The Scarnecchia family! Really kool kidz is what they have!
Our car was packed to the gils! Poor little Sis. Dorneles' legs were going numb from being scrunched.
Our last p-day as a zone at Chili's (which is a little too fancy for our budget, but...goons!
Sister Lowry and me, she is now back home in Canada.
My new companion Sister Richardson!
Elders Glasses Smith and Guymon who are sadly leaving our zone--they had a lot of character.
Me and the Brazilians!
Sisters Biolena, Dorneles, Call and I. We've all been companions with each other at different times!
The Christiansens are one of my favorite senior couples. He coordinated the cars of the mission, not an easy task in Joysey! They'll be leaving at the end of this month:(
And lastly, Jaylee and her mother Loren! We taught them about baptism this week!
Family Dearest!
Congraduations Mike and Shelb on the small one! Send pictures so I can see her cute squishy face! I just wanna squeeze her already!
So, Sister Torgerson got doubled in to the area I've been dreaming of serving in my whole mission: Jersey City. It's right across the bay from New Ywork, and there's all sorts of crazy there. Sister Dorneles went to Clinton, wherever that is--I'm sure it's nice. My companion, Sister Richardson, is superb! She's from Spanish Fork, she has a Bachelor's in Modern Dance, doesn't like ground beef, and has a very easygoing personality. Thank goodness! She's a bit very homesick, but the other missionaries and members have made her feel quite at home!
This week we taught a returned missionary's sciencey friends. That was interesting. And it lasted WAY TOO LONG! We were wrapping up when the young man's father came home. The RM is an amazing speaker, but he could go on for hours. And he did. And we didn't know how to get out. But we felt the Spirit, and hopefully the people we were teaching did too. They said they would sincerely read and pray about the Book of Mormon.
Blessing of blessings, the Relief Society President let us borrow her gps. I have conveniently not had to buy one my whole mission. I started out with old maps (And now I know how to read maps! Skill attained!), then used companion's gps's. But Sister Richardson didn't know she'd need one out here (Who would know that? I didn't.). But thankfully we have one now, and we found an old map just in case. Which came in handy when we had to attend a funeral this week. We were cornfused with how the gps operated, and got a little lost on our way to the cemetary. And then there were roads under construction. We did all we could, but decided to pull to the side of the road and pray. Heavenly Father directed us to a Roman Catholic Church. We entered, saw that no one was there, felt awkward, and sidled out. But across the street we found a funeral home! We got directions, and made it to the cemetary just as the family was about to leave. We talked with the woman, a less-active who's mother passed away suddenly. We used to teach her mother (They were the most awkward lessons of my mission. She would suddenly stand up and leave in the middle of reading a scripture. Then come back a few minutes later as though nothing had happened. Another time we asked her if she liked basketball, because we could hear it blasting on the radio in her kitchen. She said she didn't. When we asked her if we could turn it down, she shouted, "NO!" "Um, ok, well, uh, could we pray then, perhaps?" Another time she fell asleep in the lesson, and we didn't know what to do. When she suddenly jerked awake, Sister Torgerson, not knowing what to say, blurted out, "So what did you get from that scripture?" Good times, she was nice.). We gave the lady a hug and handed her a card we'd written with some uplifting scriptures on it and our testimonies. I'm glad we went, because only two people showed up to the funeral. Even though we were late, I think it meant a lot to her to know that someone else cared about her mother too.
Good news! Little Peter got the Priesthood! After church we spotted him eagerly fulfilling his Priestly duties of emptying all the garbage bins. So cute.
Another neat thing, a less-active lady, who loves the Church, but got too offended by members of this ward, came on Sunday! Her daughter Jaylee had been talking with her grandmother, who told her she needed to think about baptism, assuming Jaylee would want to be baptized Catholic. Jaylee later told her mother she'd like to be baptized into her (LDS) religion instead. So her mom packed up the kids, much to her husband's unhappiness, and took them to Church so that Jaylee could learn more about the Church before being baptized. It was so great to see them there, and even greater to see the women of the ward just circle about them and make them feel welcome.
It was a good week. We're just trying to find more investigators, as we only have one right now. I've been fasting to find a family to take to the Temple one day. So hopefully with hard work we can find that family soon.
I love you kids and I hope you have a good week! High fives, on the house!
Love you!
Sister Melderly
