Monday, September 30, 2013

September 30th 2013, Silverdale: Rural Roots Urban Flare

Hello family, this week was really great! I went on an exchange to the Silverdale 6th ward and met some interesting people. 1. Jennifer, she is the daughter of the ex-Mormon that wrote the "Godmakers" book, she has had her records removed but is now meeting with the missionaries again. She wasn't really progressing so I was curious why the sisters were still going over there but when I went we had a good chat and she commented on my CTR ring, she said that “choose the right” meant so much more to her now than it did when she was young and she thought it was great that I wore the ring. I told her I wore two and I gave her one of mine, she cried and willingly accepted it and promised to wear it, it was a really sweet experience! Then we talked and got her committed to read the first 14 pages of the Book of Mormon before the sisters went back two days later for their next appointment. She promised to read them and said that she wants to better understand them so she would probably read them twice! It was really cool to see her make commitments and begin progressing. 2. Old Farmer Jensen. This man is the Real Deal with a capital R and a capital D. He is 95 years old and is a former prisoner of war from WW2. He still manages to maintain a farm at his age and not only that, he has a corn maze that he keeps up that is in the shape of a B-17 aircraft, it is a replica of the one he flew in the war. His corn maze is in the newspaper and people drop by to see it all the time. He said he always tells them his war stories and then tells them that after he served his mission in the war, he served a mission for the church and then he always invites them to church! Haha he is such a cute old man! He gave us a tour of the maze and told lots of cool stories and then he gave us an ear of corn and we were on our way! The rest of the exchange went well, I was with Sister Casey from my MTC district. She is fun and we had a good time together. The Relief Society broadcast was awesome right??? I loved it! Funny story... we had a baptism on Saturday, it was Jacob Pickard, he is the brightest kid!!! We have had a lot of fun teaching him. His mom is a member and his dad is not, but his dad came to the baptism and helped Jacob change into his church clothes after and was very nice, he is just a really quiet guy! One day he will accept this message! :] butttt, after the baptism we were all having our treats and the power at the Stake Center went out. There was a terrible rain and wind storm and a tree fell on the wires and took out the power. People finished there treats and headed home. As we were locking up and getting out, we saw the crew that was making the dinner for the Relief Society broadcast in the kitchen, they seemed a bit flustered and unsure what to do. We knew the power wouldn't be on for at least two hours and the dinner was in 3 hours. We loaded up all the food in our car and took it to our church building, so they could cook it there. We had to make tons of calls to get everyone to the right building and then we got the elders over and we got all the tables and chairs set up within like 10 minutes. It was so awesome! The dinner and broadcast worked out great and we had a huge turn out! Very exciting day, Saturday night we also got our transfer calls. God is granting me the desires of my heart and letting Sister Young and I see the fruits of our labors! I get 6 more weeks in the this wonderful ward!! :] Church yesterday was unreal! So this week we had a special training about hastening the work, the area authority, Elder Bussey came and spoke to the Ward Councils about hastening the work it was really awesome!! (D&C 88;73) so that's what we talked about it church and it was so cool! I felt like I was in a zone training or something! The ward here is getting pumped to help us out and they are already setting up dinners with us and their friends and inviting them to activities! I am so glad I get to stay and be a part of it and see what comes of all this “ward relations” I have been doing! This week in my studies I read Jacob 5. It's an incredible chapter and I feel like I could read it a million times and still learn and pull something out of it. This week I read it and what I got out of it was so incredible! In this chapter the Lord is pruning His vineyard, they work and work and work to prune this vineyard and they don't get as far as they like so they decide to prune it one last time and this time He tells his servant to go gather MORE SERVANTS to prune the vineyard with Him because the end is nigh. This happens in verse 70 and in verse 71 the Lord says He will work with his servants in the vineyard! I love it so much and it applies so well to the age change for missionaries, the Lord is hastening his work and he is working with us. I love what I am doing, I love being a missionary and I am happy as can be to be staying in Silverdale. :] I love you all dearly!!! Love, Sister Falkner. p.s. I go back to the doctor tomorrow morning to get my foot ex-rayed again. Please pray that it will heal fast(er)!!!!

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