Happy New Year!

From Dec. 28, 2009, email: The highlight of my week was of course talking to you all [family Christmas Eve]! I'm happy that everyone was able to be there. I guess we'll all be getting together again in the next few months! And I'm glad that you enjoyed the mission DVD. It is such a blessing to have all of those pictures to remember the good times! I'll have to create my own for the family to see when I get home.

We decided to cancel our first dinner appointment on Christmas Day because we were still stuffed from the night before. Plus we didn't want to have to rush around. President & Sister Pehrson opened up the mission home to the missionaries and we had a great time there. Lots of good food, fun, and company! Sister Pehrson introduced us to a game called Five Crowns...it's quite fun! We watched a little bit of "It's A Wonderful Life" before heading back to Torrington for our dinner appointment. It was at the Greens, the same family that had us over for Thanksgiving. I love them so much! It always feels like home when we are there. I was happy to see that dinner was lasagna. I'm just about tired of ham & turkey! We ended the night with dessert and carols around the piano.

Susan is still progressing along so well! She came to church yesterday and LOVED it! She says that she wants to be baptized, it's just all a matter of when. It's so great to see her excitement for the gospel. She's already got a strong knowledge of the scriptures and the Book of Mormon is adding to that. I know that she is feeling the power of that book. The Spirit is touching her heart and helping her to change. Yay!

Oh! I almost forgot to write about transfers. Sister Murray & I will be staying in Torrington together...but Sister Mortimer is joining us! I'm so excited to have my greenie send me home [next transfer]. I love her so much! She knows how to have fun, yet work hard. It is going to be such a wonderful transfer! Happy New Year!




Left: Sister Darrington & Sister Mortimer walking on Preneveou's frozen pond

Merry Christmas!

From Dec. 21, 2009, email: We didn't get too much of the storm...only 2 or 3 inches at the most. They cancelled church yesterday because of the storm so it was a bit disappointing since there wasn't much on the ground. We spent our Sunday knocking on doors and wandering around in the snow. It was super cold so I got a little taste of the weather that you had in Idaho.
We went on exchanges last week with Windsor so I got to serve once more with my greenie, Sister Mortimer. We hope that President will let us serve one last transfer together. It was a weird feeling to go back to Windsor...it felt like I had never left. The sisters there are doing a great job and I'm happy to see the investigators progressing along so well. We had a great experience that showed us that Heavenly Father puts us in the right place, at the right time. Sister Mortimer had accidentally written down the plans for the day in the wrong order which we didn't realize until we were halfway through the day. Then we were left with two options: do our back-up plans for that hour or waste miles by driving all the way to the top of the area to do what we had previously planned. We chose the back-ups. Sister Berry was our stop, a less-active member from Jamaica. When we got there, she had a houseful of kids there. Apparently she has been working two jobs for the past seven years to bring the rest of her kids over from Jamaica. And they were finally able to come! The best part is that we taught a first lesson to four of the older kids and they are definitely interested!


The rest of our week included baking & delivering cookies, playing bingo with the old folks, tracting, caroling at a convalescent home, more tracting, putting up & decorating a Christmas tree for the elderly Zeiners, many dinner appointments with members, teaching, and visiting the North Pole to see Santa. Look what excitement comes while serving a mission! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas ! And watch out for Windsor bears!

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam!

From Dec. 7, 2009, email: Our weather isn't so warm anymore. Saturday night we got a pretty good snowstorm that brought us a few inches and since then it's been pretty cold! Burr! I guess winter is finally here. Hopefully it will be another "off" winter with not as much snow. It's pretty, especially on the bare trees, but it's not too fun to trample around in!

The snow did bring us an interesting experience this week. We had planned to meet a few members on the other side of town in Torrington, but we changed our minds when we hit bad roads on the way. So we parked the car and went over to another member's apartment to check up on her "Invite a Friend to Church" efforts. As we were getting buzzed in, a lady walks up to us and requests a Book of Mormon. Sister Murray and I sit there for a second in shock because it's almost unheard of for someone to approach you to learn more. Then she askes us to come by and teach her. As we are writing down her information she gives us her last name: Pascquale. That name sounded familiar so I asked for her first name: Patricia. She just happened to be a referral that the Elders in the area got a few months ago, but weren't able to contact because of a wrong address. We had even put down in our plans to try to find her this week. But Heavenly Father provided a way for her to find us. I'm always amazed how things work out.

We were watching "On the Way Home" with one of our investigators, Peggy. It's an older movie from the early '90s so there's lots of sweet bangs and jumpers. But other than that, it was a powerful movie. The basic story line is that a family loses their little girl in an accident, a friend invites them to hear the missionary lessons, and then they get baptized. So pretty much a missionary's dream. This movie hit me pretty hard. I have been so very blessed to have the gospel in my life. We have all the answers. We have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. We can be with our families forever. I can't imagine not having a testimony of these things. That's why I'm a missionary...people need to have the knowledge that they are a child of God and that there is a plan for them.

Saturday we helped an investigator family stack a huge pile of wood into neat little rows. It felt SO good to be out there doing outside work. The whole time we were stacking it was snowing on us, but we didn't mind because we were serving. I've learned that serving others brings us great joy. We are only following the example of our Savior. After two hours of stacking we were pretty sore, but not as sore as when we got up the next day!

We got the wonderful opportunity to teach the Sunbeams in church yesterday. It was so much fun! I haven't been in a Primary in years and it brought back some good memories. It was a bit hard to keep their attention, but the treats definitely helped. After our short lesson we made thank-you notes for the Bishop and the Sunbeams got to deliver them to him. You should have seen the happiness in their eyes and their smiles from ear to ear when the Bishop thanked them for their cards. One of the boys, Jake, is a miniture version of Ethan so I took a liking to him early on. It made me miss my little nieces and nephews! I can't wait to see how much they have grown up.

Keep me, and also all the other missionaries around the world, in your prayers! I loved how in the opening prayer of the Christmas devotional, the apostle prayed for those away from home. I think he covered both me & Joel in there...so remember us this season! Remember the true meaning of Christmas!

Turkey Bowl

From Nov. 30, 2009, email: I had a wonderful Thanksgiving out here in Connecticut. We started out with a Turkey Bowl over at Trinity College. I'd like to thank my brothers for teaching me how to play football....you should have seen the look on the Elders' faces when I caught a few long passes and even intercepted the ball. Haha! It was SO much fun! After most of the crowd left we sat on the field and played a few rounds of "Signs." Then we headed off to our Thanksgiving dinner.

Tim & Brenda Green had us over along with a houseful of their family. The dinner was yummy and the company was great. Some of their family aren't members of the church so we were able to talk a little bit about our beliefs. One of the old guys there was WWII vet who had landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. The brutality of war had led him to believe that there was no God. How would that be? What would life be like without the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father? There would be no hope, nor happiness, and nothing to look forward to. That's why at this Thanksgiving time I am grateful for my testimony of the gospel. I can't imagine life without it. And I'm also grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission because it has solidified my testimony.

It's quite a change adjusting to Torrington from Windsor. There isn't as much going on here, but there is lots of potential! We taught Debra and her family again this week, but it seemed like every distraction in the book was working against us. Debra's parents were there conversing between themselves, the TV was blaring, the phone kept ringing, and numerous other things. But that was because we were teaching the greatest message that we have to offer: The Restoration of the Gospel. Even though it started out rocky, I think they felt the Spirit. I feel that we are here more for the younger kids so they may accept the gospel when they are old enough.

We also taught Sister Senecal again. She's a less-active member who had deterred off the strait and narrow path a bit. But she is making progress to find her way back. She was going to come to church yesterday (which is a HUGE step), but her ride situation didn't work out. We used the conference talk entitled "Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change" for our lesson, which she really enjoyed. She realizes that her heart has slowly been hardened and she is seeing the need to change. I love working with less-actives. I love helping them rediscover their testimonies and recognize the feelings of the spirit. President Pehrson made a good statement when he said that when we re-activate a less-active, it's just like having a baptism.

Yes, I did get accepted to BYU and I'm planning to pursue a Family History degree. Since being on my mission, that is the direction that I feel like I should head in. Maybe it's all of these dead ancestors out here! I didn't think that the day would ever come that I would want to attend BYU...but I guess it's here now!

Bedrest

From Nov. 23, 2009, email: That's kinda funny that Joel [brother] got hit with some type of virus because I've been out almost all this week with the flu! Luckily it wasn't H1N1, just the regular flu. I spent most of Thursday & Friday in bed, which was a nice rest, but now I'm stir crazy! Sometimes as a missionary you hope for just one little break, but when you get it, you don't want to be there! I'm doing much, much better, just a little sniffly and coughs. Sister Murray got a little bit of it so we nursed each other back to health.

Before the flu hit, we were able to have some good lessons here in Torrington. Elder Carr, the vehicle coordinator (how ironic, eh?), befriended Susan, the lady that works at the auto body shop that we take our mission cars to. Sadly, there have been too many cars in the shop, but I guess that has led to teaching opportunities! She is definitely searching for something in her life and wants to pursue this course. She already loves the Book of Mormon and has committed to be baptized when she knows it's true. It's such a good feeling to be teaching people that understand our purpose as missionaries and understand how important the restored gospel is.

We also taught a family from the Dominican Republic. The kids are super smart and they love the Plan of Salvation cutouts that we made. It's so much easier for everyone to understand the Plan if they have some sort of visual.

Sunday was our first time out of the apartment in a few days. The Goshen ward is SO great! All of the members LOVE missionaries and we are fed almost every day out of the week. So don't worry, we are taken care of. Hopefully I'll have more exciting news next week. Pray that I'll be completely recovered so I can get back to bringing others to Christ!

Transfer time

From Nov. 16, 2009, email: I'll be spending Thanksgiving and Christmas in Torrington with Sister Murray! It was quite a surprise because we thought Sister Pulham would get moved around again, but she's staying with Sister Thomas in Windsor and Sister Mortimer will join them. I had a feeling I was leaving Windsor and I'm super excited to have another adventure in a new area. I hear it's the coldest area in the mission and the Sisters there said they saw a black bear the other day. Yikes!

Tuesday we had a great lesson around a campfire. A weird warm streak has been in the area so it seemed just like summer. Bob & Cindy are a couple that we tracted into a few transfers ago and now we are finally starting to teach them. They have so many questions about the church & they are so willing to learn. We talked about the plan of salvation by firelight. It was a new experience for me, teaching outside with the fire, but the Spirit was definitely there. We also met with a less-active sister in the ward, Elaine, who is preparing for the temple. She had been a bit hesitant about going, mainly because she didn't know what to expect. But we brought another sister who shared her amazing experience about going for the first time. I could see Elaine's desire to attend the temple grow just in that meeting. I'm so grateful for members! They add so much to the lessons & provide experiences that missionaries just can't relate. I'm so excited to help out the Sister missionaries when I get home!

Saturday we were able to help the Mejias family clean out their 150-year-old barn that they are turning into an educational center. I had flashbacks to Almo! They had sooo much stuff in there and most of it went into the dumpster & out of their hair. Hmm...that's what I feel like doing with all of my junk when I get home. On a mission, you learn that you can live without a lot of things. We're trying to work more closely with the family because they haven't been to church in months. Jonathan still comes faithfully each week, though. Well, I've got to go pack up all of my stuff for transfers tomorrow! Hopefully I'll have more spiritual adventures for you all next week!

Faith, Hope, Charity

From email of Nov. 9, 2009: The highlight of this week was going on exchanges with the Fairfield Sisters. I went down there with my old comp, Sister Monson, while Sister Johnston joined the Windsor trio. That was my first trip down there to the "richest county in America." Oh, boy! There definitely was a difference in the people! Up here in Windsor, most are humble and willing to talk. But in Fairfield, they run at a faster pace. They think that they don't have time for religion. There are humble people, though. I was able to help teach a new member lesson to a woman who was baptized last Sunday. I could see the light in her eyes now that she had followed the example of Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism. Things like this strengthen my testimony of the restored gospel. I've had these wonderful blessings my whole life, but it is something else when you see the light come into a once darkened spirit.

We also helped the Bridgeport Spanish branch prepare for their musical fireside. Sister Monson is a music genius so she was able to extend her talents to help them. They are a small, yet humble group. But it shows that the Lord's work is going forth to every people and every country.

We were finally able to meet with the Mejias kids after a long absence. We strung string all throughout their living room and kitchen and told them to follow the string, or as we called it, the iron rod. They had such a blast trying to "hold fast" and not following the temptations of the adversary (me!). We had been worried about one of the boys because he hasn't been to church in a few months nor sat in on our lessons, but he enjoyed the lesson. Jonathan, the other boy, is an amazing example for them and also for me! He comes to church by himself, reads his scriptures daily, serves others, shares the gospel, and he's only 13! And he's only been a member for about six months. We're predicting he's going to be a future apostle. :) I love these kids so very much! It's an honor to have been able to teach them.

Sunday was a special day for the Bloomfield ward. It was "Bring a Friend to Church Day." Members of the ward were encouraged to extend the invitation to their friends and family to attend church. There were three or four non-member families that came, which is a huge success for this area. The primary explained the FAITH aspect of the church through their annual program. It's amazing how much you can feel the spirit through the voices of children. As soon as they started singing, I felt the power of their words. Even some of the Sunbeams had their parts memorized and recited them without a single stutter!

The theme of Sunday School was HOPE. It didn't hit me until then that a life without hope would be so dark and dreary. Jesus Christ brings us that hope. Without him, dispair would take over and there would be no looking forward to the blessings that Heavenly Father has in store. One of the greatest things that I have hope for is the time that I can be with ALL of my family in the Celestial kingdom. I'd better see you all there! Relief Society & Priesthood focused on CHARITY. I'm so thankful to be part of an organization that gives so much. We truly are happiest when we are serving the Lord.

We've made a good friendship with one of the less-actives in the ward, Sister Perkins. She is originally from Jamaica, but just earned her citizenship in the United States this week. We celebrated with her by eating papaya and mango, Jamaican specialties! She has such a huge heart. At this time, she is taking care of a 96-year-old lady and is by her side every minute. Back in Jamaica, she owned a shop and whenever she would see a child without shoes or clothing, she would take those items from her shop and give it to them, free of charge. That is a perfect example of charity! I have grown to love the people that I serve so very much. At the beginning of my mission, I didn't think it was possible to love them like I do now. But the spirit does amazing things in the hearts of these Connecticans, and also in mine.

This is the last week of the transfer so I could possibly move, but I could also stay. I just don't know yet! I haven't had any inclination either way. I'm willing to follow whatever the Lord has in store for me. Keep reading your scriptures, praying and serving others daily! I promise you GREAT blessings from Heavenly Father when you do so!