SISTER BRENDA MARIE DARRINGTON

From Feb. 9, 2009 email:
I think springtime is finally on its way here! It's been in the 40s & the snow is slowly melting away. Now we don't have to put so many layers on! I was surprised to see so many emails waiting for me today. One from Megan, Holly, Joel, & Mom & Dad. I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I totally forgot that basketball tournaments were going on right now. Time flies by way too fast. Are the girls doing pretty good? I got my package last week...thanks sooo much! I have to confess that the Valentine's package didn't make it to Valentine's day. That's what happens when you write, "do not open until . . ."

There have a been a lot of ups and downs this week. So many of our appointments have fallen through & our back-ups & even second back-ups didn't work out. We just kept plugging along. That's all we can do. Sometimes it's hard to keep going when everything falls apart. But that's the moment you have to remember that Heavenly Father is preparing someone, somewhere to receive the blessings of the gospel. We have to go out there, diligently working, to find them. Missionary work is HARD, but completely worth it. Friday we had a heart-to-heart with Burke & Topper. We had to find out their true intents for meeting with us. Topper said that he had prayed about the Book of Mormon and received an answer. Soon after praying, he turned to a verse in 1 Nephi 10 when it talks about the baptism of Christ. He said that Bethabara, as in the Bible, was a mis-translation in the King James Version, & it was supposed to mean Bethany. That cast a shadow in his mind about the validity of the BOM & of Joseph Smith. And so we had to drop them, our purpose being to invite others to Christ by helping them receive the ordinance of BAPTISM. He already had his mind set that it wasn't completely true. I wonder why he got that answer, but we pray that he will continue to search for truth. This hit us pretty hard. It's like having your heart ripped out of you when someone rejects the gospel like that. But we've researched the matter a bit & found that Bethany & Bethabara are two completely separate place. Does anyone else know much of this issue?

Saturday we attended a Relief Society activity of chocolate dipping. Sister Nielson is quite the expert at that. We learned how to temper the chocolate, make the fillings, and the funnest yet messiest part: dip the chocolates! YUM! They all turned out pretty good & together we whipped out around 1,000 chocolates. That's definitely a skill I want to try out when I get home!

Even though this week hasn't been completely uplifting, I still love being a missionary. I'm slowly getting over my apprehensive & shy nature & blossoming into the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. Keep us missionaries in your prayers! You never know how great of an impact one little prayer can have.