tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49315358798787706392024-02-19T19:47:59.235-08:00Missionary LoveKananihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170142058233479211noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-2688140904694064332013-11-15T01:49:00.001-08:002013-11-15T01:49:16.824-08:00The After LifeSo I'm back and have a new blog. It's http://everydaystrong.blogspot.com in case you're interested in the adventurings of a RM.<br />
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The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and a true and living prophet guides His church. Keep sharing the truth y'all!<br />
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<br />Kananihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170142058233479211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-43788125742023491232013-09-16T22:52:00.000-07:002013-09-19T22:53:09.404-07:00"Something Big Is Happening"<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This past Tuesday, we did not go to Windemere, the care center where we volunteer to help, because we went to an Interfaith Council instead! Today they learned about how to use Facebook in their ministry. It was really awesome. I wish we had permission to start using Facebook as missionaries. However, President is still trying to figure out a way for missionaries to use it without abusing it. It made me excited to use it for the work of the Lord, though, when ever I get the chance! We also made some really good connections with other churches and were set up with the Island Food Pantry when they start in mid-October.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> We then did a lot of waiting for the bus because the buses in Up Island only run every hour. That night we had a dinner with the Browns [President Brown is the Branch President], which is always fun. They told us that they were setting up a thank-you dinner with their friends that helped them move and they would like us there. Yes! </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Wednesday, we had a lesson with Dan!!!! It was incredible and amazing. We taught the Plan of Salvation because we felt like that is what he needed to be the first lesson. And were we right! At the very beginning he had questions about being sealed to his family and how that would work if they weren't members... (this stemmed from the theme of last Sunday being families and eternal families.) It was so awesome. He accepted a baptismal invite but not the date we asked about. I knew it was a little soon, the 28th, but both Sister Klecker and I were hopeful to have a baptism before I left. The Lord is working within Dan and he told us he would like to KNOW before baptism so it wasn't just something he was doing to do. I know with my heart that if he continues to do the things that he is doing and we can continue to have amazing lessons with him he will be ready by the end of October. He is another step closer to returning to our dear Heavenly Father.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Thursday, we went walking around a cemetery with Sister Bilodeau to take pictures of gravestones to upload through an app to Billion Graves [<a href="http://billiongraves.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">billiongraves.com</a>]. It's a cool website for family history and actually mapping graveyards. A really awesome thing for historians and genealogy folk. Yes, I willing, once again, went to a graveyard. We actually cut through one quite frequently when we are in Tisbury. They aren't as creepy as the ones on the West coast. haha.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Then we helped out at the Food Pantry putting food away for when they open in mid-October. We then stopped by the home of a less active to drop off a manual because he is trying to come back. It was a good way to end the day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Friday we had our District meeting! We video chatted this week, using the Brown’s computer. [Attending District Meeting in person requires a trip off Island & takes almost a full day of travel]. The Zone Leaders gave grief because we weren't there. They said something along the lines of "The Elders came every week!" Then Sister Brown called from the other room, "That's because the Sisters are more productive!" It was hilarious.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> After District meeting we helped Sister Brown bring up boxes from the basement so she could sort through for a tag sale. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> On Sunday, I was part of a really awesome Sacrament meeting. President Brown asked about 6 different members to stand and give their testimony of the Book of Mormon and he also asked me to do it. It was incredible to hear the different testimonies. Truly amazing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> After Church we helped Betsy, from Windemere, move. It was originally supposed to be on Saturday but the truck fell through so it was changed to Sunday. It was a really good contact.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Then we went on splits. Both of us had really good experiences.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> I cannot deny that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Work of Salvation is hastening. Something big is happening. Will we continue to be a part of it? </span></span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-22905565409253928222013-08-28T22:45:00.000-07:002013-09-19T22:48:11.466-07:00The Next Six Weeks In.....?<br />
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So to get questions out of the way, I am going to be ending my mission in.......Martha's Vineyard! </div>
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I will be companions with Sister Klecker. She has been out for three months. I am excited to see the Island calm down and to be able to see Fall here. Some leaves are already changing color to vibrant orange and yellow. Most, however, are still deep green. </div>
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Windemere went great this week. The two women over the Rec department are who we think have potential. Mary wasn't there the past week because her father died and she has been off Island. We are very sad for her but also think this is a good time to bring up the plan of salvation. She will be back next week so Sister Klecker and I will talk to her then.</div>
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Our lessons with Keila and Jr. haven't been happening but we were able to see them Monday night and establish that they will keep teaching us. I'm excited to learn more Portuguese.</div>
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We weren't able to see Jamie while Sister Spears was here. However while at Windemere today singing hymns with Sister Brown (she goes and plays there sometimes) Sister Spears stuck her head in the door while she was waiting for her daughter! So we finally got to meet Jamie and invite her to the Branch activity on Monday! Another miracle of the week.</div>
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I can't believe that time is winding down here. But I'm doing my best to stay focused.</div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-71008905207412466422013-08-21T20:40:00.002-07:002013-08-21T20:40:19.942-07:00DruthersSister K. is experiencing a little bit of anxiety this week. Saturday is when the texts arrive informing the missionaries where the new assignments will be. This will be the second to last T-text of her mission. The next one will be no surprise in that she will be finishing and leaving the MBM.<br />
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She has her "druthers" of where she would like to serve the last 6 weeks of her mission. She has loved her time serving on Martha's Vineyard. There are some great members of the Church living there. She has loved the families there. Where she would like to serve would be like "going home" before she actually goes home. There are currently no Sisters serving in this area so it would be "shotgunning." However, no matter what, she has always expressed that whatever and wherever the Lord decides is where she will willingly serve. To date, she has had the opportunity to serve in some pretty amazing places with some very wonderful people. A lot of those people will be friends for a long, long time.rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-42624090091585076242013-08-19T14:27:00.001-07:002013-08-19T14:27:19.523-07:00The Work on Martha's Vineyard<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">During the summer, the population on Martha’s Vineyard can be well over 100,000 people. Only about 15,000 are permanent residents. The island is about 100 square miles. This can make missionary work somewhat challenging. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000;"> “...</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">since the Elder's here were having such a hard time teaching people, President has been wanting us to take the Ammon approach. Serve ‘em to convert ‘em. Sister H. & I think that we can work with the members and have them start bringing their friends to the Gospel. We already have 10 potentials through members. We just need to get them to the teaching point. We are praying the work starts to boom here soon. Even if it doesn't boom a nice pop would be nice haha.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000;"> Twice a week, Sister Kanani and her companion serve at a hospital. “</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are in the wing called Windemere. Half of it is assisted living, the people are still very capable they just can't be living alone. The other half is up an elevator and are older people who need special care, especially unit 4, as it is the dementia unit. We wheel the people from upstairs to downstairs, help out with the activity that is going on and wheel them back upstairs. One day, we were running patients up and downstairs for the hair salonist. We help out with the art class they have every Tuesday. They have live music on Wednesdays and for the first two Wednesdays of the month Sister Brown, the Branch President’s wife, plays piano for the hour. However she called and said her daughter had a fever and if we could fill in. So Sister H. went between playing the piano to the Ukulele and singing. The residents loved it.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> This past week: “Wednesday we worked over time at the hospital. They were having a talent show. It was so much fun. Some of the residents did the funniest acts. One woman even did the cha-cha! She might have mostly been using her walker but it was awesome. “ </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We continue to have lunch with the people who work there because we see a lot of potential in them. They ask really good questions and even though say they are all set, we know that by associating with them we're bringing light into their lives. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000;"> The two Sisters also work with the Habitat for Humanity building homes on Saturdays. They have “</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">helped put some trimming on a house and nailing shingles to the outside walls” and “putting insulation around the inside of the walls,” and putting the frame of a porch roof together. They talk with others on the projects about the Church while they work. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The Sisters volunteer at the Edgartown library. “It's something the Elders were doing that had a potential.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> While neither of the Sisters speak Portuguese, they are teaching English to a couple of families that speak only Portuguese. “Thankfully Sister H. can kind of communicate with them because she speaks Spanish, which is kind of like Portuguese, but it's still a struggle sometimes.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> They also serve in the Family History Center “to work with the people who work there!!!” This week they worked the Island’s genealogical society on ideas for the booth for the Ag. fair. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A lot of the work in the Branch is with less actives, not only visiting and teaching, but finding them. “We went hunting some less actives. Previously, they weren't able to find them because their roads weren't on the map but because I have a handy dandy GPS we were able to scout them out. One was a house that they rent out for the summer so that was a dead end but the other is a daughter of a sister from the Westerly [RI] Branch!! So we trekked, and trekked, and trekked. But we had great fun doing it. The GPS took us through someones backyard, through a clearing in a hedge, through someone else’s backyard, and then led us to a road. We didn't believe it at first, but as we followed we ended up in the right place.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Here are excerpts from Sister Kanani’s emails from the month of July:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “My first trip off island! It was Zone meeting so we went to the Cape Cod chapel. The Zone leaders showed us the websites that the Mission is creating for us to coordinate with our auxiliaries and what it will be like when we have iPads.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “We went and helped a less active weed her garden. She is older and not really able to do it herself anymore. We weeded the whole thing in an hour and a half. She was supper impressed with that. We think it really softened her heart towards us. We then, by direction of the branch president, invited her to speak in church this Sunday. And she said she will! It's exciting because no one can remember the last time she spoke/was there.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “Then we went on visits with the Branch council members. The RS president and I went to visit a less-active who everyone has a super hard time getting in contact with. And guess what? She was home! It was wonderful to visit with her for a few minutes and show her how much we miss her. A great visit all around.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “This week was great! We had 12 member visits, which is awesome when there are only about 7 or 8 active families in the branch! We were able to meet with several less actives and even go on splits.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “Tuesday we were blessed with a new investigator! He is from Brazil and we had an amazing short lesson with him.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “It's been a great week. God is very merciful and tender in the miracles he sends. Not only towards me but this area. We have been praying that the hearts will be softened here and that we will be able to plant many seeds. Every day we have had multiple conversations with people on the bus as we go around. Most we don't even start. It truly is amazing how the Lord works.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “The Lord’s tender mercies have been all around and I am so very grateful for them. Have a wonderful week! 2 Nephi 33”</span></span></div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-46261724964016856102013-07-08T18:12:00.000-07:002013-07-20T18:13:02.368-07:00"Serving in the Vineyard..."<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From the end of April to the first week of June, Sister Kanani and her companion have traveled throughout the mission from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, to Rhode Island putting on musical firesides. Besides traveling, they have made some good contacts and been able to teach people in their Boston area. Sundays still consisted of 10 to 12 hours of Church meetings with the four Wards and then firesides in the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">evening.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Monday night we were able to have a lesson with a wonderful young woman who has been investigating the church for about 3 years now. She hasn't met with missionaries for quite some time but she came up to Sister Jordan on Sunday and asked to meet with us. So we did. She is really just working on coming to know that there is a God and what that means. So far she's gone from no God to there's a source of light and love but not so sure</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">that's God. So we are working with her to help her learn that there is a God.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We had another meeting with Audrey. She opened up to us about some fears she had with joining the church and we thing we laid them to rest. But we asked her to pray to know if God is really there and we will see where </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">that leads us.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000000;">“</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We then helped a member move one of his buddies move out of the graduate dorms. After that we taught another one of his friends. Well mostly just talked with her. She is Muslim and has been reading the Book of Mormon. She couldn't understand why we need a Savior or advocate with God. And a few other points. It was so much fun to talk with her and show her how similar our religions are. Her face just lit up as I talked about the similarities between the 5 Pillars of Islam and our beliefs. She went back to Africa but hopefully it gave her some </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">things to think about.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In May, Sister Kanani and her new companion, Sister Johnson (from Orem, UT) were assigned to two of the four Single Adult Wards, the Longfellow Park Wards. These Wards had the least activity as far as missionary work so </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">there was a lot of potential for teaching.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“There is a member of LP1 that is convince that we are going to set the Ward on fire. Which is good, but the funny thing is that he talks us up to everyone. He is convinced we're the best missionaries they've had for a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">while. We'll see.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With less travel and a less hectic Sunday schedule, the Sisters began to look for areas for service. The work is </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">beginning to pick up as they meet with members and seek out less actives.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We had dinner up in Somerville with some members who brought a non-member friend and then we had to rush down to Brighton to have dinner with another member and a non-member friend. It was crazy and hectic but it was what a night in the mission should be. On Saturday we went to a memorial for a member of Charles River Ward who had passed from cancer. It was sad but also very beautiful. Then we went down to Quincy to teach a less active and then all the way up to Somerville to try to contact a less active. We basically went from one end of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Boston to the other.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Friday we had our meeting with Lyndsi and Sharon. And Sharon became our new investigator! It was such a good lesson. Sharon is from China and doesn't know much about Christianity, however she knows she feels a peace and wants to learn more. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Afterwards we were talking to Lyndsi and she said that while she expected the Restoration, she thinks the Plan of Salvation was exactly what Sharon needed. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thank you Spirit!”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Saturday we went to a dinner appointment. It was a really good one. There is a member who is working through a lot from her childhood and wants to take the lessons so she can learn the Gospel for herself. And she also happens to be friends with a less active that we are working with so she was there too. It was such a good lesson </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">as we talked, once again, about the Plan of Salvation and what the Atonement really covers and helps us with.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We had another meeting with Sharon. She is picking up things so fast. At the end of our lesson she asked if she could pray to God in Chinese and if He would understand. How cute is that? We told her of course she could. ‘Next time, I will pray in Chinese at the end of the lesson.’ I can see her with a baptismal date at the end of this </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">month, with a baptism next month.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Monday brought a surprise. Sister Kanani’s email came in the evening, much later than usual. We found out why </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">as she began her email with: “Serving in the vineyard... literally!” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Friday, President Packard called while we were on the bus ride home. I let it go to voicemail and we ran the 100 feet to our apartment. The voicemail: ‘Sister Kanani! This is President, I have some good news for you. Call me when you get the chance.’ So we called him back. After answering him that I was fine, President said, ‘And it's about to get finer. You're getting moved to Martha's Vineyard.’” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Basically a Sister was waiting for her visa and her visa came through. There was a need for someone to fill her spot so they would not have to close it </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">down because Sisters just got there 3 weeks ago after Elders being there forever.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On Sunday, “President talked to me for a bit and told me he was really excited to have me go there and he thinks that I will do awesome things with Sister Hileman." </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Side note: Sister Hileman is more accurately Hermana Hileman. She is called a Spanish-speaking Sister. So now, Sister K. is serving with a Spanish speaking companion in an area filled with Portuguese speaking people.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"There is a lot of service out here in the Vineyard. We'll see what happens, the Lord has His plans and we can only follow and know what we can do to help further them.”</span></span></div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-40026688791432968892013-05-28T20:47:00.000-07:002013-06-16T20:49:25.290-07:00Highlights of a Not-So-Typical Missionary Week<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After helping a member move one of his buddies out of the graduate dorms, Sister Kanani and Sister Jordan were able to talk with another one of his friends. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“She is Muslim and has been reading the Book of Mormon. She couldn't understand why we need a Savior or advocate with God, and a few other points. It was so much fun to talk with her and show her how similar our religions are. Her face just lit up as I talked about the similarities between the 5 Pillars of Islam and our beliefs. She since has gone back to Africa but hopefully it gave her some things to think about.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Thursday night Sister Kanani had the opportunity to have dinner with the Johnson family in Belmont. Because the Sisters are in their son’s Ward and he is trying to make a decision about a serving a mission, it was thought to be a good idea for the missionaries to come over and talk with him. It was awesome. Sister Johnson is the former Jane Clayson, an Emmy winning journalist and author who began her career with KSL-TV in SLC, Utah. She has worked as a correspondent for ABC and CBS news organizations covering and reporting events all over the world. She authored the book, “I Am a Mother!” which chronicles her decision to leave the network news business to have a family.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Over the weekend, the Sisters hosted a young woman for a mini missionary experience. Not much was a truly typical missionary experience, however, the young woman seemed to really enjoy it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sister Kanani got to talk in CRW. “It was on hope. I talked about finding out about my Dad's cancer and how I didn't really have a Godly sense of hope, but my Mom did. Then I explained how we could gain a Godly sense of hope. I also shared about the night before receiving my mission call. And then tied all of it into sharing the gospel as everyday members. Apparently it was good. I don't remember a lot of it but almost everyone came up afterwards and told me thank you for the talk.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Monday, Memorial Day was so much fun!! We had invited all the Sisters in the Mission to come over and just have a relaxing day with the MBM family. We had about 6 companions stay throughout the whole day and then 3 stop by after going to the Temple. I got to see Sister Christensen, Brother W., and Sister Caldwell. We didn't realize it but the local parade route went right in front of our apartment. So we sat on the garage roof and watched. It was awesome. It was just a nice relaxed day.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“This coming weekend will be different and crazy. With a fireside in Marlborough on Saturday, and T-texts, and another fireside on Sunday in Groton, there will be a lot of driving and running around. Yet being in Marlborough and Groton again... one of the best b-day presents the Lord could give me.”</span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-38915264927487027372013-05-13T19:21:00.000-07:002013-06-16T19:21:23.027-07:00A Week in the Missionary Life of Sister K.<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Monday night we were able to have a lesson with a wonderful young woman who has been investigating the Church for about 3 years now. She hasn't met with missionaries for quite some time but she came up to Sister Jordan on Sunday and asked to meet with us. So we did. She is really just working on coming to know that there is a God and what that means. So far she's gone from no God to there's a source of light and love but not so sure that's God. So we are working with her to help her learn that there is a God. We had a really good discussion.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After the discussion, went home to prepare for the Belmont Sisters to come over. We had exchanges! Yay!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tuesday, Sister Garcia and I went to a lesson with Sabrina to read the Book of Mormon with her while Sister Jordan and Sister Bauchanon when to a rehearsal for the musical fireside. Afterwards, Sister Garcia and I went back to the Belmont apartment to plan for our lessons. We started planning with 3 appointments and by the end of planning all but one had cancelled. But that's okay, right? Our lesson went well.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We went home for dinner and then tried to contact a less active and a potential. Then just ended up walking around the Temple eating ice cream for half an hour. It was a good night just to talk and get advice from someone who had to do the whole transition from out side the city to serving in the city too.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Wednesday, we met back up with the other sisters, debriefed about the experience and then went back to "normal" life.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That day we had a lesson with Felicia, who is all ready to be baptized, and then said goodbye because she's moving to Texas for the summer. We will contact the missionaries in Texas so they can keep teaching her and help her make covenants.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Thursday we went to another practice for the musical fireside. Travel time was at least an hour each way.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After that we headed to Quincy Market to meet up with Sister Stevens, her parents and her little sister. It was really good to see her again and to finally be able to meet her parents. We spent maybe an hour with them before all of us had to leave to make our dinner appointments.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Friday was District meeting, then more practicing for the musical fireside. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Saturday we met with Audrey. She opened up to us about some fears she had with joining the Church and we think we laid them to rest. But we asked her to pray to know if God is really there. We will see where that leads us.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At 3 pm, the APs picked us and 2 other companionships up and we headed up to Nashua, New Hampshire to set up for the fireside. It was a good fireside. A combination between music and testimonies. A few non- members were there so that's awesome. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sunday was as crazy as usual. But we were able to Skype home for Mother’s Day, so it was a good day. </span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-49274824139638920992013-05-13T18:55:00.000-07:002013-06-16T18:56:51.684-07:00Wonder Twins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlo2Omo-GuFEUXYMyrQdcNCWmrhYdZRlyEo1qSzHCPEZAEnVQa2wjLqDTJegAEg-FNWN8oG2vbro-dPvay4Esc_znSQnaeJoX0HOUE5TpGr-I6gnT_amV8zb_zcvWBG8Bruvxym6MmEIc/s1600/0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlo2Omo-GuFEUXYMyrQdcNCWmrhYdZRlyEo1qSzHCPEZAEnVQa2wjLqDTJegAEg-FNWN8oG2vbro-dPvay4Esc_znSQnaeJoX0HOUE5TpGr-I6gnT_amV8zb_zcvWBG8Bruvxym6MmEIc/s400/0.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
Sister Stevens returns to visit after her release. Standing with Sister Kanani in downtown Boston.rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-18203873638702026422013-05-06T18:23:00.000-07:002013-06-16T18:24:25.843-07:00Digital Missionaries, Musical Firesides, & Trio to Duo<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Trivia question: What are digital missionaries?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Answer: “A new thing that this area (the Massachusetts Boston Mission) is trying out. Basically they are full time missionaries but they spend some of the time on the computer using the internet for good and spreading the Gospel through Facebook, blogs, and other social media. A lot of the work is done by members but some just needs to be done by people who don't have jobs or school to worry about.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>[There is an area in one of the chapels in the area set up for the digital missionaries from which to work.]</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We might have gotten a shout out in General Conference...from Elder Cook... I think.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How awesome is that? </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sundays are very hectic for Sister Kanani and her companions with almost 12 hours straight of meetings. One of her companions is in charge of the musical firesides throughout the Mission so this adds another dimension of missionary work not experienced before. The Mission President and his family are very musically talented so when there is a musical fireside scheduled in the Boston area, they are usually scheduled to be part of the program.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On Monday of this week, the missionaries were able to see and handle two first editions of the Book of Mormon at Harvard. Sister K. described it as “awesome.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The week was mixed with teaching lessons to investigators, all of which were good lessons, and planning and organizing for musical firesides. Since Sister Jordan is in charge of putting them on all over the mission, there is a lot of time put into organizing and practicing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On Thursday, news came that changes were being made due to medical issues with some of the sister missionaries. One of those changes was to be in Westerly, RI where Sister Kanani just came from. Although she has dreamed of serving in Boston and is happy to be there, a huge part of her heart is still in the Westerly / Waterford area.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Turned out that Sister Preszler would be transferred to Westerly to be with Sister Christensen. When asked if the trio was back to a duo, Sister K. responded: “Yup. Just me and Sister Jordan taking on Boston. haha”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sister Christensen drove her companion to Boston so the switch could be made with Sister Preszler and she was able to stay overnight. Since Sister Jordan was singing for a program for the Boston Stake on Saturday, all 4 Sisters got to help out. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sister Kanani: “And boy did we help out. Maybe I'll be an event planner when I get home..... Who knows.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again, Sunday was hectic with 2 Sisters covering 4 Wards. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">During the middle of the day Sister Kanani got a text from Sister Christensen: <Guess who our RS president is?!> </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“It's totally Teddie (Pesch). I love that woman so much and she'll be awesome in that calling.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sister Kanani says that she is settling into the city a little bit better everyday. Just trying to be happy where her feet are. </span></span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-37468357882320735922013-04-29T17:03:00.000-07:002013-06-16T17:06:24.132-07:00First Week in Boston<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What a crazy time the past couple of days have been! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I thought I was going to be living at the Brighton apartment for a week or so before moving to a new one, however the we moved the day I got here. Thankfully the ZLs have a car and were helping us out.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We went on splits that night because we had a dinner appointment from the Charles River Ward and one from Longfellow Park 1 Ward. I went with Sister Preszler to the LP1 and had fun getting to know the RS president. Before this transfer and the combining of Ward assignments, the Sisters had been assigned to the University & CR Wards so they don't know the LP Wards at all. So Sister Preszler was in the dark just as much as I was. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Public transportation isn't that bad. It's a lot of fun actually. I just have a lot of memorizing to do so I can keep up with everyone else.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Friday we had District meeting. Since the Districts are so close here in Boston, District lunch turns into Zone lunch. Sister Garcia is in my Zone so thankfully I was able to talk with her and have a conversation with someone I know.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Saturday we had a cleanup project. I got to know some of the other missionaries a little more so that was good.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For dinner we went to Random House, which is an MIT dorm, and had dinner with two girls from the University Ward</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sunday was chaos. So many meetings and things. We are at Church all day. Not to mention we are constantly running around because there are other meetings we are supposed to be at during other Wards’ meeting times. LIke at 12:30 we have 3 meetings we are supposed to be at. We left the apartment at 8 am and didn't get back until after 9 pm because of a musical fireside that Sister Jordan was a part of over in Weston. It was crazy running around. I don't know anyone and the Sisters only know half the people. Luckily there are a pair of Elders in University, a pair of Elders in CRW and a pair of Elders over the LP wards. So they helped us out. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sister Jordan has been a backup singer for Gladys Knight. She is a great singer.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ben Affleck owns a home across from the chapel where we meet.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The University Ward covers 50 universities and colleges in Boston.</span></div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-64876818629092470352013-04-25T14:19:00.000-07:002013-06-16T18:17:49.925-07:00From RI to MA<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Westerly, RI</span>: <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We have started to really focus on teaching the stay-at-home moms the discussions, explaining that Sister Christensen really needs the practice. This allows the members to feel needed and help in missionary work. It also helps us to get to know the members in their homes and builds the Spirit there while helping us with our teaching skills. We have been able to do this with two families so far and it's been going great at both. Both of the SAHM Sister members that we practice on will ask a hard question and then "yell" at Sister Christensen not to look at me and to answer. It's been awesome to build her self confidence.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">The last time we were over practice teaching Sister Pesch, her husband was supposed to be out of town. But he was there so we practice taught them both. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">Sunday, 14 April, was pretty exciting. We met in the home of one of the members and our new little Branch was organized by President Hutchings, the Stake President. President Clayton Christensen, the counselor in our Mission Presidency was able to attend. Brother West was called as Branch President, which everyone had pretty much anticipated. Brother Parson (son of Leon Parson, the artist) as 1st counselor, and Brother Garrett as 2nd counselor. Still no Relief Society or Primary presidents yet. We taught Sunday School and it appears that we will be the permanent Gospel Doctrine teachers for now. In Relief Society we had about 10 women, including us. It seemed well attended. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">It was awesome that when President Hutchings asked us about a woman that was attending Sacrament meeting, we were able to say, "An investigator!" So while things aren't hopping yet, we are now totally, almost, official and we have some plans to keep the working going. It's great!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">Monday, 15 April, it was Patriot’s Day in New England and the place we had hoped to visit was closed for the holiday. So we went off to Sister Rowan to help with some projects. We were working out in her yard when Sister Jones came up to me with phone in hand, "Sister, I think something's wrong." I looked at the texts from the Mission and it basically said "Everyone in the Cambridge and Boston Zones get home and tell your Zone leader when you're there" We all gathered around the computer as Sister Rowan read off what was happening at the Boston Marathon. It was sobering. Our thoughts were first to those that were affected by what was happening and then to the missionaries in the area. We realized that half the Zones in the Mission were in Boston to attend the Temple for the special sessions they hold for the missionaries on holidays. We were very relieved to know that all the missionaries were safe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">This week we helped at JonnyCakes (It's like DI. We help sort donations on Wednesdays and then help in the food pantry on Fridays), taught Sister Pesch, and served at the soup kitchen and had an epic lesson with Josh. We have really tried to come at his lessons from a different angle because he has been taught the lessons so many times.We feel like he felt something and we hope he will act on it. We are trying to bring his three goals of: A close relationship with God, a happy family, and peace and serenity at church, into every lesson so he is able see the personal application of the things we teach. We are really trying to help him come closer to achieving his own goals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">On Friday, we were doing our service when we got the text to lockdown because of the events happening near Boston. Saturday, I learned that I am being transferred to Boston.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Boston, MA</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">: Sister Kanani has gone from one of the smaller Branches in the Mission to serve in four very large Single Adult Wards. Her new apartment is in Watertown. (oh, the irony.) She is currently in a trio until the next transfer when 18 Sisters and 1 Elder arrive from the MTC. Then the 4 Wards will be split into sets of two with a set of Sister missionaries serving in each set. When the areas get split again there will be 4 sisters living in the apartment. And no more car. They use the public transportation which is Sister Kanani says is pretty fun.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">This last week the missionaries helped clean up the Charles River as part of Earth Day. It was supposed to be last week but with the city shut down it was put off. Sister Kanani said it was, “Just so I could be here and help!” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">She wrote that “Sunday was chaos with so many meetings. We left the apartment at 8 a.m. and didn't get back until after 9 p.m. It was extra late because of a musical fireside that Sister Jordan was a part of. It was crazy running around.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0px;">“No matter what, the Gospel is still true and Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer and that is all that matters.”</span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-42165334608436795912013-04-01T08:03:00.003-07:002013-04-01T08:03:47.660-07:00Catching up with Sister K.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Massachusetts Boston Mission held a Missionwide Sisters’ Training Meeting the end of January to prepare for the many Sister Missionaries arriving from the MTC. Transfers were announced and Sister Kanani was assigned to open a new area for Sisters in Westerly, RI. Westerly is part of the Narrangansett Ward and the Providence, Rhode Island Stake. The area covers the lower 2/3 part of Rhode Island. The chapel is approximately 45 miles away and the majority of the active Ward members live in areas nearer the chapel.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">On Thursday, 7 February, she and her new companion (Sister C. from Salt Lake City) headed to their new area and new apartment. Within a few hours, they received instructions from Mission leaders that they had a few hours to prepare for Super Winter Storm Nemo, and that for the following 48 hours, were to remain in their apartment. Friday, the roads were closed statewide in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in preparation for the huge winter storm. Fortunately, their apartment did not lose power. Church was canceled on Sunday. With no opportunity to meet with Ward members they were on their own in finding where everything was located. The following weekend they were again hit with major snow storms and Church was canceled. This made getting to know the members challenging. They were able to find a few members that lived close to them and began making contact with some of the less actives in the area. Many seemed to be satisfied being less active. The work is beginning to move forward, slowly but surely.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“The last week and a half has been more of the same, tracking down less-actives, trying to talk with them, getting shooed away. You know, the normal, haha. We did have some miracles. Saturday was a Stake youth activity. We had invited a daughter, who isn't baptized, of a less active to attend. And she did! She seemed to have fun and we've invited her to another activity. We are really hoping to help her come closer to God because she is kind of troubled and shows it in different ways. She seems to really like us and is willing to have us over. Her mom seems a little stand-offish but is always nice when we come. There is an active family, 2 sisters both in their 50s, that lives down the street and we are hoping to involve them and really fellowship this family.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then, one of the members invited a coworker to learn more of the Church and she said yes! We taught her last night and the lesson was powerful. She said she was looking for a religion that filled a certain void she feels. Hello! Can we please continue to teach you? She had so many good questions and the Spirit was there in abundance. Because she lives a great distance away, we are going to follow up with the member and help him help her progress. Gently helping the Spirit move and help people. =} “ </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The next week:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“We have been in constant communication with the member friend in what and how to help the woman we taught last Tuesday. It's awesome. This is what it's supposed to be like with members, just a 5 minute check-in every other day to see how the member is & how to help their friends. This woman asked the member friend to tell us that she is keeping her promise to read the Book of Mormon. He is going to set up a second appointment with her for next week and invite her to General Conference. =}</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thursday we were able to meet with a Ward family. The husband isn't a member, and has taken the discussions on and off for the past 7 years. The wife is so adorable and loves the Gospel so much. We had a good lesson with them and found some goals that we are going to base lessons off of so they are more meaningful to him.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Friday we were able to help out with a less active member cleaning up their house so they can move. It was a good contact.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Saturday was the Mission Broadcast with Elder Ballard and was amazing! He talked to us a lot about becoming involved with the Wards and working with the members, which is something that is a huge focus of our mission already. It was just amazing and full of personal answers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Members are key for missionary work. Please help out in anyway you can.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And, last week:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Yesterday was earth-shattering for almost all the Wards in the Providence, RI Stake. Out of the 12 units, only 2 didn't experience any boundary changes. There were two new Branches created. I'm now serving in a Branch! Our Branch is made up of two cities from the Narragansett Ward and two from the Groton Ward. We have about 4 active families from Narragansett moving to this Branch and about 10 from Groton. In all, I think we have about 50 less actives on the roles. It is a time of growth and learning, that is for sure. These changes were met with surprise and tears. We're hoping that as the dust settles that people will be more excited than frustrated and sad. Please pray for that and for the growth of this new little Branch.”</span></div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-34139863492331004282013-01-14T19:46:00.000-08:002013-03-03T19:47:19.817-08:00Progress, Testimony, and Challenge<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">We had 5 less actives attend Church on Sunday that have not been attending for a while. It was amazing. We have been working with 3 of them intermittently. I guess a service project we did last week actually helped them and they are planning to come to FHE where another less active is coming and is going to bring his non-member girlfriend! Sometimes the Lord gives blessings that are obvious</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">and easy to recognize. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I was also asked to be Stephanie's escort when she goes through the Temple in a few months. It has been amazing to see the change in her life as she has allowed Jesus Christ into her life. When we first started teaching her she was moody, frustrated and not really sure why she was coming back to Church. Now she is less moody, full of happiness, more patience, excited to start her own side business, and excited to learn more of the Gospel. She is helping her mom who is struggling with things. It is truly amazing the power of the Gospel. The quote by President Boyd K. Packer rings true here <i>"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the Gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."</i> And it rings true</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">for anyone.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">If we will pray for missionary experiences and act on them, our lives will improve exponentially. We will have more revelation day to day, the Spirit will abide with us more fully, and our relationships will</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">improve dramatically.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I invite each one who reads this to sincerely pray for missionary experiences. They might not be giving a Book of Mormon to someone or seeing a baptism in three weeks, but anything that can bring someone else closer to Christ. It does not matter if they are member or non-member, active or less active. Lift others around you and you are being a missionary. Pray for these experiences and the joy that you feel about the Gospel and about life in general will rival that of Ammon's in Alma 26:11,13-14: </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">"I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice? Yea, we have reason to praise</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i>him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell."</i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I know the joy that I have felt and the joy that I have seen in others’ lives because they are willing to lift</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">others. And I know that you will feel it too. </span></span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-63345969066556305682013-01-07T19:38:00.000-08:002013-03-03T19:39:40.116-08:00New Year, New Apartment, New News<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Our New Year's was pretty boring. We were still sick so we didn't do much. Just another day in the life of a missionary.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">President Packard came for District Meeting and it was really good. He gave some good insights and had some fun with us at lunch so it was good to have him there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Sister Packard will be coming down either this Friday or next Friday to spend some time with us and to help us move. The Mission found an apartment. Luckily it's only 2.7 miles away from Pops and Sweetie. We're pretty sure it's the one we suggested to the APs. To move in, you have to have a background check. It's going to be a good place to live. It looks nice anyway.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The weather has been really warm here. It's only dipped down into the teens at night. We haven't gotten any more snow since last week and most of it is melting away. It's been that warm. I've only pulled out my nice wool jacket for one or two days at a time. And even then by midday I don't need it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">With the news that we are moving out I don't know how the W's are doing. Mostly broken-hearted, I think. But last night I was talking with Sweetie and she told me very firmly that the only thing that is going to change is that we don't sleep there anymore. That's fine with me! =}</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Things are going well out here. We are teaching Zaria. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">President told us some things to keep the Sisters guessing. So first of all we only have 12 English-speaking Sisters because some going home with medical issues. We have 15 English-speaking Sisters arriving in February. This means that there will be some trainers double training or some Spanish sisters transferring to the English program, but that can't work because in March a lot of them go home. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Then he told us that Nantucket, MA is breaking off of the Brewster Ward (or Branch, I'm not sure which) to become it's own Branch, with only 6 families. And guess who gets to go there? Sister Missionaries. !!! Then the Hermanas told us that Sister Packard told them that Rhode Island is going to be getting more Sisters. And we know that President’s Ward is getting Sisters. AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">I don't know where I'm going!!!!!! I never do, but now there are just so many more variables. That's what's going on in my brain right now. Just so you know.</span></span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-8935337994593433512012-12-31T19:22:00.000-08:002013-03-03T19:23:14.718-08:00Hump Day<br />
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Friday, 28 December, was Hump Day! Sweetie's daughter and granddaughter were in town so we didn't celebrate but I did clean out our shower drain... well tried to, it was quite the project. Sweetie. finally had to come in with a plunger to clear it all out. Surprisingly plungers are amazing at that kinda thing. Who knew?</div>
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Oh, the best part of Hump Day? Zaria has a baptismal date!! It's set for the 3rd of February. We are slightly concerned that she and Eric won't stop playing house until they understand and commit to living the law of chastity. And, I got to talk with Sister S. because she had a huge part in starting to teach Zaria. </div>
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Saturday morning we went and cleaned up a less active's front yard before the snow came. And boy, are we glad that we did! We got over 8 inches that night! All missionaries in Connecticut were told not to drive around after 4 pm because of the roads being crazy. Pops still took us out to Chili's to celebrate Hump Day though. It was a fun time.</div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-46287730175896589422012-12-27T19:03:00.000-08:002013-03-03T19:09:48.021-08:00MA-Boston Mission ChristmasSister Kanani and Sister E. will both remain in Waterford for the next 8 weeks, at least. There are mixed feelings, but there is a lot of work to do still.<br />
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The Mission President hosted Christmas devotionals on two separate weeks. Sister Kanani was able to attend the Temple and then spend time with other missionaries in the Boston area. Packages from home were sent ahead of time so that they would be there for each missionary to open. Most received letters and pictures from home.<br />
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Christmas Day was spent with several different families eating, sharing gifts, and teaching. One family gave the Sisters huge packages of Lifesaver candy because they had been their lifesavers. <br />
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And, of course, time to call home. It was WONDERFUL and Sister Kanani looks great!!! There was a small bit of trouble with the Skype video transmission at first, but all worked out. She was able to talk with her mom and dad, her grandmother, her two sisters and one of her nieces.<br />
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One of the gifts sent from her home Ward was a huge "Ward hug" signed by the Ward members.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRTnYFCImLKREa-MIlCv5r2ycM4JJbTt6GjKuRRQ9JxW-WPKkIi3AhWY3ejK_cl_sOBPXAr7RQPOZFs89zxDB-rgXTfXpOPd_HuRALCf5tTOv3ui17Wg9N0w0ftEswz1DobqVFGzpDE9E/s1600/Ward+Hug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRTnYFCImLKREa-MIlCv5r2ycM4JJbTt6GjKuRRQ9JxW-WPKkIi3AhWY3ejK_cl_sOBPXAr7RQPOZFs89zxDB-rgXTfXpOPd_HuRALCf5tTOv3ui17Wg9N0w0ftEswz1DobqVFGzpDE9E/s320/Ward+Hug.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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And, what Sister Kanani called a miracle of the week: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Bob passed the Sacrament on Sunday. I didn't realize that he was going to until about halfway through the opening of Sacrament. Then I looked up and saw him sitting on the front row. I almost started to cry. I just felt so much joy at seeing him use his priesthood worthily. It made it all that much better because he passed it to Stephanie, who took it for the first time since going inactive. And to me who was sitting next to her. It was an amazing experience and one of the happiest of my life. I wish every moment could be like that.”</span></span></span>rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-49316978211279591512012-12-10T16:57:00.000-08:002013-03-03T18:44:30.675-08:00December - Week 2<br />
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Transfer notices are this week. So far the P & S W's have voiced that I can't leave until after Christmas and the R & C W's are praying that I don't leave just yet. Mind you, the next transfer is in 8 weeks. I don't know how I feel yet. If I don't get transferred I might spend at least the next 12 after that here. We were told on Thursday that all of the English Sisters will be training in February. So there are at least 13 English Sisters coming out then. </div>
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The irony in that: I was just thinking that I can no longer serve anywhere longer than a year, unless I stay in Waterford. Heavenly Father will probably keep me here just because I thought that. lol.</div>
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Exciting happenings this week:</div>
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We went to church services at St. James. We were invited to the celebration of Father Michael's 15 years of ordination, so we went. It was pretty interesting. I had forgotten how different the services are. But the people we work with at the food pantry were really happy that we went.</div>
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The second thing that was exciting was that a few of the St. James people came to the Ward Christmas party!!! It was really just a dinner with some lights for decorations, but they still came!! Meaningful contact with the Church is what counts.</div>
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The third exciting thing was that Bob Austin went to the Temple to perform baptisms for the dead on Saturday!</div>
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It was just an amazing experience to be a part of. Not to mention that Sister S. was there so it was even better =} But Bob was just glowing with excitement and peace. It was a wonderful experience. </div>
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The Gospel is amazing and I love the joy that comes from living it.</div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-11996869486246836652012-12-04T16:27:00.000-08:002013-03-03T17:05:06.574-08:00Transfers, Changes, & Growing in the WorkTransfers in November found Sister S. leaving for Boston and Sister Kanani staying in Waterford. It has taken some time to adjust to the changes that come with a new companion, not only for Sister Kanani, but also the members, the people at St. James, and the contacts. Sister C. has served her whole mission in the Boston area, which is often referred to as "the city." Areas where Sister Kanani has served is referred to as "the country." Sister C. came with a whole set of great ideas that she wanted to implement because it had worked for her in the YSA Wards where she served. This has led to some frustration for everyone since Family Wards are typically very different than YSA Wards, not only in the demographics, but also in the resources. Missions are a lot about changes and growing and this situation has plenty of opportunities for growing.<br />
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A few days before Thanksgiving, the Sisters helped Stephanie sand and paint the walls of her bedroom. Sister Kanani said that "it was a lot of fun and Stephanie shared that she has regained her testimony that this Church is the only true Church. Yay! Progression."<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On P-day last week, "we went to the Submarine Base in Groton to go to the Nautilus submarine. It was awesome. It was even cooler to look across the fence to the Base and think that Grandpa was trained there. Subs are tiny and I am glad that there are people who can serve on them, and that I don't have to."</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">"We had dinner with the W's. We had a lovely discussion on what their family needs and how they can start scripture study."</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">"On </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Saturday we went and helped rake some leaves for a member's neighbors. It was a lot of fun. Frustrating because Sister E. has never raked leaves before but good because service is always good and a lot of people saw us doing it and planted some seeds. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323;">Then we helped out with the Community lunch that St. James puts on every 1st Saturday of the month to help out the people who don't have food. There are some people there that I just want to take to the Church and teach. They look so skittish and timid and scared. I just want to teach the Gospel to them and help them have hope." </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">"Then we meet people like Heidi that make me want to yell in frustration.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">We were trying to contact a referral down in East Lyme, usually a pretty nice town, when we met this woman. She seemed pretty nice and everything. She made some off-comments like 'I didn't know Mormons could be stylish,' and 'I didn't know Mormons could wear perfume.' Anyway we gave her our card with our number on it and as she walked away she yelled, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'I bet dollars to dimes you won't call me back!' </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'I'm pretty sure we will!' I yelled. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"> 'I bet you won't! The least you could do is give me a ride!' She was going to pick up her 13 year-old son.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'I'm sorry we can't give rides,' I yelled back, because she was a good 70 feet away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'NOW YOU'RE GETTING IT!' she yelled back ever so rudely.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Oh dear...</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">While we were trying to contact some members, we got a call from a CT number that we didn't have programmed. I quieted it because I didn't want to deal with craziness at that point but when we got home we called her. Sister E. put her speaker phone and, yes, Heidi was crazy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">She yelled at us for 30 minutes calling us liars and charlatans because we wouldn't go see her right then. And that we didn't give her a ride, and because we had appointments and were trying to make one with her on Tuesday instead of right then. 'GOD DOESN'T MAKE APPOINTMENTS!' And that we were trying to sell her something. I think my favorite was 'Go take your paycheck and something-something(she didn't say anything bad, I just can't remember what she said).' </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'Ma'am, we actually volunteer to teach people about Christ.' I was talking by then.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'You VOLUNTEER to make God's appointments? You're charlatans and liars. You don't really care!'</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'I'm sorry that you feel that way. I hope you have a blessed day and that Heavenly Father continues to bless you.'</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">'She hung up on you.' says Sister E." </span> </span></div>
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With the new influx of missionaries to the MTC, some of the transfer times are being adjusted in December. News arrived that transfers will be the week before Christmas instead of the week after. The wonderful family that have the apartment where the Sisters live is not happy about this. They have grown to love Sister Kanani and was looking forward to her being around for Christmas.<br />
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<br />rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-609611713565141422012-12-03T17:55:00.000-08:002013-03-03T17:03:55.413-08:00Janna & Bob<br />
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In October, Sister Kanani and Sister S. began to visit with Janna & Bob. Janna has been a member for 7 years and Bob has been "looking into it" [the Gospel and the Church] for that long. It was only recently that he really started to take a deep interest in it. They have been teaching lessons to them both for a few weeks. He called the Sisters on Friday, 4 November and said he wanted to be baptized on Janna's birthday, which is November 11th.</div>
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Because of the whole Mission volunteering in the Mormon Helping Hands clean-up, this presented a bit of a scheduling challenge, however, it all worked out. The Sisters left the clean-up project early.</div>
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Sister Kanani's wrote: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #232323; font-family: Arial;">We had to leave early to get back in time for Bob's baptism. Which is the best one that I have had on my mission. Everything went smoothly. Bob was so touched by the Spirit. There were lots of people there, a lot of non-members were there. It was a good baptism."</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">There have been some great experiences with Bob since he was baptized in November. “Bob was ordained a Priest and invited us to be there for it. It's the second ordination that I have been a part of in my life so it was really special.” </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"Did I mention he just got a package from his step mom with his dad’s family history dating all the way back to the 1700s? I love blessings of the Lord. Someone in Bob's family is anxious for their work to get done!"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Bob also was able to go with his Stake to New York as a volunteer in the ongoing Mormon Helping Hands clean-up from Hurricane Sandy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">His family and friends have noticed the positive changes he has made and is making in his life. He has been discussing ways to be able to talk to his neighbor about the Gospel.</span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-42549925647415062332012-11-12T16:00:00.000-08:002013-01-20T16:19:28.622-08:00Mormon Helping Hands<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We learned that the whole Mission is going down to New Haven area Friday night through Sunday night to help clean up. We are trying to juggle Bob's baptism and this amazing chance to serve. But it will all work out in the Lord's way. Cause the baptism has certainly been on God's time schedule.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">November 9th: Friday</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We had Ward Correlation early in the morning with Brother W. and then went to Sister R’s. She is a less active in the Groton Ward but we go see her because her husband is on a boat right now. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We had a good time there and then ran some errands to get ready to go down to New Haven for the night so we could help with clean-up the next day.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And then we packed and headed to New Haven area.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We arrived at the Madison chapel and had a Mission Gathering. Normally those are highly discouraged but because we were going to help out Mormon Helping Hands, President Packard got special permission for it. It was amazing to have all but 4 missionaries from our mission there. All of the Packards spoke and it was just amazing. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then Sister S. and I drove Sisters E. and H. to the Madison apartment and then drove to a Church member's house and stayed the night there.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">November 10th: Saturday</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We picked up the same Sisters at 6:20 AM and drove to the chapel to have a Mission breakfast and to find out where we were going to be assigned to work. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We went to the Stake Center and were organized into groups and sent on our way.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We were stationed in Milton. We helped scrub a basement so mold wouldn't grow, we helped a member pack up the things on their ground floor that weren't water damaged, and we helped take out insulation in a basement that had been flooded. Did I mention it was a dirt floor basement so it was mud at this point? We had great fun. The houses neighboring that house had been washed out to sea, quite literally. The foundation and everything had been swept out during the storm. There was nothing left of them. And people now have sand yards instead of grass for about a hundred yards in from the beach. It was a lot of fun to be able to help with the clean up.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We had to leave early to get back in time for Bob's baptism.</span></div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-46254426637061270392012-11-01T19:00:00.000-07:002013-01-20T16:13:15.639-08:00Sandy Follow-up<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So this past week has been interesting.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On Sunday evening we went up to Providence to spend a few days with the Providence Sisters. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Monday we were told to stay inside all day. Which we did. There were 6 Elders (the ZLs have their apartment in the same building, Groton, Our DL, and another pair were there with the ZLs), and us and Providence Sisters. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Tuesday we came down to access the damage in our area. There actually isn't that much damage around here. Some houses next to the beach are now on a beach. We drove around with the ZLs and checked out New Port and Narragansett areas. Then we checked on members in our area since Providence wasn't hit with anything except some wind and rain. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The W.’s (our apartment) were still out of power so we drove back up that night and slept in Providence. We were the only apartment of the whole mission still without power, or at least in our zone. All other missionaries went back to their areas. Wednesday we once again drove down and started to actually help people. Sister S. and I helped a couple shovel their driveway free of sand and another woman clean off her lawn of all sorts of debris in New London. Then we had to drive back up to Providence because we had to be in early because of Halloween. We didn't really do anything fun because we were so tired and had to debrief with the ZLs.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then there was today. We went back to our area and helped clean up again, along the same road. Did I mention there was 2-3 feet of sand in the roads? The city had mostly cleaned off the roads but home owners have to clean it off their property and people’s basements were flooded. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then we once again drove around more of our area and Groton's area looking for areas that had been "wiped out." We couldn't find those areas. We drove and drove and drove. Nothing was found. Apparently these "wiped out" sections were greatly exaggerated by the press. We are now calling the cities to see if we can find opportunities to serve that way. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The W.'s got power today!! Which means no more driving up to Providence!! So that is were we stand right now. Tired from service and driving.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">For now the service has died down in our area because a lot of it now is waiting for insurance to evaluate. Plus we didn't get hit as hard as the lower half of the state.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We might get to be part of Mormon Helping Hands in a week or so down in New Haven and Bridgeport. If needed the whole Mission will be down there. How cool will that be? If that happens I will have been all over Connecticut and Rhode Island (roughly 2/3s of the mission) in two weeks. It's awesome. </span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-718976566563068892012-10-28T22:37:00.000-07:002012-10-28T22:39:10.333-07:00StormsSister Kanani and her companion have been evacuated ahead of Hurricane Sandy's arrival. They are currently assigned to be with the Spanish Sisters in Providence, Rhode Island. The dear, sweet Relief Society President of the Ward where Sister Kanani has been working called tonight to assure us that she and her companion were safe and well prepared. She also told how wonderful Sister Kanani is and how she is making a difference in many people's lives. The Relief Society President also said that if she had any influence, both Sister Kanani and her companion would be able to stay right there for the rest of their missions. The members love them and they have helped many less active members through loving and teaching them.<br />
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If the power is not affected, we anticipate hearing from Sister Kanani either Thursday or Friday. Otherwise, we may not be able to correspond for quite some time.<br />
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And, the request: please pray for those people on the East Coast through these storms.rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-63872333651947091372012-10-25T23:51:00.001-07:002013-01-20T16:36:55.363-08:00September - October<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Sister Kanani has been serving in her new area in Connecticut area since the beginning of September. The Waterford area is in the Providence, Rhode Island Zone and Stake. Her companion is from Utah and they have been told by many people that they look like sisters. They have taken advantage of this as they have given presentations in </span>District and Zone conferences on Unity.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Since being in Waterford, Sister Kanani has had the opportunity to visit the Boston Temple a couple of times. The trip is long, but well worth it. It is great seeing members of the Church from her previous area of Manchester and the Hartford Stake. The opportunity to reconnect with Sisters and Elders that she knew in the MTC and has worked with </span>on her mission is also great.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sister K. loves and admires her mission president, President P. “ He is an amazing man. He is going through a lot and I love him. He is expecting great things from my companion and me and I know that we can meet that </span>expectation.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">She also loves where she is serving and who she serves with. “The Elders in our District are awesome.” And, “My companion and I are super amazing together. We both just want to work and are trying to do the best that we can. We are also having so much fun together. We've had great experiences with the investigators that we have but we've </span>also been able to help each other out a lot as well. It's been awesome.” </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A few weeks after transfers, Sister K. wrote: “Several less actives have called the Ward Relief Society President and expressed that they want to start coming back to church, yay!, and so we are going to be working with her closely and start to teach them and uplift them. Bishop also gave us the names of some less actives he would like us to work with. And we should be finding out some more from the other auxiliaries soon. The work is going to start BOOMING </span>soon, and it's going to be epic.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Within a few weeks: “The work with the members is coming a long great! Not only do they have the opportunity to strengthen and uplift the members, the members are actively involved in sharing the Gospel. “We actually have to juggle appointments. We had at least 3 people want to have FHE with us tonight. As it is we are participating in two. </span>One is with a less active family and the other is with an active family and their non-member friend.” </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And soon after that: "We have started to work with another less active/part member family. Their names had been brought up in interviews with Auxiliary leaders, but we were unsure of how to contact them. Well, they were at Church on Sunday because their son was speaking. We had a wonderful conversation with them but nothing really solid. We got a call from the non-member wife on Saturday inviting us over for a family birthday party. It was slightly awkward at </span>first, but got much better. They liked us! And there were good indications that the husband feels comfortable with us.” </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In another email: “We went home teaching with the Bishop to a less active sister. Apparently she hasn't really been open to Church talk or inviting anyone over from the Church besides the Bishop, but we got to share a thought and </span>she told us we could drop in any time. Gotta love it! Things are going great here.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Each area has certain opportunities for service. “I love the service we get to do here. </span>We help in a local food bank kitchen at St. James Church in New London. It's a lot of fun.” St. James Church was built in the 1800’s and has amazing stained glass windows. There is also a Quilting Guild that meets at St. James Church. “Sister S. and I poked our heads in during a slow moment at the food bank and we got sucked in! It was so awesome. There are some really talented older ladies in there. Like really, really, award-winning kind of talented. They cross stitch, they quilt, they do other awesome things. So we are going to go sit with them every other Wednesday as they work on charity stuff. How awesome is that?! It's basically like Relief Society only with out the fulness of the gospel. It's cool.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The missionaries have also helped at horse stables. “The stables is an equine therapy place that needs their fencing replaced before winter. So we are helping them out with that. We helped them dig out rotted posts and replace </span>them. We were so dirty. But it was so much fun digging, cutting posts and rails, ratcheting, drilling, much fun. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sister K. & her companion are also working with a woman that came to an LDS Chapel by mistake and has become really interested, a college student that referred himself to the missionaries through Mormon.org, and a member that is </span>working to attend the Temple.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And General Conference: “Conference was amazing. The news that young women can now go on missions at age 19 brought tears to our eyes and excitement to our hearts. It will be awesome. Oh and it's also cool young men can now </span>go at 18. All of conference was amazing!” </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“The work is going forth here and it's amazing. God answers prayers and He loves each one of us.”</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4931535879878770639.post-82554120954840041762012-09-17T06:22:00.000-07:002013-01-20T16:34:46.940-08:00Baptism, Activities, Transfer<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sister Kanani was able to see the first person she and her companion have taught from beginning contact baptized. From her email on 30 July 2012: “T. was baptized on Saturday!!! . It was amazing. She was so excited and to see her come out of that water... She was so bright and excited. And her confirmation on Sunday was beautiful. Thankfully the Ward is opening their hearts to her and really helping her out with CJ and such during Sacrament and things. I know that as people talk with her they will fall in love with her. You just can't help it.”</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The following week they were able to have another baptism. This woman has a sheep farm and the Sisters have been able to help her out some of the work. They have even had the opportunity to “tatoo” the sheep (mark them on their ears for identification, similar to branding, but with ink in place of a hot iron) and trim off some matted wool. These are sheep raised for their wool, not for food.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One woman that they have been teaching has been coming to Church, Book of Mormon Study, and Relief Society activities. She has even given a referral to a woman she met in a store with whom she had started talking about Christ. That person wanted to meet with the missionaries. Sister K. writes: “E. has really picked up in reading the Book of Mormon. We fasted with her from Saturday to Sunday to give her a spiritual boost to quit smoking. She also came to Church and to the baptism. She had plowed through Jacob up to Mosiah 15. She is reading every time she has the urge to smoke. She might not have been ready in May but she is ready now. She is so excited about the Gospel. It was a really neat experience in Relief Society on Sunday. Our Ward is putting on a King Benjamin speech event next month. Basically someone will memorize King Benjamin's speech and recite it to the ward who will be sitting in "tents" and dressed up as Nephites. Our RS president was announcing some details and E. leaned over to me "I just read about him!" It was just a fun experience.” And, “ E. now hates the taste of cigarettes because they leave a funny taste in her mouth. Fasting really works, it's amazing.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“We are still doing our best to find people. Our mission is now really focusing on working with members so it's going to take a while to get used to it but it's going to be awesome.” In another letter, Sister K. wrote that it is very much the “theme with President P. That we should stop categorizing people we know and meet into member/ less active/ non-member. They are all people that we are able to help come closer to Christ.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At transfer time, Sister K. found that she was being transferred to Waterford, CT, about an hour southeast of Manchester. “I'm excited to go but at the same time it is heartbreaking. I hadn't realized how attached I had become to so many of the people here. It's even harder when the people start to tear up as you tell them. But it will be good. Someone in Waterford needs me.” In her first email from Waterford, she reports that things are going superbly with her new companion. Waterford is a lot smaller than Manchester. It's still only one Ward, but the towns are closer together and smaller. New London, which has a larger population, is in the area and has two Spanish speaking Elders assigned to that area specifically. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">She also reports that the members are awesome. She and her companion have an apartment in the home of members. He is the Ward Mission Leader and she is the Ward Relief Society President. Very convenient for working together. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sister K. suggests two challenges: “I think something that has really helped solidify our companionship is that each night we say at least one miracle that happened that day. This usually leads to a very long, wonderful discussion. I would challenge you to do this as well. It's much like a gratitude journal, but better because it's sharing it with someone. [Miracles are] Just small things that are blessings in our lives.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“As another challenge, for anyone who may be reading this, would you look around at who you could lift spiritually and do something for them? It doesn't have to be big, but just do it. Love them and allow them to feel the love Christ has for them through you.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This week is going to be super epic and awesome. I love all y'all!!!</span></div>
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rsandmcfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901752942987363446noreply@blogger.com0