Sister Lamb's Fall Festivities and Pumpkin Photos

Dearest Family,

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween will be a day in the Trail Center for me. Sister Davis and I are working in the TC from 9 until 5 and then we are having our standard Halloween activity. . . . Having dinner and making Christmas presents for our families! Ha-ha. You will have to wait and see what this year’s project is. They will also be playing "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" per suggestion of President Weston, but if it is anything like last year, we will be rushing to finish our project and will have no time for anything else.

OK. Other exciting things this last week. Well, my birthday! It was good. We had district meeting in the morning, then lunch with Sister Worley (a non-member who comes to church every week) she is a very good cook, so that was nice. She is very philosophical and asked us a lot of questions about truth. We were pretty confused at some points, but made it out alright. Then we headed for the Trail Center. It was a pretty slow day, so I spent a while in the Memorial Room reading a book about the pioneers. Right at the end of the night, I got to take a really special tour. It was a lady who I have met before in the Oakview ward, her soon to be mother-in-law and soon to be stepson (who is probably in his early 20's). The lady was being married this last Saturday in the temple, but the mother-in-law is not a member of the church, so they brought her to the Trail Center to help her have a better understanding of the church and what we believe. It was great. She had lots and lots of questions and between me, the soon to be daughter-in-law, and the grandson; we were able to answer all of them. It was amazing to see her understanding grow and everything clicking into place for her. She has been around the church for a long time (two of her sons are members) but really didn't know much about it. It was fun to have such an interested audience. She was also a very nice and sincere lady. I just gained such a love and appreciation for this lady. At the end of the tour, we watched "God's Plan for Families" and talked about eternal marriage and the importance of temples. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and I invited her to meet with the missionaries, but she declined, saying that "she was too old to change religions". I laughed and told her that you are never "too old to change." She was going to stay in the waiting room of the temple during the sealing and one of the temple presidency or their wives was going to sit with her, so I am sure she had an awesome experience there as well. I thought it was a good use of a birthday.

Another awesome thing that happened this week was that one night, we were out in our area towards the end of the night and I felt that we should go visit a less active that lived a little ways away from where we were. When we got there, we found that she lives in a locked apartment complex. We got no answer from ringing the door buzzer and had no telephone number for her. As we started back for our car, I saw a man standing outside in the cold, smoking a cigarette. We went over to talk to him and were soon joined by his girlfriend. He found out a few years ago that he has Chrone’s disease and had to stop working for a while, but began hip hop dancing on his own. He later met his girlfriend, who is a teacher at a local dance studio and asked if he could use the studio after hours to practice. As he did, the studio owner was watching him through the one way glass and eventually invited him to begin teaching classes. They were a really neat couple. We talked about how the gospel is like ballet - it creates the basis for everything else we do, just like ballet is where we learn technique that helps us in all other forms of dance. It was just a really fun conversation and they were really neat people. As we continued talking, they eventually told us that the reason that they were home was that he had just found out less than an hour before that his father has cancer, so had left the studio early that night. We read to them from the Book of Mormon and talked about how much Heavenly Father cares about them, that it was no coincidence that we were there that night. Unfortunately, they are both very busy with dance and other jobs, so they don't have much time to meet with us, but we will keep in contact.

Other awesome thing. . . Lindsay was supposed to get baptized this last week end, but we have not seen or heard from her in several weeks. We have had ward members call her, left notes on her door, etc, but have heard nothing from her. Then last night, I was sick, so Sister Davis took Sister Brown with her to our area for a couple of appointments. While they were gone, I had the feeling that Sister Brown would want to go stop by Lindsey's apartment. I prayed so hard that they would be able to see her. When they came back an hour or so later, they told me that they had seen her! They had knocked on her door and gotten no answer, then decided to try their neighbors, who have been taught a coupled of times in the past. And surprise! Lindsey was there. She said that she had gotten a new phone and didn't have our phone number anymore, so that was the reason we have not been able to contact her lately. It was so good that we finally found her. She still wants to be baptized, we just have to teach her a couple more things and figure out a date when her family would be able to come.

Hooray!

So, it’s been a pretty good week. Miracles have been happening.

Love you!
Sister Melly

 

Has Sister Lamb Lost her Mind or Getting in the Right One?

Hello Family,

Love you!

So! It’s been another good week :). The weather has been nice, although a little rainy at times. I am just praying for another mild winter. I wouldn't mind snow; I am just scared of the freezing cold temperatures.

So let’s see. What happened this week?

Well, I had an interesting experience this week. A woman came into the Trail Center and when I went to greet her, she headed straight for the bathroom. When she returned, I walked over to greet and was given a "You're just all over me like a piece of fresh meat." Not sure what to say about this, I laughed it off and then proceeded to greet her. She told me that she is working on writing a book about a young boy on the Mormon Trail. It became apparent that she was not a member of the church and we started around the gallery. The first question she asked me was about the type of soil that the pioneer would have encountered as they reached crossings of the Sweetwater River. As I attempted to share some of the stories of the pioneers, she made it clear that she was only interested in the topography of the trail. As she proceeded to run her eyes and hands over every map every map, picking out hills and plains, I continued trying to help her. When we were near the odometer, she spouted off some facts about wagon wheels and other things. I asked her where she had learned these things, to which she said "I have been talking to educated people about these types of things." And then glared at me for a few moments before continuing on. A few moments later, I tried to explain to her that while her research may be helpful for her writing, that she was missing something much bigger and more important that little facts. I bore my testimony of the pioneers and their example. She wasn't too excited about this and as we continued to talk, began talking very sternly to me "Look here, missy, stop trying to convert me." Then went into a rant about Mormons, Baptists, and 7th Day Adventists all thinking that they are right and that everyone else is going to hell. She mentioned her sister, who apparently is a member of our church, who is also trying to convert her. I just bore my testimony over and over about missionary work and what we believe and the pioneers and so many things. Through the whole thing, I felt perfectly calm and felt that I knew exactly what to say. I said many things that I have never said before and in ways that I have said. Although it was difficult to have her respond in the way that she did and I certainly did not want to make her angry, I know that it was the Spirit that was telling me what to say. People don't offend other people. People choose to be offended and as hard as it was, this woman was not happy with what I was saying. Eventually she walked away, but as much as I wanted to get out of there, I felt that I needed to stay. She wandered by the ship and train for a minute before we rejoined at the handcart, where she pointed out the rawhide on the wheels. I told her about the Martin handcart company and quoted from Francis Webster, all from memory- something which I have never been able to do before. "Cold historic fact mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the handcart train out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it . . . . We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and may died of exposure and starvation. ... We became acquainted with Him in our extremities. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay." I bore my testimony of the pioneers one more time. She shook my hand and left.  I have no idea what was going on in her mind at this point and I will probably never know the rest of the story, but I do know that what happened was directed by Heavenly Father. I know that what I said was what He wanted me to say and what she needed to hear, even if it was not what she wanted to hear.

That's probably the most memorable thing that happened this week. I don't know if it’s really what I want to remember though. It makes me sad just thinking about it.

We have been doing more cleaning this week for Tana- one of the less actives in the ward. She is have a housing check on November 14th, so we need to get her apartment clean before then so that she doesn't get kicked out, because then we would be in real trouble! She also has a lot of health problems, so can't do much herself or is in such bad shape that she can’t come to church. We threw a bunch of stuff away and found the floor in her dining room and cleaned her kitchen, but we have a lot to go before we are done. It is probably not the most effective thing to spend a lot of our time doing, but definitely better than her getting kicked out. We are going to try and get the ward more involved as well so we can get it all done.

Holly is doing well. She has been reading the scriptures, which is a great improvement. We have been texting her a scripture to read every day, so that has been helping her to remember. That seems like it is the biggest problem: remembering. That’s probably why the Book of Mormon says that word so often. We just need to get her praying and she will be on her way to a testimony! She has been sick this last week though, and is still sick, but had to go back to work today.

Ok. Here is the other crazy thing that has been happening lately. I think that Heavenly Father has been making me LOSE my mind so that He can show me tender mercies. Just please don't worry about me when you read this. So a couple of weeks ago, Sister Brown and I stopped to fill up one of the cars with gas. I got out to pump the gas and Sister Brown was washing the windows. We did our thing and then hopped back in the car, which was when I started looking for the keys. I eventually noticed them still in the ignition. The car was still on and running. I have heard that if you do that, your car could explode, but I don't want to try it again to find out. This week, we went to help at the clinic agina like I have done in the past. This time, it was rainy and we were running late, so when we arrived, we quickly parked and ran inside. As we were at the clinic, I though "I hope that I didn't leave the headlights on." But felt that it would be ok. Later, I though again "I hope that I didn't lock the key sin the car" But again felt like it would be fine. 3 hours later, when we went out to our car, I was searching through by bag, but could not find the keys. We walked out side and saw the windshield wipers going. ... . The car had been running, doors unlocked, in the middle of downtown Omaha, for three hours! First I felt like an idiot. Then I just felt really grateful that it had not been stolen. "I, (Sister Lamb), will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith" Yeah.

So, that been the amazing things that have happened this week. Pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.

Love you!

Sister Melly

PS. Now that the office staff has changed around, they are only delivering our mail from the mission office about once a week, if that. I will make sure I get my birthday package- I will go get it if I have to- but in the future, you can start sending things directly to the Trail Center:
3215 State St, Omaha, NE, 68112. (Assuming I don't get sent out full pros. . . :))

Sister Lamb's Gladys Knight Fireside and Sunday Tours

Dear Family,

Love you!

It’s good to hear that everyone is doing well, including baby. We walked through the baby isle at Walmart today and I said "baby baby baby". Ha-ha.

Ok. Let's see. It was transfers this week. Yes. We have been noticing that President Weston tends to move people around a lot more than President Kunz did. Ever since President Weston came, I have had a new companion every transfer. Belka-Bergeson-Brown-Davis,. I guess they ran out of "b" names for me to be companions with.

There hasn't been a whole lot going on in West Maple, but there has been some exciting things happening.

On Friday, Gladys Knight and the Saints United Voices Choir came to Omaha and did two firesides in our stake center. That was exciting. There has been a lot of hype going on about it, getting members to invite their friends. We hadn't gotten tickets (it was a ticket, although free event), but really wanted to find a way for Holly to go. Some of the people in our ward had invited her, but didn't actually have tickets to go, so she kept getting let down by people inviting her and then not being able to follow through. The night before, I was talking to one of the sisters at the TC and she said they had some extra tickets that we could have, but didn't know where they were. Holly was also sick, so it didn't look like she would be able to go. The next day, they still couldn't find the tickets. Someone else gave us one, but that didn't get us very far. We were just leaving to go to our area when we got a call from the sisters saying they had found the tickets and had them at the Trail Center. Holly was also feeling better, so she was able to go and loved it! (This sounds a lot less dramatic of a day than it actually was. It was pretty crazy). We went to the fireside as well. It was awesome. They sang and Gladys and her husband and another man spoke- they were very funny, but tied it all to gospel subjects. They basically taught all of the first three lessons that we teach to people. It reminded me that although there is one true gospel, there are many ways to share it!

On Saturday, we went to Kate Loftus's funeral (mom of Madison, who was baptized a couple of weeks ago- the only member in her family). It was sad, but also neat because the whole thing was done by church members.. One of the bishopric conducted and talked about the plan of salvation, the woman who brought Madison into the church talked about Kate’s life, and a YW leader gave the closing prayer. Then the YW leaders provided lunch. Madison was doing well. She was acting like her normal self, which is good. I just hope she is really doing as well as she was acting. I thing she was enjoying the attention.

It was a good week at the Trail Center too. It started out pretty slow, but Sunday was an awesome night. I had three really good tours. The first was a couple from Utah on their way to their mission in Michigan. I love taking tours of missionaries on their way to or from their mission because it is so easy to relate to them. I have found a lot of strength as a missionary from learning about the pioneers, so I love being able to share those personal insights and motivations that have helped me. It is easy to relate the story of the pioneers to missionary work and easy to relate those connections to people who are so excited to go and do missionary work. It was fun. At the end of the tour, they told me that they were very glad that they had stopped because this was exactly the pick-me-up they needed between leaving the MTC and making it to their mission.

The second tour I took was a young woman from Utah who was here visiting her family who has moved to Omaha recently. She actually knows Sister Hawkes who served here, so that was fun! There was something so awesome about that tour. She was just very real and open about herself and the gospel, so we were able to have a really great conversation. That tour was a lot of fun as well.

The third tour was my favorite though. It was a young family who lives in Omaha and had been here many times before, but the husband's brother was visiting them so they brought him to show him the Trail Center. He was 19 years old, looked like he thought himself a tough kid. I knew that he was here for more of a purpose than just to see the Trail Center, so I immediately focused the tour on him. Somehow, we got onto the topic of missions. He started telling me about how when he graduated from high school, he was very excited to serve a mission and was working on his papers, but his mom started pushing him so much that he decided not to go. (By this time, the rest of the family was off playing with the handcart or something). He was making the excuse that the timing wasn't right for him. Eventually he admitted that the desire that he had felt to go was gone now and that he hadn’t been to church in 2 months, but had gone for the first time this week. He said it felt good to go back. We kept talking and he just kept cracking open little by little. I asked him if he had prayed to ask Heavenly Father if He wanted him to go, to which he said yes. I asked "when?" . . "Well, back when I first wanted to serve a mission". He promised that he would ask again that night. As we continued to talk, he stopped me and said, "A lot of those things are exactly what my friend has been telling me lately." I reminded him that it’s because it is true. When he left, he told me that he could already feel the desire to serve coming back. It was a neat experience because not only was I able to help him, but because I helped him, he will be able to help many other people. It’s like giving a man a fish vs. teaching a man to fish.

Love you!

Have a good week :)

Sister Melly

The Cornfield Cools but West Maple is on Fire

Hello Family!

Love you! Thank you for the package!

So, it’s been. . . a week! This week, we have been focusing a lot on Lindsay, who was set to be baptized on the 13th (this Saturday). She still had a lot of things that we needed to teach her, so we told her that we would be coming over just about every night, which we did. She is absolutely on fire. She is so excited to be baptized and loves everything that we teach her. Sister Brown took Sister Atkin to see her on Thursday (exchanges) and Sister Atkin was pretty amazed by her. I am as well. She has such a love for the gospel and is so pure. When taught the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity, she just said "yeah, I was always the weird girl growing up because I have always thought that we shouldn't do those things." She came to General Conference on Sunday morning. After it was over, she said that she had had a whole list of questions, the kind of questions that she had been wondering her whole life, and that every one of them had been answered. She was going to watch the rest of the sessions online and was so excited to see them. She is going to be baptized on the 27th because that is the weekend when her parents will be able to come and be there, which is a perfectly good excuse in my mind.

Let’s see, we also have Holly. We were only able to see her on Sunday and during a session of conference. We are still working at getting to the heart of the problem with her, but we are slowly making progress. She is still scheduled to be baptized next Wednesday, but we will probably end up moving that date back a few weeks.

West Maple is doing well. We have just been really, really busy the last couple of weeks and have not had much time in our area. To be honest, I am not sure with what. We have been doing a lot of service projects, which is good and helping our ward mission leader, which is good, and doing things at the Trail Center, which is also good. It’s all good. Sister Lamb is good. Sister Brown is also good. Sister Proctor says hello.

We were able to watch 3 of the 4 sessions of conference this time. The last one, we were working at the Trail Center, so I missed most of it. I was watching in the basement of the Trail Center when President Monson made his big announcement. I guess I am not sure how I feel about it. It is exciting that a lot more people, especially sisters, will be able to serve missions, but it also makes me feel really old. It’s interesting because I am pretty sure that if I could have served a mission when I turned 19, I probably wouldn't have and I don't know if I would have decided to serve at the time that I did, being 3 years older than most missionaries. Maybe that makes me a little proud or at least proud then, but in the end, it doesn't really matter because I don't have to make that decision. It is probably a good thing that I will be home before we start getting any of the new, younger missionaries, but who knows? Even before this was announced, there have already been changes happening in the mission to prepare for the younger missionaries. New rules have basically cut all communication between elders and sisters, even when they are serving in the same areas. We are not allowed to have district meetings in the same buildings or eat district lunches in the same places.

So, yeah! Things are good. The Trail Center has slowed down considerably so I am working on finding lots of good things to do with the time. It’s good.

The tour that probably had the most impact on me this week was a tour that I took on Sunday evening. It was a middle aged woman from Utah. She had left Utah over a month ago with her aunt to do a bunch of travelling and sightseeing through the States, up to Canada, and all over the east coast. Her aunt had gotten sick and flew home from Baltimore, leaving just her to travel alone for the rest of the trip. The first thing that we did was take a walk over to the cemetery where we talked about the sacrifices of the pioneers and I helped her locate three graves of her ancestors. Tears streamed down her face as we talked about what they were sacrificing for and as she told me a little about her family. As we talked, I started to see this woman as my mother. I began to think "If this was my mom, travelling cross-country by herself, at this point in her life, what would I want someone to say to her?" I felt that it was then that I was truly able to minister to her. We continued into the Trail Center where I showed her Zion in the Wilderness and the gallery. As we continued to talk, I felt a deeper sense of love for this woman. But, as she was leaving, I asked where she was going to spend the night, to which she asked if she could spend the night in the parking lot in her car. The senior couple overheard and joined in the conversation, convincing her that she needed to find a place to stay the night because it was going to reach below freezing that night. She replied that her trip had taken longer than expected and that she was running out of money. For another 15 minutes or so, we in a way ran around, not sure what to do or how to help. Eventually, the senior couple gave her some money and she headed to find a decent hotel. During this time, the senior elder had commented to me, with concern in his voice, that something was not right with her, that maybe she wasn't all mentally there. As I looked back on the tour, I began to realize that he was probably right. It was heartbreaking to me. It was like telling me that there was something was mentally wrong with my mom. I couldn't help but cry a little for this woman who I had felt so close to in that short amount of time.

So, I don't know what to say that I learned from this experience. I am still trying to figure that out. But it was not like any experience I have had before in the Trail Center

Love you!

Sister Melly

Sister Lamb Visits a Pumpkin Patch and Tries to Ignore the Numbers

Hello Family!

Love you!

I think that this last week, Heavenly Father has been reminding me that it is not all about numbers. At the beginning of my mission, I hardly cared about numbers at all, but in the time since then my perspective has totally changed. Every time I change areas, it gets worse. I just feel a pressure to keep up with the number of lessons that were being taught by the previous missionaries or I feel like someone will think that I am a bad missionary or that we are being lazy. So this week, I was being reminded that I don't need to worry about it. We were still able to teach a good number of lessons, but we also were able to do a lot of things that were great things to do, but didn't necessarily show up in numbers of lessons.

On Wednesday last week, we went to visit Tana, a less active and she gave each of us a skirt. They are so cute! I will send you a picture sometime. My camera is out of batteries today. We went home and washed them several times (they smelled like smoke) and then wore them when we went back the next day to help her clean her apartment. It took us an hour just to clean her stove and do her dishes, if that says anything. On Monday this week, we went back to help for another hour and a half and I spent the whole time vacuuming a big rug. When I started, it was so full of dog hair that it looked like something a bum wouldn't sleep on. By the end, it actually looked pretty nice. I was using one of the attachments and doing it by hand and it was hard work! I just really hope that she keep it clean :)

We have also been working with our bishop on some things, like going through the whole ward list with him over who is who and who is active and less-active and who we should go see, etc.

On Saturday, we did service at a Kiwanis pancake breakfast.

On Thursday, Sister Weston came with us to our area for a few hours. It was so much fun! First we saw an investigator named Toya and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. It was so neat to see her reaction because everything was making so much sense to her and she loved it. We set her for baptism for the middle of November. I think that she is more excited to receive the Holy Ghost than be baptized :). We also saw Sister Feuquay and read the scriptures with her. She was funny. She has started making bracelets lately and makes us a new one every time we go over there.

On Saturday, Holly, an investigator, gave us a ride to the Relief Society broadcast, which was so good because we got to talk to her on the way to and from the broadcast. Holly has been coming to church and being taught by missionaries for about 6 months and wants to believe everything we teach, but just won't let herself. She really liked the broadcast, probably more than anything we have ever done with her, and on the way back we had a perfect conversation with her about deciding to believe and humility. She was really thinking. We haven't been able to teach her since but I am expecting great changes when we see her next.

This last week, on Sunday, I got to the Trail Center after church and immediately went to relieve Sister Davis from her tour. She was right at the end, but needed to leave to go to church, so I took over her tour for her. When she walked away, the 2 year old son ran after her into the foyer because he had become very attached to her. The dad brought him back, but he didn't really want me to be there, so I just focused on the parents and we talked about families a lot- about them working together and supporting each other and about temples and being sealed together as a family (they were not members by the way). Then we went to watch "God's Plan" and I testified to them about families and about how the Book of Mormon can strengthen their family. They said that they have not gone to church in a long time, but recently have been thinking about going back. It was a great. There is absolutely no other way besides the spirit that could have helped to transition between Sister Davis and me taking them on tour and then still being open enough to accept the things that I was telling them. From my side, the tour was only about 20 minutes total, but the spirit was able to direct me to use that short amount of time to give them what they needed.

Both of the parents left the Trail Center with a copy of the Book of Mormon and they left me their address so I could send the missionaries. They didn't leave a phone number or email, so I am going to have an interesting time following up with them, but I guess I will just have to pray for them a lot and hope that they return letters.

Today, we went to Vala's pumpkin patch. It is kind of like Disneyland minus the rides. We watched pig races, shooting pumpkins out of a cannon, went through a corn maze, rode pedal bikes, sat in a huge rocking chair, and other fun things. It was great, but I am tired!

Ok love you! Bahhhh!

Sister Melly

Sister Melly Battles Cold - Germs and Cooler Weather in the Cornfield

Hello family!

Love you!

Now I am a little confused. I am guessing that this means that Ryan is with you in Minnesota. For some reason I had thought he was not. But, I hope that you are having a wonderful time in Minnesota! I hope that the weather has not cooled down there as much as it has here, but from what I heard so far, it sounds like we do things a lot the same weather wise. I can't help but laugh at myself talking about the weather.

Anyways, this last week has been not too exciting. Last Tuesday (p-day) when I woke up, I was feeling a little like I had a sore throat and by the next day, I was feeling pretty sick. So I spent most of Wednesday in bed at the Trail Center and Sister Brown went with one of the other sisters to our area. That right there is one reason that I am very grateful for the trail center. It makes it much easier for us to take care of ourselves when we are sick because it is usually pretty easy to just borrow someone for the evening. Otherwise, I probably would have just gone. Thursday morning, I was feeling worse, so we had district meeting over the phone while sitting in our living room, which was actually pretty nice. It was interesting because I was not feeling good at all, so I went to sleep about an hour before district meeting and then woke up right as it was starting and thought that I was feeling fine. As soon as I stood up, I was not feeling that great again, but it was enough to get me out to the living room so that I could listen in to district meeting, which was on our purpose. We talked about how the more we are able to understand and use the atonement, the greater our desire to share the gospel will be. That is why recent converts tot he church are more excited to share the gospel, because they have recently felt the powerful effects of the atonement in their lives.

Sister Brown went out again that evening with another sister. It funny, sometimes seeing someone else being sick and getting to sleep can make a missionary jealous because we are always tired, but really being sick is not as much fun as it looks like.

By Friday, I was feeling mostly better, which was good because it was temple day! Hooray for the temple! Sister Brown and Sister Coats and I did initiatory and then got to sit in the Celestial Room for about a half an hour before the other missionaries were done. When we walked in, it was just the three of us in there for a minute and it was a neat feeling because as we walked in, whispering to each other about what we had learned today, it really felt like we were walking into Heavenly Father's living room. It just at home, which is neat to think that we could feel at home in a place that is so fancy looking. :)

On Thursday, Sister Kusnerik (Kate) who was my trainer, moved back to Omaha and was staying with the Watsons for a few days. It was so weird to see her but she is so excited to help with the missionary work. She will be a good resource to have, especially because she wants to help out in West Maple because that was one of the areas she served in (for something like 9 months!). So that will be nice, although I will admit that I am still a little bit intimidated by her. I am sure that will dissipate once she comes on a few team ups with us.

So, I am doing just great! 99% not sick anymore. And I hope that you are doing great too!

Love you!

Sister Melly

Sister Lamb Slips into Iowa and the Cornfield Gets Golden

Hello Family!

Love you!

This has been a great week :) So many good things are happening!

Today, we had a Watson Wagon and went to the Joslyn Museum and the Walking Bridge in downtown Omaha, which connects Nebraska and Iowa. It was fun. I don't know what else to say other than that.

 

Now to the really exciting stuff. Last Tuesday, we had a mission tour with Elder Nash of the 70. The Omaha and Papillion zones met together to hear from him. (President has been packing a lot of missionaries into these zones lately, so there were a lot of us there- probably around 60 missionaries covering 2 stakes. That might be a little low). We were in the chapel. The first thing that we did was Elder Nash, his wife, and the Westons stood at the back of the room and one row at a time, we went to greet them. I shook Elder Nash's hand and he complimented me on my strong handshake, ha-ha, and then looked at me for a second and said "You have a beautiful spirit." I thought that was pretty nice compliment from a General Authority. After we all greeted them, the meeting started. Previous to the meeting, President had all the missionaries prepare 3-five minute talks on subjects that he had assigned. Then, 3 missionaries (one for each subject) were asked to present their talks. I was called up to give the first talk, on working with members. When the assistants announced my name, my heart didn't skip a beat and I calmly walked up to the stand, gave my talk like there was nothing to it, and then went to sit back down. For me, it was just a neat reminder of how much I had changed. Giving a talk in front of a group of fellow missionaries and a member of the 70 was no big deal, even if I didn't think that I knew very much on the subject. The rest of the meeting was great. Elder Nash spoke about the atonement and gave us a couple of hours at the end to ask him questions.

The little girl is Julie’s granddaughter, Madison. I mentioned her a couple of weeks ago. We still haven’t been able to see her again.

 

Let’s see, other really awesome thing that happened this week was that Madison was baptized on Saturday! Sister Belka and I left our companions at the TC and headed out together, just like old times :) The baptism was good. A priest in the ward was able to baptize her, which I am sure her family thought was really weird. Our bishop boldly invited all of Madison's extended family members to come to church next Sunday for her confirmation and to look more into the church. Madison was excited to see us and we were really glad to be able to go. What was really amazing was all of the miracles that happened surrounding the baptism. Madison's mom, Kate was there. I talked to her afterwards and she talked about how much Madison has changed in the last few months since she has been coming to church (Madison struggled with depression and bipolar disorder) now, she is no longer taking any medication or having any therapy. I reminded Kate that those same blessings are available to her as well and she said that she and Madison have been talking about that. I think that Kate will get baptized within the next few years, at least. But Kate wasn't the only one who has noticed the difference in Madison. One of her grandmas was there and slipped in to the chapel after the service, where she sat in the dark for half an hour. When she came out, she was crying and overcome with emotion. She is not religious, but Sister Belka and I talked to her and shared scriptures from the Book of Mormon and she gave sister Belka her phone number so that she can stay in contact with her. Another set of Madison’s grandparents were also there and it turns out that they know the bishop, who is a patient in the medical clinic where she works. They talked to both Bishop Applegarth and Brother Jensen for quite a while. Madison's best friend and her dad were also there as well as some other grandparents and an aunt and uncle. It was a good turn out.

We had stake conference on Sunday. Sister Brown and I sang in the choir. We sang a song called "Refuge and Rest" that someone in the stake wrote a few years ago for the Bicentennial. It was good. Elder Deschler of the Seventy was the speaker. He had all the full time missionaries in the stake come up to the front and had us all sing the first verse of Called to Serve. Then, he talked about the power of missionaries. He said that the power of missionaries is great, but it is greater when they have the support of the members. He then had everyone stand up and sing the second verse of Called to Serve. It was really powerful.

Ah! I need more time! I haven't even said anything about our investigators yet but they are doing great! We have a lot that are progressing and 2 set for baptism in October, with more to come! Great things are happening!

Love you! Have a great week!

 

Love, Sister Melly

 

 

 

Sister Lamb's West Maple Dream



Dear Family!

Hello from Omaha! Haha Love yoU!

This last week has been a dream. I still don't feel like I know what is going on completely in West Maple, but I feel like I am starting to get a grip on who everyone is and what is going on. The biggest problem is that there are a bunch of people that the sisters have met and taught a little in the recent past, but who we have not been able to contact in the last while, so I keep seeing and thinking about these names that still don't have any faces to go with them.

It’s so funny how the Spirit works. I think that I am just starting to recognize that feelings that I have felt many times in the past but wasn't sure exactly what it was that I was feelings were actually the Spirit trying to tell me something. Yesterday, we were at our church building eating lunch after church when I started to feel really strongly that we needed to go to an apartment complex where some of our investigators live. It’s hard to describe, but it was like feeling really excited, but also a little nervous at the same time. We headed to where we thought we should be going, but the lady we were looking for was not home. We talked to some other people and knocked a couple of doors. We also talked to a Muslim man outside, which was really interesting to me because he wanted to give us a copy of the Koran and talked about it the same way that we would talk about the Book of Mormon. He said that if we would read it, that we would know that it is true and that we could pray about it to know the truth from God. We had an interesting conversation and decided to respectfully not agree with each other.

One of those names that I mentioned earlier (a name without a face) was a lady named Faith who we have tried several times, but have not been able to catch home. After we talked to the Muslim man, we went to try her and she was home! She was so funny. She is African American and talks at a million miles an hour, but somehow we were still able to teach her the restoration and about the Book of Mormon. I shared with her Helaman 5:12, where it talks about building our foundation in Christ and she immediately asked if she could have a copy. Turns out, her fiancée also has a copy of "the blue book" and she has really wanted to read it because he has been reading it. In the end, I don't really know what it was that Heavenly Father wanted to accomplish or if there was even one specific thing that we needed to do, but it always feels good to be able to receive and then follow the promptings of the Spirit and know that you are doing God's will.

We also met with another investigator, Tatiana, a few times this week. She is a single mother of one and has a second son on the way. It’s hard to know how to explain her. She is very depressed and a lot disappointed in herself because she has had both of her kids out of wedlock.

Another neat thing that happened this week is that someone chased us down to talk with us. We were in an apartment building, going to knock on the door of Andy, a girl that they met a couple of weeks ago. As we walked to the door, her mom came in, talking in the phone. We tried to talk to her, but she ignored us and went inside. We continued down the hall and upstairs, knocking on doors and began talking to a man named Doug. As we were talking, Andy's mom poked her head out of the stairwell from downstairs and yelled to us "Hey! Were you trying to talk to me?" we said yes and she said to come knock on her door when we were done. We did, of course and went to knock on her door. She let us right in and we got to know her and taught her the Restoration. She liked everything we said. Her name is Lynette and she is so funny! She told us that she had seen us while she was talking on the phone and something had told her to finish her call and go talk to us, so she did! She had gone up and down the hallways and outside looking for us before she found us upstairs. She is so in tune with the Spirit! It is awesome. She is an older black lady and so sassy. We are going back to teach her and Andy this Friday.

Another great thing that we did this week was that we got to go do service at a medical clinic. One of Elders Watson’s friends from Kiwanis is a doctor and holds a free medical clinic for the uninsured once a week in downtown Omaha. They have enlisted our help, so each week four sisters go and help by counting pills to fill prescriptions for the people that come into the clinic after they have seen a doctor. It was a lot of fun. It was in a school of some sort and we were just using some of the extra rooms. We were in an office counting pills and when the prescription was filled, someone else would call the patients in one at a time to give them their medications. I didn't pay much attention most of them time, but there was one little, older man, medium height and skinny with glasses who came in with his wife. They had to explain to him that the medications that he needed for seizures were too expensive for the clinic to have, so they could not give them to him. Right then, I just felt a huge surge of love for this man and his wife imagining them in a small, worn down house and trying to courageously deal with his medical issues. I had a hard time keeping myself from crying for a minute. But it made me grateful for the good we were able to help do, even if we couldn't do it all.
So yeah! It’s been a pretty neat week.

I don’t' have a picture of Sister Brown because my camera ran out of batteries, but you can probably pick her out of a picture. She is the one with really short hair.

Could that be Sister Brown in the lead arriving in Omaha?

Love yoU!

Sister Melly

 

Sister Lamb answers a few questions:

We just started volunteering again at the Catholic retirement home- Seven Oaks. I have not been yet, but I think I will be going in the next week. with so many sisters, we only do it once every couple of weeks. it seems like it was more often in the fall last year, but that is probably not really true.

We do still do mormon.org chat. I have seen two baptisms so far come from the people that we have chatted with- one named Eric who lives in London and one in California named Brent.

We ate a lot with the members in Millard, but not so much in West Maple. it all depends on how willing the members are to help out. The members in Millard were also a lot more willing to help with things like team-ups. I think it mostly has to do with the demographics of the ward. Millard was a lot younger with husbands that have recently been on missions, etc.

The quilt show just started this last weekend. There are all kinds of quilts from all backgrounds and sewing capablilitles. There are some that were loaned to us that are from the late 1800's and early 1900's. I really haven't had much time to look at all of them yet.

We haven't started working on the Christmas fireside, or at least I haven't heard much yet but I do know that they have set up many performances in November and December. I think that they are going to be keeping us very busy. It will be good to keep all of us that are nearing the end of our missions excited and focused. We are going to the Walking Bridge and a museum downtowm next week for Watson Wagon and the temple next Friday! Love yoU!

Sister Melly Battling Bugs, Moving Mania and Celebrating 366

Dear Family,

Love you!

This last week has been pretty crazy. It is kind of a stressful experience going from an area where you know everything and everyone and what is going on and where things are, to not knowing anything at all. The last week has kind of been like a dream. On top of that, I really have not had much time to be able to put away all of my stuff in our apartment, so I feel even more like a mess. I got a lot done during lunch time yesterday and hopefully I can get the rest in it place this afternoon. Right before I first moved in, I got a whole lot of bug bites on my legs that we thought were bedbugs, so we washed all of my clothes and did a whole bunch of stuff to get rid of the bedbugs, but we later decided that it was not bedbugs but that it was chiggers or mosquitoes. But at least all my clothes are clean! They itched really badly for a while but now they are just a bunch of little scabs on my legs. There are probably about 20 or them. Maybe more.

We are living with Sister Proctor and Sister Arnold. We don’t see each other too often though. We get home at night, plan for the next day, get ready for bed then may have a few minutes left to talk about our days. Last night I decided to dye my eyebrow so everyone joined in and we all looked pretty funny. In the mornings, Sister Brown and I go running while the others go to the Trail Center to exercise. Then we study while they get ready and we get ready while they study then one of us is usually out the door. Yesterday, we were all there for companion study at the same time, so we decided to sing a hymn together. It was fun!

The work in West Maple is different from Millard. It always amazes me how different areas of one place can be, even if they are just a few miles away from each other. Our area is bigger- probably about 15 square miles, but at least lately, the missionaries have been spending all of their time in about 1 square mile of it. This area has a lot of apartment complexes, which are usually good places to find people. The biggest problem is not that people don't want to talk to us; it is that even those who really want to learn are too busy to have time for us to come teach them.

At the same time that I came into the area, we also got a set of elders in West Maple. Before, it was just sisters, so we have been trying to help them get settled and give them some of our investigators to teach. We have one man, Ryan, who is set for baptism in two weeks, but still has a lot to learn before then. It seems like that is the typical way of things - a rush to the finish line. I have not even met him yet, which is a little scary, and we will probably have the elders finish teaching him since they have more time than we do. We are also teaching Holly, who is set to be baptized in October. She really wants to learn and believe the things that we are teaching her, but is really struggling because she just cannot trust people or even herself really. She has very little self confidence and is just miserable. On Saturday, we watched "Your Happily Ever After" with her - a talk from President Uchdorf from YW conference last year I think. I think we really made some progress with her in the lesson. I read something a little while a go that confidence comes from keeping the commandments because when we are obedient, we feel God's love for us. Hopefully we can use that to help her build some confidence in herself and recognize that she really is a child of God!

We have been teaching a lot this week and getting a lot done. On Friday, we helped a less active and her sister move. The less active was just moving her stuff from one apartment to another in the same complex. Her sister was moving from Alabama, so we got to drive out to Bennington (which is about 5 miles outside of our area through cornfields and such) and got her stuff, then moved it into he apartment as well. Luckily, we had two sets of elders there to help and we got quite a workout from all of the moving, but it was fun!

On Friday, it was also my year mark of going in to the MTC, se we went to dinner with our roommates at Village Inn.

It was a good week, although crazy!

Love you!

Sister Melly

Sister Melly Trains with Deluxe Hamburgers and Moves Two Stairwells

Sister Melly and Madison - Best Friends Playing Dress up

Dear Family,

Llooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeee you!

This week is transfer week, as you may have guessed by now. The suspense has been great so I have had to study patience this morning because I could not focus otherwise or sleep last night. But this morning when we got to the Trail Center (just a few minutes ago) Elder Watson pulled us into his office and told us what is happening. Sister Bergeson is staying in Millard and getting Sister Watson for a companion and I am going to West Maple to be with Sister Brown! Sister Brown is from Arizona and just finished being trained by Sister Baker. I will now have served in all the same areas as Sister Kusnerik( my trainer) who by the way is moving back to Omaha for a job, so that will be weird. She started in Millard, then went to West Maple for a long time, then ended in Oakview. So I guess I will be spending the rest of my mission in West Maple. Kind of funny. But, good news. . . I get to drive! Sweet! I am so excited. Ha-ha

So I will be staying in the Willet apartment building, probably for the rest of my mission. Woe is me. I just have to move two stairwells over and will be living with the Trail Center leaders (who now are companions serving in the same area, so there will be no more Trail Center leader companion craziness) Sister Proctor and Sister Arnold. We will have a lot of fun, I am sure. It is probably a good thing that I don’t have to move too far because I don’t know if I could fit all of my stuff into my suitcases/a car. West Maple is a good area, so I am excited.

OK, in other news, last week we went bowling with our zone. That was a lot of fun, but they let us wear jeans which turned out to be not such a good idea. I have definitely gained weight since I have been on my mission. They still fit, but they were not so comfortable.

On Thursday, we had district meeting. I trained on prayer. I talked about how when we first learn to pray, we just get down the basics of opening, giving thanks, asking for things and then closing. I compared this to a hamburger with only a bun (opening), patty (asking), cheese (thanking) and bun (closing). We then went through the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 5 and pulled out all the additional things that Christ shows us to pray for/about like asking for forgiveness, forgiving others, praising God, etc. For each thing we added more toppings to our burger until it was very deluxe with bacon and extra cheese and all kinds of veggies and sauce, etc. I like analogies a lot, so I thought it was a lot of fun. Obviously, since I came up with the idea. The rest of the meeting, the drawing of the hamburger was on the board where we all could see it, so we were very hungry for a hamburger, so after district meeting we went to 5 Guys for lunch :)

 



Sister Bergeson and Sister Melanie and Silly Elders

This last week, we have been seeing some great progress with one of investigators, Walter. His wife Julie was baptized in February. He told us a few days ago that he is 75% of the way to being baptized and expects that he will be baptized in the next two or three months. He still comes to the BOM class every week but normally does not come to church because he is a realtor and works every Sunday, so he says he is too tired to do both. This Sunday, he does not have to work, so he is coming to church! We are so excited. Yesterday, Julie came to the Trail Center because she wanted to see Sister Belka and Sister Graham. She brought her granddaughter, Madison. While we were waiting for the other two, I took them on a tour. Madison and I got pretty attached. We had a lot of fun packing wagons and dressing up and eating the candy corn that you sent. It was perfect because Julie is going to get Madison to come to church so that she can see me. Unfortunately, that plan is going to fall through because I won’t be in that ward anymore. If we didn’t have church at the same time, I might try to get permission to go to both sacrament meetings, but West Maple also has church at 9.

 

We also met a lady named Cathy, she invited us right in for something to drink. We chatted about faith and the plan of salvation and then she took us on a grand tour of her house. Before we left, Sister Bergeson offered a prayer (Cathy is catholic, so she is used to recited prayers) and by the end, Cathy was crying. She felt the Spirit. She is taking us (well, Sisters Bergeson and Watson) to dinner tomorrow night.

 

Also, a less active lost sheep (her records are not in the ward) from the Lakeview ward showed up at the church while we were there studying one day and told us that she has decided that it is time to come back to church with her one year old son, even though her nonmember husband is not in favor of it. We got to sit and teach her for a little bit. It was really cool and exciting for her, even if she is not in our ward.

I feel like my letters lately are getting shorter and shorter. They just started a new thing where we have to email both President Weston and Elder Watson each week, so that is taking up a larger chunk of time that usual until I get used to this whole thing.

The rest of the week was a little tough. We had a few slow days with a lot of tracting, but we found a few good potentials and are now teaching a couple more  less-active families. We also got a referral from mormon.org that we are going to try tonight, so hopefully that goes well :)

 

Love you!

Sister Melly