9 Months in, 9 More Months To Go

Hi, Everyone! 

Since January 16th, I hit my half-way mark in my mission. At first, I was excited. Next, I didn't know what to think. Later on, though, I feel a little stressed. This means that I need to work even harder in the work. There are many missionaries who feel the need to slack on their last week in the field, but that is not going to be me!

. . .

One of our investigators came to church with her son. She has been to sacrament meeting enough times to be baptized! She is still thinking about a Baptismal date. 

. . .

In this post, I wanted to state the Missionary Purpose. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, though the 5 basic principles of Christ's Gospel, which include Faith, repentance, Baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. 

I also want to state what goes on within missionary work. 

As missionaries, we visit Active Members, Less-Actives, Potentials, and Former Investigators. We have many teaching records for these people and we also write down what we've taught them, how they responded, and we keep a record of their Book of Mormon reading. As missionaries pass through the area, they get to see what previous missionaries wrote and what they had previously taught.

We..

Wake at 6:30 AM

Exercise until 7:00 AM

Get ready

Eat breakfast at 7:30 AM

Be at studies by 8:00 AM

Personal Study until 9:00 AM

Companion Study until 10:00 AM

12 week training until 11:00 AM (our whole mission is doing the training)

After that, we have Proselyting time until 9:00 PM (or, be in our living quarters by 9:30 PM).

9:00 PM is nightly planning. The next day starts at 9:00 pm. 

In Bed by 10:30 PM.

And it starts over again.

I can honestly say that I feel a little burnt out after 9 months, but I know I must continue in the work. 

Missionaries cannot listen to the radio.

We cannot watch TV.

We cannot look at the Magazines in stores, or read any other books unless they are from the mission library.

We cannot keep pets.

We cannot call home, or talk to home except through emails on Monday (We have 1.5 hours here in my mission) or Mother's Day or on Christmas, for about 40 minutes max. 

We cannot hold children in any way.

We cannot give the opposite gender, hugs. 

We cannot have dinner appointments with the Elders, or sit with them at church. 

We cannot stop and visit other people just "to talk;' It is not allowed to visit Elders to 'just talk,' either.

We cannot visit the beach, and we must be about 2 blocks away. 

We cannot proselyte in businesses. 

We cannot tell you our first names; it's part of the sacredness of the calling.

We cannot Bible-Bash. That drives away the spirit.

We seek to find the elect, those who are ready to accept the message. 

We cannot give council to people with specific problems in their personal lives, or tell them what decisions they need to make (For example: "You should take this medicine!" "You should dye your hair this color!" "You should stop dating this person!" "You should eat a Ham-and-Cheese Sandwich!" ) but we can invite them to come closer to Jesus Christ and the people will receive the revelation they need in their own personal lives; the Lord can help with the choices they need to make in life. 

This is a brief list of what we missionaries do. It helps us to  focus on the work, and I have a testimony of this.  

. . .

The longer I am out, the more the newness wears off. Missionary work is exciting, but not in the same excitement that one may find when going to an amusement park, from receiving a package in the mail, or from going to a new movie that just came out. I am excited about the spiritual progression of other people, and I am excited about how I can help someone out in my mission area. With this excitement is tied with immense love, patience, anticipation, and maturity that only comes from serving a mission. 

. . .

As missionaries, we love receiving letters in the mail. I love receiving letters from my family, even though I've personally received very few.  Our mailman got in an accident about a week ago and this past week we did not receive any letters in the mail. 

. . .

I appreciate every email sent out to me, and every package received. 

Anyways, I miss you all! 

-Sister Marshall 

   

Miracles, Miracles, and More Miracles

This week was a decent week, and I am so grateful for the things that have happened. 

1. Holy Ghost Prompting

- Sister Smart and I stopped by a less active  family and we planned to teach about the Plan of Salvation. The more we taught, I had this impression to ask the wife, who was a convert, "...have you received your patriarchal blessing?" and she said she hadn't. None of her children, not even her husband had one. She said she was afraid to receive one because she didn't know what was going to be in store for her future. I bore my testimony on patriarchal blessings and I have also told her the different I have seen in someone when they hadn't received one, and when they had. There is a huge difference. People are more confident with their everyday dealings in their life, and they also feel like their life has more meaning. They also see God's love and hand in their lives as they see what God promises them in the blessing. 

2. Gospel Changes Lives

- One of the investigators we are teaching came to church; afterwards, she told us that she met with the Bishop and that her and her boyfriend were planning on splitting up and he was moving out so that they could obey the Law of Chastity. She has a strong desire to do what is right and she was the one who requested for that lesson to be taught next. I love both her and her boyfriend and I love their strong desire to follow the Lord.

- We taught a small portion of the Plan of Salvation with an investigator who speaks Korean. By the time we saw her, my companion and I could tell there was some definite change in her life. She seemed a whole lot happier, and she was very excited we were there with Sister Copeland. 

   + When the Jehovah Witnesses called her cellphone, she told her phone, "Nobody here!" when     it continued to ring. I thought that was pretty funny.

   +Sister Copeland bought over the Korean Plan of Salvation Pamphlet. Our investigator was so     excited to understand the reason why Adam and  Eve partook of the fruit:

    "22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

 23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

 24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

 25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:22-25)

Because Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, we now know good from evil, happiness from sadness; we know the opposites of everything around us (There is opposition in all things 2 Nephi 2:11). 

3. I received a package from the Big Rock Ward!

- The package was sent to my last address and it was forwarded to my current address by the Zone leaders. I enjoyed every letter and I loved the goodies inside. That really made my day! Sadly, the ornament did not make it but I appreciate it all the same. 

4. I bought a Wedding Planner

- I felt like it was appropriate for me to buy a wedding planner since I am getting married on December 1st 2015 in the Seattle Temple (which is actually in Bellevue). The book is great; I wondered if they have an LDS planner (but I couldn't check because I can't use the web to look things up on my mission) but I think the planner I bought will be what I need. 

- Rehearsal dinner? Bachelor/Bachelorette parties? Renting out a place that costs money? I don't think so! The Temple's free!

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On the Contrary...

I have been having bad headaches lately that have lasted for more than a few hours. On Saturday, I have one that started from later in the morning, to in the evening. I've taken Ibuprofen and at first, it did not do anything for me. The second time I took Ibuprofen, I upped the dose, and then it worked at least 4 hours after I took it. 

I hope I can find out what exactly is causing my headaches! 

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I love each of you!

-Sister Marshall 

Transfer #7

The destroying angel passed by this apartment on the day of Transfer calls and no one got a transfer call. My companion and I get to stay in Williamsburg for another Transfer, which will end a few days after Valentine's Day. 

There has been a great amount of miracles this week. One of our investigators told us that she wanted to schedule an appointment with the Bishop because she had a lot of repenting to do. She also said that she has this strong desire to teach the gospel in the church to the younger children, and she cannot get this thought out of her head. 

Another great thing that happened this week was that her boyfriend came to church (a returning less active) and he came by himself. That takes a lot of  confidence to sit alone, and it also shows true conversion to go alone to church.

Something that is not on the spiritual side of things was I was given a 1998 Furby for free from Restore. In the one I work at on Tuesdays, they do not sell toys; I was told that someone had dropped off the Furby and the Training Booklet. By the time I got home from Restore, I put batteries in and I was surprised that it works. My last two Furbies I had in my childhood eventually broke and the voice stopped working, but it continued to function. 

Also, when missionaries are given a Furby, I have discovered that a Furby is a great Role Playing tool with the "yes/no" answer game. The Jamestown Sisters, my companion and I asked it questions which pertained to the Gospel. I am glad that Furby has a strong testimony of Joseph Smith (this session is recorded from my recorder). What is pretty cool, too, is that we had 30 seconds to answer, and so we were able to practice asking short, but inspired questions. We tightened up our lengthy questions, and made them more direct. It was great!

But, as much as I used to like the Furby 17 years ago, this toy really creeps me out. It has scared every one of us sisters when it randomly turns on. 

. . .

Church now starts at 9:00 am instead of 1:00 pm. I got ready early with 20 minutes to spare and I used that time to read the Book of Mormon. I felt very refreshed and I got about an hour and 20 minutes of extra studying time. 

. . .

During this past transfer, I learned something that I felt like I didn't learn before. Regardless of how exactly obedient my companion and I are, there is not a direct correlation with Exact obedience and Numbers. Sister Smart is such a great companion; we get along well, we try our best in the work, and we teach great together, and yet the numbers are not high. Our Mission President told us that it's not about the numbers. We still touch lives, even if it cannot be written on paper.  

. . .

New Years Eve: 

The sisters bought Pizza and Sister Thornton face painted the other two sisters' faces. I wrote in my journal, looked up scriptures, took a nap, and made gluten-free brownies. 

...

A boy texted us and said he was interested in taking the lessons. He said that he was the boy we just finished talking to and we were in our apartment having our studies. Apparently, some members had been doing their missionary work and he thought he was talking to one of the girls that visited him. It was a funny yet interesting situation. We thought the Jamestown sisters had given them our number by mistake, since they were going to church at a later time. We haven't heard back from him after we asked him who he talked to last, but hopefully we haven't scared him. 

This is all I can say for now. 

Miss y'all!

-Sister Marshall