Week 4

I've totally lost track of what week this is. You can figure that out :) Sorry I didn't get to email right after I got to Ohio but things have been crazy busy to say the least. BUT I made it safely here! Wednesday is now my new Pday. So a little bit about the Ohio - It's humid as you may have guessed. It is actually pretty mild though. It doesn't get above 90 most days, and some mornings it's even kind of cold. The humidity is actually not quite as bad as Arkansas was so I can deal with it. It doesn't really get hot until later in the day when we are usually at appointments indoors so I am okay with that. I haven't had to tract at all yet because we have AMAZING investigators who we usually see (I'll get to them later). The mosquitos are in full force though. I can't count how many bites I have. My companion is so sweet! Her name is sister Johnson and she's from Laguna Beach. She has only been out for 5 months so she's still fairly new. But she's awesome. I'm at Kirtland on Mondays and Thursdays and in my proselyting area every other day. Both are equally amazing. Kirtland is slowing down so those days are pretty relaxed. But when we do give tours I love it. It's so cool to just be there all the time. Our apartment is supposedly the nicest one in the whole mission. We live right across the street from this fancy schmancy gated community with enormous mansions. We like to go running around the golf course there during exercise time because you can see into their back windows :) I have unlimited email time here so hopefully I will be able to get to everyone now. But you should still write me once in a while. My new address is 234 New Castle, in Aurora, OH. Not sure about the zip code but I'm sure you can look that up.

 

NOW on to my crazy week! We started off at Kirtland where we got to take a tour with Carl Anderson (I think he's the head of Church Education or something like that). But he knows all about Kirtland history. So they took all the missionaries in our group to the Kirtland temple first where they gave us a tour and told about some of the sacred events that happened there. Normally the tour guides are Community of Christ, but they let the LDS leaders talk to the missionaries that come to the Cleveland mission. I mean, they did stay with us the whole time but we got to hear things from an LDS perspective which was cool. Then when we went into the main meeting room we sang "The Spirit of God" and the spirit was so strong. We went to the Visitors' Center at the Kirtland sites next (that's where I serve) and took a tour of the N.K. Whitney Store. Then we learned all about how cool our mission is. There are only four places in the scriptures where God has commanded a "literal gathering" of. New Jerusalem, Old Jerusalem, Salt Lake City, and Kirtland. We know the time is not yet for the New Jerusalem or Old Jerusalem, and Salt Lake has already happened. But the saints left Kirtland before it could be built up. D&C 124:83 talks about the scourge placed on Ohio, and that the Lord would build it up. Then when they broke ground for the Kirtland Stake Center, President Ezra Taft Benson asked if he could come. He said "I think that prophecy (D&C 124) is being fulfilled today. I really feel that it is, my brothers and sisters, and thus the scourge that was placed upon the people in that prophecy is being lifted today." (that was in 1979) And Joseph Smith's last vision before he died (pretty significant I would think) was about Kirtland. He said he was back in Kirtland, contemplating how it would eventually be built up. That time is now! And I get to be a part of it. We then went into the school of the prophets where, after learning about the sacred events there, we were left in the room to make promises to God about what kind of missionaries we would be. At the end of our mission we will return and report to Him. Pretty cool tradition.

 

Then ever since day one we've been running all over the place. We have great investigators. Lisa and Jim are wonderful. They are so cute and super interested in hearing the gospel. My very first lesson in the mission field was to them, and it was the Law of Chastity. And they are living together. Pretty scary, right? Anyways the lesson before that was Word of Wisdom, which of course I wasn't there for, but both of them smoke, and Jim is an alcoholic. Like major alcoholic. He has PTSD and manic depression, so all kinds of issues that drove him to drinking. So we're really praying for him. But like I said, we taught them right after the WOW lesson, and ironically enough he was drunk when we came over. We were like "How's word of wisdom coming along?" Apparently not very well for him. But Lisa is doing well! They took Law of Chastity really well, and we now have a wedding to plan. Then Jim has to be hospitalized so he can take some medication for his disease that will help him quit. But I know with the Lord's help, it's definitely possible for him to quit regardless. We taught them about the temple the next lesson and they were both so sincere about wanting to make that their goal. Jim told us we have helped him more than we know. They want it so bad! But there's just some things to work through. We also teach a guy named Michael. He's interesting because he is very intellectual and thinks more with his mind than his heart, but one day he's going to have a spiritual experience and not know what hit him. Well, actually he will know, because we'll teach him :) Then we have the Stamms. They're both very religious already. I can just see them being members already. They're a younger couple that don't drink, smoke, or do anything contrary to our beliefs. So all they need to do is be baptized and sealed in the temple and they're set! We also taught Norah last night. She's a former investigator and I guess when sister Johnson and her last companion approached her last week she got SO EXCITED. She was like "I love the missionaries!!" I guess she stopped investigating because her kids went anti and she kind of lost interest. But the Lord's been working on her because now she wants to hear our "stories" from the Book of Mormon. So we're trying to teach BOM stories within the Preach my Gospel lessons so that we are at least still teaching her about the gospel and giving her commitments to follow :) She's gonna get baptized someday. Oh! and Lisa, Jim, and Michael all have baptism dates already. Hopefully they can be prepared by the date we set (it's in three weeks!).

 

Days are so long and hard and I'm so pooped by bedtime. But I love being a missionary!! Hope all is well. Love you all!

 

Sister Coontz