Hello, Hello!

Hello my dear family!!

 

How are you this week?! Thank you for all of the love you send. Thank you for the emails and the letters. Mom, thanks for sending the pizza hut and subway. That's about as fancy as Nevada gets, but we will put them to use. Ciara, I got your letter today with the pictures. Thank you!! I love seeing what's going on in your lives :) Corey thanks for the letter. It came JUST in time. Trust me. You gave great advice. Nat and Kas, thanks for your BYU letters. I just am so grateful for mail. I know I always say that but it really does help!

 

Happy almost Birthday Corey and Grandpa!! I have cards coming your way but they won't be sent until today so they will be after the 17th...sorry!! But know that I am thinking about you. Are you doing anything fun? Ciara yours is coming up too! I hope you all have fun birthday plans.

 

Mom, you keep asking what could go in a package? I sent some ideas last letter. Hope you got that :) Umm the hymns made easy book...do we have that? If so maybe send it on over. If you can't find it, no worries. I am the only one who "plays" the piano in my district. I need the easy version haha. Maybe a new journal? I am almost done with my first one. Oh and Ciara sent flavor packets for water bottles. I love those!! But I really don't need anything. You keep me taken care of.

 

We got a car last Tuesday!! They were on top of that quick. We found out today that our old car actually is just getting totaled (sp?). There is no way to fix it. So we are using one of the elders' for now. Poor guys, they had to give up their car for us sisters. We were grateful though!!

 

We had district meeting on Wednesday. We drive to Pittsburg, Kansas for DM. A member took us out there. We have to work with members a lot for rides because the area is so big. Do you do that in SC, dad? How does it work out? Sometimes it is really hard to find a ride, and then our miles just trickle away. Anyways, I love my district!! There are just 6 of us. Both of the elders are in Kansas. The elders made brownies for a treat but didn't put eggs in them. Then they baked it again with eggs and there were pieces of fried egg. I didn't eat it haha.

 

 

We have had some dinners with the members this week. One of them lives up in a place called Butler about 30 min from Nevada. They are an awesome family. Their little daughter is getting baptized in a few weeks. She is a sweetie. She turned to me during dinner and said, "Sister Magness, is it fun being a missionary?" I honestly didn't know how to answer that one haha. That was after a hard day, but I just put a smile on and said it sure is! She said, "Well good, because I want to go on a mission. It's the first goal I have." That really helped me re-focus and try to be that good example on my mission.

 

We have had a better week with teaching. We have some new investigators in fact. One of them is a part member family. The dad is not a member, but his wife is. We started with the first lesson. He wants to be that example for his family and go to church, but he has some doubts still. He has a little ways to go but he is wonderful! I can just picture that cute family at the temple :) We teach a lot of single moms in this area. Most are less actives who are trying to come back to church. I really admire all of their hard work. That is one tough job, especially as they do it alone. They always express how grateful they are that we stop by and just visit with them. I don't realize how much a visit means to some people, but it really does help. We also met another part member couple, but that lesson was a tough one. He is very religious and when we taught the restoration he was so hung up on the authority part. He thinks it never left. We were just going in circles. I gotta study up on that. People really know their stuff here...reality check! Haha it is good though. It helps my study times be more productive when I really have to look for an answer to an investigator's concern.

 

So, this past Friday we found out at the last minute that we had to go to Joplin for a trainer/trainee training. It was supposed to be tomorrow but got moved to Friday. Before I share my experience, I just have to say that we drove through where the tornado hit and it is crazy! A lot of homes are still being built up. The Stake Center was completely destroyed but is almost done and will open again in October.

Anyways, so we walk into training, which I thought would be done by zone leaders or district leaders, but President Shumway was there! I was so relieved to see him. The day before was companionship inventory and it was a rough one haha. We are both really trying to work on differences - I feel the stress of being trained, she feels the stress of training, we are completely different, etc. So I was feeling the stress and hard feelings from the day before, but when I saw him I was relieved. Training went well but the whole time I was just praying that he would interview us or ask us how we were because I wanted to talk to him about how these few weeks have been. Training was up and no interviews were taking place. I thought, oh well just keep hanging in there. Before we were about to leave my companion asked him if she could get a blessing. I was like, wait what? Haha we can do that?! I would've asked too. He said of course. We were all three sitting there and he was just speaking with her about what she needs, etc. Then he stops, turns to me and says, "Sister Magness, how are YOU doing?" I of course, just start to cry. All of my feelings just came out and I knew that my prayers from earlier were being answered. He said, "How about you receive a blessing too?" I agreed of course. The blessing was just what I needed and was a wonderful spiritual experience. He blessed me with feelings of peace and comfort. That the feelings I were experiencing are just a result of this being a new experience. He promised me that all the expectations I had for a mission will come to pass, if I just have faith. He expressed how much Heavenly Father loves me....that he is allowing these experiences to happen because He knows I can make it through. He promised that I am in this area for a reason and just need the faith to find people. It was a wonderful blessing and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father answered my prayers. I know that the training was not moved to Friday on accident. My companion and I both needed that. I have noticed in just these few days that things are looking better. We have just had more faith, more joy and more optimism. I am grateful for that experience Heavenly Father allowed me to have.

 

Well, I love you all...a lot. I sure miss you! Know that I am grateful for all of your support. Have a wonderful week.

 

I love you all the way from MO,

Sister Magness

 

PS - the pictures are just of my apt, and then the other one is of me smiling with our artwork...we drew the Plan of Salvation at a few parks this week and left our number. No one has called haha but hopefully they see it!