email of 17 February 2010

Hello, hello, hello!!!

How are all of you this week? Doing well, I hope! I just read Joseph's letter and was thinking, hey, Wendy's due in about another transfer! ...oh how time is measured on the mission...

This week has been good! I got to go on splits with my sister trainer (kind of a Zone Leader for the sisters...) this week, which was so great! I love my companion, and the awesome opportunity I've had now to train twice, but it was really nice to work with a more experienced sister in the mission, to be able to feel and learn from her experience and spiritual strength! Sometimes as a trainer you have to pull a lot of the weight yourself, as you're teaching and helping your new missionary to learn and do as well, so getting a little break was nice. I will say this: training has really given me such a deeper appreciation for my trainer . . . it's also made me feel really bad for what I probably put her through during that first transfer . . . I'm sorry Sister Foutz...thanks for putting up with me.

Anyways, so we had a great day together, Sister Mosher (my sister trainer) and I! Just a little highlight: As we were tracting a little bit in the morning, we tracted into this guy named Justin, who was nice, but told us up front that he was an Atheist, but recognized the good in the world. Well, we kept talking to him, and felt impressed to share Moroni 10:6, which talks about how all good things testify of Christ. Afterwards, he said, "I have kind of a secret...I know it sounds funny to be coming from an atheist, but sometimes I pray. ...Sometimes I ask Him for things, but mostly I just say thanks; and you know, it feels really good when I do that." YAY!!!!!!!

We taught him really quickly about the light of Christ, and how no matter who you are, or what you believe, as long as you're moving toward that light that is inherently within all of us, you're going to receive more and more of it in your life, to which he replied, "Yeah...I really want to move toward the light." DOUBLE YAY -- THAT'S WHAT WE DO!!!!!!!!!

So anyways, we set up an appointment for the next day, went over and taught him about the plan of salvation, and committed him to baptism on March 21st!!!

I love being a missionary!

Well, I have another new responsibility in the mission! We have here what's called the "Information Center," which is kind of an interim visitor's center, since the actual visitor's center is still under construction...as it has been for about the last 2 1/2 years. The latest we've heard, it's scheduled to open the first part of June -- espero que si! So anyways, the Info Center...since the VC is currently out of commission, there's a big room in the mission home that they open up on a limited schedule each week to show the church's current VC movie, "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration". It works pretty much like a VC in that there are sister missionaries who work different shifts at the IC doing things like introducing, starting, and leading discussions about the movie, or give temple tours, etc. It's been an awesome resource because we can schedule it and bring people we're working with to come see the movie (or any other church movies that we have), but the senior couple who got it (the I.C.) up and running finished their mission and went home just before Christmas, so the IC closed for a while. However, a few weeks ago, the first VC senior couple arrived, and have taken the assignment/opportunity to re-open the IC and be over it until the VC opens back up.

Now, all that said to tell you that I've been asked to be the sister who does the scheduling and coordinating of all the other sister missionaries' schedules to work in the info center. Thankfully the Larsens (the senior couple who are over the IC) will be the one's worrying about scheduling the actual appointments, so all I have to worry about is the Sisters' schedules. Anyways, it's pretty cool...a little stressful, but not too bad, and I'm so excited to be able to be involved in this way!

Things are going well with my new trainee, Sister Stout -- we're getting more used to each other, and the work is starting to pick back up some more! It's really the awesomest thing in the world to be a missionary and to literally watch the changes in people's lives! I love it!

Not much time left . . .remind me next week to share with you my parable/analogy of the soy milk. :)

Oh, and David, I just want you to know that I love you and am praying for you and your Eagle project -- don't give up! You CAN finish it in time! Just work your little tail off and pray like crazy!

I Love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Sallie

. . . and yes, I LOVE being a missionary!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

ps I discovered a new favorite cereal...Quaker Oatmeal Bites...touch of brown sugar flavor

Oh, and is there any music on the way? I would reeeeeeeeeeeeeaalllly love some!