Jocelyn 11/4/13

Thank you for your email dad, that was a good one. 

I went to Target shopping  because I need a thicker, fuzzy blanket on my bed, it's getting really cold at night here. Plus, my alarm broke. Hahah it was terrible! It was about three in the morning, I'm using this old elders fitted bed sheet that does not go all the way around my bed and so I'm basically sleeping on bare mattress (which is disgusting because elders used to sleep on it) and I'm tangled in my mess of sheets and my clock is beeping every two minutes. I was so tiredly angry and I kept hitting it and it did not work so finally I got up and put it in another room in my desk drawer. The next morning I looked at it and it's completely broken. So today I had to get a new alarm, a fitted bed sheet that actually fits my bed, a blanket and my deoderant broke last week so I had to get that. I needed a lot of things today! 

 

Anyway, this week was good. It went by pretty dang fast! Except for yesterday hahaha. Our mission president wants us to use institute and get investigators going there so that's been kind of a cool experience. We only go if we have open time, but we went last Tuesday and our investigator, Brannon, came and I think he really benefitted from it. The teacher is a sealer in the temple so he talked a lot about the temple because we were reading from Deuteronomy and he talked about how the veil is thin there, etc. And that made Brannon realize that God has always been here. We are the ones that make the "veil" thicker and God is always ready to give us revelation, so long as we have a sufficient amount of faith to recieve it. It has been so cool to see his mind open and to realize that God is over all of us and He cares about us, we just need to have the faith and use it. Brannon also writes his prayers down, and as he recieves revaltion he writes that down. His writings are so poetic and really cool to see, he basically knows he needs to get baptized. However, he's scared to commit. There's one side of him that knows if he chooses God's way he'll be happier in the long run. On the other hand, he's tempted by quick vices that he's slowing himself down from being baptized. It's both really cool and really frustrating. It's a struggle mankind has dealt with since the fall... 

Will got the priesthood yesterday and I haven't seen him so genuinely happy before. When he was baptized he was happy, but he was crying, but yesterday he just radiated happiness. He's been an awesome investigator. Honestly, the coolest part about him is that we got to see him from lesson one all the way down to baptism. I don't know if I'll ever get that chance again. Not too many people are that faithful from the beginning.

On Halloween we had to be home by 6, that was nice though because we could just chill out and relax. I just flipped through Ensign magazines and read Jesus the Christ. That book is fantastic, every member of the church needs to read that book. It details everything so perfectly and puts it all in one place.

We did exchanges on Wednesday and I was in an area called Woodstock and it's a really pretty area. Actually I'm in Woodstock right now because that's where the library is hahah. But Sister Gibb is a sister training leader and I was with her for the day and she's from Washington, but get this... She is related to Gibb's in Canada! She doesn't know any of them, but her grandpa is from there and he told her any Gibb from Canada would most likely be related to her. We tracted forever in her area because all her appointments fell through. That was a neat experience, it actually went by faster than you'd think. The great part is that she's training for a half marathon so we got up earlier and ran four miles. Oh my goodness. That was pure heaven. After not running on real pavement for the past two months made that run so amazing! I was first off proud of myself for running four miles, I've only run on a treadmill a couple times since I've been out here plus I was barely even sore, a little tight, but not banged up.

We did the food pantry again on Saturday, that is definitely one of my favorite things to do. We also had a chance to go to the park and do service there, and it happened to be on the most perfect day. I actually had the chance to talk to this really nice less active lady. It was completely by design. She was there with her husband and step son and their dog and she called us "sisters" when her dog came up to my companions, and I knew she had to be a member. Turned out she was a less active and we talked for a bit.  I didn't really talk about church with her, except for when she complimented my outfit and I talked about the age change (which she didn't know about).  Which then let my talk about my decision for coming out here. So that was cool, with people like that I just want to be good influence and not a pushy person.

Anyway, it's been really great. I love it out here. I'm scared/ excited for transfers. Which sadly are the day before Thanksgiving. I'm conflicted with whether or not I would want to stay in Big Shanty, or move to a family ward. Not that it's my decision, I'm down for both, but I'm just curious about what I'm feeling. I love the fall here. Mom would love the fall here, it feels so cold and crisp.

Love you all tons and tons!

Jocelyn