Fish

"sis. vidmar sis knight sis gil and me! The sisters of the Fishers District and apt. 12188!"

Hello Everybody!

So you are probably wondering why my email is titled "Fish". And I will tell you! If you know me, you will know that I do not eat fish. I don't like the fishy smell and all that. So we go to our dinner appointment on Wednesday night at a part member families house and what is for dinner? Fish. Being a missionary we are encouraged to eat the food unless you are allergic or something. So I ate it. Starting small with one tiny piece of course and guess what! I didn't hate it! This man made really good Talapia (I'm new...I don't know fish spellings)...I even had a second piece!!!! It was an exciting night!

Also on Wednesday night, we had a lesson with a new investigator Becky. She is awesome and we are super excited to teach her some more! She is about 40 and has 2 kids. She is the neighbor of our primary president so we've been teaching in her home. Becky has so many questions about Joseph Smith and why we need a modern day prophet. She is also curious why she can't "go to Temple" as she said it. She is mostly just lacking the solid knowledge on her part because she can see why we believe in a prophet and why you need a recommend to go into the temple, but she studied theology for 8 years and questions everything! Which is a challenge sometimes but this week we are going to start from the beginning and hopefully that will clear some stuff up!

We met with Sister Dewald on Saturday and she told us that she isn't going to be baptized. :( We are still pretty sad about that but her reasons have nothing to do with the doctrine, it is all just the physical pains and what not she feels right now. So I really believe that one day she will accept this gospel. It may not be in this lifetime as we would have liked, but I think it will happen.
So we have transfer calls on Sunday! I am excited and also nervous to see what happens! Since I will be done with training, anything could happen! I will let you all know next week what is going to happen to little Sister London! :) Enjoy your conference weekend and the great opportunity to listen to our prophet and apostles! I am super excited!
love you all!

-Sister London

A Real Missionary

Hello Everyone!

So this week has been awesome! It started off great because for dinner last Monday, the member made chicken roll-ups (thanks for sending them that mom!)!!!!!! They were so good and I ate 3! We have had lots of fun teaching and applying the things taught to us a couple weeks ago from our Zone Conference! We had a goal to teach 5 other lessons (lessons without a member) last week and ended up teaching 8!!!! The power of talking with everyone! It was awesome! 

I had an exchange this week and spent Wednesday in Carmel with one of our Sister Training Leaders, Sister Cordner. It was a good day and gave me a lot of practice with door approaches and tracting. Before when we have tracted, we hadn't found much success. No one was home, it was hot, blah blah blah...but it was awesome! I actually enjoyed it! We met so many interesting people and taught a couple lessons! It was a good day and I learned lots! 

On Thursday we went to try a LA in the ward and ended up on the very edge of our ward in a cute little town named Fortville...I've decided that some day I will live there...because it is awesome! You drive by all these corn fields to get there and it is just a cute little country town. It reminded me of Stars Hallow! :) So my goal is to baptize all of Fortville and have a branch there so that they don't have to drive 45 minutes to get to church! 

On Friday Night the relief society in the ward had "Fantastic Friday", their big crafts night. It was super cool and I made a verse of the week chalk board! It was awesome too because the sisters did amazing at inviting non-members! About 1/3 of the sisters there were non-members! We were able to talk with new potentials as well as get in contact with some less-actives we have been trying! 

On Saturday, we had a really cool experience teaching a potential (who turned into a new investigator). She is 15 and her mom wasn't home (who we were actually trying to get a lesson with that day), so we had to go sit on the curb to teach. We spent about an hour talking with her about the restoration and just answering her questions. I felt like a real missionary! You know how in some of the church montages, there is a clip of missionaries teaching someone outside? Well I felt like someone needed to be there filming this moment because it was just so missionary-ey! It was so awesome! 

Sister Dewald came to church yesterday and stayed for both Sacrament Meeting as well as Sunday School!!!! We were super excited about that because she usually leaves right after sacrament meeting! She is still stuck on baptism but she felt something during the opening hymn! After we finished singing "Oh My Father" she was crying and told Sister Knight that she felt something!!!! With her, that is major progress because she hasn't progressed really in the whole 2 1/2 months that I've been teaching her! 

I love you all! Have an awesome week! :)

-Sister London

My yummy chicken roll up leftovers!

 I was being a super missionary! Do you like my cape?

My verse of the week board with an actual verse on it! I am thinking that I will keep it out here for my mission, but will probably send it home before I come home. I'll ship it and mark it fragile or something. But it is small enough to take from area to area with me!

Me being a goon on Saturday night! Since I had an "real missionary moment" I needed to reenact the moment!

1,000 Things to Be Grateful For

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! Life in Indiana is good! We have been having some cooler fall weather, which has made biking a lot more enjoyable! It has made it harder for me to want to go outside and work out in the mornings as well though...you can't win them all! This week has been good!!!! Ah so good!

We had a zone conference this week and received a lot of great training! I am so excited to be a part of the work right now! It is really such a great time to be a missionary and President Cleveland knows it! The work is hastening at a rapid pace and there is so much more to come! It is awesome! 

We had a lesson with an investigator that the Elders gave to us this week. Her name is Amber and she is amazing! She is so prepared and really wants to learn and understand. We taught her part of the plan of salvation and gave her a baptismal date. She accepted and will be working towards being baptized on Oct. 26th!!!! I am so happy! I pray that she will continue to have this desire to learn and will work towards this goal! It is pretty exciting! The first investigator to say "yes" to a specific date, or baptism in general! 

I was reading in this months Ensign last week and read an article called "1,000 Things to Be Thankful For." It really got me thinking about my life and what I am thankful for. I decided after reading it that I would find at least 5 new things everyday that I am thankful for and why and then write it in my journal. I have been doing this only for a couple days but I can already see the difference it has made in my life and my attitude! It has really made me realize how blessed I am. I would encourage you all to read the article, as well as the whole issue. I have really enjoyed reading this months issue. I have taken something away from each article! 

I wanted to end off by sharing something that President  Cleveland shared today in his e-mail! He told us this because it brought a smile to his face. I am sharing it because I thought it was funny! Nicole, take a look at #3...Cougars don't cut corners but Saints do!!! :) I love you all! 

-Sister London

"Putting the Temple as a Priority in your Life"

Top 10 Reasons It's Easier To Go To the Temple Than To BYU!

10. The temple won't make you go home and shave.9. You only get interviewed every other year.8. There is always enough parking.
7. Construction is "finished" when the Temple is dedicated.
6. Temple workers won't get in trouble if everyone passes.
5. The temple doesn't want you to finish up after only four years.
4. Tuition is cheaper and never goes up. It's only 10%
3. You can walk on the grass.
2. The final exam in the temple isn't for a very long time yet.
1. If you can't go yourself, someone else will do the work for you.

I didn't really have any awesome pictures to send this week, so I just took this gem in the library 5 seconds ago! :)

I found St. George Blvd. the other day when we were walking to a members house...I was a little confused. "When did I leave Indiana?"

A New Investigator

Hi y'all!

So this week, we got a new investigator!!! He is awesome! He is a pastor in a non-denominational church but he did not want to bash at all! He came into the lesson with an open heart and an open mind, really wanting to understand what we believe! He had questions about the Book of Mormon and the Bible and was surprised when we showed him in Ezekiel 37 how the Book of Mormon is mentioned! He really has a desire to read the Book of Mormon and learn more. The only problem is that he coaches basketball, I think for little kids as well as high school, and has try-outs the next couple of weeks. So it will be a little while before we get to have another lesson with him. He is golden though! It will be good because it will give him time to start reading the Book of Mormon. He wants to have started reading before we meet again. 

Our other investigators haven't really been getting back to us. Our old lady investigator is just really afraid of change and is not sure if baptism is right for her. We know it is but agency is key. We have stressed over and over again the importance of making this decision based upon her and Heavenly Father. She is so worried about what her family and friends will say about it though and has been factoring them in as excuses. We just need to be patient. Everything happens in the Lords time. That is definitely something that I have come to understand more since I have been out. Everything is based on the Lords time table...which isn't always easy for us to understand. It is always better in the end however! We had a fireside last night that is held on the second Sunday of every month and she was able to come! It was perfect too because there was a speaker who shared her conversion story and it is almost EXACTLY what Sister Dewald is going through! It was great! I hope she was able to hear it all because it could definitely help her! I will keep you posted! 

This week I did something drastic...I cut my hair! I asked for about and inch and a half off but I think it was more like 2 inches. Which is okay because I love it! It is hard to get used to but is cute and cut clean. On of the members in the ward has a non-member daughter in cosmetology school and needs credit hours. So Sister Knight and I volunteered our hair for the greater good! It was great because we got to get to know the daughter better and give her a positive vibe of missionaries. She has had bad experiences with Sisters in the past. We were also able to talk about missionary work to her fellow students! It was great and for a student, she did a great job! 

It has been such a great week as always and I love the work! Indiana is getting all fally with the many leaves starting to change! It is absolutely gorgeous! I hope you are all well and I love and miss you all! I encourage you all to seek out missionary opportunities everyday. Pray for those. Missionary work is impossible without the help of the members. I can promise you that blessings will come from this! Have an awesome week! 

Love, 

Sister London

 Before the haircut....

After the haircut...

2 WHOLE MONTHS

P-Day Pedicure Party

Howdy Ya'll!!!

So can you believe I've already been out 2 months now?!?! Crazy right?!?! I can't believe it either! My life is just so different now, I can hardly remember life before this! Missionary life is so great and I absolutely love it and the work we do! The people are great and so is Indiana!

This week has been good! We got a new sister in our apartment! She is great and just came out ready to work! We are sharing a car again so we are on bikes part time again! It is a little easier to get used to this time around! We biked like crazy on Saturday! We went at least 7 miles most likely more! The area I am in is just huge! The ward boundaries are as big or bigger than my stake boundaries at home! So on biking days we don't really get as much done with potentials or formers as we try to on car days. We aren't pro bikers yet so we haven't risked venturing down too far into the lower half of the area...it is exciting though and really helps us get to know the streets better! Plus it adds extra exercise! Who doesn't love that!

We don't have any new investigators but last week, we were finally able to meet with an investigator we had been trying since Sister Knight first got here 3 months ago! She is nice and loves learning about what we believe but is an "Elder" in her church and loves having that leadership role, so she is having issues with understanding why women don't hold the priesthood. We are meeting with her again today so hopefully we can see a miracle with her! Sister Dewald hasn't committed yet so we may be dropping her this week. She isn't really keeping commitments and we have taught her all the lessons...it's just hard because she is so old we don't want to break her little heart!

For Prep Day yesterday we got pedicures! It was lots of fun and super relaxing!

Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! I love getting mail! (hint hint)

-Sister London