August 11, 2014
Cheyenne, WY
My priorities have been realigned once again so I am writing my weekly
report first ;) But first, a flashback. One year ago, today, I used my
personal cellphone for the last time, talked to my best friend, now Elder
Oldham, for the last time, then went and ate delicious kettle corn made by Doug
as comfort food :) Later that night I was able to have much of my family gather
around, including grandparents DeFord, to have Bishop Smith and President Call
in my home to be set apart "by the laying on of hands by those who are in
authority, to preach the gospel"
(Ha, bet you never saw the 5th Article of Faith like that before :) Oh, and
what is my missionary textbook called? Preach My Gospel)
We got to hear testimonies from my family, and my dad gave me advice about
being a missionary which I have shared with each of my companions, plus a few ;)
That is just how good the advice was!
Later that night, Adam told me he had wanted to take me to see Despicable
Me 2 but we ran out of time because he was leaving for Scout camp early the next
morning, but we have a date for when I get back ;)
The next day I had a minor freak out (minor, right mom?) about my departure
date from the MTC which had me only being there for 5 days.
Two days after being set apart was goodbye to my family besides Mom and
Michael (who skipped band to come with me!) one stop at the doctor to get a wart
off of my toe literally on our way out of town and a long drive down to Utah
(with stops for ice cream and in Boise to see Peter and Dallas on the way) where
we got to see some of the Ransom family!
Then Wednesday morning took lots of deep breaths before being finally
dropped off by mom and Michael at the MTC into a whirlwind of I didn't know
what.
That whirlwind has continued in different forms for all of the past
year. Probably it will continue for the rest of this life in some way,
shape, or form, as it really was going ever since I became accountable.
However, this is the promise on which I rest, some advice given from a father to
his sons, which they decided to share with others because that is just how good
the advice was!
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our
Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation;
that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his
shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and
his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag
you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye
are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they
cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12)
Speaking of foundations, have you seen the work on the Fort Collins temple
recently? If not http://cameras.liveviewtech.com/network_cameras/public_live_cameras_video/825 there you go!
This week I got to have 3 different companions! Sister Christensen
and I have decided to leave week one and week six of the transfer with no
exchanges in them (hopefully) but that means we have to double up one week, and
this was the lucky week!
Sister Sowder and I had one of those days where everything falls through
but it turns out great anyway, even despite the attack of the flying ants and
the sudden downpour :)
Then Sister Christensen and I were companions long enough to do a training
at our zone meeting, before switching again and I got to bring Sister Cardon
home! (Sister Cardon is from Yakima, by the way:) ). We had a really
neat experience together. There was a potential investigator named J___
who we hadn't gotten ahold of for a while, so we went to see if we could catch
him. Turns out he was going to be moving in a few days so it is a good
thing we caught him then! He has had a rather horrible couple of weeks but
found some peace in talking to us. He really loves Jesus Christ, knows the
Bible, and applies it! He then told us about how he had prayed to ask God
if there was a faith he should be involved with, and the next day was when we
tracted into him for the first time. He prayed again to ask if that was
his answer, and we texted him. Though he is moving to Minnesota he still
wants to learn, and it seems that his life will be taking a turn for the better
there, where he can focus on those spiritual things a little bit more.
Then we had a small world moment as we got a referral from some other
sisters for a man named E___. We went to track down the address and
discovered it was the same place where we had spanglished to someone a few weeks
ago! We haven't gotten ahold of E___ yet, but not to worry, things like
that don't happen on accident ;)
I love you all mucho and can't wait to wear pink with you for TMFWD
tomorrow ;) Try not to get too toasty over there in Washington!
love, Sister Emily DeFord
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