Sister Melanie Gets in Touch with her Theater Roots and Gets Ready to Welcome New Transplants to the Cornfield

Dear Family,
Love you!
This last week has been absolutely amazing!
To start off, last week after I emailed you last, we headed to downtown Omaha for a tour of the Rose Theater, an old theater which houses one of the largest children’s theater companies in the nation. Sister Maldanado, a woman in the Millard ward, is holding some workshops there right now, so she was able to take us on a tour. We saw their costume storage and costume shop, all the backstage areas, dressing rooms, etc. I jut felt right at home and Sister Belka was pretty funny, she was so excited. After that we had sushi at a restaurant in Old Market for Sister Coats's birthday. We had fun.
A lot of time this week has been devoted to making the blanket for that man that we met at the fabric store a couple of weeks ago. It has turned out to be quite a project. The biggest problem that we ran into was that we lost his phone number, so we had no way to get into contact with him and couldn't remember his name, so we weren’t sure what to do. On Wednesday, we had Specialized Training with the Omaha and Papillion Zones and in between some of the trainings, Elder Powell from the Skyline Ward told us that the guy had come into his church building looking for us and had talked to some of the members of his ward, but they hadn't gotten any contact information for him, so we were still at a loss of what to do, but I just kept working and figured that it would work itself out eventually. On Saturday, we got a call from him. We had written our phone number on the back of a pamphlet and given it to him. He said that he had read the pamphlet but that after he read it, he lost it for a while, but he found it between the seats in his car that day and then called us. We were so relieved! I finished the blanket this morning. I don't have a picture of it right now, but it has a cat embroidered on it and little hearts quilted every so often and is very soft and cozy. I may have a hard time giving it back, but we are meeting him on Wednesday for lunch and then hopefully we can get some other missionaries over to meet him since he does not live in our area.
The other highlight of the week was the musical fireside that we put on on Sunday night. This was the first of a series of 4 firesides called "Pioneers Past and Present" that we are doing for the Omaha, Papillion, Lincoln, and Council Bluffs Stakes. Sister Coats and I narrated and then we had about 15 musical numbers- mainly solos with some group numbers- performed in the cultural hall. President Kunz recorded it so; hopefully I can get you a copy some time soon. The first one was for the Omaha stake. We had a lot of people from our ward there, including many of our recent converts, but best of all was that Aliyah and Walter (two of our investigators) were able to come! Aliyah we met a couple of weeks ago. She is 15 and just really needs to find some direction in her life. She came to church and loved it and then came to the fireside and really felt the spirit. She is so great! So trusting and humble and ready for some good changes in her life. Now we just need to get the rest of her family on board. Walter is the husband of Julie, who was just baptized a couple of months ago. He is so supportive of her and he says that the only things that are holding him back from being baptized are that he doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and he says he has felt the Spirit before in his life, but not yet in the Church. He is expecting it to be an overwhelming, cleansing feeling, so we are continually trying to help him understand that what he is feeling is the spirit, because we know that he has felt it, including at the fireside.
I have really come to realize what a unique and special opportunity that I have to serve in this mission and at the Trail Center. We have so many talented sisters and being here together allows all of our talents to combine so that we are able to do all of these neat, neat things. My view of missionary work is completely different than what you would probably hear from most other missionaries, but I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to participate in these great things. Almost everything that has meant the most to me on my mission has come as a direct result of serving at the Trail Center. It just reminds me that there is not just one way to do missionary work that different people are touched by different things and need to different experiences for their testimonies to develop.
The Lord just keeps putting a lot of awesome people in our path lately. There are so many people that are prepared for the gospel living in the Millard area. We also keep finding awesome people for other missionaries to teach. I feel like the experiences that a couple months ago I would qualify as great miracles are now becoming almost commonplace. They just happen all the time!
Oh, also, I met Katie and Cody’s new ward mission leader from their Minnesota Ward. He came into the TC last night on their way down to Arizona for the summer.
But, this is President and Sister Kunz's last week. They leave and the Westons arrive on Friday. It makes me a little nervous, especially with all the things that we have going on right now. I feel like we are doing some really great things now and I hope and pray that he catches the vision of what we are trying to accomplish. But, President Kunz keeps telling us, the only reason we would not feel completely loyal to President Weston is because of our own disobedience. So I am sure that everything will be fine in the end.
Love you! Have a good week!
Sister Melly

Cornfield ABC's: Accountability, Baptism and Cleaning

Dear Family,

Love you!

Wow! What a week, but I guess I say the same thing about every week. Lately, we have been so rushed with everything it feels like I hardly have time to take a breath. We get up at 6:30 and exercise and try to wake our bodies up- that is probably the most relaxing part of the day. Then we hurry to get ready by 8 so we can get started into personal study time. It seems like it gets harder and harder to get ready in an hour. We keep saying that it would be so nice to be an elder and not need very much time to get ready in the morning, but I suppose that is the same thing that all women say - how nice it would be to not have to get ready every morning :). Some days, we get to have personal study and companion study, but those days seem to become less frequent than we would like. Between having to be at the TC at 9 most mornings and then a night full of appointments, it is hard to find time for our studies. I can definitely tell the difference. I tend to feel a lot more stressed and overwhelmed when we are not able to have our full two hours of studies. I may be in quite a predicament when I get home and no longer have that time set aside, but I guess that will be up to me. Speaking of home, I keep having dreams about going home. It is the weirdest thing. Anyways, then we work all day, usually get home at 9:30, plan for the next day until 10, phone conference with the elders and Brother Jensen until 10:15, and then quickly get ready for bed. And then do it again!

So the highlight of this last week was the baptism of Erika Dallon on Saturday, although it all came together so quickly that by Sunday when we were adding up our numbers for the week, Sister Belka had to remind me that we had had a baptism. We saw Erika on Monday to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then on Wednesday she came to the Trail Center and Sister Belka and Sister Sakurazawa (who speaks Spanish) taught her about some of the commandments, and then on Thursday Sister Jones and I taught the rest of the commandments with the Council Bluffs elders as translators. They interviewed her right after the lesson. It was so perfect because Erika tends to be a little shy at first, but by the end of the lesson, she had warmed right up to them. She is so smart and sassy! The elders were telling her that they probably wouldn’t be able to come to her baptism because they were doing service for an investigator and she told them "Well do it fast!" While hey were interviewing her, it was taking a really long time, so I was a little worried about what was going on, but when they finished, the elders said that when they asked her about the sacrament, she started quoting a whole bunch of stuff from the Bible and at some point was reciting to them the story of Moses and the Red Sea. She is so funny. So on Saturday, we got to the church and it was pouring rain. We went in to the church and there were a good number of people there 15 minutes before the baptism was set to start. As we were running around getting some final preparations made, they had to keep adding more and more chairs for people to sit in the Relief Society room until finally, we had to move into the chapel and it was pretty full. All the speakers spoke mainly in Spanish, but translated parts of their talks so the rest of us would know what was basically being said. The Spirit was so strong! It was such a reminder to me that the power is not in what we say, but it comes from the Spirit. Even if we have no idea what is being said, the Spirit can still testify to us of the truthfulness of what is being said. It was amazing!

Let’s see, other great things that happened this week. We have been working on lots of stuff at the Trail Center, figuring out how to make the sisters more personally accountable for the miles that they drive (all the sisters are given an allotment of miles that they are allowed to drive each month). Because we all share cars, this has been difficult in the past because the sisters tend to just do whatever and then hope that at the end of the month, all of the miles work out. This has worked for the most part in the past, but we have to be more careful now because of more shifts at the Trail Center, meaning more driving to and from areas, and an extra companionship because we got more sisters than we lost this last transfer. So, Sister Belka and I have been working on a better system of accountability for each companionship. It was pretty exciting, but also reminded me of how important accountability is between us and God. For the most part, we are responsible to be accountable on our own and then to be the one to return and report. We have to take action and not wait to be asked to go and do or to report what has been done.

On Thursday, we had the Great Cleaning Day. We spent the whole day cleaning our apartments and getting them looking fantastic for the new mission president (even if he will never see them:) ). But, it was so nice to get it all clean. I feel so much better now. That is one of the major downsides of having no time: it seems like the cleanliness of our apartment tends to be neglected, but we just never have time! President Kunz is leaving next week! It’s hard to believe that it is already time!

So, another busy week as usual, and it looks like this coming week will be busy as well! It’s crazy because all year it seems like everyone would be referencing what summer would be like, saying "just wait until summer! The Trail Center will be so busy! It will be so hot! etc. etc." and now it here, and before I know it, it will be over. But, the busy hasn't felt too bad. I am more tired at the end of the day, but that’s not too bad. It is definitely getting hot, but it’s not too bad so far. We will see how it goes from here.

Well I love you! Happy June 18th !

Love,

Sister Melan

Sister Melly Shares Wealth with the Elders

Dear family,

I don’t feel like writing a letter today. I just feel like taking a nap. I was lying on the floor of our apartment for a little bit a while ago and I think my brain fell asleep even if my body did not. But, I have a lot to tell you about this week, so I had better get started.

So Thursday was day one of having the elders in our area. We love it! We met with them on Thursday to fill them in on everything that is going on and to give them some of our contacts and investigators for them to visit. I think that they were in heaven. Elder Miller, who has been out 22 months (sometimes I feel like an oldie in the mission until I hear someone say something like that. Then I don’t feel so old any more.) He kept laughing the whole time and saying that he had never been treated like this. We just handed him a list of great potentials and less-actives to visit and investigators, ward lists, everything they would need to get started. Brother Jensen’s wife made them pancakes and we talked about how everything works in the ward. He was so shocked. I am very grateful for the great support we have from the ward and the many miracles that we see, but it just made me realize how lucky the sisters are in this mission. We are all centered right around Omaha, where the most teaching and finding is done and where there is better support. I don’t know if the success is because of the sisters or if the sisters are here because of the success, but something I have realized this last week is that the reason for why things happen is not as important as what we choose to do with what happens. I have long been wondering why I am always paired with Trail Center leaders. I finally realized that it doesn't matter at all. Even if I could figure it out, the knowledge wouldn’t be getting me anywhere. What is most important is for me to look for the unique opportunities that are available because of being with a Trail Center leader and then make the most of them. As I have been doing that this last week, I have been feeling a lot more satisfied with the work that I am doing.

Let see, other great things this week. On Friday, I was with Sister Rhoades (Sister Proctor, Trail Center leader #2's companion) in the Millard area. We went to go check on some old potentials at a couple of different apartment buildings that are fairly close to each other. As we were walking in between the two buildings, we ran into a younger girl probably about 14, named Aliyah who was walking to a gas station to buy some candy for her little sister. She wasn't super interested in what we were saying, but told us to go meet her mom, because she "loves that kind of stuff". We went and knocked on her door and she said that she would like to talk to us, but was really busy cleaning her house and just didn't have time at the moment. However, another one of her daughters- Rainee, begged her mom to let us in. so she did. As we talked to Shawna, the mom, Rainee went and got her bible and reading glasses and sat next to us and listened. After a while, Aliyah came back and listened for a minute and then we wrapped everything up and headed to another appointment. 1/2 an hour later, we got a text from Shawna. She said that Aliyah was really comfortable with us and wants to join our church. . . So that's great! We will let. her :)

Now for an update on Erica. She is the recently adopted daughter of the Dallon family. When we met her for the first time, we set her for baptism for the 23rd of this month. Before we saw her the second time, Brother Dallon called us and asked if she could be baptized instead on the 16th because of some logistical issues on the 23rd. So, surprise! We have a baptism on Saturday. We taught her last Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, we will teach her tomorrow and on Thursday, then she will have her interview on Thursday and yeah. . . baptism, on Saturday. It is/ has been quite a whirlwind, especially because she doesn't speak English, so we have to have an interpreter when we teach her. But, hey! I am learning some Spanish!

There are just too many good things going on to explain. Even with the Elders, we still feel a little overwhelmed with all the people we are teaching! I think that I have finally adjusted from being in Oakview to now, so hopefully it just all keeps on coming!

Love you! Have a good week and Happy Father's Day!

Love, Sister Melly

My release date is February 14, so just about 8 months from today! I know I told Katie that, but I guess she didn't tell you :) We actually only end up serving about 17 1/2 months because of the way that transfers line up. Most full proselyte sisters go home a few weeks after their 18 month mark, but because of the Trail Center and being in the MTC an extra week, they send us home earlier.

I haven't had time to work on the blanket yet, but hopefully I will soon. I am still not sure if I really know what I am doing, since I am not much of a quilter. The other quilt is almost done. I think it just has the binding left to do. Sister Wright showed it to me last night.

Sister Aunty-to-Be Gets to Work with Vision and Talent

Dear family,

Love you!

This last week, I finally got Katie's letter about her good news. It was postmarked on the 22 of May, but I did not get it until the 1st of June. I immediately ripped it open and read it. Hooray! Baby! I told Sister Belka and she said "Sister Lamb! we are going to be aunts!" I guess she was a little confused about who was having the baby. I told her that I was not sharing. Every once in a while, I will remember and look at Sister Belka and say "baby!".. It makes me happy.

So, today we found out about transfers and tomorrow is the day when we make the switch. After a long wait (we were some of the last ones to find out what was going on) we found out that. . . Sister Belka and I are staying together in Millard. She will still be Trail Center Leader with Sister Proctor. We are also getting a second set of missionaries in the Millard area. It will be Elder Miller and he is training a new missionary. So that is awesome! We are so excited! There is lots of work to be done in the Millard area and we are trying to figure out how this will work, but its going to be so fun!

There is a quote from President Monson that I feel like helps explain the beginning of my mission a lot. It says "Work with out vision is drudgery. Vision without work is daydreaming. Work coupled with vision will insure your success." I like that quote a lot and I share it with people all the time. The beginning of my mission felt a lot like Work Without Vision. We worked really hard, but it felt like it was to no point. We just put in a lot and got nothing out. But a big part of that was that I didn’t really know what it was that I was trying to accomplish. I did not have any vision of what we were working towards, so the work was terrible because I had no motivation. The second part of my mission was a lot of fun and we still worked, but we still were not accomplishing a lot. At the beginning of the transfer, Elder Watson told us that we were supposed to have a lot of fun that transfer and we did just what he said. We got along very well, we had fun, we tried not to worry too much. It’s not quite like vision without work, but its kind of the same idea. Now, I am in phase 3 of the mission. We work hard and we accomplish a lot. We have a very clear idea of what we want to accomplish, we have a great support system from the ward, and we are seeing so many miracles! We see many of them every day. I think that what I have been learning this last transfer is really love the work and how to work hard and have fun. I am so grateful for the time I have been able to serve with Sister Belka and I am so excited to be able to spend another transfer with her. We were both really nervous that we were going to get split up, but we ended up being one of the only companionships that did not get switched around, along with our roommates the Lake View Sisters. So, our little family is going to be staying together.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in the Trail Center. Before I came here, my idea of what visitors centers are was just like a tour where they tell you nice things and then pressure you into giving a referral. I hated visitors centers. But, I have come to realize that that is not what visitors centers are for. They serve the same purpose as the missionary purpose, to invite others to come unto Christ- both members and nonmembers. Although there are people that come into to Trail Center just looking to learn about the history and don't need much, there are many people that come in that need a lot more. They may not have come in looking for answers to their questions or to gain a new perspective on life or for a desire to change, but that is what many of them leave with. I remember a college teacher saying "Treat everyone you meet like they are going through something serious and 90% of the time you will be right." That is so true. There are so many people that are in need of the Savior and we have the unique opportunity to help them find that relationship through the example of the pioneers. The Trail Center isn’t just where people go to learn about the history, it is where lives are changed every day! It took a man coming into the Trail Center and saying some really rude things to me about missionaries in Visitors Centers for me to realize that, but I am grateful now that I was able to step back and evaluate what we do here because my testimony of the power of the Trail Center has grown so much. I am so grateful to serve here.

Well other than that, we have seen so many miracles this last week. With only 8 hours in the area this week, we were able to accomplish so much! We have a ton of referrals from other missionaries and members and it is so awesome! Sister Belka took a nonmember from our area on tour at the TC and he wants to continue meeting with us. We met a man who was so thrilled to talk to us because he saw the mormon.org commercials and really wanted to know that we believe. A family in the ward just adopted a girl from Peru and she is getting baptized on the 23! So many miracles! I can't even list them all. Its so great!

Sorry if I say the same things over and over again. I feel like I think about things a lot and then I am never really sure what I actually say and what is just rolling around in my head. I guess if you hear it more than once, it means that I think about it a lot.

I am always amazed how Heavenly Father puts us in the path of the people that need us the most and that we personally will be most able to help. A couple of weeks ago, Sister Belka and I bought some dresses. They have long, sheer skirts, but the slip underneath is too short, to we decided to buy some fabric to add the the length of the slip. We stopped at Hancock today and as we were walking in, a younger man and his daughter were following us in and he asked us if we do alterations. We were both kind of confused and said no, sorry. In my head I was just thinking, I can’t do that because I am on a mission. Then later, we saw him at the cutting table and started talking to him about what he was doing. His daughter had a blanket that she had had since she was born that was totally shredded and dirty, so he was buying some new fabric to make a new one. The only problem was that he didn't know how he was going to put it together, which is why he was asking us if we do alterations. Still in my mind, I was thinking, that's too bad. I hope that he can find someone to do that for him. . . After talking to him for 10 minutes or so, it finally hit me and I told him that I would put together the blanket for him. (basically just two sheets of minky fabric) - Hello service project. I am so glad that Heavenly Father was patient with me and gave me enough opportunities for me to realize what was going on and that it is OK for me to sew, it just has to be for the right reason. So, I will be getting to work on that. We gave him a restoration pamphlet and he said he was interested in learning about the church, so that good. Let's just keep the sewing service opportunities coming! It has amazed me lately how so many of the sisters in the Trail Center have been finding opportunities to use their talents, so I am happy that I am able to use mine too!

OK! Love you so much!

Sister Melly

I hope that you are doing so great!

Sister Melly and the Cornfield of Dreams

Dear Family,

Love you! As always.

If I thought that the last couple of weeks I have been doing things that I didn't expect to do as a missionary, this week may be the weirdest of all. This week, we went to a baseball game! It was Mormon family night and the Omaha Storm Chasers were playing the SL Bees, so they invited the missionaries to sing the national anthem. Apparently, this is something that they do all over the country when the Bees are playing. I wasn't part of the singing (there was a group of 6 sisters and 6 elders who sang) but Sister Belka was, so I got to go along. We also had a booth up in the concourse of the stadium, so I spent the first half of the game talking to people and inviting them to the Trail Center, then we switched with some of the other sisters and got to go watch part of the game. It was so weird. We were shocked that President would let us do it, but there we were in the middle of all the senior couples. We didn't do much cheering (have to stay neutral :)) but in my heart I was cheering for the Bees.

The Bees lost. Too bad. Also, it was very, very windy. So that was fun trying to keep all of our things from blowing away. We just duct taped it all to the table

Think that that is all I have to say about the baseball game. It’s all very disconnected so I will just move on.

This last week, we had 12 hours in our area! But, thanks to many miracles from Heavenly Father, we were able to teach 11 lessons in those twelve hours! It is pretty crazy going from tracting and struggling to find people to teach and having lots of time to have not much time and having more people to visit than we have time for.

We met a family not too long ago, the neighbor of a member of the ward, Sister Blecha. She is vey good friends with her neighbors, the Loftus Family. They have met with the missionaries before, but don't remember much of what they taught tem. We taught them on Monday. The kids (14 year old Madison and 12 year old Michael) are so funny and love to learn and want to be baptized, but the parents are a little more hesitant. The dad, Tom, wasn't home when we taught them on Monday, but when we went back on Friday, he was there and said that he is interested in hearing what his family is learning, so it looks like we will be teaching them all as a family! As long as we can find a time when they will all be home! They are such a great family and so ready for and needing of the Gospel. They have even been to church before several times and they love it! They are so great. I just love them. And I am not the type of person to say that very often.

This week, we also got some really neat opportunities to hear from some of our leaders. Wednesday, Thurs, and Fri, President Kunz, Sister Kunz, and the assistants gave teleconference trainings on having effective studies and planning. The sisters were invited to come listen in person from the Trail Center, so that was a lot of fun to be there. Then, afterwards, we had training with Melanie (weird) from Salt Lake. She is over all of the visitor centers/ historic sites. We talked a lot about focusing on the visitors and tailoring what we talk about to their needs. Although we teach about the history, the real focus is helping people come unto Christ, the same as our missionary purpose.

Other than that, we have just been doing a lot of teaching, a lot of tours in the Trail Center, not a lot of studies (which makes us so extremely grateful when we are able to have time for them) and the days just slip right on by. I can't believe that it is already June!

Well, I don't know where my time has gone but it has as usual!

Love you,

Sister Melly

Sister Melanie Sews up a Storm and Plants and Nurtures in the Cornfield



Sister Seamstress

Dear Family,

Well, this week has been another different week to say the least. it makes me wonder sometimes if all of the different things I end up doing sometimes are a result of serving in the Visitor's Center or if this is a normal thing, but sometimes it seems like we are doing more. Its not really that we are doing non-missionary things, but just things that I didn't really expect to be doing as a missionary (within reason). An example was the parade last week. Never thought I would be doing that one, but we were absolutely fulfilling our purpose by doing it. We were able to find lots of great people to teach out of it (not in our area specifically, but in the mission in general). Getting to do all of these different things definitely makes it more interesting and now that it is summer, I am sure that there will be lots more events going on and various things to be involved in. The only problem is that we end up not having a lot of time in our area. This next week (between today and Sunday) we have a grand total of about 12 hours in our area planned, and by the end of the week, that number will probably be smaller. We are accomplishing a lot in each week, however our numbers are not really showing it.

I forgot to explain something last week in my letter. On Tuesday, before I emailed you, we had the Watson Wagon #2 (the first one was going to the Kanesville Tabernacle) and went to Boy's Town for a tour. Boy's Town is in the Oakview area, so I am sure that I have mentioned it before, but basically what it is is its own town of about 900 acres where boys and girls between 10 and 18 go to learn how to turn their lives around. Driving around the campus, you would never guess that some of the kids are "bad kids". It was begun by a man named Father Flanagan in the early 1900’s who took in young orphans and boys who would have otherwise gone into the jail system. It’s a pretty cool place. They do some really good things. They basically are teaching these kids how to use the Atonement to change their lives. So, that is what the pictures were from last week.

Wednesday, we had Zone Conference. Sister and President Kunz trained us on repentance and true conversion, making sure that our investigators understand how to repent and have truly repented of their sins before baptism and that they are converted to the Gospel before they join the church. They are such great people. They will leave at the end of next month and it will be sad to see them go, but President Kunz is already preparing us for it to happen. We told us that the minute President Weston arrives our loyalty should instantaneously switch to him. I can't imagine that it is easy for the Kunz's to be preparing to leave, and I am sure that it doesn't make it any easier for them to have to prepare us for it.

On Thursday, we had a movie night at the church. We watched The Testaments. We set it all up and invited our investigators and recent converts and some ward members, borrowed a projector from someone in the ward, and popped popcorn. It was fun! None of our investigators were able to come, but almost all of our recent converts were there, and we had a good time! It was definately worth it. None of them had seen it before and it was really powerful to watch the Savior visiting the American Continent and pondering what it will be like when we meet him one day.

Friday was another interesting day. Sister Belka was in meetings all day long, so I got to help out Sister Wright all day. She is working on several quilts for Elder Watson that he is going to donate to a quilt auction to represent the Trail Center. She has a lot of work to do, so we decided it would be a good use of time for me to help her! The Trail Center has a sewing machine, so I set up shop in the basement and sewed away all day, happy as a clam. You can see from the pictures what the quilt will look like eventually. I was working on sewing together little patches that will make up the border around the outside of the quilt and around the larger squares that she is making. I love to sew! I loved it so much that I didn't want to stop, so I sewed straight from 10 am to about 6 pm without stopping at all, until they called me upstairs to help with some tours that were coming in. Then I went back and sewed some more.

In our area this week, we have been doing a lot of finding. We were able to find several great new investigators, as well as some good potentials. We even found a family that has been taught before, has neighbors that they are good friends with that are members of our wards, have copies of the Book of Mormon, have been to church many times and love it, etc. They are so great! The only problem is that the husband is not supportive, so we need to figure out how to get him on board and we will be set! (Or rather they will be set). Ha ha.

Well, that's about it for this week, other than to say I love you! I hope you are having a great time in Hawaii!

Love, Sister Melly

The Squares





The pattern

Sister Melanie Visits Boy's Town, Parades, and Skypes!

Sister Melly at Boy's Town with the World's Largest Ball of Stamps - 4 million!

Founder of Boy's Town - Father Flanagan

Boy's Town Visit with the Watkin's Wagon

Dear Family,

Love you! Happy Mother's Day! It was so good to talk to you on Sunday. We spent Mother's Day running around doing all sorts of things. We had church in the morning. They gave all of the women little forget-me-not grow kits. We are going to plant them and put them in the window of our apartment. If they live, I will send you a picture, but that may be a pretty big if. After church, we had lunch with the Gunn family. They also invited Katie, our recent convert, over. They have seven kids who were all very sweet. Then, we went and stopped by some of our investigators' home and took them Mothers Day cards and some of the Oreo balls that we kept inheriting from the families at church. We had dinner with the Kmieciks, Skyped, and finished our weekly planning. It was a bit of a crazy day, but most days are pretty crazy.

The Trail Center has recently made a big change. Instead of having the Trail Center Leaders and then everyone else, we now have 6 committees. Each Committee has 2 sets of sisters and at least one senior couple. The Trail Center Leaders are each assigned two committees to oversee. We are on the Education Committee with Sister Proctor, Sister Hawks (Bellevue 2nd), the Johnsons (a senior service couple) and the Wrights. The idea of the committees was to lighten the load of the Trail Center Leaders and to help us all be able to contribute and better use the talents of the sisters. Ha ha. When I think about being on the education committee, I remember before my mission when dad asked me teach something or explain something and I said "I don’t want to. I'm not good at teaching." and Dad said "Well, what are you going to do when you are on your mission?" "I don’t know. I'll figure that out then" ha ha. How things have changed. I am certainly not a perfect teacher, but I think that I have gotten a lot better. Our current projects on the education committee are helping the sisters develop master lesson plans for the Trail Center (coming up with ideas of various things they could talk about, scriptures to share/ questions to ask, etc) it seems like that is one of the hardest things in the Trail Center: not being rote in giving tours. I learn something new and start sharing it on tours but then I share it all the time and suddenly it doesn't seem very new or exciting to me. We have to constantly be learning and finding new stories to share so that we don't become robots. When I do this, the Spirit becomes a lot more present on my tours. I am able to learn new things and gain new insights from the Spirit because I am able to approach the things that we talk about with an open mind

Let's see, I don't know much what else to say about this last week. We have spent a lot of time in the Trail Center between getting ready for the parade and serving there and everything else. Although the Trail Center has always been my home, it is even more so now. I love the Trail Center.



Sister Melanie (on right) in the Florence (Nebraska) Days Parade



The time we had in our area has been mostly devoted to visiting recent converts. They are so fun to visit because they love us and they really need the extra attention to their testimonies, but we are working on getting them more integrated into the ward so that we can focus our efforts on finding and teaching! We have already been able to find a few good new investigators and potentials.

Yesterday morning, we met a man named Pat. I am excited about him, although I can sum up everything that we know about him in just a couple of sentences. He lives in an apartment building near a less active in the ward. We knocked on his door. He is kind of a recluse and seems afraid of people. We were surprised that he opened his door. He hasn't been to church in 30 years, but took a restoration pamphlet, said he would read it and let us come back later this week. We only talked to him for a few minutes, but we both just fell in love with this guy (in a missionary sort of way). We were both so excited.

So, yeah, things are going great! I still don't know where all the time goes, but I am enjoying it!

Love you!

More Missionaries in the Parade



Missionaries waiting for the parade








More Missionaries

Have fun in Hawaii!

Love, Sister Melly

Skypeing with Sister Melly

The other day, we were on out way to our area and passed a building that was under construction. I looked over, and saw the crane hoisting something on top of the building. "Wait a second; is that . . . the letter 'e'?" It was the letter e. A giant letter e being hoisted into the air. It reminded me of something from Sesame Street. Sister Belka says I am going to be on Sesame Street on day. Take that as you will.

Love,

Sister Melly

The 11+ Miracle Baptism and Sisters Rock Out in the Trail Center

Dear Family,
Love you!
This week has been a pretty good one. I think that I am pretty much adjusted back to being a Trail Center Leader companion. Sister Watson (Elder Watson’s wife) was telling us a while ago that in her mission call letter it says "You are called to be wife.". That is her calling in the mission, to be wife to the Trail Center Director. That is kind of what I feel my calling is to be right now: companion. And that’s fine.
So, this last week I had my first official baptism! The funny thing about saying that is that no one baptism can really be labeled as my baptism or their baptism. It seems like missionaries try to do that a lot. Really the only difference is when you actually get to count the baptism in your numbers. Every baptism comes as the result of many different people's influence and input, even many different missionaries. You have the missionaries, the ward leaders, ward members, people who come on teams ups, people they meet at church, friends, etc. Even within the missionary category, you may have more than one set of missionaries who teach them because of transfers of exchanges, they probably have come to the Trail Center and another sister has taken them on a tour, etc. There are so many involved and each one can have such a great effect that it would be easy to count every baptism as "yours". That is one thing that I love about the Trail Center. our circle of influence becomes much greater when we not only get to teach and inspire and bless those in our area, but also investigators that missionaries bring to the Trail Center, members that are travelling through, nonmembers that come into the Trail Center, etc. It is great! I love it!

The main focus of our time this last week has been preparing Katie, Lindsey, and Samantha for their baptism on Saturday. Katie is the mom, Lindsey just turned 12 this last week, and Sammy is 9. We definitely felt the pressure of making sure that they were really ready for this step and prayed many times about whether we should postpone it to give them more time to really gain a deep conversion, but over and over we felt that they were ready.

Katie and the girls had an awesome baptism on Saturday. We were able to see many, many miracles that made everything work out that day. There were so many that I made a list of them:

1. We didn't have any baptismal records, but were able to break into one of the other sister's apartments (after much effort) and get some.

2. We needed keys to our church building for the interviews and were able to find the Lakeview sisters and borrow their keys.

3. We got to the interviews 7 minutes early

4. Katie and Lindsey and President Kuntz were in a little room in the building with the door closed and we had no idea they were there, but we found them!

5. Everyone passed their interviews!

6. A man walked into the church building and asked if he could rent the building for birthday party. We took his info and called him later to tell him you have to be a member to use the building. He said "Well how do I become a member". Ha ha. We are going to teach him in a few days.

7. Lindsey was at a friend’s house when she was supposed to be being interviewed because of some poor communication, but we were able to find her and she was interviewed

8. Our ward mission leader fed us lunch! Yum!

9. We were able to find enough baptismal jumpsuits for everyone

10. The font finished filling up 5 minutes before the baptism

11. We needed to get into the library to copy the programs, but didn't have keys for the library. A man randomly showed up with keys 15 minutes before the baptism.

There were more miracles, but I am running out of time to write them :)

It was amazing to see how Katie and the girls changed so much in that last week before their baptism because of the atonement. Their baptism was a very powerful experience for them and they are so excited to be members of the church. They were so excited that when we came out of the building after the baptism, they were yelling "We're Mormon!"

It is amazing to see how individuals can change and what they power of the atonement can do. It truly blesses lives. On Sunday, they were confirmed and Katie and Samantha bore their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting. We were a little nervous because Katie tends to be a bit of a talker, but they both bore beautiful, powerful testimonies. It was probably the most rewarding part of their baptisms, along with standing with them next to the font as they came out of the water, so happy and united as a little family. It was a great experience.

So, wow. What a crazy week. I spent most of the rest of it on exchanges with Sister Pinchak, going between our two areas. But, it was a fun week. We enjoyed it!

Love you!

Love,

Sister Melly

Sister Lamb gets her First Transfer and Moves One Row Down

Dear Family,

Love you!

This week has been another very busy one. On Wednesday morning, we got our calls for transfers. It was quite a relief when we finally got them around 11 because before then, I was having a hard time focusing on anything.  All I could think about was what was going to happen. By that point, I was trying to convince myself that I was going to stay in Oakview, even though I knew that that was not much of a possibility. But, the results are: I was transferred to Millard, serving with Sister Belka. So, I had to move all the way to the apartment downstairs. We didn't even bother going to transfer point because Sister Graham, who was serving in Millard with Sister Belka before, moved up to Oakview. So we switched Lamb for Graham. Sister Belka is still having a hard time getting the right name. Ha ha. The Millard Ward is out in Southwestern Omaha, just a few miles south of where the Oakview Ward is. It is a much bigger ward and there are lots of good things going on there right now. Sister Belka is also a Trail Center Leader, so we will be spending more time in the TC this transfer.

So, Millard. It’s funny that I am serving there because my trainer, Sister Kusnerik, began her mission there, then went to West Maple, then Millard. So who knows, maybe after a few months in Millard I will go to West Maple and hit all the same wards that she was in! I guess we will see what happens.

One of the first people that I met in Millard was a woman named Katie and her two daughters, Lindsey (who turns 12 today) and Samantha (9). They are getting baptized on Saturday. They are a neat little family and have really been turning their lives around in the last year. They are great. We have seen them just about every day since I got here and will continue seeing them everyday until Saturday, so we are getting to know each other quite well. Today, we are going over to celebrate Lindsey's birthday and go over the baptismal interview questions. On Sunday, when we saw them, we told them about the interview and said that we would go over the questions after we taught them about a commandment. At the end of the lesson, we needed go, but had yet gone over the baptismal interview questions. Sam got really worried and said "what about those questions! You said that you were going to tell us what the questions are!" It was so cute, but also really good to see that they are taking this seriously. So we gave them the list of questions and they were relieved to see that there were not any math problems included.

Also in the Millard Ward, I was talking to one of the ward members-Sister Bates- and we figured out that she is Michelle Strong's sister! She said that Michelle was just here a couple of weeks ago. Oh, how the world is so small. Sister Bates is coming with us tonight to see Katie and the girls and is bringing cake and ice cream for Lindsey's birthday!

Let's see, what else. . . A lot of our time this last week has been eaten up by Trail Center Leader responsibilities.  But after this week, things should be a little more normal (I hope!)

Let's see. . . .This week has gone by so quickly. I feel like we have been really busy, but at the same time I am not sure with what.

On Sunday, there was a musical fireside thing at the Trail Center. After it was over, people were coming upstairs and amid the groups of people, one group of four people asked if they could take a tour and then headed into the gallery before we could say anything. I chased after them and took them on tour. A few minutes into the tour, I saw Sister Bown sneak up behind the group and throw me a bunch of thumps ups and mouthing "Yes! Yes! I love you!" I later found out that they were  three of her investigators (that they have taught once) and a ward member who had brought them to the fireside. Throughout the tour, they were absolutely stunned by everything. Everything that I said came straight from the Spirit and I said a lot of things that I have never said or thought about before. The whole thing felt too natural, like a dream. In the Memorial Room, the first thing that the woman said was to ask what the temple was. I explained it to her and she stood, looking out at it for a little while and then said. "I feel something filling me and I feel drawn to the temple." I explained to her that it was the Holy Ghost that she was feeling and she was absolutely in awe. The rest of the tour was equally awesome, so filled with the spirit. It was awesome! I was so glad that I had chased them down to give them a tour.

Well I love you!  Hope you are all doing great!

Sister Lamb

This picture was captured from Sister Lamb's Mission Mom's Blog
Her new companion is one of the Sisters on the left.
These are the missionaries that arrived in Omaha one transfer before Sister Melly