Leaving the "bubble"...
familia,
this week Brother B*, our teacher, pulled me and my comp out because we were really struggling with our teaching. he gave us a couple scriptures told us to pray about it yada yada the usual. anyways, we gave an awesome lesson. afterwards he talked with us and was just WOWED. because in all his teaching nobody has ever gotten that far with his 'portrayed investigator.' he said he really felt the spirit so strong and that usually his 'investigator' doesn't open up that much but we are just awesome. it was a cool experience.
my other teacher Brother F* pulled me out one day and talked to me about *****
i leave at two thirty a.m. tonight for dc. well...sorta. like we sit at the
airport for like five hours. but I'll get their eventually. we make a pit stop
in Minneapolis or something. THEN I'M THERE. holla. its unreal. time went by so
fast. hopefully I'm ready for this?!?! JK. I've learned a lot. like an
unbelievable amount. the thing is though... i have forgotten that the real world
exists. and that it's almost Christmas. and that i have a family. and that there
is Internet and cell phones. whaaat???? yeah. it's unreal. i live in a
bubble here. so stoked to see the real world. /nervous. but whatever. I'm so down
right now. i can't wait to meet my Mission President that's what I'm looking
forward to the most.
Elder C.* gave a talk that said a lot of times when they assign missions they assign you to a Mission President you would work well with rather than a 'mission area.' i feel like that's me. i really think I'm gonna learn a lot from President Riggs... i know he is who I'm supposed to be working under at this time in my life, idk, i just feel it. even though i hear he is like very disciplined and strongly dislikes abbreviations and is a lawyer haha..... and I'm like...not....i feel like I'm going to learn so much from him. I'm excited.
Elder C.* gave a talk that said a lot of times when they assign missions they assign you to a Mission President you would work well with rather than a 'mission area.' i feel like that's me. i really think I'm gonna learn a lot from President Riggs... i know he is who I'm supposed to be working under at this time in my life, idk, i just feel it. even though i hear he is like very disciplined and strongly dislikes abbreviations and is a lawyer haha..... and I'm like...not....i feel like I'm going to learn so much from him. I'm excited.
so this week I've learned lots of good stuff. its kind of flown by. i
talked to Elder DH*, he says hi dylan! he said they had a good talk one
time and told me all about it. also i told him to email you and uhhh straighten
you out ;) he said you're a good guy and he knows you're gonna go far in life.
so... do it. ;)
this week Brother B*, our teacher, pulled me and my comp out because we were really struggling with our teaching. he gave us a couple scriptures told us to pray about it yada yada the usual. anyways, we gave an awesome lesson. afterwards he talked with us and was just WOWED. because in all his teaching nobody has ever gotten that far with his 'portrayed investigator.' he said he really felt the spirit so strong and that usually his 'investigator' doesn't open up that much but we are just awesome. it was a cool experience.
my other teacher Brother F* pulled me out one day and talked to me about *****
he said he knew i was here for a reason, and this
was it. so i felt kind of dumb and a little humbled considering.....***** but i mean... idk. the quote came to my head that i heard
in a fireside "Lord i will take whatever work you have for me." and its true....
even if it doesn't seem like exactly what i was called to do...idk .... there's
something we can take and learn from everyone. I'm trying my best.
dad- hahaha I'm kind of laughing at your little 'experience' at first i
kind of thought you did it on purpose buuuuutttt that's not you ;) i know you
probably already know this but ITS OKAY. there is a reason for everything. i would
have felt pretty dumb too,but everyone who knows you knows you are always the
first to show up and the last to leave. you're an extremely dedicated person,
and i love it. even though it was probs kind of embarrassing..... the Lord knows
you and knows your heart and understands. i was reading Grandpa Stucki's
journal / history you sent me and he said (quote) "For the first time I wondered
about my relationship with the Savior, and whether my dedication was to him or
the church." I thought that was really interesting. but its true. i mean... the Savior knows you, and that's all that really matters.
*****
so funny story. we play this really fun game where we sit in sacrament and
all of the sudden the branch president gets up and just calls you out of the
audience to speak in church. but before he does that he interviews you and tells
you how he has been continually impressed by you and knows that you are going to
make an amazing missionary and that you probably have an awesome family back at
home and he makes you feel all good about yourself and then while you're just
sitting there in the audience hes just like hey, sis stucki, come up here and
share your thoughts for ten minutes about the atonement, and you just kind of
turn around and look for another sister stucki but nobody gets up? yeah its a
really fun game.
moral of the story: I spoke in church on Sunday. it was pretty cool though because i used grandpa stucki's stories out of his journal about the man named Tim and related it to the atonement and used his mission experience and stuff so make sure somebody tells him thanks for me! his book is awesome and quite frankly i would have failed at speaking if i hadn't had it with me. i also gave a quote at the end by Elder Holland about being good enough and not sinking past the infinite atonement of Christ, its a really good quote, i think everyone was crying. EXCEPT ME. yup holla i did it without shedding a single tear, just a few uhhh voice breaks. its fine. it was awesome. i felt like the spirit was way strong. soooooo yeah i think my branch pres likes me a 'lil.
moral of the story: I spoke in church on Sunday. it was pretty cool though because i used grandpa stucki's stories out of his journal about the man named Tim and related it to the atonement and used his mission experience and stuff so make sure somebody tells him thanks for me! his book is awesome and quite frankly i would have failed at speaking if i hadn't had it with me. i also gave a quote at the end by Elder Holland about being good enough and not sinking past the infinite atonement of Christ, its a really good quote, i think everyone was crying. EXCEPT ME. yup holla i did it without shedding a single tear, just a few uhhh voice breaks. its fine. it was awesome. i felt like the spirit was way strong. soooooo yeah i think my branch pres likes me a 'lil.
i sent boxes to my mission home and to my home home. it only costed like 14
bucks so that was cool.
funny story: the elders told me what they did........ there was another
elder 'looking' at me appearently and so they were like 'hey. elder. keep your
eyes to yourself. shes OUR sister.' WHAT?!?!??!?!?! my elders are so weird. i
like em though. they make me laugh. half of our district left today!!! it was so
sad. i miss em. i think i already told you that. umm also the other day i got
confronted by an elder who wanted me to talk to his comp. and my district made
me do it so i wasn't being rude. so i did. i just was like hi where are you going
on your mish etc etc just trying to be nice and not awk and he turned bright
red??? i guess he must just really see the light of Christ in my eyes. the mtc
is a total pick up zone. I'm excited to get out in the mish field. elders are the
weirdest species of human known to man. true story. don't talk to them. their
odd. sorry. for telling that story. haha. it was funny. anyways.............
they've been calling me bdog. and I've just assumed its because i have so much
swag but apparently bdog stands for 'beautiful daughter of god' not sure how i
feel about it yet. thankfully I'm leaving tomorrow ;) whoo!
fun fact: the one millionth missionary left 175 years after the very first
missionary. so one million missionaries in 175 years. that's cool whatever. well
in twenty five years we will hit another million!!! crazy huh? missionaries are
kinda cool.
so i taught my first less active. it was crazy she was all up in my biz
about controversial subjects such as a.) poligomy b.) blacks holding the
priesthood and c.) (ready for this???) GAY MARRAIGE. yeah. like they don't teach
us what to say to that here?!?!?!?!? so i asked her to pray about it and such
but she acted all like 'yeah right' so i kind of just told her what dad told me
when i was all up in his biz about it ;) i told her about the struggles and
hardships of the early saints, and i explained poligomy today is much different
than it was at that time. then it was a commandment, now its drifted off to
become something different. i explained the flds church kind of like the
apostacy and how so many different churches broke off and had SOME correct
knowledge but not the full and restored gospel. i used the 'game of telephone'
analogy. how when you say something and it gets passed around it comes out
totally different because people alter the truth. not necessarily intentionally
but... because it just HAPPENS. it helped her alot.. hopefully this is making
sense. you could see her face kind of light up like oh that makes sense. so that
solved that one.
with the priesthood thing, i got all into US history about slavery and the nation falling apart and how god knows us better than we do and he knew when it would be the correct time. i explained to her that everyone who didn't have the opportunity would have it in the next life and etc etc. she loved that. because of temple work and stuff. it was way cool. now as i was approaching the next subject she stopped me and said thank you for helping her and she understood and loved it and etc etc
and then she stopped....and teared up...and said 'but how am i supposed to tell my homosexual brother, and his transgender wife, that what they are doing is wrong." she started bawling. I STARTED BAWLING. a little bit. i tried to hold myself together but WHAT?!?!?!??! seriously. they do not teach you what to say to this kind of stuff???? me and my comp kind of looked at eachother and she was just crying and crying and i just really felt like i should tell her how much god loves her. so i did. she stopped and looked at me and just listened. keep in mind, shes already a member just less active so it all kind of came back to her as i explained the atonement, and agency. i explained that god knows us and he loves us. even her brother. that people are not perfect, but the gospel is. that her relationship with Christ is her choice and she can't let anyone else alter that. that god knows her brothers trials and struggles he goes through, and GOD will be the one to judge him, not us.
i think that really helped her. i don't know any scriptures or doctrine about that kind of stuff but i personally believe god wont just ' <bad word> people to hell' ive never really been taught about this kind of stuff and i personally don't understand much at all about gays or homosexuals, but i DO KNOW, for a fact that god loves us. and Christ understands all that we have been through....and when the day comes that her brother enters in to christs presence...i think he will understand and have the choice to change. ya know? i mean.... yes, making those changes NOW and going through that repentence process NOW puts us in a much better place....but i don't know her brother, i don't know his heart, but i do know god loves him and by mercy and grace he will have the oppurtunity to choose righteousness. ya know?
i hope that was okay to say. that's the hardest part about being a misisonary is making sure you say the right thing. because now that I'm thinking about it I'm like what the heck did i tell that woman? but at the time...the spirit was so strong and i was guided in what i was saying...because it definitely wasn't just ME TALKING. it was probably one of the cooler experiences ever in my life. i can't and wont ever forget that one. wow. that girl was a trooper. i didn't know her,,, i was only with her for an hour. but i really loved her. she was awesome. and i understand. its hard watching a brother kind of veer off the path that you KNOW to be true. ya know? she loves him. i understand that. its hard. but all you can do is love them. and i told her that. and we just cried. it as awesome. i needed a good cry sesh because you have no time to cry here. seriously.
with the priesthood thing, i got all into US history about slavery and the nation falling apart and how god knows us better than we do and he knew when it would be the correct time. i explained to her that everyone who didn't have the opportunity would have it in the next life and etc etc. she loved that. because of temple work and stuff. it was way cool. now as i was approaching the next subject she stopped me and said thank you for helping her and she understood and loved it and etc etc
and then she stopped....and teared up...and said 'but how am i supposed to tell my homosexual brother, and his transgender wife, that what they are doing is wrong." she started bawling. I STARTED BAWLING. a little bit. i tried to hold myself together but WHAT?!?!?!??! seriously. they do not teach you what to say to this kind of stuff???? me and my comp kind of looked at eachother and she was just crying and crying and i just really felt like i should tell her how much god loves her. so i did. she stopped and looked at me and just listened. keep in mind, shes already a member just less active so it all kind of came back to her as i explained the atonement, and agency. i explained that god knows us and he loves us. even her brother. that people are not perfect, but the gospel is. that her relationship with Christ is her choice and she can't let anyone else alter that. that god knows her brothers trials and struggles he goes through, and GOD will be the one to judge him, not us.
i think that really helped her. i don't know any scriptures or doctrine about that kind of stuff but i personally believe god wont just ' <bad word> people to hell' ive never really been taught about this kind of stuff and i personally don't understand much at all about gays or homosexuals, but i DO KNOW, for a fact that god loves us. and Christ understands all that we have been through....and when the day comes that her brother enters in to christs presence...i think he will understand and have the choice to change. ya know? i mean.... yes, making those changes NOW and going through that repentence process NOW puts us in a much better place....but i don't know her brother, i don't know his heart, but i do know god loves him and by mercy and grace he will have the oppurtunity to choose righteousness. ya know?
i hope that was okay to say. that's the hardest part about being a misisonary is making sure you say the right thing. because now that I'm thinking about it I'm like what the heck did i tell that woman? but at the time...the spirit was so strong and i was guided in what i was saying...because it definitely wasn't just ME TALKING. it was probably one of the cooler experiences ever in my life. i can't and wont ever forget that one. wow. that girl was a trooper. i didn't know her,,, i was only with her for an hour. but i really loved her. she was awesome. and i understand. its hard watching a brother kind of veer off the path that you KNOW to be true. ya know? she loves him. i understand that. its hard. but all you can do is love them. and i told her that. and we just cried. it as awesome. i needed a good cry sesh because you have no time to cry here. seriously.
so people have been leaving and going home. an elder in our zone left this
week it was...sad. you could feel the emptiness he left. he was an awesome guy.
when he left he wished us all the best of luck, shook our hands and told us we'd
meet again. i hope he's doing okay. we sure loved him.
alright so onto the next subject things i potentially might need in the
future but not right now because i have alotta junk i gotta haul around: a
calandar. i literally have no idea what the date is. i forgot christmas is this
month. i forgot months were even a thing. i need a calandar.
my retainer...my teeth are going crooked (i bet your mental image
of me is way cute right now haha) PENS. i neeeeed pens. they literally run away
from me. stamps. always need stamps. uhh hot wings pringles and gold fish. nail
polish/remover. SOCKS. i always lose socks. and a nail file. but i mean those
are just ideas of things I've realized i dont have. if you get bored. I'll try
to think of other stuff considering i can get most of that here. i don think I've
really spent any money while being here mostly I've just used my card they gave
us. i've used a little bit of cash though for those packages, i had to buy a new
pmg cause i lost mine... ughhhhh. yeah. but other than
that?? not really. I'll use the credit card for my bags hopefully they weigh
under fifty cross your fingers?!?!
Now advice for you homegirls out there wanting to serve:
My Branch President gave me this. Three NEVERS:
NEVER leave your companion
NEVER leave mission boundries
NEVER break mission rules
and your set.
It sounds cliche and easy but seriously.....dc is insane. If you want the
protection and safety and miracles!!! that happen....do what it says. obedience
is key to serving a mission. I love it. I love being a missionary. Hopefully the
'real world' doesn't kill me. But like i don't wanna brag or anything but I've
been a boss at dealing with all this CHANGE. i did't think i would be good at it
considering I've lived in stg my whole life and any change that happens i start
hallucinating and going insane..no kidding. but uh seriously. i feel like I've
done a pretty good job at adapting thus far so hopefully that continues. Now i
leave you with uh my love and prayers cause i gotta go get that laundry done its
comin' in hot.
Love you all. Keep writing and etc. i love hearing from all ya'll. I have
such an awesome family. Honestly, every chance i get i rip out my family
pictures and brag about everyone one of my siblings. Seriously i think everyone's
so jealous because we are all so dang good lookin' and just awesome!!!!
Everybody here knows like everything about my brothers and sister and parents and boyfriend. Sorry not sorry. I'm just a lucky lil girl right here!!! Super
blessed. I have some amazing people in my life.
Also, everyone reading this. I love hearing cool experiences and stories
and being able to share them with comps, and investigators. So please send them
my way. (mailed letters would be nice so i can keep them) they help a ton and
its a cool experience for sure. So plz send! Love you all keep being awesome.
Read you're boms and pray and do good stuff. Happy holidays??? whenever they
are....................whatever you're doing...send me lots of pictures and tell
me all about it!!!
I LOVE YOU GUYS TELL EVERYONE HI FOR ME AND STUFF AND SEND PICS THATS ALL I
GOTTA BLAST BYE TELL ELI I HEARD A TRAIN AND IT WAS AWESOME AND I MISS HIM SO
STINKING MUCH. K MY LAUNDRY IS LITERALLY SCREAMING MY NAME BYE
love sista stook
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
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