One melan in a cornfield: Change of Guard (Scarecrow?) in the Cornfield and Sister Lamb Sends Home Some Extra Hugs

Sister Melanie with President and Sister Kunz

Dear Family,

Love you!

Not a lot of time this week, I was making sure to write a really good email to President Weston for his first week here. :) I know what Ryan is saying right now. . . suck up! Ha ha.

But, maybe that is a good thing that I don't have a lot of time because I will have to be more concise. This last week was so great! We didn't have a lot of time, as usual, but the time we had was good.

On Wednesday, we met up with Cory, the man I made the blanket for, and he bought us lunch at the cheesecake factory :). I had to stay up late a couple of nights to get it finished, but now it is done and I don't have to worry about it any more! We talked to him for over an hour while we were having lunch about the Restoration and then had to leave to go to the Trail Center, so he met us up there a couple hours later and we talked for another couple of hours. He is an awesome guy, very philosophical, and a lot of things that he said are right in line with what we believe, but we just don't know what to think because it just didn't feel like anything that we were saying was really sinking in with him. He said we could have the elders in his area come over and talk with him some more, so we will see how that goes. I think that he will do well with elders. There are just certain types of people that need elders and others that need sisters, so hopefully the elders work out well for him. If not, maybe we will be seeing him at the Trail Center some more.

On Saturday, we had an appointment with one of Aliyah's neighbors, but they were not home, which worked out perfectly for us because we went to visit Aliyah instead and taught her. She is set for baptism on July 28th! She is so fantastic. The Jensen’s (aka our ward mission leader) got to spend a lot of time with her on Sunday when they took her to the fireside and they agree that she is so solid. Her willingness to believe is amazing; we just need to get her family on board!

Saturday was an interesting day. We had dinner with the Young’s (I don’t think we are related), who live all the way out by the Elkhorn river, the very outside edge of our area. They picked us up from the church, which is in the middle of our area, and it took 20 minutes to drive there, a lot of which was through cornfields and through a very hilly, wooded area where their house is. We felt like we were in the mountains for a little bit. Yes, please. They had invited Maria as well, who has been investigating the church for a couple of years now and we had dinner and taught them about repentance. After they took us back to our car, we spent an hour trying to find a referral we had received and everyone we tried was not home. Everyone was out celebrating the 4th of July, so we will see how this next week goes. We finally ended up at Julie and Walter's home. Julie is a recent convert and we have been teaching Walter. Walter sees us as his daughters. He is so cute, always watching out for us and making sure that we are being taken care of. Walter was in a really bad mood and they were leaving to take some thing to Goodwill, so we followed them there with a few things that didn’t fit in their car and then they took us to 2nd dinner at Village Inn. And it was a good thing. By the end, Walter was in a much better mood and we taught them while we were eating, so I would say it was worth it, even if we were very full by the end of the evening. Nutella crepes. Yes, please!

I have been learning a lot about prayer this week. rather than leaning over my bed and falling asleep while I am praying, I have been saying my prayers out loud, kneeling in the living room, where there is nothing to lean against and fall asleep on. I felt really awkward at first, but after the first couple of days, my prayers have become so much more effective. I think I felt a little of what it is like for investigators praying for the first time, but once I got over feeling awkward, it was so worth it. I am so grateful for prayer.

Well, that's it for this week!

Love you!

Sister Melly

Some answers to some questions I asked Sister Melly:

For the Fourth, we and a few others are singing the National Anthem for a ward breakfast (I know, right?) and then we are working at the Trail Center until 3, then having dinner with the Gunns in our ward, then we have a few appointments set for the evening, but we are not really sure what to expect because we think that they probably forgot that it was the 4th when they set them up, so we will see what happens. We thought that President Weston may not want us out on the roads that night, but we have not heard anything yet and I am sure that he is so overwhelmed right now that he won't think about that. Tracting probably won't be super effective that night, but we will see what happens.
The next fireside is this coming Sunday for the Council Bluffs stake. I will just be singing in that one. Then we have one on the 21st in the morning for the Papillion Stake's Pioneer Day celebration, then I think the 19th of August we are going down to Lincoln to do one there. Once we get through the next couple, I think that they are going to start planning some more maybe at the Trail Center or round 2 for some of the stakes now that the word is getting out more. I think a lot of it will have to do with what President Weston thinks about the firesides. He could love it and want us to do more, or tell us not to do any more. That is the same situation with the Come Home to Kanesville. We are supposed to be going in a few weeks, but they haven't said anything about it yet because ultimately, it is going to be up to President Weston to decide.

The next Watson wagon is going to be next Monday. We are going to the zoo! So that will mean that p-day will be on Monday again next week - they are figuring out the schedule so that everyone that wants to go can go on Monday instead of breaking it up into two days. The Watsons will go home at the end of January, so I will spend almost my whole mission with them. Don't worry; I am getting plenty of hugs. Every time we walk into the Trail Center, you would think that we hadn't seen each other in years and there is an obligatory round of hugs from everyone we see. You are probably the one who needs more hugs, so here are a few for you OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I think that should cover you until at least next week :)

Love you!

Sister Melly