Dear family,
Last Tuesday we had zone conference. I really enjoyed it and I felt
like it was exactly what I needed. I love being with the other
missionaries and feeling their energy. So the church has come out with
the District 1 and 2 which missionaries watch as training videos. So
every zone conference our mission makes a District 3 video as a joke.
This one was so so funny. It was about us getting iPads for the first
time and not knowing how to use them. They did it as a news story and
also made it into a Godfather spoof. It was extremely well done and
hysterical. We were dying. If I were home I would give you a play by
play but just take my word for it that we were all dying with
laughter. So that was fun. We had other workshops and lunch and a
picture slide show.
We then had a senior couple speak to us. They both have their PhDs in
medical stuff and are in charge of medical stuff for 14 missions
including ours. They spoke about stress and dealing with it and it was
the most needed thing. I can tell I'm stressed. It's not like I sit
here and think, "man I'm stressed!" but I've been getting daily head
aches, I crave chocolate like none other, my emotions are wacky, and
other symptoms that don't need to be mentioned. However ever since I
hit my "less than a year" mark a couple weeks ago, I had been feeling
so extra stressed and home sick and I was at the point where it feels
like I've been here forever and I still have forever to go. But their
talks were phenomenal. I feel so much better and I'm not getting
headaches anymore and my homesickness has subsided. I'm once again
feeling good and happy. Being on a mission is so bipolar, it's this
constant up and down. We have all agreed that the best kept secret in
the church is how hard missions are. But they're also incredibly
amazing and life changing. Then our awesome two star general mission
president pumped us up and let us know we're the best.
We were at the vc a lot this week for youth tours. The youth are fun.
Some groups are better at participating than others but they are
great. We like the ones that participate because the ones that don't
we have to give them the Sister missionary stare down until they break
and start talking and it's awkward. I can't believe I was one of them
only a short time ago. I'm glad I get this chance to teach and testify
and help them have a spiritual, converting experience. The teenage
years are so crucial to their testimonies and you can definitely tell
which ones are on the edge or aren't sure so I try to focus my words
on what they need to hear without letting them know I'm focusing on
them. They are going to be awesome future missionaries and leaders in
the church.
The Kensington ward are awesome member missionaries. On Sunday we gave
away three Book of Mormons to members who wanted to give one to their
friends. So cool. Also we're doing this thing called 8pm prayer where
at 8pm every night, every members gets in their knees and says a
prayer for the missionaries and also for missionary work and
opportunities. A lot of them have alarms on their phones to remind
them. I don't know how many ward members are actually doing it but I
can safely say that at 8pm every night there are at least 50-100
people in the ward on their knees praying for missionary work. We have
seen so many miracles come from it, it's incredible. The members are
finding more people the teach and our investigators are doing awesome
and we have a ton of baptisms coming up. We currently have FIVE people
on date for baptism, all in August. So so so cool. I am in awe. It's
not like we are these amazing missionaries or anything. These people
are just so prepared and the members are doing great and praying with
us for success and being their friends. It's incredible. I'm so
blessed to be here. I love it here.
Last Wednesday was Sister Lewis's 21st birthday. That night we went
over to one of the senior couple's apartments and had cake and ice
cream with all the senior couples and the other sister missionaries
that live in the building. It was so fun.
On Saturday we helped a lady for two hours move her collection of cook
books around and carried book shelves and cabinets up and down stairs.
She was so impressed by us moving these big book shelves and thought
it was hilarious we were doing it instead of elders so she was taking
pictures the entire time. We don't need elders to do heavy lifting.
She said she's send me the pictures so if I ever get them I'll put
them in the email.
Last night we went to Why I Believe at the Visitors Center. A couple
recent converts spoke and the recent converts in the audience of the
past five weeks stood and introduced themselves and said when they
were baptized as we all cheered. Then Brother and Sister Jonas spoke.
Brother Jonas is one of President Obama's personal physicians so we
got to listen to him talk about why he believes. It was really cool.
Dee Turner was there so it was fun to see her. She's struggling a bit
with the sisters in Poolesville. She didn't have much time to get to
know Sister Taggart before I was transferred and she was really close
with Sister Johnson, Sister Bascom, and I so she's a bit sad but she
has a solid testimony and is doing great and we're still here for her.
I love her.
I'm pretty sure our neighbor is going to kill us. He's married with a
two month old son and we hear him screaming at his wife through the
walls all the time. His wife is super friendly and always talks to us
but he never looks at us or talks to us. Yesterday we were on the
elevator with our roommates when he got on. Our roommates' slidey
phone broke so they were telling us in the elevator how it broke. As
soon as we all got off and walked down our hall, he stopped and let us
go ahead. We said thanks and went towards our apartment as he pulled
out his phone to talk to someone (I'm pretty sure he wasn't actually
taking to anyone). As soon as we walked into our apartment, he
exploded over the phone about he just got off the elevator with four
of them and he doesn't care about their stupid broken phone. Of course
I'm leaving out all the swear words. He just went on about us and
called us horrible things as we stood there, speechless, inside our
apartment by the closed door. Sorry for ruining your day, mister. I
honestly don't get how someone can live like that. He's always so
angry and unhappy. We're here to have joy and be happy. Of course life
isn't fair and is hard but the purpose of life is to find joy and to
prepare to return to meet God. I just can't imagine living a life
filled with anger and hatred. If I've ever met anyone who needs the
gospel, it's him. I don't know if he hates us because we have Jesus's
name on our shirts or because we're always happy or what. But yeah
that's our next door neighbor so if we are murdered you'll know who
did it.
"Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation"
(Isaiah 12:3)
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
(2 Nephi 2:25)
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit,
which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;"
(D&C 11:13)
"Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the
covenants which thou hast made."(D&C 25:13)
"yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God;" (Alma 26:35)
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14:17)
"Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of
you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our
tribulation." (2 Corinthians 7:4)
"The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 29:19)
"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (Matthew
5:12)
This gospel is joy. But it isn't joy like the worldly joy we think of.
The joy I feel isn't the joy you get when a new Harry Potter movie
comes out, finish an incredible book, when you eat an awesome steak,
or take a 5 hour nap (these all bring me joy). It's the joy you feel
when you're with your family, when a prayer is answered, when you
realize that everything will be ok in the end, that there's a God that
lives and loves and knows each one of us personally, when someone
turns their life around and comes back to God, when you feel cleansed
of all your sins or relieved of all your guilt. It's a joy that
doesn't come from anything artificial. It's the joy that is so deep
and so complete because it comes from the Being who created us,
created this world, and gave us the capacity to have joy. We really
are here to be happy. And who's happier in the end: the one who had
everyone given to them or the one who had to work hard for everything
good thing that they have? That's why we have trials and challenges
because how can we experience true joy and learn and grow if we don't
know pain or sorrow? I appreciate the hot summer a lot more after the
bitter cold winter. I appreciated dinner always being on the table a
lot more after coming home from college. I appreciated having my
family together a lot more after it was broken up. And I'll appreciate
the loving hug of a parent a lot more after going 18 months without
one. Some of the most successful people in the world have had the
roughest challenges. I've never heard of a successful person who never
failed or went through a rough time. I'm grateful for all the rough
things I go through every day that build me up to become stronger and
better and prepare me for future events in my life. I'm also grateful
for all the easy things I've gone through to show me that this life is
filled with sweet moments that so often go unnoticed because we're too
worried worrying about the hard things.
Those were my scriptures of the week. Choose whichever one is your
favorite or find a different scripture or quote about happiness and
put it on your wall or mirror or inside your car or cubicle so that
every day you'll remember that we are really here to have joy.
I hope the Stevens family has fun at grandma and grandpa's 50th
anniversary party. I can see from Facebook that you're all gathering
in so I assume it's this week. If only you'd done it during their
actual 50th anniversary then I could've been there. Oh well. Have fun
and send me pictures. I'm curious to see what it's like. Send everyone
my love. I love you all more than you can possibly know.
Love, Sister Black
Last Tuesday we had zone conference. I really enjoyed it and I felt
like it was exactly what I needed. I love being with the other
missionaries and feeling their energy. So the church has come out with
the District 1 and 2 which missionaries watch as training videos. So
every zone conference our mission makes a District 3 video as a joke.
This one was so so funny. It was about us getting iPads for the first
time and not knowing how to use them. They did it as a news story and
also made it into a Godfather spoof. It was extremely well done and
hysterical. We were dying. If I were home I would give you a play by
play but just take my word for it that we were all dying with
laughter. So that was fun. We had other workshops and lunch and a
picture slide show.
We then had a senior couple speak to us. They both have their PhDs in
medical stuff and are in charge of medical stuff for 14 missions
including ours. They spoke about stress and dealing with it and it was
the most needed thing. I can tell I'm stressed. It's not like I sit
here and think, "man I'm stressed!" but I've been getting daily head
aches, I crave chocolate like none other, my emotions are wacky, and
other symptoms that don't need to be mentioned. However ever since I
hit my "less than a year" mark a couple weeks ago, I had been feeling
so extra stressed and home sick and I was at the point where it feels
like I've been here forever and I still have forever to go. But their
talks were phenomenal. I feel so much better and I'm not getting
headaches anymore and my homesickness has subsided. I'm once again
feeling good and happy. Being on a mission is so bipolar, it's this
constant up and down. We have all agreed that the best kept secret in
the church is how hard missions are. But they're also incredibly
amazing and life changing. Then our awesome two star general mission
president pumped us up and let us know we're the best.
We were at the vc a lot this week for youth tours. The youth are fun.
Some groups are better at participating than others but they are
great. We like the ones that participate because the ones that don't
we have to give them the Sister missionary stare down until they break
and start talking and it's awkward. I can't believe I was one of them
only a short time ago. I'm glad I get this chance to teach and testify
and help them have a spiritual, converting experience. The teenage
years are so crucial to their testimonies and you can definitely tell
which ones are on the edge or aren't sure so I try to focus my words
on what they need to hear without letting them know I'm focusing on
them. They are going to be awesome future missionaries and leaders in
the church.
The Kensington ward are awesome member missionaries. On Sunday we gave
away three Book of Mormons to members who wanted to give one to their
friends. So cool. Also we're doing this thing called 8pm prayer where
at 8pm every night, every members gets in their knees and says a
prayer for the missionaries and also for missionary work and
opportunities. A lot of them have alarms on their phones to remind
them. I don't know how many ward members are actually doing it but I
can safely say that at 8pm every night there are at least 50-100
people in the ward on their knees praying for missionary work. We have
seen so many miracles come from it, it's incredible. The members are
finding more people the teach and our investigators are doing awesome
and we have a ton of baptisms coming up. We currently have FIVE people
on date for baptism, all in August. So so so cool. I am in awe. It's
not like we are these amazing missionaries or anything. These people
are just so prepared and the members are doing great and praying with
us for success and being their friends. It's incredible. I'm so
blessed to be here. I love it here.
Last Wednesday was Sister Lewis's 21st birthday. That night we went
over to one of the senior couple's apartments and had cake and ice
cream with all the senior couples and the other sister missionaries
that live in the building. It was so fun.
On Saturday we helped a lady for two hours move her collection of cook
books around and carried book shelves and cabinets up and down stairs.
She was so impressed by us moving these big book shelves and thought
it was hilarious we were doing it instead of elders so she was taking
pictures the entire time. We don't need elders to do heavy lifting.
She said she's send me the pictures so if I ever get them I'll put
them in the email.
Last night we went to Why I Believe at the Visitors Center. A couple
recent converts spoke and the recent converts in the audience of the
past five weeks stood and introduced themselves and said when they
were baptized as we all cheered. Then Brother and Sister Jonas spoke.
Brother Jonas is one of President Obama's personal physicians so we
got to listen to him talk about why he believes. It was really cool.
Dee Turner was there so it was fun to see her. She's struggling a bit
with the sisters in Poolesville. She didn't have much time to get to
know Sister Taggart before I was transferred and she was really close
with Sister Johnson, Sister Bascom, and I so she's a bit sad but she
has a solid testimony and is doing great and we're still here for her.
I love her.
I'm pretty sure our neighbor is going to kill us. He's married with a
two month old son and we hear him screaming at his wife through the
walls all the time. His wife is super friendly and always talks to us
but he never looks at us or talks to us. Yesterday we were on the
elevator with our roommates when he got on. Our roommates' slidey
phone broke so they were telling us in the elevator how it broke. As
soon as we all got off and walked down our hall, he stopped and let us
go ahead. We said thanks and went towards our apartment as he pulled
out his phone to talk to someone (I'm pretty sure he wasn't actually
taking to anyone). As soon as we walked into our apartment, he
exploded over the phone about he just got off the elevator with four
of them and he doesn't care about their stupid broken phone. Of course
I'm leaving out all the swear words. He just went on about us and
called us horrible things as we stood there, speechless, inside our
apartment by the closed door. Sorry for ruining your day, mister. I
honestly don't get how someone can live like that. He's always so
angry and unhappy. We're here to have joy and be happy. Of course life
isn't fair and is hard but the purpose of life is to find joy and to
prepare to return to meet God. I just can't imagine living a life
filled with anger and hatred. If I've ever met anyone who needs the
gospel, it's him. I don't know if he hates us because we have Jesus's
name on our shirts or because we're always happy or what. But yeah
that's our next door neighbor so if we are murdered you'll know who
did it.
"Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation"
(Isaiah 12:3)
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
(2 Nephi 2:25)
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit,
which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;"
(D&C 11:13)
"Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the
covenants which thou hast made."(D&C 25:13)
"yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God;" (Alma 26:35)
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14:17)
"Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of
you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our
tribulation." (2 Corinthians 7:4)
"The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 29:19)
"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (Matthew
5:12)
This gospel is joy. But it isn't joy like the worldly joy we think of.
The joy I feel isn't the joy you get when a new Harry Potter movie
comes out, finish an incredible book, when you eat an awesome steak,
or take a 5 hour nap (these all bring me joy). It's the joy you feel
when you're with your family, when a prayer is answered, when you
realize that everything will be ok in the end, that there's a God that
lives and loves and knows each one of us personally, when someone
turns their life around and comes back to God, when you feel cleansed
of all your sins or relieved of all your guilt. It's a joy that
doesn't come from anything artificial. It's the joy that is so deep
and so complete because it comes from the Being who created us,
created this world, and gave us the capacity to have joy. We really
are here to be happy. And who's happier in the end: the one who had
everyone given to them or the one who had to work hard for everything
good thing that they have? That's why we have trials and challenges
because how can we experience true joy and learn and grow if we don't
know pain or sorrow? I appreciate the hot summer a lot more after the
bitter cold winter. I appreciated dinner always being on the table a
lot more after coming home from college. I appreciated having my
family together a lot more after it was broken up. And I'll appreciate
the loving hug of a parent a lot more after going 18 months without
one. Some of the most successful people in the world have had the
roughest challenges. I've never heard of a successful person who never
failed or went through a rough time. I'm grateful for all the rough
things I go through every day that build me up to become stronger and
better and prepare me for future events in my life. I'm also grateful
for all the easy things I've gone through to show me that this life is
filled with sweet moments that so often go unnoticed because we're too
worried worrying about the hard things.
Those were my scriptures of the week. Choose whichever one is your
favorite or find a different scripture or quote about happiness and
put it on your wall or mirror or inside your car or cubicle so that
every day you'll remember that we are really here to have joy.
I hope the Stevens family has fun at grandma and grandpa's 50th
anniversary party. I can see from Facebook that you're all gathering
in so I assume it's this week. If only you'd done it during their
actual 50th anniversary then I could've been there. Oh well. Have fun
and send me pictures. I'm curious to see what it's like. Send everyone
my love. I love you all more than you can possibly know.
Love, Sister Black
Getting free chick-fil-a for "dressing up" as a cow.
Crazy busy metro on the fourth.
Some days at the Visitors Center after youth tours, you really justneed to sneak in a nap.
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Also I got another picture. He's deleted now. I feel bad but thisreally isn't fulfilling my purpose and he's creepy.
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A girl we met at the Visitors Center from Chile.
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At the Chinese folk life festival on the mall.
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