October 7,2013

Wow..what a crazy week it's been in Leesburg. I've definitely had some of the best and worst moments of my mission so far!! Not much happened Monday night after P day. We talked to a woman who a ward member told us thought might be interested and are waiting to hear back from her still! We tracted for a really long time but didn't really meet anyone! Tuesday we had district meetings in the AM which was all about setting good goals and then trying to achieve them. Also we talked about the fact that we have all the tools that we need, we just limit our own potential a lot. So I made a goal to really "waste and wear out" my time here in Leesburg, which is hard because I get pretty Brasil trunky sometimes! One of the Elders in our district was leaving this Friday so he gave his departing testimony to us. That always makes me think of what I want to be like by the end of my mission and what goals I can set to become that person. After meetings, we had a lesson with 2 investigators. We basically just got to know them better. They are both such awesome women! One has so much faith and she hasn't let her trials make her bitter. I really admire her a lot and am excited to teach her more. After that we had a lesson with another invetigator. I love lessons with her! She is such an amazing person. The lesson was on keeping the sabbath day holy and then we talked about baptism. She still doesn't feel "ready" but her said he feels like she's really close. she is an incredible example of faith. It's cool seeing how much her life has already changed. After the lesson, we went to a ward family to help serve food for the cross country team. A couple kids talked to us, but besides that not much success. It was funny because this one girl goes "Are you guys really sisters?" haha. That night we visited the a family who has a son going on his mission to Sao Paulo! It was fun getting to know them and sharing my excitement for Brasil with someone. Wednesday was so much fun because we got asked to help out at Seminary!! We had to wake up at 5:45 which wasn't fun.. but seminary was great. The class wrote down questions their friends have or they have had and then we did a bunch of role plays with them. It was so weird being in Seminary...I never thought I'd be one of the missionaries visiting the seminary class!! I've come a long way... After seminary we did studies and I had the best experience practice teaching. Normally I hate practice teaching because I feel so dumb and unexperienced, but that day I realized how much I've already learned since being here and I felt really confident!! Of course this wears off once I have to talk to real people...haha. Wednesday was like 94 degrees..so we were dying!! But we had a lesson with a less active member, about general conference. Then we had an appointment we set up on exchanges, but she was really rude and pretended she didn't know us..so that was a bummer! We went and talked with an investigator about church some more. She is so great and I am so glad to be teaching her!! Thursday was such an awesome day! I have been really worried about being prepared physically for Brasil since we drive everywhere and never really have to go without, so I've been praying for opportunities to prepare for that better. So Thursday after studies we walked over to our appointment, but she wasn't home. So as we were walking to go get to the car, My companion was like "hey, we should just walk there, it's not that far." 7 miles later and 2 giant blisters..we had walked in 90 degree heat!! It was so much FUN!!!! We helped her pack some stuff for a while since her husband NEVER helps and her daughter sits on the computer all day..it's so so sad!! But it was so funny because as we were walking, there were all these guys who looked like they belong on Duck Dynasty hollering at us and honking...It's like they've never seen sister missionaries before. And if they knew who we were I'm not sure they'd be honking and hollering! haha for real though I've never seen so many hairy shirtless old men....Grandma would not be pleased ;) The rest of the people just gave us really weird looks...no one really walks here so it's funny to see peoples reactions. After that we went to mutual. It was a modesty fashion show and it was so cool to see her in that! She honestly looked more modest than some of the members lol. She looked so beautiful and she just fits right in. I'm so excited to seee how things progress with her! Friday we had weekly planning which is always great. We had dinner with a ward family that night who have 5 kids under the age of 11....it's always crazy eating with them. The younger kids always call us "sister missionary" cause they can't remember our names but they are just so funny. We told the wife after dinnner that we'd been trying to see this less active member and I guess she is good friends with her so she was like okay I'll talk you to the Saks outlet where she works. So you can just imagine how funny that looked to see 5 kids and a mom and 2 missionaries walk into Saks...they didn't know what hit em! sadly the lady wasn't there. We spent the rest of the night trying to track other people down with no luck! Saturday was so great! In the morning we went to the baptism of a ward members daughter which was so sweet to watch and made me excited to attend the baptisms of the people I teach. After the baptism, A friend's mom picked us up to watch conference at their house! Conference was so amazing!!! I think people were expecting another big announcement. A lot of missionaries were like "sisters are gonna serve for 2 years now" haha obviously no big announcements happened, but it was cool to hear there are now 80,000 missionaries!! I'm one of them..so crazy!. We went to the church to watch the afternoon session. I really like watching conference at the church! I got an awesome letter from Grandma that night who told me a cool story about how she realized she needed to be herself, I felt like I really needed to hear that that night. Sunday was a really good day/bad day. I felt great watching conference, but after I started feeling very uneasy and anxious. Then we went to the Takemoto's for lunch and had SCONE SUNDAY!!! I was so happy because it was like a little bit of home here in VA :) then we went back to the church and finished conference. I finally told my companion that I wanted a Priesthood blessing. It's the hardest thing to admit that you are having a hard time when you're on your mission. It's supposed to be the happiest time of your life and everythings supposed to be rainbows and butterflies-right? But there is so much pressure on us as missionaries and I feel like all the negative thoughts I've had over the past 6 weeks just built up and I needed help getting them out of my mind. So the Elders in our Ward came and gave me an amazing blessing. It was just exactly what I needed to hear and Heavenly Father reminded me that I'm here for a reason and He wants and needs me here. I felt so much love from my Heavenly Father and I knew that he is proud of me. I learned to control what I can and let go of what I cannot. I have sooo many weaknesses, but I have a Heavenly Father who is perfect and is the strongest! And in Him I can change what I need to and become a better person.. Admitting weaknesses is not giving up. It actually makes you a lot stronger! Ever since I got the blessing, I feel a million times better. Things aren't perfect, and they never will be, but now I know that I CAN handle all of this and that I'm exactly where I need to be. Sometimes it's hard to admit that sadness and trials are all part of Heavenly Fathers plans. If I hadn't felt so sad, I wouldn't be able to feel as happy as I do now. I'm so grateful for your guys support through my mission so far. I could not be here without you. I am constantly thinking of you and using your examples to gain strength! I hope you guys loved conference as much as I did! Any news on the visa yet? I love you all so much and hope your week is wonderful, I know mine will be!Love, Sister Pehrson