Wow. What a week for you all. I haven't yet received your letter Mom explaining it further, but I'm sure I'll get it one of these days. Anyway, craziness. Well, last week was good. Haha, yep. Once again I am continually learning multiple things I can improve on. Darn, I'm not perfect yet. Haha, yeah... lots to improve on. But that's life. Learning and growing and learning how to become better. Maybe this means I'll be even better when I come home. Anyway. Last week we had zone conference. It was really nice and very enlightening. I love our president. He is great. He started crying as he was telling us that he loved us. Also, our cars were checked to see if we cleaned them. They called out a number... we had no idea what our number was, so we didn't say anything... and Elder Barney (he's from this area; he has a speaking and walking disability) said, "I'll take it." And he was given it. It was so cute/funny. He really did deserve it and it turned out that it was our number that was called. Haha, there was a reason why we didn't know it. So Elder Barney could get it. That was fun. We also had exchanges on Thursday. So I served in Antelope 4th for a day and served with Sister Grant again. And yeah! I did have dinner with Sister Wilcox's niece the other day. She and her husband are in my ward. I was really surprised when she said that she knew them and was related to them! Cool though! By the way... when did the Wilcox's move...? I had no idea... or memory of knowing that... oh well. I probably just forgot. But it was cool having another connection to a ward member. We are continually working with our investigators and less actives. Some show real potential... others are questionable... but such is life. And it keeps going. One of our investigators is probably getting baptized now at the end of the month (rather than this weekend), which is totally fine. And we have a potential investigator that is a referral from the media... I'm way excited for this one. Sounds like she's still in high school. A youngin'... I'm excited. yep. We also went to Antelope for a baptism on Saturday... it was good. Sister Wither's had taught her and I had taught her 2 on exchanges. It was good. And the water accidently lowered as the beginning of the program started... opps. But it still went well. Yep. Oh and we got transfer calls Saturday... that was cool to get them early. Yep...... staying the same. Good stuff. It's really kind of nice not having to worry about it. But 2 of my elders from my zone that have been here all the time with me are leaving for home... weird... but good for them. Yep. that's life here. I love you so much!!!! Have a good day!!! I love you!!!! Lots!!!!
Sister Kristi Walston
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
August 22, 2011
How are things in the Walston clan? This last week was busy as could be. Monday was filled with P-day activities... playing scatterball with the elders. Being late to dinner... we texted them that we were going to be late and when we got there they said that they got our text when they were just finishing dinner... ha, they had forgotten that they were going to fed us, but maybe that's because we forgot to call them that morning/ the night before... opps. At least they are the kind of couple we could do that too. Their kids are all grown up and gone. She's the Relief Society president and he's the executive secretary. When my companion first met them she said to them, "You're so fun. You're so chill." Yep. That pretty much describes them. They are awesome. I'll even mention them later in my email. So that was pretty much Monday.
Tuesday we had lots of appointments. It was good. 2 less actives... an investigator... and some members. It was a good day of lessons. And in the morning we had district meeting which we got to teach at for about 7 minutes or so. It was good. We talked about finding investigators through part member families. It's golden. We've had about 4 of our investigators come from part member families. We also related it to Lamoni and his father when Ammon and his brethren taught the Lamanites. Because Lamoni was converted, the whole household was converted. Because of Lamoni, his father and his father's whole household was converted. It's so cool!
Wednesday... Scott's Birthday!... We tracked some. While we were tracking we ran into a member... who's not in our ward records. He's less active too because of fishing. He does it competitively... hence not going to church on Sundays. He was a neat kid... well he's older than I so I guess he's not really a kid... Sam's or Scott's age or somewheres. It was a good day of visits and tracking. We also taught a lesson to one of our investigators. And then that night we had exchanges!
Thursday I was in Antelope with Sister Polidario from the Philippines. I served with her once my first week here actually.
Friday we had exchanges and I was in Roseville that morning and I was there Saturday morning also... we had exchanges 3 times this week.
Friday was a crazy fun day... exchanges, elders pranking our car by taking off 2 of our wheels and toilet pappering it with poo... which was really chocolate syrup. And then we taught a lesson with the zone leaders to the lady that was baptized a few weeks ago that moved away a few weeks ago... she came back to have a lesson with the 4 of us.
Saturday we went to the temple!!! The members from Monday night took us. 4 elders from our zone were there as well. 2 of them are leaving next week for home. Crazy! It was so nice to be at the temple. It's a beautiful temple. It was a good experience. After the endowment session, one of the elders told me I looked like a nun... haha. Yeah.
Sunday we made lots of visits to members. This transfer we have this challenge and each week there are different ways we can earn points. Last week was having 12 arcs (lesson with members or recent converts)... Sunday we had 5 to make it to the goal of 12. The reward for anyone who wins will be taken out to dinner... Red Lobster, but could be changed. Last week we were tied with other elders. But if we sisters win... other elders will have to come with us. The zone leaders can't just take the sisters to dinner. That would be just weird... wrong.
Anyways, it's been a great week. Learning lots of things of how to be a better missionary... learning lots of stuff about how I can become a better person. Lots of learning and teaching coming along.
Yep.
Well, I love you all bunches!!!
Sister Kristi Walston
Tuesday we had lots of appointments. It was good. 2 less actives... an investigator... and some members. It was a good day of lessons. And in the morning we had district meeting which we got to teach at for about 7 minutes or so. It was good. We talked about finding investigators through part member families. It's golden. We've had about 4 of our investigators come from part member families. We also related it to Lamoni and his father when Ammon and his brethren taught the Lamanites. Because Lamoni was converted, the whole household was converted. Because of Lamoni, his father and his father's whole household was converted. It's so cool!
Wednesday... Scott's Birthday!... We tracked some. While we were tracking we ran into a member... who's not in our ward records. He's less active too because of fishing. He does it competitively... hence not going to church on Sundays. He was a neat kid... well he's older than I so I guess he's not really a kid... Sam's or Scott's age or somewheres. It was a good day of visits and tracking. We also taught a lesson to one of our investigators. And then that night we had exchanges!
Thursday I was in Antelope with Sister Polidario from the Philippines. I served with her once my first week here actually.
Friday we had exchanges and I was in Roseville that morning and I was there Saturday morning also... we had exchanges 3 times this week.
Friday was a crazy fun day... exchanges, elders pranking our car by taking off 2 of our wheels and toilet pappering it with poo... which was really chocolate syrup. And then we taught a lesson with the zone leaders to the lady that was baptized a few weeks ago that moved away a few weeks ago... she came back to have a lesson with the 4 of us.
Saturday we went to the temple!!! The members from Monday night took us. 4 elders from our zone were there as well. 2 of them are leaving next week for home. Crazy! It was so nice to be at the temple. It's a beautiful temple. It was a good experience. After the endowment session, one of the elders told me I looked like a nun... haha. Yeah.
Sunday we made lots of visits to members. This transfer we have this challenge and each week there are different ways we can earn points. Last week was having 12 arcs (lesson with members or recent converts)... Sunday we had 5 to make it to the goal of 12. The reward for anyone who wins will be taken out to dinner... Red Lobster, but could be changed. Last week we were tied with other elders. But if we sisters win... other elders will have to come with us. The zone leaders can't just take the sisters to dinner. That would be just weird... wrong.
Anyways, it's been a great week. Learning lots of things of how to be a better missionary... learning lots of stuff about how I can become a better person. Lots of learning and teaching coming along.
Yep.
Well, I love you all bunches!!!
Sister Kristi Walston
Monday, August 15, 2011
August 15, 2011
Whoasers, what a week. So last week after I emailed you was an adventure. After emailing we went to the stake center which is about 15 minutes away. When we got there I realized I forgot my P-day clothes so we had to drive back to get them... opps. But yep, my companion is really nice to me. So for p-day we played capture the flag! It was... interesting. We had balloons for one of the rounds. It was a way you could tag people and put them into jail. But people started using them as distractions instead. A kid (literally - he's a kid in my ward, 17... Trevor's age... weird, I just realized that) he practically threw one in my face... lame! Whatever.... anyways. Also there was this moment where I was trying to chase this elder down and... BAM! Out of nowhere another elder came and rammed into my side. He hadn't seen me, I hadn't seen him. He really took my breath away... and hurt my side. So now every so often as I move.... depending on how I move my ribs hurt. Quite an unusual experience... kind of funny to experience. But nothing broken, it's not bad at all. Just kind of funny... yep. :) So that was fun. We had dinner a little later that evening because the member had her ipad stolen that day, but then was able to recover it right before dinner. Miracle. After dinner, we got a phone call from the recent convert lady who we just found out was in our ward. She was crying. "I'm scared," she said. "Can we meet somewhere?" I asked. We met at the church... except we first went to the wrong church and got at the right church shortly after her. Her living environment was less than pleasant. She lived with crazy people! One of them was making her scared. She truly has embraced having a Christ-like life. And anything contrary scares her. But no, seriously the people she happened to live with were weirdoes that were crazy, bipolar and insane. Anyways, we called the zone leaders who had been teaching her. They came, gave her a blessing of comfort, took her out to eat, helped move her out into a member’s home for the night. That all took about 2 hours. We got home shortly after 10:30pm. We were all grateful that we were able to help her. She said as she was driving and crying, her first thought was to call the sister missionaries. We were glad she did.
Tuesday was exciting too. District meeting. Lunch. Worrying about the recent convert lady because she needed to find somewhere else to live. Well, she did! That day! We had lessons back to back. 2 investigators lessons with members! Interesting lessons they were too... and a lesson with the recent convert lady, which was interesting in itself. The zone leaders showed up and we all taught her lesson 5... yeah that was hard... weird, 2 different lesson plans. Oh well. The lesson went well nevertheless. It was good. And we, the sister missionaries, prepared to move her. Called some members and they moved her away into the Sacramento Mission boundaries. Now we are trying to keep in contact with her and making sure the missionaries and ward fellowship her. But yeah. I think she is liking where she is living now. She only had to deal with one major problem the day after she moved there, which ended in 2 of her roommates being evicted. They were doing something VERY wrong. Life is so interesting. Fun and interesting and good. Every moment is a teaching moment. And each teaching moment I am actually grateful to have as oddly as it may sound sometimes. But yeah. Those first 2 days of last week were fun, stressful, and eventful, but very good days in being of service to that lady.
Wednesday was a more normal day. Thursday we had exchanges so I was in Dry Creek (Rio Linda) all day. It was good. I enjoyed getting to know Sister Barfuss. Which I recently found out that I actually met her on my first day in the mission field. I had remembered meeting 3 sister missionaries, but I had never figured out who or where the 3rd sister had gone. It was her! Fun times.
So exciting news of this week if it hasn't been exciting already. We committed 2 people to baptism!!! One for September 3rd, she is willing. And one for September 10, he's kind of squirrely as Sister Wither's likes to say. I really just don't understand why he is taking the lessons. My thought is he likes having company. He's a talker. His wife just died in January. And he has MS and other health problems. We'll see what happens with him. But the lady seems to be doing well. We taught her Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday of this last week. It was good. She truly has a desire to have Christ in her life, to have more peace. We also picked up 2 new investigators!!!! One just moved from Antelope area and had been taught there. She's from Russia and doesn't speak or understand English all that well, so we had an interrupter for her. But she's come to church since January. Her husband is a less active... he works on Sundays, and her 11 year old daughter got baptized in May. And our other new investigator comes from a part member family. His wife and all of his children are members. They are kind of semi-active... the kids at least are more active... the mom more less active I think. But the dad is finally willing to learn more from us. I have been told that previous missionaries had tried and he told them he was a heathen. But a member of our bishopric has been working with him and he is finally ready. He admitted yesterday that as a family they want to come to church together. Actually the way we picked him up: we had dinner with a member, the semi-active family had dinner with us, and then we taught them a lesson and asked them if they (he) would be willing to take the lessons. One the daughters was excited for it. He was totally fine with it. Exciting!!! Yep. That's my life as a missionary. :D
Yep. That's what's been going up in my life. How's everyone doing back home?
I love you all!!!!!
Yours truly,
Sister Kristi Walston
Tuesday was exciting too. District meeting. Lunch. Worrying about the recent convert lady because she needed to find somewhere else to live. Well, she did! That day! We had lessons back to back. 2 investigators lessons with members! Interesting lessons they were too... and a lesson with the recent convert lady, which was interesting in itself. The zone leaders showed up and we all taught her lesson 5... yeah that was hard... weird, 2 different lesson plans. Oh well. The lesson went well nevertheless. It was good. And we, the sister missionaries, prepared to move her. Called some members and they moved her away into the Sacramento Mission boundaries. Now we are trying to keep in contact with her and making sure the missionaries and ward fellowship her. But yeah. I think she is liking where she is living now. She only had to deal with one major problem the day after she moved there, which ended in 2 of her roommates being evicted. They were doing something VERY wrong. Life is so interesting. Fun and interesting and good. Every moment is a teaching moment. And each teaching moment I am actually grateful to have as oddly as it may sound sometimes. But yeah. Those first 2 days of last week were fun, stressful, and eventful, but very good days in being of service to that lady.
Wednesday was a more normal day. Thursday we had exchanges so I was in Dry Creek (Rio Linda) all day. It was good. I enjoyed getting to know Sister Barfuss. Which I recently found out that I actually met her on my first day in the mission field. I had remembered meeting 3 sister missionaries, but I had never figured out who or where the 3rd sister had gone. It was her! Fun times.
So exciting news of this week if it hasn't been exciting already. We committed 2 people to baptism!!! One for September 3rd, she is willing. And one for September 10, he's kind of squirrely as Sister Wither's likes to say. I really just don't understand why he is taking the lessons. My thought is he likes having company. He's a talker. His wife just died in January. And he has MS and other health problems. We'll see what happens with him. But the lady seems to be doing well. We taught her Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday of this last week. It was good. She truly has a desire to have Christ in her life, to have more peace. We also picked up 2 new investigators!!!! One just moved from Antelope area and had been taught there. She's from Russia and doesn't speak or understand English all that well, so we had an interrupter for her. But she's come to church since January. Her husband is a less active... he works on Sundays, and her 11 year old daughter got baptized in May. And our other new investigator comes from a part member family. His wife and all of his children are members. They are kind of semi-active... the kids at least are more active... the mom more less active I think. But the dad is finally willing to learn more from us. I have been told that previous missionaries had tried and he told them he was a heathen. But a member of our bishopric has been working with him and he is finally ready. He admitted yesterday that as a family they want to come to church together. Actually the way we picked him up: we had dinner with a member, the semi-active family had dinner with us, and then we taught them a lesson and asked them if they (he) would be willing to take the lessons. One the daughters was excited for it. He was totally fine with it. Exciting!!! Yep. That's my life as a missionary. :D
Yep. That's what's been going up in my life. How's everyone doing back home?
I love you all!!!!!
Yours truly,
Sister Kristi Walston
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
August 8, 2011
Life is continually surprising and exciting. Last Tuesday we got a phone call from our Zone Leader who sounded pretty sad and humble. He first asked how good our ward is at fellowshipping. "Pretty good" was our answer. Then he continued to tell us that their investigator who was preparing to get baptized Saturday (Aug. 6), who went through the no-smoking workshop, and all the lessons with the zone leaders... well it turns out when she moved a couple of weeks ago, she barely moved into the Woodside boundaries, the sister missionaries ward boundaries. Earlier that day the same zone leader had flippantly told us to go find an investigator who wasn't a referral from the zone leaders... well it happened again. He was so sad about it. But it meant that we had 2 baptisms on Saturday! And we did! It was a way cool experience. The lady and our other golden investigator were both way excited to make the commitment to get baptized. Both were ready. It was a great day. Miracles surround the mission field. Another way cool miracle was... we got another missionary referral. A family just moved into our ward boundaries. The husband is a less active who is beginning to activate, the 11 year old daughter an active member/convert since May, and the mother who is Russian is an investigator. That is really neat! And another miracle... a member gave us a referral about a week or so ago. We finally were able to come visit her. She is willing to take the lessons. And she came to both baptisms (half of one and all of the last one - they were back to back) with her member friend. And she came to church yesterday. And she mentioned how she might be wearing her one nice dress a lot. :D Something's a happening here in Woodside ward!!! Horray!!!! :D I come with no investigators and for a moment we had 8, but we're back to 6 with 2 new converts. Life is great. Also we had a good lesson with an investigator this week. I feeling the spirit and all of a sudden I asked him a question. "What do you ask when you pray?" Relating towards finding out whether the gospel is the true gospel. Then out of the top of my head I pulled out a scripture. Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-8. I mentioned maybe he should try coming up with an answer for himself and then to pray and ask if that decision is right. He admitted that maybe he should change his praying methods, but no promise. We'll see. Also he really wants to read the Doctrine and Covenants, but Farsi is his main language and sometimes its hard to completely comprehend things in English. We'll see what happens with him. We had exchanges the other day. Sister Wither's is the new exchange sister. So I got to visit Dry Creek in Rio Linda this last week. I get to go there again this week and Antelope. Last Monday we got to play soccer for p-day. Today we are going to play capture the flag with water balloons... we'll see how it goes. Sister Wither's and I are in charge of it today. We were filling up the water balloons this morning. My shoe got soak... well both of them did. I was standing in a puddle of water in my shoe! Fun stuff. Well I love you all bunches. Have a wonderful day, week! Until next time.
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston
Monday, August 1, 2011
August 1, 2011
How was Ryan's wedding? Was he married off well and now on a honeymoon? Where did they go? How was it? I remembered him and Katie on their special day this past Saturday.
This week has been good. Last Monday we (Sister Wither's and I) played scatterball with all the elders. Scatterball is a game of dodge ball, but there are no teams. Everyone is against everyone. It was actually fun. I had considered playing it before, but didn't. But Sister Wither's and I were sore for days after. Haha, it was good for us. We also ran a few times last week. And stuff, stuff like that. Yep. Tuesday we tracked and picked up a new investigator! Except (well first off, he has MS) we set up an appointment with him for Saturday, he wasn't there. We stopped by last night and talked to him for about 2 hours on the doorstep since we couldn't go in. And in those 2 hours we managed to teach the first lesson about the restoration... but... through it we would ask him questions and he would say a few words about it, agreeing or what not and then randomly start talking about something else for a while until there was a pause and we started teaching the next principle. We're wondering if he has short term memory loss... which I don't think so... or some other kind of random disease or mental problem? I don't know. He's nice. We'll try teaching him a few more times and see how it goes. One of our zone leaders told us that if he's still like this after a few more lessons then have the bishop come with us to evaluate his accountability. Very interesting... yep. We've also talked to a few less actives this last week. One family moved in April and they haven't seen anyone from the church. Crazy! We only talked to them briefly. They are really nice though. So we are excited to be able to get to know them better. Near the end of the week we had a lot of cancelations... as in the teachee not being home. Oh wells, such is life. But our numbers have drastically improved! Normally our numbers are around 11 or 12. This week we had a total of ..... 21 lessons!!!! Whoa!!!! Awesomeness!!! I was talking to another sister on the phone the other day about something and I told her that Sister Wither's has magic fingers. She's great! Perfect hard working missionary. The 2 of us are working magic... of course with the Lord's help. I strongly believe that any missionary work done here is not done by my own doing, but through the Lord's help and tender mercies. Yesterday at church we talked in sacrament meeting for 2 minutes or less. Yeah... I almost started crying. I kept back the tears, but my voice was real shaky. A member told me that I almost brought her to tears. Sweet, huh? Yep. I continually see the Lord's hand in my life. It way amazing to look at the many gifts and blessing he has given me. I remember once thinking about how I couldn't tell if I was feeling the Holy Ghost. Then I heard a few talks which said, "If it is good, then it is of the Holy Ghost." Recently I have been able to see how quietly the Holy Ghost really works. Sometimes I get things small, light impressions... I first I didn't know where they came from, but I am now realizing how much the Holy Ghost is really been part of my life. It is amazing to feel it's promptings and to listen and obey them. Great things are happening. And they can always happen as long as we choose to follow Jesus Christ. Life really is beautiful when you look at the little things. So this week we have our baptism with our golden/miracle/blessing investigator!!!! Exciting! He's ready. We can tell. He and his wife are seeing Satan's influence to prevent him. Example: the other day he accidentally chopped of the very tip of his finger. It looks nasty! But it's healing well. Yep. That's my life in the missionary workings. I love you all so much!!!! You are wonderful!!!!
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston
This week has been good. Last Monday we (Sister Wither's and I) played scatterball with all the elders. Scatterball is a game of dodge ball, but there are no teams. Everyone is against everyone. It was actually fun. I had considered playing it before, but didn't. But Sister Wither's and I were sore for days after. Haha, it was good for us. We also ran a few times last week. And stuff, stuff like that. Yep. Tuesday we tracked and picked up a new investigator! Except (well first off, he has MS) we set up an appointment with him for Saturday, he wasn't there. We stopped by last night and talked to him for about 2 hours on the doorstep since we couldn't go in. And in those 2 hours we managed to teach the first lesson about the restoration... but... through it we would ask him questions and he would say a few words about it, agreeing or what not and then randomly start talking about something else for a while until there was a pause and we started teaching the next principle. We're wondering if he has short term memory loss... which I don't think so... or some other kind of random disease or mental problem? I don't know. He's nice. We'll try teaching him a few more times and see how it goes. One of our zone leaders told us that if he's still like this after a few more lessons then have the bishop come with us to evaluate his accountability. Very interesting... yep. We've also talked to a few less actives this last week. One family moved in April and they haven't seen anyone from the church. Crazy! We only talked to them briefly. They are really nice though. So we are excited to be able to get to know them better. Near the end of the week we had a lot of cancelations... as in the teachee not being home. Oh wells, such is life. But our numbers have drastically improved! Normally our numbers are around 11 or 12. This week we had a total of ..... 21 lessons!!!! Whoa!!!! Awesomeness!!! I was talking to another sister on the phone the other day about something and I told her that Sister Wither's has magic fingers. She's great! Perfect hard working missionary. The 2 of us are working magic... of course with the Lord's help. I strongly believe that any missionary work done here is not done by my own doing, but through the Lord's help and tender mercies. Yesterday at church we talked in sacrament meeting for 2 minutes or less. Yeah... I almost started crying. I kept back the tears, but my voice was real shaky. A member told me that I almost brought her to tears. Sweet, huh? Yep. I continually see the Lord's hand in my life. It way amazing to look at the many gifts and blessing he has given me. I remember once thinking about how I couldn't tell if I was feeling the Holy Ghost. Then I heard a few talks which said, "If it is good, then it is of the Holy Ghost." Recently I have been able to see how quietly the Holy Ghost really works. Sometimes I get things small, light impressions... I first I didn't know where they came from, but I am now realizing how much the Holy Ghost is really been part of my life. It is amazing to feel it's promptings and to listen and obey them. Great things are happening. And they can always happen as long as we choose to follow Jesus Christ. Life really is beautiful when you look at the little things. So this week we have our baptism with our golden/miracle/blessing investigator!!!! Exciting! He's ready. We can tell. He and his wife are seeing Satan's influence to prevent him. Example: the other day he accidentally chopped of the very tip of his finger. It looks nasty! But it's healing well. Yep. That's my life in the missionary workings. I love you all so much!!!! You are wonderful!!!!
Love,
Sister Kristi Walston
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