From Mom 6/7
Dear Family,
Today is P-day and today that stands for POOPED!! We are both worn out and happy to have a day with not so many places to go and people to see. I just can’t get over how tiring it is just talking to people. We’ve had a busy week with meeting with people and seminary, institute and English classes. This having to work our brains so hard every day is every bit as much work as physical work is. In fact, I’ve wished many times I had a lawn to mow or the garden to work in. That’s always good therapy when I feel brain dead as I do now.
We’re glad to know you are safely home from your trip. I just wouldn’t be a mother if I didn’t worry when my kids were out on the road. We prayed every day for your safety and are glad to hear you had a good time together. I hope we can make these get togethers an annual event---if not an annual event, as often as we can and as many as can come. With grandsons becoming of age to serve missions, there will always be some missing but we feel it is so important to be together and keep the family ties strong. Dad and I are planning on “making the rounds” as often as we can to stay in close touch with all of you. We look forward to that.
Yesterday we had our interviews with President Rakow. At the risk of sounding boastful, I’ll tell you what he said. He told us how much he appreciated the work we are doing and that we are doing exactly what senior missionaries are supposed to do. Then he added that he wished some of the other couples would follow our example. He said that we are always top in our zone with the number of discussions given. He complimented us on the help we give the young Elders and the example we are setting for them. We were happily and humbly surprised by all of this but very thankful. We told him we often wonder if we’re doing what we should be doing because, unlike the young missionaries, we don’t have a set schedule. The couples working in the Outreach Centers pretty much do but proselyting couples are left to themselves to figure out how to work with the people we work with. He told us to give ourselves some time to relax and have some fun and to feel free to do whatever we needed to do to help these people. Another thing he told us is that he has no plans to move us right away. We may just be here the rest of our mission but he isn’t ready right now to promise us that. It would be okay with me to just stay here. The thoughts of having to pack all this stuff up more than one time gives me a big headache! Anyway, we’re not patting ourselves on the back but we are thankful to know that we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Some days it’s hard to see that we are accomplishing much but I guess progress comes in small steps.
I think I have told you about Michelle Adair. She is a friend of the bishop’s wife and was warned by everyone not to talk to the Mormons or let them in her house. She heard all kinds of typical anti-Mormon talk. But she knew nearly all the Army wives through the aerobics class she attends and teaches and was always impressed by their friendliness and kindness and how much the cared for their families. She decided she wanted to find out for herself about these Mormons so when Sister Moffitt invited her to church, she came. We met with her nearly three months ago at her home and it was somewhat of a disaster because all of her kids were home and a neighbor came with a couple of other kids. She thought it would be better to meet at Bishop Moffitts home while the kids were in school. Between sick kids and hubby coming home on leave from Iraq, it has taken a long time to get together but we finally met at the Bishops home last week. She is one hyper lady!!! Her middle child is on medication for ADD and I think he must have inherited it from his mother. Dad was literally flying through the lesson. When she got up to answer her phone one time, I said to him, “You’re going way too fast and giving way too much information for the first time.” He said he didn’t dare slow down because every time he did to ask her for comment or to answer a question, she would go WAY off the subject and start talking about something else. But with the bishop and his wife’s help, we did make it through the discussion and she accepted a Book of Mormon and a challenge to read it and pray about it and other things we had talked about. She’s not happy with her church and is looking. If we can just get her to slow down enough to take the time to listen and to read and study and pray, I think she will be a good prospect for a new member. That was one meeting we came home from literally drained! We meet all kinds of people out here.
Friday morning we followed up on a referral from the mission office. This was a referral sent from the Washington DC visitor’s center. It was for a young woman who was attending the university here. When we went to her apartment and told her who we were and why we were calling on her, she said she was sure her best friend had referred her to us because she (the friend) had told her she was going to have some missionaries call on her while she was in Germany. This girl is from Syracuse, N Y. She has a degree in philosophy and is doing a study abroad in history. She is really a sharp girl. She has been to church with this friend a few times but right now is very upset and even angry that she can’t attend the wedding of this friend because it is going to be in the temple. She told us in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with a church that discriminates against people like she feels ours does. We tried to tell her what we could about the temple but nothing would change her mind. She started crying and is so hurt that she can’t go to this wedding. She did accept a Book of Mormon when we offered it to her and said it would be okay if we visited her a couple of times while she was still there. She goes back home in August. I don’t think she wants to hear anything about the church but she’s pretty lonely so maybe if we just take her some goodies and visit her she won’t feel like we are so awful. I felt terrible about what she said about the church and especially about the temple and started crying when we got in the car. I love our church and I love the temple and everything it represents and to have both of these criticized because of not knowing and understanding what they mean to us is hard to take. I’ve got to have tougher skin.
I have a feeling that it’s going to be somewhat of a challenge to get together with people during these summer months. Everyone must take big vacations during the summer. People are going all over the place----Greece, Italy, Spain, England, and Ireland. We’ll do what we can do with who we can find. Some of our less-active need constant pushes. Some it’s as simple as a call on Sunday morning to be sure they are awake. Others it’s starting from scratch and helping them remember what they were once taught. But we are always happy when they want us to come back and teach them more. So life goes on for us-----one day at a time and one small step at a time.
In Germany, June is pronounced “you-knee” and July is “you-lee”. I think all the others are pronounced like we pronounce them but a spelled a little different. Whenever a word ends in “d”, it’s pronounced “t”. “W” is pronounced “V” so if you said “word” in German, you would pronounce it “vort”. Can you see why this more OLD brain of mine has a hard time grasping this language? I can’t tell you how happy I was when President Rakow said to me again, “Forget about the language.” It was music to my ears.
We love you all. Thank you for your prayers and your letters. We need plenty of both! We’ll be looking forward to hearing more stories from the trip. Being chased down the beach by a sea-lion is a once in a life time experience. I agree with Chris that you should send that video in. It will be a classic!
Zach, know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Starting a mission is just plain hard but I promise it gets better. It’s no vacation but it is very rewarding work.
Much love to all of you.
Mom
Today is P-day and today that stands for POOPED!! We are both worn out and happy to have a day with not so many places to go and people to see. I just can’t get over how tiring it is just talking to people. We’ve had a busy week with meeting with people and seminary, institute and English classes. This having to work our brains so hard every day is every bit as much work as physical work is. In fact, I’ve wished many times I had a lawn to mow or the garden to work in. That’s always good therapy when I feel brain dead as I do now.
We’re glad to know you are safely home from your trip. I just wouldn’t be a mother if I didn’t worry when my kids were out on the road. We prayed every day for your safety and are glad to hear you had a good time together. I hope we can make these get togethers an annual event---if not an annual event, as often as we can and as many as can come. With grandsons becoming of age to serve missions, there will always be some missing but we feel it is so important to be together and keep the family ties strong. Dad and I are planning on “making the rounds” as often as we can to stay in close touch with all of you. We look forward to that.
Yesterday we had our interviews with President Rakow. At the risk of sounding boastful, I’ll tell you what he said. He told us how much he appreciated the work we are doing and that we are doing exactly what senior missionaries are supposed to do. Then he added that he wished some of the other couples would follow our example. He said that we are always top in our zone with the number of discussions given. He complimented us on the help we give the young Elders and the example we are setting for them. We were happily and humbly surprised by all of this but very thankful. We told him we often wonder if we’re doing what we should be doing because, unlike the young missionaries, we don’t have a set schedule. The couples working in the Outreach Centers pretty much do but proselyting couples are left to themselves to figure out how to work with the people we work with. He told us to give ourselves some time to relax and have some fun and to feel free to do whatever we needed to do to help these people. Another thing he told us is that he has no plans to move us right away. We may just be here the rest of our mission but he isn’t ready right now to promise us that. It would be okay with me to just stay here. The thoughts of having to pack all this stuff up more than one time gives me a big headache! Anyway, we’re not patting ourselves on the back but we are thankful to know that we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Some days it’s hard to see that we are accomplishing much but I guess progress comes in small steps.
I think I have told you about Michelle Adair. She is a friend of the bishop’s wife and was warned by everyone not to talk to the Mormons or let them in her house. She heard all kinds of typical anti-Mormon talk. But she knew nearly all the Army wives through the aerobics class she attends and teaches and was always impressed by their friendliness and kindness and how much the cared for their families. She decided she wanted to find out for herself about these Mormons so when Sister Moffitt invited her to church, she came. We met with her nearly three months ago at her home and it was somewhat of a disaster because all of her kids were home and a neighbor came with a couple of other kids. She thought it would be better to meet at Bishop Moffitts home while the kids were in school. Between sick kids and hubby coming home on leave from Iraq, it has taken a long time to get together but we finally met at the Bishops home last week. She is one hyper lady!!! Her middle child is on medication for ADD and I think he must have inherited it from his mother. Dad was literally flying through the lesson. When she got up to answer her phone one time, I said to him, “You’re going way too fast and giving way too much information for the first time.” He said he didn’t dare slow down because every time he did to ask her for comment or to answer a question, she would go WAY off the subject and start talking about something else. But with the bishop and his wife’s help, we did make it through the discussion and she accepted a Book of Mormon and a challenge to read it and pray about it and other things we had talked about. She’s not happy with her church and is looking. If we can just get her to slow down enough to take the time to listen and to read and study and pray, I think she will be a good prospect for a new member. That was one meeting we came home from literally drained! We meet all kinds of people out here.
Friday morning we followed up on a referral from the mission office. This was a referral sent from the Washington DC visitor’s center. It was for a young woman who was attending the university here. When we went to her apartment and told her who we were and why we were calling on her, she said she was sure her best friend had referred her to us because she (the friend) had told her she was going to have some missionaries call on her while she was in Germany. This girl is from Syracuse, N Y. She has a degree in philosophy and is doing a study abroad in history. She is really a sharp girl. She has been to church with this friend a few times but right now is very upset and even angry that she can’t attend the wedding of this friend because it is going to be in the temple. She told us in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with a church that discriminates against people like she feels ours does. We tried to tell her what we could about the temple but nothing would change her mind. She started crying and is so hurt that she can’t go to this wedding. She did accept a Book of Mormon when we offered it to her and said it would be okay if we visited her a couple of times while she was still there. She goes back home in August. I don’t think she wants to hear anything about the church but she’s pretty lonely so maybe if we just take her some goodies and visit her she won’t feel like we are so awful. I felt terrible about what she said about the church and especially about the temple and started crying when we got in the car. I love our church and I love the temple and everything it represents and to have both of these criticized because of not knowing and understanding what they mean to us is hard to take. I’ve got to have tougher skin.
I have a feeling that it’s going to be somewhat of a challenge to get together with people during these summer months. Everyone must take big vacations during the summer. People are going all over the place----Greece, Italy, Spain, England, and Ireland. We’ll do what we can do with who we can find. Some of our less-active need constant pushes. Some it’s as simple as a call on Sunday morning to be sure they are awake. Others it’s starting from scratch and helping them remember what they were once taught. But we are always happy when they want us to come back and teach them more. So life goes on for us-----one day at a time and one small step at a time.
In Germany, June is pronounced “you-knee” and July is “you-lee”. I think all the others are pronounced like we pronounce them but a spelled a little different. Whenever a word ends in “d”, it’s pronounced “t”. “W” is pronounced “V” so if you said “word” in German, you would pronounce it “vort”. Can you see why this more OLD brain of mine has a hard time grasping this language? I can’t tell you how happy I was when President Rakow said to me again, “Forget about the language.” It was music to my ears.
We love you all. Thank you for your prayers and your letters. We need plenty of both! We’ll be looking forward to hearing more stories from the trip. Being chased down the beach by a sea-lion is a once in a life time experience. I agree with Chris that you should send that video in. It will be a classic!
Zach, know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Starting a mission is just plain hard but I promise it gets better. It’s no vacation but it is very rewarding work.
Much love to all of you.
Mom
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