GREETINGS FAMILY

i always think of really great email titles randomly during the week and then forget them. drats. well, happy memorial day! yesterday! it was a great week (as usual.... i mean we're doing the Lord's work so how could it NOT be?;) ) and a hard one (as usual.... try something new next time, satan) and i loved it :) 

 

this ward is AMAZING and it's so so fun to be here! i am also really loving being the junior companion again and getting to learn LOTS from sister erickson hahah :) 

 

you will also be pleased to know that i can open a pop bottle with a fork. please, hold the applause. please. it's embarrassing. okay, yes, i am pretty amazing. haha. nothing like nothing when you don't have anything because you're living in a brand-new empty apartment! #missionaryadventure okay i'm done haha. :) anyways that was awesome, and i am pretty proud of myself.

 

also, WISCONSIN IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STATE. you guys. i don't think you understand. i would have run us off the road if i had been driving because WE DROVE ALONG THE FOX RIVER AND IT IS SO SO SO SO BEAUTIFUL. i could NOT handle it. sister erickson was like "are you okay?" because i was like MAD at how beautiful this world is. seriously. Heavenly Father loves us so so much guys. It's unreal. and the fox river. is. beautiful. i didn't even get any pictures i was freaking out so much. plus pictures are the worst at capturing it. IT IS JUST THE BEST OKAY. mosiah 18:30. MOST BEAUTIFUL LAND. i love it here :)

 

so yesterday (memorial day) was prime proselyting and we were stoked because we had 3 lessons lined up and members set to come to all of them and we were way excited. then........... one by one............... all of them canceled haha. (to be fair, the 2nd one didn't cancel but we had to give it to the onieda elders because we found out it's actually in their area.) but yeah, day emptied haha. SO we went contacting! we walked down by the river and just talked to people...... one of whom just came up to us in the library to say hi haha hey r! r da packers fan doncha know we just like to talk a-boat Jesus, yessir! haha LOVE the wisconsin accent. so we walked down dere and talked to some pretty cool people and prayed with all of them, including two homeless people, one of whom told me his name was "...Bob....." riiiiiight haha so whatever, I'm praying "please bless Bob" and he bursts out "JERRY!!!" so i guess his name was actually jerry hahahaha whatever. awesome. it was kind of rainy so not too many people were out but we met some good people and it was a really good day :) and we had dinner with 2 awesome families in the ward and the food was AMAZING, so there's that haha and it was just salad and bread! miraculous. oh and also door county cherry pie. people here are really proud of door county so please, be impressed :) haha it was really delicious. and sister m is a philosophy professor so that's awesome and she's awesome and she served a mission to milan after joining the church while BROTHER m was on a mission. yeah, awesome family! she's coming with us to a lesson with T and speaking of whom......

 

so we went to go visit t, a former, and set up a lesson.... he was way way nice and his friend was too, we set up the appointment and had the prayer, and they were way excited to learn more, they even invited us to come in and have a couple of beers! hahahaha we were like uhhhh we actually don't drink and we gotta gooo........ so they gave us some orange sodas instead. hahahaha. thanks, t. :) 

 

so that was fun. and we met a lot of other cool people this week too. and painted a lady's bedroom and talked about the gospel lots and prayed lots. it's been really fun and really cool to just talk with EVERYBODY and be like "...woah. YOU are the person God wanted me to talk to and pray with today???? i never woulda guessed...." hahah which is a prime example of why HUMANS running this operation would very, very, VERY quickly run it right into the ground hahaha THANK GOODNESS the Lord is with us, and mindful of us, and aware of us, and trying so hard to help us out!!!! we just gotta have courage and open our mouths and live the way we know we should. the Lord will help us, I know it. :) it's amazing! we even met someone on our way to go see someone ELSE (who wasn't home) who was like "Are you LDS?" which seriously never happens haha so we talked to her and her friend and we're going back to teach them on Monday :) So boom, yeah, awesome, thank you Heavenly Father :) 

 

Missionary work is amazing! I love it and I love Jesus Christ. I know that He is our Savior & Redeemer, and I know He lives :) Hallelujah!!!

love, love, love you all ----

sister cece proffit :)

*oneida is how you actually spell it. :)

Oh ps i met an investigator on exchanges who said the opening prayer and kept saying "Lord I am struggling, please help me, i know that's just satan trying to steal my joy" and he kept using the phrase "satan trying to steal my joy" and i just really liked it and it reminded me of you(Nathan) and made me smile :)

love you!!! yeeeehawwwww texas!

 

xoxox

 

sister cec :)

GO PACK GO!..........

GO PACK GO!.......... is what all the signs around here say hahaha I am in Green Bay, Wisconsin!! ... and it is a WAY smaller town that I was expecting haha. Lambeau Field is way close to our apartment and I'll probably get a picture at some point even though it is not that exciting and not even in like a "city" area of town.......... ps Green Bay is not that big of a town haha. It's been fun though!! This transfer is going to be amazing!! It's already going by so fast!

 

So we are "opening" which means that they gave us a brand-new empty apartment and a brand-new empty area book! hooray! haha this was like my worst fear ever but it's actually been kind of fun! I love Sister Erickson and I am learning so much from her already :) We spent the first little bit getting our apartment all set up and planning exchanges (we have to go on one every week!! still haven't gotten all the logistics figured out yet....... we cover all of Green Bay & Wausau Zones, which also happen to be the biggest geographically haha we even cover da UP! hoorah!) :) and getting ward lists so that we have something to go on and are working SMART, not just hard, and then Saturday we got out and WORKED all day and we saw so many miracles!! I plotted all the part-members on my GPS (greatest missionary tool ever btw... someday we will have ipads & it will be glorious) and then we just went to an area and started walking to them and talking to everybody and it was amazing! We went from about 1pm-7pm and got 2 member-present lessons, 9 others, and 4 new investigators. So basically more than I've ever gotten in any week on my mission so far. It was such a MIRACLE and such a tender mercy from a loving Father in Heaven who recognizes our weaknesses and knows that we are trying and really WANTS to bless us. The Savior WANTS to forgive. Our Heavenly Father WANTS to bless us and give us happiness. Everything about the Gospel tells me that is true. :) :) :) So I love it :) Talking with everybody is something I've really needed to improve on and Sister Erickson is a natural at it, so it's awesome :) We were just walking and when someone walked past us we said "Hi, how are you?" "Good, how are you?" "Good, we're missionaries........." Restoration Book of Mormon etc etc etc and he was like "This is way interesting! I've actually been looking for a church.......... thank you so much, seriously." What the whaat?? :) :) love it. It's kind of nice that we're both new because it gives us the perfect excuse to just talk to EVERYBODY on the ward list......... we have no idea who's active, less-active, dnc, whatever. We're just gonna go see ALL of them hahaha. It's way exciting and I'm glad that we have something to do and that the Lord is blessing us for our efforts :) Hooray Green Bay!!

 

And yesterday we went to church for the first time and it was awesome.... Sister Erickson and I are both coming from awesome areas that we loved (she was in Madison for 6 months!) and so it's been kind of rough leaving those people and wards, and when church first started I'll admit I was like "Hmph. I love Appleton." but by the end of Relief Society I was already started to love Green Bay 2 so so much :) This ward is so excited to have Sisters!! SOOOOOO many people came up to us and said so and invited us over and told us about their friends etc etc etc. So it's awesome :) :) Onward, ever onward!

 

It has been interesting working with the Elders who were already in this area, well only one of them is still here, the other is new too but I'm afraid his arrival was kind of overshadowed by ours........ whoopsie haha but it's okay. We also took all of the dinner appointments this week, which we think freaked them out a little bit haha but the excitement will wear off soon and it'll all be good :) We are all on the same team, all missionaries, and we're working hard to ensure that there will be no "division" in the ward, Team Sisters vs Team Elders or any of that :) We are UNIFIED and it will be awesome :)

 

Soooooooo....... yeah! That is Green Bay! Haha I sent you some pictures of us getting locked out of our apartment........... there's a Culver's close by which is good........... people are calling us "yous" which I love......... and we're going to volunteer at a Habitat for Humanity store! Fun fun. Sooooo yeah. Go Green Bay! And it's not "GREEN bay" like I always said at home, it's "green BEY" haha. love the accents, love the area. it's gonna be a tough one but we are ready for the challenge :) Team Us + God = Unstoppable!! (Romans 8:31.... basically ;) )

 

 On a more serious note, I have seriously felt the prayers and the love this week as I was SO nervous coming in here and so didn't know what was going on...... I still don't but that's okay :) I testify that God always knows what He is doing, and when we follow His path for us it will ALWAYS lead to maximum happiness and joy :) I know that that's true! I know that living His gospel is the way for us to be happiest :) I'm so grateful for that! I'm so grateful to be able to trust in Jesus more and more every day -- "tis so sweet" as the song goes :) Trust in Him and lean not unto thine own understanding... in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths :) (Proverbs 3:5-6. I also like Jeremiah 29:11 but I like the NIV better.... no offense KJV ;) Jeremiah 29:12-13 is good too. It's all good! but especially those today) :)

 

 Okay one more story then I'm done. Last night we ate dinner with an amazing family, the daughter just got sealed to her husband and their little daughter on May 4th, and the mom and dad are getting baptized on Tuesday! They were telling us that missionaries had actually tracted into the mom and daughter earlier and given them a Book of Mormon, but the mom was just going to throw it away... haha she's so embarrassed about that now, but anyways it didn't stick back then, but God's timing is perfect because now the whole family is together in the gospel and it's just so much better and they wouldn't have that if they had joined the church earlier, because the daughter wouldn't have met her husband and pulled him out of in-activity and the mom was separated from her husband at the time but now they're back together and both getting baptized... it's hard to explain over email haha but basically God's timing is perfect and He loves all His children always :) :) and the temple is such a focus for them; the in-laws of the kids who are married............ okay i'm just going to use names haha this is too confusing. N and M just got sealed. M was less-active for a long time, his parents are in the ward too and they never gave up on him even when he was disfellowshipped and living with his pregnant girlfriend... they took them on a road trip and just "had to stop at the temple really quick" and Nicole could feel the Spirit and started asking questions and decided to be baptized and when Mike was like "well you can't cause we're not married" said "Well then we either need to get married or you need to move out!" !!! so they got married (haha) and then she was baptized and then they just got sealed a week ago and her parents came to the temple to support and they felt the Spirit so strong and now they're getting baptized on Tuesday and it's all amazing and that was the most confusing way ever to tell that story but oh well haha :) :)

 

 ANYWAYS. I love Green Bay and I love you!!!! This is the Lord's work and He is in the details of it!! I love you!!!!!!!!! families are forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Xoxoxoxo         Sister Cece Proffit :) :) :)

 

OH AND ALSO I FORGOT (how could I forget?) an APOSTLE is coming to Wisconsin!!!! and Elder Densley (on the cd I sent you.... ps did you make a copy for alaina yet?) was asked to sing with Elder Kanahele (my district leader from Kenosha) and they asked Sister Erickson and I to accompany them on the violin and piano! I get to play the piano thank goodness haha :) :) so that's exciting! hooray!! :) :) :)

once again, the LAST thing that i thought could happen.... is happening.

Well, looks like i'm leaving Appleton! Depression............. I might have cried a tear or two when President told me on Friday. I didn't want to be a bawl baby in front of President Jones............ but let's be honest, Appleton is the greatest ever :) I just LOVE it here!

 

The big news of the week is.......... (besides transfers........) B and K are getting baptized! June 8th! Hooray! It was so cute - the way we're supposed to invite baptism is something like "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on [date]?" so Sister D'Addabbo is inviting them and it goes like this:

 

"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ--" "Yes." "--and be baptized--" "Yes." "--on June 8th?" "Yes."

 

hahaha so cute!! they are so excited and the parents are as well!! The Mom was crying and just so so happy. The Spirit was felt and recognized!! :) :) I just love this family so so much and I'm so excited for them to have all of the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ back in their home :) :) Sister H & Sister S M came too and that was awesome :) K totally looks up to S already which is great. aww I just love them!! I'm going to miss them all!!! luckily I still have 2 more days... and we are going over to the W's tonight for a lesson so that'll be good :)

 

Okay.... now for the other big news. Yes, I am being transfered. President usually calls on Thursdays to ask you to train or whatever, so when we didn't get a phone call last Thursday we thought we were safe...... ha! Last Friday after Zone Conference President asked to talk to me (which began my internal freak-out) and when I got into his office he was like, "Well, you're being transfered..." (cue me trying to not cry) "...You'll be doubling into an area where there have been Elders previously; we're splitting the area..." (cue me freaking out internally) "Your companion will be another experienced sister..." (since when am i an experienced sister? dear president, i'm pretty sure i expressed to you very clearly in my last few letters that i have no idea what i'm doing ever....) "That is, if you accept the calling to be a Sister Training Leader." (a whaaaattttttttt???? literal LAST THING i was expecting!!!) then he explained more about what a Sister Training Leader is but I wasn't really listening because i was having a giant internal freak-out hahaha. I don't think I can do this haha, I like.... don't know what I'm doing. ever. haha. This is going to be a stretching and growing experience for certain! ("it's christmas eve for certain!" muppet voice) I guess it's not stretching you if it doesn't hurt a little bit? haha. Well, this'll be fun. haha. I'm sure I'll learn to love Green Bay 2 and have a wonderful time. It's just a tad bit scary right now! New things! Ahh! :)

 

In other news, I've learned how to say "I have no idea what's going on!" in Hmong! It sounds like "chi-PAO-li-a." I learned it because K says it over and over whenever we go over there hahahaha. I feel that it is extremely applicable to me at this time in my mission hahaha I have no idea what's going on, ever, and I have no idea how to do what God has called me to do. like, none. chi-pao-li-a. i also have no idea how to spell that and elder ellsworth isn't here right now so i can't ask him. Well, family, looks like my prayers just got a lot longer hahaha.

 

It was so so good to see you yesterday and to talk with you for mother's day :) I just love you, family! :) and I'm thankful to be here, as a full-time missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. I was just thinking at Zone Conference what a really precious opportunity this is. Never again will I get to wear a nametag with the Savior's name next to mine and do nothing but teach the Gospel and try to help people and invite them to come unto Christ full-time! A year from now, this will all be over. It's craziness to think about it. Ahh.

 

Also, I was thinking during Zone Conference (I do that a lot) about my testimony, and about how when I was in high school I would've considered it the height of dishonor to say "I know because my parents know" but how now, that is actually a really big part of my testimony. Mom and Dad, you've given me two amazing and priceless gifts. One of my OWN testimony... it's mine, I know that it's mine, and it's always been my own. I've always been able to say for myself that I know that Jesus Christ lives and is the Savior of the world. But EQUALLY important to me is that I have ALWAYS been able to say, I KNOW that my parents know this is true. I have never, ever doubted that, even at times when I have doubted my own testimony. And that has been an enormous strength to me, and still is. I do not doubt you know it. And I do not doubt, BECAUSE I know you know it. :) So thank you so much for that. Infinitely much. I could never express enough my gratitude for MY testimony, and for yours :) And that goes for all you brothers and sisters too :) Yeah, testimonies! :) :)

 

 

Soooooo I love you all. You are my strength and my best friends. This transfer is going to be hard but it makes me so happy (and almost start to cry) to know that I have the greatest support team ever back at home & out in Texas :) Go, Team Proffit! And we know that God is on our side :) Romans 8:31! Fear not, courage! The Lord is on our side :)

 

 

 

Love, love, love, forever love ----

 

 

 

Sister Cecelia Proffit

Green Bay 2 :)

 

 

ps go packers? :)

sooooo the week. well. what a week it was :)

first of all, the most "brother y" statement of all time: "I like to feel the Spirit, so I like to sing the hymns......" hahahahahaha. i just busted up. perfect! & so true! i like to feel the Spirit too! :) i've really felt that to be true this week. if we're just having a hard time or things aren't going well or i'm just being cranky..... welp! time to sing a hymn! we sang "lead kindly light" the other day and i mayyyyyyyyyyy have leaked a tear or two? just thinking of you all and how much i love you :)

 

also, last p-day we had a "hillbilly jam sesh" as elder ellsworth calls it haha, me on the piano and a couple of elders on the guitar & harmonica. hahaha. playing primary songs and hymns! it was actually kinda really fun & i'm working on being able to read chords haha. we did get a pretty rockin' version of "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" down hahaha. :) so that was fun. alsooooooo we acidentally went through the carwash with the gas cap open! hahaha. apparently that's really bad ;) we were like "heyyyy elders, quick question.......... is it bad to get water in the gas tank?" "yeah. really bad. what'd you do?" oooooh. haha. well things worked out okay. the people at o'reilly's think we're idiots hahaha but that's okay :) sister d'addabbo was like (after we got the whatever magical fixer juice to put in the tank) "oh by the way, where's the windshield wiper fluid?" & they were like "under the hood." no, we meant where in the store......... okay, fair, considering the other questions we've asked today and that we're both wearing skirts haha. oh welllllll :) it all worked out okay & it was pretty hilarious hahaha :) yeah, p-day! :)

 

so to be honest, this week was kind of hard........... i've just been cranky off & on these past couple weeks haha, cranky & tired & lame. it's stupid haha.

last district meeting Elder Kemper reminded me of something i apparently said a while back....... he said whenever he feels like slowing down, he remembers a quote from me: "yeah, i'm tired & hungry, but these people don't have the gospel! & that's way worse!" haha. so, that was a good reminder from me for me haha. but still, i've just been kind of being a lame-o sometimes haha, i feel like a lot of the times i have NO idea what i'm doing and i don't know.......... just cranky sometimes hahaha. it happens. but last night we got a phone call that really reminded me of WHY i'm here, and that i love being here. it goes back to what Elder Nelson said... "All missionaries... serve with the sole hope of making life better for other people." Last night we got a call from a sister who's voice was shaking, she asked if we could say a prayer with her and of course we said yes, so I just closed my eyes and started praying out loud. She was crying and crying and after we said amen she told us what was going on, how they could lose their house and she just didn't know what to do, and we were able to help her. We have the resources and the ability to help people. And I've been called & set apart to help people. However I can. I am called of God to serve His children by teaching His gospel. The end. That is why I'm here, and that is what I love. Missionary work is hard, but it's awesome. It's awesome because it's hard. This is the work of salvation. This is the work of Almighty God. This is a work that will change the world. It will fill the whole earth. This is the work that teaches you the worth of souls. This is the work of Jesus Christ. of course it's hard! satan doesn't want us to get stuff done! well, he's a loser, literally. Jesus Christ has conquered satan already. so that's that.

 

So I love being here. I love getting to help people :) And I love that there is a system already in place. We called the Bishop and the Elder's Quorum President and the Relief Society President, and stuff is getting done. I love that she knew that she could call us. Ask the missionaries. They can help you. I am living that right now and it's amazing. I love it. I love doing the work of the Lord. Even when it's hard :) The woman who called was Sister W, she and her two kids came to church yesterday morning! hooray! and on the phone we told her we would contact the Bishop and he would be able to work out what was best for their family, and she was like "we haven't been coming to church near long enough, we haven't been paying tithing or anything..." and we just said that Bishop would work out with them what was best. It doesn't matter. We're here to help. :) & I love that.

I'm just so grateful to be a missionary right now :) This is what I love to do! No distractions! The world is so lame and satan is so tricky in the ways he just gets us to waste and fritter away our time and i don't even know if that's a real word but that's the word i chose. everything else i lame compared to the gospel haha. This is what's important!

 

Alma 17:23. Ammon was COMMITTED. He was in it for the long haul. It didn't matter when he might get transfered or anything. He was there, 100%, for those people.

 

In other news, we've been having some good lessons and things are great :) I love being a missionary! It can be hard, but it is also the best :) And you don't have to wait for a big white envelope to serve! You can start right now! hooray! :) :)

 

I love you, family. You are the best and I really mean that. You really are my inspiration and you give me the strength to keep going when I'm down :) I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for His mercy. I am thankful for the hymns. "I like feeling the Spirit, so I like singing the hymns..." :) I'm grateful that you've taught me to love the hymns :) I'm grateful, mom & dad, that you never gave up on your vision of the family gathered around the piano and singing :) I'm grateful for the Spirit. I know the church is true. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know He lives. I love Him absolutely. I try to be better every day. I'm grateful for my Savior, who makes all things possible :) I'm grateful for you, family!

I love, love, love you :)

 

 

love,

 

Sister Proffit :)

 

 

ps SEE YOU 12:30 ON SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)