Sister Lamb Gets Focused and Does a Little Traveling

Dear Family,

Love you!

Wow, what a week. I am not really sure what to say about it. The main focus of our week this week has been 1. Aliyah. 2. Madison. 3. Katie Ford.
Aliyah was supposed to be baptized last Saturday, but because she did not come to church last week, we had to slide back her baptism a week. We were planning on her being baptized this coming Saturday, which we thought would turn out really well because that was when Madison was getting baptized, so they would be baptized together. Aliyah just had to come to church this Sunday and have her baptismal interview this week and she would be good to go! However, we could not get a hold of her Saturday evening or Sunday morning to find out if she needed a ride to church. Apparently, the whole ward council meeting that morning was on what they were going to do to take care of Aliyah and Madison once they are baptized. We decided to stop by Aliyah’s house on our way to church to try and figure out what is going on. When we got there, she said that she had a headache. She was also worried about being baptized because she babysits a lot for her mom's friends on Sundays and is nervous that she might have to miss church a lot in the future. We talked with her and testified about doing what Heavenly Father wants us to do and that every time he gives us a commandment, that he will provide a way for us to keep that commandment. We also talked about how Satan tries to keep us from doing good things because he wants us to be miserable. When we asked her what Heavenly Father would want her to do, she knew that He would want her to go to church, but she still wasn't sure if she would come or not. When we left, she promised to pray and ask Heavenly Father what she should do and that at 10 30, she would text us to let us know so that someone could come pick her up for Sacrament meeting. When we got to church, we had missed Relief Society, but we sat through Gospel Principles praying that she would come to church. She decided not to come. It was disappointing because I know that she knew what the right thing to do was, but for some reason, she didn't. It's sad because I look back and remember times when I have done that and then regretted it later, but hopefully that will help her to make better choices in the future. We are meeting with her tomorrow and we are expecting lots of questions, so hopefully we can help her get over some of her concerns.

Madison was supposed to be baptized this coming Saturday, but her baptism is also being slid back, probably to September 1 however, because she did not clean her room on Wednesday. She was grounded for a week, ending this Wednesday. During this time, she is not allowed to meet with us or come to church. It is sad to see when parents keep their kids away from something that is helping them or see it as a "privilege" that can be taken away. With all of things that we still have left to teach Madison, this made the 18th definitely not a possibility. In the mean time, we have been texting her and occasionally talking to her on the phone. We talked a lot about obeying and honoring our parents, and something must have clicked because her mom allowed her to come to church on Sunday! We were excited about that. We gave her a copy of the Conference Ensign from this last spring, so she can read that for a few days and then we will be able to meet with her again. It a little scary because school is starting this Wednesday, and who knows what could happen!

Katie has been hard to know what to do with. Brother Jensen said that when we baptized her, we knew it was going to be a struggle, but I did not realize what it was really going to be like. The biggest problem is just that she loves to talk. It is really hard to teach her because we can hardly ever get a word in and always end up spending way too much time there. The other day when I told her we had to leave right then, she started into ranting about her father and when I told her again that we needed to leave, she yelled at me to get out of her house. She calmed down when I asked her if we

could say a prayer before we left, but it was still frustrating. She just doesn't want to be helped it seems, but we don't want to leave her alone to slide into the realm of inactivity.

On Thursday, we had exchanges. I went to Plattsmouth with Sister Jones and Sister Bergeson was with Sister Watson in Millard. We spent a good chunk of the day in the first-ever zone meeting. It is different from zone conference because it was only one zone under the charge of the zone leaders vs. zone conference with 2 zones and led by President Weston. We will have zone conference this week. I went to the zone meeting for the Council Bluffs zone, so we got to take a little field trip across the river. The trainings were on developing Christ-like attributes. Charity, humility, etc.

On Sunday, we had another fireside, this one in Lincoln. It was so much fun! We got to have a roadtrip :) Sister Bergeson and I rode down with the Watsons and came back in the transfer van (a big 12-seat van). It reminded me a little of being with the Young Ambassadors. There were some sisters that were yelling and going crazy while others were doing their best to ignore them. But, the fireside went well. Sister Rhoades and I narrated again. As usual, there were lots of solos/small groups and then we all sang God Was There and The Olive Tree (which we all learned yesterday). I love the firesides and President Weston loves that we are doing them, so it works out well! This was the last for this group of firesides, but we are going to be doing a Christmas fireside in a couple of months, which we are excited for. The firesides are such a spiritual feast, both for us and for the people we are able to perform for. The spirit is always strong and we have so many talented sisters.

Today we went to the Air and Space Museum which is about a half an hour south of Omaha, so we got to take another little road trip in the transfer van . This one was a little more mellow. We had a good time looking at airplanes and hearing war stories from our tour guide, who served in the Air Force. It was fun.

Well, that's kind of what has been going on this week! Not a whole lot it seems like. I am not really sure where the week went. We didn't serve much in the TC, but the time still went very fast anyways.
Well, that's all folks!
Love you!
Sister Lamb