From May 18, 2009, email:
We certainly do have progress with our investigators this week. Brother Steel is getting baptized on June 6th! We are so excited for the Steel family! Sister Steel called us up last week and said that while at breakfast, Bro. Steel randomly asked who he should have baptize him. We all squealed for joy over the phone. Then we officially committed him on Thursday and he said yes without any hesitation. President Hutchins, their home teacher and also the 1st counselor in the stake presidency, was there to help out with the lesson. The sad thing is that transfers are the Tuesday before the 6th so we're hoping we'll both stay! But this means that I'll have to make another trip out to Connecticut in a year when they get sealed!
We got to say our goodbyes to Ryan
(at right with girlfriend from BYU, Adriann) at stake conference. He'll be bouncing around Pennsylvania, Utah, and then finally Miami in the next few months. We feel really privileged to be able to teach him. He said he'll definitely get baptized in the next few months, but doesn't feel ready yet. Hopefully he'll get in touch with the missionaries in Miami soon. If not, we'll get in touch with them for him. :)
Most of our investigators are progressing along well. We're starting to get frustrated with a couple of them who don't seem to really want to change. They don't understand the importance of the Atonement and church attendance. It just hasn't clicked with them. We're trying our hardest to help them understand, but they have to want it themselves. They think they can casually meander into the Celestial Kingdom.
At zone conference this week we were told that the mission is downsizing from 120-something missionaries to around 70. We currently have 10 sisters, but our quota is being bumped down to 6. So we'll be seeing a lot of missionaries go home, but not so many coming out. It's pretty sad, but I guess the need is greater elsewhere. Work in the New England area has slowed down over the past few years. Hopefully we can get things going again! Other than that, zone conference was great. We switched back to the usual 9:00-3:00 schedule instead of 8:30-12:00. Zone conferences are so much more productive than before! We talked a lot about our purpose as missionaries (we've hit that REALLY hard) and finding. We're good teachers out here, but I can honestly say that we aren't so good at finding. WE are "breaking the traditions of our fathers" so that we are talking with everyone and having a direct purpose to what we say. Then we heard the testimonies of the departing missionaries. It's crazy how fast time goes by. Two of them expressed their genuine, heartfelt testimonies and their love for the work which almost brought me to tears (big surprise, eh?). Another just seemed to rattle off a script that he'd been practicing for 24 months. You can tell those missionaries who really put their hearts into it. I admire them. I want to be like that when my time is up here.
We had a really good stake conference this weekend. Sunday we had a broadcast from Salt Lake encompassing 34 stakes in New England, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. I've never experienced anything like it, but it was pretty cool. President Eyring, Elder Hales, Elder Porter (of the seventy), and Sister Cook spoke. A lot of it was about not fearing for the future, being prepared, following the prophet, and using the Atonement in our lives. Sister Cook hit briefly on the importance of virtue. I'm surprised that virtue has been such an important topic lately, but I'm very glad that it is being addressed. The talks in the YW broadcast this spring were super!
Things are great here in Connecticut, minus all the moisture. You may have to send me out a rowboat if we get any more rain. I always wondered why galoshes and raincoats existed...now I know why! I need to take pictures of all the beautiful flowers & trees. I've never seen anything like it! Hopefully someday you all will get to experience it.
Connecticut "green" (above)
Investigator Kelsi (right)
