It wasn't my fault. As missionaries, it's a rule that you can't reverse the car without someone behind it directing you, so that we minimize the accidents. I was being obedient and one of the sisters was backing me (not to point fingers but it was Sister T). She continued to waver her hands, very energetically as if to say I had heaps of room. We have a back up mirror, but being the trusting person I am, I was looking at her. all of a sudden I see her give me the STOP signal, and in that same second I heard the sound. I wasn't very happy, as you can imagine. My foot slammed the brake and I looked at the sister who was backing me, and she gave me a big smile and two thumbs up, and said "It's all good sister, just go forward a little bit!!" It was not funny in the moment but I laughed about it later, The car wasn't damaged, thankfully but the bike rack was turned so that we couldn't fit the bikes on there (which is not a big deal seeing as though we don't ride our bikes much - our area is HUGE).
I was SO nervous to tell Elder Sunderland, the senior Elder in charge of missionaries transportation, but he just laughed and laughed when we told him, and fixed the problem.
That's the last time I'm letting Sister T back me!
Hello to my loved ones.
Thank you for the heaps of mail this week. I love you all and am happy to be hearing all about Christmas and the winter holiday altogether. To echo my sister Emmalee's words, even though I'm away and it might be sad to miss me, all you have to do is follow Jesus and keep the commandments. Words of wisdom from my baby sister! ALL your advice and love (and pictures) are precious gifts. I love you all, and appreciate every word. Thank you thank you. Replies coming soon!!!
Mom, I am out of Yoli Alkalete and Enzymes. I don't mean you have to rush and send me more, but I feel so accomplished to finish the bottles all by myself! (: Drinking water is a struggle still but I'm working on it! (Just so happens Mom already mailed some.)
We did lots of service this week! On Tuesday we went to a lady's home who is not a member of the church, but has lots of family who is and we weeded and gardened for hours. It was supposed to be in the 90's that day, but Heavenly Father blessed us with a cool breeze and clouds in the sky. I didn't even get a burn! It was actually so fun to be in pants, and to get dirty. It's been a while (weird I know) but it was even better to see how relieved this sweet sister was that we did this for her. Her husband passed away last year and she's been so stressed about everything lately and hasn't had the health to work on the garden. She also was open to us coming back and teaching her, so we plan on doing more gardening and visiting her again this week!
Service is a blessing!
We visit this cute couple, Mary and Tony every so often. This week was our second visit with them. They are very old and so much fun! Mary is a member, but she is very forgetful and repeats herself a lot. Tony has never been baptized but he knows just about everything there is to know about the church. He has spoken with countless General Authorities and even an apostle (Mormon Celebrities - the leaders of the church), and has been taught by dozens of missionaries. They are so sweet, and love each other, but any time you start to 'preach too strong', Tony just gets up and walks out. HAHAHA. We love him though.
He has a rock collection, He goes into the mountains and markets and gathers rock and comes back and grinds them down into beautiful stones. They decorate his living room. We asked him about these rocks and he explained that each colour represented a different kind and place, and how you can tell one from another. He told us the process of taking them from rough grey surfaces to these smooth and colourful stones, and how each takes time and lots of repetitive motions to mould them into the stones we see in his living room. Each is carefully polished and counted and put in it's place. He's a part of this rock club in town and is very passionate. I admit, it was all very interesting to hear about.
I related this to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and showed Tony how the process he uses to mould his stones is very similar to the process Heavenly Father uses to mould us into the people He wants us to be - the people we CAN be! Each stone has the same potential to be smooth and shiny and beautiful, but we all have rough edges. You can't go from dirty and grey and rough to gorgeous and clean and smooth in the blink of an eye, but each of us can. It's through careful persistence, using the tools we have been blessed with, patience, and time that we become the people God would have us be. It is these tool: Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Continuing onward that we can become the shiny stones displayed around the room. It was a powerful lesson, and he stayed through the whole thing. He LOVED it! And we had fun teaching this principle because it is what we believe - that God loves us and wants us to see our inner beauty, but it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can truly do that!
This week we have a General Authority coming to the mission. (More Celebs), so we are all on our best behaviour and are very excited to meet him. He's Samoan, and Sister Iosua-Fiu and I were asked to sing again (she's also Samoan) so we are singing 'I need thee every hour', two verses in Samoan. Pray for me. It's a beautiful language but e's are i's and i's are e's and I'm so worried. haha.
Love you all!
Sister Falter
PS. Kangaroo Update ->> :(
(She will try to send pictures next week!)
