Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sept 26 2011 addendum

Also could you email me both grandparents home address and a copy of everyone birth day as well? Thanks.
I just looked up and read your profile on mormon.org. Sounds good. Where's dad's?

Also I wanted to share, last weekend it was really funny sister shutt and I were tracting in a park and there was a baby squirrel walking across the path. It started walking towards us and I told her to see how close it would get to her. It walked up to her shoe and then before either of us knew it startled climbing up her leg. This freaked us both out and she started yelling and shaking her leg to try and get it off. It wouldn't let go. After my initial shock of the situation I started laughing so hard. She looked like a crazy women. It made me think if grandpa's funny song about the Mississippi squirrel. Any way, fun times.

Sept 26,2011

Hey Momma dear (and all the family and friends who read this)

We were able to watch the broadest Saturday, it was so amazing. I especially enjoyed Elder Uchtdorfs talk. I felt like it was really directed to me. Earlier in the week the work was kind of slow. Sister Shutt and i did some comp inventory and made some new goals to help us become better missionaries. There's always room for improvement, but I'm exciting about the goals we made. That's so exciting with Claire, running that race. When I come home I hope to do the same. She's coaching? I had no idea. Is she playing as well? Who are the two coaches? I do get some letters but didn't receive any this week. (HINT HINT!!) I go running every morning and then make sure to do my push ups, sit ups and stretch. I find that really helps me wake up and get ready to study. My comp is so good so come with me. She is not a morning person, and there were two mornings this last week where she didn't want to run but came out and sat in the car and watched me run.
That's so good that you’re building a relationship of Trust (BRT) with your friends. That’s really where it starts. Next time you see them and if the time is right you should bring up General Conference. We have plans to be at different people's house's to watch GC. We've become really good friends with a less active, part member (LA/PM family) and they want us to come to their house to watch GC and to have dinner. No complains there. I'm pretty excited.

This week was an awesome week for us. We had so many miracles and tender mercies. We have this lady in our congregation who works at Panera bread after each shift the bread that isn't sold that day is picked up by some denomination and is distributed. Well on those days when it isn't picked up she calls us and packs our car full of Panera Bread. This is only the second time it happened, but it’s so much bread. Our entire back seat and part of our trunk was full of boxes and bags of fresh bread. The nice thing is we don't have to worry about buying bread (or starving), but I’m kind of sick of bread now. It’s just too much. Anyways we went over to a Less active (LA) house thinking we could give her some bread and as we were about to knock on her door I see one of her neighbors outside. We walk over to him and find out he doesn't live there, he just works on the yard. We had a really good discussion about God and Jesus Christ. During our discussion two lady's walked out of the front door as they were getting unto their car I called out to them and asked they would like some fresh Panera Bread. They said yes and they along with the man came over to our car and we were able to unload some bread. The cool thing was in the back of our trunk is where we carry our proselyting pamphlets and extra copies our the BOM. One of the ladies saw our copies of the BOM and asked if they could have one. We ended up giving both the women a copy of the BOM and the Plan of Salvation pamphlets. It was such a good day. I know that the Lord blessed us to be in that place at that time so we could talk to those two ladies. I don't know what will happen next, but at least they are on the road to finding out the truth.
Then this week we followed up on a referral of a man who has met with the missionaries. He's of the Baha (sp?) faith. Good discussion but I don't think he was interested in changing. In fact as we left I wouldn't be surprised if he thought he was helping us find God. Whatever. Sometimes people aren't ready fort the gospel. And then yesterday we had three investigators at church. Which is awesome! And we had an appointment to go and meet with two of them but they had to leave to go somewhere. We didn't know they had left until we received a call from their aunt who let us know. We have a tentative app. for this Friday so that's something to look forward to. After the cancelation we were sitting in our car in a parking lot trying to decide what to do next when I look over and see a young lady sitting on the curb side. She looked like she needed a friend so I mentioned to sister shutt that we should go and talk to her. She was such a sweet lady. She's a young working mom with three young kids. We sat down and started asking her about herself and BRT with her. We gave her a BOM and I talked about Jesus Christ and the church a little bit. She works at a nearby fast food drive in so we told her we'd have to come buy and purchase lunch from her. This week was just so great!

Love you mom. You are amazing!

Sister Salmon

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sept 19, 2011

So my address is 2605 Berniece Champaign, Illinois and i can't remember the area code. So you'll have to find that. Only use this if you need to get something to me really quick. The best way to get things to me is through the mission home address. Mainly because when I get transferred, if you send it to my old address i have to wait and risk having my mail lost by the new sisters.

But it sounds like you had a very fun week playing games, clearing out land minus being stung. That's no fun. You finished nelsons song, you'll have to forward the lyrics and tune to me. I would love to see them. All my memories of Aunt Nancy are of her playing Tennis, being outside and being active. She's a fighter in my eyes and can beat this no problem.

Fall has come to Illinois as well. It has gotten cooler, still pretty humid though. I appreciate that we have a car now. It would be really hard to go out tracting in the wind and the rain. We still only have one progressing investigator, but we do have a few member referrals so we're pretty excited about that. Friday we spent much of the day outside tracting because we didn't have any teaching appointments. That was a very long day. But we made.

I'm glad James and Claire are doing so well. I sent them a letter earlier today in the mail so they'll get it in a few days. That's so sad about James's one roommate. What was he thinking, that is so stupid. And it hasn't even been a week.
Love you mom. Sorry this week's letter is so short.

Love Sister Salmon

Friday, September 16, 2011

Sept 13th, 2011

Now this week’s letter:
We are allotted an hour each week to spend on the computer to respond to emails. Everything is great here in Champaign, Illinois. We live in the basement of an elderly couple in the ward, Brother and Sister McKonkie. They're so good to us and are always making sure we're doing ok. There are only two of us living there, Sister Shutt and myself. Its kind of nice how its set up; we get full range of the downstairs, and then on P-days they let us use their washer and dryer. We don't do a lot of cooking in our little home. We have a hot plate, microwave, a sink and two small fridges. The nice thing is we really only prepare breakfast and lunch. The ward is really good about feeding us. I think we've eaten out at member’s home close to every night since we've been here. I have not purchased a bike yet. They take really good of the sisters in this area, so practically every area is a walking mission. Although Sister Shutt and I are thinking we're going to plan a few days each week where we don't use are car, giving us the opportunity to walk more. We had a car fast last Saturday. Our ZL's asked us last district meeting to not use our cars on Saturday. We're only allotted so many miles each month and when we go over that amount we try and cut back the following month. That was a long day, especially because we don't know the area very well. Half the time I felt like we were walking in circles. We were pretty exhausted at the end of the day.

Our mission president has asked us to mainly focus on the less actives and the recent converts in the area so we haven't gone out and performed any proselyting work. I'm surprised at how long the LA/RC list is. There are a lot of people who don't come to church. The people here are mostly very friendly. If they're not interested they'll let you come in and will talk with you, but then nicely tell us they're no longer interested. We don't let this bother us, and ask still ask them if it’s ok if we stop by again just to say hi and see how there doing, most of the time they're fine with that.

Being here and living in this area has turned into a real humbling experience. I've been so blessed to grow up in an area where I was surrounded by many family members and friends. Not to mention growing up in an area where the church is very strong. There is a lot of hardship here. Kids grow up way too fast and many times with out both sets of parents. The family unit is truly under attack, and it just breaks my heart.
This morning sister shutt and I volunteered at a local soup kitchen (something we plan on doing each Tuesday) and, as I was serving and passing out food all I could think was that these people are children of God. And they don't even know it. I wanted to help them somehow. I wanted to do more than just serve up spaghetti. What made it an even more humbling experience was when two 4-6 year old kids came through the line with the parent(s). After seeing that I don't think I'll ever complain again.

Currently we have one progressing investigator. His name is Demian and he was working with the two previous sisters. We've met with him three times in the last week. He reads the BOM and has been praying to know if it’s true but he has a problem with Joseph Smith. He doesn't understand/believe that God the Father would show himself to Joseph. Demain knows the Bible better than I do. Demain’s smart, he loves learning and he loves asking really deep questions. I'm always taken back at how deep and heart felt these questions are. But I think that's one of his problems. He asks too much, and doesn't let his feelings mainly the spirit guide him. When we met last we talked more about the Holy Ghost and having Faith. We challenged him to read Alma 34 and next time we meet I think we'll ask him to read Alma 32.

I love being out here and being around these amazing people. I have already felt my testimony grow these last couple of days. Thank you for your prayers and your love. I don't think I could do this with out you all. Please continue to pray that the Lord will humble his people and that they will be more receptive to the spirit.

This church is true! It is the only way back to our Father in Heaven. I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He atoned for the sins of the world. I am thankful for the atonement and the opportunity to have second chances. The Lord is very much aware of us.

Love sister Salmon

Sept 5th, 2011

Here’s last weeks email. I went through my sent mail and found it. I don't why it didn't send in the first place.
Hey mom
So tomorrow I'll be traveling to the mission home. And I'll get to call home for like 10-15minutes sometime tomorrow morning so stay close to the phone.
Yes I would love it if you could activate my credit card. My checks are in the plastic container under Rosie’s bed. It looks like a filing container full of colorful files. There should be a box with some checks in there. I have a check book, and if you need me to send them to you let me know.
I received your granola yesterday and all the packages. Thank you so much for them. I've already worn the white jacket and I wore the dress yesterday.. You should ask Spencer about what happened when I saw them at the temple. It’s a good story. Let them know that I didn't get in any trouble. But the security guard did give me some grief when I tried coming back on campus. I went and told my Branch President what had happened, he just laughed and told my not to worry. I must say y though. I was very upset about the situation. The brother was very rude and I think he could have handled it better.
This last Tuesday for our devotional Elder Holland came and spoke to us. It was such an amazing experience. I loved every moment of it. The spirit was so strong. He speaks with such power and authority. There is no way I could have denied what he was talking about because the spirit was so strong.
He talked about how we need to always set the example. He told us to look down and our names tags and look at the names there; the first being our own, Salmon. I am a representative of my family and I have no right to defile or embarrass my family; the second being Jesus Christ. Again he compelled us, almost reprimanded us to always set the perfect example. As missionaries everyone knows who we are. Everyone looks up to us for a good example. And in their eyes we are perfect. He told us that although we are not perfect we should live our lives so that everyone around us thinks we are perfect. Then he spoke about some other things, and then closed with answering a question. Why does God Love us? because we are his children. He is a perfect being. He loves us perfectly and would do anything and everything to help us and to come our aid. He spoke of the scripture in Mark when Jesus is suffering. When Jesus called upon the father he said, “Abba,” Father. "Daddy" is the closest translation to Abba. That really touched me. God is our loving Father and we truly are his children.

P.S Mom, my arm is good. I've stopped wearing the brace. Actually during that second week at the MTC I took turns wearing it and not wearing it. I even went to the athletic trainer’s room in the gym and put heat and ice on it a couple of times. I almost have full range of motion. It only hurts in some select positions. I think there might have been some cartilage damaged so that is why it’s taking a little longer to heal. I have played volleyball on it so it's not that bad. When I remember I try to exercise it and increase my ROM.
Love you family

Sister Salmon

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Tuesday August 30, 2011

Hey mom
I'm excited for this new phase in your life. You have all this free time. What are you going to do?
You can invite any of the paxmen and rancks (jessica Williams and Autumn) to see my blog, and erica tonks and erin sturm. I received an invite from the blog but don't have time at the moment to follow through on the invite. As far as emailing, just immediate family is what I’ve been told. That would be best, that way I can have to read and respond to everyone. I got an email from grandpa. He seems to think that's he's doing pretty good. He's always been a superman in my mind. Always seems untouchable. I put his name on the prayer role and pray for both him and grandpa every night
And then for putting money into my account, dad would know better than I. But I think you just add it onto your tithing slip. Like I said, I'd ask dad to make sure.
So Dad's losing weight eh? He's probably not going about it the best way but good for him. I think I might slip in an apple or something into his bag each night so that he at least has something during the day to eat.
Thanks for cleaning up after me. I'll be honest; I don't know what all I left. Ever since kjarsta packed up my stuff I haven't been able to find any of my things. I look forward to your package. Mail always makes the day better.
Everything I left for claire and james is in the royal crest storage room. I told claire where everything is, and left both james and claire instructions as to what belongs to them.
I know that this will be a good experience for james. He'll grow a lot, and become more dependant and more loving. You don't really appreciate things or people until after you don't have them. That was the same for me.
I love being here. The lessons are so great. You can really feel the spirit. It was a little difficult at first. We do a lot of role playing with each other and with our teachers. Pretending that we're investigators and trying to teach them lessons. I 'm a lot better teacher because of this though. But I am looking forward to next week when I get to start teaching real people with real problems.
This last week I gave a talk in church. Sacrament isn't the same is sacrament at home. They don't assign speakers; rather they call upon them from the congregation. So each Saturday we get extra time to prepare talks. I focused on relying upon the spirit and how the Lord will help you to know what to say if you do not fear. The scripture I used was 1 Nephi 4:6 when Nephi is getting the plates. I've read that scripture so many times but had never really given it much thought.
Well I’m out of time. Actually I've gone over the time. Give everyone my love. Tell I dad I love him.

Sister Salmon