Sept 1, 2014

It has been one sweet week!

So we have teamsters here- senior elders who run all the equine and oxen based activities, ie the wagon, carriage, and oxen rides. We have these huuuuge Percherons and Belgians. They are so beautiful. Anyway so recently we've been participating every now and then in the teamsters' early morning meeting (this is like 6:30) before they go out to the barn. Sister Etherington and I went one morning and holy cow (excuse the pun) my soul was stirred. We both felt, in planning the night before, that we should talk about light, specifically the Light of Christ. It was very good. They then offered for us to watch them bring in all the horses, to which I of course said a resounding yes. So the way they do it is they all (about 25 of these senior elders) stand at the fence line and just yell nonsense and all the horses emerge from the trees across these huge fields and all come running in. Oh, my soul. They all know exactly where to go. Some line up at their place at a trough and others go into the barn. The barn is this little tiny thing and they don't actually have real stalls- they are more like stations with short risers between each one so the elders can stand on it and harness the horses. The barn cat was, of course, standoffish.

That same day, I got a surprise package from my parents, containing my fav-or-ite candy from New York. Heavenly. That pound was gone within two days, just in time for my 'vegan week'. I'm really trying to live the Word of Wisdom more fully. There's a senior sister here, Sister Salcido, who is a master herbalist raw vegan and she teaches us 'the way of the vegan'. Anyway I used to think it was all a crock and that the food I ate wasn't so bad. But there seem to be so many benefits to eating the way God made us to eat (which does not necessarily exclude meat and animal products- all things in moderation) so I'm gonna give it a go. Sister Etherington is all about clean eating so she's my coach. I think she's been trying to get me to do this for three transfers now. :)

Also that same day, we had a phone appointment with an older man named Galen. We met him at a play that the Pageant cast puts on on Sunday, and we were not originally going to be there to pre-greet for it. Good thing we did though, because there was a deaf woman who was going to just go without interpretation- and because I stayed, Sister E of course had to stay too. So she gets talking to Galen, gives him a Book of Mormon and gets his information. We're on exchanges the next time she calls and she invites him to be baptized but he says he's already been baptized. Next time we call, we talk about the priesthood, and the need to be baptized by authority (what a spirit-led lesson!) and he understands it. Then this particular day, we teach him the Plan of Salvation. He gets it. He explains that he's been praying about being baptized and is slowly starting to get an answer. In short, we said, "Galen, if you set a goal, you are showing Heavenly Father that you are serious and want an answer. So how would you feel about setting a goal for the second week in October?" Long pause. "What do you think about that?" Pause. "Oh, I was just putting it in my calendar. You said second week of October right?" I was a little astonished. We could hear him whispering as he typed it into his iPad calendar "...baptism... goal..." So he has a date of October 11th! My favorite thing is calling the local missionaries and telling them we have an investigator for them that either is close to baptism or has a date. Surprise, missionaries!

Okay a lot happened on this one day. After this lesson with Galen, Sister E and I are working on admin stuff for Teaching Center. I come out of the office to go make a copy or something and am stopped dead in my tracks because it is so dark in the Visitor's Center! It's like 4:00 in the afternoon and looks like 8:00! A huge storm rolled in and the thunder shook the VC. Midwestern storms- there's nothing like them.

I found out that apparently the missionary department is saying that we'll arrive home sometime in early December, like the first or second week. It's coming up so quickly. I don't know how they know that because I would assume that it will depend on the transfer cycle of our next missions, but they did say it will definitely be before Christmas. :)

I called Cynthia and Mercedes this week! Mercedes was baptized just a few days before I left Texas and Cynthia is her formerly less-active daughter. Cynthia answered when I called and didn't recognize me right away, but then said in her charming hispanic accent "Oh!! Sister Munro!!" (yelling to the background) "Ma, it's Sister Munro!!" I told her my new companion, Sister Etherington, was here with me and she goes "Oh! Sister Jetterinchin!" hahahahaha. We couldn't talk for long but I will call back this week. :) They have callings in Primary!

This past Saturday was quite the day for the Nauvoo Visitor's Center! The Grape Festival ran all weekend so that is quite the attraction around here. Lots and lots of non-members came in. In fact I taught a deaf man and we gave him a Book of Mormon and got his email to follow up. Then these member brother and sister (as in, actual brother and sister) brought this probably mid-50s couple into the Visitor's Center and said to me, "These people want to learn more about Mormons" I said, "Well, I'm a Mormon! I can help!" We taught them (Philip and Shirley) the first lesson with the members there testifying the whole time (they were wonderful) and they said they believe it all, and of course it's true. It just makes sense. They wanted to be baptized but weren't ready to set a date yet. They were very excited to learn all they could about it and about an hour and a half later didn't want to leave the Visitor's Center. 

Everything is going just wonderful. I love the work!

~ Ashley