Hi Family!
Love you!
I looked at all the pictures of
Madi. She is so cute! The other sisters were looking at them too and they
thought that she is pretty cute too, so it is not just because I am related.
She has so much hair though! So cute. Baby baby baby. I can't wait to meet her.
Our recent convert, Holly, was
baptized right before Christmas- just a couple of weeks ago. This last week was
our stake temple night, and she was able to attend to do baptisms with two of
our other recent converts, the Buetows, who were baptized in May. The three of
them were planning on going together and Holly even loaned her car to the
Buetows for the day to make everything run more smoothly. Everything was
going perfectly until both of the Buetows got very sick. They were considering
not going to the temple. They knew that this would leave Holly by herself on
her first trip to the temple, so they decided to go anyways. It was a good
experience for all and we hope to get them back to the temple within the next
month. The next evening, we visited Holly and the Buetows came as our team up.
Holly brought up a concern that she doesn't know if she has ever felt the
spirit. It is a concern that we have addressed with her before, testifying over
and over that she has and trying to help her identify those times, but we
obviously have not been completely successful. But this lesson was very
different. We were able to testify in harmony with the Buetows, and by the end
of lesson, Holly said that she has felt the Spirit before; she just didn't
recognize what it was. It was a really great lesson and we committed her to
bring a question to church and to paying more attention to the spirit at
church on Sunday so that she could get an answer to her question, but then she
was sitting with us in sacrament meeting and cutting her fingernails during the
sacrament. Hm. She got an answer though, so maybe she is just really good at
focusing on more than one thing at once. I don't know.
The frustrating part of this week is just appointments keep falling through and sometimes feeling like I am doing the wrong things. There were days where we had appointments for every hour from 3 until 8, but everyone or almost every one cancelled. It’s frustrating because we spend so much time making sure that we have appointments and getting members to come with us to each of those appointments. I recognize that Heavenly Father can still make other good things happen, but I wish that things could just work out the way that we plan for them to.
Other than that, the Trail center
has been very slow, which is nice for the new sisters because there is a lot
less pressure on them to start taking tours, so they can kind of ease into it a
little bit. Yesterday, not a single person came in during the 6 hours that we
were here in the morning, although we did get some cleaning done. I am almost
convinced that when I grow up and am a senior missionary, I will be called to
do FM. (facilities management). Especially when it is slow like this, I am
always finding something to clean. Yesterday, we finished cleaning up from the
Gingerbread festival and cleaned the mats behind the front desk and took apart
somethings in the gallery that were really dirty, cleaned them, and put them
back together. I enjoy it :) A lot of sisters have been getting sick lately
though. I guess the flu is running rampant through Omaha, so we are getting our
fair share.
I have been thinking about a
commitment that the Trail Center Leaders gave us this last week at training, to
figure out what our unique role is in the Trail Center. In fact it is
something that I have thought a lot about throughout my mission.
I know that taking tours is a very
important part of what my role at the Trail Center is, but I feel like that
goes without saying. Without question, that is the first and most important
reason that any of us are here, but the question comes into play, "What is
my purpose when I am not taking tours? What can I do to still be productive
when I have completed all that I have been asked to do?"
I think that I first started
wondering what my purpose was in the Trail Center when I was so often
companions with Trail Center Leaders. For a while, I felt kind of useless
because it always felt like my companions were involved in the important and
exciting things at the Trail Center and for the most part, were not able to
tell me what was going on. I will admit it has been hard to have so many
companions that were Trail Center Leaders and to see the joy and fulfillment
that they have received from their calling and then not have the opportunity to
fill that same role. There have been moments of jealousy and others of sorrow,
but eventually I got over it and realized that it’s really not the end of the
world- I can still participate in meaningful ways without have the title.
Once I finally figured that out, I
began to accomplish other things and be more mindful of other opportunities to
serve, and started feeling more useful. Even if it was always being the first
one to start cleaning the gallery in the evening or making sure that the
gallery was stocked with copies of the Book of Mormon or writing love notes to
the sisters or taking the initiative to be the first to sit up, I started to
take more ownership of the Trail Center and felt like I was contributing in a
meaningful way. This then evolved into other opportunities to help and
participate.
I guess overall what I would say
that my role at the Trail Center is coming up with ideas of how to improve the
Trail Center in small ways, occasionally sharing my ideas with the Trail Center
Leaders, and then going to work!
I can think of a lot of things that
I have done that probably no one realized that I did, from developing the new
miles reporting system to creating a file of the computer of Pioneer Stories to
occasionally cleaning out the fridges in the TC kitchen. But, I am ok without
getting recognition. I know what I was able to accomplish and I know that what
I have done was meaningful.
Love you!
Sister Melly
PS. We are almost done with the Christmas
puzzle!
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