One melan in a cornfield: Sister Melon is Serving in a White Cornfield Again!

Dearest Family,

Ok. Here we go. Oh, love you! Love you, love you!

Statue Outside Trail Center

This past week has gone by very fast, but I feel like I say that a lot. Things are going pretty well right now. Sister Askren is feeling better, so we are getting ready to go at it! We have been teaching a couple named Kevin and Joan for a little while now. It has always seemed like Joan was not really interested, but was more just sitting in as we taught Kevin just because we were there and she had nothing better to do at the moment. She is a very nice lady, but just seemed like she was content going to church with her mother. Kevin has figured out a lot of things on his own (he has never been religious) and just sits there and tells us exactly what we believe, but he doesn’t realize it. It has gotten a bit frustrating at times because it feels like we are not getting anywhere, but that is only because he already knows everything that we are telling him. On Tuesday evening, we were able to teach them. It turned out to be a very interesting lesson. We had a long discussion about temptation. Kevin likes to go to Hooters, but says he is not interested in the women, just the food. Joan jumped in on our side and we talked about staying out of the “gray area” and then were able to relate that to several other parts of the gospel. Not exactly your typical missionary discussion, but it felt like we were finally getting somewhere. Then, the big question - Joan asked us “How do you build faith in God?” That was interesting. The question itself, not so big a deal, but the fact that she trusted us enough to ask and trusted our response. This also opened up a big discussion about her previous baptism. She had been attending a church in Omaha called Trinity and had decided to be baptized there. What the baptism consisted of was the stage that the preacher stood on opened up and had a font underneath and people just lined up like an assembly line and walked through the font to where the preached was standing, he would hit them on the head, and most people would pass out so there was two men standing there to keep them from drowning. This totally freaked her out and she stopped going to that church, but apparently Kevin had a good time taking pictures of the whole thing.

Wednesday, we got our calls for transfers. Of course, Sister Askren and I are staying together for her last transfer, but she is no longer a Trail Center Leader. Maybe I will get a normal transfer this time! Ha ha. Sister Askren says she has never had a “normal” transfer in her whole mission. Something always seems to happen. On Thursday, We theoretically had a full day in our area, for the first day in a long time. Unfortunately, both Sister Askren and I were feeling a little sick (upset stomach, headache) and after a couple hours in the area, we felt like we needed to go home because we were both struggling a little with our headaches. We went home and slept for about 15 hours straight. Yikes. Then we woke up for a couple of hours and back to sleep for another 3. I don’t think I would blame that all on being sick though. I guess my body was just ready for a rest, and it sure got it! Saturday it snowed all day long for a total of 11 inches. It is much colder now than it was a few days ago (from about 70 degrees to the 30’s) but it sure it beautiful out there and I really can’t complain. I spent the whole day indoors with Sister Graham watching all of the church movies we could get our hands on.

Yesterday, Sunday, we both were feeling all better and ready to go out and get back to work. (Although I feel like I keep saying that and then something else pops up.) We were at the Trail Center in the morning. We only one tour in the 3 ½ hours we were there, but it gave me some good time to prepare for the Gospel Principles lesson we taught. After church, we went to see Beth and Sam. We have been teaching them for several months now, but it has been a couple of weeks since we saw them last. It was a very depressing lesson. Beth has so much need for the gospel and so much potential to do great things, but she just won’t act. She knows that life is not going well for her right now, she knows what great things have been promised to her, but she has no faith and no desire for any. We both cried during the lesson. I know that this gospel can help her. I know that it can, but she won’t let it. That is one of the hardest things to see on a mission, especially with someone I love so much and have grown so close to. When we left, it was with the understanding that we would not see each other again. It was really hard to leave. I gave her a big, long hug and that’s it. We have to keep moving. There are other people who need us and one day when she is ready, I am sure some other missionaries will show up on her door.

Statue in the Cemetery and lots of Snow

We also were able to teach a man named Zamari and his son last night. That was an interesting experience. He is from Afghanistan and his family just joined him here about 6 months ago. The whole family greeted us at the front door. Zamari was very worried about us because we were about 10 minutes late- he thought we were in trouble somewhere. His daughter served us fruit on china plates and then disappeared. His wife sat quietly in the corner the whole time we were there (she does not speak English) and Zamari and his son sat on the couch across from us. Zamari did most of the talking and his son occasionally added something and did some interpreting because his English is better than Zamari’s. They told us a lot about Muslims and Afghanistan. It was very interesting. He wasn’t much interested in hearing what we had to say, he just talked and talked and we listened. We told him we would try to find him a Bible in Persian, but other than that we probably won’t be seeing them much in the future.

So, yeah! That’s pretty much been my week so far. I got the package in the mail yesterday. Thanks! It looks like some good stuff.

Thanks for your letters and love and support!

Love you all so much!

Sister Lamb