Busy Bees

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Heyo Everyone!

So I'm e-mailing a little bit later today because I got to go to the Temple this morning! That was definitely a blessing. In a small way it felt like it was one of the first times I'd been to the Temple because I learned so much and noticed so much because it had been "so" long since the last time I went. I've grown to realize just how necessary it is to go to the Temple regularly, and how much of a spiritual boost it is. There are so many blessings from going to the Temple, not only for us but also those who have passed on and those around us.  We also got to hear from a Temple presidency/old mission president. There were about 14 of us missionaries and he took us into a ceiling room and blew our minds a bit and then let us depart =) Let us just say Temple marriage is pretty much the most exciting thing in the world. I tried to get a song book of EFY songs from 2004-2007 (any of them) but the oldest piano songbook they have is from 2008. Only one year off! Dangit! =)

How is everyone coping with life? It seems like life is just moseying a long.

Honestly I'm in kind of... slow motion? Recently I feel like I’m slowly falling apart! I've been sleeping on a heating pad, cuz the muscles in my back are not very happy with me, and I’m tired a lot. It’s like I'm in a lull where I can't show excitement even though there are super exciting things happening in my life every single day! It’s like I’m waterworks all the time. Good thing my companion has a lot of patience ha-ha. She's really one of the best people I know. Together we work hard, we work long, and we try to have as much excitement and enthusiasm as we can. That's one of the reasons why it’s so good that I went to the Temple today. It sounds ridiculous but I needed some spiritual nourishment even though I study and pray and teach with the Spirit every day. It is weird, huh? BUT seriously, I’m way excited about my area and my companion is a doll! =)

This last week was AWESOME in terms of the work. We got to teach lots of lessons and catch up with people that have been off the radar for a while like Teresa! Hurray! She's been going through a rough time but she let us in her doors. It was really cute actually. She said "I like you Mormons. I've had friends who were Mormon. There are some religions I don't like... like... well... let me just say that if you were of another religion I wouldn't have let you in the door." =) It was so awesome. She also asked if she could donate to our church or anything. So I took the opportunity at that time to tell her she could contribute to the Church by reading the Book of Mormon. She said she would and she's really excited about it. =) I'm glad Sister Burden got to meet her.

We also got a hold of Vincent again because I got to go on splits for the first time in my entire mission! We went with Charmaine and Miranda. OH! Charmaine got her mission call; Texas Lubbock Mission English speaking! She's leaving in August which I am psyched about! We're trying to get her to as many appointments as we can so she can get some good practice in. But because of the splits we got to do twice as much work in one time period! Huzzah! It was so weird driving off without my companion though and not having to back the car! That was awesome. I ended up going with Charmaine and we tried to contact a bunch of people, and then taught Chris. It was good.

Chris is such an angel. We taught her a lesson about gratitude because she's been taught all the missionary lessons and at the end she was like. “I like to read that talk (by Pres. Monson.) Actually every night before I go to sleep I write down the things I'm grateful for." We were shocked. The Lord certainly prepares people. =)

It’s been fun getting to know the members and helping them with their missionary work. It’s definitely a way that we've been unfortunately neglecting (out of ignorance really, but now we have knowledge so we won't neglect it anymore!) and now that we're starting with it we can already see the fruits! It’s so fun to get people excited about missionary work and help them help their friends. I'm hoping and praying that we'll get better and better at it. But of course prayer brings power and blessings, and it’s a worthy desire so... We just got to keep working hard! A lesson with one of the members was a really special experience. It was with the Stake President and his family and the Spirit was really strong the entire lesson.

Our Site President told us that there is a Hispanic Initiative happening and he wants all the Spanish speakers to memorize the script in Spanish and gave the option to all us English speakers to do the same so that we can be better equipped to help people feel the Spirit of the Battalion who only speak Spanish. I think Sister Burden and I might use the time driving back from our area every day to study the script in Spanish instead of zoning out and listening to music. So perhaps that will happen. Maybe not - we'll see. But it’s possible that I might be able to give the tour in Spanish some day as long as I don't have to say/understand anything in real Spanish, ha-ha.

Funny story:

We were at a recent convert’s house and we were waiting for him to come down and his mom was there making lunch. So she brings us lunch and it was tuna, jalapenos’ and a tostada. Yuck. The tuna was mixed with mayonnaise and you know I hate mayonnaise, and tuna is just icky to me. Have you been in a situation where you feel obligated to eat but the food is just... not to you liking? Sister Burden and I were ingenious at handling it! The mom left the room, Sister Burden took my half, stuffed her face with it and ate it as fast as she could, and then when the mom came back into the room we hurriedly switched back and I continued to eat little bites of it. It was SUPER funny. And Sister Burden loved it! So it was a win, win! =D

I'm praying for all of you. I know this is where I'm meant to be but I really wish I could see your faces.

Keep your chins up and go to the Temple as much as you can!

Love, love, love!

~ Sister Tardiff