Hi Friends and Family,
How are you all? Are you staying warm? Did you enjoy the super bowl? I would assume that the Sea Hawks tromped all over the Broncos. Yay! Sea Hawks... (Sorry Bronco's fans ) We weren't allowed to watch the super bowl, but the last I heard it was 49-0 Sea Hawks.
But we don't care about the super bowl (unless there were any funny commercials you wanted to tell me about). We care about the adventures of Sister Bryans as she serves in the chilly state of Wyoming. Woooohooo!
Life has been great, grand, fantastic, wonderful and awesome as usual!
Transfers are this week, so we are losing both of our Elders to some new ones. We're excited. One will be our District Leader, so we will actually be able to talk with them on a regular basis now about what's going on and what they are doing, so we're not doing the same work unknowingly.
¿Qué más ?
I didn't get transferred just in case you were wondering. I am still in good ol', windy, cold, Cheyenne, WY working hard and learning the ways of a missionary with my companion Sister Zvirzdin. It's fun!
We are learning a lot from each other and a lot about each other.
This week has been cool though. Because of the weather last Monday, we didn't go to the church to have Zone Pday games. Sister Z and I instead played Bonkers and cooked and played on Sister Groesbeck's piano. It was fun. Then we had dinner with one of my favorite families in the ward: The Baca's This is the family with the three teenage sons. I love observing how they react as a family. The boys are really quite which is a little new for me, and the youngest is truly my favorite. But I think I've told you all about them before. We had chili and corn bread. I LOVE CORN BREAD! Just sayin'. After our dinner/FHE visit with them, we visited the older Turner family. They are super cute. We met Brother Turner for the first time. He is a trucker for one of the mines. He usually carries sand for them. Anyways, they are a fun couple.
Tuesday was another fun day. I found some new favorite scriptures while I studied the topic of happiness and joy. Psalms 118:24 and for all you parents out there 3 John 1:4. I think I am going to make Psalms 118:24 into a nifty cover for my planner.
We did some shovel,service tracting on Tuesday too. That was fun. We just went from door to door asking if we could do service by shoveling their driveway. What was really great is most of the houses we shoveled, no one answered so we just shoveled anyways like secret service gnomes. (I wish they had an emoticon of a gnome.) Also, I really wish I had a missionary gnome that I could travel around with and take pictures of. It might make taking pictures easier. Hmmmmm.....
We had a super fabulous Lesson with Jesus Archuleta that night too. Oh My Goodness! He and his family are too wonderful for words to describe. We talked about the plan of salvation which was awesome. He had had that lesson before and was really confused so his brother in law, Brother Howe, shared the plan of salvation with him again using one of the visual aids from his mission. (I really need to make one!) So we kind of just reviewed what he knew and spent a lot of time talking about the atonement/repentance and the three degrees of glory. (The really ironic part to that is that I was like: "How can we teach that without it being confusing?" when we were doing comp study that morning and there it was ready to teach me as I helped teach someone else.)
We also ate dinner with the Amayas. I LOVE THEM! She is a really good cook, and they have an awesome family. It was really fun to get to know them better. (We are going over to their house tonight for FHE. I'm excited!) I'm also going to try and get the recipe for the dish that she cooked for us cause I really liked it.
On Wednesday, we did some service at the VA hospital. That was fun. I met a man named Jerry. He served in the Army and National Guard. He used to fly a helicopter and now builds model airplanes for fun. Jerry also really likes old western movies (John Wayne) and tv shows (Bonanza and Gunsmoke). That was cool. He said that Hatari! was a good one and that he saw it in theaters when he was younger. He was really cool, and I really liked talking with him.
Then we visited with a couple of others sisters in the ward. They are always fun to visit. We had dinner with the Stewart Family which was taco salad like they make at Cafe Rio. It was good. I enjoyed it! After dinner, we went to the mutual activity which was the dessert round of Chopped. YUM! (not going to lie though, their creations weren't necessarily the yummiest or most creative) They should do chopped with the youth in Eau Claire. Afterwards, we briefly visited with Sister More to see how she was doing.
Thursday was a fun day. We were fed lunch by the Hayes at the Twin Dragons Chinese restaurant. Have I told you that I really love Chinese food!!! It took us forever to find the place though. Ooops! We felt bad for being late. It was funny. The fortune in my fortune cookie said, "The love of your life will appear in front of you unexpectedly!" I was like, "Ummm! I'm a missionary. " We all laughed. Then we volunteered at the Goodwill. I felt at home putting stock out on the floor. I loved it. I found all kinds of really cool things too. Thank goodness I'm a missionary and have no room for collectables.
Friday was an adventure. I have solidified my knowledge that spelling grateful <--- this way is the correct way. I even looked in a dictionary. YAY! (Sorry Granny.) We had dinner with the Fardella family Friday night. Chili with cinnamon rolls again. Yum! Ps. Have you guys tried it yet? "Is good." - name that movie.
I am learning that I am getting buff. I can do 20 manly pushups. WHAT?!? Yeah I know it's not as much as Nathan can do I'm sure, but I'm working at it.
So also on Friday, I came to an epiphany: DING DING DING!!!! I really enjoy cooking. It is a stress reliever, and I like the creativity, emotion and passion I can put into it. I also really like exploring new foods and seeing what I can mix together. Last night, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about stuffed red peppers: mushrooms, onion, celery, stuffing, a little bit of cheese. I'm making myself hungry. So anything you can send me that would encourage me to be able to cook that would be simple and easy (like less than 30mins) would be great.
On Saturday, we finally entered the month of February which was awesome. We visited with the Lind family. They are another of my favorite families in the ward. (I'm pretty sure all the families are my favorite families they just all have different reasons why I call them my favorites.) The Lind family is my new favorite because Brother Lind is a linguist like non other. He speaks Spanish, French, a little Chinese, a little Hebrew, a little Russian and he is teaching himself Finnish. And, I'm sure he knows more than I know about and probably has greater levels of expertise than I can share. But in my brain while I was sitting with them, I was like, " *Mind overloaded with awesomeness*" I about died in pure delight of this new found favorite man ever. I want to be like him someday with my language skills. Anyways, The Lind family were the highlight of my Saturday.
And then yesterday was Sunday; it was Fast Sunday, and it was Super Bowl Sunday. That was an adventure like none else. We came home early and did some extra studies and then watched the Testament in Sign Language because we didn't want to a) be a bother to super bowl fans and b) come across a drunk driver.
Speaking of driving - one of the Elders in another ward got hit by a car while he was biking. Our stake presidents wife witnessed it. I laughed. I don't think he was hurt any because he immediately got back up, but it was still funny to hear about. (I also think I know his companion from the MTC.)
But yeah, Sunday was awesome. Church was really good. We learned a lot!
So this week I have started studying in depth the lessons found in Preach My Gospel chapter 3. HOLY CROW! I am learning so much! I am still trying to finish my in depth study of the doctrine, The Gospel Blesses Families from lesson 1. There is just so much to learn and study. Anyways, something cool I learned while I was studying God is a Loving Heavenly Father, I was looking through my patriarchal blessing to see how many times Heavenly Father testifies of that fact specifically to me. It was so cool. I counted 11 times. So I wanted to share that with you. I invite all who read this email to look at their patriarchal blessings and read about how many times it talks about God being our loving Heavenly Father. It was a really cool study, and I know it will change your perspective on Heavenly Father. I know it changed mine.
I know he lives and I know he loves me. I know he created me to be a unique individual with all of my odd quirks. They will help me to become more like him. I also know that he will listen to me and bless me with the things I stand in need of.
I am grateful to be a missionary!
BE BOLD BE BRAVE!! Hold to the Rod. You are Unique! and Share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone.
"All people whether rich or poor, old or young, big or small deserve the opportunity to hear the message of the restored gospel. We as missionaries [and members alike] provide the opportunity. They - with their agency - chose to accept or reject it." (Journal of Sister Bryans, 1-28-14)
I love you all!
Love,
Sister Bryans
No comments:
Post a Comment