Hey! I like don't even know what to tell everyone! I love you all so
much, and thank you for your birthday wishes! I love hearing about
everything happening at home, I think it's so great that y'all have
got the raspberries done, and mom, what a great picture of dad and
Garrett putting in the border.
As far as my week in the field, it's been great! We were going to go
tracting right away my first night here, but the STLs that were going
to come out with us actually had lessons, so we didn't go out.
However, my first day with my trainer we went out, and that was fun!
We were let into this crazy women's house, and she said that she can
see Angels, and send them to fight ISIS... Anyway, that was
interesting, so we left pretty quick. Haha!
We've had the darnedest time trying to schedule anything to get in to
people. Everyone is super nice, but just won't keep commitments or
appointments! So, we've done a lot of finding, and stuff, but I've yet
to meet anyone as a solid investigator. The ward is awesome! Many of
them seem to really support missionary work, and they're super nice,
though I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to remember so many
people! Luckily, I'm pretty good with names, so it'll come.
Dad, I can relate in a way I couldn't when I was home about feeling
too weak to do the work. However, I know that God has called each of
us to where we're called for a reason. I've been dealing with feeling
too weak for the magnitude of the call, but I know through the
atonement Christ will truly qualify whom he calls. That scripture, "be
not afraid, only believe" has been a true strength to me as well. I
also draw lots of strength from everyone at home, I feel your prayers,
and y'all are in my prayers every day also. I love you all so much!
I've been writing down random things I've wanted to tell you
throughout the week, so this next part may be kinda random, but it's
stuff that's made me think of home over the last week and a half.
Something I heard in the MTC and really liked was this idea, "it's not
bad to be tired, it's bad to give up" so that's something I've been
working on. When describing how the spirit is so hard to describe with
words, I thought this was a cool idea - it's hard to express Celestial
feelings with Telestial words. Isn't that an interesting thought about
the game that is our language?
Dad, I need you to go on ahead and listen to the Happy song:) I
thought the song today, and life is happy happy happy! And you
also cracked me up when you said that Gned says hi! Sis Lutz told me,
and I had to tell Sis Poulton our *joke:) Sis Poulton is great! She's
really sweet, and I think we'll be good friends. She's an awful driver
though! We're in a car area, and only the senior companion can drive,
so that's painful. At any rate, I'm excited when I'll be allowed to
control the car.
One of my favorite things about being a missionary is how everyone,
even just random strangers, feel like they need to tell me all the
good stuff they're doing. "I raise my kids well" " I went to church
last week!" "I've been reading the scriptures every day" and so on.
Usually these comments are really out of the blue, and it's like by
just seeing us, people start to reevaluate what they're doing in life.
I'm not really sure what else to tell you, sorry if I forgot to answer
some of your questions! I love you all so much! And you're in my
prayers:)
Love forever,
Sister Marks
P.s. Moroni 7:48
p.p.s. "Is this a good activity?" :D
*This summer, as a joke, Erika purchase a garden gnome and placed it in the yard as a joke for her Dad (they had previously been discussing how he didn't really like gnomes as yard decor). The gnome was later named Gned, and Gned will disappear for awhile and then suddenly pop up somewhere - like in your car or bed! Gned is currently sitting on top of the piano.
much, and thank you for your birthday wishes! I love hearing about
everything happening at home, I think it's so great that y'all have
got the raspberries done, and mom, what a great picture of dad and
Garrett putting in the border.
As far as my week in the field, it's been great! We were going to go
tracting right away my first night here, but the STLs that were going
to come out with us actually had lessons, so we didn't go out.
However, my first day with my trainer we went out, and that was fun!
We were let into this crazy women's house, and she said that she can
see Angels, and send them to fight ISIS... Anyway, that was
interesting, so we left pretty quick. Haha!
We've had the darnedest time trying to schedule anything to get in to
people. Everyone is super nice, but just won't keep commitments or
appointments! So, we've done a lot of finding, and stuff, but I've yet
to meet anyone as a solid investigator. The ward is awesome! Many of
them seem to really support missionary work, and they're super nice,
though I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to remember so many
people! Luckily, I'm pretty good with names, so it'll come.
Dad, I can relate in a way I couldn't when I was home about feeling
too weak to do the work. However, I know that God has called each of
us to where we're called for a reason. I've been dealing with feeling
too weak for the magnitude of the call, but I know through the
atonement Christ will truly qualify whom he calls. That scripture, "be
not afraid, only believe" has been a true strength to me as well. I
also draw lots of strength from everyone at home, I feel your prayers,
and y'all are in my prayers every day also. I love you all so much!
I've been writing down random things I've wanted to tell you
throughout the week, so this next part may be kinda random, but it's
stuff that's made me think of home over the last week and a half.
Something I heard in the MTC and really liked was this idea, "it's not
bad to be tired, it's bad to give up" so that's something I've been
working on. When describing how the spirit is so hard to describe with
words, I thought this was a cool idea - it's hard to express Celestial
feelings with Telestial words. Isn't that an interesting thought about
the game that is our language?
Dad, I need you to go on ahead and listen to the Happy song:) I
thought the song today, and life is happy happy happy! And you
also cracked me up when you said that Gned says hi! Sis Lutz told me,
and I had to tell Sis Poulton our *joke:) Sis Poulton is great! She's
really sweet, and I think we'll be good friends. She's an awful driver
though! We're in a car area, and only the senior companion can drive,
so that's painful. At any rate, I'm excited when I'll be allowed to
control the car.
One of my favorite things about being a missionary is how everyone,
even just random strangers, feel like they need to tell me all the
good stuff they're doing. "I raise my kids well" " I went to church
last week!" "I've been reading the scriptures every day" and so on.
Usually these comments are really out of the blue, and it's like by
just seeing us, people start to reevaluate what they're doing in life.
I'm not really sure what else to tell you, sorry if I forgot to answer
some of your questions! I love you all so much! And you're in my
prayers:)
Love forever,
Sister Marks
P.s. Moroni 7:48
p.p.s. "Is this a good activity?" :D
*This summer, as a joke, Erika purchase a garden gnome and placed it in the yard as a joke for her Dad (they had previously been discussing how he didn't really like gnomes as yard decor). The gnome was later named Gned, and Gned will disappear for awhile and then suddenly pop up somewhere - like in your car or bed! Gned is currently sitting on top of the piano.