So Many Things to be Thankful For

So many things from this past week to be grateful for!

Last Monday, Iowa decided that it was time for winter and so all of our winter layers have been coming out and are being used!  But it is great!  There is a thrill that comes as you share the gospel in the frigid cold.  It's wonderful, because some people look at you like, you are crazy, which we may or may not be, and then others are really nice and allow you to step inside to warm up for a little bit, or they even make you hot chocolate and send you on your way!  Also, when it is cold and it snows we come home to a sweet message/note written on the driveway from the wonderful family that we live with!

Tuesday we decided that we were going to look for a place to volunteer at regularly, so that morning we looked all over and were at a loss, because the majority of our area is residential. So while we were home for lunch we asked Sister R. if she knew of any place we could volunteer at, and she thought of a nursing home that she had taken the young women to last year and they had been really welcoming to them.  So we decided to give it a try and it was so neat.  The activities director was so excited for us to offer to volunteer.  She mentioned how she has been there for over a year and has tried and tried to get someone to volunteer and how we were God sent.  We are going to be volunteering in the memory unit, and helping with activities there!  The entire staff was very welcoming and appreciative of us.  It was so nice, because not once did we get the look of "what are the Mormons doing here." The next day we were able to volunteer for the first time, and one of the CNA's came and sat at our table where we were painting the patients nails and she started asking questions about our church and how she has been looking for a church!

Tuesday night, Jenna, one of the Young women, came out with us and so since it was freezing we decided to go finding in an apartment building.  Before entering the building we determined that we wanted to start on the 3rd floor.  So we met a few people and then at the last door that we knocked on, on the 3rd floor, a woman answered the door and then kind of surprised she says, "You aren't my in-laws. I was expecting my in-laws." Anyways we continued to talk with her and shared briefly about the Restoration of the Gospel and how it will bless her family!  She then said that her oldest son, Noah who is 14 asks a lot of questions and how she knows that we were sent to her to help answer some of her son's questions!

Jenna is Greg's girlfriend and so we asked her if she knew when Greg wanted to be baptized, because we figured if Greg had told anyone, he would have told her, but she didn't know.  Now, a little background on Greg:  He started coming to church last year around this time, and has had the discussions, attends mutual, and seminary, has his entire baptismal program planned,  he could teach us the missionary lessons as well as we can, and all his friends at school are members.  So we (us and the entire ward) have been waiting for when Greg will let us know when he wants to be baptized. Anyways, we encouraged Jenna to help encourage Greg to share his baptismal date that he had selected.

After we dropped off Jenna, we decided to go back to the apartments that we had been knocking on earlier and to try the building behind it.  So we go in and the first person that answered wasn't interested and we started walking down the hallway, and one of the tenants was walking towards his apartment.  We stopped him and asked if we could give him a mormon.org card. Turns out, he loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and has all of their albums!

Thursday, we had lunch with one of the Sisters who just moved into the ward two weeks ago! Afterwards we were able to go to the mission office and set up the Christmas Decorations!!  We then stopped by Charlie's who Sister Chirinos and Sister Whipple met on exchanges.  She was home and allowed us to come in!  It was such an amazing lesson because it felt like we were able to tailor the lesson to her and the Spirit was way strong. She kept mentioning how she felt God's presence and how she couldn't wait to share the pamphlet with her daughter!

Thursday evening we were able to have a lesson with Carlie, at a young medical student family's house!  Haha, the family has 3 sons and Carlie brought Maverick (5 months) and so there were a lot of distractions, but it was wonderful to have Carlie meet some of the members, and make friends in the ward!  I think one of my favorite parts was when the members asked Carlie what her story was and how she started meeting with the missionaries!  It was so fun to hear her story and when we saw her on Friday, we told her that she will be telling that story for the rest of her life!   She said that that was something that she could live with!

Friday we had our mission tour Zone Conference with Elder Craig A. Cardon of the 70!  It was wonderful!  We were able to hear from President and Sister Jensen, as well as Elder and Sister Cardon!  Sister Jensen spoke on Gratitude and seeing the Lord's hand in our lives!  How grateful I am for all of you who have helped support me throughout my life and especially throughout my mission! There is such a strength that comes from the support and prayers of others!  I remember very vividly the very first night at the MTC and kneeling down to say a prayer before bed, and physically feeling the support of the prayers of faithful saints across the world who pray daily for the missionaries!
President Jensen spoke on the Book of Mormon and making sure that we always have a burning, beaming testimony of the Book of Mormon!

Sister Cardon spoke on working in companionships and having unity within companionships.

Elder Cardon spoke on the organization of the 70, and the church in general.  As well as learning from the patterns in the scriptures!  He also spoke on the revelation and process of an apostle of the Lord assigning mission calls, as well as the revelation that comes to a mission president in determining the companionships and areas in which you serve.
 
Elder Cardon then role played for us, getting the head of the household to have a kneeling prayer at the end of the first lesson.  He said that as we apply the principles that he demonstrated that almost without fail the head of the household will pray. . . . Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to put it to the test.  We had had a fairly rough lesson.  It had started out great, and the middle was really rough, but then we applied almost exactly what Elder Cardon had told us for the prayer, and sure enough Charlie prayed at the end of the lesson!

At church on Sunday, Tommy came with the two sons!  And he loved it!  It was so fun to see them at church and I am so excited for Stake Conference next weekend, that way Carlie can attend the Saturday evening session with Tommy!  Not only did Tommy come to church, but after Sacrament meeting, Jenna's dad told us that we needed to talk with Greg. . . We headed over to Greg and he said that he wants to be baptized on December 13th!!!!!!!!!  The entire ward was so excited!  And Greg had asked the young men's president to baptize him!  We had dinner with the young men's president after church and so it was exciting!  The only problem is that it is about 10 days too late, but the members said that they'll skype me or that we'll work out some way that I can watch the baptism!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Call