Hi!
So a little bit about my new area, La Junta. It is a small town and reminds me of the towns down in Mt. Pleasent, Manti, etc. La Junta is about 1 hour east of Pueblo. The area we cover is huge. We live in La Junta which has 10,000 people and we cover several other towns which are much smaller-Ordway, Fowler, Las Animas, Swink, Rocky Ford, etc. The climate is about the same as Pueblo which means not a lot of snow. There are about 450 people on the ward roster and between 60-70 come to church each week. So there is a lot of potential work for reactivation. The bishop, who is new, is very focused on bringing back those less-actives. This ward is the second highest baptizing ward in the mission. They had 39 baptisms last year.
The first day we got here, we spent all day and several nights, cleaning the house (not apartment) which had been lived in by Elders for several years. It was gross!
We have to travel to Raton, New Mexico for our district meetings which is about 1 1/2 Southwest of us.
We met the ward on Sunday and they were so excited to have Sisters in the ward. I guess that it's been 6 years since they've had some. The ward, especially the Gonzales family (recent converts) are always sharing the gospel with family and friends and inviting them to meet with missionaries. Most of the baptisms last year came from member referrals. It's great that the members are heeding the call of the prophet and doing their duty to be member missionaries. Something exciting though, last year the missionaries baptized a guy from Mongolia! He was here at the Junior College as a foreign exchange student. I was sad to hear that he is at BYU-Hawaii for school.
My new companion is from Fairview Utah but her family moved to Virginia when she was a Junior in High School. She came back to Utah to go to SUU for college. She has five siblings, four girls and one boy (weird...)
We had zone conference yesterday and it was awesome! There are some things that we talked about that can able to everyone. We talked about the armor of God and how the only thing that is not covered is the back. He said that we need to be the protection for our companion and to watch their back, to help them not get into trouble and to be obeident. As families, friends and husbands and wives, we should all watch each others back so that Satan won't be able to overtake them. The mission president also said that we don't have anything on our back is because we don't retreat. This is an ongoing battle with Satan which started in the pre-mortal world. It is an ongoing spiritual battle to protect ourselves from him and to save others from him.
We also talked about how every ordinance in the church is an ordinance of forgiveness. Think about that. Also, when we partake of the sacrament, we are renewing ALL our covenants (baptism, temple and personal). So there is some food for thought and remember not to take the sacrament lightly. If we do our part, the Lord promises us to always have his spirit to be with us. That is the best gift he can give us.
Remember the church is true, so keep the faith and win the war!
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, February 22
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Subject: Elder E
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:53:41
Well hello to all,
It has been an interesting week. We spent the first part of the week celebrating tsagaan sar, and I ate a total of about 70 buudz.. but good news is I had no food poisoning or anything. I am sure that my stomach is so filled with parasites and worms that nothing can affect it now.
We went to Zone Council meeting on Thursday and I found out I would be getting a new companion. I was pretty surprised that I would be getting a new companion for the last 2 weeks of my mission, but President said that my companion needed to go to the city and that I needed a little time to train the new person out here in Darkhan. My new companion is Elder X. He was our district leader and goes home one transfer after me. He is a way good kid, such a strength and example to me. He is helping me so much to finish off strong. He was born in Utah but grew up in Georgia. His mother lives is North Carolina now and His father lives is D.C. I will admit that it is completely strange to have another American companion. I haven’t had one for about a year and four months. This is only my second American companion. They are cool I guess. In being with a new comp I have realized how Mongolian I have really become. It’s crazy. Just in the way I think and act…. Haha. I love it though. So yeah get ready for Asian [me]…
But seriously I love all my Mongolian companions and I owe them all so much. I have said it again and again but I really do believe that they are modern day pioneers. They push up against so much adversity and just push forward with hope, that it’s amazing. I wonder if I were in their position what I would do. Life would definitely be more trying. I was sad to say goodbye to Elder E. We were pretty good friends and did pretty good work together. [Elder E] came from a really hard situation. His mother and Father have both passed away, one 10 years ago and the other 5 years ago. He is the only boy in a family of 5 girls. He has a lot of responsibility to look after his sisters and take care of them. His older sisters married some bad husbands that abandoned them and their children. [Elder E] recently heard that his sister and her girls (his nieces) land and home was being seized by some people who had gone around the law with money. He was very worried about this situation and about their wellbeing as anyone would be. On top of this he had some girl problems that were on his mind… You can’t really blame him since it is basically like if I were serving my mission in Provo and I ran into friends I knew all the time.
He had some health problems with a strained back and whatnot, and was pretty stressed out about learning English. He had some things that he could have been more obedient with and so the effects of that were hard on him sometimes as well. Anyway he would get upset sometimes as people often do. He would sometimes take some of the frustration out on me. It wasn’t extreme or anything I couldn’t handle. Anyway I just tried to love him and talk to him and be there for him. I told him I don’t know why life is how it is or why I have received some of the blessings I have. I told him I believe in hope and believe that through Christ all that is unfair will be made right. I tried to show him I believed that in the way I lived, but I messed up at times, and probably didn’t help as much as I could have. Anyway it meant a lot to me when he wrote me a text and told me sorry and said that he loved me and that I was his best friend. I told him he had no reason to be sorry and that all was forgiven. I told him I loved him as well and that he would always be my best friend. I love the kid and desire to help him. I hope all works out for him and his sisters. I was so grateful for his faith and the way he would just press forward and endure, even when it was so hard to do so. It was always a special experience for me when we would teach people about temples and my companion would bear the most sincere and humble testimony telling people that he knew that the covenants we make in temples are everlasting and that they will reunite us with our loved ones in eternal glory forever. He said he really felt the spirit testify that to his heart and he was sealed to his parents in the Hong Kong temple.
I love this mission and love all my companions. They are the Salt of the Earth. I don’t fear the future knowing that my friends and companions will be walking forward with faith and hope, along with me, as the world gets darker and harder, and persecution against God grows stronger. Whenever I think of enduring with faith, I will think of Mongolia, its people, the church members, and especially my old missionary companions.
This Church is true. This life is where God finds out what we are made [of]. If you are standing on [one end of a spiritual challenge] don’t fear that you will fall, just jump with faith and God will carry you. There is always light at the end of the tunnel and a stack of blessings waiting to be given if we will just push forward.
I love this work and this country.
Love, ___
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