Conference!

From October 6, 2008 email: I'm jealous you got to see the little

Durfs [sister Holly Durfee & family in Colorado]! Holly sent pictures

of them & they are the cutest things ever!

Makenna looks even more red-headed

than when I last saw her. I hope you

gave them all some squeezes &

moochies for me.

Conference was the most exciting thing to happen this week. I think back to the times when I was younger & conference dragged on for hours. This time it flew by & I was yearning for more. The talks seemed to be a refresher for all we should be doing but obviously aren't. We have to master the basics before moving on to deeper things. I like how Sister Allred called on EVERYONE to do missionary work, not just the full-time missionaries with the name badge. As we take on the name of Christ at baptism, we also take upon ourselves the responsibility to share what we know with all we come in contact with. I never realized how important members were in missionary work until now. Sometimes they have a greater influence on people than we do. So do as much missionary work as you can right now! We got to watch conference at the stake center in Bloomfield with about 12 other missionaries. A few people came on Saturday, but it was a full house on Sunday. I'm spiritually filled up now & ready to get to the work again.

We're having a tough time finding new people to teach, so we're trying to expand our horizons & think of new ways. I found it interesting that in Preach My Gospel, it tells of other ways besides tracting & contacting. I always thought that missionaries just did those 2 things all day to find people. But it suggests service, firesides, teaching classes & much more. Hopefully we'll think of some good ideas & be able to implement them.

Tonight we have an appointment with Arthur King, an investigator in Winsted. He's a very interesting but fun character. He likes to call himself "King Arthur" which very much fits his personality. We'll be teaching a 3rd lesson which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, & hopefully we'll be committing him to baptism. I've never taught a 3rd lesson so I'm a bit nervous, but I know it will go well. There have been so many times that there have been words come out of my mouth that I know weren't mine! The Spirit definitely directs us in every aspect of the work, especially in teaching.

Friday we had a mission-wide apartment cleaning day. We were excited for this because our apartment was a disaster. It hasn't been taken care of very well so we had lots of work ahead of us. We worked from about 1 pm until bedtime & it still wasn't done! We had some nasty mold growing in the bathroom so I spent a few hours scrubbing that off the walls & ceiling. Ewwww. But now it's clean so I'm happy.

Sister Haueter (Howter) is a hoot. I remember when I was set apart, Pres. Turner told me to have fun on my mission. Missionary work doesn't have to be boring. So she helps me live up to that. We have many laughing moments & we can be a bit crazy at times. But she has an amazing testimony & I've learned so much from her. I love her! :)

The conference talk that really hit me was by Elder Carlos A. Godoy. He talked about gaining his testimony, that it didn't come in some big miraculous way. A testimony comes as a collection of experiences. That made me think about my testimony. It didn't come all at once in a big-bang theory way. Little experiences all through my life have shaped it to what it is now. And it's still growing as I'm out here on a mission. I thought I had a strong testimony before I left, but now I realize that it still has so much room to grow. I welcome those experiences that will try my faith & help my testimony to strengthen.

Thank you for being such a great family. I know that I say it just about every week, but I truly mean it. You have helped my to become the person I cam. I've looked up to all of you & have learned so much from your examples. I love you all!

Rain, rain go away!

From email of Monday, Sept 29, 2008: Did another tropical storm hit Connecticut? I really wish I had some news source. It's been raining hard the past few days & I might just float away!

I've been almost a week with my new companion . . . & I absolutely love her! :) Sister Holly Haueter (right with Brenda) from Smithfield, UT. She's very personable & funny so we are always laughing. She loves music & theater stuff & has an amazing voice. Plus she's sooo sweet. Our numbers are much higher this week since she's been here & we didn't tract near as much as usual. Oh . . . & she thinks she knows Joel [Brenda's brother] maybe from The Old Barn performances. And she knows a member of the bishopric's wife's brother. Crazy world. The church makes the world so much smaller.

Sister Wilson was shipped off to Rhode Island with Sisters Jones & Lambertson. They got to open up a new area in East Providence. I'm a bit jealous because their apartment is right on the bay & they can wake up to a sunrise gleaming on the water. Grrr. Maybe I'll get my turn there! We got a new sister Tuesday, Sister Timothy from Bear Lake, UT. She's about 5'11" & skinny as a stick. She was a runner so that explains things. Her trainer, Sister Baird, is only on her 3rd transfer!

It's been a slow week as far as appointments go. We had one yesterday with Arthur. We're not sure if he's really interested in joining the church right now, but we'll see how things go this week. Our other investigator appointments cancelled on us. We met with our usual less-actives so that is going good. We spent a good part of this week going through our area book & chucking things we don't need. Plus we're setting up a "game plan" for the area. Our ward has a mission plan for 2008, but I saw it for the 1st time yesterday. Hopefully we will be sparking a fire in the ward to get the members more excited about missionary work.

Saturday night we went to the mission home to watch the Relief Society Broadcast on the BYU channel. Sister Pehrson made us a very yummy dinner & it was just like being home! I love her to death. Pres. & Sister Pehrson are definitely my parents away from home. The broadcast was VERY good! I loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. It was exactly what I needed to hear. As women, we have some built in mechanism that makes us compare ourselves to others. We focus more on what we cannot do than the good things we have to offer. He hit two points in his talk: creating & being compassionate. I realize that I need to stop worrying about myself & get out there serving the people in my area.

I'm loving the work now, more so since Sister Haueter came. She's always happy & puts me in such a good mood. I never have to worry about not measuring up or doing things wrong. We're both learning & growing together, but I like to be selfish & say I'm learning the most from her!

I've gained such a strong testimony that Heavenly Father does love me. There are times when I feel like crap & don't know what to do. But I just have to go to my knees in prayer & I'm encircled in His arms of love. I'm never alone. And he has given me weaknesses so that I can learn to overcome them & become the person that He wants me to be. I just have to be humble & submit myself to the will & the timetable of the Lord. I know that He is directing this work. It will "go forth boldly, nobly, & independent 'til it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, & sounded in every ear, 'til the purposes of God shall be accomplished & the Great Jehovah shall say, 'The work is done' " (Standard of Truth). Thank you so much for all of the prayers. Continue to pray for the missionaries because we need all the help we can get. Love to you all!

The votes are in . . .

. . . and I will be staying in Canton! But Sister Wilson got the dreaded call last night that she was getting transferred. It really hit her hard because she's been in this area so long & has done wonders here. She opened up this area to sisters about 4 months ago. The elders here before didn't do too much. You can see the love that she has for the people here. I hope that I can have that same kind of love. We've had so many less-actives & investigators growing & changing, & they were sad to hear that she was leaving. But now I have to step up & make the best of my time here even though I'm scared to carry this area myself. We have a new sister coming in today so we're all excited. But we don't have anyone leaving till February so there will be a trio somewhere till then. Pres. Pehrson has a new style of training--he likes the younger ones to do the training! The sister who is just one transfer older than me is training the greenie! I guess the longer you're out in the mission, the lazier you get. I've heard good things about using younger trainers.

It is starting to get cold. The natives say it isn't supposed to get so cold so quickly which means a brutal winter. Ugh . . . I'm not excited for that! But the leaves are on the verge of turning so I'm happy I'll be here in the boonies to see it.

Our greatest work right now is with the less-actives. We had a great appointment on Saturday night with a less-active family & the husband's nephew. The husband joined as a young man & fell away because he felt that he was pressured into getting baptized before he really knew it was
true. But there has been such amazing progress. He used to be very bitter & sarcastic, yet now he has such great things to say. Hopefully they'll have the desire to come back to church soon. We helped another less-active in Burlington Saturday. We finally got a chance to see Leila last week. Her schedule was so crazy that it took this long to meet with her. We helped her get the things needed to put up a closet & put trim in a bedroom. All those hours in Home Depot [and helping Mom on the house] in Almo have been put to good use! We didn't get around to actually putting up the closet so we set up another time to do that. She's such a sweet girl & recognizes the good things that the gospel can bring back into her life.

The spirit has been so strong this week in our companionship. Each lesson we taught & every service activity was powerful. I'm starting to become a real missionary instead of just being on a mission. I love the people here. Even though the people are stubborn, I love them. We were at a farmer's market in New Hartford to do contacting, & and if looks could kill, we would be coming back home in a body bag! People were not happy that we were there. One lady said, "I feel like I'm in Utah with all these missionaries here." I'm surprised they didn't whip out their pitchforks & burn us at the stake. But . . . I still love them. Jesus Christ was rejected by many, but he gave his life for EVERYONE. He didn't pick & choose whose sins he would forgive.

Transfer?

From Sept. 15 email:

Transfers are next week! I'll find out Sunday whether I stay in Canton or move. We have another sister coming in next Tuesday so there will be a threesome somewhere. This past week was pretty good; slow, but good. Tuesday we got to meet one of our investigators for the 1st time. Penny is a high school drama teacher & her daughter plays Christine on the Broadway version of "Phantom of the Opera." She offered to take us to see it . . . sadly it's out of the mission boundries. She's a very sweet lady & is understanding the doctrine well. She had been taught by the Elders a few years back, but they said some really off-track things that weirded her out. We got those things cleared up & are moving forward. She really likes how the church empasizes families & she has searched everywhere for that. We also had our weekly visit with a ward less-active. He's been trying to quit smoking & finally got some really good medication. As of yesterday, he hadn't smoked in 3 days. Yay! It's so exciting to see such a change in people. He has a very strong desire to go back to church & make it to the temple. He's made such improvement in the short time I've been here so he has great potential!

Wednesday we taught another less-active, Barbara Lettley (below). She's a single black woman with 5 kids. She grew up in Harlem & found the church about 8 years ago. She is SOOO spiritual & you can just feel the Holy Ghost radiating from her. She also has a very interesting personality, but I love her :). I selected a lesson on temples & family history & she confessed that it was exactly what she needed. She said that her ancestors have been harassing her to do their temple work, which I can very much believe. She loves the temple & that was one of the things she was looking for in a church in her many years of searching.

Thursday we had our "district unity" after district meeting at the Goshen ward building & had the infamous TSB--Torrington Super Buffet (only $5)! It's a big hit with the Elders. There was sooo much good Chinese food. My companion, Sister Wilson, has a degree in psychology & she has this amazing ability to "read" people. She just asks a few questions & can pretty much figure out what is really deep down inside a person. She did Elders Kirkam & Harmon (Avon area) & totally called them out on a few things. They were a bit scared that she knew so much about them!

(Above, Torrington District: Wilson, Darrington, Christensen, Kruger, Harmon, Kirkham)

Friday we had an appointment in Norfolk, but Daniel, our investigator, wasn't there. Disappointed, we went back to Winsted to do a few stop bys. We ran across a referral the Torrington Elders gave us & set an appointment with her. It's always exciting to get a new investigator. We had planned to do more contacting at the farmer's market in New Harford, but it hadn't started yet so we headed back to the Canton area where we tracted in the pouring rain. I quite enjoy tracting in the rain. We ran across a very strange old guy that talked a million miles an hour & it was pretty hard to get away. We had dinner with the Comen family who just moved here from Odgen, UT. Very sweet family with 3 little kids.

Saturday we had a LONG day of tracting. Saturdays are always slow! On our way to Norfolk, we stopped by some of the antique stores in Winsted. I didn't see anything too exciting that was in my price range, but there's lots of good stuff there. A lady working in one of the stores saw that we were missionaries & relayed all the bad things that had happened in her life. So we shared our message & gave her a pamphlet. Just at that moment, the investigator we were supposed to have seen on Friday walked in. I know that Heavenly Father has perfect timing. When you're being obedient he will bless you. We set up another appointment with him & he was so sorry that he missed us that he gave us gas money. We tried to explain that we couldn't accept it, but he wouldn't budge. So after he left, we gave the money to the lady in the store. She needs it much more than we do.

Sacrament meeting talks are very interesting out here . . . & not in a good way. There isn't much doctrine or spirituality to these talks. But I guess they don't know any better because most are 1st generation members. That supports the fact that we all need to strengthen the stakes of Zion around the world instead of conglomerating in Utah & Idaho. Later that day we had dinner with the Walburger family (right). They just moved here from New Jersey. I was a bit apprehensive because they seemed like the stuck up, rich type. Boy, was I ever wrong! This just goes to say that we shouldn't judge people. Sure they have a lot of money, but they are the nicest people I have ever met. They have 3 little kids who took a liking to me pretty quickly. The 4-yr-old is my buddy now :).

Well, that's the "excitingness" of my week. Thanks to my brothers for serving missions & being such great examples for me! You don't know how much you've made me a better person!

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!