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

Cornfield Discouragement



Sister Lamb suits up



The cornfields out here are not looking so great. Almost everything is dead, with the corn still hanging on the stalks- rather than being straight off the stalks, it is kind of flopped over and yellow. It is very tragic looking.

Dear Family,

Love you!

I don't have a lot of time this week, so this will be a sharter email, but that will probably make it easier to read :)

I don't feel like much happened this last week, but maybe thats a good thing because i will have less to write about.

The major thing that happened this week was that Aliyah dropped us. She was supposed to be baptized two weeks ago, but didn't come to church, then was going to be baptized last Saturday (the 18th) but didn't come to church again. On Satursday we stopped by her familys apartment and were able to talk to her for a while. She had lots of questions. She would ask something, we would explain, and then ask her if what we had taught answered her question, if it made sense to her, etc, and she said yes everytime, but it still seemed like she was questioning. She said she wanted to tome to church though, so we were planning on having the McCash family go to pick her up. As we drove home at the end of the day, we got a text from her saying "I don't want to go to church anymore, at least not that church. It's just not for me." we texted back and forth a little and then I just bore my testimony to her of the blessing of the gospel and turning our will over to God and of the Spirit that she has felt, but we go no response after that. Itw as really sad. It is one of the worst feelings when someone knows what is right, and you know that they know it, but they still decide not to act on what they know. Of course this happens a lot. People get scared or whatever reason and they just fade away, but it is harder when they are so close. The other time that I have felt this on my mission was with Beth, in Oakview, back in February I think. It just kind of miserable. It not even that I just want a baptism or some kind of number to add to our statistics. I know that Aliyah needs this, that it would be such a good thing in her life and in the lives of her family members. I can see that the changes she has made already are changing her, but if she would just have the faith to go a little bit farther, I know that she would see greater miracles.

We are going to still invite her to YW this week and hopefully the YW will keep fellowshipping her. It is just hard because she goes to a different high school than most of the people in our ward.

Madison is planning on getting baptized on the Sept 15th. It is a little while away, but whe is trying to find a day when both her parents are going to be able to come, so that is awesome that they are both being so supportive and want to be able to come to her baptism. It sounds like the rest of her family is being supportive as well, so that is good.

Well, that has pretty much been it this week. We have been doing some finding this week and are going to be spending a lot more time getting to know the people in the ward, particularity meeting less actives and part member families.
Love you!
Have a good week!
Sister Melly

Air and Space Museum

Sister Lamb and Sister Bergeson

Sisters/Astronauts Bergeson and Lamb

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

Blessings in the Cornfield and Busy, Busy, Busy

Sister Lamb on Bottom Right

Dear Family,

Love you! Happy Tuesday!

I am sorry to hear about grandma, but I am more worried about you than you should be about me.

I was just reading an email from Mom saying that she hoped that I would have emailed late enough to see if Katie is having a girl or a boy. I left the room for a minute to grab the cord so that I would send you some pictures; there was an email from Katie waiting! Yea for a little girl! That is exciting :) We were actually supposed to email earlier today, but the internet at the TC was not working, so we had to reschedule for now. What a nice little blessing.



Quilt Sister Melanie Worked On

This last week has been kind of crazy. We worked at the Trail Center every day from last Tuesday to yesterday, including an 8 1/2 hour chunk on Sunday. You wouldn't think that if would really matter how much time we spend here vs. our area because we are doing missionary work the whole time, but the Trail Center just takes a lot more energy and effort. Some of my reasoning for this is that 1. We take tours on our own vs. teaching together in our prosthelyting areas = twice the amount of effort/revelation receiving necessary. 2. Lots of crazy kids running around that have been bottled up in a car all day and then are running loose in the TC. 3. In contrast, there are also lots of awesome spiritual experiences. It is like running a spiritual marathon. Before my mission, I remember someone saying that on a mission, you will work the hardest you have ever worked in you life. I kind of didn't believe that because I have worked pretty hard and for extended periods, but I have now reached a whole new level of exhausted. The difference is that missionary work isn't just physically or mentally demanding. It is physically, mentally, AND spiritually demanding all at the same time. In the Trail Center, all of those things feel even more demanding. We are constantly meeting new people, trying to create a relationship with them, trying to understand and teach to their needs, creating an environment where the Spirit can teach them, answering all of their questions, trying to remember their names, figuring out what stories to tell and then relating everything back to them, all while constantly learning new things ourselves. It is intense. Then, when we are done, we sometimes get to have some of our studies and then rush to our prosthelyting area where although we have much less time that other missionaries, there is just as much work to be done. Even without being a Trail Center leader companion, there is still more than enough to do. We are able to see so many great things happen, but we wear ourselves out trying to make sure that all of those great experiences do not go unused. Where much is given, much is expected.

Must be the Square that Sister Melly Embroidered

Some of the neat miracles that have happened in the Trail Center are: 1. I got an email from a man named Rhett that Sister Belka and I chatted with on mormon.org chat a couple of months ago. We have been emailing back and forth little bit and in this email he informed me that he was recently baptized! That was pretty exciting. I wish that I could actually meet him. 2. I took a woman named Jolinda on tour. She is from California and attends a non-denominational church. She was in Omaha with her daughter visiting her mother who has cancer. As we started on tour, Jolinda had lots of questions and had lots to share. Her mother and daughter wandered away and we spent a while talking about all kinds of things, from the atonement to faith to modern day revelation to the Book of Mormon to receiving answers to prayers. We didn't really even talk about the pioneers. (Its funny, but that seems to be the mark of a really good tour sometimes.) I was able to share a few different scriptures with her including Moroni 10:3-5 about Moroni's challenge to pray about truth and Alma 7:11-13 about the atonement. She was a really neat lady. At the end of the tour, I gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, which she promised to read. I also asked if I could have the missionaries near her come visit her and talk with her more about the Book of Mormon, which she accepted. The whole thing just felt very natural. 3. Another woman, Anne, who lives just down the street from the Trail Center, came in with her son and his fiancée. It was kind of the same situation all over again. When they first walked in the door, they immediately had questions about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and Mitt Romney :) Ha-ha. I just love when people have good questions and are willing to ask them. It makes things so much easier. They watched Zion in the Wilderness, then we started on tour and pretty quickly, I got to talking to Anne and the other two wandered away. She told me that she lived in Utah for a few years, has met with missionaries before, and absolutely loves the Church. While she and her husband were living in Utah, he hurt his knee and the ward helped them out by bring by meals and other things. That one experience has made her absolutely love the Church. She grew up Pentecostal and hated it and has not really gone to church since. She kind of hinted during the tour that she is not sure why she has not joined. She also said that she thinks that she is related to Joseph Smith, at least that is what her family used to say. Once her son leaves, we are going to figure out a time from her to come to the Trail Center so we can see if that is true! Pretty exciting! I love family history :)

Let’s see. As far as Millard, we have not had a whole lot of time, but in the time that we have had, we have mostly been trying to get Aliyah and Madison ready for baptism. Aliyah was supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but she was sick and did not come to church on Sunday, so she will have to wait until next week. It will probably turn out for the better because then she and Madison can be baptized at the same time.

We did service for Lori, one of our investigators, making more hair accessories. She introduced us to a couple of her friends, Lisa and Monica. She is so funny. She acts like a member sometimes, introducing us to her friends so that we can help them. The first thing that Lisa said when she walked in the door was, "Is this some kind of intervention?”. It kind of was, but we just got to know her as we did service for Lori and as we left Lori suggested that we make this a weekly thing so that we can be around her friends more often until we get to the point where we can teach her. I love Lori.

So, lots of great things happening! Busy, busy, busy, but I suppose that I would rather be busy than bored :)

Love you!

Sister Melly



Nebraska Sky



Sister Missionaries Need Care Packages?

Yes! Investigators Standing in Line to Talk to Sisters Lamb and Bergeson

Dear Family,

Love you!

What a week of miracles this has been!

After p-day on Tuesday, we saw Madison and Kate at their home. Kate apparently has really bad anxiety with leaving their home and all kinds of things and had thought about calling us many times to cancel, but for some reason (the Spirit) had not, so we were able to teach both of them together. Kate is so sweet, but can be confusing at times because she covers up a lot of her emotions, so it is hard to really tell what is going on in her head and what she is really thinking. Madison is excited to be baptized on the 18th. We still have a lot to teach her, but we will just keep pushing on through!

Wednesday was perhaps the most miraculous day of all. I think that because Sister Bergeson and I served in Oakview for so long, He is giving us a break and letting us see a lot of miracles to reward us for all the long hours of tracting and feeling unaccomplished. When we got to our area after district meeting, we only had two appointments scheduled with about 8 hours of time. We had set the goals of teaching: 1 member present lesson, 3 other lessons, and 1 less active/recent convert lesson. Our first appointment was with Aliyah, but when we got there, her mom said that it was really not a good time and asked if we could come back later, so we rescheduled for 6. We went to eat lunch at the church and while we were there, were able to make an appointment with Fatma and Fatwa for that evening as well. With the 45 minutes that we had before our 4 o’clock appointment, we did some tracting and taught a man named Earl about the Book of Mormon. We then headed to teach Patrick with Sister Staker. (sister Staker reminds me of what I think that Katie would be like in her Minnesota ward. she was a little nervous at first and her husband told us to go easy on her, but she has quickly some to love going on team ups with us. She is in her early 20's, super cute and sweet, not pregnant though :)) When we arrived at Patrick’s apartment building, Sister Staker (Amy) was waiting for us outside and talking to one of Patrick’s neighbors, an older woman named Patti. They made quick friends and were making plans to go to the apartment pool party a couple of days later together. Sister Staker introduced us to Patti and we are going to stop by and talk with her later when we get a chance. What a good little missionary. After seeing Patrick, we went to visit Fatma and Fatwa. When we got there, their mom had friends over, so they told us they had arranged for us to go to Madison’s house, just a couple blocks away, for the lesson. So, we got to teach both Fatwa and Madison together, making a member present lesson! Perfect. After we walked back to our car, we headed to see Aliyah. We talked to her about baptism and she is set to be baptized on Aug 11th, which will be just a couple of days before she goes to high school. It is coming up fast (especially because they now want us to have baptismal interviews a week before the baptism) and we have a lot to teach her, but we feel that it is the best thing for her so that she can have the Holy Ghost when she goes back to school, otherwise it may be a little tough on her. So, we will be teaching her a lot this next week. After Aliyah, we tried a referral that we received from the Skyline elders, a woman named Kellie and were able to teach her as well. She is quite an interesting person. She definitely needs the gospel, but she is going to need some work. She is recently divorced, going through all kinds of trouble with her ex-husband, has three young daughters, is living on disability, etc. so, she is going to be fun. She has met with the elders a few times before and likes what they have been teaching her, so that’s good! The elders are going to bring her to the TC on Tuesday (tomorrow) and officially turn her over to us.

One of the things that has been the hardest for me to wrap my mind around on my mission is setting goals and working hard to achieve them while still loving people and teaching them to help them, not just to check another number off of a list. When we set goals and think about them more throughout the day, we are better able to accomplish them and be focused and Heavenly Father is better able to bless us. It is hard to find the balance sometimes, but I felt like Monday was a good day for that. We were able to set high goals, work hard to reach them, while still desiring to help people.



Sister Melly at the fireside

It was also another one of those weeks where I got to do something a little unexpected. After all of the firesides, sometimes I feel a little jealous of all the sisters that are good singers and piano players and get to use their talents in the firesides. So, I was praying that I would be able to find a way to use my talents this week, and Heavenly Father helped me out with my request. On Thursday morning, I went to the home of a recently reactivated member in the Elmwood ward named Cindy. The guy that she has been living with has been being taught by the missionaries for a while now. I actually taught them once with Sister Pinchak a couple of months ago. They are getting married this weekend and then he is being baptized next week. She ordered a wedding dress from china and wanted some alterations made, so they asked me to do it. I was a little nervous about what she would ask. All she wanted was the neckline lowered, but I had to take off the sleeves to do it, so I had some fun :) it didn't take too long though and she loves it, so I am happy.

On Thursday evening, I had a unique experience. We went to visit a less active and as we left her apartment, we started talking to a man named Aaron. He has MS and is in a wheelchair. We gave him a copy of Finding Faith in Christ and set a return appointment. He said "Wow! I have never had two pretty ladies meet me, give me a present, and then want to come see me later!" It was pretty funny. As we finished up talking to him, another guy came up behind him, so we opened the door to let him through, but he said “No thanks, I want to talk to you." Have you ever had someone wait in line to talk to you before? Someone who you don't know? As a missionary? I never heard of it happening before, but that was what I would say it was. The second man, Joe, said that he had seen us around before and wondered what we were doing/what we talked to people about. We taught him right then and then again last night. He seems pretty sincere in his intent, so that's good. We are planning on turning him over to the elders soon.

So that was some of the miraculous events that happened this last week, although if I had more time, I could probably tell you some more. Those will have to wait. Pretty good I’d say! I liked it.

Well, I LOVE YOU! As usual. Have a happy 30th of July!

Love, Sister Melly

Sister Melly's mission car?

Sister Lamb Celebrates the 24th with Lunch and Shares a Pioneer Story

Dear Family,

Happy Pioneer Day! I hope that you are doing something pioneerish! Quick! Go have a stick pull!

Are you surprised that there is a subject to my email this time? I kind of surprised myself as well. :) I always put smiley faces at the end of everything now, well not everything, but a lot of things. I picked that one up from Sister Belka, although sometimes when I do it, I surprise myself as well. I can't decide if I like it or not. :) Ha-ha.

So, today is Pioneer Day! We celebrated today by having a pioneer celebration at the TC. Just barely, we had a hamburger lunch with all of the young sisters, the senior couples, and a couple of elders in the basement of the TC. Elder Lund sacrificed himself to cook the hamburgers in the heat outside (he looked pretty hot and sweaty) and then we toasted smores over the grill and had ice cream. A few people shared stories about the pioneers and bore testimony and had a few musical numbers. I convinced Sister Atkin to sing a song that they she and Sister Arnold wrote. The lyrics are a poem that they found in the library and put to music, so you can listen to that one once you get the flash drive. I am sending you my flash drive with all of my pictures (its really not too many more than what you have seen already) but it also has recordings of a few of the songs from the fireside. I am not in any of the ones on there (almost all of the songs in the fireside are solos and duets), so don't get too excited, but there is just so many talented sisters here that it drives me crazy! I love it. A lot of the songs that we sing in the firesides were written by the sisters serving here.

Ok. So, this last week  even though I am no longer with a trail center leader, Sister Bergeson and I have only had about 4 hours in Millard since we have been companions because we have spent so much time in the TC, but I have had some neat experiences.

The first one was completely unexpected. It was a family from Utah, the son just gotten his mission call, and they were on their way to Missouri for dad's business trip. As they were watching "Zion in the Wilderness", the 15 minute film that we show most tours, I was looking through my pioneer stories and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to focus the tour on and what stories I wanted to share with them. As soon as we started into the gallery, things just kind of fell apart. Everyone scattered and it felt like no one was really listening to anything I said. Usually if this happens, I go back and forth between people, talking to them about what they are noticing and sharing with them individually. But every time I went to talk to someone, I just didn't know what to say. Sometimes, I would think of something that I could share with them so I wasn't just being silent the whole tour, but I just felt like I shouldn't. The whole 2nd half of the gallery, I didn't say a word and as we reached the end, I just wandered away from them. It was so odd that I just didn't know what to think about it. The father came over to me at the desk to thank me for the tour, but I just assumed that it was because he felt bad for some reason. Before they left, they were talking to Sister Herzoff for a moment, and as I talked to her after they left, she said that they had also expressed their thanks to her and that they had loved the tour. I still felt odd about the tour, but apparently it was what they needed. The Spirit instead of me  was talking to them, which I guess is absolutely fine, I just felt kind of awkward about it.

Another tour that I was able to take was part of a big family reunion. Sister Bergeson took half and I took the other half through the gallery, then we met up and headed for the cemetery, where we helped them locate the graves of two of their ancestors. Gathered around the graves, the grandpa addressed the whole family and added his testimony of the pioneers, then the grandma spoke for a few minutes, sharing a story about the cemetery that she had written and was published in the ensign in 1978. As we stood with them, I just felt like I was part of their family. It was a neat feeling to be there with them, connected by our common forbearers, the pioneers. It is the stories of the pioneers that connect all of the members of the church. They give us an example to follow, an opportunity to recognize what we are capable of accomplishing with the Lord on our side.

In honor of Pioneer Day, I want to share with you a story that I share frequently on tour. It comes from a talk given by James E. Faust, printed in the April 1979 ensign.

Stillman Pond . . . was an early convert to the Church, having come from Hubbardston, Massachusetts. Like others, he and his wife, Maria, and their children were harassed and driven out of Nauvoo. In September 1846, they became part of the great western migration. The early winter that year brought extreme hardships, including malaria, cholera, and consumption. The family was visited by all three of these diseases.

Maria contracted consumption, and all of the children were stricken with malaria. Three of the children died while moving through the early snows. Stillman buried them on the plains. Maria’s condition worsened because of the grief, pain, and the fever of malaria. She could no longer walk. Weakened and sickly, she gave birth to twins. They were named Joseph and Hyrum, and both died within a few days.

The Stillman Pond family arrived at Winter Quarters and, like many other families, they suffered bitterly while living in a tent. The death of the five children coming across the plains to Winter Quarters was but a beginning.

The journal of Horace K. and Helen Mar Whitney verifies the following regarding four more of the children of Stillman Pond who perished:

“On Wednesday, the 2nd of December 1846, Laura Jane Pond, age 14 years, … died of chills and fever.” Two days later on “Friday, the 4th of December 1846, Harriet M. Pond, age 11 years,… died with chills.” Three days later, “Monday, the 7th of December, 1846, Abigail A. Pond, age 18 years, … died with chills.” Just five weeks later, “Friday, the 15th of January, 1847, Lyman Pond, age 6 years, … died with chills and fever. Four months later, on the 17th of May, 1847, his wife Maria Davis Pond also died. Crossing the plains, Stillman Pond lost nine children and a wife.

Having lost these nine children and his wife in crossing the plains, Stillman Pond did not lose his faith. He did not quit. He went forward. He paid a price, as have many others before and since, to become acquainted with God.

The Divine Shepherd has a message of hope, strength, and deliverance for all. If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless.

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be able to serve at the Trail Center and to be able to learn and share the stories of so many great pioneers. The Church does not put so much into making sure that these stories are known just because it is interesting or a good thing to know. Their stories are a guide by which are able, even expected, to live our lives. There are three parts to the success of the pioneers. 1 Vision of what Heavenly Father had told them they were capable of accomplishing. 2. Faith that they could accomplish it, and 3. The hard work necessary to achieve their vision. Their stories prove that we, too, are capable of accomplishing great things through our vision, faith, and hard work. I know that the pioneers could not have accomplished all that they did without God on their side. We too are not able to reach our greatest potential without turning our lives over to the Lord.

Love you! Happy Pioneer Day!

Sister Melly

Transplanting in the Cornfield after a Crazy Week

Dear Family,

Today, we don’t have a lot of time because it has been a crazy day! We spent the night with the Lakeview Sisters last night at a member’s house. They were on vacation and told us we could sleep wherever, so we all had a sleepover in their living room. It was a lot of fun. We visited Katie Ford this morning. She got an eviction notice on her door yesterday, but we got that all sorted out :) We were kind of nervous for her, but it is turning out to be a good thing. Hopefully she learned something through all of this, even if it is only that when we put our trust in the Lord, He will help us. We also played soccer with the elders and some of the young men in the ward. That was fun :) ha ha. We grocery shopped and cleaned our apartment. And most importantly, we heard about transfers! I am . . . . . staying in Millard and will be companions with Sister Bergeson (again!). Kind of crazy. Apparently there was something that we didn't learn from each other the first time, so now we are getting another opportunity to learn. I am excited for Sister Bergeson to be in Millard because she has been serving in a rough couple of areas, so I think that it will be a relief for her to just get in and teach a whole bunch of lessons. Sister Belka is going to be opening up Rockbrook (just to the east of Millard) with Sister Sakurazawa. So, tomorrow will be the big change!

This last week, we had a fireside on Sunday with the cast of Come Home to Kanesville, which we are going to see tonight with Julie. We will see how this goes.

We have also spent a lot of time with the Elmwood Sisters this last week because Sister Atkin has been sick. It has been absolutely amazing! We took turns staying with Sister Atkin and going out with Sister Jarman to either our area or theirs. We saw so many miracles! It is amazing how even when we have less time, Heavenly Father is able to direct us to the most important, most effective things that we need to do so that we are able to get about the same amount of things done in a much smaller amount of time. In Elmwood one morning, we went to go check on a less-active that was not home. Then, Sister Jarman and I each choose a house to go knock on (keep in mind that it is often hard to find people at home during the day). We went to the one I chose first. They opened the door, the husband invited us right in. the wife was about to leave but decided to stay to talk to us. They had a million questions about everything, so we did our best to answer as many as we could and keep relating everything back to prayer and truth and feeling the Holy Ghost. They are such a neat couple! I just wish I was serving in Elmwood so I could go back and teach them again. Then, we went to the house that Sister Jarman picked. We met a young, college-age man and also taught him about prayer. Heavenly Father blessed us so much to be able to go straight from one prepared person to another and teach many lessons in the few hours that we were together. So amazing!

Let's see, other miracles this last week. Madison, the 14 year old, who we have been teaching for a couple of months now, is dong great. We had her read a scripture and then she called us an hour later and says that she got addicted to the scriptures. we shared a song with her from lds.org and now she listens to it all the time and plays songs for us over the phone :) Yesterday, we taught her about modesty as she was sitting in her short-shorts and a swimming suit top and she just expressed to us how much she wants to keep the commandments and was instantly coming up with ways that she can make the clothes that she wears more modest. She is so cute! She is set to be baptized on August 18th. Aliyah, the other young girl that we have been teaching has been out of town for a couple of weeks, but will be back this Saturday, so we are excited to start teaching her again so that she can be baptized as well :) there are so many great things happening.

Well, I love you!

Sorry for the short email this week,

Sister Melly

Sister Melly Mermaid Under the Sea and Sister Belka Comes Out of her Cocoon

Dear Family,

Love you! So much!

Today we went to the zoo! Yesterday, there was a bunch of people that went, but today it was just Sister Belka, me, Sister Brown, Sister Jones, Sister Kirby, and the Openshaws. It was nice because we were small enough that we could all stay together and do what we wanted to do. The Openshaws and the Watsons kept referring to us as their grandchildren, which was cute. All the senior couples are a lot like our grandparents. We have a lot of fun together. Unfortunately, my camera made it through the entire zoo, but died as I was uploading the pictures, so I only got a couple of them, but I will send more next week.

I keep having dreams lately about coming home, which is the weirdest thing, but it reminds me over and over how quickly this time is going and how quickly it will soon be gone. Next week is transfers and then only 5 transfers after that, but I should stop talking about that.

It seems like last Monday when I emailed you last was an eternity ago. Wow.

Last Tuesday, we had Meet the President with the Westons (which, by the way is very confusing between President Weston, Elder Watson, and Elder Westover.) The Westons are great. President Weston is definitely different than President Kunz, but both have been and will be awesome, I am grateful already though to see the way that two different people do things and to understand that there is not just one right way to serve. We each bring something different to the table, and that is just fine! Some things that he is very focused on is working with the members, new member retention and seeking out the lost sheep. He is already doing away with the 4 pm dinner schedule so that we can spend more time strengthening and encouraging the members in their work, which I think will be good. It’s kind of a special place that missionaries are in with members feeding us. It gets us into their homes to be able to talk to and strengthen them. Other people in the church can't send around a sign up sheet and expect people to feed them everyday for a long period of time (although I have never tried it, so who knows), but missionaries can! It gives a unique opportunity to be in the homes of the ward members. President Weston is also vey big on obedience. He said that as his life work, he has been reading through all the scriptures and counsels given by the prophets and apostles and looking for everything they have told us to do, then implementing all of those things in his life so that he can be more obedient. So, you can tell what kind of a person he is. We also had interviews with him that day, which was kind of neat. We talked more about obedience, in fact. He said something interesting, that for missionaries, the amount that their family is blessed is in relation to how obedient they are. So, I will be being trying to be more exactly obedient in the future :).

The Fourth was not a huge deal for us. In fact, I felt a little bit like a Jehovah’s Witness because we did so little to celebrate and Sister Belka kept telling people that we talked to that we were not doing anything to celebrate. In the morning, we went to the Bellevue 2nd Ward breakfast. A group of 6 sister and 6 elders sang the National Anthem, including me :) Ha ha and then we had breakfast and a little program. We worked at the Trail Center, had dinner with a family in the ward, did some tracting, and taught a few lessons. It actually didn't turn out to be too bad of a night, even if there were a lot of people out partying.

On Thursday, we were visiting Fatma and Fatwa Luka, two teenage recent converts. Fatma has come with us a couple times to some appointments and apparently has made Fatwa (the younger of the two) jealous by telling her how much she enjoys it. Fatwa wanted to come out with us so badly, so took her with us and did some tracting a couple of blocks away from their house. After the first lady that we talked to, she said "So that is what it is like to be a missionary. That was so great!” It made me think about what my view of missionary work was before my mission. I think that I didn’t really think about what missionaries do because I was so focused on what missionaries don’t do, but I have since realized that there is a lot more to it than just that. After a few months of being away from all of the things that you leave behind to go on a mission, you kind of forget what it was like to live that way. And then there is a whole new world of opportunity that opens up.

We had another fireside this Sunday and have another next Sunday for the cast of Come Home to Kanesville (which we get to see on the 17th), then another the Saturday after that, so they are keeping us busy! That has been a lot of fun, and apparently, we have had 7 baptisms already that have come out of the firesides in the last couple of months. I know that it has also been a huge factor in the progression of some of our investigators. When President Weston first came, I was a little nervous about what he would say/do about the firesides or if he would stop them all together, but that fear was quickly set aside after he told all of the missionaries "if you can find a way to mix music and testimony in your teaching, please do it!" That was even before he knew about the firesides, so that is definitely a good sign!

Love you! Have a great week!

Sister Melly

Change of Guard (Scarecrow?) in the Cornfield and Sister Lamb Sends Home Some Extra Hugs

Sister Melanie with President and Sister Kunz

Dear Family,

Love you!

Not a lot of time this week, I was making sure to write a really good email to President Weston for his first week here. :) I know what Ryan is saying right now. . . suck up! Ha ha.

But, maybe that is a good thing that I don't have a lot of time because I will have to be more concise. This last week was so great! We didn't have a lot of time, as usual, but the time we had was good.

On Wednesday, we met up with Cory, the man I made the blanket for, and he bought us lunch at the cheesecake factory :). I had to stay up late a couple of nights to get it finished, but now it is done and I don't have to worry about it any more! We talked to him for over an hour while we were having lunch about the Restoration and then had to leave to go to the Trail Center, so he met us up there a couple hours later and we talked for another couple of hours. He is an awesome guy, very philosophical, and a lot of things that he said are right in line with what we believe, but we just don't know what to think because it just didn't feel like anything that we were saying was really sinking in with him. He said we could have the elders in his area come over and talk with him some more, so we will see how that goes. I think that he will do well with elders. There are just certain types of people that need elders and others that need sisters, so hopefully the elders work out well for him. If not, maybe we will be seeing him at the Trail Center some more.

On Saturday, we had an appointment with one of Aliyah's neighbors, but they were not home, which worked out perfectly for us because we went to visit Aliyah instead and taught her. She is set for baptism on July 28th! She is so fantastic. The Jensen’s (aka our ward mission leader) got to spend a lot of time with her on Sunday when they took her to the fireside and they agree that she is so solid. Her willingness to believe is amazing; we just need to get her family on board!

Saturday was an interesting day. We had dinner with the Young’s (I don’t think we are related), who live all the way out by the Elkhorn river, the very outside edge of our area. They picked us up from the church, which is in the middle of our area, and it took 20 minutes to drive there, a lot of which was through cornfields and through a very hilly, wooded area where their house is. We felt like we were in the mountains for a little bit. Yes, please. They had invited Maria as well, who has been investigating the church for a couple of years now and we had dinner and taught them about repentance. After they took us back to our car, we spent an hour trying to find a referral we had received and everyone we tried was not home. Everyone was out celebrating the 4th of July, so we will see how this next week goes. We finally ended up at Julie and Walter's home. Julie is a recent convert and we have been teaching Walter. Walter sees us as his daughters. He is so cute, always watching out for us and making sure that we are being taken care of. Walter was in a really bad mood and they were leaving to take some thing to Goodwill, so we followed them there with a few things that didn’t fit in their car and then they took us to 2nd dinner at Village Inn. And it was a good thing. By the end, Walter was in a much better mood and we taught them while we were eating, so I would say it was worth it, even if we were very full by the end of the evening. Nutella crepes. Yes, please!

I have been learning a lot about prayer this week. rather than leaning over my bed and falling asleep while I am praying, I have been saying my prayers out loud, kneeling in the living room, where there is nothing to lean against and fall asleep on. I felt really awkward at first, but after the first couple of days, my prayers have become so much more effective. I think I felt a little of what it is like for investigators praying for the first time, but once I got over feeling awkward, it was so worth it. I am so grateful for prayer.

Well, that's it for this week!

Love you!

Sister Melly

Some answers to some questions I asked Sister Melly:

For the Fourth, we and a few others are singing the National Anthem for a ward breakfast (I know, right?) and then we are working at the Trail Center until 3, then having dinner with the Gunns in our ward, then we have a few appointments set for the evening, but we are not really sure what to expect because we think that they probably forgot that it was the 4th when they set them up, so we will see what happens. We thought that President Weston may not want us out on the roads that night, but we have not heard anything yet and I am sure that he is so overwhelmed right now that he won't think about that. Tracting probably won't be super effective that night, but we will see what happens.
The next fireside is this coming Sunday for the Council Bluffs stake. I will just be singing in that one. Then we have one on the 21st in the morning for the Papillion Stake's Pioneer Day celebration, then I think the 19th of August we are going down to Lincoln to do one there. Once we get through the next couple, I think that they are going to start planning some more maybe at the Trail Center or round 2 for some of the stakes now that the word is getting out more. I think a lot of it will have to do with what President Weston thinks about the firesides. He could love it and want us to do more, or tell us not to do any more. That is the same situation with the Come Home to Kanesville. We are supposed to be going in a few weeks, but they haven't said anything about it yet because ultimately, it is going to be up to President Weston to decide.

The next Watson wagon is going to be next Monday. We are going to the zoo! So that will mean that p-day will be on Monday again next week - they are figuring out the schedule so that everyone that wants to go can go on Monday instead of breaking it up into two days. The Watsons will go home at the end of January, so I will spend almost my whole mission with them. Don't worry; I am getting plenty of hugs. Every time we walk into the Trail Center, you would think that we hadn't seen each other in years and there is an obligatory round of hugs from everyone we see. You are probably the one who needs more hugs, so here are a few for you OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I think that should cover you until at least next week :)

Love you!

Sister Melly

Sister Lamb at the Children's Theater Costume Closet

Sister Missionaries on Stage