Connecticut photos

The newly arrived Sister Darrington meeting Elder Shey Taylor from Declo, Idaho, just before he leaves for home after completing his service in the Connecticut Hartford Mission.

Brenda's companion, Sister Wilson, who is from a military family.

Elder Park trying to convert all of Connecticut.

One of the many old churches in the area.

Winsted, the scariest town in the area! The picture doesn't do it justice!

More MTC pictures

Sister Wilson, Sister Lindsay, Sister Rosser, Sister Darrington.
We're really here!



Girls just want to have fun--even at the MTC!

Elder Cooke was in her basketball class fall semester at BYU-Idaho.

Brenda pointing to Connecticut & her companion, Sister Rosser, to Baltimore, Maryland.

Connecticut boonies



From Sept. 8th email:

So we survived the hurricane/tropical storm that blew through Connecticut on Saturday! That was an exciting experience. I had no idea that it was coming until it came. It first started raining about 5 p.m. and it POURED! I've never seen rain come down so hard in my life. We were out there tracting in it & I actually enjoyed it. People were a bit nicer but told us to stay dry . . . How it that possible?! My shoes are still soaking from that. President even called us in about 1/2 hour early because of a tornado warning. It rained all through the night & the wind blew pretty hard. Our power went out sometime in the night but things were back to normal in the morning. The weather has been a bit cooler now so I'm happy about that.

The work is still slow. Tom Obrien, our investigator with a baptismal date in October, decided he didn't want to get baptized then. He hasn't been to church in 5 weeks & is losing his faith. We're encouraging him to keep reading the Book of Mormon & praying. Hopefully as we meet with him more, he will get back the fire he had earlier. Yesterday, one of our most promising investigators showed up drunk to the appointment . . . which ironically was supposed to be on the Word of Wisdom. He had never done anything like that before so it was a bit of a shocker. Plus he didn't read his assignment, and he always reads! Something must be going on in his life. We didn't want to dive too far into that in his current condition. But we did pick up a new investigator on Sunday. A less active who lives in another town came to church with her boyfriend & he lives in Canton. Yay! That's an answer to so many prayers. We haven't been able to pick up anyone new since I've been here.

My 1st zone conference was Thursday & it was pretty much amazing. We had some training on "the white bible", obedience, a few Preach My Gospel chapters, & a few other things. It was so spiritually uplifting! Just what I needed. Pres. Pehrson talked to us about getting over the mindset that Connecticut is not a "baptizing mission". Any place is able to baptize as long as the missionaries are out working all of the time, are being obedient, & have the right attitude. That really hit me because I had kind of settled into thinking we can't baptize much here because the people are so stubborn. But now I've changed my attitude. We can do it. Heavenly Father will put those he has prepared into our path. We will have to sift through all those who are not interested to find them. Elder Perry came here in January & told the missionaries that they only send the best to Connecticut. I know that's true! Not just because I'm here . . .hahaha. I also enjoyed being around other missionaries who are going through the same things I am. People in the "real world" are really hard to relate to now. Pres. & Sister Pehrson are great! They are getting adjusted to their calling & have made some great changes here. So the work will be picking up soon! :)

Well, I'd better get going now. I can't believe how fast the time goes by. The seconds, minutes, hours, & days fly by! Keep all the missionaries in your prayers because we need all the help we can get. I know that each & every prayer gives us the strength & courage to continue this work because it's not easy. But I'll be a better person because of it. And I'll encourage all of you to get a Preach My Gospel & study it! It is amazing!

From Sept. 2, 2008 email:

Things are good here in Canton. It's been a bit of a slow week & a lot of our investigators rescheduled our appointments. But that's the life of a missionary. We had a good experience on Friday with the Andersons. We taught about our life here on earth, the atonement, & a little about the resurrection. Jon's nephew was there & he is very interested in learning about the church. Saturday was another LONG day of tracting out in the boonies. Now I have a million mosquito bites. I don't know why they love me so much. Maybe it's because I'm so sweet :). Sunday Pres. & Sister Pearson talked in sacrament meeting about missionary work. Hopefully that will inspire the ward to help us out a little bit. Oh, funny thing, Pres. Pearson & Pres. Johnson (the old mission pres.) have known each other for like 25 years or so & were in the same type of health care business.

Yesterday we had to give up part of our preparation day to go to the office & get a new phone. All the companionships are getting a phone so that will make contacting everyone easier. The other missionaries got the news today in Zone Conference so I bet they're pretty happy. We don't have Zone Conference until Thursday. I don't know what goes on there so that will be a new experience! I've heard there's lots of changes going on, but that really doesn't affect me much because I don't know any different.

Some days it's hard to keep going because of all the rejection. I got my first real bad one the other day. But I just kind of laughed it off. I like to say that the New Englanders are harder than the winters here. But there are people out there that have been prepared by the Lord to hear our message. And we will find those people even though we have to sift through everyone else to get to them. I'm getting better & better at teaching each day. I'm definitely a more confident person & I'm not so scared to talk to people. But I still have to learn that I can't be perfect & that I will make mistakes. I will get over that soon! I can't say that I absolutely love being a missionary right now, yet I'm sure that will change. As I get used to the schedule & the work, I'll enjoy it more. But I know I'm doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do right now. He's putting me in situations that help me grow & prepare me for the future. Can you believe I've been out over a month? Time flies! Keep all the missionaries in your prayers!