Helloooo Family!!
Sorry about not writing last week. My mind was preoccupied about
something. Luckily Sister Chamberlain was kind enough to let me
foreword hers! How has school been?! I hope y'all have had a fantastic
week. Mom tells me of all the classes everyone will have to miss to
pick me up and the things you have to prepare before I come home.
Makes it seem more real doesn't it? It still hasn't hit me yet. I'm
sure it will when I'm looking around at a big empty house since y'all
will be at school or work.
Hopefully it's cooling down up there. It's still really hot. I'm
melting as I'm typing. No one is open to use their wifi so we get to
sit outside our clubhouse. Labor Day...
Last P-Day was really fun! We went to the MOSH museum downtown (Museum
of Science and History), and then went right next door to Friendship
Fountain Park! Pictures are enclosed...
We have had yet another really slow week. Sister Chamberlain and I
seem to trade off weeks when we have problems. I wasn't feeling so
great last week, and this week she got the flu! Really bad. The Elders
came by Friday morning and gave her a blessing in their minivan. The
AP's have a minivan instead of a regular car cause they have to haul
people and stuff around all the time. There's a cool card that hangs
from their windshield that says "clergy". They call it the "mobile
blessing bus". She sat in one of the sliding doorways and Elder Cordon
gave her the blessing. In it he said that God didn't cause her to get
sick as a result from her sins, but that she needed to learn
something. It made the next few days really interesting. As she would
be moaning on the couch, she'd reach a hand towards Heaven and ask,
"What am I supposed to be learning?!"
Side note: I am related to Elder Cordon!! Y'all should look up Alfred
Cordon on Familysearch. He's a boss. It takes me seven generations to
get to him and it only takes Elder Cordon five. Interestingly, he's
from Rochester, New York.
Previous to her becoming ill, we had a WONDERFUL FANTASTIC Missionary
Coordination Meeting with our new Ward Mission Leader, Brother Garrett
Smith. He and his small family are here for Law School and they were
in Utah for the summer. We haven't had a Ward Mission Leader ALL
SUMMER. IT MAKES SUCH A DIFFERENCE!!! They had all eight missionaries
over for lunch and he then did an hour long training on member
missionary work and what he wants us to focus on starting out.
AMAZING! He said that member missionary work is the best way to have
your efforts last beyond your stay (in my case, less than three
weeks). Brother Smith's mission in Tennessee hit on this hard and it
was great to get some new insights on how we could improve. The AP's
took special attention and I would be surprised if these ideas weren't
spread around the mission really fast. I especially liked this
training because I only have two and a half weeks left!!!!! Something
really awesome from the training was the homework he gave us. Alma
8-15. He said it "contains the doctrine of member-missionary work". It
really does! Dinner appointments and all!
So! We have been obeying our priesthood leaders and visiting members!
We do little "10 min. member-quick-visits" just to remind them of
invitations we've left and to share a miracle. Here's a miracle
already from that! We were knocking on the door of a couple who just
had a baby, when an old man with a white beard opens the door.
Obviously they've moved. We're usually the last to know. We go about
it as a usual door approach and the man responds a usual way, "No
thank you", but then he goes on to say, "I go to the Mormon Church."
Weird. He did to recognize we were missionaries and he smelled like
smoke. He didn't seem keen on talking to us much longer cause he was
"really tired." We managed to at least get his name and that he joined
"about a month ago," before he closed the door. Really strange. A
really nice, strange miracle.
Our teaching pool is really a teaching puddle. One of our gators named
A went home to Wisconsin. She was down here for a summer
internship. I love her! She's one of the most Mormony non-Mormons I've
ever met! She is going into Vocal Performance and Teaching and uses
the free Sally De Ford websites and stuff anyway! Aside from Gospel
things we also taught her what MOTAB meant ;). Oh well. There's always
Skype! We can actually just move her to the "online gator" teaching
puddle since we still send her stuff over Facebook.
Well...not much else to report this week. Interviews with President
Craig are tomorrow. I imagine this will be my last one with him.
That's so sad!!! Goodness.
Loves from Florida!!!
~Sister Carlson
Jacksonville, Florida