Fish and the Fair

We've had a very good week. We had a great time at the fair. The fair is a big deal down here, there was so much to see and do. Since we couldn't ride any of the rides, we just walked around and looked at things and ate food. Most of it was deep fried. It was all very good and we left the fair very full. 

 We went on a really good exchange this week with our Sister Training Leaders. I went down to Summerville. It was really cool to see how the work is going in another area. The Summerville sisters have lots of people to teach, so almost all of our time was spent teaching people or trying to set up return appointments with people who had indicated they were interested in hearing more. It was a really inspiring exchange for me and Sister Bell. We came back really excited about missionary work and much more optimistic than we had been before. It was amazing to see how many people we were able to meet and teach while we were on the exchange and then the couple days afterward. I think it just goes to show how much attitude affects our work, because as Sister Bell and I have been more positive and more excited about going out and talking with people, we've been able to find more people who are interested in learning more. Preach My Gospel talks about that, if we lower our expectations then our effectiveness will decrease. I think Sister Bell and I have definitely learned that this week, as we've changed our attitudes and seen that there really are people out there who are interested. 

We also had a No More Strangers fireside this week, which meant that all the missionaries in our zone got to be interviewed by President Holm. The first thing President Holm said to me was, "Sister Rudy, you're a low maintenance missionary." I'm glad that President Holm doesn't worry about me, that he trusts that I'm being obedient and working hard. He was also very sure to tell me that if I ever did need anything he wanted to hear from me. That's the thing that I notice most about interviews, I always leave them feeling very loved. It's amazing how inspired President Holm is, he always seems to say exactly what I need to hear to feel reassured that I'm on the right path and I'm doing enough. 

Sister Bell and I are both very excited for this Saturday, to hear Elder Bednar speak. I'm sure that's going to be a great experience. 

Emotional Roller Coaster

I don't even know where to start with all that's happened this week. I think this week has been by far the craziest, busiest week of my mission. Sister Bell and I have definitely been on an emotional roller coaster ride. 

Monday night we had planned to have dinner with a member family, and they were going to invite their neighbor, who they had showed the Restoration DVD to a few days earlier. We went over to the neighbor's house and sat on his screen porch and talked for about two hours. He had a ton of questions, about half of which we had satisfactory answers for. But we were able to get a return appointment with him for a couple days later. He's a good guy, but he's definitely not a completely normal person. Wednesday we went back to teach him again, but we brought the elders with us, because we felt more comfortable teaching him with them there. It was a very interesting lesson, I learned that one elder gets irritated very easily. But the other seemed to understand where the neighbor was coming from, so we're going to let the elders take over teaching him. 

Tuesday was Sisters Conference, and it was wonderful. It was a great way to spend my birthday. I couldn't believe how many new sisters we had gotten since my first Sisters Conference. There are so many of us! 

Katelyn and Sister Anderson, her MTC companion

Happy 20th Birthday, Sister Rudy!

Sister Rudy's mission generations

After Sisters Conference we got our new car. Elder Fenton told us to take the new one, and to give our elders our old one. The new one is a 2014 Chevy Cruze, so just a year newer version of what we already had. It took us forever to get the car and everything else straightened out so we could leave, so we didn't get on the road until about an hour later than we were expecting to. And then before we could get to the interstate our gps died! We got so lost. Finally we stopped at a Wendys to get some dinner and someone there gave us directions. We didn't get back to North Charleston till almost 9:30. The elders weren't very happy with us, they had to wait at the church for us to bring them the car for about two hours. We were really disappointed that we weren't able to teach our member's friend that night who is interested in getting baptized. 

And then Wednesday afternoon we got a call from that member, telling us that her friend had been in a serious accident at work. He had been in the bed of his truck unloading something, when a lady hit his truck, and he went flying out. She completely totaled both cars. The friend broke every bone in his face, and several ribs. He was in a coma for a few days, but he'll be ok, but it's going to take awhile for him to heal. So things with him are kind of on hold for now. He's down in a hospital in Georgia, which is where the accident was, but hopefully he'll be moved closer to here soon. 

Sister Bell and I spent most of our week going out to the far reaches of our area. When we got the new car, we got 1100 miles to use on it before the end of the month. So we've been going everywhere we've never been able to go before and trying to find people out there to teach. Thursday and Friday we were in Alvin, and we found a few people who were interested. Saturday we went to Huger, but I think there's about 20 houses total in that entire town, so no luck there. We've spent so much time in our car. It's really weird. 

We've been working hard this week. I feel like we haven't stopped going since we got back from Sisters conference. We've gone to bed as early as we possibly could every day this week. We're exhausted,but it's been a good week. Very stressful in some cases, but still good. I love the colder weather, but Sister Bell thinks it's freezing. She says it's because she's from Vegas. 

We're going fishing today at a member's house. That should be interesting. I'll be sure to send pictures. Thanks for all your prayers and letters, they mean a lot to me. I love being a missionary, as crazy as it is sometimes! 

Amazing Birthday Gifts

This week has been . . . I don't even know where to start.  I guess I'll start with the most exciting thing that happened-we have someone on date to be baptized! Last night we went to visit a recent convert that we love.  She has a friend who she's kind of dating.  He's been in and out of the picture since I got here, but he's come to church fairly regularly and he's been reading the Book of Mormon a little bit every day.  Last night when we stopped by he was there, and he asked us what he had to do to be baptized!  We were very excited to tell him everything he needed to know.  He's scheduled to be baptized on November 16, but we're going to try and move it up to November 9, since we'll be up in Irmo with the apostle on the 16.  We're very excited for him.  Sister Bell was so happy when we left.  So now we're going to do our best to help him get a testimony; I don't think he really understands or believes in our church doctrine, but he likes the church and he wants to be part of it.  We're very, very excited to teach him. Wish us luck! 

We have a new district leader. His name is Elder Smoot. He's from Corinne,Utah. He's a great missionary. He's going to be going home the same transfer as me, so he's been out almost a year. But he's a few weeks younger than me. So I'm now the oldest one in the district.

We also got some very good news this week, that was almost as exciting at putting our member's friend on date to be baptized. The elders are getting a car! So we're splitting our area in half. Sister Bell and I were so relieved when we heard that. Because honestly, miles are probably the biggest thing that causes us stress right now. We can't go anywhere, our area is just so huge there's no way we can possibly cover all of it. And now that it's getting dark sooner, we can't do much at night without driving, so most of our miles need to be saved for the evening. It's really been frustrating us lately. But now the elders will be taking about half of our old area, so we'll both be able to cover more ground. Sister Bell and I are so happy. It was amazing because the night before we found out the elders were getting a car, we were talking with a member about how sad and frustrating it is that we can't get to all of our area, and so those people way out in Holly Hill and St. Stephen aren't getting a chance to hear the gospel. And then the next day we got the call about the other car! It was amazing. 

I feel like things are really starting to pick up here in Moncks Corner. Another member we've worked with is still doing really well. She even told us on Sunday that she wants to have us come over and meet her sister, who's not a member of the church. We've had a few more less active members promise they'll come to a No More Strangers fireside next month, and one is going to invite her nonmember friend. And we have a few members who have been sharing with the gospel with their neighbors and hopefully we'll be able to start teaching them soon. It's exciting. I'm very excited.

I'm excited for my birthday and Sisters Conference tomorrow. I think the best birthday present will probably be the elders new car, which we're driving down to them after Sisters Conference. And then we have a lesson with the friend that night, so it's going to be a great day. 

Worth It

Transfers are this week. Sister Bell and I will be staying together for another transfer. I think this is going to be the last transfer I'm here in Moncks Corner. I'm glad I get to stay here a little longer. Elder Butters, our district leader is being transferred and our district is splitting since they're putting sisters up in Georgetown. So now it will just be the Moncks Corner elders and us.

 

We've had a little more luck with investigators this past week. We were able to teach a few people the first lesson, and they both agreed to let us come back, but didn't set up a specific time to do that. That's something Sister Bell and I are working on, setting specific return appointments, because if we don't then it kind of turns into a game of hide and seek, trying to catch them at home when they're not busy.

 

We had a good little miracle on Friday. We had an appointment with a member down in her area. We had about an hour of time to fill before the appointment so we decided to tract a little in that area. We don't tract there; we've just stuck to street contacting in that neighborhood. But we felt like we should tract so we did that for about an hour. And we met a really promising guy. He's in his late 30s, and he's already got a Book of Mormon and he was telling us about some of his Mormon friends from high school, that he thinks very highly of. We'll be going back and teaching him sometime next week.

 

The member is still doing really well. She's been to church every week for almost a month now. And she told us on Thursday that she's stopped drinking coffee. She says for some reason it tastes disgusting to her now. So that was a big miracle! She's really feeling the blessings of living the gospel in all the areas of her life and I'm so excited for her.

 

The elders had a baptism this Saturday, which was so exciting. His mom came and we were able to talk with her, and she was very impressed by everything that went on. She said she felt very warm and calm while she was in the church. A ward member, who's been a member for a little over a year, was able to baptize him. It was a really good day.

 

I'm so grateful to be here. I love Moncks Corner and I love being a missionary. As hard as it may be sometimes, it's so worth it. That's seemed to be something that's been coming up a lot as we've talked with people this week- sacrifice. I've just been thinking of a quote from one of the prophets, I think it was President Kimball, "As we give we find that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. And in the end we realize that it was no sacrifice at all." That's so true about a mission. Yes, I am giving up quite a few things to be here and to preach the gospel, but it's more than worth it. 

Wonderful, Spiritual Week

We've had a very good week, although we weren't able to get much missionary work done. This past week we spent two days up in Irmo, for a leadership training meeting. It was for all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, district leaders, trainers and trainees. So basically the whole mission. There were 180 of us there, it was a huge group. The meeting was so good. I love my mission president and his wife. They're just incredible. We got to stay at the mission home and spend some time with them, and we had a lot of fun. In the morning we went and walked by a dam near the mission home, I'm sending you a picture of that.  

 

We also had general conference this week, which was so good. We watched it in the chapel at the church. Not many members actually come to the church to watch conference, most people watch it at home online or on byutv, which a lot of people have. A couple different times we've shown up for dinner at a member's house and they've had it on. Sister Evans, our ward mission leader's wife, loves Chef Brad.

Oh, this was a really neat thing that happened when we were up in Irmo. A group of us went out to a grocery store to buy something for lunch before the meeting started. And when we went to pay for our food at the register, the lady just rang it up and handed us our receipt. When I mentioned that we hadn't paid, she told us that a customer in the store had already paid for our food. It was really nice. We all wished we would have known who the person was so we could have thanked them. 

Getting the potatoes ready for LTM meal

Because we have to go up to Irmo twice this month, we're going to be very low on the amount of miles we have on our car, so Sister Bell and I will be doing a lot of walking. On Friday that's all we did basically. We drove up to Bonneau Beach, parked at the bottom of the area at a member's house, then walked around all day and drove home. That's basically how the rest of the month is going to be. I know that Heavenly Father is going to place people in our path who are ready to hear the gospel, and that our members are going to help us and take us to appointments when we need them to. It's going to be a good month. 

I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I love getting all your letters. I was sad I couldn't spend conference with you; it felt different to not be in Utah, where everyone is watching conference. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Thank you for all your prayers. 

Just Incredible

Time is flying by. Yesterday was my 4-month mark. It's crazy how fast those months have gone by. In some ways I feel like I've learned so much and changed so much, and in other ways I still feel like a brand new missionary who has no idea what's going on. Talking with missionaries that have been out longer than me, I don't think that feeling--having no idea what's going on--is ever going to go away. A mission is just so unpredictable. I'm just amazed at how much God guides us and protects us. Every once in awhile, as we're out during the day, I'll just stop and look around and think "How in the world am I doing all this?" I'm a 19 year old girl from Provo, Utah. I'm out in the middle of South Carolina. And yet we find our way around this huge area we have, and we talk with perfect strangers all the time. It's just incredible. 

We just found out on Saturday that we're going to be having a Sisters' Conference, where all the sister missionaries in the mission meet for a day, on my birthday. So I'm excited about that; it will be a good day. 

We went on an exchange with the sister training leaders this week. It was the first time that I've left my area to go on an exchange. I went with Sister McNeely to Goose Creek, which is right south of our area. It was fun. It was interesting to see how their area has a lot of the same problems our area has; they don't really have any progressing investigators either. But their area is the exact opposite of my area in terms of size, it's tiny! Like, they could cover their entire area in a day if they wanted to. Which is such a foreign concept to me, since I haven't even been to half of my area. It just showed me that each area is challenging in its own way; missionary work is hard no matter where you're serving. 

I was really kind of nervous about leaving Sister Bell during the exchange. I knew that it was going to be a good experience for her and that she needed it, but I kept finding myself thinking about her, thinking about what she'd be doing at this specific time and how everything was going. She was very nervous about the exchange and didn't think she would be able to handle being the only one who knew the area and the people. I knew that Sister Prior would help her and she'd be fine, but it was still really nice to see her the next day and have her tell me that everything went really well. She did a great job, and I think that exchange gave her a lot more confidence because she's been talking more and participating more in decision making, which makes me really happy. 

We haven't had a whole lot of luck with investigators this week, but one of the members is still really progressing. She came to scripture study and church again, and would have come to the Relief Society Broadcast, but she was out of town. So we'll still be working with her to keep her coming and help her build her testimony. 

Today for P-Day we've had a lot of fun. We went over to a member's house and spent the morning baking cakes- one for their family, and one for another that always lets us do our laundry at their house. This member is so awesome. I love her. She's one of those people who can just talk for hours, and she has such a solid testimony, she's such a good member of the church. We had a very good time together, and we all ate way too much cake and frosting. It was so good though. Sister Bell is a great baker. 

I'm very excited for general conference this weekend. We watch it at the church, they broadcast it, although most of the members don't come to the church; they just watch it at home online or on BYUtv, which a lot of members have. 

There's just so much that happens in a week that I can't possibly tell you all about everything. But we're doing well, we're working hard, and I'm growing and learning so much. My mission really isn't about me, and I don't want it to be about me, but I have already seen so many blessing from my mission. My testimony has been strengthened, I've met so many incredible people, and I have learned so much about how to be a better person- how to manage time and money, how to set priorities, how to work hard, and especially how to overcome obstacles and discouragement. There's still so much ahead of me, and I'm so excited to learn more and serve more. I love you all, thank you for all your prayers and letters. 

Better than Christmas

We've had a very good week. We saw a couple really big, very unexpected miracles this week involving a few less active members in our ward. The first started on Tuesday when we went to visit a less active member. We've visited her quite a bit since I've been here, and she's never shown any sign of wanting to come back, in fact she once told us that she felt we were wasting our time by coming to see her. So I wasn't feeling very optimistic about going to see her, but we had some time and we were in the area so we stopped by. And she started talking about why she doesn't come to church, but then also said that she felt like she should come back. Which absolutely shocked me. We invited her to scripture study the next night, and she actually showed up! And then she called us on Thursday and asked if we'd like to come over for lunch. It was crazy. I don't know what happened, but she's made a total change. We had a really good discussion with her on Thursday and then she came to church with her two little boys on Sunday (her husband is a nonmember and not interested in church at all). She was an hour late, but she still came. I think she's noticed that there's something missing in her life and I'm so glad she's recognizing she can fill that void by becoming more active in the church. I think things will continue to go really well with her. Because she's willing to act, which is really refreshing. I don't think I've ever seen someone make so much progress in one week.

We also had another less active family at church this Sunday. They're a younger family, and we've been trying to get them back to church for a long time. We stopped by their house on Friday night and talked with the mom; she told us her conversion story which was really neat. They are one of those families that have testimonies, but let other things get in the way of coming to church, normally their excuse is that they've had a super busy week and so they just need a day to sleep in. But the mom's been telling us for awhile that she knows they need to come back to church and so yesterday they actually did it! They were late as well, so we didn't see them or the other member until after sacrament meeting. I was so excited when we walked out into the foyer and saw them both there. It was better than Christmas. 

Smile for the Camera: Sister Bell and Sister Rudy

While we've had a lot of success this week, it hasn't really been showing in our numbers, since working with less actives doesn't really count for much. Sister Bell has been getting a little frustrated with that, and I can understand why. We put just as much work into the less actives as we do investigators. We visit them, we teach them, we invite them to keep commitments, we pray for them, we go through this whole emotional roller coaster while trying to get them back to church. And when they come it's so exciting. I really can't imagine that it feels much different to watch an investigator be baptized than it did to see these members at church on Sunday. But it doesn't count for much when we're reporting our numbers. We're seeing success, just not in the form of baptisms, which is kind of how success is measured in the mission field. But that's ok. Our purpose is to bring souls to Christ, whether that's through baptizing or reactivating, it's still the same great work. So even though next Zone Training Meeting we're going to have to stand up and report 0 baptisms for September, I know we still had a successful month. 

The elders are still doing really well, they had two investigators at church again, and one of them is going to be baptized this Saturday, so we're really excited for them. 

It's finally starting to cool off, almost to the point where we'll need to wear a jacket in the evenings. I'm really excited for fall weather here. I think it's going to be really nice. 

We had zone conference this Friday, which was so good. I love President Holm, he's amazing. And it was good to see everyone, all the other missionaries. Sister Clemons, who was in my district at the MTC, is now in my zone, which has been really great, I love having the chance to talk with her. I can't believe next week we'll have been out for four months! 

Sister Bell and a picnic dinner without a park