Hey Mom!! Everything sounds busy as always. I love the updates on everyone. I'm glad we could help Sister Rasmussen out. (Ashley was able to request the recipe of Aunt Jolene's Hot Fudge Sauce through Sister Rasmussen's email). She does so much for the mission and sometimes gets stuck with what to fix especially since she has 45 missionaries going home this transfer. Transfers are March 11th. I'm not sure if I'm staying or moving, Part of me feels that my time is up, but there are so many good things happening that I want to stay and help with!!
Monday- We went out tracting while we waited for the sister training leaders to come for exchanges. We prayed before we started knocking and within the first 10-15 minutes we found a guy that loves America, has been to Temple Square and let us come by the next day. That night we started working on Jake's baptism.
Tuesday- We had a lesson with Jake and then a lesson with Prem, the guy we found Monday night. It went really good and we got a new investigator for the first time on my mission.
Wednesday- We went to Jose's and had dinner at George and Audrey's. We weren't the most diligent that day and we knew it and felt bad by the end of the day, but we were doing some street contacting that night and decided to turn down Wylde Green Road. Both of us had the thought, so we thought we have to do it. So as we were walking I turned to look behind us and there was a scary guy not too far behind. Sister Sorensen picked up a rock just in case. There are a lot of fields on both sides of Wylde Green Rd (it was stupid to walk there at night) so we started walking really fast. We saw a big fat dead rat in the gutters, it was like a foot long. We looked behind us and the guy was still there, just not as close, so we kept walking. We walked the entire road. Its about 1 1/2 miles at least. Then we walked about a mile down Birmingham Rd to Penns Lane and then the mile down Penns Lane (that's where the mission office is). The guy wasn't behind us any more at that point, but it was the quickest way home. We were laughing so hard at our stupidity, knowing that Heavenly Father was teaching us a lesson. If you don't work in the day, he will make you work at night. We were late getting in and probably walked 5 miles or more that night and had a few blisters on my feet. But, oh well, we learned our lesson haha.
Thursday- We had district meeting but before that, Jake called to say he didn't feel ready for his baptism. We decided to scratch our plans to go to Castle Vale that afternoon and we studied for Jake before we had our dinner with the Burts. We had your recipe for Creamy Italian Crock pot chicken that she asked for in email, but it was bit different. They don't have the Italian dressing seasoning packets so she improvised. She used cream of mushroom soup and made cilantro lime rice. It was still good, and had a lot of flavor. Then Jake came to their house to talk and we figured out some of his concerns. We left him with a scripture to read and told him to pray to see if he should get baptized the next day. We were tired after that day.
Friday- We met with Jake that morning and we talked about Joseph Smith, specifically before he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ - when Satan came. We read over it and then I read the first two paragraphs from "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" by Elder Holland. Then we were able to compare it to the scripture he read the night before (Matt 14:25-33) where Peter walks on water. He still felt that he should wait to get baptized, but wants to do it sooner than he had expressed the night before. We committed him to pray for help to be ready soon. He brought his friend Aaron and so we taught a part of the Restoration while teaching to Jake's needs. Jake has been sharing some things with Aaron and Aaron really liked what we had to say. He said it was powerful and wants to learn more! We don't want to count him as a new investigator just yet. We want one more lesson with him, and then we will. We were helping Sis Rasmussen with a meeting that Sister Leiss was in and so Jake wanted to stay. Sister Rasmussen took them under her wing and they stayed the whole time. They chatted with a bunch of missionaries and ate the food. It was really good! We got a picture so I'll attach it. Jake is the blond one and Aaron is the super tall one. We had dinner at the Fisher's. Then we found out our toilet had leaked so much that water was running into the flat below us. So we rushed home and had to take care of that. The plumber came at 9 and fixed it, but we were scared that we weren't going to have water for the whole night. We were so thankful to have the housing senior missionaries living next door to us. They were a great help!! Our carpet is still wet, and it isn't the most pleasant smell, but it was clean water. We have fans going on it all the time and windows open to help with the smell. It gets cold, but oh well. Oh and our landlord isn't the biggest help either.
Saturday- We had lunch at Jose's and then went to Worcester (pronounce "wooster" with a soft o sound) for one of Sister Sorensen's investigator's baptisms. Anywhere I go I seem to offend people with my last name and how we pronounce it. Its kinda annoying. President McKay even asked the Scottish to pronounce it the way we do if we come from America, and still they get all huffy about it. Oh well. so that took all our time. haha
Sunday- Jake told us about running into their friend Harry (that we GQed) at a party and how he was so drunk. So he and Aaron took him home and as they were taking him home he turned to Jake and said "We need to meet with the sisters on Monday!" Then he turned to Aaron and said "And Aaron, you need to come too and meet them." Harry didn't know Aaron had already met us, haha, but we were laughing at that. As I have been thinking about how this has all just happened to happen, I don't think it was an accident. Jake needs support from people he trusts and his dad isn't giving it to him. He has such a solid group of friends. I believe that Jake needs to wait so we can get Aaron and Harry involved, too. Right now I am just praying to help Heavenly Father in his plan and to be His instrument so that everything will work out and these boys will be able to join the church and have all the happiness that comes with it!
Well, I love it here. I'm excited to see what happens. Thanks for all your prayers!!
Love you all,
Sister MacKay
Ps This other picture is of my mission family: from left to right its Sister Marshall (my mission sister. Sister Leiss is training her right now) Then me! Then Sister Leiss (my mission mom) and then Sister Sorensen (my current comp and my mission aunt, she and Sister Leiss were trained by the same sister).
Monday- We went out tracting while we waited for the sister training leaders to come for exchanges. We prayed before we started knocking and within the first 10-15 minutes we found a guy that loves America, has been to Temple Square and let us come by the next day. That night we started working on Jake's baptism.
Tuesday- We had a lesson with Jake and then a lesson with Prem, the guy we found Monday night. It went really good and we got a new investigator for the first time on my mission.
Wednesday- We went to Jose's and had dinner at George and Audrey's. We weren't the most diligent that day and we knew it and felt bad by the end of the day, but we were doing some street contacting that night and decided to turn down Wylde Green Road. Both of us had the thought, so we thought we have to do it. So as we were walking I turned to look behind us and there was a scary guy not too far behind. Sister Sorensen picked up a rock just in case. There are a lot of fields on both sides of Wylde Green Rd (it was stupid to walk there at night) so we started walking really fast. We saw a big fat dead rat in the gutters, it was like a foot long. We looked behind us and the guy was still there, just not as close, so we kept walking. We walked the entire road. Its about 1 1/2 miles at least. Then we walked about a mile down Birmingham Rd to Penns Lane and then the mile down Penns Lane (that's where the mission office is). The guy wasn't behind us any more at that point, but it was the quickest way home. We were laughing so hard at our stupidity, knowing that Heavenly Father was teaching us a lesson. If you don't work in the day, he will make you work at night. We were late getting in and probably walked 5 miles or more that night and had a few blisters on my feet. But, oh well, we learned our lesson haha.
Thursday- We had district meeting but before that, Jake called to say he didn't feel ready for his baptism. We decided to scratch our plans to go to Castle Vale that afternoon and we studied for Jake before we had our dinner with the Burts. We had your recipe for Creamy Italian Crock pot chicken that she asked for in email, but it was bit different. They don't have the Italian dressing seasoning packets so she improvised. She used cream of mushroom soup and made cilantro lime rice. It was still good, and had a lot of flavor. Then Jake came to their house to talk and we figured out some of his concerns. We left him with a scripture to read and told him to pray to see if he should get baptized the next day. We were tired after that day.
Friday- We met with Jake that morning and we talked about Joseph Smith, specifically before he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ - when Satan came. We read over it and then I read the first two paragraphs from "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" by Elder Holland. Then we were able to compare it to the scripture he read the night before (Matt 14:25-33) where Peter walks on water. He still felt that he should wait to get baptized, but wants to do it sooner than he had expressed the night before. We committed him to pray for help to be ready soon. He brought his friend Aaron and so we taught a part of the Restoration while teaching to Jake's needs. Jake has been sharing some things with Aaron and Aaron really liked what we had to say. He said it was powerful and wants to learn more! We don't want to count him as a new investigator just yet. We want one more lesson with him, and then we will. We were helping Sis Rasmussen with a meeting that Sister Leiss was in and so Jake wanted to stay. Sister Rasmussen took them under her wing and they stayed the whole time. They chatted with a bunch of missionaries and ate the food. It was really good! We got a picture so I'll attach it. Jake is the blond one and Aaron is the super tall one. We had dinner at the Fisher's. Then we found out our toilet had leaked so much that water was running into the flat below us. So we rushed home and had to take care of that. The plumber came at 9 and fixed it, but we were scared that we weren't going to have water for the whole night. We were so thankful to have the housing senior missionaries living next door to us. They were a great help!! Our carpet is still wet, and it isn't the most pleasant smell, but it was clean water. We have fans going on it all the time and windows open to help with the smell. It gets cold, but oh well. Oh and our landlord isn't the biggest help either.
Saturday- We had lunch at Jose's and then went to Worcester (pronounce "wooster" with a soft o sound) for one of Sister Sorensen's investigator's baptisms. Anywhere I go I seem to offend people with my last name and how we pronounce it. Its kinda annoying. President McKay even asked the Scottish to pronounce it the way we do if we come from America, and still they get all huffy about it. Oh well. so that took all our time. haha
Sunday- Jake told us about running into their friend Harry (that we GQed) at a party and how he was so drunk. So he and Aaron took him home and as they were taking him home he turned to Jake and said "We need to meet with the sisters on Monday!" Then he turned to Aaron and said "And Aaron, you need to come too and meet them." Harry didn't know Aaron had already met us, haha, but we were laughing at that. As I have been thinking about how this has all just happened to happen, I don't think it was an accident. Jake needs support from people he trusts and his dad isn't giving it to him. He has such a solid group of friends. I believe that Jake needs to wait so we can get Aaron and Harry involved, too. Right now I am just praying to help Heavenly Father in his plan and to be His instrument so that everything will work out and these boys will be able to join the church and have all the happiness that comes with it!
Well, I love it here. I'm excited to see what happens. Thanks for all your prayers!!
Love you all,
Sister MacKay
Ps This other picture is of my mission family: from left to right its Sister Marshall (my mission sister. Sister Leiss is training her right now) Then me! Then Sister Leiss (my mission mom) and then Sister Sorensen (my current comp and my mission aunt, she and Sister Leiss were trained by the same sister).