The Hydra of the South ;) 4/25/16

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!

We are beginning to see all the blessings of our hard work! Where one investigator disappeared, two more grew in its place. 

Kadence and Devon, two of the investigators I was involved with finding and teaching, are now no more. We got a text last week from Kadence's mom, Rachel, telling us to stop visiting Kadence as she was going to be looking into other churches. We were disappointed because we were so amazed and excited with the progress Kadence was making as she prepared for her May 7thbaptism. We told Rachel that we would still be here if they needed anything and for Kadence to give us a call if she wanted us to stop by. Of course I plan to visit and check up on them once Sister Fa'ulao is gone, to give them enough time to figure stuff out. With the loss of Kadence we were able to focus more on our two other investigators with baptismal dates, Shontay and Latoya. 

Then on Tuesday we went to check on Devon, the young man I was so excited to teach because he was searching for his purpose and said we were the answer to his prayers. We haven't been able to contact him for the past 3 weeks because his phone is off and he works. Tuesday was no different. We knocked, waited, knocked again, and then Sister Fa'ulao looked at me and said "Sorry Linda, I know you had such high hopes for him. You can check up on him once you have your new companion"   

The sadness did not last long because we got a text from Latoya asking us if we were free for a lesson on Wednesday. Yes, Latoya is so awesome that she calls US to schedule lessons! Truly amazing! We went to visit her and got to meet her youngest son Jatavion. We took Meghan Gordon, a recent convert and single mother. Her and Latoya hit it off so well! They were loving each other and laughing as they disciplined their crazy sons. Meghan's testimony was exactly what Latoya needed. The Spirit was so strong as we taught about the Restoration. At the end of the lesson, I invited her to be baptized and she accepted!! Meghan broke out in cheers and said "that is something worthy of applause!" She is going to be baptized on May 21st! She is already so prepared, but we since we have to teach her the lessons, we get to learn from her until then! I am beyond excited for her!

To add to the already enormous amount of excitement, we met with her again on Saturday, again at her request, and got to meet 3 of her 4 children: 

Lazamion, 13

Latoshonna, 9

Jatavion, 7

To get a taste of how amazing Latoya and her family are, when we walked in, they were studying the Book of Mormon and Book of Mormon Stories book.  We talked to them about the first chapter of the Book of Mormon Stories book, which is "conveniently" The Restoration.  Then we committed them to baptism with their mom on May 21st. It was amazing! We got in the car after an hour of Spirit filled discussion and just smiled and squealed with joy! We pulled over after we drove away from her apartment and said a prayer of thanks and happy gratitude for such an amazing family to teach and bring unto Him. They all attended Church on Sunday and loved it! Latoya came last week so she knew what was happening to some extent, but her kids were like kids in a candy store! I took them to Primary and introduced them to Noel Boone, the Primary President. She said she would take care of them and I left to take Shontay's daughter, Janaria to class. When I got out of helping Sister Cruz with Sunbeams, Jatavion and his cousin who came with him ran up to me with huge grins on their faces and said "Sister, that was THE best class EVER!" Needless to say, they want to come back next Sunday to experience it all over again! 

The Lord truly blessed us this week as we had 7 investigators in church! To give you reference, it is a miracle when we have 1 or 2 there. That is only after we beg and commit, recommit and remind them every night that we would love to see them at church. This week however, Shontay, her two girls Janaria and Destiny, Latoya and her children, Latoshonna and Jatavion and their 2 cousins, and Summer were all there. Shontay, Janaria, Latoya, Latoshonna, Jatavion, and Summer are all investigators, Destiny and the two cousins were just a happy bonus! When they all walked in and we had to sit on two rows to fit us all, the Bishopric looked at us and smiled. Elder Cook and Elder Stokes looked over with eyes as big as saucers and just mouthed "WOW!" It was truly amazing!! It is a true testament to diligent planning and prayer. We planned how we would finally get Shontay and her girls to come, and then put the plan into action, with success! Latoya and her family were less stress since Latoya is so incredible! We just needed to invite her and remind her on Saturday when we saw her. Truly incredible week!

As we lost Kadence, we gained Summer, her cousin. Summer is from Crystal Springs and has been taught everything she needs for baptism. The Elders were just continuing to visit her and get her ready. She had a baptism date for June 25th, but President said we are to take over her teaching and she was to adopt Kadence's baptismal date. So she is now preparing to be baptized on May 7th! 

That means we now have 5 investigators with baptismal dates in the next month!! We still need to talk to Jatavion about the age of accountability, and explain why he has to wait to get baptized after his birthday in July. Needless to say, I haven't stopped smiling since Saturday morning!!  

Aside from all that exceptionally blessed work we have been privileged to be a part of this week, it has been a good week. I have been able to go the past two days without wearing the knee brace and my knee not sending shooting pain up and down my leg, a big blessing since we have walked over 15 miles in the past 2 days in hot and humid weather. My shoulder pain has become dull background noise to the work. I can definitely feel the blessings of the prayers and thoughts of those at home. So, thank y'all for that! 

As a result of the hot and sunny weather and the amount of walking we do in said weather, I am now getting some interesting tan lines, and yesterday, I may or may not have gotten sunburned. (i promise to put sunscreen on from now on Mom ) My watch tan line is gettin pretty legit  The frequency with which I wear my Keens has resulted in a very noticeable tan line from the strap down the middle of my feet. It may have gotten to the point that I can't wear other shoes without embarrassing the Lindberg family name. Whoops. they are just too comfortable NOT to wear them all the time. 

Other than that, life is pretty average out here in the South. Today is Confederate Memorial Day, so Happy CMD!  Just loving the unspoken prejudice against us missionaries! We laugh at the people that we so kindly wave at and then they pretend to not see us waving as they gently swerve towards us. Just risking life out here to serve the Lord!  

Just kidding Mom, don't panic. I won't be killed by prejudiced Baptists out here... probably. You never know with those Southern Baptists. They are CA-RAZY! 

Okay I love y'all! Hope you have a fabulous week! Probably won't be as fabulous as mine, but you can try! 

The work is gettin to me. 4/18/16

This past week has been hard. Not like mentally or spiritually hard, while it is challenging at times, but physically hard. For some reason my whole body is giving up on me this week. Monday night my right shoulder began to hurt. I thought it was just sore and tired so I didn't pay too much attention to it. Then I woke up on Tuesday and I couldn't lift my arm up high enough to put my hair in a ponytail because it felt like there was a ball under my shoulder blade. Took some ibuprofen and went to work, but the pain only got worse. We had service at the Mississippi food network on Tuesday so that made it worse. I tried to take it easy and not make it worse, but just lifting up quart sized boxes of milk made it so sore that Sister Fa'ulao came over half way through and asked if I was okay. Apparently I was making some weird faces because of the pain.  Wednesday it all hit hard. I woke up to 2 sore shoulders, both hurting and feeling like they were tearing at times. I had been taking pain medicine every 4-5 hours and suffering through once the medicine wore off. As we tracted, I would have to alternate which arm I put behind my back (the only position that it didn't hurt as bad) I bought a massager in hopes that the pain was from tired sore muscles, but it didn't do what I thought it would. It helped a little, but the pain was still there. At District Meeting, I stood up to go and lead the music and my right knee popped and felt like someone was stabbing me through the side of my knee. I limped up and lead the music, then sat down and tried to move it around to make it stop hurting. When I got the back massager, I also bought a knee brace to wear when it hurts the most.

I am praying that this doesn't last. I don't know what I have done this past week that has made my shoulders and knee hurt, but I am taking it a little easier without stopping. My shoulders are slowly getting better... i think. Either that or I am just getting used to the constant pain.  As for my knee, it still hurts at times. Don't quite know about it. 

Okay now for the fun stuff! This week has been amazing missionary work wise! We taught Kadence on Monday. She is still amazing and so excited for baptism. We are working to get her prepared and help her as the adversary works to stop her from making such a sacred decision. 

We have been tracting a lot to find some more investigators to begin teaching since Shontay and Kadence, our investigators with baptismal dates, are the only ones we teach on a consistent basis. We found some interesting people tracting Arlington and Andover street this week. One couple we met, Cory and Shay, are the ones that I got a kick out of. Cory is a Marine recruiter that goes around to the surrounding areas to recruit. When we knocked on the door, he said he had just tried to recruit some of the Elders from our church in Vicksburg and Brandon that week. That was a great conversation starter as we jumped into what we went around doing. The conversation progressed to what we taught, at which point his wife Shay walked out to listen. We had a nice discussion about the differences in our church than the other churches. Shay got really excited to talk and launched into a "testimony" about how she had found "the one truth" and her prophet friends. It was interesting to hear about what she believed and how she referred to us as "you Christians" After she was done telling us about how the Bible was wrong in the translation of the names of Christ and His Apostles, Sister Fa'ulao asked them what religion they were. Shay said "We don't believe in religion. It is a system that the devil has set up to guide us away from Joshua.(Christ) But if you want to put a name on it, we are 'Hebrew Israelites'" We just nodded and told her that it was great that she had faith and trust in The Saviour. Cory gave us his card in exchange for us giving them our card. They were definitely an interesting couple...

This week our testimonies of Bible referrals grew so much! We get referrals from Church HQ about people that have requested free Bibles. We haven't had much luck contacting and visiting them. When we go to take them their Bible, we also take a Book of Mormon and try to teach them about it. Usually the person just takes the Bible, refuses a return appointment and we don't hear from them again, though we try to contact them for a return appointment. That changed this week with Miss Latoya Banks! We have had her information for the past 2 months, but haven't been able to make the times work so we can visit her when she is there. We finally got to go and see her on Saturday. When she opened the door, she got a huge smile on her face and grabbed us into a hug. We went in and sat down and began talking and getting to know her. She is a 35 year old single mother of 4, 3 boys and 1 girl. She has been going through a Joseph Smith like search for religion. She has visited every church in Jackson.. or so she thought.  Throughout the discussion she brought up concerns that she had with all the churches she had visited. ALL of them The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints takes care of. 

-The Priesthood (she feels that the authority spoken of in the Bible isn't present in the churches she has been to) 

-Family (she wants a church that is family oriented and welcoming)

-Leadership (she feels she is meant to teach and share her testimony of the gospel, not just the minister or those that went to school to do so)

The most amazing thing was something Sister Fa'ulao mentioned as we were getting to leave. We were talking about faith and then she said "and also, all of the people in our church are volunteer. No one gets paid for their work." Latoya broke down in tears and just sat there in amazement.

She feels that being paid for your service is ridiculous. She says that you shouldn't have to be paid for what God expects of you. The whole "donation plate" is something she hates. Once Sister Fa'ulao mentioned the unpaid ministry, Latoya said she was coming to church on Sunday and that this was the church for her. We had given her a Bible and when we read a scripture out of the Book of Mormon, she said "I get one of those too right?" We laughed a little and said "of course you do!" Each moment was amazing in that hour and half we spent at her apartment! We left her with a Bible, Book of Mormon, Mormon.org card and the address to our church. We left feeling high on the Spirit and excitement! 

On Sunday during Ward Council we got a call from Latoya asking how to get to the church from Mississippi College. I gave her the directions she needed and she said she was on her way. She arrived 45 minutes early to church and we sat in the chapel talking about what would happen during Sacrament Meeting and warned her about the amount of noise due to the number of children. Latoya said she was excited and that the kids wouldn't be a problem as she was a mother and knew that the kids needed to learn too. It was amazing! She took notes, asked questions and bore her testimony in Gospel Principles. In RS she stood up at the beginning to introduce herself and tell them that she would be back next Sunday with her kids. 

The meetings were exactly what we were praying for. One talk in Sacrament Meeting by Sister Whipple talked about faith and then as a side note Sister Whipple mentioned the unpaid ministry. Latoya looked at us with tears in her eyes and said "how did she know I was worried about that?" We explained it was all The Spirit... and then got a little teary eyed ourselves.

As we were walking to her car to say goodbye, Latoya asked us about baptism. She said "Sisters, I have been baptized before. Is that going to be a problem when I get baptized in this church?" Amazing in itself, but even more so since we hadn't even mentioned baptism! Miracles do happen!! 

God is truly blessing us with amazing people  and experiences! The Church is true! I am loving my mission!!!!

I love y'all so much! I hope all is well! Have a wonderful week!

The South: Land of Baptists, Upside down flags, and PERSECUTION! 4/11/16

You don't want to know how long it took me to try and come up with a creative title for this email. And ^ was all I could come up with. Sigh. Whatever. Here we go...

First off, I want to tell my sweet loving mother that I love her and that she is amazing! In anticipation for Mother's day, I have been thinking a lot about everything she does for me. And it's A LOT! I truly don't know what I would do without her! 

With that happy thought in mind Mother, I also want to tell you that I dyed my hair. Don't kill me okay? Sister Fa'ulao and I dyed our hair last Monday because a) we were looking for something to change things up and b) it sounded fun

Here is how it looks. I love it by the way, so don't rain on my parade please 

​Alright now that that is out of the way, Mom please contain your frustration at me dying my beautiful hair and thus going against what you have told me every time I have asked to dye it  and focus on what else I have to say. 

Short email this week so savor each word:

This week has been a usual week in regards to work. We have done a lot of tracting and service. Walked until our feet are about to fall off, then walked some more. Gotten nice tans from being in the sun all day. (i have a nice watch tanline and a equally attractive shoe tanline because I have been wearing my Keens everyday this week) The reason for the "PERSECUTION" part of the subject line is due to the amazing number of people that are against what we have to share. Many people have swerved to get as close to us as possible without actually hitting us. Ridiculous people. We even had one guy cuss at us, and then spit on us. Silly Southerners. 

My left pointer finger is swollen and hard from who knows what. I don't know what I did to it, but the bruise thing that has been there is swollen and there is a hard bump on my knuckle that grows and spreads each day. I don't know what telling you will do since there isn't much you can do from across the country, but hey, now ya know.

Also, remember that nasty cough i had for three months before the mish... it's back.  Will you send me an inhaler so I can get rid of it. I can't bike, laugh, or talk a lot without coughing. It's no bueno. 

My first transfer is complete! Those 7 weeks went fast! Though they were hard, they went by fast and I learned so much! I now look forward to driving, I don't have anxiety attacks when I have to do door approaches, and most importantly, I LOVE MY MISSION!!

We are teaching a new investigator named Kadence. She is an 11 year old girl who is very eager to learn about the church. When we met with her for the first time last Monday, she was VERY open and accepting and her Pentecostal mom was the reason the lesson went as well as it did. Her comments really brought the Spirit and helped Kadence understand. Kadence now has a baptism date set for May 7th. Now we just have to work hard to get her ready for that commitment and the sacred covenant she will be making. 

Dinner with the Alhaltehs was amazing! They took us out to Bonsai, a restaurant like Tepenyaki. We had a grand time talking and eating! Elder Alhalteh has a real winner of a family! His mother is truly amazing! 

I am reading the Book of Mormon for the first time again like Elder Gong talked about. It is a totally different experience than ever before! I don't know whether it is that I am on a mission and therefore have a new spiritual sensitivity, but The Book of Mormon is so amazing! I am learning so much and have a new appreciation for what that sacred book contains. The stories are more applicable and interesting than they have seemed before. I invite all of you to read The Book of Mormon and try to  really care and appreciate everything that is in those 531 pages. It is truly amazing! 

Keep up the good work everyone! Love ya!

A Week of No's 4/4/16

As the subject line says, this week has been full of no's and opposition. Though it was hard, I have learned more this week than before. The week went a little like this...

Monday: P-day. A day of rest... sort of. And getting ready for the coming week. Shopping, emailing, cleaning. That kind of stuff. Then once it hits 6 o'clock, or 5 in the case of this past Monday, it is off to lessons and missionary work! We had FHE with the less-active and recent convert families and some of the other families that just want to come. Everyone is welcome! It is a great night! The Sisters are in charge of the lesson, the host family ( it switches each week) provides a light dinner, and then there is socializing. We taught about service and how we each can do something. We referenced the Women's Conference and had a great lesson. All together a great day!

Tuesday: The day we had planned for Bobbie (our elderly,struggling, stubborn investigator with a baptism date) We planned a church tour, had a member ready to come and assist with touring and testimony. We thought we had cared for every possible opposition there could be. (lack of ride> planned a member to pick her up. Might get tired walking> planned to grab her walker/chair. etc) Then Bobbie called to say that the coming storm was making her hip hurt so she was unable to come. Despite our persistent but gentle begging, she still resisted and said she would call us when she could meet. She kindly asked us not to call her. She would call us.  Satan is working hard.

We also planned to see Bill and Rose. They have two adopted children who are the real reason we visit. The children, a brother and sister from Mexico, are VERY eager to come to church. The one time I met them, they asked five times in the space of the 30 minutes we were there when they could come to Primary! Bill, a retired Marine, has no desire to join, but fully supports and encourages us meeting with his kids. Rose on the other hand... is very against it. She feels we are trying to tempt her children and lead them away into satanic practices. This greatly complicates things. We called to meet with them and Bill said we would have to just drop by. When we did drop by however, Rose was waiting for us in the front yard, ready to drive us away. Again, Satan is working overtime. 

It only makes me want to work harder though so... get ready Satan. We have the power of the Lord on our side!

Wednesday: A day of meetings. Or so it should have been. Wednesday is usually the day we have District Meeting. Since it is usually in Vicksburg, we have to plan 1.5 hours for travel and 2 hours for the meeting. It is at 1 so it takes up the 12 to 4 block. We finish studying, training and then eat lunch and take off. That didn't happen this week. Our District leader got emergency transferred for some unknown reason. (sort of unknown. He had a flirting thing goin on with Sister Carter at the beginning of the transfer that has been developing... but we don't actually know what happened) Anyways, that made it so we couldn't have District meeting due to lack of a District leader to lead said District meeting. We ended up visiting some of the former and potential investigators we found in the area book. Great resource. The people we planned either shut the door in our face, had moved, or told us they weren't interested in the church. they had found God. And on top of it all, I experienced my first fire ant bite. Now I know why they are called fire ants. 

Thursday: A day full of service. We had service at the Mississippi Food Network. I was in charge of putting the boxed milk into the boxes. Sounds easy enough right? Nope. When it is on a conveyor belt that is moving and you are having to work around several other people, it gets real complicated real fast. I was lifting the 35 pound boxes full of boxes of milk, throwing on to my arm and grabbing out two quart sized boxes at once. By the end, I was sweaty (it was 90* and humid and i was lifting boxes over and over for 3 hours) and my whole body was sore. I now have bruises on my arms from the boxes hitting into them as I forcefully thrust them onto my arm. but hey, my arms look more toned now. There is always an upside. 

After MFN, we went to help a woman we met on Tuesday. Her name is Annie and she is a hoarder. She wanted us to vacuum her floor, but you could actually see the floor... I ended up just pushing the vacuum around within a 1" square. Annie said the floor looked better than it ever had.   

Thursday wasn't so bad as far as opposition, but I was definitely worn out and not feeling like being a missionary by 7 pm. 

Friday: Weekly planning day! We spent 5 hours trying to plan, discuss, reevaluate, re plan, and then discuss again. For each of our investigators. 1 with a baptismal date, 3 progressing, 7 that could become progressing with one more visit, and 4 other investigators. It is a tiring process. After we had evaluated where each person was, then we planned numbers and put names next to each goal as to how we were going to accomplish that goal. We called members for potential member presence in lessons. Scheduled appointments. Then ended with a long prayer asking for help with each goal and person. Then we went out and tracted until 7. No one was really having it. we met a couple very strong Baptists that tried to convince us to join THEIR church. 

We had a lesson planned for Cheryl, a middle aged woman that lives in our neighborhood. Sister Snow, a returned missionary, came with us. We planned to re teach her the Restoration since the last time she was taught about it she couldn't get past the fact that there are modern day prophets. Our plans changed when we went into the lesson and we ended up talking and testifying about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong that all three of us, Sister Fa'ulao, Sister Snow, and I couldn't keep from crying at times. It was an amazing lesson! Cheryll, despite feeling the Spirit and saying that she knew what we were saying was true, said she was going to stick with what she had. As a last stitch effort to have her commit to just read the Book of Mormon, we had her read the last paragraph of the Introduction. She sat there for a good 2 minutes just thinking and nodding. then she said "that is amazing. But i think what I have now is good enough" 

It was hard not to shake her and tell her just to read it and then it would all be okay! there is a quote that Sister Fa'ulao told me once. She said that there will people that will feel the Spirit and the truth of our message, but will still choose to ignore it. Cheryl is one of those people. 

Saturday: An amazing day of spiritual growth! General Conference was absolutely amazing! Everything that was said was an answer to a question or concern that I had. I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to hear of the Lord's words through His prophets and apostles. Elder Donald L. Hallstrom's talk really helped me after the rough week that I had. He said "when difficult things happen to us, what is our immediate response?... it should be peace at the knowledge of the divine truth that we are children of God." Really stood out to me. I will work on "leaning on the Saviour" more rather than just feeling anger, sadness, or a sense of injustice at failure. 

Elder Kevin R. Duncan's talk on forgiveness also stood out to me. Grandma and Grandpa Lindberg have been on my mind lately. I have struggled with forgiving them truly and fully for their actions and stubborness that have caused them to miss out on more than a decade of my life. Elder Duncan's words about using the healing ointment of the Atonement helped me to understand that i need to just let it go. He said " An unforgiving heart harbors so much unnecessary pain. may we apply the healing ointment of the Saviour's Atonement."  "Leave justice to me. that will I care for. But let peace be with you." As I immediately offered a silent prayer of forgiveness of MY stubborness, and then for a softened heart and forgiveness for them, I felt peace. I know that they may never desire to get over whatever they are harboring, but I have done my part. I will leave justice and the rest to Him. 

Conference was truly amazing!

Sunday: More amazing Conference! I couldn't help but cry as Bonnie L. Oscarson spoke about the temple and the blessings of eternity contained within. I know that Families ARE forever. I know that I WILL see all of my family again! I love what she said about the blessing this church is. "Our membership in the gospel is a gift of immeasurable value" It truly is! 

D. Todd Christopherson's talk about fathers made me tear up a little in gratitude for MY fathers, both my amazingly wonderful earthly father and my eternally divine Heavenly Father. I am greatly blessed to call both of them "Father" 

Dieter F. Uchtdorf's remarks on rescue was AMAZING! "The sheep is worthy of divine rescue simply because it is loved."  So amazing. 

"Obedience is not the process of bending and changing into something we are not, it is the process of becoming something we have potential to become." 

And my all time favorite "He sees you worthy of rescue" 

Gerrit W. Gong answered two of my questions I went into Conference looking for answers to. "How can I strengthen my relationship with the Saviour?" and "How can I recognize His hand in my daily service?" The Lord answers our prayers people. Truly He does. 

I don't even know what to say about Elder Holland's talk because it was so amazing there are no words. I just leave you with these words, "Sanctify yourself. For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." "Heaven is cheering you on. Today. Tomorrow. And forever!"

I wanted to let y'all know how grateful I am for everything that I had in Utah. I truly took for granted that I could see a temple, or sometimes two temples, on the horizon. I miss the ability I had to visit the temple whenever I wanted. I now am stuck waiting for 18 months to again be able to feel the peace and serenity of that holy House of the Lord. 

I lacked the appreciation for the closeness of the Distribution Center. One of the sisters in our ward told us the other day about how when she went on a road trip to Utah, she visited every temple and then went to the Distribution Center and spent hundreds of dollars. 

I miss seeing an LDS church on nearly every corner. Now they are replaced by Baptist, Catholic, Methodist and Pentecostal meeting houses. 

Appreciate these blessings. You don't truly appreciate what you have until it's gone. 

I know this church is true! I know that though there is opposition to the work I am doing, like Dallin H. Oaks said "There must needs be opposition in all things.. for opposition promotes us to achieve all that The Father desires of us to become." The very one that is opposing us as we work for the salvation of souls is the very one that made that salvation possible by being the opposition to God's Plan. Without opposition, there would be no need for agency, and thus God's Plan would have lacked the very thing that made it so amazing, the ability to choose. As Elder Oaks said "The Lord does not make it EASY, but He does make it POSSIBLE." 

I am working hard out here in the ever hotter Mississippi. I am trying my hardest to work and not melt.

Here is a poem that i love:

“Come to the edge," He said.
"We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," He said.
"We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," He said.
And so they came.
And He pushed them.
And they flew.”

Easter without you 3/28/16

Holidays without y'all suck. Just sayin. Yesterday was hard as I thought about everything that you would be doing and that I would NOT be doing. Like enjoying a nice Easter meal. This whole exclusive families thing really stinks. Whatever. We had a last minute lunch with the Scotts that consisted of whatever she had left over from her last food stamps trip. It was good, but definitely not a Lindberg meal. Made me miss y'all that much more. 

This week has been slow. We had P-day on Monday, exchanges with the STLs on Tuesday to Wednesday morning, Zone Conference all day Wednesday because of the installation of TIWI boxes, a slow day Thursday with visiting teaching with the Relief society, weekly planning all day Friday with a break to go and serve at Bishop's Storehouse, and the ward Easter party and tracting on Saturday. We also biked to the 4Cs (Clinton Christian Community Corporation) 4 miles away from our apartment to volunteer and get the church's name out there. We then biked the 4 miles back in 80 degree weather with the sun shining down on us and the air humid. We were both sweaty and gross by the time we got home. We had to jump in the shower and get ready before Sister Triplett came to take us to dinner and the General Women's Broadcast at 6. It was a crazy day. 

Exchanges were... interesting. Sister Mitchell, bless her heart, kind of lacks a filter. We planned to go tracting for 4 hours during the day. She said she wanted to go in the country because, and this is where it got interesting, "the people in the country are too slow to understand most of what you say to them. You can pretty much say anything you want and they won't understand!" I made a weird face and asked her what she meant and she said that the people are dumb, so it doesn't matter what you say, they don't care. That really bugged me. I told her I didn't feel that was a good or Christlike thing to say and she told me that she was my leader and so she knew better. The day kind of went rough. Definitely a learning experience. If anything, it taught me how I never want to act. 

I emailed President Olson about the exchange and the call they made to us regarding less-active work. I was mainly concerned that we were doing something wrong and wanted guidance as to what we needed to change. Needless to say, President called yesterday to ask about how it was going and make sure he had the information he needed. He said he hadn't called the STLs regarding us and wanted to clear up the issue. He said he was proud of the work that we were doing and to continue on in what we were doing. 

The General Women's Broadcast was not the same without all y'all and Zupas. I had a really rough day in anticipation of Easter without y'all, but I pushed through... until Sister Crosby sat in front of us and started cuddling her daughters and made me miss my Momma. I lost it. Life is rough.  I'm okay. 

Side note. Sort of. The housing coordinators, Brother and Sister Black, are amazing. Sister Black has a lot of medical issues, so she had to have another surgery this past Monday. When we went to visit her on Saturday, I had flashbacks to when Grandma Mary was in the hospital. Sister Black reminds me so much of Grandma. She is kind and caring, and despite the pain she was in, she was still worried about how we were doing and how she could help us. She is truly amazing. The whole visit was like deja vu. I felt like I was visiting Grandma in the hospital and rehab center. It was tough, but it was a wonderful visit. 

To add to the roughness of the week, it is still raining off and on. Just waiting for someone to build an ark. 

Okay enough negative. I had amazing experiences this week as we tracted into many different types of people. One man we met was a Jehovah's Witness and we had a wonderful conversation about how to share the Word of God among the Clintonians. Interesting man with interesting views, but a worthwhile and very informative conversation none the less. 

Though it was hard, I still love it here. I am loving the work and what I am doing. The Church is true. I love y'all! 

Also... I kissed a frog.

Okay. Bye!