After preparation day was over, we went and stopped by Sister Jankowski, a less-active in our ward. She is crazy…but I love her. (Even though her house smells like nasty dog blechhhhh). She told us all about her daughter (who is 6’9” and a prostitute in Cleveland..greattt) giving birth and went into all sorts of disgusting details that I never wanted to know. It was just fantastic.
Then we had family home evening with some of the older singles in the ward. This week it was just Sister Bynum & Sister Ellison. We were talking about patience and then we somehow got onto the subject of tithing. Sister Bynum was telling us that she’s never been a full tithe payer since she joined the church in ’89. They live in government funded housing so they don’t have much money, I know that. But it was cool because I got to testify to her that if she paid her tithing first, she would be blessed and things would work out. Mom, I was able to share your experience with her after you first got divorced, how the numbers literally didn’t add up but because you paid your tithing, Heavenly Father made it work. I really felt like we helped her. It was so cool.
Tuesday? Um…we had sites and district meeting which were both good. We ate dinner at home because the members that were supposed to feed us forgot. Oops. Anyway, then we got Sierra & Alexis Gervasi who are members in our ward, and took them with us to see Kia. When we got there, she told us that the baptism was off for Friday. That would be TWO baptismal dates that she has called off in the 6 weeks that I’ve been here. Aaah! Her reason is legit though. It turns out that her mom got put into a treatment center for a drug addiction and she’ll be in there for 60 days. Kia doesn’t want to get baptized without her mom, and honestly, I don’t blame her. She’s 13…I mean I wouldn’t want to get baptized without my mom either!! But it still was disappointing. We went and got ice cream anyway because we still needed to teach her so that was good.
The miracle of the day was that Bishop Harmon was (surprisingly) really understanding when we told him that baptism was off. Sister Park made me call him because she was scared! I was like, “Sister Park…COME ON! You’re the trainer!” and she’s like “exactly! I’m preparing you in case I get transferred.” Lameeee. If you remember, last Sunday there was drama at church…But anyway, he was really nice about it and I appreciated that because we’d already had a bad(ish) day. It’s really weird….I’m like really numb to things. Like obviously I was sad that a baptism had been cancelled but I wasn’t like completely devastated and even though all those sisters went home this transfer, I wasn’t dying or anything. I’ve never really felt like this before. From what I can tell it’s either a blessing or I’m insensitive. I really hope it’s the first one.
On Wednesday, we were at sites all day…except we left early because Sister Park was really not feeling well and Sister Butterfield sent us home. So we got home at like 5 and stayed in for the rest of the evening. I feel so bad for Sister Park! I feel bad because her mono & IBS have flared up since I got here! Apparently I stress her out…. Ha. Just kidding!... Kind of. She says training just stresses her out but it’s not me as a person. I really wish I could do something for her. But there’s not really anything that can be done.
Anyway, the miracle of the day? I got a letter from some Hermana Roberts in Peru and I could not remember for the life of me anyone by that name in that location…but when I opened it, it was a referral that I’d given to some sister at the MTC who didn’t have the information on her…but she got it and sent it to me! How nice was that? I also got a letter from Laura (Johansen) that day…can I just say that I LOVE getting mail and that it makes my day? Hint hint.
On Thursday, I honestly started to worry that Sister Park died because she did not get up (for longer than 15 minutes to eat breakfast) until 12. Good news: She did NOT die! She is still breathing. She was just really bad this week. So while she slept, I did some things. Namely, I:
-had personal study for 2 hours. I read chapter 1 in PMG and did some of the activites in there. PMG is essentially the best book ever besides the Book of Mormon.
-went through the area book and cleaned out the old sites schedules and looked at previous investigators and referrals.
-ate lunch.
-vacuumed.
-colored in “The Sacrament Meeting Coloring Book”. That pretty much kept me sane.
Then once Sister Park got up, I talked with her and we played “Kirtland trivia”. So basically, we flipped through our Kirtland manuals and asked each other random questions that we would probably never know the answers to…for example, how much did a dozen eggs cost in the 1820s? Wanna know the answer? Okay, I’ll tell you. 3 cents. It was actually entertaining. Thankfully, that night we were able to go out for about an hour and a half. We went to the ward barbecue. It was good that we went because we had more investigators there than we had at church on Sunday! I was very grateful for the chance to leave the apartment. If we had stayed inside all day, I might have gone crazy. It was a nice little break!
Funny story…so at the barbecue, this cute little kid that I’ve never seen before makes eye contact with me and waves. So I wave back and smile at him... Then later I see him again, so I got down on his level and asked him what his name was. (Zack Cowden). And then I found out he was five. So I was like “Oh, are you going into kindergarten this year then?” and his eyes got all big and he was like “How’d you know?!” hahaha it was so cute!
After the barbecue, we stopped at WalMart because Sister Park thought a Diet Coke might help her headache. I decided to take advantage of the only opportunity that we’d had to see nonmembers and gave out my first pass along card! So I’m kind of embarrassed to say that I’d been out 5 weeks and hadn’t given out a pass-along card but 1) we are at sites half of the time and so I have really only had like 2.5 weeks in my area and 2) Sister Park never pushes me to do it! I guess her trainer made her give out like 5 a day and she hated it and swore that when she trained, she wouldn’t make her greenie do that. Sometimes I wish she would. But anyway, there was this older guy sitting on a bench outside of WalMart so I just gave him a card and told him that it was for a free DVD about Jesus Christ and he should call the number on the back of it. BAM! I felt so accomplished after that.
I think maybe one reason that I was paired with Sister Park is so that I learn to take advantage of opportunities like that. When you’re staying in all day because your companion is sick, you don’t have a chance to share the gospel with anyone. I’m beginning to realize how important it is for me to take advantage of every single second!
On Friday, we went and did service at Homewood (the old folks home) because we hadn’t gone in 2 weeks – the first week we got called into Kirtland and last week Sister Park didn’t feel so great. Well, she didn’t feel great this week either but we went. And that was it for the day. That pretty much killed all her energy. Everything was hurting her. So…we stayed inside again. I’m not sure exactly what I did all day…I know that we played MASH…you know that game that you play as a child where you choose 3 people to marry and the person writing it down chooses 1 and then you have other categories like your job, your husband’s job, where you live, how many kids you have, etc. Well we played MASH…but in addition to all those categories I just named we had church callings on there. Come on, we’re on missions, we have to be semi-spiritual! Ha. Anyway, let’s just say the person I ended up marrying was awesome and he ended up being the Prophet. Go big or go home, right?! Haha
We kept ourselves entertained with that and with Sister Park trying to name all 50 states. I got some of it on video because it was so entertaining. She never learned the states song that I know and so…it took some time. Let’s just say she thought Seattle was a state. I WAS DYING TRYING TO HOLD MY LAUGHTER INSIDE. It was great! Then, I decided to straighten my hair since I had time and why not look nice if I have the time to get that way?
Saturday we were at sites all day and nothing too exciting happened. Oh except I forgot! One exciting thing did happen. We took a group of students from BYU-I on tour and one of the girl’s family met up with them. So this guy was wearing this BYU football shirt and I found out it’s this year’s shirt. I WANT ONE SO BADLY! Yes, this is me asking someone (Mom or Dad? Feel free to talk to each other) to buy me a size small BYU football t-shirt for 2010. Thanks -you’re the best! I will wear it whenever I can and take lots of pics in it for you.
Sunday was good though. We had 4 people to church, which was great! Then, we had lunch with the cutest family ever, the Tate family. They moved into the ward like a month ago from Missouri. Both of the parents are RMs and they have 2 kids- Joey (11) and Julianna (9). You could just tell that they love each other so much and I just loved the spirit that was in their home! Plus, they baked us a loaf of homemade bread!!! It is delicious, and Sister Park & I may or may not have already eaten ¾ of the loaf. IT’S SO GOOD. Then, we went to sites. I was having a really hard time staying motivated yesterday…however, I did a lot better after I had Sister McAlister call a certain Asian for me…..
Yes, I heard Sonhee Marilee Cho’s voice! Over speakerphone, of course! You didn’t think I’d break the rules, did you?! Haha let’s hope not. I was able to get a referral from her and hear just a bit about what’s been going on. I found out that my friend Sarah Clark got a mission call to New Zealand! Sweet. I love missions with all my heart <3. Anyway, hearing Sonhee’s voice totally made my day!
Today, we had cleaning checks for our apartment. Sister Park never lived away from home before her mission and they just started cleaning checks last transfer… Let’s just say that we have 2 different definitions of clean. But it’s okay. I’m kind of anal, but you all already know that. Elder & Sister Adams, the senior couple that serve in the Mayfield ward with us, checked our apartment. They are so sweet! Afterwards, they took us out to lunch! I really like them a lot.
More good news- Sister Park & I are both staying in Lyndhurst for this next transfer. I’m glad. I wasn’t ready to take over the area but I think that by the end of this next transfer I will be.
Can you believe that I’ve already been here for 1 transfer?!?! And in 2 days, it’s September?! Where the heck is the time going?!
I found out a few weeks ago from a girl that we took on tour that BYU starts today. Weird. I can’t even picture myself there right now. It’s just another confirmation for me that I’m exactly where the Lord wants me. Sure I miss my family and my friends but the thing is…it’s not about ME. This is not about me at all. This is about the people here in Cleveland that need to be reminded that they are children of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for them! Before I went into the MTC, Scott Sheffield told me “if you’re thinking about yourself, you’re doing something wrong.” That has really helped me to focus on my investigators, my companion, the other sisters at sites… I found out this week that some of them have really been struggling with homesickness and just adjusting to mission life. But honestly…I haven’t. I have LOVED my mission since I got here. I am so grateful to have this once in a lifetime opportunity!
In the Kirtland movie that we play before we take people on tour, Newel K. Whitney says, “Charity is the pure love of God. It’s His way of blessing us and helping us to bless each other.” I love that! I studied about charity in PMG earlier this week. It’s an amazing thing. So first, you should all read President Uchtdorf’s talk “You Are My Hands” from this last conference and then do something nice for someone else. I’ll do that too!
I love you so much and pray that everything is going well for you all!
Love,
Sister Webb
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