Kayla's letter 6/24/13

Pictures:

 

Pic 1: Last P-Day we played Lightning with all five of us sisters and these two elders. The brought a HUGE watermelon, and we all had pieces about this big (maybe a little smaller) and we ate like savages. On the left is Elder Graf (our district leader) and on the right is Elder Moreland (my district leader from the MTC).

 

Pic 2: Moosehead Saloon. (I really didn't feel awkward being there, I promise.) Next to me is Hermana Morris, who is waiting for her visa to Argentina.

 

Pic 3: Hermana Morris and me again. We pulled these CRAZY bushes out, and so decided to show them off. The roots were deep and GIGANTIC!!! Some of them were a couple inches in diameter. But we did it with our awesomeness, super strength, a pick axe, clippers, and shovels. :)

 Hello Everyone!

  

(Sorry this letter's so long today. You missionaries can just scan it and pick out what you think is interesting. :P )

 

This week was much better than last week. Not that we had anything extraordinary happen in proselyting, but I relied more on the Lord and focused on how I've improved, rather than how I'm lacking. Everyone falls short. Everyone's inadequate. No one is perfect. But, God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies that called. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; ...But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1:26-27, 30). I put that scripture on my mirror so I remember that. I did that about a month ago, actually, but I actually remembered to apply it this week.

 

We met a crazy guy this week. Actually, not really "met", but anyway... He is a former investigator named Bob. We liked the look of his teaching record and stopped by his mansion on the lake. He wasn't home, but his wife gave us his number and told us to call him rather than stop by again. So, we called him. He had sisters teaching him six or seven years ago, but as far as we know hasn't had any contact since. Well, we called him, and he is FUNNY! He talks really loudly, and doesn't want to set up an appointment, but if we call when he's free we can come over. He asked, "Who gave you my number? My wife? The Filipino lady? She wants me to convert!" Then he asked me, "Where are you from, Utah?" and seemed very interested in my name. We think he isn't hearing the "s", so thinks my name is "Sister Richard", which I think he finds weird. We'll just have to meet him and clarify. :P So, we got off the phone with him, then he called two minutes later to tell us about John, who was just diagnosed with cancer, and was ready to convert a few years ago but lost contact and didn't. "I think he's ready to convert now. You should call him." And Bob gave us his number! It says on his teaching record that he likes to give referrals, and we are seeing that as true already. Hopefully something will come of it, and he'll be converted himself, as well. :)

 

We said good-bye to Brett, the less-active who's become fully reactivated, this week. He and his wife are moving to Utah. So, I'll just have to go visit them when I get home! They took us out to lunch at the Moosehead Saloon (picture attached :P) probably because it's called a "saloon" and they were helping us rebel a little. :P It was fun! I love them both so much. It's amazing how quickly you learn to love the people, but what's even more amazing is how quickly they come to love you.

 

I love this work. Time is so weird out here, and it goes so incredibly fast while completely dragging on... But I love it. I love it! I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!

 

Sister Richards

 

You're Weekly Update from Cleveland, Ohio!!

Actually, it really is an update from Cleveland, not just the Cleveland mission. My area consists of three of Cleveland's suburbs, so we're the closest a sister will ever come to serving in downtown Cleveland... Exciting! It's very safe, though, so no worries. Elder Graf and Elder Moreland, however, have a sketchy area. What's funny is that we share a ward! So, when we go visit people in their area (which we do on occasion) we try to stay during the daytime. One of the ladies in their area, who we stopped by and set up an appointment with once, is now suspected of illegal drugs, so we cancelled our appointment and NO missionaries are to go see her. Usually, though, we go to Lakewood just to see the single sisters FHE group. We go over almost every Monday. We shouldn't, but we love them so much! Plus, there have been nonmembers coming lately, so it's been good.

 

We met with Hayley and Sienna this week for the first time since their mom left. Their grandma is adament that their mom won't add any more stipulations to their getting baptized. We hope she sticks to that determination, because if she decides to make them do something else, we as missionaries can't do anything about it. We're back to meeting with the girls every Tuesday and Thursday, and they have a new baptism date for July 20th! We're PRAYING that goes through. The only bad thing is that it is the week after transfers, so Sister Dahle is praying she doesn't get transferred (she's been working with them for six weeks longer than I have) and I hope I don't get transferred either. Maybe we can come back to see the baptism if we beg hard enough. ;)

 

We haven't found any new investigators yet, but we did meet a less-active's son's nonmember girlfriend yesterday, and she was very interested in our religion. I gave her a BoM and gave a two-minute Restoration. She didn't commit to meet again, but the less-active said that she could meet with us in their house. If that really were to happen, imagine the blessings for all parties involved! You'd have a less-active (practically inactive) member, her wayward son, and his nonmember girlfriend all coming closer to Christ. It seems to good to be true, so I'm hoping it is. If not, it was great practice for the Restoration anyway. :P

 

I love you all. All you missionaries, have a fantastic week doing the Lord's work! I'm blessed to be part of a huge support group of missionaries all around the world doing the Lord's work. To all of you at home, have a fantastic summer and have fun! I love you all! Thanks for the letters, prayers and support.

 

Love,

Sister McKayla Richards

Week one of transfer two

Hello Everyone!

 

This week was CRAZY!! We had transfers on Wednesday, which meant we had to say good-bye to Sister Bell (my companion) and Sister Frampton (one of the other sisters who live with us). But, we got Sister Oliver in the other companionship (still a triple-up) and Sister Dahle and I are enjoying working in a duo. You wouldn't believe how much easier it is to teach with just the two of us. We already have more companionship unity in teaching than we ever have felt. Maybe trios are easier when all three of you are thrown in at the same time, but we have learned that adding a third person to an original duo is hard. But, I'm so glad I was able to serve in the trio last transfer, and I'm excited to serve with Sister Dahle now! She is so fun, and together we're focusing on finding someone this transfer. That means more tracting and contacting and lots of praying. This last transfer has been very focused on reactivation efforts, but now that most of them are progressing, we want to expand our focus and find new investigators! :P

 

At transfers I ran into an old friend... Elder Barnes! He's a Zone Leader now (not of my zone, though) so there was no way I could miss him. I also saw Sister Ahrenson, but she had to go back to the historical sites before we could take a picture with her, too. Jon and I didn't get to talk much, but I told him it was weird to see him. Good, but weird. It's true, though! It made home and mission seem way to close. The mission is so different, and then seeing a friend (not even just an acquaintence, but a friend) from home kinda threw me for a loop. It was fun, though. :) I attached the picture we took. (I have to say, taking pictures with elders (who you aren't allowed to touch) can be kinda awkward. What do you do, stand side by side awkwardly? Yep, that's what you do. :P)

 

One of the less-actives we've been working with (and who we love dearly), Kathleen, invited her nonmember son to church, and he said yes!! We are so proud of her. Next week is "Bring a Friend to Church Day," and we're hoping for lots of people to take the chance to invite friends to a nonthreatening sacrament meeting. Kathleen is such an inspiration. When we taught her the Word of Wisdom, she already knew everything but coffee and tea. When we told her that she said, "I don't know why the missionaries who taught me didn't tell me that. It wouldn't have changed anything, but I wish they had told me!" This is the same woman who has had a boyfriend for over twenty years, and has been dutifully living the law of chastity over those same twenty years since being taught and baptized. She is completely incredible and has a stalwart testimony. I hope that her son still comes and he listens to his mom, because she is incredible and can teach him a lot.

 

This week, we tried a new tracting method. We stopped at the Correa (pronounced Co-hey-a; the dad is from Brazil) family's house and told them that we were sharing a message about the Family Proclomation, and asked if there was anyone on their street who's door we could knock on (Sis. Correa is an RM, so she thought that was funny) that would appreciate the message. Even though we didn't get into any more doors than usual, we felt like we had been more productive because we tracted with purpose, not just willy-nilly, "let's knock on this door." We think we'll be doing more of that. At one of the doors no one answered, but their dog came up and pushed the door open! It was just a little dog and it was very friendly, but there was no one inside the house, and when I opened the front door and tried to coax it back in, it wouldn't go. Awkward! Luckily, the family was around back. They did NOT look pleased to see us (in fact, they scared me a little with the look of pure "get the... out of here" in their eyes) but we had to return their dog. Oh well. Hopefully we'll have more successful doors than that. :P

 

Sienna's mother left for her next month-long job this week. So, no baptism till at least July, if not August, and that's if we can get the mom to cooperate. It's so sad to see how much Sienna wants to be baptized, but because she's not eighteen she can't. We're going to see her and her sister this week, though, and we hope we can set up a new date to push for. They are such sweet girls and have incredible testimonies.

 

Sorry to you fellow missionaries that my letters are so long. You can just skim through and read the parts you want. :) Good luck to all of you, and I love getting your letters and hearing about your successes and stories.

 

To all you family and friends at home: Thank you for your love and emails. Keep writing me letters (because I'm selfish and will ask for that ;) ) and have a fun summer.

 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week.

 

Sister McKayla

New Pics

All of us sisters at 6:30 a.m. with Cleveland in the background

Me with our truck. Yes, it's red:)

Me eating with CHOPSTICKS! (I thought Emily would be proud of me.) We went to a Japanese resturaunt with Brother Brady and Sister Hulse, and Brother Brady taught me how to use chopsticks. He's a less active that's been reactivated and who we love very much (and his wife is an angel, too, but she's in Utah right now) and Sister Hulse is an older lady in our ward who is a sweetheart.

  

Transfer Week

Hello everyone!

 

So yesterday we got our transfer calls, and.... (*drumroll*)........................................... I'M STAYING IN LAKEWOOD WEST!!!! Sister Dahle is staying with me, which was a surprise because she didn't go to trainers meeting. So... she's training me... with no training on how to do it! I'm sure she'll be great. As far as we know, it'll just be the two of us, which will be nice. After this next transfer, I'm elligible to train. Oh dear! I do NOT feel ready. Looking back at six weeks ago, I don't feel like I'm where Sister Dahle was when I met her, even though technically I am. Still, I've learned a lot in the last six weeks, and I hope I learn more in the next six (actually over the next 16 months I'd better keep learning things!)

 

This week, Sienna was not baptized. Bummer. We're now hoping for July or August. Her mom is leaving today until July, and the girls have to be angels while she's gone- which includes being nice to step-boyfriend, who is their guardian even though he's not their dad- and they have to keep meeting with us AND learning about other religions. I don't think she's very eager for them to be baptized... But it's like I told President Vellinga in my letter to him today: We're not giving up on them because the Lord isn't. He'll help us find a way, and those girls WILL be baptized. I just hope they don't have to wait until their 18. :P

 

This week we had a bit of a... disagreement?... with the elders. We've been doing service as an excuse to go see a less-active who is in our ward but the Elders area. She tells us things she won't tell them, and we have been able to help her in her goal to quit smoking in a different way than they have. Anyway, one of the AP's reminded our District Leader about the rules about boundaries, and we were told not to go serve her. Well, our entire ward is smaller than most people's areas, and we talked to President and because there's not an issue with miles, we should be able to go. Anyway, long story short, we were obedient, but we gave the elders a really hard time about it, asking for permission for EVERYTHING for about the next two days. "Can we leave our area to go to church?" "You need to ask for permission to come home because it's out of your area." It's a good thing they know we love them. We have a wonderful district leader, even if he did drag out our transfer information last night. He had six sisters threatening over the phone to kill him. I don't think he'll be teasing us like that again. :P Sister Dahle and Sister Bell especially give them a hard time. They say they're preparing the elders for marriage. :)

 

Sister Bell goes home tomorrow. We're not asking permission, but all six of us are going to transfer meeting tomorrow to say good-bye to her and Sister Frampton (who is being out-zoned). I think technically a couple of us could stay, but we're not going to ask permission; we'll just beg forgiveness. :)

 

I hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you so much! Keep the letters coming; my address is the same. :)

 

Love,

Sister McKayla

May 20th

Hello!

 

So, we taught a crazy lady this week. Literally. Crazy. She's the mother of a ward member, and he told us she was a bit wacky, but I was not prepared. Her name is Mary Lou. She's been meeting with missionaries since 1972 and still doesn't know what their purpose is. We know this because we knocked on her door, wearing our dresses and ready for a lesson, and she said, "Oh, I have things for all three of you to do. These two flower beds need to be sprinkled, and the dog needs to be walked." So, in our dresses, we walked her MASSIVE dog that peed on everything and watered her flowers. Then we finally got to teach her while sitting on her back porch. We asked her if we could start with a prayer ("you're always praying!") and she offered to give it, but then she said, "Hold on," and looked up at the sky. After a second, Sister Bell asked, "What are you looking for?" and Mary Lou said, "I'm trying to find God." It was all we could do to keep from laughing. Sister Dahle pointed at the setting sun through the clouds and asked, her voice shaking a little, "Is that Him, over where the light is?" And Mary Lou corrected her that He is in the clouds. "Haven't you ever seen angels wings?" After another second of looking she said, "Can't find him. It's easier in the morning." Then she started reciting the usual Catholic memorized prayer, then she added at the end something about blessing us in our traditions, and then (mid-prayer, mind you) she said, "traditions... TRADITION! Have you ever seen that movie? (*singing*) Tradition!" The prayer never really officially ended. We tried to teach her the BOM introduction, but the rest of the lesson was kind of like that. She kept interrupting and wouldn't let us talk, and told us she'd read that book and knew everything there is to know about being Mormon. It was a fun visit, but I don't think we'll be teaching her again. :P

 

We met with Hayley and Sienna's mother last Friday about their being baptized. She is a very nice lady, but very pushy and her daughters are not. What came from the meeting: Hayley (the eleven year old) is going to wait, but Sienna is hoping to be baptized on her fifteenth birthday THIS WEEK!! She just had to talk to her grandfather about Catholisism over the weekend, she's (hopefully!) having her baptismal interview with Elder Graf tonight, and then going with us to meet our Buddhist investigator tomorrow. If that all happens, she'll be baptized the next day. We're praying!! Because the Elders and the Jacklins are going to their house tonight, we decided that not all three of us should go and overrun their house with seven missionaries. So Sister Dahle is going (as Sister Jacklin's companion) and Sister Bell and I will be working on the baptism program at home (actually, on the Jacklin's computer, but whatever). With the Lord's help, I'll be reporting a baptism to you next week!! :D

 

This week was Zone Conference. We met with our whole stake, which is actually two zones (Cleveland and Cleveland West). I didn't know this, but apparently there are lots of different missionary meetings: District meetings, with our district; zone training meetings, with just our zone; zone conferences, with one or two zones; mission conferences, which rarely happen and are usually split in two anyway; coordination meetings with the ward missionaries and all the full-time missionaries in the ward (which in our case is us, the Jacklins, and the Elders); and then there's the occasional training meeting, transfer meetings, etc. I guess you missionaries knew this already, but this was a new thing for me.

 

GUESS WHAT?!?! Family, do you remember Mr. Hoopes, my sixth grade teacher? Well, our ward mission leader, Brother Hoopes, is his cousin. Crazy! When I heard his name I thought, "Oh, Hoopes, that's cool. There's no way they can be related. Wyoming, Ohio: Not possible." But while we were mulching the other day, Bro. Hoopes and I were talking and I mentioned Wyoming. He said he had family that lived there. Apparently Richard Hoopes is his cousin. "It's a small world after all..."

 

Speaking of mulching, we've done a LOT of that in the last few weeks. It's a HUGE thing here in Ohio. I've seen all sorts of different colors and sizes of mulch, more than I knew existed! (For those of you who don't know what mulch is, it's that shredded bark that people sometimes put in their yards.) People here are very proud of their yards, and they must be mulched. I'm not kidding; we did 13 hours of service this week, and eight of it was mulching or pulling weeds. Yikes. And we're mulching again tomorrow. Hooray! It's really fun to get into the sun (and into jeans!!) and work with my hands. We do a lot of sitting and talking, so yard work is fun. Saturday was a bit overkill when we literally spent ALL DAY in service clothes, but it was good.

 

I love you all. Have a wonderful week!

 

Sister McKayla Richards

Pics from Lakewood West

The first pic is at the beach, and the second is with my two companions, Sis. Dahle and Sis. Bell.