Week 14

Monday, September 24, 2012 9:31 AM

Well family...what to say what to say.  

First off, I kind of have the sniffles.  Elder Jensen got them and so lovingly gave them to me :)  Sharing is caring, right?? ;)  So this past week I got #14 from mom, and I think that was it.  This week is going to be intense.  We're losing an entire day of proselyting here because Elder Jensen has to go up to Raleigh on Friday for a leadership training meeting (aka.  He's going to be district or a zone leader).  To address dad's comment.  The likelihood of us both staying here is about .5%.  It's theoretically a possibility that he could become the district leader here, but chances are slim.  Most of the time they move the trainer after the 12 weeks is up.  Speaking of which, where did these last 6 weeks go??  Also, whitewashing (where they take 2 out and put 2 new missionaries in) occurs from time to time, but not that often.  Again, I would be uuber surprised to see that occur.  

Mom, your story about the wasp cracked me up.  I would have liked to see that happen hahahahhaaha :)  Also, recently, I have actually thought about how we used to run outside to try and catch the jets flying by, (which only ever happened if they happened to be directly above us ;) The reason being the military bases here.  This next comment is for the brothers.  I have seen military Chinooks fly around.  I have also seen Harrier squadrons fly around (remember the jets that let off like a bajillion missiles in about 2 seconds!!)  It's intense to say the least.  And yes, mom, I still look for them here when I hear them nearby.  You've trained me well ;) ;)  

I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me next transfer though.  We have some promising investigators if Satan will just get out of the way and stop hindering their progress.  Last week, an appointment fell through, but this was for a valid reason.  The reason being his mother was rushed to the hospital.  Why can't things just run smoothly??  (because we would never grow, Elder Thornton).  Oh yeah, that's right.  Good one.  PS. I just had a mini conversation with myself :)  

So yesterday, we had ABSOLUTELY NOBODY WE'RE WORKING WITH COME TO CHURCH!!!!! hooray!!!! not.  However, the stake president was there and gave a lot of good counsel in ward council.  Hopefully, everybody tries to apply it.  "Be ye not hearers of the word only, but doers of the word"  (I don't know why I puts quotes around that since I quoted it wrong. Whatever.)  

I am excited for General Conference though.  It's going to be really amazing to hear what the prophets have to say.  It's absolutely amazing when you think about it, that we have living prophets today teaching us exactly what God want us to know and hear at this time.  It's the same as in times of old with Moses and Abraham.  Absolutely incredible.  Hopefully, we can get a lot of the individuals we are teaching to General Conference to hear the prophet's voice.  

We had a linger longer yesterday.  Good food :)  ok.  that's enough about me for the week, but you'll receive some exciting news next week hopefully!!!

Love,

Elder Patty

Week 13

Monday, September 17, 2012 9:29 AM

So family,  

let's see.  Life's good overall.  I turn 3 this week which is intense.  There's a man in my ward who served in Finland.  Alright, that's it.  Bye

Just kidding!!!!! hahahaha

So last week was really good.  Like I mentioned, we had a baptism on Saturday.  It went really well.  Gerald and his family were so excited.  Truly they are a miracle.  Sis. Morris, the mom, invited a lot of her less active family from Harker's Island to the baptism, which was a really spiritual experience for everyone.  Gerald's father was able to baptize him which was also a wonderful experience.  He did really well.  Funny side note, earlier on Saturday, we were helping out on a service project for a lady in the ward.  Our Ward mission leader asked us when we were leaving to stop by the church and check the font.  So we did, and guess what????  It had flooded and overflowed!!!!!!!!  Ahhhhhh yeah.  It got the carpet all nice and soaked.  Luckily most of it probably went back into the bathroom drain, but still, Elder Jensen and I had to try to clean it up, but we were very pushed for time because then we had to book it home on bikes, take really fast showers, and book it back in suits to the baptism to make sure we there early.  Everything else went pretty smoothly though which was good.  We had a lot of people there also.  There are some amazing members in this ward.  

It's hard to believe that I'll be getting a new companion in a couple of weeks.  PS.  Are you sending my absentee ballot??  Thanks ;)  Some weeks we are fed 6-7 days others it's 4-5, but it's good.  We don't mind cooking for ourselves some nights and some nights it works better because we are just so dang busy.  :)  Alright letter wise, I received a letter from mom #13, DJ, Grandma, Holly, Tyler Brennan, Kayla Nelson.  Yesterday I cooked Alfredo.  I was kind of pushed for time though doing it in an hour while cooking on a camping stove basically.  Boiling water for a pound of pasta??!!  Sheesh.  That's fun.  But it tasted really good :)  Today we're going to Cape Lookout, a lighthouse.  It's going to be really fun, and I'll get pictures for you guys.  I'll actually see the ocean instead of just the sound too.  

Time flies overall.  We are seeing a lot of progress in this area.  The Lord is truly blessing us with people to help and teach.  I'm learning and growing everyday.  Sometimes it feels like there's so much to learn, How can I ever do it all??  But, I'll just keep working, one day at a time.  Tonight I'm eating Shrimp burgers :) I'm excited.  The temperatures here have been absolutely gorgeous over the past few days.  I hear it's only going to get better in the next few months.  Speaking of which, where's my hurricane??  Oh, also, the place I'm staying is 10,000 square feet.  Holy cow.  I knew it was big, but not that big.  Dang gina.  

But life's good overall.  I'm trying to send a few pics along, so enjoy those.  We haven't seen rain for a while.  I think it may have rained last night, but i didn't see it ;)  Not much else to say.  I heard about the embassy attacks.  Bold move on killing an ambassador.  

Love,

Elder Patty

Week 12

Monday, September 10, 2012 9:50 AM

Hey kids, 

Sounds like all ya'll are doing just fantastic.  That's good.  I love you all so much.  It's sure a good thing that I'm out here on the Lord's errand because not many other reasons would instill in me the desire to remain away from my family for 2 years.  So, to answer some of your preguntas, the Raleigh temple is one of the smallest, if not the smallest, temple in the world.  Reminds me a lot of Monticello, but we had a really good experience there.  We did an endowment session, and it definitely strengthened and helped me continue on in perseverance.  The drive is about 3 hours long and we got up at the ridiculous hour of 4:30 in the morning.  Gross. I wrote some letters in the car because that was a preparation day, which definitely messed the week up and stunk overall.  When we got home, because we live so far away, (the second farthest from Raleigh), our entire Preparation day was gone and we had to go to an appointment.  Thankfully, we have a preparation day today. 

Every morning we work out for 30 minutes before we shower and everything, so yes, we get other exercise to answer mom's question.  I did receive these letters from family members.  #12 mom with the pictures (looks really nas....as in Nas-Car) ;), Dad's and Grandma's.  Oooh, question.  When you forward my mail, do you include my return address on it so that these people know how to write back to me?  

Okay, back to business.  Yesterday, we had an excellent Sunday.  Elder Jensen and I were running around the entire time being busy, trying to get in contact with people and set things up.  We had 2 investigators at church, which is a miracle and the ward members just took them right under their wings.  Fantastic.  That's the way the ward is supposed to work.  The members of this ward really are generally amazing.  Great stuff.  Also, on Saturday, we had a baptismal interview for one of our investigators whose baptism is this Saturday.  He gets to be baptized by his dad, who is a returning less active.  Great family.  The son's name is Gerald, and he is nine years old.  We are very excited for him.  There are definitely families in this ward with whom I will be friends for life.  

So this week is supposed to be all sunny.  Boo :( and we have been enjoying the rain and thunder and lightning.  Great stuff.  I'm still waiting on my hurricane, but we're starting to run out of season...it better happen soon.

It's hard to believe this transfer is half over, but I'm kind of excited for the change...I kind of hope I train someone, but either way, I know the Lord has plans for me, so I'll just try to align my will with His so that things all work out for the best.  

Other than that, it's good to hear from all of you.  I'm glad that BYU is doing well in football so far.  Apparently, Riley must still be doing well, which is great, especially for him and his morale.  

Thanks for everything you do.  And that's crazy how many general authorities you have had and will have in the near future.  The Lord is definitely emphasizing something to us through his appointed servants.  It's probably best we listen ;)

Have a great week,

Love,

Elder Patty

Week 11

Monday, September 3, 2012 11:00 AM

Alright family,

How ya'll doin'?? Excellent?  Well, THAT'S JUST FANTASTIC!!!! (anybody catch the quote??)  Anyways,  life's going pretty good.  Funny story.  Today actually ISN'T preparation day.  This

Friday we get to go to the temple, so by default, that becomes our preparation day, but because our area is, I think, the 2nd farthest away, aka a 3 hour drive, we are emailing today.  I'm excited for the temple trip though.  A member is taking us up which translates to we can take naps on the ride up and back.  However, I'm probably going to be writing some letters because when we get back, we're going to have a grand total of about 2 hours of preparation day left.  Fun stuff.  So basically, we don't get much of a preparation day this week.  

We have been getting sooooooooo much rain here; it's crazy.  I think someone said since some date in June, we've had about 30 in of rain, but if you include today, probably more.  Crazy stuff.  Good thing I love rain and thunder storms!!!!  

Side note, today I put on jeans to do some service, which fell through because of the rain, and boy, it looked weird being in jeans...and it hasn't even been that long!!  

So, here's a sad story.  Why is it so difficult for people to come to sacrament meeting?!?!?!  Sheesh.  We had 2 investigators yesterday that didn't show up again, and we had to explain to him that night at our lesson that we've done everything we can do to help him progress.  We've given him all the tools he needs, he just has to make the decision.  So, when he's ready, we're ready, but for the mean time, we're going to back off a little.  Sheesh, that was hard...and sad.  I love that family, but his mother believes that to be the correct next step as well.  This is the brother of the girl that was baptized in July.  We're going to probably have to do the same thing with another investigator on Tuesday, but we know that as we exercise faith, the Lord will bless us with people who are ready to receive the gospel into their lives and progress in their journey back to our Heavenly Father.  

I love the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

To answer some of Dad's inquiries, No, we really don't go sight seeing a lot...slash at all.  But we are planning a trip up to Cape Lookout (look it up ;), a light house, with the Harkers Island elders in the next couple of weeks, which will be really intense and amazing.  That's when I'll snag that picture for ya, Dad ;)  We do have 1 investigator who is still on track for being baptized on the 15th of September.  He's a 9 year old in a returning Less-Active family.  Great family.  We're super excited for them all as they work toward the temple.  Last week, we had about 13 lessons, which is pretty good, but since we are teaching less investigators now, our usual lessons won't occur in the coming weeks, so we may dip down a little for a couple of weeks.  We'll see.  The Lord, if we're faithful, will probably bless us with more opportunities to teach different people.  There's always work to do.  

Here's the update from letters etc from family: I got 11 from mom, grandma's, and if I hadn't already said, #2 from dad, and a delicious package with delicious gold fish deposited within its depths ;)  Yum

For Grandma, yes, there is a Subway about a half an hour from where I live that's actually owned by the bishop.  It's in my area too.  So, hopefully that answers any questions you had.  

Sorry about the pictures not going through.  I'm sad on you not getting the district one, but I'll have to send it again.  Not this week though because I don't have my camera stuff with me. I'm eating well, and the members are great.  Yesterday, there was an 8 year old baptism and there were so many people attending that they had to move it to the chapel, and everyone didn't fit in the actual font room for the ordination.  Intense.  

Well, I don't know much else to say.

I could tell you a funny story?  I'm gonna tell you a story.  Huh? Huh?  Back a while, back a while...I was in this potential investigators home in Havelock on exchange and I was giving one of the individuals there a Book of Mormon to read out of.  Guess what got jammed inside the cover.......a chastity pamphlet!!! Wooooo :)  It fell out and this other girl who was kind of just sitting there on the couch picked it up and started reading it.  Tee hee.  Funny stuff.  I kind of felt dumb, but hey, maybe that's what she needed.  Then again, maybe not ;)  Oops.  ps.  I hope you liked the introduction to this story ;)...Deej...especially...

Another story...

So, I don't know if you know how exciting it is to get a media referral via text.  Well, it is.  And the other day, we received one.  SUPER EXCITING!!!!!  However, as it turns out, it was just a less active couple in the ward who logged a request via mormon.org for a reason that still seems to escape us, especially considering they know about half the ward and have regular contact with some of them.  Probably, they just wanted us to visit with.

Anyways,

Hope you like the stories,

Have an excellently fantastic week,

Luvs,

Elder Patty

ps.  I usually have enough time to write.