It won't stop raining. sorry to rub it in, but from the things we hear the southern half is pretty much already underwater.... won't be long before the whole thing sinks! Atlantis here we come! Sister Pope and i are already making plans to use our mattresses as boats
I am about to be brutally honest; I LOVE reading everyone's emails, but writing them is REALLY hard. The week literally flies by and the days run together and I am not sure what the heck I have told you and haven't told you..... but I email you anyway, feel loved.
Yes! Danielle is getting baptised. It has been quite a long process, but it is incredible to see the difference in her now then when we first met in September. It is such a testimony builder to me that the gospel does bring happiness and peace into anyone's life who accepts and lives it. The light of Christ is a light that can overpower even the darkness night.
Something funny we are learning is the difference in the way we learn history all over the world. Talking to English people about the revolutionary war is a lot different than learning about it in class.... and last night we were at dinner at the Whittakers, the senior missionary couple in our ward, and he was talking about the Vietnam war. The face that Annie and Kat (yes Kat is Katherine, the Vietnamese girl that is sisters with the girl in our ward) gave each other shows that they viewed it a little bit different than we do.
Another funny thing I find is that people tend to think that America is all the same. They say things like, Oh well everyone is Christian over in America, or everyone is happy and friendly in america or there is not a lot of crime over in America...... do they not realise how big of a place it is??
This week I met a man named PRINGLE..... when I asked him about his name he said that it is a nick name he gave himself, it stands for: Positive, Respectful, Intelligent, Nice, Grateful, Loving, and Eternally indebted to God.
At first I found it a bit amusing, but then when I thought about it, I realised how brilliant it is that he is able to say that about himself. It made me wonder what we acronym nick name we would feel confident enough to give ourselves? As humans, we tend to view ourselves in such a negative way. If only we could see the good in ourselves, and see ourselves as Heavenly Father sees us. That is one thing we do as missionaries, after almost everything we do, we list things we did that we like and something to improve. It always is easier to list the things that we need to improve, but learning to look and be able to see something you have done well, and something that is your strength is a great quality and one we all need to work at developing. Thought for the week, we should all try and be a bit more like PRINGLE.
Every Wednesday we go and see a lady named Christine. She is so incredible and I love her so much. but this Wednesday when we got to her home she wasn't there. (happens every day not anything new to us as missionaries) BUT we had a member with us. and not just any member, but the sweetest 80 something year old lady. once we determined that she was not home, she turns and looks down the road and says "Well have you tracted this street? Do yo guys still tract?" and what did she then do? she went tracting with us!!! at 7:30 at night in the rain and cold. It was incredible. She was such a champ. We learned so much from her. She and her husband were found through tracting and so she has such an incredible testimony. and people listened to her because she has had a bit more experience in life, AND she has an English accent so people like her more.
If nothing else comes out of tracting that street, her testimony was strengthened while she bore it with courage and power, and I had an experience that I will never forget. and I learned that members do have a passion for this work, and sometimes we just need to give them the chance to share their testimony. *don't worry, this does not mean that you need to go tracting with the missionaries, you can share your testimony in many different ways.
so i feel that this email is really quite boring and i didn't say much so sorry! but I am happy and just plugging along. I can't believe February is almost over. (ya we tend to round up) but i hope everyone had a great Valentines day. Sister Pope and I indulgded in Pizza.... It wasn't for us it was so we could see Cameron again and tell him more about the Book of Mormon, but he didn't come! so sad. but it was okay because we had pizza to make us happy again. love you!! rachel
ps what foods have loads of amino acids? tell you why next week....
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