Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Hello Family!
Alright! I actually wrote a to-do list for the e-mail this week so hopefully it will be a little less scatter brained! I also added some pictures which I thought was kind of fun. The first is a picture from Balboa Park! That's where we went for pday today. We went to the Museum of Man and took an off road adventure down a hill he-he. It’s pretty fun and it was gorgeous. The second is me in the pioneer dress. I figure that you'll all like to see that magic ha-ha. . The third picture is Sister Murphy and I from the MTC. She was my visitor center teacher. =) The fourth picture is the standard MTC picture. The last picture is a picture of my district from the MTC. They're awesome! They are doing well from the people I've heard from so far so that's pretty sweet! I have other pictures too but I don't want to use up too much space. I'll try to put up pictures each week. =)
So! You got the e-mail from Jamie! That's awesome! I took her through the tour and she asked for my contact information afterward so that she could send the e-mail to you! That was pretty neat. She also gave a hug from you mom. =) The people here are incredible. I figure you must be somewhat overwhelmed with all these people contacting you! But never fear! There will be more! There's a nice couple from my ward who have a daughter that moved to Massachusetts just recently and they said that I should give them your number so you could help take care of her while they take care of me... unfortunately I don't know their names but... they are awesome. =)
Another cool thing that happened was that I randomly decided to pop my head in the bathroom and I met this amazing woman named Kelly. We got to talking and she told me about her conversion story and then started asking about the Mormon Battalion, how I felt about being there, if I was a member all my life, etc. She was so impressed by our family’s story, and my personal story about coming on a mission that she asked me to write it down so she could share it during a youth activity about missionary work. That honestly made my day. It was a tender mercy from the Lord because of how I was feeling that day. If our story could touch just one youth in that ward and inspire them to go on a mission it would change their life, and make my mission a success. It’s amazing how the Lord places people in certain places at certain times to go about His great work and glory.
I met another amazing woman at the Battalion named Sister Johnson. I felt a special connection with her because she has met Susie before. I took her and her husband through the tour. I kept talking with her and I just love that woman. She has an amazing spirit. We had a great discussion about Temples and sealings, about the Gospel and missionary work. I know that woman is an elect lady, and I am blessed to have been able to talk to her. She gave me a referral for her sister-in-law and she kept saying that it was the right time, that she felt so good about it. I feel a huge responsibility to talk with the sister-in-law with the proper spirit because I know that the Gospel will help her, and I love Sister Johnson. She gave me her address so I'll keep in touch with her when I have time. =)
I also met Peggy at the Battalion site and I connected with her too. She’s not a member but she loves the Battalion history. She was so impressed with the tour that she asked me about what our church believes in. I gave her a hug when she left. She said she might come back in today. I hope she does. =)
We're working with a lot of less active members. My favorite is a woman named Sister Ferran... and Chuckie Lopez... and Angelica.... they're just all my favorites! I've fallen in the love with the people down here. Everyone I talk to is amazing, and I leave with a feeling of happiness having had an opportunity to talk with them. We picked up a new investigator in church! Her name is Priscilla, she's 17 years old and has been going to mutual. We're giving her the first lesson on Thursday.
Unfortunately we haven't been able to contact Theresa at all. =( My district leader thinks she got anti'd.) We're trying to do all we can to get a hold of her without pushing her away. This week I'm going to write her a letter just telling her my testimony and inviting her to mormon.org and another website. She was prepared and I know that she'll come back some time.
Bah! So funny story! We have a mission fireside this next Sunday and we were inviting some less active members to it when I saw another family just sitting in their garage talking. I've been taught to talk to everyone so we went on over and invited them to the fireside! One woman was none too happy. heh. She kept telling us to go away and that she believed in her Jesus, etc. We assured her that we too believed in Jesus and she kept telling us to go away so we left them with a flyer
We met a 19 year old girl in a park and she said she'd love to get a tour of the institute building, her name is Victoria and we're hoping that will happen sometime this week. =) This week is SUPER busy. We had something called MTE which is when President Donaldson teaches us... kind of like a zone conference I guess. He talked about the differences between baptismal interviews and Temple interviews and all sorts of amazing cool things about the Temple. He also taught us about how to apply everything back to the fundamentals and that we should try to incorporate stories into our teaching. So we are teaching lesson 3 via the eyes of the exodus of Moses and the Israelites. Way cool. He also told us the mission department will be back and see how we're doing in a new style of "coaching” where after every lesson we evaluate how we did applying the 8 fundamentals. Pretty cool.
OH! So in April the mission is leaving the mission! We get to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry. I'm stoked!
We got a waaaaaay cool referral named Ray. I've only talked to him on the phone, but he was converted to the church when he was 18, remained a member for 6 months and then fell away. He's about 40 years old right now. He wants to follow Jesus, and he has a firm testimony in God, personal revelation and angels. Holy cow. We're meeting with him at the Battalion site on Wednesday, TOMORROW! I'm stoked to teach him and meet him.
So yes... life is going well. =) I am driving now. I'm driving about an hour every day. Stressful? Yep! You know me. I'm a little stress case every time we drive ha-ha. We got lost in down town San Diego today. That was fun. Gotta love those one way streets ha-ha.
Anyway! That's a pretty good synopsis of my life right now. Doing well and going strong. San Diego is DEFINITELY not Massachusetts or Utah. Give everyone my love!
Oh and thanks to Marci McPhee for the Laffy Taffy. =) Joanne, I continue to get comments about the skirts. They are amazing! Thank you so much!
I am going to buy mangoes today! It will be great. =)
Mission is the best decision I ever made. =)
I love you all!!! You're in my prayers!
Love,
Sister Tardiff
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