it will certainly get back to them in a couple hours. There is this one lady in the branch that wanted us to come and meet her neighbors. She was so bold, it was awesome. And because she was there, these people actually let us in and listened to us and invited us back. Now that's member missionary work!

We also had a Zone Conference on Thursday. And guess what? It was up in Buena Vista and Gay and Larry skipped their lunch to come over to the church building to see me! I felt so loved. I've kept in touch with them, and they are doing so well. I can't believe it was over a year now that they were baptized and now they're preparing to go to the temple! They're teaching in Primary and are very active. That just makes me so happy. Everyone loves them. Gay kept hugging me and didn't want to leave or let me go. I just love them. That was the highlight of my week.

And of course Zone Conference is always uplifting. One of the Elders from my MTC district is now my District Leader and that's a lot of fun. As funny as it might sound, I was just overwhelmed by the love I felt at Zone Conference for all the Elders and Sisters I've served with and my Mission President, and I realized that that's a taste of the love that my Heavenly Father's has for me. He loves me so much He let me have this opportunity to learn to love more than I ever have before. Heavenly Father's the best.

Well, I guess I don't really have much else to say except I love you all! And I love hearing all the funny stories and interesting happenings of my family. Happy Valentine’s Day!

~Melissa

Gretna

Hello Everybodee!

I have to admit, my new area, even though it's not all that far from some of my other areas, is really different. The culture is much more like I'm really in the South than before. Gretna is a very small town, and I can walk to almost everywhere in it pretty easily. Of course, our area's a lot bigger than just Gretna. And apparently, because Gretna is so small and only has a few police officers, they have a pretty bad drug problem. And the stereotype of "the other side of the tracks" is a reality here. But no worries, we have lots of people looking out for us. And there's only a branch here. My first time in a branch. There's about 40 people that come on Sundays and they're almost all old. They laugh about that themselves. They're almost all 50 and above. Absolutely no youth, so they don't have to worry about callings like YM/YW leaders. And only a small primary. Needless to say, it's very reverent during the passing of the sacrament. But the members are awesome. And they have a lot of time to do missionary work with us! I still get fed all the time and they already have an exchange schedule going to go visiting with us. They are a crack up. And the Elders that we took over for actually left us with some really good investigators who are close to baptism, and the house didn't smell near as bad as the last one. Of course, the first thing I had to do was clean and rearrange everything’ I still just don't understand Elders' sense of organization.

My companion’s name is Sister (Heather) Bell. She's from southern California and is really into the performing arts. She's a great missionary already. I probably learn more from my companions than they do from me. I just fill her in on the little things like the how of keeping paperwork, and things like that. Oh, we actually live in our own little house that we have all to ourselves, so no people that live above us that yell at their kids or smoke so you can smell it through the vents.

I've been studying a lot about faith recently, and I just don't know if I can ever really have the faith like the people in the scriptures. But I've been trying. And there really are a lot of little miracles that happen every day if you just recognize them. For instance, we had tried to meet this investigator, but had never been able to find her home. Then later on we decide to go tracting on this certain street, and at the last minute decided just to walk there instead of driving, and on the way back, we were passing this parking lot, and someone calls out to us. It was the investigator that we had tried to find earlier. She just happened to be in that parking lot and happened to see us and think to herself that we looked like missionaries and thought she'd stop us to see if we were the new ones the Elders told her were coming. It's just amazing to me, how Heavenly Father really does know every little thing and can make things work out exactly how they should be if we just trust Him. And it was funny, because we had completely forgotten about it being Super Bowl Sunday that night; no wonder no one answered their doors.... but we were at the right place at the right time to meet this investigator. Cool, huh?

Well, I'll try to take some pictures for you so I can send them next week. Love you all!

~Melissa

My Birthday!

Silly Mommy, always worrying needlessly. You're little package was perfect! My companions were jealous of my present :) And we loved the music video - they pretty much think I have the coolest family ever (well, at least a really funny one, anyway). I mean who else makes such amazing works of cinematography? I had them really wanting to see "The Power of the Tag" after telling them about it. I just laughed and laughed while we were watching your latest film. Of course, I had to explain the importance of tumbleweeds to one's happiness to them. My favorite part was the girls trying to roll Jeff around and Mylie running away from being steamrolled.

I didn't need any package to open for my birthday, because my companions take such good care of me. They made me breakfast and a little foam birthday crown to wear around the house, and a tres leches cake with kiwi and peaches. Then at the end of the day, they made some excuse about having to stop by the Cueva's house (the Honduran family in the ward) and they had a little surprise party for me! Sis. Cueva made me some cake and the kids all sang happy birthday to me. So we were probably all celebrating at the same time. You all are so silly, I'm glad you had so much fun having a party for me!

So, I don't know if you've heard of this before, but the tradition in Central America is, after you blow out the candles, everyone starts chanting "Mordida! Mordida!" (which I guess means "bite it!") and you have to try to bite the cake before someone smooshes your face in it. Of course, what usually happens is a face fully of frosting and everyone thinks this is really funny. And that's what happened to me - I even got cake and frosting up my nose! (I'll send you the picture when I can get it from Sis. Daw). Then my companions had managed to buy me a couple presents without me noticing while we were at the store and I opened them after I cleaned out my nostrils. I don't know how they did it, they are so sneaky - it's hard to do anything without your companions noticing! They are the best companions ever. Then after returning home we played a couple of rousing games of speed scrabble while drinking pina coladas until we got....the call.

I pretty much already knew I was getting moved, but President called and confirmed it and told me I was going to Gretna, VA. No West Virginia for me, since I'll more than likely stay in Gretna the rest of my mission since I'll be training again. I've been doubled into most of my areas! I actually kind of like it though, because you and your companion learn everything and meet everyone together. I'm not sure of the address yet, but I'll get that to you next week. Sis. Martineau and Sis. Daw were expecting to go back to just the two of them and were complaining that it would be lonely now, but then they found out that they're getting another companion. I guess one more sister is going home early due to health problems.

The only thing about my birthday that was a bummer is that we found out that our investigator family from Honduras that we've been so excited about (and who always sing for us) are suddenly moving to Richmond because of their work. In fact, they left today. They said they'd let us know when they knew where they were living and that they'd look up the missionaries, but it was still a bummer for us. Crazy things always happen when people are trying to do what's right, it seems. We had another investigator go to the hospital this week. But I admit, I didn't get too attached to many of the people here because I knew I wouldn't be here very long.

I will miss my companions though - and all our little musical moments :) One day we decided to do our nightly planning session all in song. I've always thought it would be fun if life was really a musical and randomly people would burst into song and choreographed dance numbers. Here it began to be a reality :) Don't worry about going off on all the educational stuff you are doing, mom, it sounds so neat and it makes me really miss it and want to be a part of it too. And I'm really jealous that Dad is taking the concealed weapons class without me! Oh well :) Well, I got to get going. Love you all!

~Daughter of a Newt

Journals

Showing off our neat-o-cool slippers we got for Christmas from the Baggerlys - the couple who fed us Christmas breakfast. Aren't they so cute? The Baggerlys just thought they were so funny.

Hello!

That's no fun that Dad has to work a graveyard shift, but at least he has a place to sleep quietly so he won't turn back into a newt :) That's great that your class went so well. It's nice to have that confirmation to know that, yes, what you are doing is right. It makes it so much easier, because you're not wasting any time doubting and you have that conviction to keep you going even when things go bad. I've had that same experience on my mission. Sometimes I've wondered if it was what I was really supposed to do. But I've had so many little confirmations that I can look back to and give me the reassurance that I need to keep going. That's another good reason to keep a journal. If you don't write down all those little things that happen that are answers to prayer, you most likely won't remember a lot of them and then you won't have that extra help / boost when you need it. I've been really trying to do better on my mission with that. Sometimes I've slacked, but as a whole, I've been better than I ever have in my life at keeping a journal and it really is amazing the difference it makes. Even just on my mission, those times that I have kept a journal, I not only remember that time better even without going back and reading about it, but those times seem so much more meaningful - just because I took the time to make it meaningful and write it down. Same thing with writing down the things that you learn. I've been reading the Old Testament again; it's just crazy, but something really stuck out to me the other day. It's been said that it seems like God in the Old Testament is really harsh, but really, when you think about it, the Old Testament is really a testimony of just how merciful God is. The people in the Old Testament were constantly breaking their promises and covenants and not doing the things they were commanded to do - and yet, every time God gives them another chance. He might let some bad things happen for a little while, but He always delivers them, no matter how bad they've been, when they just stop and remember Him and ask for help. If that's not merciful, I don't know what is. It gives me hope in my own life. That no matter what, He'll be there; I just have to remember that He is.

But anyway, yeah, I got that form too - we call them your "Trunky Papers". So yep, I’ll be coming home on April 23! Oh, don't feel bad like you made me pick the earlier release date - I was already planning on it. Coming home at the end of April just makes so much more sense. That way if I want to do anything for the summer, it will be perfect timing. Yeah, I've kicked the idea around of going with Brian to Chicago. I thought it might be a nice way to transition coming home. Because really, talking to Brian, it sounds like I'd still be keeping basically the missionary schedule and doing kind of the same thing :) And I'll probably need to make some money before I can do anything else... But I don't know if I will, I don't know if I'd really be able to handle it. And will anyone want to buy security systems if the economy is so bad? Well, actually, maybe they will since there is usually more crime when the economy is bad....

Anyway, I really don't know what I want to do when I come home. I want to move on with my life, but I don't know what the next step is. I'll be back where I was right before I left. Except this time Heavenly Father can't surprise me by telling me that what I'm supposed to do next is go on a mission... But I'm glad I did.

This past week has been kind of slow, and very cold, but still very good. We've still got quite a few investigators that we're teaching and that are progressing, but a lot of them are Spanish speaking, so I haven't really gotten to know any of them very well. We met a lady at the nursing home that we volunteer at that is 101 and still pretty mentally sharp. We had so much fun talking to her. She's this cute little old black woman with her southern accent telling us all about her life and how she's so lonely cause all her people are gone but she's got the Lord and that makes everything good. She really liked to hear us sing to her. I want to be that fun when I'm old.

Also, Sister Martineau and Sister Daw were so impressed with my spoon making skills that they wanted me to teach them too... So they've been having fun. I told them how I first started carving on my mission as a stress reliever when I was frustrated with my companion or just the mission in general and they thought that was a good idea and that they might steal my relaxation technique :) Well, I better get going. I sure love you all!

~Melissa

Hondo Adventures

The highlight of my week this time around was definitely on Saturday when we had a baptism - the lady I was telling you about last week. It was so nice. Her husband actually came and her son baptized her – even if it did take him 3 times :) He told her not to wear the dress, but she wanted to and it kept billowing up, so she went real quick and put on the jumper and there were no more problems. Poor guy, he was so nervous, especially since he’s only been a member for 6 months. Then the son’s best friend, who baptized him and introduced them to the church, confirmed her a member of the church the next day and gave a very simple but powerful blessing. I didn’t think about it at the time, but Sis. Daw pointed out that the best friend looks and talks like Napoleon Dynamite. And it was true. I didn’t attach a picture with him in it though. Just us, Sis. Duke, her husband and her son, Chris. I just love baptisms! But I love more to hear the people’s testimonies. Sister Duke’s is so strong, she said her investigation into the church started out mainly wanting to know what her son had gotten himself into, but now she says she has finally found a place where it feels she is coming home.

Now it’s time to tell you of my latest Hondo adventures :) Well, we found out today that the father of one of the recent convert families from Honduras is probably being deported soon (which has caused a lot of drama) but when he does, I’ll have to tell Rick to keep an eye out for him. He’s a really good guy and speaks pretty good English. The family is staying here until he can get everything settled. I swear, it always happens this way, right when people are really trying hard to get their lives in order, Satan doesn’t want them to get away that easy and he blind sides them with something completely unexpected. They were preparing to go to the temple and everything, and I know things will still be ok, because they haven’t let it affect their trust in God that things will turn out all right. Now for the food segment – I haven’t tried what Rick described, but an investigator family from Honduras made us what they called enchiladas, but really it was more like what we would call tostadas. It had ground beef and potato with shredded cabbage, boiled egg, and Parmesan cheese on top. Interesting, but good. Actually yesterday, we were fed 4 dinners in a row. That isn’t a common occurrence, but we told the Elders in our district that and they were really jealous because apparently the Elders in this mission hardly get fed at all by people… And I wish I didn’t get fed so much…life just isn’t fair, is it?

We also started teaching English classes to a group of Spanish speakers here in Galax. Well, I guess I should say, Sis. Martineau is teaching, and it’s been a really great opportunity for meeting more people. I wish I could stay here and learn Spanish and be able to help her out more with the Spanish work here, but President basically told me that I’ll be moved this next transfer (Jan 28 – right after my birthday!) and most likely will be training again and opening another area to sisters, because we have 3 new sisters coming in. Of course he could change his mind since there are plenty of other sisters now capable of training. It was also President Thornock’s birthday yesterday and I carved him a spoon :) Silly, I know, but I still had a piece of nice cedar wood that I had cut down while I was in Buena Vista so I thought I do something with it.

~Melissa

Happy New Year!

Got Milk?

The Milk I am drinking is rootbeer milk - weird I thought, but I guess the idea was for it to taste like a melted rootbeer float. Sis. Daw got them for Christmas.

This is in the library where we volunteer

More library pictures

Sis. Martineau and I with Sis. Johnson - she's in our ward.

Her husband came from the B. F. Johnson line.

Why do I run into realitives everywhere I go?

Hi everyone!

Man, that is a bummer for Rick. I had a really good New Year's Eve. We went that night to a Spanish speaking investigator family and they made us real Mexican food and we had a good lesson with them. The kids can speak English, and the parents mostly understand, so Sister Daw and I can actually participate in teaching, but still, Sister Martineau explains what we said in Spanish so the parents understand better. Then we went home and again had a little fire in our fireplace and played phase 10. We weren't planning on staying up, because we still have to get up early, but I built the fire so well, it was still going, and we didn't want to have to put it out and we couldn't just leave it since we have no fireplace barrier thing, so we did stay up and drink some Martinelli's and made some New Year’s predictions and went to bed. Then on New Year's pretty much all our appointments cancelled on us, but oh well.

I'm glad Dad got his postcard just in time; I never know how long things take to get there. It's funny; Sister Martineau loves to take pictures, so we've been taking some good ones of the three of us. Again, Happy Birthday, Daddy! And remember, no grumpiness allowed. You'll never be old to me!

So I understand now why we always needed to leave our Christmas tree up till after Dad's Birthday. January 6 is the Day of the Wise Men (in Mexico) and the night before (Jan. 5) the Wise Men come and leave more presents under the tree for the kids. But you see, the wise men never stopped at our house because we didn't leave water out for the camels to drink, or any carrots or anything. So I think you should try that next year. In Mexico, according to Sis. Martineau, the Day of the Wise Men is really when you get all the big, fun presents and toys. Christmas is more spiritual and family oriented. I thought that was cool. But anyway, we tried it last night. We left water out for the camels - and the wise men stopped! Well, really it was Sis. Martineau, of course (they had to have someone to help them since we're a long way from Mexico). She left us little presents all wrapped up in brown paper, and the water in the bowl was all gone! Then I made some cinnamon apple pancakes (since I was the first one up) and told them the wise men had left the batter, too, so I thought I'd cook them up for them. It was pretty funny. I love my companions. They are so fun and really great missionaries well. I told them I had to come to them to get re-trained.

It sounds (and looks) like you had quite the fun New Year's Eve party! I'm really curious what some of the games were! Niki really knows how to make things fun and creative! I do like your idea, mom, of starting the New Year out right by watching the sunrise. And I did get all of the pictures you sent. I have such a good looking family!

We had another really great lesson with a Spanish speaking family, and I try really hard to follow, and I can mostly follow the gist of the conversation, but I'm lost if they ask me anything - all of the sudden my mind goes blank, but anyway, this family is really sweet. They bought us doughnuts as a special treat after our lesson and then serenaded us on their guitars. The dad is a really great guitar player, in true mariachi style. They sang us some song about conversion to Christ and then Sis. Martineau said something about my birthday coming up, so they sang a song for me wishing me happiness and what not. We are going to be starting to teach some English classes for the Spanish speakers around here, and see how that goes and use it for a finding opportunity. So that will be fun.

It really is just so amazing how much the gospel can change people and their lives if they just let it. On Sunday, at fast and testimony meeting, the son of the lady that is getting baptized on Saturday bore his testimony and it was so simple and sincere and he told of how he's seen his parents and their relationship and his relationship with them change so much just in the months since he was baptized (in July). He told how his parents went from not talking to him because he joined the church to now his mom is getting baptized herself, and the dad, who was so anti, is now willing to attend the baptism and even come to church with them as a family every now and then. The softening of his dad's heart really was a miracle. And an answer to prayer. We joined our prayers and fasting with the mom and son that the dad would at least attend the baptism and it was the next week when he decided he would. Truly, anything is possible if we just trust the Lord and trust in his timing.

Well, I better go. I agree with you mom, trying to write a meaningful letter in an hour is really hard for me - I just think too much. Tell my grandmas that they need to stop falling and get better! I love you all!!

~Melissa