Dear Family,
Not too much has happened since I last talked to you on Christmas. Things are finally picking up after being slow for the holiday. I don’t think I sufficiently thanked you all for your Christmas presents. I loved it all and it was much appreciated. Lots of people sent me cards, so if I don’t reply, hopefully you read my blog and know that it was much appreciated. Christmas was nice, pretty quite. We didn’t do much except eat and visit with members and call our families. It was 50 degrees! Which was ridiculous for Christmas and it didn’t feel like Christmas at all without snow. I was very snow sick when you told me you were snowed in on Christmas. It has been fairly warm all last week too. On Saturday it was probably in the mid to upper 60s!!! That was actually a good thing though because we were moving the Clothing Bank to a new location. We volunteer at the Clothing Bank every Friday. All the other volunteers there are older ladies, so us and Marjie (the owner) are the strongest people who work there. So we volunteered the Elders help as well. It was a huge job, but really fun. I think we figured out that we moved over 200 boxes of clothes, plus shelves and racks, and boxes of household items. The only other volunteers were inmates. No kidding, like the guys in the bright orange clothes that usually pick up trash on the highway and are supervised by an officer. They look kind of tough, you know with tattoos and long hair, but they were actually very nice and hard workers. I wish I hadn’t been so scared of them and had talked to them more. You couldn’t ask for a better investigator: they obviously need the Gospel, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, they have a lot of time on their hands, and you always know where to find them. Ha ha, well if they really are meant to hear the Gospel, God will put them in paths again. All of these opportunities that I look back on and in retrospect really wished I would have shared the Gospel with them make me realize that I need to quit be scared and open my mouth. Talking to people will do more good than harm, what’s the worse that can happen? They’ll say no. Anyways so that is my New Year’s resolution.
So on January 17th we are doing a Stop Smoking Workshop for the community. We are doing it at the library and anyone is welcome. We are putting up fliers, asking members to invite friends or co-workers who would like to stop smoking. We figured now would be a good time because lots of people will be making New Year’s Resolutions to stop smoking and it would be a few weeks in and people will probably be struggling. Hopefully we can get some referrals from it, but even if we just help a few people to stop smoking it will be totally worth it. A lot of people in this area smoke. I am always so surprised at how many people do smoke, especially know the health reasons not too. So pray that this workshop will be a success.
Seriously nothing much has happened. All of our progressing investigators cancelled on us this last week because of the holidays. We went tracting yesterday. Oh Yay! That’s news! Yesterday I went tracting for the longest time period I ever have: 2 ½ hours! That’s actually very week, some elders go tracting all day. But Sister Hill hated tracting so we went on when we had absolutely nothing to do. Sister Peck doesn’t really enjoy it either but she says she has so little of her mission left she might as well work hard the last 3 months. I don’t mind it, I don’t know why everyone says it’s so horrible. When people slam the door or are rude, it’s usually quite entertaining. Like the lady whose head almost exploded when we told her to have a nice day. Or the lady who look utterly terrified when she found out we were Mormons, she acted like we were diseased or something. The Elders had one guy ask about the magical salamandar who lead us to the promised land in Utah. haha crazy stuff. Tracting really isn’t very successful and sometimes it’s hard and awkward, but it gets us out in the community. Also it shows our faith and we will be blessed for it. I have had some interesting experiences tracting. We were told we shouldn’t go tracting just anywhere, we should pray about where we should go. And as we have done that I have found that we have been lead to people who are being prepared, who have had lots of contact with the church, who really need the Gospel, or someone who is just having a bad day and needs someone to be nice to them. Most people won’t let us come back but those seeds are being planted. About a month and a half ago, Sister Hill and I prayed about where we should go and we went on Silver Lake Road. We found this lady, Vicki. She wasn’t really interested, but she said come back later (lots of people say that even though they don’t want us to come back, it’s like they think we won’t come back. Ha ha) We went back several times and finally she listened to the 1st lesson probably just to be polite. We asked if we could come back and follow up with her reading of the Book of Mormon, she said she wouldn’t be free for about a month and a half. Well Sister Peck and I followed up this week and turns out her son died Dec. 12th and she is really sad about it. So we taught her the Plan of Salvation. And she said that it’s what she believes and she has never heard someone teach what she believes. She seemed really grateful and said we could come back in 2 weeks. So God does lead us to people who need us.
Well I love you all. It was nice to talk to you on Thursday. Keep smiling. Have fun snowboarding! Today Elder Richards and Elder Lundin are going to teach us (our whole district) how to solve the Rubik’s Cube!! There is an object lesson about the principles of the Gospel you can do with it. So we’re off to have a Rubik’s party!!
Have a Happy New Year!
Love, Sister Polatis
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sister Forgetful
Dear Family,
So I am writing today because our P-day has been changed because tomorrow is Zone Conference. It should be fun, it’s a Christmas Conference and their going to be feeding us a traditional Christmas Dinner and I heard a rumor that we are going caroling. On Christmas we are going to the Sundberg’s for breakfast and then we are going to the Burner’s for Dinner. The Burner’s have a son serving in Arizona, so I think they decided to at least have some missionaries over to replace their missionary son. We will probably be calling from the Passic’s and that will be around noon or 10 a.m. your time. Kurt and Alanna I will probably be calling you separately since you won’t be in Idaho yet.
So my new companion: Sister Peck. Sister Peck is from Payson, Utah and only has 3 months left. I really think I am going to learn a lot from her, she is not at all afraid to talk to strangers and be friendly. Also she never speaks badly of anyone, even people she doesn’t like she doesn’t speak ill of. There is a missionary that annoys her and she just says he’s like her kid brother. Sister Peck is super intense; she has no problem promising people blessings because she is so intense about the blessings or consequences from our choices. She was in a super bad biking accident when she was 9 and hit her head several times on the road. The doctors didn’t think she would live or that if she did she would be a vegetable. But her dad gave her a blessing. There are some lasting effects still though. She suffers from short term memory loss. She says the Lord has really blessed her to remember investigator’s names and other important things, and she is good about it except I have to keep reminding her about what we are teaching them and stuff until she has meet them a couple times. Oh so they changed the rules a couple weeks ago because we got a new Senior missionary over the cars and only the Senior companion can drive. So Sister Peck is driving and it makes it pretty hilarious to drive with her, not only does she not know the area, but she can’t remember where we are going or what direction. She’s kind of a miracle to still be alive so a little memory loss is no big deal. I was a little sad to see Sister Hill go, but we were kind of getting into a rut so this will be really good.
On Tuesday we taught Rachel, she is the member referral. We found out that she has some really deep concerns that we didn’t know about because she is super quiet. She doesn’t even know if she believes in God or if he answers prayers. Well that is why it’s so awesome to have members involved. Brother Peterson knew this because they had talked about it before and so he addressed it in our lesson. I was so grateful for him because we had no idea.
Nothing really big has happened this week except for a lot of Christmas programs. And this ward has been super awesome about helping people out. There are a lot of people around here who are really struggling, it really opens my eyes. There is one lady we are teaching and for Christmas her sister is fixing her coat (the lining is coming out) and that is the gift she is most excited to receive, an old, mended coat. Makes you realize how blessed we are. Being on a mission during Christmas has been a real eye opener. We have been going tracting a lot lately and so many people have told us they don’t have time right now, maybe after the holidays. They don’t have time to hear a message about Christ?! It’s His Birthday Party here! There are two kinds of people who don’t want to listen to us or help us, either they are too lazy or they are too busy, we really need to find that happy medium. The best present we can give, is to take some time to learn about Christ or do an act of kindness.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!! I will talk to you soon!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
So I am writing today because our P-day has been changed because tomorrow is Zone Conference. It should be fun, it’s a Christmas Conference and their going to be feeding us a traditional Christmas Dinner and I heard a rumor that we are going caroling. On Christmas we are going to the Sundberg’s for breakfast and then we are going to the Burner’s for Dinner. The Burner’s have a son serving in Arizona, so I think they decided to at least have some missionaries over to replace their missionary son. We will probably be calling from the Passic’s and that will be around noon or 10 a.m. your time. Kurt and Alanna I will probably be calling you separately since you won’t be in Idaho yet.
So my new companion: Sister Peck. Sister Peck is from Payson, Utah and only has 3 months left. I really think I am going to learn a lot from her, she is not at all afraid to talk to strangers and be friendly. Also she never speaks badly of anyone, even people she doesn’t like she doesn’t speak ill of. There is a missionary that annoys her and she just says he’s like her kid brother. Sister Peck is super intense; she has no problem promising people blessings because she is so intense about the blessings or consequences from our choices. She was in a super bad biking accident when she was 9 and hit her head several times on the road. The doctors didn’t think she would live or that if she did she would be a vegetable. But her dad gave her a blessing. There are some lasting effects still though. She suffers from short term memory loss. She says the Lord has really blessed her to remember investigator’s names and other important things, and she is good about it except I have to keep reminding her about what we are teaching them and stuff until she has meet them a couple times. Oh so they changed the rules a couple weeks ago because we got a new Senior missionary over the cars and only the Senior companion can drive. So Sister Peck is driving and it makes it pretty hilarious to drive with her, not only does she not know the area, but she can’t remember where we are going or what direction. She’s kind of a miracle to still be alive so a little memory loss is no big deal. I was a little sad to see Sister Hill go, but we were kind of getting into a rut so this will be really good.
On Tuesday we taught Rachel, she is the member referral. We found out that she has some really deep concerns that we didn’t know about because she is super quiet. She doesn’t even know if she believes in God or if he answers prayers. Well that is why it’s so awesome to have members involved. Brother Peterson knew this because they had talked about it before and so he addressed it in our lesson. I was so grateful for him because we had no idea.
Nothing really big has happened this week except for a lot of Christmas programs. And this ward has been super awesome about helping people out. There are a lot of people around here who are really struggling, it really opens my eyes. There is one lady we are teaching and for Christmas her sister is fixing her coat (the lining is coming out) and that is the gift she is most excited to receive, an old, mended coat. Makes you realize how blessed we are. Being on a mission during Christmas has been a real eye opener. We have been going tracting a lot lately and so many people have told us they don’t have time right now, maybe after the holidays. They don’t have time to hear a message about Christ?! It’s His Birthday Party here! There are two kinds of people who don’t want to listen to us or help us, either they are too lazy or they are too busy, we really need to find that happy medium. The best present we can give, is to take some time to learn about Christ or do an act of kindness.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!! I will talk to you soon!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A marriage in a bishop's office
HELLO Family!!
Okay I have lots of news!!! Okay first thing Jason got baptized!!! He got baptized on Sunday right after church. It was supposed to be tonight because the standard is that you have to stop smoking for 2 weeks before baptism. But it was going to be really hard to do the baptism tonight because Jason usually works late and then not very many members of the ward would probably attend. So we called President and described the situation and he thought Jason was sincere enough that the baptism could be moved up 2 days. And guess what else?!!! Jason and Naomi got married too!!! It was totally last minute thing. They got married right before church in the Bishop’s office. So super big day for Jason!! The baptism was amazing!! The spirit was so strong at the baptism and when Jason came up out of the water he was smiling so big!! I am so glad he got to be baptized on Sunday, church was awesome and it was a great build up to the baptism. It was mostly about Christ and why it’s so important to celebrate Christmas. And the songs Jason chose for the baptism were “Our Savior’s Love” and “Come Unto Jesus” which were so appropriate because they were about how it’s only through Christ that we can be made clean again and have any hope. What a great day!! I got to learn so much about God’s love for us and the covenants we make at baptism. Christ has given us the greatest gift EVER! And all he asks in return is that we follow Him. We follow His example as we get baptized and we make a covenant that we will continue to follow Him. President Thornock said that Jason sounded like King Lamoni in Alma 22:15-18, where he says that he would give away all his sins to know God. It gave whole new meaning to that scripture to see such a real life application. Jason might have made some mistakes in his past but he is truly repenting. He is willing to do whatever it takes, he is a great example for us, what little sins do we hang on to that keep us from knowing God? This is the most awesome and most beautiful thing I have ever been able to be apart of. Really though, that’s all I have done is watched this thing happen, we haven’t done anything. Jason was so ready and he opened his heart and the Spirit did the rest. Other people we teach I am worried about them staying active, but Jason I have no worries, he has a great family to support him and he is truly converted.
Okay now the next news which is not nearly so pleasant. I have to say goodbye to Sister Hill. Transfers are tomorrow and she is leaving to go up to West Virginia, she is going to be companions with my MTC companion Sister Taylor!! My new companion is going to be Sister Peck, who was Sister Hill’s companion about 7 months ago. I hear she is really fun. I am really glad I get to stay in Christiansburg especially for Christmas. We are going to the Burner’s, they have a son that is serving in Arizona. I have no idea about when I will be calling you guys, but I will by next Tuesday so I will let you know.
So on Saturday, Sister Hill and I went to Wendy’s for dinner. And later we realized that they hadn’t charged us for the frosty we got. Now it’s only like $1.49, but how can we teach people about honesty and be Christlike if we aren’t honest. So we went back and paid for it. The look on the kids face at the cash register was hilarious, he said “Are you serious?” in the most incredulous tone ever. Then we looked at our tags and said “Oh okay, whatever.” It was pretty funny and entertaining.
Oh, so I am looking for ideas for how to make lessons more interactive. For example, apostasy jenga to teach about the apostasy and the Restoration. Or if you get a jar full of sand and rocks, if you put the sand in first, the rocks don’t fit. But if you put the rocks in first, the sand fills in the cracks, to show about putting God first. Something like that. So if you have any ideas or find anything like that I would really appreciate it. Something especially for kids or even teenagers.
Life is awesome, I love the Gospel. Christ Loves us!! Don’t forget what Christmas is really about!!!
Sister Hill and I have to go pack now!!!
I LOVE you All!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Sister Nicole Polatis
P.S. You better be saving up your letters to send in a Christmas package or something because I haven’t gotten any letters in a long time. So long in fact that Sister Hill has started asking in her prayers that I will get mail. I think she feels guilty, she got 6 letters in 2 days last week. I don’t like her pity so send mail Please!!
Okay I have lots of news!!! Okay first thing Jason got baptized!!! He got baptized on Sunday right after church. It was supposed to be tonight because the standard is that you have to stop smoking for 2 weeks before baptism. But it was going to be really hard to do the baptism tonight because Jason usually works late and then not very many members of the ward would probably attend. So we called President and described the situation and he thought Jason was sincere enough that the baptism could be moved up 2 days. And guess what else?!!! Jason and Naomi got married too!!! It was totally last minute thing. They got married right before church in the Bishop’s office. So super big day for Jason!! The baptism was amazing!! The spirit was so strong at the baptism and when Jason came up out of the water he was smiling so big!! I am so glad he got to be baptized on Sunday, church was awesome and it was a great build up to the baptism. It was mostly about Christ and why it’s so important to celebrate Christmas. And the songs Jason chose for the baptism were “Our Savior’s Love” and “Come Unto Jesus” which were so appropriate because they were about how it’s only through Christ that we can be made clean again and have any hope. What a great day!! I got to learn so much about God’s love for us and the covenants we make at baptism. Christ has given us the greatest gift EVER! And all he asks in return is that we follow Him. We follow His example as we get baptized and we make a covenant that we will continue to follow Him. President Thornock said that Jason sounded like King Lamoni in Alma 22:15-18, where he says that he would give away all his sins to know God. It gave whole new meaning to that scripture to see such a real life application. Jason might have made some mistakes in his past but he is truly repenting. He is willing to do whatever it takes, he is a great example for us, what little sins do we hang on to that keep us from knowing God? This is the most awesome and most beautiful thing I have ever been able to be apart of. Really though, that’s all I have done is watched this thing happen, we haven’t done anything. Jason was so ready and he opened his heart and the Spirit did the rest. Other people we teach I am worried about them staying active, but Jason I have no worries, he has a great family to support him and he is truly converted.
Okay now the next news which is not nearly so pleasant. I have to say goodbye to Sister Hill. Transfers are tomorrow and she is leaving to go up to West Virginia, she is going to be companions with my MTC companion Sister Taylor!! My new companion is going to be Sister Peck, who was Sister Hill’s companion about 7 months ago. I hear she is really fun. I am really glad I get to stay in Christiansburg especially for Christmas. We are going to the Burner’s, they have a son that is serving in Arizona. I have no idea about when I will be calling you guys, but I will by next Tuesday so I will let you know.
So on Saturday, Sister Hill and I went to Wendy’s for dinner. And later we realized that they hadn’t charged us for the frosty we got. Now it’s only like $1.49, but how can we teach people about honesty and be Christlike if we aren’t honest. So we went back and paid for it. The look on the kids face at the cash register was hilarious, he said “Are you serious?” in the most incredulous tone ever. Then we looked at our tags and said “Oh okay, whatever.” It was pretty funny and entertaining.
Oh, so I am looking for ideas for how to make lessons more interactive. For example, apostasy jenga to teach about the apostasy and the Restoration. Or if you get a jar full of sand and rocks, if you put the sand in first, the rocks don’t fit. But if you put the rocks in first, the sand fills in the cracks, to show about putting God first. Something like that. So if you have any ideas or find anything like that I would really appreciate it. Something especially for kids or even teenagers.
Life is awesome, I love the Gospel. Christ Loves us!! Don’t forget what Christmas is really about!!!
Sister Hill and I have to go pack now!!!
I LOVE you All!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Sister Nicole Polatis
P.S. You better be saving up your letters to send in a Christmas package or something because I haven’t gotten any letters in a long time. So long in fact that Sister Hill has started asking in her prayers that I will get mail. I think she feels guilty, she got 6 letters in 2 days last week. I don’t like her pity so send mail Please!!
Friday, December 12, 2008
"How soon can I get baptized?"
Dear Family,
So this week was AMAZING!!! And it was because of one event. The rest of the week could have gone terrible and the week would still have been AMAZING! Last Tuesday we meet with Naomi and Jason. I have told you about them before but let me catch you up. Naomi is less active, her parents are really strong members and asked if we would go visit her. So we started teaching her and her boyfriend Jason. They have been together for a really long time and they have a son, Josiah. We have been teaching them for over a month. Last week, Jason wasn’t at our appointment it was just Naomi, she said he wanted some alone time and was grumpy. Jason had mentioned before that he had some stuff that was bothering him and he felt needed to be cleared up. We were going to teach the Law of Chastity that night and tell them they needed to move out, but since Jason wasn’t there we taught Naomi about temples. Well Sister Hill felt inspired that instead of teaching Chastity we should teach repentance. So last Tuesday we taught repentance and Jason looked really anguished (interesting word choice I know but there is no other word for it). At the end he was pretty much crying and asked us what he needed to do to repent. And we told him he could be baptized and everything would be clean again. And then he said what every missionary loves to hear, “How soon can I get baptized?” Then Naomi turned to him and said well you realize that we are going to have to get married or move out? And he said okay. So we taught him a short Word of Wisdom, told him he needed to stop smoking for 2 weeks, so the earliest date would be December 16th. He said fine. So we set the date for December 16th (Darci’s Birthday!) We went back the next night and taught him the Word of Wisdom in depth and the Stop Smoking Workshop. Then we told him men are not supposed to have earrings. He gave no grief over it, he said that earrings and jewelry used to be the sign of a slave, and he said he didn’t want to be a slave to Satan anymore. I thought that was a great way to put it. On Sunday he came to church without his earrings. He asked if he had to cut his hair, we told him it wasn’t required, but I bet if we would have he would have come to church with a haircut. On Sunday he also told us that he hadn’t smoked all week, and it actually hadn’t been that hard, the hard part was giving up the coffee. It’s amazing how Jason has been prepared to receive and hear the Gospel. We have other investigators who we stress and work really hard with and they aren’t progressing or at least not very fast, but we have hardly stressed over Jason, it has all fallen into place. Even the members that we have picked to come with us have been perfect. It gives me a whole new perspective on being an instrument in God’s hands, we have done very little, it has just all come perfectly into place. There really are people out there who are ready to receive the Gospel, we just need to find them. And the best way to find them is through members. Last night, Brother Peterson called us and said “I have a girl I work with who would like to meet with you, can you come over to my house tonight and teach her?” And of course, Sister Hill and I were thrilled to do it. That is the best way for missionary work to be, members finding those who are looking for the Gospel and then inviting them into their home to be taught by the missionaries. Member’s homes are the best place to teach because the Spirit is already there. And members know so much better than the missionaries who is prepared to receive the Gospel. The girls name is Rachel and she is looking for a new church to go to, she used to go to a Baptist Church. She is super quiet and seems shy. If Brother Peterson hadn’t been involved I don’t think she would have had the courage to meet with us herself. Members are awesome!!!
Sorry I didn’t write last week, hope you got my letters. No I did not get transferred, transfers are actually next Wednesday. Sister Hill and I both feel like she will be transferred and I will stay here, although anything could happen. An Elder in our district actually got emergency transferred last Friday. There have been some issues with him already, he seems to have anger management issues and has blown up at other missionaries in public before. I witnessed one such scene and it was incredibly embarrassing. He also does not relate to men at all and is a real ladies man. He will not take any advice or instruction from other Elders, but when Sister Hill and I make comments he has no problem accepting it. He is actually an extremely disobedient missionary. And he is not happy, a prime example that wickedness never was happiness. Anyways so last week he called Sister Hill and I, and we thought it was missionary business (you aren’t supposed to call otherwise) but he just wanted to talk. He was having issues with his companion. Turned out he had left the apartment to make the call and one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Adamson, went to go find him (they live in the apartment below the Zone Leaders). And told him he needed to get off the phone and go back to his companion. So Sister Hill had just told him that usually problems in companionship are really you and so to “quit being an idiot and pray for humility.” He took that no problem, but then we found out, he got off the phone, stormed into the Zone Leaders apartment and started yelling because they told him he couldn’t talk to us without permission. He is a really big guy and he started choking Elder Adamson and slammed him against the wall. The end to this story is that he got transferred that very night to Charleston where President could meet with him and keep an eye on him. A lot of missionaries can’t believe he wasn’t sent home, but I think staying will be the best punishment and blessing. He isn’t happy, he has a girl waiting at home (she is pretty much the reason he is here), but he needs to learn to follow the rules and control his temper. Missions can really help you grow and change if you will let it and follow the rules. It’s kind of like life, life can be a rewarding and awesome experience where we can learn and return to live with God again, but that will only happen if we will let it and follow the commandments. And life will be much happier if we follow the commandments (Mosiah 2:41) We can always improve and do better, and as we do God will bless us even more. Key to happiness = obedience to the commandments.
So things are going fabulous with me. I haven’t really heard from you lately so I have no idea how you are going. (hint hint) :) Have you been snowboarding yet? We have gotten a little bit of snow here, but nothing ever sticks. And the people here are ridiculous about their snow. The other night it was snowing a medium snowfall and the wind was blowing and there was no traffic at all! And the Elders had their appointment cancel because they said they didn’t want them out in that blizzard! It wasn’t a blizzard it was a light snowfall with a breeze!! And school gets canceled here if there is any snow at all. It’s crazy! Anyways I love you all. Hope you have a fabulous week!
Love, Sister Polatis
So this week was AMAZING!!! And it was because of one event. The rest of the week could have gone terrible and the week would still have been AMAZING! Last Tuesday we meet with Naomi and Jason. I have told you about them before but let me catch you up. Naomi is less active, her parents are really strong members and asked if we would go visit her. So we started teaching her and her boyfriend Jason. They have been together for a really long time and they have a son, Josiah. We have been teaching them for over a month. Last week, Jason wasn’t at our appointment it was just Naomi, she said he wanted some alone time and was grumpy. Jason had mentioned before that he had some stuff that was bothering him and he felt needed to be cleared up. We were going to teach the Law of Chastity that night and tell them they needed to move out, but since Jason wasn’t there we taught Naomi about temples. Well Sister Hill felt inspired that instead of teaching Chastity we should teach repentance. So last Tuesday we taught repentance and Jason looked really anguished (interesting word choice I know but there is no other word for it). At the end he was pretty much crying and asked us what he needed to do to repent. And we told him he could be baptized and everything would be clean again. And then he said what every missionary loves to hear, “How soon can I get baptized?” Then Naomi turned to him and said well you realize that we are going to have to get married or move out? And he said okay. So we taught him a short Word of Wisdom, told him he needed to stop smoking for 2 weeks, so the earliest date would be December 16th. He said fine. So we set the date for December 16th (Darci’s Birthday!) We went back the next night and taught him the Word of Wisdom in depth and the Stop Smoking Workshop. Then we told him men are not supposed to have earrings. He gave no grief over it, he said that earrings and jewelry used to be the sign of a slave, and he said he didn’t want to be a slave to Satan anymore. I thought that was a great way to put it. On Sunday he came to church without his earrings. He asked if he had to cut his hair, we told him it wasn’t required, but I bet if we would have he would have come to church with a haircut. On Sunday he also told us that he hadn’t smoked all week, and it actually hadn’t been that hard, the hard part was giving up the coffee. It’s amazing how Jason has been prepared to receive and hear the Gospel. We have other investigators who we stress and work really hard with and they aren’t progressing or at least not very fast, but we have hardly stressed over Jason, it has all fallen into place. Even the members that we have picked to come with us have been perfect. It gives me a whole new perspective on being an instrument in God’s hands, we have done very little, it has just all come perfectly into place. There really are people out there who are ready to receive the Gospel, we just need to find them. And the best way to find them is through members. Last night, Brother Peterson called us and said “I have a girl I work with who would like to meet with you, can you come over to my house tonight and teach her?” And of course, Sister Hill and I were thrilled to do it. That is the best way for missionary work to be, members finding those who are looking for the Gospel and then inviting them into their home to be taught by the missionaries. Member’s homes are the best place to teach because the Spirit is already there. And members know so much better than the missionaries who is prepared to receive the Gospel. The girls name is Rachel and she is looking for a new church to go to, she used to go to a Baptist Church. She is super quiet and seems shy. If Brother Peterson hadn’t been involved I don’t think she would have had the courage to meet with us herself. Members are awesome!!!
Sorry I didn’t write last week, hope you got my letters. No I did not get transferred, transfers are actually next Wednesday. Sister Hill and I both feel like she will be transferred and I will stay here, although anything could happen. An Elder in our district actually got emergency transferred last Friday. There have been some issues with him already, he seems to have anger management issues and has blown up at other missionaries in public before. I witnessed one such scene and it was incredibly embarrassing. He also does not relate to men at all and is a real ladies man. He will not take any advice or instruction from other Elders, but when Sister Hill and I make comments he has no problem accepting it. He is actually an extremely disobedient missionary. And he is not happy, a prime example that wickedness never was happiness. Anyways so last week he called Sister Hill and I, and we thought it was missionary business (you aren’t supposed to call otherwise) but he just wanted to talk. He was having issues with his companion. Turned out he had left the apartment to make the call and one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Adamson, went to go find him (they live in the apartment below the Zone Leaders). And told him he needed to get off the phone and go back to his companion. So Sister Hill had just told him that usually problems in companionship are really you and so to “quit being an idiot and pray for humility.” He took that no problem, but then we found out, he got off the phone, stormed into the Zone Leaders apartment and started yelling because they told him he couldn’t talk to us without permission. He is a really big guy and he started choking Elder Adamson and slammed him against the wall. The end to this story is that he got transferred that very night to Charleston where President could meet with him and keep an eye on him. A lot of missionaries can’t believe he wasn’t sent home, but I think staying will be the best punishment and blessing. He isn’t happy, he has a girl waiting at home (she is pretty much the reason he is here), but he needs to learn to follow the rules and control his temper. Missions can really help you grow and change if you will let it and follow the rules. It’s kind of like life, life can be a rewarding and awesome experience where we can learn and return to live with God again, but that will only happen if we will let it and follow the commandments. And life will be much happier if we follow the commandments (Mosiah 2:41) We can always improve and do better, and as we do God will bless us even more. Key to happiness = obedience to the commandments.
So things are going fabulous with me. I haven’t really heard from you lately so I have no idea how you are going. (hint hint) :) Have you been snowboarding yet? We have gotten a little bit of snow here, but nothing ever sticks. And the people here are ridiculous about their snow. The other night it was snowing a medium snowfall and the wind was blowing and there was no traffic at all! And the Elders had their appointment cancel because they said they didn’t want them out in that blizzard! It wasn’t a blizzard it was a light snowfall with a breeze!! And school gets canceled here if there is any snow at all. It’s crazy! Anyways I love you all. Hope you have a fabulous week!
Love, Sister Polatis
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