Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Happy Easter From the Mormon Battalion =)

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Heyo Everyone!

Well! Happy Easter! The Easter egg hunt two pdays ago was so fun! We're going forward with the Easter egg hunt with the investigators so that's pretty fun. =) It’s happening on Saturday! Good way to celebrate Easter followed by Easter Sunday which is so amazing! It’s going to be all about the Atonement which is awesome because my understanding and testimony of the Atonement and its power has increased dramatically on the mission. Also, if you read 3 Nephi 19 where it talks about Jesus praying and him smiling at his disciples - he can make us pure, and clean. =)

I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Burden and she is from Ririe, Idaho. She loves playing volleyball and basketball and has a super strong testimony. This means we get along great - that’s not the only reason we get along great. She's also 6 feet tall. Sister Donaldson joked that they put the tallest missionary with the shortest, me. =) He-he. Anyway, the town she comes from, Ririe, is a small town of about 400 people... WHOA! Tiny! She didn't even have a stop light growing up. It makes me laugh because when we drive she is just so grateful that she doesn't have to drive because it intimidates her. Which is funny because when I drive, it intimidates me - EXCEPT! Recently I've actually been able to sit back and relax while driving. I can only imagine that by the end of my mission I'll be a pro driver... or at least less pansy like. Patrick will be proud of me.

Last week, we went to a Mexican restaurant. There was a pepper sitting on my plate and Sister Pelfry and I (my temporary companion) decided we would try to eat one each. We asked the server if it was hot and she said it was mild for her. We popped them in.... Oops... my face turned bright red and my mouth was numb for like 35 minutes. Hahaha. Yep. I'm a smarty.

At the post office today we met this really friendly woman named Camille, she helped me stuff some things into a tiny box so that was really fun and funny. It’s amazing what mom's can do. She kept saying "if there's a will there’s a way!" And there was a will so there was a way. Everything fit! I also bought chocolate covered blueberries. Made my day! =) Good times at the grocery store. Sister Burden loves chips. She bought 3 or 4 bags of them which is funny because she said she wasn't going to buy any at all. =D

OH. PDAY IS ON MONDAY NEXT WEEK. MONDAY PDAY! (I'm supposed to make sure you know that) Because Elder Perry is talking to us on Tuesday... sooo... Monday pday, e-mail me before then, and expect an e-mail from me that day. Also if you are planning on sending a box at some point in the future, no rush or anything, old t-shirts would be marvelous, and socks from my drawer. And also the picture frame from Teri and any CD's (church ones) that I left behind in the bottom drawer of my dresser. And pictures of you! But no worries. None of these are of the utmost importance. Just if there is room and only if you are already sending a box. I can be patient.

I bought a San Diego Sweatshirt today! It’s white, and fluffy.

On Sister Burden's first day in the area we added a new investigator. Her name is Adida and we'd been trying to contact her for weeks! She seems really open to learning and wants to become closer to God. We have a return appointment for Wednesday. =) We also had a good meeting with Fransisco - we didn't end up dropping him after all =) We invited him to be baptized but he said that he wanted to be fully converted to the gospel before agreeing to any date. He did say he'd come to church next week though =) Life is good =) We have a lot of funny times. Like the time when she thought she needed to back me but we were actually parking. And I was really confused because I heard screaming and I thought she jumped out of the car really fast. So my heart stopped for a moment. But then everything made sense when she started to wave her arms. Hahaha. I'm glad I didn't kill anyone, and I have such an enthusiastic and diligent companion.

Annette is the real miracle this week. This will seem kind of small but yesterday she texted us and asked us to say a prayer for Noah. I was blown away. At the beginning she wouldn't even talk religion with us. Obviously we did pray and I sent back that I loved her and her family. She responded with "thx so much.. we love u 2. we r so grateful that u r a part of our lives =) I’ll text u after the appointment" I was brimming with happiness (Sister Virgin knows that phrase well =)) I love the small progress we're making and I love the friendship we're developing. This is what missionary work is supposed to be; having investigators and being such good friends with them as well.

Another tender mercy this week was meeting with the Quintero

We finally contacted the Lewis street which gave us some very funny memories. hahaha. So we went up to this door where the lights were on and we knocked on the door. We see this man poke his head ABOVE the door and open the door very cautiously. We were just being friendly like so we introduced ourselves and asked his name. He excused himself for a moment and hit his dog that was barking and we were like "uhhh..." then he opened the door again and we again asked his name and he asked "why do you want to know?" We answered "just being friendly" and he basically just shut the door on our faces. I started laughing, hard, but only when we were far enough away from the door that he couldn't hear me. Heh. It’s either laugh or cry right? And laughing is far better.

We did meet a man on that street named Dennis though! He was really friendly and we found out he'd been living in Utah for 3 years and had a lot of respect for the Church and for members of the Church. It’s amazing how much faster the work progresses when there are members involved and the members are so respectful to non members. I know I've said this before but after the mission I'm totally going to be a better member missionary. You said that there have been baptisms in our ward? That's awesome! Who are they?

I forgot the area book, and the map one day. That was an exciting day. Good thing I know the area for the most part and remembered how to get to Fransisco's house. I did forget which house the Vaughan's were though... which ended up being a miracle because we knocked on a door that I thought was the Vaughan's and we ended up adding an investigator. The Lord takes care of his missionaries. =)

Also the Wunderli's have a referral that we're meeting today! This is the first time I've ever met a member's friend in a teaching setting... I'm kind of nervous but I know that Sister Burden and I can do it! It will be awesome!

Anyway, the pilot program continues to roll forward. Life is good. =)

I hope that you all have an awesome amazing Easter! Keep on smiling!

And seriously look up 3 Nephi 19 =)
  
LOVE YOU!

~ Sister Tardiff

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