Monday, November 17, 2014

November 17, 2014 - Single-Digit Weather

 You guys, it snowed!  O_O  
Look at how much it snowed!!!!



... Sister Stevens had to comfort me.  She was a little more excited about the snow than I was.

Okay, really, it didn't snow THAT much.  Sister Lawrence, who we live with, had us kneel in the snow to make it look deeper.  But it did snow enough for the kids to have a Snow Day.  We weren't so lucky.  We still had work to do.

But that's the middle of the week.  Let's start at the beginning, yeah?

I love the Chestnuts.  I seriously do.  They are so awesome!  :D  The lesson went good on Monday-- not too many crazy questions this time around.  But the family has been trying to pray and read their scriptures, which is exciting. :)  I'm so happy we get to teach them. :)

And then Tuesday came, with drool, snot, and a headache.

Needless to say, I spent the day inside that day.  I tried to keep myself occupied as best as I could.  So, while Sister Stevens set up different splits throughout the day so that some work could be done, I finished up the last 15 chapters of Isaiah, took a nap (or two), finished a few word searches, and tried out a Chicken noodle soup using Top Ramen Noodles (which, by the ways, was really good).  But yeah, I don't like being sick.  Especially sick enough that you can't go out and work.  Every time Sister Stevens came home I would bombard her with questions of what happened while she was out.  Needless to say, I don't make a very good sick person.  I'm not good with sitting down and resting because I have to.

But it payed off, because I was able to go to Wednesday night's activity. :D

So, if y'all remember, last week I was talking about how we were going to be in charge of a Mutual night, and it will be all missionary themed, with companionship's and districts and everything.

Well, it went AMAZING!!!!!!  Everyone really seemed to enjoy it, we even had some of the older kids say that it was the best activity they have had in a long time!  It was a great opportunity I think for them all to see that while it's important to prepare for a mission, that the best way to prepare is to be a missionary now.  And by the end of the night, there was a really strong spirit as Sister Stevens and I bore our testimony about our missions, and how it's changed our outlook for our lives when we go home.  It was really amazing, and I'm really grateful that I got to be a part of that. :)

Thursday.  Thursday morning, I was in my own little bubble, preparing for the day, when Sister Stevens ran upstairs, grabbed my camera, and threw open the curtains.

This is what she was taking a picture of:

It had snowed.  All night.

Of course, my lovely companion, who is from Texas, was extra bubbly and excited.  And then there's me: "Great.  It's cold, and there's gonna be ice."  But it's fun to see her all excited about the snow.  At least one of us is, yeah? :)

Anyways, that night we were able to visit a less-active member that we had been trying to visit forever, named Tony Schwab.  He had joined the church when he was first in the Military, but has gone inactive since, but really wants to come back, and he wants his son to take the lessons eventually!  We mostly just talked to him about cars, since he's like, super knowledgeable about them, shared a thought, and left, but he wants us to come back!  His son, Zach, is a pretty nice kid too.  He's 12, and was mostly in his room doing homework, but he came to church on Sunday, even though Tony couldn't come because he had Military Duty this weekend.  Awesome, yeah?

Anyways, on Friday, we got a call from Sister Ritter, a lady we've been helping in the ward, asking us if we could round up a couple of other missionaries to help her shovel both her and heir neighbors driveway, and take down her tramp.  So we got our District Leaders and the other Sisters in our district to come join us.

Check me out, on a tramp, sweeping off snow:


yeah, I swept off like, 2 feet of snow off that tramp.  It was pretty legit.

So, I can now check these three things off my [non-existent] bucket list: put up a trampoline (we had put this tramp up back in September for her to sell), sweep snow off the trampoline, and then take down the trampoline in the snow.  I feel pretty accomplished. :D

After that, we all went to the Avalon church building to practice a song for Zone Conference coming up this week.  It's a super pretty rendition of "All Creatures of Our God and King".  I really love this song!  It's so great. :)  I'm really excited to sing it on Thursday!  We have six of us singing (I've been placed as a Soprano this time.), and it's sounding really good.  Like I said, I'm excited. :)

And to round out our night, we had a potluck with the 3rd ward.  People kind of just came in and out as they pleased, as it was meant to be a missionary tool for the ward.  We didn't really meet anybody new, but it was a pretty good turnout for doing this for the first time.  Brother Grigg, our Ward Mission Leader, hopes to continue this so that people can invite their friends and get them acquainted with the church.

Saturday was surprisingly busy.

We first saw the Taylor's and we were thinking that it would be a fairly short lesson, since it was just about the 10 commandments.  

But, of course, it wouldn't be that way.  This is Brother Taylor we're talking about.  The guy that asks fantastic questions.  So, what would have been a 10 minute lesson turned into an hour discussion about the difference between the Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law, and how both are needed in our lives, we cannot live by one or the other.  Again, incredible.  I'm so grateful for the time we get to spend with the Taylor's. We're really hoping that Brother Taylor will come to church next Sunday since it's the Primary Program and his wife is the Primary President.  And if he did, that would be an awesomely huge step. :D

We then had a lesson with David and Sister Pitt about Temples and Family History, and it went well.  Nothing too exciting to report with that lesson.

We then had dinner and a lesson with the Martin girls.  That was.... interesting.  The lesson was about Eternal marriage, and they had to ask all the hard questions, like what happens when parents get divorced.  Which we did not prepare for.  And we should have known that we would need to prepare for those ones.  But we were able to (somewhat) answer their questions.  

So, we closed out our lesson, and just in time, because we got a call from Sister Wasden and Branham right after, asking us to help out one of their investigators who needed to move her stuff into a moving truck.  So, for a last time, members of the zone gathered to help Kristie out.  And oh my goodness, it was cold outside!  Like, every time you walked outside your snot would freeze kind of cold.  It was disgusting.  But we were able to pack away a lot of her stuff and get it into the truck, so I'm glad that we were able to help her out that one last time.

And last of all, Sunday.  

So, a few Sundays ago, we were walking, and we saw a moving truck pull up to a house.  We thought we would offer our services.  They turned it down, because they had professional movers coming, but thanked us and took our number.

Well, their fantastic neighbors invited them to church to attend a baby blessing!  Her name is Jennifer, and she has a 5 year old daughter named Natalie.  She's divorced, and was looking for a good place to raise her daughter, and Boise is ranked #1 for raising kids.  Anyways, she was impressed with the meeting, and they might come back for the primary program next week.  Super exciting. :)

Anyways, that's it, I think.  I love y'all!  Keep the faith!

Love,

Sister Empey

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