2 Nephi 29

Halla!
So this week has been super crazy! and Super Long I don't even know where to start!! well I guess I'll start at the beginning and hopefully be able to get to the end :)

Last Monday 19th of August: It was super great Sister Richards and I were excited to start off P-day. The first thing that happened as we started to drive to the library I hear this thump sound as we pull out of our apartment complex. I turn to Sister Richards and was like "What was that?" and she was like "I don't know?" We pulled out and turned around to see what we hit. There in the middle of the road was a little cat. Sister Richards was devastated "I've killed a kitten *cry*". When all of a sudden it's head pops up and it looks at us. "Oh? it's alive!!" When we started getting close to it, it started to run away... the only problem was that Sister Richards had run over the back half of the cat so it was dragging it's legs as it ran away... It was super sad! We would have felt worse if it was a kitten... Anywho. P-day was pretty great and we got a lot done we also got to eat at Golden Corral - Which is great if you don't eat a lot of food throughout the week and then you feast on Mondays. At 6 PM we went to the Biggs home for dinner. They have a foreign exchange student from Germany, her name is Marie. We had met her on Sunday and told her that we would be coming by to see her again on Monday! She is here to learn English, and see what the schools and such are like. She is a Roman Catholic. The first thing I noticed about her when she started speaking to us, was that I couldn't hear her... She speaks very softly because she isn't very confident in her English yet... Which is terrible for me! because I can barely hear in the first place. She is quite a lovely girl and has so far really enjoyed what we have taught her about the Gospel. We taught her the Restoration that night and it was interesting to explain it to someone who was from a different country. She didn't grow up with Religious Freedom. She lived near the Berlin wall and told us that most of the people in Germany are very hard not very warm people, and that the people here were very happy, and said 'sorry' too much. Which I notice too. Once we left Sister Biggs told us that Marie loved the way we taught and that she was asking questions like crazy. Great!!! After Marie, we went and talked with a lady named Shawna. Oh my goodness I have never been so fired up in my life. In a negative way! She asked us about the Plan of Salvation and our concept of Heaven. We explained to her the Celestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom,Telestial Kingdom, and the Spirit World . She said she disagreed with us there. She told us that people who live righteous lives and continually repent and who don't die in their sins will go to heaven. And if you have been religious longer in your life then you were going to have a bigger mansion in heaven. That everyone else who died not accepting Christ, or dying in their sins were going to Hell. I asked her about the people in between - what if they live honorable great lives they are wonderful people and they do nothing wrong, but they don't necessarily accept Christ (they don't go to church) what happens to them? She replied that they all go to Hell. I tried to say something else but she cut us off and said "My son is an amazing young man, he serves people everyday, he is respectful, he is kind, BUT he doesn't follow the life of a Christian and doesn't go to Church. So He is going to Hell; and he knows it. I feel bad for him, but at the same time it is not my fault that he is living his life that way. He is going to Hell." I was sooo angry! I wanted to smack her right on the side of the head! How dare you condemn someone else to Hell!?! Especially your own SON!! We tried to point out a few scriptures in the bible (because she refused to hear anything out of the Book of Mormon) and she had a Study bible. Sister Richards shared the scripture on how people will be taught the gospel who have died. and Shawna kept saying 'In their Sins'. No, we are saying what it says in the Bible 'Who have died'... I was so fired up and upset about what she was saying that I was grateful when we left. I was so Upset! grrr.. who can say something like that to another person.

Tuesday: Zone Conference!! So good!! but waayy to long! it was from 9- 4:30! President Pitt told us that our mission numbers have been declining (such as baptisms and such), but we have been getting more missionaries. He said it was our determination and faith that was starting to decrease in the people and places. Oh, and a fun fact that I learned: 1/1000 people are found while tracting that will be baptized. 69/1000 people are no name referrals from members that will be baptized. 79/1000 are name referrals from members that will be baptized. 680/1000 who are introduced to the missionaries by members at dinner or another event will be baptized! Members are so crucial in finding people! Because if they give us someone to teach at their home, and that they are their friends. They will more likely join the church and stay active because they will already have a friend! I never really thought that member support was that important, but now that I do I'm like 'Give us your family, and friends to teach at your homes!!! Members do this and you will be blessed' haha so great. Zone conference took all day so by the time we got home we didn't have time for anything else.

Wednesday: We met with CC today and helped her fill out a form for a job at a local restaurant called Freds. We are trying hard to help CC become more independent but there is only so much that Sister Richards and I can do as missionaries to help her. After CC we went to Barbara's house. As we were walking up to her front door Sister Richards said ,"Do you hear that? Church music?" and when we went into Barbara's house she was watching the Restoration video!! She said that her brother had given it to her and also gave her a Gospel Principles book to look through as well. Saweet!! that is always the best when they do things on their own or their family are members of the church. After Barbara’s we, went to the Fitzers for dinner Sister Fitzer’s husband is not a member and usually doesn't sit in during lessons and such, but we watched the Restoration video and he watched the whole thing with us!! After the Fitzers we went to Shauna's house and watched ‘Finding Faith in Christ’ with Sister Sherman and it was great! We also talked about her baptism and she plans on being baptized on Sept. 14!! Blessing!!!

Thursday: We talked to a lot of people today, but my favorite was Lucy. We started off on talking about Charity, how it is the pure love of Christ, and we read a few scriptures to go along with it. When all of a sudden we are starting to talk about Love and the good ol' days when people sat in buggies and how it was more romantic back then - if it was cold outside you just cuddled closer. AAHHH missionary ears!! haha Lucy is awesome though! She has known about the church for 45 years because her son joined, and he has been trying for the past 45 years to get her to church. She has just recently started coming these past three times!! and she loves it!! I'm not going to lie Lucy is my favorite investigator :) she is such an awesome old lady, she has such a funny personality! It's great! She is super down to earth, and she use to live in the West so she isn't so 'beat around the bush'. After Lucy we went and saw Jaylene and taught her the Word of Wisdom because she was curious about it. We will see how well she does. She Smokes and she Drinks Coffee! like everyone else here.

Friday: I met my first miniature pony today! We were visiting the Spences - they live across the railroad tracks in this super sketch little house that looks like a big bush. They are a nice old couple and they own the miniature horse. Later this night we went to the Ivy's hoping to do FHE with their family... but things went wrong... very wrong. We ended up just sharing a message on Charity and leaving as quickly as possible. It was a rough night... not good to talk.

Sunday: wonderful Church!! I am so grateful to have a church building and a ward! I can't imagine not having people to help out. Anywho the patriarch came with his wife, and they spoke about their mission that they served in Colorado... .There is one thing that I wish people would do differently: Talk more Investigator appropriate. Non-members have no idea what you are referring to when you refer to LDS history, and the joys of serving a mission. It's great for the members to hear... but No one is really learning anything except for a nice life story. They aren't learning anything new about the Gospel. Sister Richards and I taught the Gospel Principles class this week and it was on Charity. It was a wonderful class because we had a lot participation and stories on how people had been charitable to them and how they helped others out. I explained how Fear was the biggest problem with most people. we are afraid of helping people, because we don't know how to help people, we don't know how they will react; we don't know. The Unknown is what scares us away from doing good things. Fear is the opposite of Faith. When we are Afraid, we have no Faith. CC was at church today... and she had another problem at church, she was having a mental breakdown. It was hard but the members are all very supportive and helped us out the best they could. Sad thing of the day: right after we got home from church we asked Jaylene why she hadn't come, Again, she sent us a text saying that she had gone to another church, and really liked it and will probably go to it. There were a few things that she disagreed with that we had taught her. She loves us and does not want us to hate her. It was like a knife to the heart! She was one of our biggest progressing investigators and she just cut everything off. She had never told us about anything she disagreed with. We had no idea what happened. We were devastated! We tried going over and talking to her, but she wasn't home. We hope we can find out what went wrong and help her, because we have seen the change in her life, and it's hard to give up on someone who has been doing so well!! Very emotional end to the day.

To End because I do not have any more time: 2 Nephi 29 - Story of my life out here!!!
Look it up!! (hopefully that is the right scripture haha)

I love you all and I hope you are all doing well!! Read the Book of Mormon, Ponder about it and ask Specific questions, and Pray to know! The Answers are in that Book!! I promise you!!

Love,

Sister Karen Call

Sister Wives -- Are You Married?

Holla Everybody
To start off - People here are interesting, but I think it's funny how so many people don't really know that much about anything - and for some individuals I mean anything! My favorite comments and questions that we got from basically everyone randomly:

"Soo... are you girls married?"

"Have you seen Sister Wives? Are you Polygamist?"

Yeah... That gets old really quick when you answer the same question all day long. Anywho I thought I would just start off with that..
So on Monday this last week we had Zone P-day. Sister Richards and I had driven and met up with the Ashland sisters so we could save a few miles. but the reason my last email was so skimpy was because I had left everything in the car and we were now with Sister Boldrin and Sister Gray at the Library writing our emails and such. Anywho Zone P-day. many people in our Zone came to spend time together and get to know each other a little better. Only about 20 missionaries showed up. We spent our P-day up in Huntington at a Park - we played Ultimate Frisbee and had hamburgers and hotdogs. Oh and there are two Elders who are super good at making wonderfully delicious desserts and snacks. Lets just say that 'dessert' was the first thing that we ate haha. The people in my zone are pretty awesome. There are three elders that were with me in the MTC who are in my zone: Elders Labrum, Lane, and Carter. Sister Richards and I work with Elder Williams and Elder Carter a lot because they are in the same area as us. Anywho, there is a Sister Herzog who is someday going to be the Disney Princess Snow White... or on Broadway. She can creepily do all of the impersonations that the Disney characters do. It's not really creepy, it just was when you aren't really expecting it and she comes up and says "Apple? No thanks? It's Good. Oh Ok" (From Enchanted the Chipmunk) It was pretty impressive. We talked back and forth for a moment. Me doing Stitch voice and her doing What ever character popped into her head. Yeah it was great. After a while Sister Gray said that they needed to leave because they had an appointment that they had to get too, thus we left P-day a little early to head home. I have a pretty amazing zone they are so diligent, funny, and light hearted that they can get along with basically anyone. I'm still working on being funny and getting along with crazy people.

Tuesday: We have an investigator whose name is Summer (35) and we have taught her the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and the first half of the Gospel. We decided to show her the Restoration video of Joseph Smith and Finish the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As she watched she was really into it, but she kept yelling at her kids and telling them to be quiet and respectful, that it was a little hard. At the end she asked what the Gold Plates were and what the trials that Joseph Smith had gone through. It was a really touching moment when she realized all that Joseph Smith had given up and done to restore this gospel to the earth. That he didn't just lose his life, but he lost children, he lost his home several times, he lost friends, he was beaten, he was martyred. That no one, No one, would go through all of that for a lie. He could not deny what he had seen or heard. He gave up his life to make sure that this gospel was restored to the earth. It was pretty great.
We also talked with CC (or Sid)(26) again. We taught her the Law of Chastity this time. It was hard because of her living situation. She lives with 3 males (one of them is her cousin) and two other females. She Physically and Mentally can not live on her own. When we shared with her that she could not be baptized until she was able to live the Law of Chastity she broke down. She probably cried for 10 or so minutes as we tried to calm her and console her on what she could do, but I'm not sure how much of it she got. A little background on CC - she has Mytonic Dystrophy so that is the reason she physically and Mentally cannot live without other people. But for the most part her Self determination and self-worth is super low. She doesn't believe she can do anything without the help of others. It is super difficult and super depressing to see that no matter what we do we can't help out her living situation. Happily and Sadly we found out a few days ago that everyone was moving out of CC's house. I feel for CC because she has been disowned by her family because she wasn't able to take care of herself and they were getting tired of taking care of her. and now the people she was living with were moving out and I don't think they have any intention of coming back. It's a difficult and hard situation.
Later in the Evening we went to dinner with the Cox's at a local restaurant/buffet and talked about how we are and could continue pushing forward missionary work. After Dinner we went home and met up with Sis Cooper and headed to a Less Active womens house named Polly (80's) Sister Richards and Gray had talked to her and her daughter Vikki the week before during exchanges and Vikki wanted to know more - so we were hoping that Vikki would be there when we went to visit, but Polly's phone had been out all day so she wasn't able to contact Vikki. So we just talked to Polly about the Atonement and how we all make mistakes and other things in our lives but through his Atonement we could get through anything. We asked her what the Atonement was and what it meant to her. She didn't know what it was, and if you don't know what it is how can you apply it to your life. It is sad to see that a lot of Less Actives are that way because they don't know anything about the Gospel. They were once taught but then fell away because no one was willing to teach what they needed to learn in a simplified matter. With everything that we teach we start at the beginning, because we don't know how much the person already knows or what little detail they have missed that could really shake their testimony down the road. After Polly we went to go and see Jaylene (30's). Funny thing is, Sister Cooper knew who Jaylene was already. Jaylene once was married to Sister Coopers Nephew. Sister Cooper was a little worried that Jaylene would not take her presence very well and that she would stop seeing us if she went with us. We didn't feel that way and asked her to continue along with us. When we approached Jaylene she turned around and was quite shocked to see sis Cooper. Later after we had finished our lesson with Jaylene she told us that she was looking for a sign to know if she should continue moving forward and when she turned around and saw sis Cooper she knew it was the right thing to do.

Wednesday: we watched Jonny lingo with the Young Women and taught them about self-worth and how they are all important in God's Eyes.

Thursday: we ran around trying to find a piano today for sister Richards to record a piano piece on. She was doing it for one of her Previous investigators who was getting baptized on Sunday. The first place we went was Sister Sherman. She was so open and willing to let us use her computer... but she was missing one of the most important keys for the song 'Redeemer' the key was F# so Sister Sherman called Sister Mortensen and asked if we could come and use her piano. so in the End everything worked out and we were able to record it.. the part that didn't work out so well was finding a way to get it to them. it was too late to send them the memory card, and it was to large to send in an email, sooo we were at a loss for that.
We were scheduled to have FHE with the Ivy's so we decided to go and eat at Sister's Dairy Bar. Funny I know. We were like 'we are the Sister's!!!' Everyone just kinda looked at us weird, but the food was good and the shakes were awesome. FHE was interesting. The Ivy's are an interesting group. It's a bunch of Kids who are being taken care of by their Grandparents. and the Grandparents are very strict and discipline. so it was a little awkward at some points but for the most part the lesson went really well.

Friday: we helped Summer and her sister Sara with their Yard sale, and we gave them a microwave we had and we told them that the money they made on it they could use to get to church :) We are sneaky. For dinner we went to Sis Nelson's and her son solved our problem on how we would get the video to sister Richard’s past investigator: YouTube!! He did it for us, because we are not allowed to do anything with YouTube so it was wonderful that he was electronically inclined and knew what he was doing.

Well I got to head out. Remember to Pray, Read your Scriptures, and go to Church. Love all those who are around you.The only way you can make your day or someone elses day brighter is if you do something with your day. Staying inside and expecting someone else to do it for you will not work. So go out and be awesome!

Love yah all!!

Sister Karen Call

Times To Say 'No'

Holla!!
Sooo if this email doesn't make any sense it is because I'm doing it by memory! I left my planner and everything on accident because we are having a zone p-day in Huntington today... and I sorta forgot that I needed them to remember what I did all this past week. Anywho, I will do my best to share all of the details that I remember.
To start off I will talk about CC again. So you know how I talked about signs and symptoms? Well, we went and talked to her this week about how she was doing and she told us some important information that would have been helpful to know on Sunday! but she is a sweet spirit and does all she physically and mentally can do. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she told us that she was down to one cigarette a day! Which is great! Now she only needs to stop drinking coffee... which is hard because everyone she lives with drinks about 6 pots of coffee a day. Now I know why they are always on a buzz. I'm not sure how much longer she will be with us, because she has to find her own way to church at least two times before she can be baptized, and right now she has told us that no one would be willing to do that. But if there is a will, the lord will provide a way.

I went on exchanges this week with awesome Sister Boldrin. She really is a fabulous missionary! She is so bubbly and shouts out loud (literally) that she loves being a missionary. She is so in tune with the spirit and does everything she can to help and talk to those around her. To start off on this particular day that we had exchanges: we had a district meeting in Huntington and with mileage limitations for Sister Richards and I it is quite difficult to try and save our miles for what we need when it takes about 60 miles there and back to get to meetings in Huntington. We are supposed to use around 32 miles a day to make it to the end of the month without any problems. We have 3 times that we drive to Huntington, so we try our best to keep our mileage in check. Anywho that was a random shpeal. We met with Sister Boldrin and Sister Gray in Ashland, we call them the Ashland sisters... I wonder why :) They are about 20 or so miles away from us so we stopped and car pooled the rest of the way up with them. They saved us about 30 or so miles which is wonderful. When we got to the district meeting we talked a lot about: Know, Feel, Do and Vision, Goal, Plan. This is what we are supposed to use when we are focusing on our investigators. For Know: we want them to know a specific doctrine. Feel: What we want them to feel to know that the doctrine we teach them is right. Do: What steps they can do to find out and know about the doctrine. Vision: is a Distant idea of what we want for them such as marriage in temple, a certain calling in the church, etc. Goal: is a weekly thing that they can do to start working toward the vision. Plan: Daily things that they can do to meet their goal. It's really helpful when you know what your investigator is questioning and wanting to know more about. The people here are super nice, and they won't tell you no. Which is super FRUSTRATING!! For example yesterday: we went to try and contact this less active family again we have talked to them twice and they have said both times 'sorry this is a bad time, can you come by some other time?' and we drive back and they say the same thing. So this time when she said that we just straight up asked her if she was interested anymore and if she really wanted us to come back. She looked down and said no I don't really want you to come back, and that she probably wouldn't have told us no. She would have kept telling us to come back another time!! It is Frustrating that she wouldn't say no, and it was also frustrating because she knows the truth and she wants nothing to do with it anymore. It is sad that people can find the truth and then so easily fall away and reject it. Note to everyone: If you don't want someone to come back TELL THEM! So much easier for you and them! Anywho, back to District Meeting: they taught us some steps that we need to do while talking to people... but I don't remember them, and I don't have my notebook... sooo can't really share what I learned from that right now but it was good and I'll have to remember to tell you it next time. We then went and did 'real' plays, they are originally called role plays but President wants to make us think and feel like we are actually talking to our investigators. Anywho I will tell you my experience of being an investigator: we were being taught by Elder Proctor and Elder E(I can't remember his name!) they are the assistants to the president in our area. Anywho They taught us about the Word of Wisdom and we accepted to follow it by stop drinking coffee. Then a few minutes later they "called us" as follow up to see how we did yesterday on following the Word of Wisdom. We told him that we went out and had partied with our friends and had a few drinks, and that this morning I had drank coffee to get rid of my awesome headache that I had. Elder E then asked a piercing question that really made you feel bad if you were an investigator or someone who broke the Word of Wisdom: "Did you feel close to God/Jesus this morning?" *ouch* no, I did not. Sometimes we have to be blunt with the people we talk to, because if we do not. They will continue doing the things they have always done. Most of the people here are religious in one way or another and know/want to be closer to Jesus (sometimes). But they do not want to change their lifestyles! If they hate us for it then they do not/ will not listen to the Truth. If people are earnestly seeking they will be willing to 'leave their nets behind' and follow the Lord. The Lord asks so little of us, sometimes he does ask a lot, but if we do these things if we keep pushing on hey will bless us ten fold. and I promise that. Be diligent in all things and the Lord will bless you. It was a wonderful meeting I learned a lot on how to improve how I think about others and what I tell them. Now I just need to work on talking to people :)        After the meeting we all went and got Taco Bell - smothered burrito mmmm.. well sort of. We headed back to the Stake Center to eat and to talk to one anther because there was no room in the 'Inn' aka no more seats in little shop. The Elders and Sisters in the zone are pretty great people. They are so funny and know how to lighten the mood of anything, and they can give you great insights on what to do for investigators and how to improve companionships. Turn to others they say. Need to work on that. Anywho, after all was done Sister Gray went with Sister Richards back to Wheelersburg and I headed to Ashland with Sister Boldrin. We are both greenies and it was a wonderful learning experience. We tried to meet with a few people and we were only able to talk to one person. Sister Boldrin and I headed back to the apartment and made dinner for a family in hopes that we would be able to talk to the Lady (she is not a member and really only talked to the missionaries a few days ago) we made her a cheese, broccoli, potato casserole and brownies. We stuck it into two containers one for her and one for later. We headed over to the ladies house she was not home, but her boyfriend opened the door and was quite surprised that we had brought dinner for them even though we didn't even know them. Happy special moment! After that we went to dinner at Panera with the Young Womens president and her husband in Ashland. They had gone on their mission to Indonesia and had gotten back a year or so ago. We talked about missionary work for a while with them and how to get the YW involved and then I asked if they had any referrals or people they would like us to go meet: family members, neighbors, people with recent deaths, etc. and They just kinda looked at me and said our families aren't Mormon and they have made it pretty clear that they don't want to know anything about it so we leave them alone. I then extended that if they prayed about a specific person that the lord would open them up and they would be able to share the gospel with them. They laughed! I was truly shocked! who gives up on their Family!!! Who laughs at praying for these things? Grrrr... it is up to them I guess. We parted ways and we went and tried to meet more people but everything seemed to not be working. Sister Boldrin got a little frustrated with not being able to meet anyone and expressed that she wanted someone else to receive revelation on where they should go because she was tired of it. I then explained to her a little bit about the Gifts of the Holy Ghost: There is a reason we are put into companionships, when one companion does not feel something perhaps the other will, and when one is feeling down there is the other to lift them up. We work together because two is better than one, and your gifts will be different. One may have the gift of listening and discernment, and the other has the gift of Speaking or being more close to receive spiritual promptings. No two people are exactly the same, and there is a reason for that. After this we had the opportunity of talking to a Young lady who lived next door to them, and she listened and soaked everything up that we said to her. Everything happens for a reason. we just need to be ready to accept and do what we need to do. We helped each other learn a lot and we built each other up. We learned things about ourselves that we needed to fix because we worked together, and we talked things out. If you don't say anything to those you are working with, then things just get harder and less gets done.
I have to go soon, but I want to emphasis the Importance of Communication. Working with others is great. but if you do not talk to them, try to get to know them, or find out the best way to work together. Then it is pointless. Work Together!! Get things Done!!
Love you all and hope the best. Pray, Study, and be diligent.

Love Ya,

Sister Karen Call

Address

Sister Karen Call's current address is:
1823 C Dogwood Ridge Rd.
Wheelersburg, OH 45694

No Better Way to End Than With a Trip to the Hospital

Halla!!
So this week has been pretty crazy, in a good and bad way :)
So on Tuesday Sister Richards and I went to an Investigators house for our second Lesson with them their names are Andrew, John (or J, or Jason, or whatever it changes to in the future), and CC . Last week we had set up an appointment and everything for 1 o'clock. We get there and knock on the door... and no one answers... Soooo we knock again. and we hear somebody slowly coming to the door. The door opens and there is this man who wasn't at the house last week. He asked us what we wanted and we asked if Andrew, John, or CC was home, and he was like "*grunt* let me go see." he turns around and says "CC the door is for you" It was funny. So CC comes to the door in her PJ's and she invites us in. When we walked in I gagged a little - it smelled like... I don't know what drugs smell like but my guess would be that... Marihuana Brownies.  Yum. Anywho, I probably would have passed out or something if we stayed very long in the house - so we asked if we could teach her outside because it was a nice day. So we went outside and we were able to teach her the entire Plan of Salvation. It was much easier just teaching her because when Andrew and John were there it was more of a let me tell you about my life and what I believe and random stories that would bounce off of random words. It was great to hear all of their stories but we don't have much time.  When it was just CC it was nice because she wasn't very talkative and would listen and we would ask her a question and she would answer and she would insert what she believed once in a while. CC is kind hearted and has a desire to learn more about Jesus and everything, but she is not all there. We finished our lesson and left her with another reading assignment.
After meeting with CC we went and tried to meet with Less Actives in the ward and without fail the address either didn't exist, they were sick, or they were Baptist and had always been Baptist... ha,ha or they would do the Peak around the curtains thing and pretend we weren't there. It was great. Anywho, we tried to meet up with Brooke a lady we met with last week. When we got there and had knocked on the door an old lady answered it. She looked at us and said "She Ain’t interested to nothing you all have to say. We Ain't interested go away."   We asked if we could talk to her, but the lady laughed/grunted/not really sure and slammed the door on our face (it was a screen/plastic door so it wasn't very effective on slamming).  We weren't really sure if that meant she was going to go get her or not... so we stood there for a moment when another man came up from the side of the house asking us who we were looking for. We told him that we wanted to talk to Brooke and he said he would go and get her. As soon as he went inside there was a lot of chatter inside the house.  He came back and said that she was sleeping. Sad Face. Sleeping at 2 in the afternoon. Well we will try again!  Until we hear from her that she is not interested... which we may never be able to see her again... so I'm not really sure how that will work out.
For dinner we went to Amanda's house. Amanda is a Less Active member who found Sister Richards and I in Wal-mart. She came up to us and said, “This must be a sign or something having you here.” She wanted us to come to her house and teach her husband and children. So we gave her a call earlier in the week and set up a dinner appointment. When we got there it was in  the ‘hood’ of Portsmouth, but the people seemed fairly weird and relatively nice. So it wasn't that bad, but still super Sketch. When we got there she opened the door and let us in and told us that dinner wasn't quite ready so we would have to wait a bit. We met her husband, Michael and her sons. They were all quiet and didn't say much so we were mostly asking questions trying to find out more about them. Oh there is one notable thing about the people here. They have TONS of animals. Each of the houses has at least a cat or dog. In this particular house there was a dog and like 4 cats. Most of the animals are strays that people find and just take home... so no one has really paid for animals down here. I haven't had any problems with Allergies toward them so I'm wondering if I'm not allergic to them... then again I am very careful not to get my hands anywhere near my face after touching them... Anywho, back to dinner. She made us Potato Cheese Soup.  That was basically all that was in the soup. Potatoes and Cheese. I laughed a little as Sister Richards watched in horror as she put around 3 lbs of cheese into the soup. It was very Chhheese. The Soup kinda reminded me of Velveeta melted with potato chunks in it. I thought it was pretty good. Ha,ha. She also made us Peanut Butter bars and they were super good too.  After we ate Michael sat down in front of us and we started our lesson on the Restoration. He just kind of sat there listening not really asking any questions or making any comments so we had to remember to stop and ask him what he thought so far and what he was learning. He seemed pretty open to it.  He grew up with Religion but he never really went to church or anything. So it was easier.  He just kinda soaked everything in. We gave him a Book of Mormon and we gave Amanda a book, and we challenged them to Read and pray together as a family every day whenever they had time. They committed to do it, and Amanda said she would like to start up FHE again. We were like Sweet! I'm not sure how everything will work out and all but it is great that she wants to get back involved with the Church. We soon left and headed back home.  We were planning on teaching Shauna, another investigator in Dogwood Apt, and commit her to baptism again, but we ended up just talking about all of her fears and what she was confused with and why she got cold feet last time.
On Wednesday, the last day of the Month, we had several miles left to use so we decided to go as far as we could while we still had them. We went to Minford and were going to go to South Webster. We had a list of people who lived in Minford and we went down the list trying to find all of them. Most of the places once again did not exist, or they weren't home. But we did meet a lady named Laura.  She has been inactive for about 15 years. When we showed up at her door she just laughed and let us in. She was super funny and kept laughing. Very light hearted and spoke her mind which was wonderful! we can answer peoples concerns when we actually know what they are! She told us that she never got the hammer on the head, that “Ah-ha” moment that the Gospel was true. I asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon and she said ‘no’. So I gave her one and said "Here is the Hammer you have been looking for." She laughed and smacked herself on the head with it. She is a crazy lady. She then asked us if somebody had sent us, and we said no. She laughed and said she had met a lady a few days earlier who knew who she was and said that she needed to go back to church.. ha,ha it's a sign!!! Anywho, she was super open and listened to everything we had to share - she loves missionaries.
After we talked with Laura we tried to get a hold of the Melinda who lives in South Webster, but she told us that they were just leaving and wouldn't be home and to try the next day. The next day no one answered the phone so we weren't able to do it then either. We will have to call and make sure they are home because we have a set number of miles we can go and they live pretty far out. Hopefully we can catch them some time. Funny thing is the Elders actually gave us her husband Russel to call, because they had met him and he had given them his number. I thought that was interesting. That we had been given his number, and that his wife is a Less Active.
Anywho, since we couldn't get a hold of them we headed back and talked to a few people at Dogwood.
On Friday, Sister Richards and I had the opportunity of talking with the Browns for a bit. They are a wealthier family, but they were super spiritual. The Brother Brown can come off a little cold, but that is just the way he looks and sounds. He is actually super nice. Sister Brown is such a funny little lady and she is soo sweet. They reminded me of home because they had a garden with Corn, Tomatoes, Peas, and such. Sister Brown was talking about Genealogy/ Family History.
This Saturday we had a meeting with the Bishop at his house. He served us breakfast and we talked about all of the plans for this area. On how much we all needed to do to get the Missionary work going. His plan is to first Strengthen the Ward and get things running and moving in order. Then after that he wants to reach out to the 'Fence sitters' who if you just push them they will come back to church. and then we will work on the people who are sitting in the field on the other side of the 'Fence'. The Ward really needs strength. We won't be able to get more missionaries into the area until the ward is strong enough to be able to hold us all. Oh and just so you guys know the ward boundaries are about 2 hours. So, when I say that driving to church can be a burden.. I'm not joking. We have to drive 30 minutes to get to church. Thankfully church is at 10am so most people can make it.
Okey, so you are probably wondering after all of that long shpeal why I said there was No Better Way to End Then With a Trip to the Hospital... so, yesterday, Sunday, we had two of our investigators come to church with us. Shauna and CC. Sister Cox (the bishops wife) was kind enough to pick them up for us. CC was running a bit late so it made them all a bit late for church, because it takes 30 minutes to get to church. you can't leave late. It just doesn't work that way. Anywho, They got to church and everything and we greeted them and sat down. Yesterday as you know was Fast and Testimony meeting sooo everybody was getting up and bearing their testimonies. CC decided that she wanted to bear her testimony too. So Sister Richards brought her up there and she shared what she believed about Jesus. She has an extreme under bite so it was/is a little hard to understand her sometimes. but it was short, sweet, and simple. After that we went to Gospel Principles and had our lesson on being Idle and that we needed to get moving both spiritually and physically. We then went to Relief Society and it was all going good when CC told us that she was feeling dizzy. She then told us that on Wednesday she had slipped, fallen, and hit her head on her coffee table and that she had a concussion. In my mind I'm like WHAT?!? She was still having headaches and stuff from that, but she seemed to be doing fine. When we tried to take her back to the car her legs gave out from beneath her, and she is quite a larger young lady... and trying to hold her up was very difficult. They got her a chair and asked her if she would like a blessing. She accepted. Then Brother Sherman who is a Doctor checked her out and said that it would be best if we took her to the Hospital because he didn't know the degree of what her concussion actually was. So, We took her to the Hospital and got everything checked out. All turned out good in the end, but for me I knowing a little bit about how hospitals and medical things work and about asking the certain questions. How important it is to tell them EVERYTHING?  It is just like repentance. You don't just recognize the main thing that is happening, you see all of the 'signs and symptoms' of sinning and not doing what is right. You have to give/ recognize all of the details of what could be causing the problem. Then you fix those small problems, because they will help make the large problem smaller. Doctors, Teachers, Bishops, Faith, Repentance, the Savior. They are all there to help us out when we use them and tell them all of the important things. We can’t leave something out just because we don't think it is important. because sometimes the 'small and simple' sins cause the biggest problems.

well I love you all and I pray for you. Be good, brush your teeth, eat healthy food, read your scriptures and pray. And don't forget that you are a Child of God and that he loves you more than anything and that he is more than willing to forgive you, you just need to remember to forgive yourself.

Love Ya

Sister Karen Call