greetings from your favourite
friendly snow angel!!
i feel like a penguin today sliding on
all the ice haha it's pretty fun :)
WELL what a week. i got two letters
from you this week i think! i'm glad to hear the boys are tearing it up in
wrestling, way to go :) and you asked what we do on p-day... well we wake up at
the same time and do exercise until 7:30, then breakfast/shower/etc until 8:30,
then personal study till 9:30, companion study till 10:30, cleaning (we clean
the bathroom & our bedroom every week, and we vacuum the car every week)
till about 11:30, then we eat lunch and then drive over to the library to
email, then around 2pm we head to Walmart to do our grocery shopping, we get a
car wash and gas, then we go home and write letters or whatever, eat dinner,
then at 6pm we're back in missionary mode :) so not too exciting but very nice
:)
so the B’s took their Christmas
stuff down yesterday and there are only a few houses left now with Christmas
lights up... too funny. i really do love it though haha.
[also side-note: can you edit out
the names when you post letters online? i want you all to know the names but
we're not supposed to post them, especially last names, on the internet. and no
personal details or identifying anything blablablah. you can just use initials
maybe? whatever you think is best. thanks] :) :)
BROTHER R. so golden. we've had
pretty good daily contact with him, either texting, having a lesson, stopping
by to see him, or having a member friend call and check up on him. :) he just
loves the gospel and it all makes sense to him, "i always knew I lived
with God before I was born" and all that :) :) and he was in radio for
like 47 years so he has a talk radio voice which makes EVERYTHING awesome
hahah. we've had such great support from the members and it's really been
amazing for us, for them, and for br r :) he's on track to be baptized in less
than two weeks! and he just can't wait! one of the things i love about teaching
& testifying of the gospel truths is that it strengthens MY testimony so
much and I learn every time. early in the week we went over to teach about the
Restoration, and we were sitting at a round table in the dining area of his
apartment complexy place. so i was sitting kind of next to him and testifying
about the First Vision and how I KNOW God loves His children and i KNOW that He
answers prayers. and he just is looking me in the eye and nodding and says
"i know," and it's really cool. then a couple days later we're having
a lesson at the M's (WMLs) home about the Plan of Salvation, but first Br R
asked if he could say a few things... his lessons are so funny because we don't
even have to ask him how reading is going or follow up on commitments, he does
it before we can even ask haha. also he LOVES the Book of Mormon and he thinks
Laman & Lemuel are "whiney complainers" haha. and he really
relates to Nephi being asked to do hard things because God asked him to and all
that. but anyways, sister casdorph had asked him to journal about some of the
spiritual experiences he was having so he'd brought his journal and asked if he
could read some of it to us. and towards the end he was talking about our last
lesson and he looks at me and goes "this is for you Sister Proffit"
and talks about how when we were talking that night, he could see in my eyes
that I knew what we were talking about was true. and it had a huge effect on
him i guess. i dunno, that feels weird to talk about and it's hard to explain
but it was really cool that he could SEE my testimony and my faith, and it
helped him? i don't know. it's hard to explain haha. but anyways it just made
me grateful to know and to KNOW that i know, and for him to be able to see that
:) that probably doesn't make sense haha oh well. it was just cool :) and
talking about the Plan of Salvation is my favourite because you can really feel
the truth of it and know how much God loves us and how much He trusts us and
wants to help us make the right choices and repent every day and become better.
What infinite potential He sees in each of us!!! what love He has always had
for us and continues to feel for each of us. what a great plan!! what a
wonderful Gospel :) :)
speaking of preach my gospel!!!!!
(kind of...) okay i think i have a complex/disease where i just have to plan
things for people. but you obviously don't have to do this and i'm not the boss
of you and it's your thing. but i was thinking, new missionaries have a 12 week
program we work out of where we read pretty much all of preach my gospel and
learn great stuff and practice the 8 fundamentals, and it occurred to me that
12 weeks would translate really well into 12 months if anyone wanted to get a
great study of PMG in the new year. so obviously you do not have to do this,
but i made up a schedule based on the 12 week program if you want it. because i
have a disease that compels me to do things like this haha. SO it goes like
this. but just take it for what it is :)
each month - pick a Christlike
attribute from ch. 6 to work on
jan - ch 2, missionary handbook
feb - "The Restoration"
(ch 3 lesson 1), "How to Begin Teaching" (ch 10 p176-177) - seriously
learn those HBT points and use them!! in talks, whatever. learn em :) so good
mar - ch 9, ch 7, "teach people
not lessons" (ch 10)
apr - "The Plan of
Salvation" (ch 3 lesson 2), ch 13
may - ch 8
jun - "The Gospel of Jesus
Christ" (ch 3 lesson 3), "revelation through prayer"
jul - ch 5, "revelation through
the Book of Mormon"
aug - "The Commandments"
(ch 3 lesson 4), ch 11
sep - ch 12, "we invite they
commit we follow up"
oct - "laws and
ordinances" (ch 3 lesson 5), "role of the Holy Ghost" (ch 4),
"revelation through church"
nov - ch 10
dec - ch 1, "the doctrine of
Christ - the missionary purpose"
:) so feel free to use that if you like and obviously adapt it to meet needs because that's what we do too :)
:) so feel free to use that if you like and obviously adapt it to meet needs because that's what we do too :)
also the CES devotional last night
was so so good!!!!!!! and SO on point. it's like President Uchtdorf is an
apostle or something ;) we watched it with A at her house, which was great.
actually it was SO great because saturday night we went over to teach prayer
& family prayer, and we read from Moroni 10:4.
speaking of moroni 10 - study verses
3-5. why is verse 3 there? what's important about what Moroni is asking us in
that verse? how does that set up for verse 4? how can we help others to do
that? what is the difference between "read" and "receive"?
what can we learn from those verses? SO so good.
so anyways we were focusing on verse
4 that night and on the three key things that make our prayers effective
(spoiler alert, you should look up that verse now so i don't ruin it for you ;)
) sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ. so we talked about what all
of those mean. what do you think they mean? something that i've learned about
"real intent" from PMG is that real intent means REALly INTENding to
act on the answers we receive! so true. so we asked her which two she felt she
was strongest in (sincerity and faith) and which one she could work on (real
intent.) and then we invited her to pray to pray with more real intent, which
made her laugh haha but she said she would :) and we invited the whole family
to have nightly family prayer (3 ne 18:19-21)
which of the 3 do you feel you're
strongest in? which one could you improve? i know that those 3 things are the
key to having effective prayer :) also there's a section on prayer in PMG ch 4,
and also ch 3 lesson 4, that is really good :) i like the scale it gives to
evaluate your prayers, and how "do not recognize answers" and
"confident that God answers prayers" are opposites :)
Br J (a's boyfriend) has been
pulling away recently, which is dumb. he says he knows the Book of Mormon is
good, but if it's basically the same stuff as the Bible, the same gospel and
all that, he's just going to stick with the Bible. "some people play
keyboard, some drum, some both, but it's all the same music. i think i'm just
going to stick with the keyboard for now." arrrrrghhhhh hahaha. not sure
how to really respond to that. he's very COMFORTABLE with where he's at, which
makes things hard. he has no desire to change, not even to ask God for
anything. he's good with where he's at. which is prideful. everything bad comes
back to pride haha. but anyways. we're working on that. he still lets us come
over, he just doesn't participate as much any more. :( sad face.
oh also we got to meet a woman named
K! I think i told you about how we tracted into her in december and i didn't
want to get out of the car cause the house was dark, but we did? and then she
texted us to reschedule? well we got to go over to her house and teach her on
tuesday, and she's great. she had some great questions about baptism and where
we go after we die, and she said she'd invite us back to teach more! and when
she prayed at the end she prayed that God would help her to learn more and
receive more truth. and she's reading from the Book of Mormon which is great :)
speaking of the Book of Mormon, Luke
Proffit sent me the GREATEST letter last week haha i LOVED it. he said "i
have some goals for you for your mission... bring 10 people into the gospel,
give away 15 books of mormons, and at the end of your mission, find your true
love" with a big heart around "true love" hahaha. i loved it!!
he's such a sweet kid, i loved getting a letter from him :) and thanks to all
the family and ward family members who sent me mail over the holidays!!! i so
appreciated it :) :) Braden even said he missed me at Sunday dinners haha that
made me smile :)
speaking of the Book of Mormon,
guess who else is reading it! L S! she is a wonderful lady who is really an
honest seeker of truth. sister casdorph had had a few lessons with her before i
came, then lost contact over the holidays so we kept having to go back and she
kept not being home and i was like okayyy clearly we should move on now but we
didn't and we went back "one more time" and she was outside plugging
in her lights!! and she let us in!! and she's been reading from the Book of
Mormon a little bit each day since she last met with missionaries back before i
came! she said she felt like it portrayed an angry God, which isn't what she
believes in since she knows God is loving, so we tried to resolve that concern.
i was just impressed that she kept reading haha. she doesn't like the idea of
God cursing and smiting people. how would you respond to that? :) i'm
interested to hear your thoughts. and then i'll tell you what we're teaching :)
i never thought the Book of Mormon portrayed God as angry! so that was
surprising to hear. so there's a scenario for you. let me know what you think,
how you would respond :)
I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU ALL TO BECOME
MISSIONARIES. especially the full-time variety :) Nathan - about preparedness.
I'll probably send you a whole letter full of unsolicited advice because that's
my disease, but for now I'd just say focus on attributes over skills. skills
will come over time just from doing missionary work a lot. but attributes must
be carefully and diligently developed and lived. focus on who you are, not what
you say, because who you are will have a much more powerful effect. i think you
all are amazing, you've been developing those Christlike attributes all your
life and that's what makes the largest difference. also -- D&C 31:3. :)
i'm giving a talk on Sunday! hahaha.
which is actually cool because i got to invite L to come! and she actually
might! even though she's afraid of church and has an idea of it being all
"sinners in the hands of an angry god" nonsense. also i'm going to
invite K b/c the gospel principles lesson is on families and she loves her
family :) :) i'm speaking on how we gain a testimony. i'll send you my notes
next week :) speaking of which, next p-day is wednesday the 23rd because the
21st (monday) is a holiday which means we get to do missionary work all day!
haha.
brother m, the ward mission leader,
used to look like count dukuu (sp?). i saw a picture. he and his wife used to
be hardcore bikers, like devils angels, smoking 3 packs a day drunks.
crazy!!!!!!!! you'd never know it now haha they're the greatest. gramma proffit
would really like them i think :)
also -- we went to visit a
less-active sister whose (active) sister just passed away. she told us - and i
felt the Spirit so strong as she was saying this - "i know what i need to
do now. I need to come back to church. I need to be fully active in the gospel.
I want to be where she is, I want to be together forever." crazy that it
took something like this to get her to wake up to the gospel, but so amazing!!
i know it brings her sister joy. read Alma 13:24 and tell me who you think
those angels are :)
also, people have no idea who i am,
and it doesn't matter. I'm a Missionary, so I represent the Lord. it's a crazy
thought. a crazy way to live. :)
also look at 3 ne 11 and see what
the first things the Savior teaches are. why do you think that is? how could
that help somebody?
also we have another baptism
schedule! brother y his wife & step-daughter are members. he's had a few
baptismal dates before, since over a year ago, but they've always been pushed
back and pushed back so he just gave up. but this time it's going to happen!
and this time it's going to be a lifestyle change. he's not quitting smoking
cold turkey, he's doing it right this time, and he's doing it for himself, not
because he feels pressured. hooray for repentance and change!! seriously the
greatest :) :)
"like" is pronounced
"lake" by some people here. also lots of southern accents, which i
love :) :)
aaaaaaand that's about it for this
week i think!! another great, great week. i hope life's been wonderful for
you!!!!! I love hearing about your lives :) i'm sad your emails got deleted
twice! haha but that happens. i look forward to your letters each week, they're
the light of my life :)
i love you all!! the gospel is
true!!! FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER, huzzah!!!!!!!!!!!
love love love
biiiig huggggg, liiiiiittle
kiiiiiiiisssss
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxxx :) :) :)
sister cece :) :)
can you believe i've been
out for 6 weeks?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm here at least another 6, and then who
knows where. ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)
also i hope you all watch
the CES devotional!! & tell me what stands out :) :)
OH I FORGOT TO SAY. the whole point
of talking about A & the devotional & Moroni 10:4 is that we read it
saturday with her. and then sunday we texted her about coming with a question
in mind to watch the devotional and listening to the Spirit to receive
revelation. and President Uchtdorf totally quoted Moroni 10:4!! and afterwards
we were debriefing and she was like "yeah it's funny cause we were just
talking about that last night!" and how she didn't get a direct answer but
it's too much to have been a coincidence that President Uchtdorf used the same
scripture and talked about the same thing!!! she totally got an answer and she
even recognized it!!!!! i love it :) :) :) also she LOVES President Uchtdorf
haha she thinks he has such a way with words and she says "he rocks, and
if he showed up on my door i would totally let him in" and she wants to
wallpaper her house with his quotes :) :) hooraaaaaaaaaay, apostles!!!!!!!!! :)
:) :) :)
the Church is true!!!!!!!!! :) :)
love love love
love love love
xoxoxoxoxoxoxxxx :))))))))
the elder in the 4th picture sat
next to us for thanksgiving lunch :) fun pictures! great article!!
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