Week 63: 10/27/14

October 27, 2014

Cheyenne, WY

 

We began an experiment this week with a household, that we are really excited about and are hoping to try with another family in the coming week.  Sometimes people have a really hard time getting in to reading the scriptures/praying regularly, and without those it is really hard to progress.  So Sister Grammer and I decided spur of the moment like to go to the A_____/R_____/L___ house and simply tell them that we were going to come over every day for a week and read a chapter in the scriptures with them.  Our visits would be short and that would be the whole point.  (The idea of this being that by implementing just one aspect of the gospel daily they will begin to see a change from it and have a desire for more.)  So far it has been going pretty well!

 

Actually on one day we had a pretty long visit because we helped A_____ and L___ make dog cookies for A_____'s work!  That was really fun and gave us a chance to talk about a lot of things, as well as read our chapter.  L___ just moved in with R_____ and A_____ a month or so ago, and has just sat in whenever we come over, it was really impressive when we asked him for a recap on the chapter, how much he actually paid attention and followed what was going on.

 

And yes, we did try a little bit of the dog cookie dough, just to see if it was any good ;)

 

Speaking of brief lessons, that also allowed us to have a new investigator this week!  V_______ is someone who I have just started to love since we met her last transfer on exchanges.  She is also someone you can just see is ready for the gospel.  It is hard to schedule things with her, but since we stopped by one morning with a plan for a short visit she let us in and we got to set another appointment!  She really wants to change her life and make it better for her and her son.

 

Plus, members are amazing!  It finally worked out to have Sister C_____ come with us to D____' lesson and it went so well!  They live in the same apartment complex so had some common ground there (literally;) ) but also discovered some other similarities.  Sister C_____ is also a convert to the Church so she was able to address some of D____' thoughts in a different way than we could have!

 

At Church on Sunday our WML talked to the sisters briefly about missionary work, and invited them to come out with us on some evening in the week.  We got a great response from it and I am excited to see what happens next :)

 

Sister Grammer and I played a fun game this morning that we heard about from an RM.  He called it 'contact', and it is a great way to test your knowledge of the scriptures ;) Our modified for two players version goes like this:  One companion opens the scriptures to a random page and simply begins to read.  The other companion has to find where in the scriptures she is reading from, and says 'contact!' when she gets there :) We had a lot of fun with it!

 

I didn't take many pictures this week, but did have an exchange with Sister Hebertson and she forgot her toothbrush so was using a finger ;)

 

Plus, Sister Grammer and I live in the bat cave ;) The scripture reference makes it legit!  (Hmm, my head is kind of in the way, but the reference is Ether 13:13)

 

TMFWD: how's about some pink for the week?

 

love, Sister Emily DeFord

 

The Bat Cave

Dental Hygiene

 

Week 62: 10/20/14

October 20, 2014

Cheyenne, WY

"You can still be weird, and clean" Sister Grammer :) Wise words of wisdom there.

Missionaries: "What is the strait and narrow path?"

9 year old who shall remain nameless: "It's like, the sprinkles on a brownie!"

.....what?  Good save by the older sister who made that analogy work ;)

So last Monday we had a really fun time making pancakes and defrosting the freezer, Sister Grammer did the first while I attempted the second.  I used my blowdrying skills which I learned in the dorms, and then also added the new element of simultaneously chopping at the ice with a knife.  Do not try this at home ;) I don't know if I can email GIFs, but I will try to send that one!  It did work though, and now we have much more room in our fridge without all of the ice buildup in there!

I have also begun reading Preach My Gospel from the beginning as we were challenged to do as a mission this transfer.  I increased the difficulty level though, because as I read I am also marking all of the scripture references in my quad in Green pen, so I am doing PMGreen ;) It has been really fun so far and I have found some super awesome scriptures that I didn't look at before so it's worth it!

Want to hear about a rather uncomfortable experience I had at the animal shelter this week?  Well, Sister Grammer and I were just out doing our thing, walking the dogs, when my dog decided he needed to leave me a present.  No problem, I brought a poop bag, so we are all good.  But then, as he is walking away from doing his business he gets a little cactus stuck in his foot.  So I am trying to keep him still so I can get the cactus out, while not letting him wander away so I loose track of where the poop pile is.  He ends up shaking the cactus off so we're good, I go back to picking up his mess.  Little did I know that he had actually pooped on a little cactus family so I reached my hand down and got a cactus in my thumb for the trouble.  Now the poop bag is pinned to my thumb and I can't pull it out because I am holding a dog leash with the other hand so Sister Grammer has to come rescue me, but our dogs don't really get along.  Her trying to grab on to a not pointy part of the cactus to pull it out of my thumb was kind of like shooting a blow dart at a moving target while tubing on the river.

It's okay though.  There were no casualties.

We worked hard and laughed a lot this week.  You know, laugh when you are tired, laugh when you are sad, laugh when your companion does strange things, laugh when the family you live with is home and the boys are playing outside your room while you study ("So apparently, you want to be a hot dog."), laugh when people don't answer the door and you are imagining all of the reasons why, laugh at how awkward you make things sometimes, laugh because the extreme awkwardness actually turned out to be a good thing (we failed to talk to someone who walked past us while we were contacting a potential investigator in an apartment complex.  We felt really bad about it, so we went back and knocked on the door that he went into, even though he told us that he didn't live there.  Actually ended up giving a Book of Mormon to his girlfriend's mom, it was a really good conversation!), laugh when you do strange things, laugh when planning takes way too long, laugh when Elders are strange, laugh when Elders are really good missionaries and good to work with, laugh when you are trying to remember the name of Batman's butler, but you can't think of it no matter how hard you try, so eventually someone has to google it for you (Alfred!  How could we forget!), laugh when you wear the same outfit two days in a row because you did service most of the first day so you only wore it for like two hours and you aren't going to see any of the same people anyone so who will know? (but, I just told you) and laugh when you just need to be happy :)

I hope you laugh a lot this week!

TMFWD shall be green, I am starting to be partial to that color ;) purple is still my favorite though

love, Sister Emily DeFord

Week 61:10/13/14

October 13, 2014

Cheyenne, WY

 

Happy Birthday Dad!

 

Contrary to worries, the library is not closed for Columbus day even though there is no school.  The no school is for hunting season or something...because I live in Cheyenne, WY, so we do stuff like that ;)

 

And...(drumroll please)...I will still be living in Cheyenne, WY for the next 6 weeks!  Plus I am not switching companions!  Sister Grammer and I are quite amused however that every sister companionship in these two zones will be in the midst of training, except us, but we are the sister training leaders so we still fit in ;)

 

Besides that, I am going to put some long-promised pictures in here and tell you about something that Sister Grammer and I discussed at the beginning of our companionship.  We said we were going to work really really super hard.  In saying that, we also recognized that meant the transfer would probably not be easy.  All transfer long we have struggled to talk with people, teach lessons, and have people keep appointments.

 

There have been really incredible and amazing and wonderful miracles as well, but it has been hard.  We have been trying to build up and strengthen the work going on here.  Starting just about this last week, we can finally feel some momentum gathering and are so happy and excited for the upcoming transfer.  It still isn't going to be easy, as Elder Holland would say, because salvation never was a cheap experience, but that's okay, the price is already paid.

 

Love you all!  Remember which way you face ;)

 

TMFWD shall be BROWN :)

 

love, Sister Emily DeFord

I have a super cool camera which allows me to chalk graffiti in three places at once!

 

AAAAAAHHHHH I am falling!

Awkward District Picture

Sister Grammar in Stealth Mode

Emily in Stealth Mode

Week 60: 10/6/14

October 6, 2014

Cheyenne, WY

 

So I remembered a little bit late, and was reminded, that I did not explain the quote which headed my last week's email.  It did not appear on Google because I am the one who said it ;) Sister Grammer and I were walking down the street doing and talking about missionary things when I thought about how strange some of the things we do are.  Both as a missionary and in life sometimes it feels awkward to do something because we experience the 'spotlight effect' thinking that someone is watching all that we are doing.  While it is basically true that someone is always watching, it isn't continuously the same someone so really these things shouldn't be awkward because in fact "nobody knows the strangeness from beginning to end".

 

This transfer has been one of meetings.  In the first week we had a mission conference with Elder Cook.  In the second week we had a Mission Leadership Council which was put off to then due to the mission conference.  In the third week we had Zone Conferences.  In the fourth week we had Zone meetings, which normally follow the week after MLC but was put off due to Zone Conference.  In the fifth week we came again to another MLC.  I think that is in part why the time has flown so quickly!

 

Happy to report however, that even with all of the much driving due to various meetings and transfers, we only went 4 miles over the limit on our car in the month of September.  Hopefully October will be less of a nailbiting month in that respect, even if it does have 31 days!

 

This week Sister Grammer and I had to squeeze in two exchanges (it was almost three!) and we tried something very daring.  For the first exchange, Sister Grammer was in our area, we saw each other for a couple hours to get some important things done at the end of the exchange and then began another one, with me in our area.  Luckily Sister Grammer keeps really good track of everyone who we even try to visit, so I was able to know what had been done the day before and not double contact people ;)

 

It was very fun to serve with Sister Hay again.  For both of us this is our fourth transfer in Cheyenne so this was our third exchange together, but the first time in her area.  For unknown reasons, on exchange days it seems impossible to not have most everything fall through, but we did get to meet one of their investigators who they had been really worried about since she is an older lady who had been MIA for several days.  Sister Hay is lots of fun and has a really super good heart.

 

With Sister Budge here in Corner Stone ward we had some interesting experiences.  In the evening we had someone almost call the police on us because he thought we were going through people's mailboxes.  Actually, we were looking for an address :) He turned out to be a very nice guy and even tried to help us figure out where the house was that we were looking for!  The next morning we decided to try and talk to him in the daytime, and instead were approached by and preached to for an hour and a half by an interesting fellow who was concerned for our souls.  He even said himself, "Well, we've had a nice talk.  Actually, you guys have had a nice listen." Which very accurately sums up the experience.

 

Last but not least for notable events of the week, it was General Conference!  Even though the people who were going to watch with us at the Merrifield's and Miller's homes fell through, we contained our sadness enough to really really enjoy the whole thing.  Then we were kind of happy when a family brought dinner to us instead of going to their house so we could just sit for a while and continue absorbing all the amazing things we learned.

 

It is incredible because every time I come with questions, they are answered.  In some way, shape or form, they always are.

 

A less notable, but very enjoyable experience was doing some chalking in a pedestrian tunnel, with some questions of the soul and scriptures.  Plus, since my mom is really cool, we took some pictures of our work, made possible by my new camera!  More pictures will be coming now :)

 

TMFWD should it be orange because October has begun? Yes!

 

love, Sister Emily DeFord

omparing the size of my femur with that of a dinosaur in the Wyoming State Museum :)

This is me, Sister Grammer, Sister Waite, and I can't spell the last sister's name, even phonetically, so Sister T at Zone conference.

What a beautiful bike riding day :) The helmet didn't even mess up my curly hair!

Sister Grammer and I in front of the capital building here in Cheyenne

Capital Building again