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I love it... I'm so happy...It's beautiful...
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Sister Riggs, Sister Stucki, President Riggs |
Lincoln Memorial |
Provo MTC |
Calling home during travel...She needed to speak with littlest brother! |
First P-day in DC - Sister Stucki & Sister Schramm. |
Family...
Tell Eli I live right next to a train...literally...it 'honks' is that what
you call it? honking? every single hour. gotta love it.
What are y'all doing for Christmas? Please send me pictures! and letters
and stuff....
I did get three packages...super tempted to open the presents. I'm excited
for Christmas now!
Tell me about back home????
So Monday is my new p-day. My first area is Virginia. BOOM.
Crazy stuff. my first week here...the weather has been in the high sixties
and seventies. That's abnormal. They say i brought it with me. Just so full of
that st. george sunshine. So I've been running around in the usual cardigan & no top
coat. It's like spring time here. Well today it rained. .and the temp is droppin.
But the first week was fuN?! I can't complain about those trees man. so pretty.
And dad, would LOVE the homes here. Makes me wonder why he has never moved out
here? so cottage 'y....all hidden in the trees and the apartments are super cute
too. All vintage looking.
Today we are going to Old town for preparation day to check it out...go
thrift'ing and stuff. they have a cool old book store so i'll see what i can find
there. I'm excited for that! Old town is super pretty. and old.
Anyway so a little about this past week...
I'm still not all up to date on the facebook
missionary stuff. we don't get i-pads and i-phones until January now. but yeah. as
for skyping on Christmas? we are going to a members house and we will skype you
between ten thirty and twelve thirty YOUR TIME. i'll probably call you before
hand to get your skype name or whatever. we'll figure it out but yee ha that is
that. keep a look out.
So Wednesday morning at two thirty a.m. we got on a big massive bus and
drove to SLC airport. we flew first to Minniapolis. i met a little girl who was
four and talked to her the whole flight. she was cute. but kind of obnoxious....
i also fell asleep..it was early.
We had a quick layover and then flew out to DC. we flew into the Reagan
airport which fly's over DC so it was super pretty. there were Assistant's to the President there waiting for us, they were nice. The President came.
HE IS SO COOL. i love him. and his wife. super friendly, super nice. we checked
out Lincoln Memorial in DC and (i'll send pics in an sd card tonight) and just
got a quick tour of DC. DC is actually outside our mission boundries but we can
still go there sometimes w/ permission.
The car ride back to the mission home NOBODY talked. it was so awkward.
everyone was tired i'm assuming? Super awkward first experience. President Riggs kept asking questions and
everyone would just sit there. so i talked to him the whole ride back. about
random stuff? just whatever i could think of. one on one with a buncha dead
heads in the car. just kidding. i love my district. old district. but seriously guys??? it was interesting. that night we had dinner/interviews/testimony
meeting. That was nice. i put my salad making skills to use (thanks Pine View Pizza Factory)
We slept upstairs, the elders in the basement. breakfast was Amazing.....i've been craving Sister Riggs buttermilk syrup ever since..........
then we went to transfer meeting. oh wait, my interview with President Riggs?
ha ha the first thing he said was THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THE CONVERSATION ALIVE IN
THE CAR. yeah no prob. so good first impression right? i guess? woohoo.
Alright so we drove to transfer meeting which was quite funny. my companion
is Sister Schramm. shes adorable. and i'm so excited. President promised i would
get a companion that wouldn't hold me back and boy was he right.....shes Incredibly Obedient. which is what i need, right? and we ALWAYS wake up at six
thirty and ALWAYS stay out until exactly nine o clock. so the days are long but we are doing work! I LOVE HER! shes awesome (pictures to come)
Really though, quick insert, i was really bummed at the mtc about all that
went down and i prayed and prayed and prayed i would get a good comp
because...i'm gonna be stuck with her for the next..three months probably with
training! and BOOM first prayer, ANSWERED. because she is SOLID. such a gem. she
was once engaged! so that's interesting. but she's here. shes twenty one, and from
utah, and is really good at ...analogies. so our lessons are awesome. i feel
like i'm the holder backer now just cause i don't know anything about the
area / people! but i'm trying my best and we are making a pretty rad
S- team (sister
stucki & sister schramm you get it? cool)
President told us if we are exhausted by the end of the day we are doing it
right.
So clearly...we are doing it right.
He also told us never to Criticize, Complain or Compare. Its true!
Our apartment is by our zone leaders and they have been super
helpful.
funny moment?
Elder G: "hey sister stucki. .how far away do you think that plane
is?"
uhh...hmm...probably like.. a thousand...
"EIGHTEEN MONTHS AWAY!!!!"
....oh......
Yup. i've never heard that one before. it was... pleasant.
People, are crazy. I've had a lot of lessons and talked to a lot of people
so i can't even go through them all. One that was i guess my first little
miracle was with E. mom you're going to have to make up names or change it
to E or something for me okay? before you publish on blog. thanks! cause i'm just
saying it how it is on here, so you be the privacy protector agent..thanks.
So E is... out of money. she is a recent convert and has a miracle baby. she
wanted us to come over and talk / pray because she was going to "lose it". when we
got there..."she lost it". just went off on everything. it was rough. i felt bad.
they needed food, & money, but we knew we couldn't do that. me and sister S. listened... finally we role played with her about saying no to other
people (her friends had stolen from her) anyways we talked for a while she
vented the whole ten yards.
What it came down to was...we asked her to pray. Out loud and to just poor her heart out and ask God for help. it was crazy. she
did it! it was a beautiful prayer, she was honest. and she ended it. and we
opened our eyes thinking "WHAT NOW??" she still didn't have food to feed her
baby. but as soon as we looked at her, she looked up and said
GUYS. I HAD AN
IDEA. we were like uhh what??
and she was like "i just remembered....the relief society gave us all
envelopes...and S (her friend) opened her envelope...and there was a gift
card in there...for Walmart!"
we just kind of sat there and she just began to just remember everything.
anyways we told her to text us if there was one. and there was. she had just enough money to get food and stuff on the card.
God answers our prayers!! he really does.
i had no idea what we were going to do.
Because we cant just go and buy her food every time she needs it. we don't
have that kind of money! and boom. we all had faith God would provide a way, and
he did! he brought the cards to her Remembrance. It was Perfect.
We've ran into so many people. i've already been dropped and ignored and
turned down and...etc etc. All of it. we are awkward people. lots of lessons
have distractions that are really awkward. and people? have lots and lots of
problems. but... we know the gospel can help resolve them. it's just crazy how
much people open up to us ya know???? idk. maybe its not. i think its crazy
though.
I've met tons of people and i love them already. we work a lot with less
actives. and youth. there are a lot of youth. a lot of people are very closed
minded because they already have a religion.but there's always some people that
invite us back. and okay...i really need to work on MY faith. because every time
we talk to someone who has a religion i just am like welp, okay, later. because i
have zero faith they will care. but sometimes they DO CARE. and its crazy. and i
think to myself MAN. good thing i am a member because if i wasn't........i would
NOT have enough faith to invite missionaries into my home and let them teach me
about some religion i've never heard about?! is that bad? well it's true. these
peoples faith, Amazes Me. They are awesome. watching them progress is amazing.
I'm so blessed. and they are blessing me and PROVING to me that its
true...people do need this, the gospel is real. I never saw that before this.
ever.
I really hope this is all making sense. still kinda in a hurry here. I just
can't even tell you about all the experiences i've had in an email it doesn't do
it justice.
So mom.
cool story.
lst night...we visited with S & T they are
our neighbors. we are actually not allowed to proselyte to the neighbors because
it could be against the apartment complex policy. However they have previously
befriended them and they invited us in so we are allowed to. The lady T. received a Book of Mormon a LONG time ago but never really got anywhere. and she recently
had a still born baby. and the elders gave her a bom. because they saw her
outside her apartment ...sad or something?
Anyways. now we teach them. they are a
little older, but so nice. and they have a little girl named ... anyways it
was my first lesson w/ them last night. we talked forever, they are super
friendly i love them. we planned to teach the Restoration but ended up following
up on their bom reading and starting the bom with them. and talking just a
little bit about the basics of the gospel.
But here is where it gets
interesting...she brought up her still born, and how depressed she was, and how shes just starting to come out of it. She seemed very happy to me so this was
interesting. Also mom i hope you don't mind this next part. she kept talking
about it so i just really felt like i should kind of briefly tell moms story? SO
I DID. I just gave a brief little story about your experience and how hard it
was for you...come to find out!!! Teresa actually has five kids too from a
previous marriage or something so BOOM so much in common. already. Anyways, after the story i just basically told her
(i hope you feel the same way because i said) that there is no way our family,
especially my mom could have gotten through that trial without the gospel. i
told her i knew it was true. and i knew and you knew that you would see your
baby again. and i told her I KNEW her baby was safe, and that she would see him
(it was a him) again. her and her husband were both just dead silent. it was
crazy. the daughter was even silent! and i told her about how their baby was perfect,
and hadn't yet reached the age of accountability, and he was okay. and that is a testament to me. because i want to live my life in accordance with Gods
plan so that i can become perfect too, and see my family again. and S. just
said AMEN. it was neat.
Anyways, i told her we are allowed to have skype conversations with our family to teach, so mom maybe we can do that sometime. me, sister S. you and S. & T.? we will have to see how things go with
teaching and get permission but its a possibility. we need to teach them about
priesthood authourity because shes already been baptized so that's the next step. i'll keep you updated if we do it or not. but it was so cool. you'd love
her.
Also my first day in the field i got ANTI-ED. its where one second we are
teaching and then out of no where a seventeen year old boy just runs into his
house, grabs a file and hands it to us with all this anti info / questions. we
gave it to the zone leaders, and didn't read it because it seemed like ever since
we picked it up...we just had bad luck. Plus the theory is...anti stuff doesn't
help! it just questions. if you want answers you have to go to the source, not the anti source. and a testimony can't be built on facts or it won't stand so we
just chucked it.
Oliver Cowdrey had facts. He had seen angels, he had seen artifacts. He had
facts, but he didnt have faith and his testimony didn't stand. Same with Lamen
and Lemuel! They SAW an angel that they couldn't deny. It just DOESN'T WORK. Its
all about faith, and conversion. Plus the zone leaders said Satan was just
trying to stop the work because there's a new missionary out (whadup) and its
true!!! he's definitely tried to discourage me but its kinda cool because i'm
not at all!
Mostly because i got a desk today and its so cute...kidding...also
being serious though....
My first day of church i was 'invited' to give the opening prayer...
how
kind....
we get attacked at church!
i have more stories but idk. idk how appropriate they are to share on this
wonderful little blog of mine. and how personal they are. but...basically..it is
just sad seeing people head off in the wrong direction and KNOWING that. and
knowing you can help but They Won't Listen. that's what i've learned. i've learned
a lot about myself. and time is already flying by. its crazy. i love my companion and
my area and the people i work with. i love Heavenly Father!! he has blessed me
so much, it is UNREAL.
I'm so happy!
I love being a missionary!
My advice to future
missionaries...oh boy.
It's not what you expect! its way different than the MTC.
The thing that has helped me most is understanding.... that I am on the Lords
errand meaning...it's not about ME anymore.
Prepare to be uncomfortable!! Get
awkward. awkwardness humbles people.
It does!! Weird right??? just get used to
it now. also keep an open mind.
People are different.
Rules are
different...everything is different.
Just get used to it. it's the Lords time.
I'm
so blessed. and i'll do whatever it takes to fulfill what the Lord has in store
for me!
It's whats most important, right now.
Also for all y'all back at home..be member missionaries. im almost
convinced the work is EASIER without the badge. no, i know it is. people wont
know whats coming. just attack them with love and the gospel. do it. thats my
invitation to you homebodies.
And remember how blessed you are. There are a lot of people who are REALLY struggling here. I'm the
third transfer (of sisters) in this area EVER. It's a new area. People just
simply don't have all that we have. in a Spiritual sense or a Temporal sense.
Our homes, our families, our religion. Amazing. we are so lucky.
Don't abuse the
privilege, and don't take it for granted. D, E, T, M, & E! Ya little
nuts. Seriously. Our house is a stinking mansion compared to some of these
places. and its new. and its nice. and its clean. (thanks to mom) and its ours (thanks to dad) and WOAHHHH. that is huge. like if you don't understand the
importance and relief of that??? figure it out now!! because it is a struggle
out here. Seriously. it's crazy. and we have Food. that's huge. And we have the Gospel. just Remember that. Not all people have that. And This Is America. i
can't imagine what it is like elsewhere. Just wow.
Well that is enough of me!! I'll send pictures on an sd card after we take
some during p-day in Old town. I love you all!
please please please send
handwritten/printed letters in the mail. I can read them whenever and they make
me smile. and pictures! and tell the family i say hi! and...........................that is all i've got for ya at the moment.
Stay awesome.
i brag about you guys all the time. you're all just so stinking cute.
also if you want your picture on my desk or wall...ya better send it ;)
Stay awesome.
i brag about you guys all the time. you're all just so stinking cute.
also if you want your picture on my desk or wall...ya better send it ;)
k. bye have
a Merry Christmas. Talk to you on Wednesday?!?!?!??!?!?!?!
sister stucki:)
sister stucki:)
December 23, 2013 (via email in Virginia)
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