Sister Lamb Feels Forgotten and Gets Sheared

Sister Melly actually called this a HAIR-RAISING day but I call it her Spring Shearing

(From Sister Lamb's mom - I did not forget to write an email to Sister Melly - I actually wrote her three but they were clogged up in our email out box and did not send. I lost my motherhood award for the week.)

Dear Family,

Love you!

I hope that I don't have an email from Mom this week because the week has gone by so quickly that you forgot that it was Tuesday already. This week has gone by quickly for me; in fact the last couple of weeks and the last month have gone by very quickly. We were looking back at our records of people we met recently and need to go back and check up on and I was shocked when I started looking at when we met them. There were some of them that we met over a month ago and have not been able to go back to see them yet. It is amazing how sometimes it feels like we are really having to search for things to do (other than tracting) but then we realize that there are a lot of things that we need to do that we have not been able to get done yet. (It is not lack of trying, but not being able to be there at a good time).And now I feel like I need to justify something about why it has been so long. Anyway, moving on.

I don't know much what to say about this last week. I am trying to steal ideas off of Sister Bergeson, but she turned her computer screen away from me so that I cannot see what she is writing. I hope that doesn't mean that she is writing anything that she doesn't want me to see . . . well I guess that it what it means, but not so much in a hiding something type of way as a I feel awkward type of way, if that makes sense. It sounds like something I would do. This is probably why right after she did it, I did it too.

This last week, we have been focusing a lot on visiting with members and encouraging them to do missionary work and also visiting less-actives. As we visited with the members, they were very excited to tell us about the friends and neighbors that they are working on inviting to learn more about the Church; in fact they did so without us asking anything. It was neat to be able to spend more time sharing the gospel with the members this week because not only did we get to have lots of fun, spirit-filled lessons with them, but it also made me a little more excited about missionary work as we talked about what they have been doing. I go through phases with the Oak View Ward (yes, it is two words). Sometimes I love it and I am excited to help strengthen and build the ward and sometimes I feel like I am ready for a change. So, we will see what happens come tomorrow (transfer calls!) Sister Bergeson and I are trying to figure out an excuse to be at the Trail Center in the morning when President Kunz will be there so that we can find out what our new assignments will be a few hours earlier than we would if we waited until we get a call from our District Leader. It shouldn't be too hard.

On Sunday night, we stopped by the home of a less-active in the ward. She had a headache and told us to come back the next night, Monday. When we got there, she was the only one home of a normally packed full house of people. Dad had sent me a copy of his most recent High Council talk, one about Job and dealing with trials. After I read it, I knew that it was exactly what she needed. So, we shared it with her, talking about the many trials we have in life and how we choose to let them affect us. In the story of Job, his situation finally changes when Job prays for his friends. When he does this, Heavenly Father returns all of his losses to him two-fold. Most especially, there was a question from the talk "Do your trials make you bitter or do they make you better?” She loved it and just kept agreeing with what we said, which surprised me a little because it seemed kind of bold for sharing in a one-on-one situation. And suddenly, she was telling us everything that she was feeling lately. Things that she wasn't telling anyone else. The spirit just cracked her right open like an egg. She apologized several times for crying and for unloading all of this on us, but I know that it was the Spirit that prompting her to tell us. It was amazing. And as we testified and shared experience from our own lives there was just this connection of trust building and building. I don't feel like I have ever understood a person so well before. For a long time, I hadn't gotten it. I tended to think on the side of "what are we going to do with her?" It almost felt beyond hope. But suddenly, everything clicked into place for me. I could see exactly where she was coming from. I could understand why I have seen her act the way that she does. And I felt a great love for her. I have felt that way a few times before with people, that great feeling of charity for them, but I never expected that I would feel it with her. It was a really good experience. By the end, she committed herself to really praying and explaining it all to the Lord and then letting it go. Right before we left, one of her sons and his girlfriend arrived home. The girlfriend is Catholic and had lots and lots of questions about everything in the church. We are going back in the next few days to see them all and answer a lot of her questions. We are excited! There are lots of good things starting to happen in this home and I am already starting to notice that the home feels a little different that the first time that we met them.

Well, that’s all the time we’ve got for this week folks! I love you! I hope that you re having a great week!

Love,

Sister Melly

Sister Lamb Weathers her First Tornado and Goes Gas Green

April 14 Rain in Omaha



Dearest Family,

Love you!
So, I don’t know about you, but this last week has gone by very slowly for me. I am looking back through my planner for a week ago and last Monday just seems like forever ago. I think that this is mainly caused by not being able to do a whole lot this last week. Through a series of circumstances, we were only able to spend a few hours in our area this last week, and the time in between has just slowed right down.

On Tuesday night, after p-day ended, we had a few hours to knock on some doors before the end of the day. We went up and down a few streets only finding homes with no one home, or where the people were not interested, or where they only wanted to argue with us about our beliefs. So, it wasn't going too well. Right as we were going to head for home, Sister Bergeson and I looked at each other and said "one more." We surveyed the area and both of us settled on a house across the street with a maroon door. We knocked on the door and a twenty-something year old named Savannah answered the door. She lives in South Omaha but was visiting her mom for the evening when we knocked. She told us that she had been in Boys Town a few years ago (the kids are required to go to church while they are there) but had not been to church either before or after that. She had been having a terrible day and as we talked about the joy of the gospel and knowing that we have a Heavenly Father that knows and loves us each individually, she told us "I am so glad that you stopped by here tonight. I really needed that." She is interested in learning more about faith and we are excited to go back and teach her again soon. Like I have said before, it is always the last house, the last person, the last try, that always ends up being the one that you were looking for. We have to prove our faith and our commitment before we can reap the reward. Not always the most fun, but the most rewarding.

On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with another sister when she started feeling sick and needed to lie down. We had the Elmwood Sister's car for the day while they were working in the Trail Center. We realized that we were only a little ways away from Elmwood's apartment and the keys to their apartment were attached to their car keys. What a miracle! We were able to head over to their apartment, get her some rest, and make it back to Oakview that evening for an appointment without using up too many miles. It just really reminded me how inspired everything about missionary work is, down to what car we are using.

Friday and Saturday were the most exciting days of the week, and probably the ones that you are looking to hear about as you read this email. On Friday morning, we got a call from one of the Trail Center leaders in a panic that there was a tornado on its way towards Omaha. We were not really sure what to do about that, and headed up to the Trail Center for interviews with President Kunz. While we were there, Elder Watson told us that any tornado would not be expected until Saturday evening (the next day). So, the rest of the day we spent at the temple and weekly planning, but that night, we received a text instructing us to make sure that we had water, food, a change of clothes, sturdy shoes and anything that we could not live without together, in case the tornado watch was raised to a tornado warning and we would need to get quickly to a shelter (aka the basement of the Trail Center). It was a weird feeling. I have always heard stories about people having to grab what they could or what was most important to them in just a few minute before running to avoid a fire or some other natural disaster and have been asked the question "What would be the most important to you to take with you?", but I have never actually been in the situation of having to seriously think about what "I couldn't live without." I quickly realized that there were only a few of those things. As much as I like a lot of my stuff, most of it is not that significant. I would be sad to loose it, but in the end, it really wouldn't be a big deal. So, in the end, I packed up my mission blanket, an Obi Wan Kenobi that Ryan sent me for my birthday, my camera and flash drives, some pictures, a couple of notebooks, a box of letters, my scriptures and my journal. Fortunately, it didn't really matter in the end. They kept us all cooped up in the Trail Center all day Saturday. All we saw was a lot of rain, but no tornado came anywhere near to Omaha. Maybe another day. I keep hearing that because we didn't have a very cold winter this last year, we are going to be seeing more tornados. But maybe I shouldn't be saying that :).
Well, that's all for this week!

Love you!
Sister Melan



Sister Melanie's Corny Easter Lamb made from corn husks

Sister Melly's customized lamb



Sister Melanie's Easter baskets

Bip, Sister Lamb and Carol on Easter

Sister Lamb and Carol on Easter




Beautiful Sisters

Sunday, April 15 in Omaha

Sunday, April 15 in Omaha









Sister Lamb is still our Melster - probably too many peeps





Sister Lamb Joins the Watson Wagon and Uses her Sewing Skills

Dear Family,

Love you!

Apparently there is a quilt auction in Omaha to do with something or something and Elder Watson has decided that it would be a good idea for the Trail Center to make a couple of quilts to donate to the auction. So, this last Saturday, Sister Wright enlisted all of our help with one of the quilts. She is having us each embroider a square for the quilt. We were a little surprised that President Kunz was allowing this, but were all excited about it. We picked up our squares on Saturday morning and were all working on them in between tours all day. Between working at the Trail Center Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, mine is already finished. So that fun, although I will admit that sometimes I hoped that no one would come in to the Trail Center for a little bit so that I could work on it. But, now that it is done I guess that I don't have to worry about that any more.

This last week, Sister Proctor (1 transfer older than me, stays with us a lot because of Trail Center things, knows lots of the same people I do at the BYU, etc) had surgery because she had a hernia in her belly button. This meant that she and her companion, Sister Davis, have not been able to do a lot in the last week. They had expected that she would be up and ready to work within a couple of days, but that plan didn't end up working our for them. We ended up working two extra shifts at the Trail Center for them on Wednesday and Sunday so that Sister Proctor could rest. Then yesterday, they had a few appointments in the evening, so after our shift at the TC, Sister Bergeson and Sister Davis went to Bellevue to the appointments and Sister Proctor and I headed for their apartment. They live in the basement of a members home and Sister Proctor told me that she is sure that we will be companions next transfer. She has already started making plans for it, so we will see what happens. Ha ha.

On Sunday, it was Easter! We spent the morning at the Trail Center. Then, off to church. At the end of the block, Sister Young asked us if we could come over to her home for Easter dinner. The only problem was that dinner was not going to be ready until about 6, so we could not go unless there were investigators or potential investigators there as well. So, Sister Young told us that she would see what she could do and promptly went home to call all of her nonmember friends and get someone there to have dinner with us. By the time we got there, one of her neighbors and 14-yr old Clare's Jewish friend were there. So, everything was great. We had dinner and showed them the video "He is Risen" that is on lds.org, and then talked about Christ and the individuality of the atonement, that Christ did it for each of us individually. The gospel is an individual thing. We often pray as individuals, baptisms are performed undividually, we do home teaching and visiting teaching to make sure that each individual is taken care of. (Of course we have to rely on other people as well) But Christ performed the Atonement for each person, not all of us as a group and he cares about us individually. Today, we got a call from Sister Young. Clare's friend, Debbie, had been talking to Clare and said that she loved having dinner with us and listening to our message. She also said that she wishes that she was Mormon so that she could go on a mission.

Last week, we were talking to Elder Whidmer (our district leader) on Sunday evening. He asked what he could do to help us and we expressed our desire to find some new investigators. He promised us a blessing that if we would make an extra effort in our planning on Wednesday night, check on potentials from our area book, and then tract around them, we would find 5 new investigators. I knew that what he said was true because I knew that was what he was going to promise us before he said it. So, Thursday came and we did everything just like he had said. We prayed with faith and pleaded with the Lord, then spent the whole day tracting, talking to everyone we saw, trying our best to follow the spirit, and doing everything we could to find those 5 people. We refused to stop until we absolutely had to go in. By the end of the day, we had no new investigators, but we knew that we had done everything we could have. It was disappointing not to find those 5 people that day, but we both learned something very important. We felt what it is like to truly have given everything to the work. There was a feeling of peace and accomplishment because we knew that the Lord had accepted our effort for the day. We learned that at the end of the day, having that feeling is more important than having good numbers. You can have good numbers and still not feel like your effort was enough, but when you know that you have done everything you can, you just have to leave the rest to the Lord.

Today was day 1 of the "Watson Wagon". About once a month, the Watsons organize a field trip for the missionaries in Omaha to go to sites around Omaha to make sure that we get an opportunity to do some of the things that are available. Today, we took a trip over to the Kanesville Tabernacle. I have been there once, on the first day in Omaha, but really don’t remember anything they said, Elder Scott, a service missionary from Omaha, talked to us for several hours about the history of the Mormon Trail and then Elder Wright took us on a tour of the tabernacle. It was great! You may think that the Wrights are the only senior couple here because it seems like they are the only one I talk about, but there are actually 5 other senior couples and two service missionary couples as well.

Well, I love you! Have a great week!

Sister Melly

Trail Center Triplets



And then there were TRIPLETS



Sister Melanie the Grime Fighter



Spring at the Trail Center



Sister Lamb and her Twin Sister Throw Themselves into Tracting

Sister Melly and her Almost Twin Sister B

Dearest Family,

I love you so much!

This may be a short email, I feel like I just don't have much to report for the last week.

So, conference this last weekend? Yes please! The only problem was that hearing all the talks about families made me want to have a family. Ha ha.

We watched the Saturday sessions in our church building and on Sunday, we were at the Trail Center, so we watched conference in the director's office and took turns sitting up at the front desk and listening from an iphone, hoping that no tours would come in so that we could continue listening to conference. There were a few that came in; luckily I didn't have to take any. Wow that sounds terrible. I just don't understand member s that come in and want to listen to us talking when they could be listening to the prophet. But, it’s what they do sometimes.

Lately, a lot of our investigators have just kind of disappeared. I think I said that same thing last week, but the same is still true. We have been doing a lot of tracting this last week with not a whole lot of success. But, I also know that this is exactly what Sister Bergeson and I need. We both are a little scared of tracting, so we just have to throw ourselves right out there.

Travis, the man we met last Sunday when we were out walking after church (that sounds like we were just out for a nice little Sunday evening stroll), was supposed to meet us at the church on Thursday evening this last week. About an hour before, we called him to remind him about the appointment. As it turns out, he had given us the wrong phone number. We kept our hopes up and headed to the church to wait for him. About the time that he was supposed to meet us, we got a phone call from him, saying that he would not be able to make it that night, but that he wanted to reschedule for a different night. He apologized for giving us the wrong phone number. We were pretty excited! We learned that just because something is starting to look unfavorable, don't give up hope! Just keeping going, keep pushing forward. It's not over until it’s over.

Other than that, we have been doing lots of tracting. The one thing that I like about tracting is that I love meeting new people! I have really been learning just how to get a conversation going, which is something that I have never been very good at in the past. People are all so different and unique. I love learning about them and their views on the world. I just worry sometimes that after I am not a missionary I will not remember how to talk to people again. That is probably what will happen since I am mainly just good at talking to people about religion. But, I will get to that when I get to that I suppose.

It is starting to get rather warm here. We have the air conditioners on in our apartment and we often come home at night feeling awfully sticky. I keep hearing predictions of massive April snow-storms, but I have yet to see any real signs of that happening.

Well, that's about all that I can think of to say right now other than one last I love you.

Love

Sister Melly

Springtime in Omaha

Sister B is happy to have her picture taken!

Best Sister Missionaries in the World - pirated from Sister Kunz's Blog 
 Sister Lamb is on the backrow, second from the right

End of the Month and Short on Miles - the Blessings of Walking

Dear Family,

Love you!

So, this has been another interesting week as usual. There are lots of ways to do missionary work and, it seems, lots of different ways to interpret the rules of missionary work, so Sister Bergeson and I have been working on what version we will be living by. At least several times a day, we have to ask each other how we have done different things in the past and then try to figure out what we think that we should be doing. It is quite a process. We have both always been with companions that are near the end of their missions and who have already figured out what they are going to do, but it has been fun, although sometimes a bit annoying, to figure it all out for ourselves.

So, I love the Oakview ward, but I am a getting a little worried that I am getting to close to some of the members. I love them a lot and they seem to like me a bit too ;), but I have just been feeling like we are sometimes a bit too buddy-buddy. But, maybe that is what they need right now. That has become my common phrase lately whenever something weird/unexpected happens. "Maybe that is just what they needed". We just go with it.

Ok, some highlights for the week. It seems like in the past couple of weeks, all of our investigators have just kind of disappeared. Either they are too busy to meet with us right now, or they are not interested in learning right now, or we haven't been able to contact them for a while. Even our less-actives that we have been teaching have suddenly gotten more difficult to get a hold of. So, this has meant lots of finding. Also, because it is the end of the month, the cars are running out of miles, so we have been doing a lot of walking. Fortunately, it has worked out in our favor.

On Thursday, we met a younger lady named Crystal. She was interested for a minute, but told us that if we could show her in the Bible where it says that we need a prophet today, she would let us teach her. We showed her a couple of scriptures in the Bible that talk about prophets, but she still didn't seem convinced. Just as she was about to shut the door, her husband showed up. We continued talking about modern day prophets. He was shocked. He said that this was something that they had never even considered before and that they were having a hard time wrapping their minds around it. We left them with some different things to take a look at and invited them to pray about it, but the soonest time that they said that they could meet with us and really give us their full attention will not be for about 3 weeks. So, we will wait and we are praying that nothing happens to them in that time before we can meet with them.

On Sunday, we got a ride to church and then had the evening to spend in the area. By the time we had our meeting with the ward mission leader, Brother Loveridge, and ate dinner, the building was pretty much cleaned out of people. We thought about calling a member to drive us down closer to where we wanted to go, but decided instead just to walk there. It was about 3 miles with a busy road on one side and empty cornfield on the other. We felt like real missionaries. We only met two people on our walk. The second person, who we met just before we turned in to the neighborhood we were headed for, was a man named Travis. He has looked into lots of different religions, but still had a lot of questions and seemed a bit confused when he tried to explain exactly what he believes. He agreed to meet us at the church building on Thursday so that we can teach him there. It’s funny how every missionary story with finding investigators seems to happen at the very end. It usually has something to do with the last 5 minutes before heading home, or in this case, the last few steps before reaching our destination. It just reminds us over and over that the blessings don’t come at the beginning. They come after patient perseverance.

Then again, on Monday, we worked in the Trail Center and then had a member drop us off in one of the parts of our area. We knocked some doors and tried to check on some people, and then ended up at the home of a woman who Sister Kusnerik and I met in November. We had only talked to her for a moment because it was during a Husker game (oops!) She had told us to come back the next week, but we were not able to make it and had gone back since. The first thing that she told us when we got there was that her husband just died recently. At first, she was a little bit cold, but we warmed her up and were able to teach her a little bit, leave her with a copy of the Book of Mormon, and are going back to see her next week. It is amazing how timing works out when the Lord is directing the work. We always seem to be in the right place at the right time, even if things happen in an odd way.

The other, not so spiritual, highlight for the week was not a person, but a sandwich! We bought some Caribbean jerk marinade last Monday that looked delicious and decided to cook some chicken with it in a Crockpot. Then, we shredded the chicken, put it on sourdough bread (that we were given from Panera), topped it with provolone cheese slices, grilled pineapple rings (grilled on a George Foreman) and then grilled the whole thing in the George Foreman like a Panini with a little bit of butter on the bread so it got all golden and crispy. It was so good! Yummy. We made it twice. Yum yum!

Well, that’s all folks!

Love you so much!

Sister Melly

Sister Lamb Preaches on the Street Corner and Gets to Go to the Baptism with a New Companion

Dear Family,

Wow! This week has been a very eventful one (or at least it has felt like it!)

At the beginning of last week, Sister Askren started having a feeling that there was on last thing that she needed to do before she went home. What it was was that she felt like she needed to go to a park or downtown or some public place, get on top of a soap box, and preach the 1st lesson. Maybe I shouldn't be admitting to this, but it kind of freaked me out a little. I convinced her to call President Kunz to check with him if it was OK before she got too far into it. What ended up happening was that after working at the Trail Center on Wednesday, we and three other sisters drove downtown, chose a street corner, and three of us sang hymns while Sister Askren and Sister Sakurazawa talked to people as they walked by and we handed out mormon.org cards. It was actually really fun and we got several good referrals in just about 30 minutes. It was great! President Kunz had actually been trying to get something like this organized for a while now and wants it to become a regular thing. It was pretty fun, although we forgot to take water with us, so we were pretty thirsty by the time we were done. That was Sister Askren's last day.

Afterwards, we went to a member's home for a turkey dinner and then to a couple of last appointments before the end of the night. It was a beautiful day. The weather has been so nice here lately. Cool/warm and humid. I love it! The only problem is that it is March right now. If the weather is already like this, that means that the summer is going to be extremely hot and humid, so that is not fun. Hooray for the Trail Center! Ha ha.

Wednesday morning we got our transfer assignments from President Kunz. Because we were working at the Trail Center, we were among the first to find out our new assignments. Sister Askren got sent way out west (Idaho) and I am staying in Oakview with new companion Sister Bergeson. She has been out one transfer longer than me and was just serving over in Council Bluffs in the Greenview ward. We are very, very alike. Our previous companions (Sister Askren and Sister Shelley) both just went home. We have both been companions with Trail Center leaders for most of our missions, our personalities are very similar, and our stories about how we decided to come on missions are very similar, we both have a sister who is about 2 years older who is married and a brother who is several years older that collects Star Wars figurines. (She also has a younger brother, so I am starting to wonder what happened to mine). I think just about every sister in the Trail Center has told us "I wish that I could just listen in on the conversations that the two of you have." I don't know what that means, but I think it means that they think we are funny/weird. We both react to things the same way, we have the same sense of humor, etc, etc.

Our first day together was Thursday. It was a wonderful first day, although both of us felt like our companionship was not real. We kept expecting it to end and go back to our old companions, like we were on an exchange, but it never did. We were able to teach an exceptional number of lessons and find a couple of new investigators. It was a great day! We also did some service for one of our investigators, Carla, which was fun and the team up we took with us ended up having a lot in common with her, which was awesome too!

Saturday was another pretty great day. That was mostly because it was Carol's baptism! I was really excited for her, but it was also a little sad because we got there right as it was starting, so I wasn't able to get a picture with her and Bip (her friend that introduced her to us/the church) and our investigators that we had invited did not end up coming, so we had to leave right after the actual baptism. I am still glad that I got to be there and that she was baptized, but we will have to keep working on getting a picture together.

Let's see, other than that, we have been spending a bunch of time in the Trail Center and trying to fit in our studies between lessons and church and everything else. It has been a busy week. This morning, we got to go clean the temple (it is closed for the next two weeks for cleaning). Sister Bergeson, two other sisters, and I cleaned the chandeliers and mirrors in the Celestial room and brides’ room. Each individual crystal had to be cleaned. The mirrors are also made of crystal. It is amazing how immaculately clean and beautiful the temple is. The elders that were there were assigned to cleaning the hinges on each of the doors by taking each pin out, cleaning it, and then putting it all back together. Absolutely amazing.

So, that has been this week. Lots of good experiences and lots of good things happening! This should be a great transfer.

Love you!

Sister Melly

Sister Melanie also got visited by a friend from BYU who is also from Nebraska - Shelby Luke

Investigators, Sunshine and (Polar) Bears, Oh My!

Dear Family,

Love you!

Things are feeling better and better here in Omaha. It is getting warmer and  sunnier every day. You just can't help but feel more happy and hopeful with all of the sunshine outside. Transfers are this week. I am excited! Sister Askren and I have become really good friends this last week. We have been discussing lately what animals different sisters would have if everyone was given an animal companion that was with them their whole life as their sidekick/ friend. I would have a polar bear. Sister Askren would have a Pomeranian.

Last week, I was looking through a lot of the old records in our area book (most of the records are from more than 3 years ago). I found one that had an Elder Young on it. . . It was from 2006, which would be about right I think. It was kind of fun to see his name on it. I don't know if it was really the Elder Young, but I am going to assume that it is.

So last week, I probably mentioned that we had had a lesson with Carol, the friend of a member in the Oakview ward. We were teaching her for a while, but stopped when her mom put up some resistance. Carol stopped investigating for a little while to avoid any more conflict with her mom. A couple of weeks ago, she came to a homecoming in our ward and we starting talking to her again. The missionary who returned home, who knew Carol a little before his mission, gave his talk on the necessity of baptism and later talked to Carol more about it. I guess that jumpstarted her again and on Sunday, she asked us to come see her. We saw her that night and the next night we went back with the Singles Ward Elders (because she will be in the Winter Quarters Singles Ward). They have been teaching her since then, and she is getting baptized this Friday! Hooray! She is so amazing. She knows the Church is true and has decided that this is really what she wants. Her prayers are so sincere and she stopped smoking, etc. practically on her own. She is so awesome and is a great example for her family, especially her younger sister, Miriam. So, Carol is not technically a baptism for us, but I am counting it since I have been with her from the very beginning up until just a bit before her baptism. Now we just need to find an investigator to go to the baptism so that we can go.

We also have another investigator named Carla who we have been teaching for a while now, although we have only seen her 4-5 times. We also saw her on Monday night. We had not seen her in about a month. It was completely different than any other lesson we have taught her. She finally just got it! Everything was making sense and she was finally seeing how this can help her. We were able to set her for baptism and she was so willing to accept. She knows that this is what she needs right now. It is amazing to see. The only problem is that she does work a lot as a nurse, so it is difficult to meet with her very regularly, but slowly we will get her there. What was really neat to see was that even though we did not intend to not see her for that large amount of time, it was exactly what needed to happen. She just needed some time to come to those realizations on her own so that now she is ready to progress. Things are starting to move ahead very well in the Oakview Ward and I can just feel that there are more good things coming.

Also a few weeks ago, we met a man named Patrick in the parking lot of an apartment building where we have been teaching a few different people. We taught him a lesson right there while he was sitting in his car talking to us out the window. He had recently been fired from his job and was in the process of looking for a new one, but wasn't having too much luck. We promised him that if he would read a passage of the Book of Mormon that we left with him, he would find a new job before the end of the week. He wouldn't give us any of his information, but we left him with our phone number and he said he would call us if something happened. Later, Sister Askren realized that she had written down the wrong phone number on the card, so we thought our only hope to find him again would be to tract the whole building where he lives and pray that he would be home. Yesterday, about a month later, we were at those same apartment buildings trying to visit a less active member of our ward, but no one was home. As we walked out to our car to leave, we saw a car pull into the same parking stall where we had met Patrick. It was him! We yelled after him across the parking lot and went to talk to him. He had read the section of the Book of Mormon we had left with him and had gotten a job the very next day. It was amazing. Unfortunately, though, he kept trying to blame it on coincidence and just didn't feel like this was something he wanted to pursue right now. Even though he could clearly see that this could help him, he just didn't want to put forth the effort. That is one of the hardest parts of missionary work. When someone really needs the gospel (well, everyone does) and have seen the blessings from it in their lives, but just don't want to put forth the effort. They think it is just too hard. It is hard to see happen, but God gives people opportunities and it is their choice to accept or reject it. That doesn't make it easy though.

Well, those are the highlights (or lowlights) of the week. As usual, I cannot figure out what happened to the rest of the week, but I am sure that it was good too.

Love You!

Sister Lamb

Sister Melanie had a very special visitor at the Trail Center today and she brought a hug from Sister Lamb's mom. Thanks, Sharon!

Sister Lamb's Exchange Miracle and Cornfield Wildlife

Dear Family,

I love you!

I have noticed that when I write in my journal, I always start with the phrase “today was . . . ". I don’t know if I do the same thing with my emails, but I slightly suspect that I do.

This last week went very quickly. On Thursday we had exchanges with the Cold Spring sisters, so Sister Brown spent the day with me in Oakview. We spent a lot of the day tracting, without a whole lot of success, but we still had fun, which was good. Exchanges are always fun because you get to see the way that other missionaries teach and get a fresh view on what is going on with investigators, less-actives, or whoever you are teaching or whatever you are doing that day. Towards the end of the afternoon, we were heading down a street to a referral we had gotten that morning and stopped to  try some houses on our way. The woman who answered the door was a little short with us, saying that she was about to leave to go pick up her kids from school and did not have time to talk to us. So, we continued on and finished up what we were doing on the street. We headed back for the car and started driving to a different area for an appointment, but decided to stop and use the restroom at a gas station. While we were there, we decided to buy gas because we only had about 1/4 tank left. Then, we ran in to the Batins, members from the ward, and talked to them for a minute. I decided to wash all the windows of the car because it was looking a little dirty. We went inside, used the restroom, and were looking for a drink, when guess who shows up? The woman who we had knocked on her door. She walked right over to us, apologized for being rude, and told us to stop by any afternoon next week. It was crazy. And by crazy I mean such a miracle. First of all, that we were both at the same gas station, that we were still at the gas station when she got there and that she came over to talk to us. I would not even had recognized her if she had not said something and I surely wouldn't have said anything to her. So amazing. So that as our exchange miracle. They say that miracles always happen on exchange days.

That evening we also saw Michaela, the niece of the less-active family in our ward that we have been teaching. She is so great! Both she and her cousin, Aavyn sincerely want to do good things and be good people, but their lives right now are not headed in the best direction. I am so excited to see the changes that happen in their lives as their testimonies develop and they come to understand the Savior and what He has done for them. They are such sweet girls. We talked to them about all kinds of things, from feeling comfortable at church to goals and dreams and desires and the Plan of Salvation. It was a great lesson. It is interesting to see how different people need different things in lessons and need to be taught with different teaching styles and the Spirit is able to direct us how to be able to teach them to their needs. The lesson that we taught to Michaela and Aavyn was very different that how we would teach a lesson to other investigators and different than the other lesson we taught that night, a lesson about prophets and Joseph Smith to a family with two little kids. And it is not just age that makes the difference. Sometimes we are very bold in lessons and other times we are not, sometimes we use lots of analogies and examples, other times we use lots of scriptures. It just depends on what that person needs and what the spirit directs us to say.

Sunday was another awesome night. After working at the Trail Center in the morning, church at 1-4 and dinner with a member (yummy!), we had three appointments to go to and three hours left in the evening. However, not everything went as planned. First, we had an appointment with Tom, the son of a less-active member of the ward. Tom is not a member of the church, but we met him a couple of weeks ago and he was interested in learning from us. Unfortunately, he was not home when we got there, but his mom was home. We have never met her before and no one in the ward seems to know anything about her either. It was perfect, especially because she said that she is hardly ever home, so we were so blessed that Tom set up an appointment for that time and even though he wasn't home, we were able to meet his mom. Then, we saw Sister Sanders, another less- active that we have been working with for a while. Bip Gill, one of the YW in the ward came with us and it was perfect because Sister Sanders used to teach in the YW, so Bip was happy to see her and was able to remind her what a good influence she was on them. After that, we had another appointment with a man named Jeremy who we had met earlier in the week, but Bip also told us that if we had time, Carol, Bip's friend who we were teaching, would really like to see us. It may be bad, but I don’t thing I have ever prayed so hard that someone (Jeremy) would not be home. Turns out, he wasn't, and we were able to go see Carol. When we got to Carol's house, we invited her little sister to come in with us. Miriam was not too excited about it, but came in when Carol demanded that she come. She was skeptical of everything we said at first, but after hearing Carol talk about how much this has helped her and feeling the Spirit as we talked about baptism and the Holy Ghost, she was super interested by the end of the lesson. We left her with her own copy of the Book of Mormon and she told us that she was very excited to read it. I am excited to see what happens. Carol is set for baptism on March 16. The only thing that will stop her from making that date is if her mom prevents her, but we will keep praying for her. We are turning her over to the YSA elders tonight. I know that she can be ready by the 16th, but it is going to take some work so I hope that they are ready for it.

Something I have noticed about Nebraska is that there are a lot of animals here and very different animals that we have in Utah. The other day, we saw a group of 6 or 7 wild turkeys running around by the side of the road. I don’t think I have ever seen a wild turkey before. There are also lots of wild bunnies and squirrels as well as deer.

Well, that was about all for my week! It was a pretty good one! Can’t wait to hear from you!

Love you!

Sister Melly

Memo from President Kunz: New Mission President to the Cornfield!

To the greatest missionaries in the Church!

I am excited to announce that in the Church News this weekend the new NOM mission president and his wife will be announced. The new mission president will be Michael D. Weston and his wife, Zoe Anne Weston. The article of their call is copied below.

They are an incredible couple with great Church experience. I know that they will come to love each of you as Sister Kunz and I do. I promise to do everything to help prepare them and you so the transition will be smooth. I will send out more information as it becomes available. I know that the Westons have been called of God to serve in NOM, they will be a blessing to each of you and to all the people in the mission.

I love you!

Pres. Kunz

Zoe Anne H. and Michael D. Weston

Michael Dunford Weston, 55, and Zoe Anne Heilesen Weston, ten children, North Logan 9th Ward, North Logan Utah Stake. Brother Weston serves as a ward mission leader and is a former stake president, bishop, high councilor, Cub Scout leader and missionary in the Canada Halifax Mission. Self-employed farmer and businessman. Born in Logan, Utah, to Mark Dunford and Lois Florence Carver Weston.
Sister Weston serves as a counselor in a Primary presidency and is a former Young Women president, Primary president, counselor in Primary, Young Women and Relief Society presidencies, Cub Scout leader, Young Women adviser and Primary teacher. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Phil J and Anne Donna Heilesen.