I LOVE you. Being on a mission has really opened my eyes! The more I am here the more I am grateful for you guys!!! I am so grateful for the wonderful, stable, strong, amazing family I have! There are so many people I have met that do not have that strong family support. Their families have been ruined by divorce, abuse, alcohol, drugs, pornography, and just plain selfishness. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life that I can be blessed and my family can be blessed. And that we can be together FOREVER. Thank you for being so WONDERFUL! Let me just say I talked to a girl this week and she had no one in the world to turn and I wanted to cry for her. She has been searching for that support and love and keeps turning to jerky guys. And I wanted to cry because I have that support and love. Don't get me wrong there a lot of great families here, even ones outside of the Church and seeing them and how they help each other increases my testimony of how important families are.
Another thing, I have never realized how really BAD pornography is until recently. It's a disease! Stay away from it. It will ruin your life and your family's lives. It makes you selfish and cruel and unfeeling. It deadens your senses and emotions. And the biggest problem I have seen is that it is so addictive and people won't admit they have a problem, but it is a problem and they need help. If anyone has a problem with porn they can get help from the Bishop or professional counseling.
So it probably sounds like I have had a tough week. Well it actually wasn't that bad. Last week was sooo slow! It was terrible, everyone was going out of town for the holiday weekend or they had family coming in, so we couldn't get any appointments. And we got stood up several times. It was super hard and not very much fun. But then the past couple of days have been so busy and I have loved it! We have taught several people who have been progressing. Yesterday we got a media referral which is when someone calls the number for a free Book of Mormon, DVD, Bible, etc, they talk to the missionaries at the MTC to order it, and the missionaries invite them to have the missionaries drop it off. So we got a referral for a lady who wanted a Lamb of God DVD. So we went to drop it off and the lady welcomed us with a hug! It was great to be welcomed with open arms! Anyways she has just barely started attending church again in the last year (she grew up in a church, but didn't keep going when she was 18) and as she put it "She is hungry to learn more." So she had a bunch of questions and wanted to know what is different about our church. So we taught her the first lesson about prophets and authority and the Restoration. We then gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would love to read it. We didn't get a return appointment, but it is very likely she will call us with more questions. It was just so great to talk to someone so excited about church, the Bible, and learning. It was hard to tell how much she accepted or if she was just being nice.
So story: We drive around quite a bit going to different appointments and at least 2 or more times a day we see a pizza delivery guy in a green bug. So it's like a game with us to see him, his name is the "Pizza Inn Guy" (he works for Pizza Inn). It's a good thing our car is silver and kind of generic looking or he probably would think we are stalking him. Also Sister Hill and I really aren't morning people and so our work outs at 6:30 in the morning have been really sad. But we have decided to do better, and in the MTC they gave us a Health Guide Book and gives ideas for how to workout inside. So we have some pretty intense jogging in place sessions while rocking out to EFY music. If nothing else the hilariousness of how we look wakes us up for study time.
I think I told you about how on Friday's we volunteer at an assisted living home called Wheatland. And last Friday they had a dance party. (Yes I know, crazy idea to have a dance party with old people but they do it once a month) The theme was "Exclusively Elvis" and pretty much they come to listen to music and watch us dance. After the dance all the elderly people came up and told us what wonderful dancers we were and how much they appreciated it. Which is funny because Sister Hill and I have no skill whatsoever and what we did I wouldn't call dancing, I would call it moving in time to the music. But it was still really fun and we did get a few of the residents to get up and "dance" with us. And they really seemed to enjoy it. Next week they are having an end of summer dance with "shag" music. What is "shag" music?
Our mission president is having us do a new tracting method. What we do is ask a "question of the soul" like "Where do we come from?" "What does Christ expect of us?" How do we get happier families?" Pretty much any question that people have about life. And then we share scripture from the Book of Mormon. The idea is to share the Spirit of the Book of Mormon and to interest people by showing that the Book of Mormon can answer any of our questions. But I need your help, I have a hard time thinking of questions that are important to people and would spark their interest. And I need other people's perspectives. Plus it is a great way to study the Book of Mormon when you think of questions it answers. So could you all think of "Questions of the Soul" and send them to me with a scripture that answers it. (Great Family Home Evening Idea, wink wink) You have a year and half. Ha ha
This week I read the conference talk that President Eyring gave in the General Young Women session. It is called "Walk in the Light" and its about making decisions. In it President Eyring says how he wishes he would have understood better how to make decisions when we was younger. And I started thinking that I wish the same thing. I wish I had a better idea of the consequences that would happen too. I also wish that I had studied the scriptures more. There is so many questions that can be answered in the scriptures, so much peace, and happiness. And I think back to Seminary and what a great opportunity that was to study the scriptures and to have someone there to help answer questions and I WASTED it. So my younger siblings learn from my mistakes. Study your scriptures. Don't read them. Never does it say we are commanded to read our scriptures, we are commanded to "feast" and to "treasure up." And on my mission as I have "treasured" up the scriptures I have gained a better understanding of who I am, how to make better decisions, what I want to become, and how to be a better person. And when I start with a pray I have the Spirit there to help me understand what I am reading (because sometimes it is hard to figure out what they are saying). I know that the Spirit can give inspiration just for us. That two people can read the same scripture and learn different lessons from it because that is what they need to hear.
I LOVE you all!!!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
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