Dear Family,
Hello, hello. So I don’t have tons of time so this might be quick. So probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was we did service for one of our investigators, Lois. We helped her peel paint off her walls. I think I might have told you this before but the house she lives in is her replacement house because the state took her house to put a new freeway ramp in. Well she didn’t have much choice and the house wasn’t ideal. The people who lived there before were heavy smokers and the walls were covered in nicotine. She tried to scrub it off and it didn’t work very well so she painted over it. Well because it was cheap paint and because of the humidity it started to bubble and come off. And when it was really humid the nicotine would find it’s way through the paint and run down the walls. (GROSS! This is why you should never start smoking, Lois can’t get it out of her house, imagine what it does to your body) However, when she peels off the paint all the layers come with it, so I think she has finally found a way to get ride of the nicotine. So we did that for several hours and while we did it we had a really good conversation with her about the Gospel and priorities and being obedient. It was great and I think it will really help her. But afterwards my one finger was blistered! Crazy. We also taught Dennis, he is the guy who is lonely and his parents are members. We had a really great lesson with him. He is really opening up to us and he is showing a lot more emotion. We asked him if he would be baptized and he said that was a really big commitment and he would need to pray about it first. The was the best answer ever!! Dennis has some big commitment issues, but if he is willing to pray about it that is an excellent sign! So some member in the ward asked us to go and see their grandson, Ricky, who is less active. They gave us directions and oh man that was an adventure. He live up a holler, on top of a hill, up a super steep and uneven road. But we found him. He’s probably in his 20’s and is living with a girl who is also less active. When we came he was outside smoking, it was kind of ridiculous because we could tell he wasn’t used to smoking. Kind of reminded me of a little kid who is trying to do something grown up to look cool but it just looks ridiculous. (In other words smoking is gross don’t do it) And turns out he likes to wakeboard, so we had a nice conversation about wakeboarding and then asked if we could come back and he said yes! I don’t know if he would have let us come back anyways, but the wakeboarding definitely helped! I’m already planning the Word of Wisdom lesson! We are teaching this guy, Dave, and have been for a while. I know I’ve mentioned him before. He is real logical and wants to know everything in detail!! Well he came to church on Sunday!! YAY! And he really seemed to enjoy it. So on Saturday, we stopped by this former investigator named Ed. Ed was taught by missionaries about a year ago and made all kinds of changes and was all gung ho about being baptized. But then he found out he couldn’t be baptized while he was on house arrest. He was super disappointed, and soon after that his house arrest changed and he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere not even church, unless it was work. So he got really depressed and went back to the alcohol and cigarettes. Missionaries have visited him off and on since. He still wants to be baptized next April when he gets off house arrest. Well we stopped by and he was all excited and he pulled out his scriptures. He then began to teach us the Word of Wisdom all the while smoking a cigarette and drinking! (He had a huge bottle of hard core liquor and I think he was on his second one!) It was pretty funny to me. But he said he wants to quit but was finding it hard when he was so depressed. He’s in a pretty sad situation, but it’s good for him to understand that there are consequences to our actions even if we are sorry and trying to repent. Well, mission life continues there are the really great times and the really hard times (kind of like life). But the good times are all work the tough stuff. And I have been enlightened this week seeing as we taught the Plan of Salvation several times. The end goal is to get to the Celestial Kingdom to be with God and with our families. That is why the plan was created, for our exaltation, that’s why we wanted to come to Earth even though we knew it would be hard. Unfortunately we let worldly things fog our vision and we forget what our goal is. The goal is attainable though and it will be so worth it!! Why should we settle for less! God didn’t create this plan so we could fail. We set goals in life so that we can then direct our actions and such towards that goal. Example, for a runner the goal is the finish line, this gives them something to run towards instead of all the other directions they could go. We too have a finish line so let us direct our attention and efforts towards that goal instead of wasting our efforts in running in the wrong direction.Hope you all have a fabulous week and it’s not too busy and you perhaps find some time to write me!!Love ya, Sister Nicole Polatis
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Overcoming Discouragement
Dear Family,
Hello, hello! So I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Reeves, she is from American Fork, Utah. She is 24, already graduated from college, and she taught 5th grade right before her mission. She was in the MTC with me, but in the other district so I didn't know her very well. She just came from Teays Valley serving with Sister Arnott in the last area that I was in, so she caught me up on everything there which was really fun. She is 6'2", a whole foot taller than me! She is really easy going and nice so I don't forsee any problems, we are going to have a great time! I really miss Sister Merrill though, now I have to take back responsibility since Sister Reeves doesn't know the area. So Martha was supposed to get baptized on Sunday, but we haven't seen her for weeks and she has been super sick, and now she is going out of town because her granddaughter is in the hospital. Martha needs to be in the hospital too! not traveling. Hopefully when she is staying with her daughter, her daughter can help her. We taught Tom and Kim, they are supposed to be getting baptized on July 26th, but they are not going to make it because they didn't meet with us last week, and haven't come to church yet because they have been out of town. Also we taught them the Word of Wisdom this week and they have some big concerns with it. We took an older couple with us, who served a mission in California and joined the church about 40 years ago. Brother Fike says that he sees his self 40 years ago when he looks at Tom. They had the same concerns. Tom and Kim really want to quit smoking, but they have tried before and it was hard and they are scared to do it, because they may not be able to and because they are so dependent on the nicotine they aren't looking forward to the nicotine fits. But we bore testimony that this is a commandment from God and He will help them if they will do their part. They said they would think about it and pray about it and we are seeing them tomorrow. We still haven't told them they need to get married. I know I know, that's probably something we should clue them into, but right now they are trying to work through smoking, and we didn't feel adding the Law of Chastity on top of that was a good idea right now. We got two new investigators this week. Their names are Jared and Amy. Sister Merrill and I actually tracted into them when I first got to Fairmont, so almost 3 months ago. He was going to Israel for work so we had to wait until he came back. We had a great lesson with them. They both have religious background that they don't really agree with. They are both confused about what they believe. They are searching, even if they don't know they are. Jared actually works for a member in Morgantown (the ward next to us) and they have talked a lot. The member is in the young men's and he is always talking about activities they did. Members who openly talk about the church and their beliefs are wonderful!!! They are not ashamed of the Gospel! And they really open people up to the Church. Jared and Amy probably wouldn't have let us in if Jared didn't have that connection. Open your mouth! The Gospel is a HUGE part of our lives, why are we so afraid to talk about it in conversation? We had Zone Conference yesterday, it was really great like always. A lot of the Elders I served around in Christiansburg just got transferred up here, so Zone Conference was like a mission reunion. It was really fun. Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed with all the things we need to do and how much I fall short in being exactly obedient. But Sister Reeves shared something with me that one of her companions shared with her. This is from the book, The Holy Secret. In it the author talks about how we have commandments given to us and these commandments are to prepare us for our heavenly home. We often fall short because we are far from perfection. The commandments are actually designed to be hard to follow. It is not the commandments that will save us but Jesus Christ. And as we fall short, the commandments turn us to Christ. Every time we mess up we must repent and rely on our Savior to help us to overcome. The commandments drive us to Christ. The Gospel is to have Faith in Jesus Christ, Repent, be Baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. Keeping the commandments is included in keeping our covenants, but it is not specifically the Gospel, repentance is the Gospel and is what will bring us to Christ. I really appreciated her sharing this with me, because sometimes I wonder if our lack of success is partly to blame on my lack of diligence or my lack of perfect obedience. This reminded me of what my focus should be, Jesus Christ. He overcomes the discouragement by giving us hope. And as I turn to him and repent, I invite Him into this work, and I learn what my investigators are also learning. Christ should be central to all that we do. He will turn our weaknesses in to strengths (Ether 12:27), change our hearts to only desire to do good (Mosiah 5:2), and help us to overcome the natural man (Mosiah 3:19).I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!
Sister Nicole Polatis
Hello, hello! So I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Reeves, she is from American Fork, Utah. She is 24, already graduated from college, and she taught 5th grade right before her mission. She was in the MTC with me, but in the other district so I didn't know her very well. She just came from Teays Valley serving with Sister Arnott in the last area that I was in, so she caught me up on everything there which was really fun. She is 6'2", a whole foot taller than me! She is really easy going and nice so I don't forsee any problems, we are going to have a great time! I really miss Sister Merrill though, now I have to take back responsibility since Sister Reeves doesn't know the area. So Martha was supposed to get baptized on Sunday, but we haven't seen her for weeks and she has been super sick, and now she is going out of town because her granddaughter is in the hospital. Martha needs to be in the hospital too! not traveling. Hopefully when she is staying with her daughter, her daughter can help her. We taught Tom and Kim, they are supposed to be getting baptized on July 26th, but they are not going to make it because they didn't meet with us last week, and haven't come to church yet because they have been out of town. Also we taught them the Word of Wisdom this week and they have some big concerns with it. We took an older couple with us, who served a mission in California and joined the church about 40 years ago. Brother Fike says that he sees his self 40 years ago when he looks at Tom. They had the same concerns. Tom and Kim really want to quit smoking, but they have tried before and it was hard and they are scared to do it, because they may not be able to and because they are so dependent on the nicotine they aren't looking forward to the nicotine fits. But we bore testimony that this is a commandment from God and He will help them if they will do their part. They said they would think about it and pray about it and we are seeing them tomorrow. We still haven't told them they need to get married. I know I know, that's probably something we should clue them into, but right now they are trying to work through smoking, and we didn't feel adding the Law of Chastity on top of that was a good idea right now. We got two new investigators this week. Their names are Jared and Amy. Sister Merrill and I actually tracted into them when I first got to Fairmont, so almost 3 months ago. He was going to Israel for work so we had to wait until he came back. We had a great lesson with them. They both have religious background that they don't really agree with. They are both confused about what they believe. They are searching, even if they don't know they are. Jared actually works for a member in Morgantown (the ward next to us) and they have talked a lot. The member is in the young men's and he is always talking about activities they did. Members who openly talk about the church and their beliefs are wonderful!!! They are not ashamed of the Gospel! And they really open people up to the Church. Jared and Amy probably wouldn't have let us in if Jared didn't have that connection. Open your mouth! The Gospel is a HUGE part of our lives, why are we so afraid to talk about it in conversation? We had Zone Conference yesterday, it was really great like always. A lot of the Elders I served around in Christiansburg just got transferred up here, so Zone Conference was like a mission reunion. It was really fun. Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed with all the things we need to do and how much I fall short in being exactly obedient. But Sister Reeves shared something with me that one of her companions shared with her. This is from the book, The Holy Secret. In it the author talks about how we have commandments given to us and these commandments are to prepare us for our heavenly home. We often fall short because we are far from perfection. The commandments are actually designed to be hard to follow. It is not the commandments that will save us but Jesus Christ. And as we fall short, the commandments turn us to Christ. Every time we mess up we must repent and rely on our Savior to help us to overcome. The commandments drive us to Christ. The Gospel is to have Faith in Jesus Christ, Repent, be Baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. Keeping the commandments is included in keeping our covenants, but it is not specifically the Gospel, repentance is the Gospel and is what will bring us to Christ. I really appreciated her sharing this with me, because sometimes I wonder if our lack of success is partly to blame on my lack of diligence or my lack of perfect obedience. This reminded me of what my focus should be, Jesus Christ. He overcomes the discouragement by giving us hope. And as I turn to him and repent, I invite Him into this work, and I learn what my investigators are also learning. Christ should be central to all that we do. He will turn our weaknesses in to strengths (Ether 12:27), change our hearts to only desire to do good (Mosiah 5:2), and help us to overcome the natural man (Mosiah 3:19).I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!
Sister Nicole Polatis
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Transfers, Trolls, and other Tales
Dear Family,
So transfers are tomorrow. And I am staying in Fairmont, but I’m really sad that Sister Merrill is leaving. We have 3 baptisms coming up, she is so bummed. She is going to Buena Vista, Virginia to replace Sister Hill who will be going home. Crazy how me and her are just following Sister Hill around. So I’ll probably be going to Buena Vista next. Who knows. My new companion is Sister Reeves, she was in the MTC at the same time I was. I hear she is super nice and a wonderful cook.
Martha is supposed to get baptized on Sunday but we haven’t seen her in almost 2 weeks because she is so sick!! She calls us every few days and she sounds awful!! Pretty much for the last 2 weeks, every time we talk to her she has spent most of the day in the bathroom throwing up. How much can one person throw up? Then because she is so sick she can’t go to work, so she isn’t getting any money, so she is super stressed about her finances, which makes her more sick, so she can’t go to work, and the cycle just continues. She really needs lots of prayers!
Tom and Kim are set for the 26th but that isn’t going to happen because they had to go out of town this last weekend and didn’t come to church and we didn’t get to teach them last week and so they still don’t know they need to get married. But they are wonderful so we’ll keep working with them.
We got a referral this week for a lady who ordered a Bible. We set up an appointment to see her and when we walked into her living room we found ourselves being stared at by HUNDREDS of TROLLS. Apparently she collects them. You know the little trolls that were cool when we were little? With the pointy hair and the fat bellys and the really creepy eyes? Yay it was a little strange teaching a lesson with all those guys staring at us. She has some really weird ones too, like goblin ones, and Siamese ones, and ones with two heads. The lesson went really well though, and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she had always been interested to read it. She has a lot of health problems and just retired from being a kindergarten teacher because of her health. And all of her family just moved out. So she is going through a lot of changes and seems to be looking for some help and direction.
This week was really good and we got a lot done. We are teaching this guy named Dennis. I think I have told you about him. His parents have been members for about 30 years and he has finally decided that it might be worth looking into. He is actually a really strange guy, but he really grows on you. He is so lonely, a few weeks ago he was saying that his parents aren’t going to be around much longer and he has no siblings or much family, and he just doesn’t want to be alone forever. I felt so sorry for him at that moment, how hard it would be to be so alone. I really hope he finds a wife, but she is really going to have to be a special kind of person. He is dealing with depression and insomnia. He hardly shows any emotion at all, very monotone guy. But last week he laughed and this week he cried. I think the Spirit is working on him and softening him. He is terrified of commitment, whenever we has him to read or pray he won’t ever say yes. He won’t commit to coming to church, but he always shows up. He won’t set up a lesson more than a few days ahead of time. So we have been taking it slow with him, but I think it is time to commit him to baptism, so we’ll see how that goes, we might scare him a little. We found out this last week that he eats dinner at Bob Evans every day and a member in our ward works there. She says everyone knows him and he always asks for 4 extra napkins. Poor guy probably hasn’t had a home cooked meal in months.
So the more we teach people and see that changes in their lives, the more my testimony grows that the small things make the biggest difference. Saying our prayers, going to church, and reading our scriptures are HUGE. These things really change people. God loves us so much and is ready to bless us, so as soon as we do anything that merits a blessing, He really pours out the blessings. We might not see the small changes and miracles, because we don’t take the time to notice, but they are there.
Another small thing is to serve people. I cannot tell you the little acts of service I have witnessed on the mission that have really blessed people. The members here are so amazing and they are great about serving. There are people all around us who are sad, lost, in need and what takes a small effort on our part can totally change their day and their life. In Sacrament the topic was on service, and one lady talked about service in the church. Our callings and home and visiting teaching are so important, these programs are the way the Lord has set it up to gather and help his people. She posed the question, who is being lost because I am not magnifying my calling? A little extra effort could save a soul. And I can tell you that I see so many less actives that just slip through the cracks and are lost because some one is not doing their home teaching or visiting teaching. And then we go in years later and try to reactivate them, but they no longer have an interest. We talk all the time about how important missionary work is and the great joy that comes from it, well home and visiting teaching is just missionary work to the members. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. How great is our calling! Every member a missionary!
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
So transfers are tomorrow. And I am staying in Fairmont, but I’m really sad that Sister Merrill is leaving. We have 3 baptisms coming up, she is so bummed. She is going to Buena Vista, Virginia to replace Sister Hill who will be going home. Crazy how me and her are just following Sister Hill around. So I’ll probably be going to Buena Vista next. Who knows. My new companion is Sister Reeves, she was in the MTC at the same time I was. I hear she is super nice and a wonderful cook.
Martha is supposed to get baptized on Sunday but we haven’t seen her in almost 2 weeks because she is so sick!! She calls us every few days and she sounds awful!! Pretty much for the last 2 weeks, every time we talk to her she has spent most of the day in the bathroom throwing up. How much can one person throw up? Then because she is so sick she can’t go to work, so she isn’t getting any money, so she is super stressed about her finances, which makes her more sick, so she can’t go to work, and the cycle just continues. She really needs lots of prayers!
Tom and Kim are set for the 26th but that isn’t going to happen because they had to go out of town this last weekend and didn’t come to church and we didn’t get to teach them last week and so they still don’t know they need to get married. But they are wonderful so we’ll keep working with them.
We got a referral this week for a lady who ordered a Bible. We set up an appointment to see her and when we walked into her living room we found ourselves being stared at by HUNDREDS of TROLLS. Apparently she collects them. You know the little trolls that were cool when we were little? With the pointy hair and the fat bellys and the really creepy eyes? Yay it was a little strange teaching a lesson with all those guys staring at us. She has some really weird ones too, like goblin ones, and Siamese ones, and ones with two heads. The lesson went really well though, and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she had always been interested to read it. She has a lot of health problems and just retired from being a kindergarten teacher because of her health. And all of her family just moved out. So she is going through a lot of changes and seems to be looking for some help and direction.
This week was really good and we got a lot done. We are teaching this guy named Dennis. I think I have told you about him. His parents have been members for about 30 years and he has finally decided that it might be worth looking into. He is actually a really strange guy, but he really grows on you. He is so lonely, a few weeks ago he was saying that his parents aren’t going to be around much longer and he has no siblings or much family, and he just doesn’t want to be alone forever. I felt so sorry for him at that moment, how hard it would be to be so alone. I really hope he finds a wife, but she is really going to have to be a special kind of person. He is dealing with depression and insomnia. He hardly shows any emotion at all, very monotone guy. But last week he laughed and this week he cried. I think the Spirit is working on him and softening him. He is terrified of commitment, whenever we has him to read or pray he won’t ever say yes. He won’t commit to coming to church, but he always shows up. He won’t set up a lesson more than a few days ahead of time. So we have been taking it slow with him, but I think it is time to commit him to baptism, so we’ll see how that goes, we might scare him a little. We found out this last week that he eats dinner at Bob Evans every day and a member in our ward works there. She says everyone knows him and he always asks for 4 extra napkins. Poor guy probably hasn’t had a home cooked meal in months.
So the more we teach people and see that changes in their lives, the more my testimony grows that the small things make the biggest difference. Saying our prayers, going to church, and reading our scriptures are HUGE. These things really change people. God loves us so much and is ready to bless us, so as soon as we do anything that merits a blessing, He really pours out the blessings. We might not see the small changes and miracles, because we don’t take the time to notice, but they are there.
Another small thing is to serve people. I cannot tell you the little acts of service I have witnessed on the mission that have really blessed people. The members here are so amazing and they are great about serving. There are people all around us who are sad, lost, in need and what takes a small effort on our part can totally change their day and their life. In Sacrament the topic was on service, and one lady talked about service in the church. Our callings and home and visiting teaching are so important, these programs are the way the Lord has set it up to gather and help his people. She posed the question, who is being lost because I am not magnifying my calling? A little extra effort could save a soul. And I can tell you that I see so many less actives that just slip through the cracks and are lost because some one is not doing their home teaching or visiting teaching. And then we go in years later and try to reactivate them, but they no longer have an interest. We talk all the time about how important missionary work is and the great joy that comes from it, well home and visiting teaching is just missionary work to the members. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ. How great is our calling! Every member a missionary!
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Small and Simple Things
Dear Family,
Hello, hello!! So I thought to start with I would give you some West Virginia culture. The tobacco industry makes good money here, A LOT of people smoke and chew tobacco. The thing to do is to sit out on your porch and smoke. Oh and the porches! They are like an outdoor living room! People put knick knacks and decorations on their porches. They have screens to block the sun. They have ceiling fans. They have furniture with cushions. What I do love though is the porch swings and the rocking chairs, I love it when people invite us to talk with us out on their porch. So pretty much the food here is the same although they do use more oil and butter. Vegetables aren’t vegetables unless they are smothered in butter. There is one difference though and that is the West Virginia Hot Dog. If you just put ketchup on a hot dog they think you are crazy. A hot dog must have chili, onions, and coleslaw on it. It’s actually pretty good.
So this week we had a lot of wonderful things happen. So first, Martha received a blessing and in it she was told that she should quit feeling like a nobody because she is a somebody. And she has a great work to do for her family who has passed on. The Spirit was so strong and the members have been so great about helping her out. We changed her baptismal date and right now she is set for July 19th.
And we have 2 more baptismal dates!!! Tom and Kim!!! We had a wonderful lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Tom kept saying that he wants to get baptized. So at the end of our lesson we invited them to be baptized on July 26th, and his reply was “I’m game!” ha ha Kim said she would like to and she would make sure Tom got there. When then informed Tom that he would need to stop smoking. He told us that he has stopped drinking and do drugs and he thinks that hardest one will be to stop smoking, but he said he would do it. So this week we are going to teach them the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, yeah I know the two big ones, but if they are going to back it by the 26th he needs to stop smoking and they need to get married. They actually are planning on getting married, but they don’t know yet that they need to get married in 3 weeks! But they know this is right, so it shouldn’t be a big problem. When we asked Tom what he thought about the Book of Mormon, he said that only good things happen when he opens up that book. And he says he feels guilty when he doesn’t meet with us. Before he was very skeptical about the Book of Mormon. Since they have started meeting with us, Tom hasn’t been as depressed, he got a really good job, and is now off house arrest!! Yay!!
Another story about the power of the Book of Mormon. So a few weeks ago, we tracted into this guy named Bill. He said he knew a little about the Mormons and wasn’t interested in learning more, but he did accept a copy of the Book of Mormon, said he’d read it, and we could come back and pick it up. Well we went back on Sunday, he told us he had read it and was interested in coming to our church!!! WOW!! We have an appointment with him tomorrow!!! The Book of Mormon will cut its own way!! It will change people!!! By small and simple things do great things come to pass! Read the Book of Mormon!
Yesterday we had an appointment with an investigator named Arley. And this time his step son Henry sat in. Henry is 11 and even though his step brothers were off playing, he left them and came to listen to our lesson. He is only here for the summer and lives in California with his grandparents and goes to church with them. He was so excited and interested in our lesson. He was begging Arley to take him to church on Sunday. And when we asked if we could come back next week, Henry said “yes, how about Monday or Tuesday?” Haha he set up the appointment! At the end we gave him his own personal copy of the Book of Mormon and his eyes lit up, he was soooo excited!! What a wonderful little boy with such a strong desire to do what is right. Christ told us we should be as little children, why shouldn’t we be that excited about going to church and reading the Book of Mormon? Henry has the right attitude and enthusiasm about the Gospel.
Well take care, love you tons and tons.
Sister Nicole Polatis
Hello, hello!! So I thought to start with I would give you some West Virginia culture. The tobacco industry makes good money here, A LOT of people smoke and chew tobacco. The thing to do is to sit out on your porch and smoke. Oh and the porches! They are like an outdoor living room! People put knick knacks and decorations on their porches. They have screens to block the sun. They have ceiling fans. They have furniture with cushions. What I do love though is the porch swings and the rocking chairs, I love it when people invite us to talk with us out on their porch. So pretty much the food here is the same although they do use more oil and butter. Vegetables aren’t vegetables unless they are smothered in butter. There is one difference though and that is the West Virginia Hot Dog. If you just put ketchup on a hot dog they think you are crazy. A hot dog must have chili, onions, and coleslaw on it. It’s actually pretty good.
So this week we had a lot of wonderful things happen. So first, Martha received a blessing and in it she was told that she should quit feeling like a nobody because she is a somebody. And she has a great work to do for her family who has passed on. The Spirit was so strong and the members have been so great about helping her out. We changed her baptismal date and right now she is set for July 19th.
And we have 2 more baptismal dates!!! Tom and Kim!!! We had a wonderful lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Tom kept saying that he wants to get baptized. So at the end of our lesson we invited them to be baptized on July 26th, and his reply was “I’m game!” ha ha Kim said she would like to and she would make sure Tom got there. When then informed Tom that he would need to stop smoking. He told us that he has stopped drinking and do drugs and he thinks that hardest one will be to stop smoking, but he said he would do it. So this week we are going to teach them the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, yeah I know the two big ones, but if they are going to back it by the 26th he needs to stop smoking and they need to get married. They actually are planning on getting married, but they don’t know yet that they need to get married in 3 weeks! But they know this is right, so it shouldn’t be a big problem. When we asked Tom what he thought about the Book of Mormon, he said that only good things happen when he opens up that book. And he says he feels guilty when he doesn’t meet with us. Before he was very skeptical about the Book of Mormon. Since they have started meeting with us, Tom hasn’t been as depressed, he got a really good job, and is now off house arrest!! Yay!!
Another story about the power of the Book of Mormon. So a few weeks ago, we tracted into this guy named Bill. He said he knew a little about the Mormons and wasn’t interested in learning more, but he did accept a copy of the Book of Mormon, said he’d read it, and we could come back and pick it up. Well we went back on Sunday, he told us he had read it and was interested in coming to our church!!! WOW!! We have an appointment with him tomorrow!!! The Book of Mormon will cut its own way!! It will change people!!! By small and simple things do great things come to pass! Read the Book of Mormon!
Yesterday we had an appointment with an investigator named Arley. And this time his step son Henry sat in. Henry is 11 and even though his step brothers were off playing, he left them and came to listen to our lesson. He is only here for the summer and lives in California with his grandparents and goes to church with them. He was so excited and interested in our lesson. He was begging Arley to take him to church on Sunday. And when we asked if we could come back next week, Henry said “yes, how about Monday or Tuesday?” Haha he set up the appointment! At the end we gave him his own personal copy of the Book of Mormon and his eyes lit up, he was soooo excited!! What a wonderful little boy with such a strong desire to do what is right. Christ told us we should be as little children, why shouldn’t we be that excited about going to church and reading the Book of Mormon? Henry has the right attitude and enthusiasm about the Gospel.
Well take care, love you tons and tons.
Sister Nicole Polatis
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Toilet Paper
Dear Family, June 30,2009
Hello, hello! So this week was a little strange, most of our main investigators seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth. We called and stopped by and they weren't home or didn't return our calls. So it was kind of a rough week but we worked super hard and even though we didn't have the greatest numbers it was still a good week. On Sunday we found most of our investigators. We had committed Tom and Kim to be baptized last time we saw them and then we hadn't seen them for 2 weeks and we were afraid that we had scared them away. Nope, God was just blessing them! Tom got a job!! So he was busy getting used to his new work schedule and it’s a really really good job. And he got off house arrest!!! YAY!! When we stopped by they said they had just been thinking about us and how they needed to call us. They usually meet with us on the weekends because Kim works nights during the week, but this weekend they are going out of town for the 4th. But they said 3 weeks was way too long, so they squeezed us in this week. I cannot tell you how awesome it feels to finally have people putting God and the lessons as a priority!! I love it.
Our next investigator, Martha, we've been really worried about because she usually calls us. Well on Sunday right after church she called us and asked if we could come pick her up at the Emergency Room. She has been super super sick and was in so much pain she went there and they gave her some morphine. They wouldn't let her drive home so she called us. Turns out she has been holed up in her house all week miserably sick. She had been throwing up for the past 2 days and hadn't eaten a thing. She was passing gall stones. I'm so glad she called us because when we went and picked her up she could not walk a straight line for the life of her. We had a member come drive her and her car home. And another member gave us some watermelon and cantaloupe for her. The member who drove her home found out that she barely has any food and can hardly make her rent, so she went home and brought back a HUGE box of food. We also found out that Martha hasn't had toilet paper for months because she can't afford it! Talk about pinching pennies. So we got her some. The next day Martha told us that when she went into the bathroom and saw all that toilet paper she cried. She wrote us the cutest thank you card. Who would think that toilet paper would bring someone so much happiness! Martha said that she has never experienced so much love and help from a church before. When she asked her Catholic church that she had been going to for many years for help they said no way. And the Bishop helped her pay her rent and she says that the members who don't even know her have been so generous. We do have an AMAZING ward here!! They are so willing so help. There is one family here that everytime we ask them for help they immediately say yes. They don't even have to think about it, they move things around to help us. I was also reading in the conference ensign that it doesn't matter how religious and obedient you are, if you do not serve you are nothing! I think it was one of the Priesthood talks. Pure religion is helping those around us. And I can tell you that I have never been happier on my mission when we have been serving others.
We had a wonderful lesson with Martha yesterday, the Spirit was so strong. It was so easy to teach and to testify, everything just came so easily. I think it really has to do with Martha and how open she is. Her heart is open and she is eager to learn. The Holy Ghost can easily be there. It's easy for the Holy Ghost to be with us when we so willingly invite Him. Martha is set to be baptized on July 19th. Really the only thing standing in her way is her health and her work schedule. She needs to come to church 2 times and Walmart will not let her request when she works. Also she can't afford any medication and so she is just hoping to get better and be well enough to come to church. She told us that she feels so alone and has for her whole life, but now she feels it is time to let God be involved.
We had an amazing sacrament meeting on Sunday. Three veterans spoke. They talked about their experience with being members in the military. The last speaker gave an amazing talk about the sacrifice the military are making for us and for our freedom. He said that Christ gave up His life so we can be free, and these men are giving up their lives so we can be free. We should show our gratitude and love for both of these great sacrifices. Gives you a whole different perspective on what we are celebrating on the 4th of July. A theme I have been seeing in the Book of Mormon lately is how apparent the Lord's hand is in many of the events. Lehi's family never would have gotten across the ocean without the Lord's help, they didn't know anything about sailing. The Book of Mormon could not have come forth without the Lord's help. And the Book of Mormon itself talks about the pilgrims and Revolutionary War and how the Lord was preparing the way for the Restoration. Something else we are celebrating on the 4th is the religious freedom we have, without which the Gospel never could have been restored. And now we have the opportunity to take that Gospel to all the world. Many nations do not yet have the religious freedom to have missionaries come. The church leaders have asked us to pray that those nations will open their doors to the Gospel. We get to be apart of the Lord's great work!!!
I love you all!! Happy 4th of July!!!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
Hello, hello! So this week was a little strange, most of our main investigators seemed to just disappear off the face of the earth. We called and stopped by and they weren't home or didn't return our calls. So it was kind of a rough week but we worked super hard and even though we didn't have the greatest numbers it was still a good week. On Sunday we found most of our investigators. We had committed Tom and Kim to be baptized last time we saw them and then we hadn't seen them for 2 weeks and we were afraid that we had scared them away. Nope, God was just blessing them! Tom got a job!! So he was busy getting used to his new work schedule and it’s a really really good job. And he got off house arrest!!! YAY!! When we stopped by they said they had just been thinking about us and how they needed to call us. They usually meet with us on the weekends because Kim works nights during the week, but this weekend they are going out of town for the 4th. But they said 3 weeks was way too long, so they squeezed us in this week. I cannot tell you how awesome it feels to finally have people putting God and the lessons as a priority!! I love it.
Our next investigator, Martha, we've been really worried about because she usually calls us. Well on Sunday right after church she called us and asked if we could come pick her up at the Emergency Room. She has been super super sick and was in so much pain she went there and they gave her some morphine. They wouldn't let her drive home so she called us. Turns out she has been holed up in her house all week miserably sick. She had been throwing up for the past 2 days and hadn't eaten a thing. She was passing gall stones. I'm so glad she called us because when we went and picked her up she could not walk a straight line for the life of her. We had a member come drive her and her car home. And another member gave us some watermelon and cantaloupe for her. The member who drove her home found out that she barely has any food and can hardly make her rent, so she went home and brought back a HUGE box of food. We also found out that Martha hasn't had toilet paper for months because she can't afford it! Talk about pinching pennies. So we got her some. The next day Martha told us that when she went into the bathroom and saw all that toilet paper she cried. She wrote us the cutest thank you card. Who would think that toilet paper would bring someone so much happiness! Martha said that she has never experienced so much love and help from a church before. When she asked her Catholic church that she had been going to for many years for help they said no way. And the Bishop helped her pay her rent and she says that the members who don't even know her have been so generous. We do have an AMAZING ward here!! They are so willing so help. There is one family here that everytime we ask them for help they immediately say yes. They don't even have to think about it, they move things around to help us. I was also reading in the conference ensign that it doesn't matter how religious and obedient you are, if you do not serve you are nothing! I think it was one of the Priesthood talks. Pure religion is helping those around us. And I can tell you that I have never been happier on my mission when we have been serving others.
We had a wonderful lesson with Martha yesterday, the Spirit was so strong. It was so easy to teach and to testify, everything just came so easily. I think it really has to do with Martha and how open she is. Her heart is open and she is eager to learn. The Holy Ghost can easily be there. It's easy for the Holy Ghost to be with us when we so willingly invite Him. Martha is set to be baptized on July 19th. Really the only thing standing in her way is her health and her work schedule. She needs to come to church 2 times and Walmart will not let her request when she works. Also she can't afford any medication and so she is just hoping to get better and be well enough to come to church. She told us that she feels so alone and has for her whole life, but now she feels it is time to let God be involved.
We had an amazing sacrament meeting on Sunday. Three veterans spoke. They talked about their experience with being members in the military. The last speaker gave an amazing talk about the sacrifice the military are making for us and for our freedom. He said that Christ gave up His life so we can be free, and these men are giving up their lives so we can be free. We should show our gratitude and love for both of these great sacrifices. Gives you a whole different perspective on what we are celebrating on the 4th of July. A theme I have been seeing in the Book of Mormon lately is how apparent the Lord's hand is in many of the events. Lehi's family never would have gotten across the ocean without the Lord's help, they didn't know anything about sailing. The Book of Mormon could not have come forth without the Lord's help. And the Book of Mormon itself talks about the pilgrims and Revolutionary War and how the Lord was preparing the way for the Restoration. Something else we are celebrating on the 4th is the religious freedom we have, without which the Gospel never could have been restored. And now we have the opportunity to take that Gospel to all the world. Many nations do not yet have the religious freedom to have missionaries come. The church leaders have asked us to pray that those nations will open their doors to the Gospel. We get to be apart of the Lord's great work!!!
I love you all!! Happy 4th of July!!!
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
