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Monday, December 30, 2013

Whack-a-Mole - Letter 12/30/2013

HEEELLLEEEEEWWWWWW!!!! <-- To be said like Mrs. Doubtfire.

Christmas was so good. We had lunch AND dinner at a member's house on Christmas Eve (two separate families though), and then we went caroling. SO MUCH FUN. We went with the two other sisters and the four Elders from our district.

As you all know, we were at the Tiemans for Christmas. Their son-in-law, Brother DeLeon, is the ward mission leader. After I got off the phone with you guys, they let us chill out and do pretty much whatever. They were playing Bananagrams so I joined in, and after we got sick of that we all played apples to apples. I felt right at home; Bananagrams and Apples to Apples Christmas day? Don't mind if I do.
That night we ended up teaching a lesson about the restoration to our neighbor upstairs. She had come in the door the previous day with a big printer so we carried it upstairs and offered to help her set it up the next day. She then said the Elders who had lived there before gave her a DVD of the Restoration but she didn't know how to work her DVD player. We set it up for her, taught her the first chunk of the Restoration, and then watched the DVD with her. The spirit was really strong! We made an appointment to come back and teach her again but we got a note from her Friday saying that she was absolutely not interested in learning more. That was kind of a bummer deal but we still love her!
Friday we had a big trainer/trainee meeting in Cleveland with everyone who came in this last transfer. So what I'm saying is, I got to see all my sisters from my MTC zone!! INCLUDING SISTER O'BANION! Gosh I just love her, she's so great.
This meeting was so good. I can't get over how dang inspired President Vellinga is, like I can't even handle it. He is great. One thing that he said to us, jaw clenched, pointing at us (not in an upset way but in a mockingly upset way...) "DON'T. BE. A LAZY. MISSIONARY." Me and Sister Beaudoin have tried really hard to make it so, even down to putting our shirts right side out in the laundry hamper. Everything President Vellinga says just makes me want to try so much harder to be a better missionary, which I guess is probably why he is the Mission President.
We went out tracting for like 45 minutes when we got back and we found some real gems! There was one guy who we told where we meet, asked if he wanted to meet with us more, and left a Book of Mormon with and he was like "yeah, we're new to the area so we're looking for a church to go to. We'll come sometime!" He didn't come. But still, exciting.
We went tracting again the next day and met soo many nice people! There was a guy we met named Ron and we're really excited about him too. He seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon and coming to church.  That night we went and met some of the less-active families in our ward. They were all SO nice. I'm excited to work with them! THEN we taught a lesson to Brother Clapper. He is so sweet. Poor guy has been inactive pretty much his whole life, and missionaries have been working with him for months to get him to quit smoking. He wants sooo badly to get the priesthood and be able to go through the temple, but he needs to quit smoking and come to church!! So we talked about things we can do to help him be more motivated, and he said if we called in the morning before church to make sure he was up that would help. Five minutes before we were going to call him, he calls US and says "Okay Sisters, I'm up, I'll see you at church!" We get to church and he walks in with a PURPLE SUIT that had a corduroy suit jacket with it and this huge smile on his face. Best BEST person to see coming in those doors!! We want to see him get the priesthood before Sister Beaudoin finishes training me. Prayers and faith will do it!!

Last night, we finished tracting and came home for dinner. We looked at our plans and realized that we had made plans to stop by some potential investigators in Vermilion, but visit a sister from the ward at 8:00 in Amherst. Amherst and Vermilion are like 20 minutes away from each other and we're trying not to use a ton of miles... So we're like "well, maybe we need to re-do our plans." Sister Beaudoin was a genius and said we should pray about it. While she was praying, I had one of the potential investigator's names come into my head that we planned on visiting in Vermilion. Her name is Pinky. Well, not really but that's what she likes to be called. We had tried to meet her a couple nights before but nobody had been home, but the Elders said to REALLY follow up with her. When her name came into my head, it wasn't like a fleeting thought... It was like an overwhelming feeling. I can't even explain how powerfully it came into my head. I caught myself thinking "Okay, okay! We'll go see Pinky!!"
I told this to Sister Beaudoin and she was like "Huh, okay! Let's go see Pinky!"
About a half hour later we get to her house and it looks completely DARK. So I'm thinking "great, she's not even home." We were about to just pull back out of the driveway but Sister Beaudoin was like "Well, let's go knock just in case." We get to the door and WE CAN HEAR THE TV! Her husband came to the door and, long story short, we were able to teach both of them the restoration. (I recited the first vision for the first time... AHH!!) At the end of the lesson, we asked Bill how he was feeling and he goes "Uhh... Well.... Where do I go after this life?" 
:O
They had just come home from Florida, cause they own a house down there and they're trying to sell their house here. BUT. When we were talking about the Holy Ghost, Pinky told us that when she was in the shower like ten minutes before we came over she heard someone say "Don't sell your house yet." And then we came over. And she goes "I bet you think I'm crazy." No Pinky. That is the farthest away from what we think.
I don't know if you're getting the vibe yet, but Pinky and her husband Bill are TOTALLY PREPARED!!! We are so excited! They said they'd come to church and then we could decide on a time to meet them again.
We got out of that lesson and Sister Beaudoin and I were like... Shocked?? Like I was just grinning like an idiot and she just kept saying "Oh my gosh. OOHH MY GOSH. What just happened. Oh my gosh." We are so excited about them.
Well, I guess that's it for this week. I love you all so much, late Merry Christmas and early Happy New Year to everyone! The Gospel is so true. I have never felt so close to my Father in Heaven. Alma 26:35-36 is about how I've been feeling since Pinky. LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,
Sister Perrenoud


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