It has been awhile since I have updated Linnea's blog. The main reason for this is that I was waiting for her to send me her memory card so that I could add some new photos. It is always way more fun to look at a blog with pictures.
So here we go. I will add photos and excerpts from her last few letters. Enjoy!
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| Linnea with one of the families taking the lessons visiting the Visitor's Center on Temple Square. |
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| Linnea experiencing on of her first real snow days!
NOVEMBER 28, 2011
This week was a bit crazy. Our Thanksgiving did not turn our quite as we had hoped but it was good nonetheless. Julia and Marvin ended up going to California at the last minute so we did not get to have dinner with them. I'm glad that they had the opportunity to go...they really wanted to but Marvin did not think he was going to get off work. Anyway, the lady we live with invited us to have Thanksgiving with her and we had a couple other offers but we did not really feel like going anywhere. We ended up eating a little with the lady we live with and then did some stuff around our apartment. We did a deep clean of our apartment and wrote tons of letters...something we don't get to do on our P-days because they are so crazy. After 6 we did a mad dash to get referrals. We did this competition between zones to see which zone could get the most referrals. You could only visit less actives, recent converts, or investigators and you could only stay 10 minutes. For every person you visited you got 1 point and for every completed referral you got 3 points. My companion and I got 65 points by ourselves. The winning zone got to have breakfast with President and Sister Winn. Our zone won!
This coming week we have 5 baptisms scheduled so we will be busy, busy busy. We only have 4 weeks to reach our goal (mission goal is 3,000 baptisms for the year) . we have found many solid investigators so we are hoping to take out a big chunk of our goal. I can't wait until our Christmas devotional with Elder Oaks.
Christmas is around the corner which is crazy to me...and let me tell you it feels like what Christmas should feel like...weather wise at least. It has been SO cold. Wow. At night sometimes its like in the high 20s. It's snowed a little bit...but hardly at all. The annoying thing about the snow on the biikes is that now matter which way you are riding the snow is somehow always blowing right in your face haha. Luckily we've been getting a few more rides from members so that cuts down on the riding and the freezing. Last night sis.Picuasi's bike got a mysterious flat tire so we havent been biking today and who knows if it will get fixed by tonight. One of the Elder's bikes got stolen so they've been bumming rides off people too haha. Lots of people have their Christmas lights up so it's seeming a little more like Christmas. It's hard though because in this area LOTS of people are really struggling financially and lots of these people cant give their kids the Christmas they want. They can't get a Christmas tree or gifts because they dont have jobs...they are selling their stuff just to pay the rent. Its crazy because we see so many families that live in these tiny apartments with kids sleeping on the floor and they are offereing us food and drinks etc. We are always trying to say no but they won't back down until we accept. These members of the church are so humble and so grateful for the service we are doing and will give their last crumb of bread to us just so that we can continue to teach. It has really made me grateful for all that I've had and still do have. And especially now that the members know us so well they are always giving us stuff or telling us that their house is our house and if we need anything just let them know. They are the best. I'm so lucky to be serving here and to have the chance to get to know people like this...who's testimonies are so strong.
Here are some highlights from the week: We found out last Wednesday that we would be getting 2 visa-waiters joining us. We get a lot of visa-waiters here in this mission and tomorrow we will be picking up our 2. I guess there is a bunch and a lot of companionships are getting 2 which is pretty rare. I'm not sure where 2 more girls are going to fit in our little apartment but we will make it work. With 2 more sisters we will able to do split pretty much all day...I guess the Lord knows I need to learn Spanish quicker because I will be going out with one of the visa-waiters who is fresh out of the MTC and probably doesn't know too much Spanish. Also they might not speak Spanish...some of the visa-waiters are going to Brazil. That will be interesting. I'll let you know how it goes next week .
This week was a rebuilding week here in Rose Park. We pretty much baptized our entire teaching pool so we were left with ZERO investigators. We were pretty down a couple days because we weren't finding ANYONE and we know that we need to find many people to reach the 3000 baptisms. After many days of hard work we found a couple pretty solid people and received a few referrals...we even put some of these people on date for baptism. This just goes to show that through hardwork and obedience the Lord will provide.
Also this Sunday the YW had a Personal Progress night. There is a girl in the ward who is physically and mentally handicapped. She doesn't walk or speak and is in a wheelchair. A couple girls were assigned a different value from the Personal Progress program to complete. Each had to do their own project but instead of doing it for themselves they did it for this girl who is unable to do it herself. It was so neat...each girl got up and told what her project was and how it helped build her testimony then presented this girl with the cooresponding ribbon and finally the medallion. These YW in North Star are so awesome and have such strong testimonies. I love them.
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