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
Monday, December 22, 2008
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
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Pumpkin pie from real pumpkins
Hello Dear Family!!
This week has been super busy which is awesome!!! Although we have not seen our two investigators who are closest to baptism. We will see Jason tonight and Eli hopefully Wednesday. Hopefully things will Tonia will slow down and we will be able to get her to church finally. We are going to teach her the stop smoking workshop this week, although we have been saying that for the last 2 weeks, but this week it is going to happen. I love Tonia and her family they are awesome!! Tonia is so nice and she invited us over Wednesday night to see how to make pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin! And then she said that if they have Thanksgiving at her house she wants us to come and meet her family. And she told us we could come there for Christmas. She found out that we don’t get to go home for the holidays and she thought that was so sad. But actually I’m really excited for the holidays here on a mission. Something way weird we found out though, so we knew that Travis (Tonia’s husband) was younger than her, but on Sunday we found out just how young. She is turning 37 Sunday and he is 22! The weirdest part is they have been together since he was 19 and Tonia has 4 kids the oldest is 15. Kind of crazy. But Travis seems much older than that and they seem really great together.
The other day we were teaching a recent convert, Gabrielle, and her husband, J.R. They are way fun and we always spend way too long at their house because they talk a lot and tell us all kinds of crazy stories. They are getting sealed in January. So Gabrielle’s mom is very anti and doesn’t know that Gabrielle got baptized. And when we were over there her mom called and said that she was pulling into the parking lot to visit them. Gabrielle got this uh oh look and her face and said that she really, really needed her mom to go to the store first and get some pop. J.R. was like we have 5 liters of pop have her get something else. So her mom went to the store after some persuading from Gabrielle and we quickly ended our lesson and left. Good thing her mom called first or we would have been climbing out the back window! Ha ha! That’s tough for Gabrielle, hopefully everything will all work out.
So question, gas prices around here have been dropping like crazy. They went up to over $4 a couple months ago, but have been dropping since and are at $1.68 now!!! WOW!! So I was wondering what are gas prices there? Have they been going down?
This week we taught a less active, Theresa, the stop smoking workshop. Which is very interesting, it is 15 steps to help you stop wanting a cigarette. The steps are things like brush your teeth after every meal, stay busy, drink grapefruit juice to get a different taste in your mouth, pray every morning and night. The steps have to be followed exactly or it doesn’t work. Theresa seems very serious about quitting and we have visited her everyday, and she is going crazy!! She can’t sit still, she’s eaten like 2 lbs of candy, she craves really random food, etc. She is a funny person already, but now she is hilarious. But hopefully she can do it. She is supposed to follow the 15 steps for 7 days and then she shouldn’t crave a cigarette anymore.
So something sad happened this week. The elders had tracted into this girl who said she was Baptist but was looking for a different church to go to. So they sent us over because she was young and single. We taught her an awesome first lesson and when we gave her a Book of Mormon she said she had seen an ad on TV for one and wanted one but had never gotten around to it. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and that she would definitely be at church Sunday. We stopped by Saturday to make sure she knew how to get to church and to see if she was still coming, she said she would be there. Well she wasn’t there Sunday. So we tried calling her several times but she never answered and never returned our messages. We also tried stopping by a few times. Well one time we stopped by we knew she was home, car was there and lights were on, but she didn’t answer, so we just left a note saying we had been trying to contact her and to give us a call. Well about 20 minutes later we get a very long and irate text message from her about how she doesn’t appreciate us stopping by at all odd hours, and the notes and phone calls are too much. That we are being too pushy. And that now she is uncomfortable and will just find a different church. I have been yelled at and had the door slammed in my face but this was the worst. She had been super nice and open before and I felt bad that she thought we were pushy. It really made us reevaluate what we had done to make sure we hadn’t pushed too hard. She probably had got some anti somewhere and us being pushy was her way out. Hopefully this experience won’t drive her completely away forever, she still has a Book of Mormon.
As missionaries we see a lot of crazy situations and really sad ones too. And it makes me even more grateful for the Gospel. And I really wish people would be more open to it. Oh that reminds me, we went tracting the other day and it was Freezing!! But one of the doors we knocked on was this couple who had moved here from Egypt 3 years ago. They are obviously very strong in their religion which is Christian Orthodox, but they were open to hearing more. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. He pointed out the differences in our religions, they believe that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one, that God does not have a body, and there are not prophets today. They said they would pray about the Book of Mormon and coming to church, if he was serious then we fully expect to see them at church sometime. He said he was very happy to see people who live their religion and who are Christian, he says too many people around here don’t live their religion. We also learned in Relief Society is one way to be a member missionary is to be an example, not only in just living it but also in applying it such as in serving others and being friendly. This Thanksgiving is going to be great, because I have never been more grateful for the Gospel in my whole life. It’s AMAZING!!!
I love you all. Have a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Love, Sister Polatis
This week has been super busy which is awesome!!! Although we have not seen our two investigators who are closest to baptism. We will see Jason tonight and Eli hopefully Wednesday. Hopefully things will Tonia will slow down and we will be able to get her to church finally. We are going to teach her the stop smoking workshop this week, although we have been saying that for the last 2 weeks, but this week it is going to happen. I love Tonia and her family they are awesome!! Tonia is so nice and she invited us over Wednesday night to see how to make pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin! And then she said that if they have Thanksgiving at her house she wants us to come and meet her family. And she told us we could come there for Christmas. She found out that we don’t get to go home for the holidays and she thought that was so sad. But actually I’m really excited for the holidays here on a mission. Something way weird we found out though, so we knew that Travis (Tonia’s husband) was younger than her, but on Sunday we found out just how young. She is turning 37 Sunday and he is 22! The weirdest part is they have been together since he was 19 and Tonia has 4 kids the oldest is 15. Kind of crazy. But Travis seems much older than that and they seem really great together.
The other day we were teaching a recent convert, Gabrielle, and her husband, J.R. They are way fun and we always spend way too long at their house because they talk a lot and tell us all kinds of crazy stories. They are getting sealed in January. So Gabrielle’s mom is very anti and doesn’t know that Gabrielle got baptized. And when we were over there her mom called and said that she was pulling into the parking lot to visit them. Gabrielle got this uh oh look and her face and said that she really, really needed her mom to go to the store first and get some pop. J.R. was like we have 5 liters of pop have her get something else. So her mom went to the store after some persuading from Gabrielle and we quickly ended our lesson and left. Good thing her mom called first or we would have been climbing out the back window! Ha ha! That’s tough for Gabrielle, hopefully everything will all work out.
So question, gas prices around here have been dropping like crazy. They went up to over $4 a couple months ago, but have been dropping since and are at $1.68 now!!! WOW!! So I was wondering what are gas prices there? Have they been going down?
This week we taught a less active, Theresa, the stop smoking workshop. Which is very interesting, it is 15 steps to help you stop wanting a cigarette. The steps are things like brush your teeth after every meal, stay busy, drink grapefruit juice to get a different taste in your mouth, pray every morning and night. The steps have to be followed exactly or it doesn’t work. Theresa seems very serious about quitting and we have visited her everyday, and she is going crazy!! She can’t sit still, she’s eaten like 2 lbs of candy, she craves really random food, etc. She is a funny person already, but now she is hilarious. But hopefully she can do it. She is supposed to follow the 15 steps for 7 days and then she shouldn’t crave a cigarette anymore.
So something sad happened this week. The elders had tracted into this girl who said she was Baptist but was looking for a different church to go to. So they sent us over because she was young and single. We taught her an awesome first lesson and when we gave her a Book of Mormon she said she had seen an ad on TV for one and wanted one but had never gotten around to it. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and that she would definitely be at church Sunday. We stopped by Saturday to make sure she knew how to get to church and to see if she was still coming, she said she would be there. Well she wasn’t there Sunday. So we tried calling her several times but she never answered and never returned our messages. We also tried stopping by a few times. Well one time we stopped by we knew she was home, car was there and lights were on, but she didn’t answer, so we just left a note saying we had been trying to contact her and to give us a call. Well about 20 minutes later we get a very long and irate text message from her about how she doesn’t appreciate us stopping by at all odd hours, and the notes and phone calls are too much. That we are being too pushy. And that now she is uncomfortable and will just find a different church. I have been yelled at and had the door slammed in my face but this was the worst. She had been super nice and open before and I felt bad that she thought we were pushy. It really made us reevaluate what we had done to make sure we hadn’t pushed too hard. She probably had got some anti somewhere and us being pushy was her way out. Hopefully this experience won’t drive her completely away forever, she still has a Book of Mormon.
As missionaries we see a lot of crazy situations and really sad ones too. And it makes me even more grateful for the Gospel. And I really wish people would be more open to it. Oh that reminds me, we went tracting the other day and it was Freezing!! But one of the doors we knocked on was this couple who had moved here from Egypt 3 years ago. They are obviously very strong in their religion which is Christian Orthodox, but they were open to hearing more. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. He pointed out the differences in our religions, they believe that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one, that God does not have a body, and there are not prophets today. They said they would pray about the Book of Mormon and coming to church, if he was serious then we fully expect to see them at church sometime. He said he was very happy to see people who live their religion and who are Christian, he says too many people around here don’t live their religion. We also learned in Relief Society is one way to be a member missionary is to be an example, not only in just living it but also in applying it such as in serving others and being friendly. This Thanksgiving is going to be great, because I have never been more grateful for the Gospel in my whole life. It’s AMAZING!!!
I love you all. Have a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Love, Sister Polatis
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Cough...cough....cough cough
Dear Family,
This week has been so long!! It wasn’t a terrible week but just really long, that’s what happens when all your appointments cancel! But it’s over! Well good things did happen last week. We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and Elder Arnold from the Seventy came. It was amazing! It was super busy though. We had been told that we needed to meet at the Zone Leaders apartment at 7:45 to carpool. Well at 6:45 they called us and said there had been some miscommunication and we needed to be there in 10 minutes. Well it takes 10 minutes or more to get to Blacksburg and I was still in the shower. So we rushed to get there and then we get to Roanoke (where Zone Conference was at) and we sat around waiting. But then Elder Arnold got out of their leadership meeting and wow we didn’t have time to take a breath. Lunch was even rushed. He said that we had been harvesting with a sickle, like in the old days, and we needed to update to a combine. And not just one combine we needed to combine our efforts together and with the members so we could harvest with a whole fleet of combines. He showed this awesome picture of like 20 combines going across the field in a V pattern with beaters following behind. It was cool I wish I had the picture to show you. Then he told us how we were going to accomplish it. General Authorities have a reputation for coming into missions and chastening everyone and telling them what they have been doing wrong. This was no exception but he did it in a very loving and inspiring way. Some things that are changing: we are only to email our family and only our family can email us back. We are not having zone p-days anymore, its too much driving time and effort. We are supposed to contact our progressing investigators everyday. He talked a lot about being exactly obedient and how it is selfish of us to be disobedient. This is not our missions this is the Lord’s mission, we have been given a great responsibility and trust with the areas we are in, so live up to that trust. He also gave us guidelines for planning, doing service, and working with members. At the end he bore his testimony, and let me tell you wow! The Spirit was amazingly strong there. And then he promised us that if we would faithfully fulfill our service as missionaries we would be blessed with our greatest desires after our missions. That was a very powerful promise.
So I have had this terrible cough for almost 2 weeks now and it just kept getting worse. I have done everything to get rid of it, I have eaten almost a whole bag of cough drops, drank pretty much a whole bottle of cough syrup, and taken cough suppressants. My cough was only getting worse and there were a couple of nights that I couldn’t sleep because I was coughing so hard. I really needed my cough to go away because I felt bad going into people’s houses and spreading my germs around. And its really bad when you are teaching a lesson and it is interrupted by a hacking cough. One story: So we were teaching Jason and Naomi and I was in the middle of reading a scripture and I started coughing and I couldn’t stop, they ran and got me a glass of water, and the member that was with us started searching through her purse for a cough drop, and I was coughing so hard my eyes were watering and I couldn’t speak at all. So I looked at Sister Hill and she had to teach the rest of the lesson. Although I kind of wonder if God was trying to get me to shut up, because she then went on to finish the lesson and then commit him to pray about being baptized. And Sister Hill has never committed anyone to be baptized before, she always makes her companions do it. And so I asked for a blessing from the Elders last Wednesday, and in it I was told that I wouldn’t be better instantly, but in time I would be and that I would know what I needed to do to make myself better. Well later that night we went to Tonia’s house, and she noticed my cough so she was asking about my symptoms. She used to be a nurse and she told me I had a sinus infection!!! And that the infection was going down my throat and that is what made me cough! It also explained why about a week before I felt like I had been punched in the nose. Anyways so she told me what to do for it and now I am feeling lots better! Blessings really work!!
We haven’t really been able to teach Tonia because she has been super busy. She has a house cleaning business and right now she is cleaning a condemned house. The lady who lived there, her son had died 4 years ago, and she hadn’t left it since. She didn’t use the restroom she just went on the floor. There are rats and mice everywhere. And the food that was in her fridge molded. Amazingly enough the lady is still alive and healthy. It’s super bad and the health department wanted it done it 10 days. The 10 days are over tomorrow so hopefully we will be able to start meeting with her then.
We have been teaching the Hale family for a long time (well missionaries have). The dad is less active and the mother is not really anti but she wants her kids to be old enough to make their own decision before they get baptized. The parents just separated and the dad has the kids on the weekends, so we teach them every Saturday. Eli is 11, Jakob is 8, and Zoey is 14. Zoey isn’t really interested, but Eli eats it up. He wants to be baptized but he isn’t sure if he should do it yet because he isn’t sure that the church is true. So we invited him and Jakob to pray about being baptized December 6th, and if they didn’t get an answer fine, but if they did we would plan a baptism. I have mixed feelings though, I don’t want to baptize them into inactivity. Their dad is a good guy, but they also have excuses for not coming to church or not reading their scriptures. Since I have been on my mission I have realized there is no being luke warm about the church. God doesn’t ask for part of our hearts, He asks for all of it. He doesn’t say be a Saint when it’s convenient, He asks for us to be witnesses at all times and all places. “You can’t serve God and Mammon.” I feel very torn sometimes because I don’t think our investigators realize that being baptized in our church is not just some action you do, it’s a serious promise! The covenants we make at baptism, we are required to live for the rest of our lives. But wow the blessings we receive from keeping those promises is awesome too. The Holy Ghost is strong and powerful.
I love you all. I am disappointed to hear though that you have delicious homemade fruit leather and dried apples and I haven’t seen any of it. Hint hint :)
Thanks for your love and support.
Have a wonderful week, I look forward to hearing from you.
Love, Sister Polatis
P.S. It snowed here last night and yesterday, but it is weak sauce compared to the snow we get in Idaho, it’s these little icy things
This week has been so long!! It wasn’t a terrible week but just really long, that’s what happens when all your appointments cancel! But it’s over! Well good things did happen last week. We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and Elder Arnold from the Seventy came. It was amazing! It was super busy though. We had been told that we needed to meet at the Zone Leaders apartment at 7:45 to carpool. Well at 6:45 they called us and said there had been some miscommunication and we needed to be there in 10 minutes. Well it takes 10 minutes or more to get to Blacksburg and I was still in the shower. So we rushed to get there and then we get to Roanoke (where Zone Conference was at) and we sat around waiting. But then Elder Arnold got out of their leadership meeting and wow we didn’t have time to take a breath. Lunch was even rushed. He said that we had been harvesting with a sickle, like in the old days, and we needed to update to a combine. And not just one combine we needed to combine our efforts together and with the members so we could harvest with a whole fleet of combines. He showed this awesome picture of like 20 combines going across the field in a V pattern with beaters following behind. It was cool I wish I had the picture to show you. Then he told us how we were going to accomplish it. General Authorities have a reputation for coming into missions and chastening everyone and telling them what they have been doing wrong. This was no exception but he did it in a very loving and inspiring way. Some things that are changing: we are only to email our family and only our family can email us back. We are not having zone p-days anymore, its too much driving time and effort. We are supposed to contact our progressing investigators everyday. He talked a lot about being exactly obedient and how it is selfish of us to be disobedient. This is not our missions this is the Lord’s mission, we have been given a great responsibility and trust with the areas we are in, so live up to that trust. He also gave us guidelines for planning, doing service, and working with members. At the end he bore his testimony, and let me tell you wow! The Spirit was amazingly strong there. And then he promised us that if we would faithfully fulfill our service as missionaries we would be blessed with our greatest desires after our missions. That was a very powerful promise.
So I have had this terrible cough for almost 2 weeks now and it just kept getting worse. I have done everything to get rid of it, I have eaten almost a whole bag of cough drops, drank pretty much a whole bottle of cough syrup, and taken cough suppressants. My cough was only getting worse and there were a couple of nights that I couldn’t sleep because I was coughing so hard. I really needed my cough to go away because I felt bad going into people’s houses and spreading my germs around. And its really bad when you are teaching a lesson and it is interrupted by a hacking cough. One story: So we were teaching Jason and Naomi and I was in the middle of reading a scripture and I started coughing and I couldn’t stop, they ran and got me a glass of water, and the member that was with us started searching through her purse for a cough drop, and I was coughing so hard my eyes were watering and I couldn’t speak at all. So I looked at Sister Hill and she had to teach the rest of the lesson. Although I kind of wonder if God was trying to get me to shut up, because she then went on to finish the lesson and then commit him to pray about being baptized. And Sister Hill has never committed anyone to be baptized before, she always makes her companions do it. And so I asked for a blessing from the Elders last Wednesday, and in it I was told that I wouldn’t be better instantly, but in time I would be and that I would know what I needed to do to make myself better. Well later that night we went to Tonia’s house, and she noticed my cough so she was asking about my symptoms. She used to be a nurse and she told me I had a sinus infection!!! And that the infection was going down my throat and that is what made me cough! It also explained why about a week before I felt like I had been punched in the nose. Anyways so she told me what to do for it and now I am feeling lots better! Blessings really work!!
We haven’t really been able to teach Tonia because she has been super busy. She has a house cleaning business and right now she is cleaning a condemned house. The lady who lived there, her son had died 4 years ago, and she hadn’t left it since. She didn’t use the restroom she just went on the floor. There are rats and mice everywhere. And the food that was in her fridge molded. Amazingly enough the lady is still alive and healthy. It’s super bad and the health department wanted it done it 10 days. The 10 days are over tomorrow so hopefully we will be able to start meeting with her then.
We have been teaching the Hale family for a long time (well missionaries have). The dad is less active and the mother is not really anti but she wants her kids to be old enough to make their own decision before they get baptized. The parents just separated and the dad has the kids on the weekends, so we teach them every Saturday. Eli is 11, Jakob is 8, and Zoey is 14. Zoey isn’t really interested, but Eli eats it up. He wants to be baptized but he isn’t sure if he should do it yet because he isn’t sure that the church is true. So we invited him and Jakob to pray about being baptized December 6th, and if they didn’t get an answer fine, but if they did we would plan a baptism. I have mixed feelings though, I don’t want to baptize them into inactivity. Their dad is a good guy, but they also have excuses for not coming to church or not reading their scriptures. Since I have been on my mission I have realized there is no being luke warm about the church. God doesn’t ask for part of our hearts, He asks for all of it. He doesn’t say be a Saint when it’s convenient, He asks for us to be witnesses at all times and all places. “You can’t serve God and Mammon.” I feel very torn sometimes because I don’t think our investigators realize that being baptized in our church is not just some action you do, it’s a serious promise! The covenants we make at baptism, we are required to live for the rest of our lives. But wow the blessings we receive from keeping those promises is awesome too. The Holy Ghost is strong and powerful.
I love you all. I am disappointed to hear though that you have delicious homemade fruit leather and dried apples and I haven’t seen any of it. Hint hint :)
Thanks for your love and support.
Have a wonderful week, I look forward to hearing from you.
Love, Sister Polatis
P.S. It snowed here last night and yesterday, but it is weak sauce compared to the snow we get in Idaho, it’s these little icy things
Monday, November 10, 2008
Canned Potatoes
Dear Family,
So you are getting this email a day early because tomorrow is Veteran's Day and the library is closed and so we got permission to email today. So sorry to all you who were going to write me an email tonight or tomorrow morning, just print it off and mail it.
So to begin, you know how people always talk about the worst thing they ate on their mission. Well if someone asked me I would actually have something to tell them because I ate it last week. Potatoes from a CAN!!! Eewww! I didn't even know they existed. I was expecting something bad when they told me they were canned potatoes but it was so much worse than I expected. They were mushy and gross. And they were tiny little things, probably half the size of an egg and those were the whole potatoes. Really gross. Warning: Don't eat them!
Funny thing happened on Saturday, so we went to the stake enrichment activity and we were standing in line to get food and the lady behind us was like "Sister Hill! Oh I have heard a lot about you!" And Sister Hill was "Oh really? What ward are you from?" And the lady replied, "Welch." And as soon as she said that both Sister Hill and I knew exactly who (or should we say what Elder) had been telling her about Sister Hill. There is an Elder in Welch who has a crush on Sister Hill and has for her whole mission. We knew that and a lot of missionaries know it, but now it appears that the members know it too!! It was super funny to see her face get all red. It's actually a running joke in our District that Sister Hill has captured all the Elders' hearts because I guess President has heard rumors of some Elders liking her as well. I guess I need to keep better tabs on my companion.
I don't know if I mentioned before that I was sick (nothing serious just congestion and sore throat) and then I being the wonderful companion I am gave it to Sister Hill. We are mostly over it except now we both have coughs. People make fun of us that we both are sick and we just tell them that we have such great companion unity that we even get sick together. But I am starting to lose my voice. I think its hilarious because then Sister Hill will have to do all the talking, she is horrified at the thought and threatened me that I better not lose my voice.
So on to more interesting news than mission rumors and bad food. We started teaching this less active, Naomi Kiser. Her parents are very active in the ward and her mom asked us to go see her. So we stopped by about 3 weeks ago and offered to teach her and her boyfriend the lessons (they have a little boy together). Naomi was all for it because she wants to get active again but she wasn't sure if Jason would want to. But when we went for our first lesson he was there. He wouldn't really commit to anything and he said he wouldn't come to church. But then the next lesson he committed to read one chapter in the Book of Mormon and said maybe he would come to church. And on Sunday, he was there!!! When Sister Hill saw him she said "Hello!" so loud and happy it scared me. I think we might have scared him away with how overjoyed we were to see him at church. We talked to Naomi about it later and she said he was in a better mood that night than he had been for a while and he had some questions. We have a lesson with him tonight so we will see how it goes. But I cannot tell you how happy we are to see people at church, it's so HARD to get them there, but it's a very important step in getting them to fell that the church is true. The investigator that I keep telling you about is Tonia, and she wasn't at church because she was sick. She and her kids have not yet been to church and we have been trying super hard for the last month to get them there. It's so hard to get people to keep their commitments. Tonia does have a lot of health problems and a lot of other problems as well. Her father-in-law lives with them and he is an alcoholic. He only has about 6 months left to live because he has literally drank himself to death. They have tried to kick him out but he has no where else to go. Her brother-in-law lives with them as well and come to find out he has been having an affair with their neighbor!!! And when we were over there the other day the neighbor lady was there and told us she was going over to tell her husband she was leaving him. Tonia is very upset about the situation and has tried to kick her brother-in-law out but I don't know why he is still there. Neither her nor her husband are happy with the situation. And Tonia told us she knows adultery is wrong and feels really bad it is going on in her house. That is part of the reason she doesn't want to come to church is because I think she feels it would be hypocritical of her. I don't know what the situation is exactly but it is really stressing her out and that is a huge part of why she is sick. Hopefully things will work out or these things will motivate her to change and join the church where she can find stability. Sad stuff. The church really blesses our lives and people who don't have it are simply looking for peace and happiness and just don't know where to find it so they turn to worldly stuff.
Zone Conference is on Wednesday and Elder Arnold from the Quorum of the Seventy is coming to speak to us. It's going to be awesome. This last week I have been learning a lot about receiving personal revelation and listening to the Spirit. One of those ways is to listen to our leaders so I am super excited to hear what he has to say to help us be better missionaries. The Holy Ghost really can speak to us and tell us the things we need to hear, that promise is all over in the scriptures. We just got to learn to invite and recognize it, there is a whole chapter about recognizing the Spirit in Preach My Gospel (Chapter 4).
I LOVE you all. Thanks for your love and support.
Love, Sister Nicole Polatis
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Busy Busy
Dear Family!!
Transfers are tomorrow and Sister Hill and I are staying here!!! YAY!!! That means I will be her longest companion and she will have be here for 7 ½ months now. We are way excited and happy. Most of our district is staying too which is good because we have a great bunch of missionaries here. This last week was busy we had lots of appointments. We have 2 new investigators who don't know they are investigators yet. We went and visited two less actives and in both situations they live with their boyfriend and have a child by them. So we invited them to take the lessons and to invite their boyfriends to sit in as kind of a family time thing. So far we have had great lessons and they really seem to know the Bible. On Friday for Halloween we couldn't really dress up so we went to the dollar store and got sparkly pipe cleaner and made halos so we can be angels. It wasn't really a costume because we already are angels ha ha jk. Okay lame joke. But we went to Wheatland (the assisted living home) and they had a costume dance. It was HILARIOUS. One lady was dressed up like the devil, her name is Ruth and she would dress up like that (she is a pretty funny old lady). That night the Frazier's had us for dinner (we go there every 1st, 3rd and 5th Friday) They had a bonfire and we roasted hotdogs and made s'mores! The Elders came too, they are in the same ward as us so the members usually feed both of us at the same time. They dressed up as kings, Elder Richards was King Richards the lion hearted and Elder Lundin was King Lundin Bridges. Ha ha oh the lame things we missionaries do for entertainment. It was a great Halloween mostly because I had been craving s'mores and I bought the s'mores poptarts and they taste nothing like real s'mores. Oh and Thank-you for the Halloween Package Keshia and Juan, it was very much appreciated since we didn't get much candy. And I got it the day after Halloween.
On Sunday Sister Hill and I taught Relief Society, we did a lesson on how to use Preach My Gospel. We were so excited to do it, but I think we overwhelmed them with information. We took like an hour's worth of stuff and crammed it into 20 minutes. It was a good lesson though and I think we at least made them interested to look at Preach My Gospel. It certainly strengthened my testimony about what a great and inspired tool Preach My Gospel is. We taught them how to use it in Personal Study, in family study and family home evening, in talks, and in member missionary work. Which an excellent idea for family home evening is to study the lessons in Chapter 3 and then teach it. This stuff is what we teach as missionaries and what investigators hear. It's everything they need to know in order to be baptized. You can have one person teach the whole lesson or everybody teach one principle. I Love how much emphasis is being put on member missionary work right now. What a great time to be serving a mission! And how important members are to missionary work! Out of all our investigators the only one's that are progressing have been member referrals, everyone we found through tracting are not progressing or keeping commitments. We actually don't think they are serious at all and don't want to tell us no. Which is crazy, people tell us we can come back all the time but then they don't answer the door when we come by. Or they let us in and keep telling us we can come back and then seem really surprised when we show up for our next appointment. Seriously people have some back bone and just say no. Or maybe they don't say no because they can feel the spirit telling them they should say yes.
Tonia and her family are doing good I guess, we haven't seen them for almost a week. They seem really sincere and interested in our lessons but have a really hard time keeping commitments like reading scriptures and coming to church. So we need your prayers for them to keep commitments and for us to know how to motivate them to do so.
Anyways I don't have tons to write about this week, nothing fantastic except we have been busy which is always awesome. I LOVE you. Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and read Preach My Gospel!
Love, Your Sister Nicole Polatis
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