Transferred!

Hola familia and friendsia!

That's about the extent of my Spanish. Hey guess what? I'm alive! Sorry if the lack of email this last week scared ya. I've been sick this whole week. Flu. Ah that darn flu. But hey, if nothing else, my skirts are a whole lot looser because I haven't been able to eat very much these past two weeks. Silver lining indeed. :)

So lots has happened and I have less than a little time to tell you, so words may be misspelled and grammar may just have to go out the window, but it'll be fun. :)

Elder Bednar came to our mission! We had a mission conference not this last Saturday but the Saturday before that and he spoke to us for 3 hours...which was incredible. He talked with us, not to us. He told us that that is how the Savior taught, one by one. He related the Saviors teachings to how he let people feel the prints in his hands and feet and the wound in his side one by one, and that is how he taught. Yes, he taught masses of people, but the spirit testified to each of those people one by one. This is how we should teach as missionaries. Asking lots of inspired questions and really trying to get out of the way of the spirit. The spirit is the true teacher, and we need to get out of the way sometimes so he can do his job. :) He also talked about how we need to jump out of the boat. He said that sometimes in missionary work, or just life in general, we get scared and are afraid to leave certain comforts behind in order to follow a certain principle or the spirit. Elder Bednar said that we need to jump out of the boat just as Peter did. If we keep our eye on the Savior we will never fail. We may sink a little and choke down some water, but he will never let us drown. I just loved the way that he said that and how I can apply it in my missionary work. Sometimes, we do have our boats. We have our set lessons and our set questions that we are going to ask, but that's the boat! If we truly want to become great missionaries, we need to leave that comfort behind, rely on the spirit, and move towards the savior. I don't know if that makes a whole lot of sense, but it was a great night.

Got to go to the temple!!! President Holm said that everyone in the mission needed to go to the temple in the month of November. Many missionaries, Sister Seaman included, haven't been able to go in a year or so. Crazy! I missed the temple like crazy just being absent from it for 3 months, I can't imagine a year. Yes, that's right, my companion is old and has been out nearly a year. That boggles my mind and hers. I can't really imagine ever being at that point, but then again, the mission is nothing like I expected it would be, it's better.

Brother Reed is progressing...kind of. We had a lesson with him this past week with the Mastellars. We always have dinner beforehand and I've got to say, if you add enough brown sugar to pretty much anything...it tastes pretty amazing. We had a Thanksgiving dinner with corn pudding...you heard me right...corn pudding. I'd never heard of such a thing. It's pretty much just mushed up corn with flour, cinnamon and brown sugar. So good though! These Southerners know how to do it. Just put sugar in everything. :) Anyways, we sat down with him and he told us flat out that he hadn't been reading. This is the 2nd week in a row that he hasn't read...bollucks!, and we were going to drop him. He hadn't been keeping any of his commitments or coming to church. We figured that his desire was around 0 to keep taking the lessons and that if he hadn't read, we would drop him. It's very sad to drop someone, but if they aren't progressing and aren't interested, you've just got to tighten your pony tail and do it. But, Heavenly Father wasn't done with Brother Reed. We were planning on talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but somehow we got on the subject of temples. Sister and Brother Mastellar are family history workers and have done lots and lots of work for their ancestors. Sister Mastellar shared a particularly touching story about how she had done the work for one of her ancestors with no name, who had been buried in an unmarked grave, and left off of most records. She told about the joy that she felt from her and that little girl, finally being recognized and having the work done for her. She said that everyone in the temple room was crying as they felt the love and the joy that her ancestor had as she was recognized on earth and ready to move on in the kingdom of Heaven. She was crying, Brother Reed was crying, I felt like crying but I wasn't going to fake it. It was just a wonderful lesson and the spirit was so present and strong. We got a very strong commitment from Brother Reed that he would read his BofM everyday and that he would come to church. Hopefully he follows through, because he really is such a wonderful man and he deserves to be sealed to his family.

Jackie is on date! I found Jackie in our post office. I felt prompted to give her a card with the BofM on it, and we started a conversation. She gave me her number and said that we could set up an appointment. The funny thing is, we'd met Jackie before. She lives in our apartment complex and we'd knocked on her door one night. She'd turned us away. But she was more ready that second time, and long story short, she's been to church two Sundays in a row and is on date for baptism on the 14th of December! Miracles really do happen all around us and the hand of Heavenly Father is always acting around us even when we can't see it.

So...I'm being transferred. Don't know where, don't know who my new companion is going to be, don't know if I'll be speaking a different language! Just kidding, I do, everyone in the south speaks red neck. I'm becoming quite fluent in it. You'd be so proud, y'all is commonly used in my vocabulary and I think a southern accent is starting to creep in. Apparently I still sound like a yankee though some of the time, or just a westerner. I'm working on it though! The lord's work will go forth! We got the transfer call on Saturday as we were driving back from the temple and when I heard my name, I was surprisingly calm. I know that I am going where Heavenly Father needs me to. Yes, I've loved this ward and these people and I'm going to miss Sister Seaman like crazy! I'm sad that I don't get to spend the holidays with her, but I know that my new companion is going to love me, whether she likes it or not. ;) We drive down to Irmo tomorrow to figure out who our new companions are going to be and I get to pack up tonight and figure out how I'm going to fit my life into three suitcases again. Should be fairly easy, except I'm me and I'm going to want to go through everything and remember the memories...so I'm looking at a 4-5 hour window here. Wish me luck!

Oh man, I had one of the coolest experiences yesterday. There is this little girl in our ward, Mae Stark. She is eight and just pretty much the most adorable thing I've ever seen. We have been emailing at the library to save on miles and we ran into Sister Stark and her children there. We went to go say hi and I ended up talking to Mae for a little bit. She is just precious and their family is just wonderful. Anyways, yesterday Sister Stark comes up to me and she said that Mae has been talking about us non-stop! She said that on the car ride home Mae said, "ya know, those Sister Missionaries are wonderful. They are so beautiful." Sister Stark, intrigued said, "What do you think makes them beautiful?" Mae thought about it for a second, and said, "It's really cool. They don't have big princess dresses on or anything. They just have a light that shines through their faces. They are just so beautiful and amazing." Sister Stark, amazed at the language of her eight year old daughter said, "What do you think that light is?" Mae thought about it, "The Spirit. Mom, I want to be like them when I grow up. I want to be a missionary." .....WHAT!!?!?! How amazingly awesome is that!!!! Not only are we princesses, but this little girl wants to go on a mission now! Ah man, it's experiences like that that just make your heart all warm and fuzzy like a peach left out in the sun.

Well, thank you so much for your prayers this week. Things are definitely getting better, and hey...I've made it three months! Woohoo! I've made it through some tough things and I can make it through even more. Everything is possible with our Heavenly Father. Rely on him, for he will never let us fall. He will let us struggle, but he will never let us fall. I love you all so much and will talk to you in my new area! Wish me luck, and pray for me!

TLLY, and in case you forgot, I do to. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving! Be grateful this week for there is so much to be grateful for! In your letters to me this week, I would like for you to write down 30 things that you're grateful for. I know I know, I'm giving you homework, but it'll be awesome I promise. :)

Sister Jones