Another Update from the Pavement Pounder

May 5th 2009 – May 11th 2009

Ok so here is the update… some of this will not be news to my family because I just spoke with you yesterday for Mothers Day. Which was awesome!! It was weird though because it didn’t even seem like it had been very long since I talked to you. Anyway maybe Christmas will be a longer stretch… So here is what I have been up to:

Tuesday:
We met with our Ward Mission Leader and he is really great. He has lots of spread sheets and information for us. He holds weekly meetings and they are serious well they actually just meet the normal protocol but this is the first time I have seen the plan followed  Each week someone from the RS presidency and Elder Quorum is there. Which is really helpful. Anyway he has every member of the ward taking a 3 Sunday missionary training class. And I mean every ward member he has the Stake helping cover classes so everyone will be able to attend. Pretty cool. So we have a lot of people in the teaching pool here which is awesome. I think we will be busy, I love busy

Wednesday:
We had Zone Meeting today seems like we have a great Zone everyone is super friendly and nice which is different then my last Zone. We have so much to do here but it is very frustrating because we don’t know anyone or know where anyone lives. Luckily I have Trent’s GPS which has been saving my life. But even with it things are challenging we are trying to get maps and figure out where everyone lives so we can use time and miles more effectively. Although there is a lot to do it is very frustrating and slow to get starting because we just don’t know where to start and how to get a hold of people

Thursday:
Well my new area is very interesting…. There are a lot of trailers and it is pretty scary. There are some nice homes but most of the neighborhoods are trailer parks. The Elders left a big note explaining where we should not go after dark. It is about half our area anyway we were tracting today and met this guy it was so interesting he believes almost everything we do preexistence, modern day prophet, heirs with Christ. All of that but he belongs to another church. It was complete news to me that anyone believed that… other then our church. But they have a sketchy story as far as how the authority was given to them. Anyway he came to the church, we do church tours as a tracting approach and teach the first lesson, so anyway he had this map of the biblical history of the world that stretched across the whole gym floor. It was really intense!!! He showed it to us and then told me how Ham descendant of Noah, was the one to construct the first pyramid and that it is actually a altar to God. Then he explained that before scripture prophets used to read the stars and that the Sphinx is Virgo, which represents Christ birth thru Mary and the Lion tail is Leo, which represents second coming. Now all of this new information was really interesting to me who would have thought??? Not me so needless to say he is not getting baptized but I did think the whole thing was pretty entertaining

Friday:
Well we have met a few investigators now… Brandon is 17 and is on date for baptism May 16th. We met him briefly Wednesday at the church and he had a huge hickey on his neck. As we prepared for our first lesson with him we read his teaching record turns out the Elders generously left the Law of Chastity and Word of wisdom for us to teach. I know it was really nice of them. So my companion is really worried about this because she doesn’t like to teach the Law of Chastity it is pretty awkward. So we decide to read from the youth pamphlet and I tell her I will talk about the awkward parts…. Anyway in the lesson we are all reading along and it comes to her turn I hadn’t looked ahead but the next paragraph had all of the details of the dos and don’ts needless to say she turned a little red. But she pushed thru. I felt so bad but it was kind of funny later. Turned out he was good in both of these and has committed to live these laws including abstaining from passionate kissing from now on!! He is really a great guy!


Saturday:
So today we decided because it was bright and sunny it would be safe to venture into the trailer parks what an adventure. Although one might think people who are a little less fortunate might be compelled to be humble and in turn would be more receptive you would be wrong. We ventured out with bright hopes but they were quickly dispelled. Almost everyone has a huge dog and a KEEP OUT sign. Somehow they thought we would read the sign and realize they meant us. We ventured past the fence at one house where we saw only a little dog and a woman out front. As soon as we entered 3 huge dogs came bounding around the corner and jumped on us. The largest a german shepard kept trying to bight me but don’t worry the Lord protected me the most interesting thing was this lady made no attempt to stop the attack. I was the only victim as my companion abandon me at the first sight of danger. Needless to say she also did not decide to be baptized. We also on the way back to the car came across a dead squirrel it had been dead for quite sometime and was in the later stages of decay. The strange thing was someone had spray painted it blue. Maybe it was some form of art…. My favorite thing about the people we came across was this, at the end of every door approach once they reject us we ask if we can do anything for them meaning service, but they always ask us to pray for people or for things like their bad knee. This is really funny to me… you don’t want to hear a message about Jesus Christ but you want us to pray for you????

Saturday:
I am feeling pretty exhausted. We are tracting a ton and trying to find people that we are suppose to be teaching. We got really lost because there was a new development not on our GPS or the map. On the map it was a huge forest but that was not true. It was pretty frustrating then after we found the people we had an appointment with they were not even home One cool thing did happen we went to a members house to call them on a mission we didn’t even get to there lesson. A friend of theirs Rusty was there fixing the computer. He seemed to be listening to what we were talking about and I felt prompted to engage him more in the conversation. Turned out he had lots of questions we ended up teaching the first lesson and he said he would come to church. It was so neat!!! He is a really smart guy and I am excited to teach him.

Sunday:
Rusty came to church and so did another investigator Dave Turley. Dave has been to church about 3 times and the first time he came he had already purchased a scripture quad. We are teaching him on Tuesday!! It is a little complicated because he lives outside of our mission. We are on the furthest edge south so it can be complicated sometimes. We are in the process of getting Stake approval because the fellowship is in our ward. Anyway we gave Rusty a manual for Gospel Principles he had read the lesson for Sunday as well as 3 other chapters he is really on fire and we are so excited to teach him more. It is nice to see the work finally starting to progress. There is always downs as well, Brandon didn’t come to church when we talked to him later he said he was not ready to be baptized but still wants to meet. It is kind of the dance of the mission two steps forward two steps back. But the work does move forward. I love love being a missionary and am excited for this new area.

Love always,
Sister Graf

Transfered
To Puywalup

Latest from Lindsay

Here is the update:> >
What a crazy week. Well first of all I am sorry I did not send any letters last week. Prep day was crazy because we went to the temple and then the rest of the week I would try to write during break and at night but it was very unsuccessful... anyway so all of the sudden it was Sunday and now I will just have to send you the news for two weeks at once! So let me see what happened this last week:> >
Tuesday:> We went to the temple it was amazing I just love going to the temple and wish I could go more often. It is hard because even though we have one mission rules are such that we can only go once a quarter. It reminded me of a few talks during conference basically if you have one near by go. Not only are you doing work for others but there is so much peace there. I had such a neat experience the spirit was so strong and in the celestial room I was able to pray for each of our investigators and I was given such direct answers as to how we could help them and to prepare myself for teaching them as individuals. I also prayed to see how to improve the work. What an amazing experience. The day was beautiful and sunny and we took lots of pictures on the grounds it was wonderful.
Wednesday:> Today was good we are busy trying to find new investigators and working with the few we have. We met with Sarah she is so wonderful and has such enthusiasm for the gospel. Her mom is also wonderful and I am so glad she is coming back to church. We met with Lee his wife is very active and he has been to church a lot. We spoke with him and had an awesome lesson following the Spirit as directed in the temple :) This was amazing, he is such a great guy and he committed to Baptism May 9th. We are so happy it was amazing you could just see it in his eyes that he was feeling the spirit. I love being a missionary there is nothing in the world like the feeling you get from seeing people change there lives and find that happiness. Thursday:> We had District Meeting it was fun we made goals. Sister Bush and I made a goal of 4 baptisms for May so pray for us. We have to on date and we want to find a family really bad so your prayers will help a lot. We also did this fun exercise where we did the first lesson popcorn style so at any second someone else would take over teaching. It was fun and hard to do but I think that is the point. We met with a member Brother Neubold he gave us about 4 referrals which is amazing. There is this family Brady and John how we met them is cool. We were trying to find Brother Neubold’s house last week and they answered the door they are renting the place! It was amazing they were so nice invited us in and were very open they have seen the example of the Neubold family and invited us to come back :) this was awesome. Our family we have been praying for. They have two little kids and one on the way. Both Sister Bush and I felt something we really feel they will be open to the message. Friday: > We made the most delicious coconut cupcakes on break today. I am really impressed I don’t really bake but these are insanely good we have been passing them out and people love them I should open a bakery :) just kidding but they are good. Anyway everything is great with our other investigators to help Lee quit chewing we covered his front door with inspiring post it notes!! And gum! He is great and I know he can do it we are praying so hard and just hope that he is too!
Saturday:> This was a busy day we had a lot of things going on with the ward they asked us to help out with which was fun it is good to become closer with them. We found out that Brandy and John our awesome family they are still great but Brandy is having complications with the baby and we can’t meet again until after May 22 when the baby is born that is like ten years for missionaries :( we are sad but still hopeful. We will be praying and asking members to get involved to keep up the relationship. Just another loop on that roller coaster of a mission. We went to visit some elderly widows in the ward our Bishop asked us to visit. It was so amazing they are so sweet and wonderful to talk to and learn from their life experience. Also they lit up when we were there and I know they appreciated the visit.
Sunday:> Great Day!!! Church was awesome I really need that time to be spiritually fed you give so much out during the week it is amazing to be able to recharge. Sarah and her mom were late to church I almost had a heart attack again it is so hard on me you invest so much in them. Anyway Lee was not at church we talked to his wife and it was heartbreaking he has started chewing again and she expressed how hard it is for her to even get her hopes up she said she doesn’t believe anymore we are really praying and trying to figure out how to help Lee have more faith... any ideas??? Sunday our ward mission leader was released we are so sad we loved Brother White so much and he was awesome. Oh well that is how it goes I guess. Our new one will be great. Justin was baptized the service was so beautiful and you could just see the change in his countenance. The spirit was so strong and I was so happy to be a part of it. In D&C 18:50 it talks about bringing one soul and how much joy it brings. That is so true!!! What a great day. I can’t describe how happy it makes me inspite of all the difficulty getting there.
Monday:> Today was great went for a long run around the lake and it was beautiful and felt great. Write more next week....

Pics with the companions

Sister Bush my new comp and I had a member give us presents from the ward that she forgot about from Christmas. We had the tree up with Easter eggs so we had an impromptu Christmas on Wednesday night.
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Lindsay and Sister Lauchner cleaning the car!

The news

Ok so this week has been pretty crazy! So get excited for the update...

Monday: So we didn’t end up hiking because the place we wanted to go is out of our area. Those mission rules get you every time!! Anyway we did go for a nice walk around Lake Wilderness it was very beautiful, we loved it!! Then we went to dinner and then exchanges. I think I mentioned before my companion is the training sister so I do these about once a week.... anyway I went to Renton with Sister Jones she is from Bountiful UT and is very nice. She has a degree in Physics which is pretty cool. We visited some families tonight and asked them to invite someone to have us teach. Like L. Tom Perry talked about in Conference the best finders are you guys... so I hope you all are doing your part to help the work along. Anyway good day

Tuesday: We went tracting, not fun.... this is my least favorite thing to do but I do it anyway!! The weather was really beautiful so that was a plus!! We taught this great guy later that night, James, he is about 19 and having a really hard time the lesson went great and he is on date for baptism. My favorite part was his prayer he was so sweet and simple. It was amazing how much faith you could feel in his words. Then the surprise call came.... unexpected Transfer so weird my trainer Sister Laucher was transfered and Sister Bush came here. This was a little crazy for me I feel like I was just getting comfortable with her and so it was hard to have this happen.

Wednesday: Sister Lauchner and I went to zone conference which was fun and I saw my good friend Elder Hughes from the MTC. He is so cool we had so much fun. President Moffat talked a lot about how we need to focus on having the members find our referrals for us; these referrals are priceless. So we now can only teach members and go to their homes if we extend a commitment to them. It is pretty cool. Anyway I am excited to try it out. So after Zone Conference my new companion came to the house her name is Sister Bush she is so great very focused on the work. This is her first time training. We are doing great together, we laugh a lot, and work a lot... it is pretty great. She is from California and is tiny. Super cute and fun!

Thursday: First day with Sister Bush, it is so funny because neither of us knows where anything is or really who anyone is, we had some great lessons. We did service today which was fun until we lost our cell phone... well Sister Bush lost it anyway. We looked for hours to no avail. The zone leaders had to get us a new one but we were uncontactable for about a day and a half :) we don’t need no cell phone!!! Dan Jones didn’t have one or Samuel Smith or the apostle Paul... so we are good :) In our lessons I especially loved meeting with Sister Baise she is so wonderful. She is the foster parent for 7 kids and just has so much love. She is having a hard time and we were able to share an inspiring Easter message got to love Easter!! She is amazing I really admire her!! Anyway we are working really hard to get 2 baptisms this month to reach our mission and companion goal. We have Sara and will put her on date this weekend. YEAH!!! And Justin is back on date. It is so amazing how the Lord works miracles!!!

Friday: This was a long day and I was so tired.... basically I have to take a nap everyday now. I feel like a senior citizen but it is true!! I haven’t taken one all week because of the crazy changes and stuff and I am feeling it (sorry I always change tenses it confuses me to write these update) Anyway we had a fun day taught these cute kids about Easter. Also taught some interesting people!!! Oh well it is all the Lord’s work :)

Saturday: Hard, we tried so hard all day to find anyone to talked to... all of our appointments canceled and we couldn’t find a soul home. We went to visit a former investigator she was really unfriendly to say the least. We couldn’t even find a member to talk to.... but then when we got back to the apartment and after all that it was awesome; we had calls from two investigators saying they would be at church. It was an awesome miracle, we were jumping around and dancing it was great!! Yeah the Lord is aware of us!!! Anyway Myfa our new investigator has come to church 2x and she has been reading the book of Mormon everyday; doesn’t get much better than that!!

Sunday: Went to two sacraments with investigators at both. Loved it, good Easter musical message. Then had dinner at a families home which was fun.... ok funny story my first week here these Elders told me everyday they pray for food very specifically it is really funny. Basically they ask for what they want and lo and behold the Lord provides it; I am serious. They said it works daily which is funny because we are only suppose to eat at members home's Sunday & Monday :) So last Monday I told Sister Lauchner I prayed that we'd have funeral potatoes on Easter.... and guess what we did! I guess this really works!! Oh we got faith, yes we do!! It was a busy day... talked to a lot of investigators it was very good!!!

Monday:So far went running this morning, then studied, and then here to the library. Oh one thing Jillian is having a girl, so I guess I really am psychic. I should get paid for this... right?!!
Love you All,
Sister Graf

The update...

Here is my update:
Oh I wanted to tell everyone that you can write me at dearelder.com they mail it and everything :) I am not sure how but you just pay the postage on there so it is just like sending an email! Then I get it in the mail... pretty cool!
The News:
I have decided to type this up from now on to avoid hand cramping sorry I know it is not very personal :( but I still love you all. This will also make it easier for my sister to post it on my BLOG!! Yeah! Anyway here is the news....
Monday:
For the rest of preparation day we got our haircut and went to Red Robin for lunch this ended up being a problem because we had a dinner appointment with the Gusten Family shortly afterward and I was so full it was crazy.... then we went to FHE with a member family and that is right they had a huge dessert for us too. I felt so sick and was ready to throw up! Then we stopped by the Bishops as we were leaving he said “Oh no we forgot to give you ice cream!!!” I was like THANK GOODNESS you forgot!!” We all laughed as I explained how full I was. So no more eating out on Mondays! It is a bad idea!!
Tuesday:
We had another new missionary meeting. These are pretty good but kind of boring we just sit all day and have training and the sitting all day part is what I don’t like. It was nice to see the Elders I knew in the MTC though. Hmmm what else we taught a less active... that was good and then Tuesday was over :(
Wednesday:
We had district meeting also not very fun... sorry is that bad it was April Fools Day!! Which is funny because the Zone Leaders told us that the Mission President decided we could not attend any of the conference sessions so we could tract and find more people. We really fell for it and everyone was really upset. Then they said April Fools!! It was so great... Oh yeah Happy Birthday Aunt Donna!!! Lets see then we had a few appointments and then I went to Federal Way to spend the night (my companion is the training Sister so once a week we exchange and this is kind of cool because now I will know all the other sisters)
Thursday:
So anyway I went with Sister Uria she is from Mongolia; pretty cool! She was really nice, a little hard to understand but considering she has only been speaking English for 6 months that is pretty good. We did a Zone Blitz in the morning so two hours of tracting. YEAH!! It was fun and this scary black guy yelled/swore at us pretty intense but I liked it. I feel like the real deal now!! It was more successful than Maple Valley, so that was good. We talked to one lady for a while and she agreed to have the Sisters come back; very good. She had a lot of tough questions ie: You believe Satan is Jesus’ brother... how do you explain that on the door step??? But it was cool and I need to study more!!! Then we exchanged back and taught some more lessons!!
Friday:
We did some normal missionary stuff, teaching, etc., and then we had a potluck with the ward this is a monthly thing that gives the members and opportunity to invite people to meet us. Two of our investigators came which was cool!! It went well and I hope we can have more come next time!
Saturday:
We had the most beautiful sunny weather all day today; I love it!!! Conference!!! So good my Uncle Wes was right it is the best to watch as a missionary!! We had to watch at the church so it wasn’t very comfortable or popular. Besides missionaries there were only about 6 members from the whole Stake there!! I loved all of the talks and we had an investigator come which was awesome!!! In between sessions we went to visit some people and we got a new investigator! I am so excited to teach her this week!! After the afternoon session we went to teach one of our investigators his sister was there and we were able to teach her too. It was so cool we taught the 2nd lesson the Plan of Salvation although impromptu it went really well!! Yeah this was the first time I have taught a formal lesson from Preach My Gospel. Up to this point we mostly just teach to needs!!
Sunday:
It was sunny again and even warmer :) We watched conference, oh man I loved it so much!!! I saw so many talks that helped with people we were teaching and I can not wait until it comes out in the ensign. I could not write my notes fast enough to catch all I wanted to. I love Elder Holland he is my favorite speaker and it was such an amazing experience!! We had awesome lessons today as well.
Monday:
Guess what it is sunny again today and we are going hiking :) it is so lucky that there is good weather on prep day!! Yeah I love being here and I hope you are all doing well. Thanks for your prayers and support they are felt!!!Love, ME

Letter 2

March 25th
Day 1
Well it's very cold and wet here. When we got off the plane the Mission President and his wife were there to greet us with the APS. I rode with the Pres. and his wife. After a long day of training I met my companion Sister Lauchner. She is really fun and out going. We set off and have been working ever since.
DAY 2
We had zone conference and tracted today... hard work!
Day 3
We taught a less active family and it was awesome! I am loving the people here. I love teaching! I think I am learning so much. I love to study but it really helps the learning process when I am able to teach.
Day 4
Today was also awesome! I got the cutest scarf from my sister Annica... I wear it all the time! I love getting mail. We taught this awesome family today. My heart is continually growing and learning to see people from Christ's perspective. I love the people so much... I didn't even know it was possible!
Day 5
Today was my best day yet! As a companionship we are trying to find new investigators. So pray for us. Then we had all these miracles. Saturday before we even left the house this family called and told us they had invited this lady to church and afterwards we could come and teach her; amazing! Then we found another woman interested and full of questions. She even invited us back to teach her whole family. Then we went to a baptism and another lady had brought a friend who was wanting lessons. It was pretty much the best day. After talking with that young woman I was totally blown away! :) I even asked Sister Lauchner if she'd paid the girl to be a golden investigator??? ;) It was a good day!
Day 6
Today was good. I love church and taking the Sacrament. An investigator came to church and had questions and might take the discussions. It was really good and I am excited. It was a hard day though because an investigator cancelled his baptism date... he just didn't feel ready yet. It was sad but we just have to be prayerful. Well, that is the update. I love being here... I just can't believe how much I love it! The church is true!!!