Dear Mom and Dad,
Thank you for the package! I got it last Tuesday because it got stuck at the post-office over Memorial Day weekend. Sister Anderson and I were rolling over some of those rhymes :) Thank you for thinking of me. I feel your prayers and thoughts in my behalf as well as those I meet and teach. They mean so much to me. If there is something specific you would like me to write about or look for to write about during the week, please let me know. So much happens and I end up with less than a blink worth in my letters...and even journal.
Today was hilarious or rather Kathy is hilarious. Kathy took us to a picking garden in Traveler's Rest. Kathy wanted her tomatoes and banana peppers but they won't be in season until the end of the month, so we'll have to go back in a few weeks. Instead we picked a whole basket of strawberries, some turnip greens, and 40 bunches of green onions. Kathy said we need to eat the onions every Sunday before church! Then we went to the Southwest Grill. A hole in the wall hotdog/hamburger joint...Mmm. Fresh-cut fries and a BBQ sandwhich. Next Kathy pulled over on the way home to show us where some buffalo lived while she was growing up. Instead we found a llam (actually, I think it's an alpaca). She hopped out and started calling the llama, "Hey, Mr. Lllam!!! Come here! Heeeeyyyy Mr Llama!" and it ran straight to her! Sister Anderson and I bust up and hop out of the car, too. Sometimes all you need to boost your spirits is a crazy person who knows the area. Also on the way home we see a policeman and Kathy checks the speedometer and of course talks to the policeman from inside the car, telling him that the guy next to her is going faster and another policeman pulls up with lights to pull him over! Kathy felt so bad, thinking it was her fault the man got pulled over!
Friday we went to visit a couple people at an apartment complex but they were both home. We went down to talk to a couple people sitting outside their apartments in the shade as we stand in the sweltering sun--yes, I had sunscreen on--and we start talking. The lady, Natalie, starts telling us that she use to see a couple of girls that would come around. We are able to talk to her about her life, her church, what's important to her. Within a few minutes we are able to leave her with a Book of Mormon and make a return appointment. She also happens to live across the streen...or parking lot from a member! There are people ready. Right now. And they live right by us if we will take the time to talk to them. Learn to love them, listen to them, and then share what means so much to you. This is the pattern that I have seen with everyone I've been able to share a greater portion of the Gospel with. But the story's not over. We go to leave a note on the member's door and they pull up as I'm writing and bust us! So we talk and go to leave again. 1/2 mile from home. Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop! Drop! Driiip! Sprinkle...DOWNPOUR! We got soaked to the bone. I felt like I had pants on my skirt was clinging to me so much. Heavensent. God was thinking of us. We made it inside and it poured even more and then the thunder rolled...really.
One last thing. This has been a hard week. I've struggled focusing and being optimistic. There are a million reasons to be hurt, depressed, or hard on yourself, or to just have a poor attitude. What I realized this week is that it's okay to have those millions reasons. It's reality. It's mortality. But with that, you only need one reason to smile.
So that is my challenge this week. Be okay that you have 1, 2, 35, 97, or five trillion things beating at you. You only need one reason to smile. If you can't think of one, think of how much I love you! Because I do. I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much...and then some more!
Have a blessed and happy week!
Hermana McNeece
Thank you for the package! I got it last Tuesday because it got stuck at the post-office over Memorial Day weekend. Sister Anderson and I were rolling over some of those rhymes :) Thank you for thinking of me. I feel your prayers and thoughts in my behalf as well as those I meet and teach. They mean so much to me. If there is something specific you would like me to write about or look for to write about during the week, please let me know. So much happens and I end up with less than a blink worth in my letters...and even journal.
Today was hilarious or rather Kathy is hilarious. Kathy took us to a picking garden in Traveler's Rest. Kathy wanted her tomatoes and banana peppers but they won't be in season until the end of the month, so we'll have to go back in a few weeks. Instead we picked a whole basket of strawberries, some turnip greens, and 40 bunches of green onions. Kathy said we need to eat the onions every Sunday before church! Then we went to the Southwest Grill. A hole in the wall hotdog/hamburger joint...Mmm. Fresh-cut fries and a BBQ sandwhich. Next Kathy pulled over on the way home to show us where some buffalo lived while she was growing up. Instead we found a llam (actually, I think it's an alpaca). She hopped out and started calling the llama, "Hey, Mr. Lllam!!! Come here! Heeeeyyyy Mr Llama!" and it ran straight to her! Sister Anderson and I bust up and hop out of the car, too. Sometimes all you need to boost your spirits is a crazy person who knows the area. Also on the way home we see a policeman and Kathy checks the speedometer and of course talks to the policeman from inside the car, telling him that the guy next to her is going faster and another policeman pulls up with lights to pull him over! Kathy felt so bad, thinking it was her fault the man got pulled over!
Friday we went to visit a couple people at an apartment complex but they were both home. We went down to talk to a couple people sitting outside their apartments in the shade as we stand in the sweltering sun--yes, I had sunscreen on--and we start talking. The lady, Natalie, starts telling us that she use to see a couple of girls that would come around. We are able to talk to her about her life, her church, what's important to her. Within a few minutes we are able to leave her with a Book of Mormon and make a return appointment. She also happens to live across the streen...or parking lot from a member! There are people ready. Right now. And they live right by us if we will take the time to talk to them. Learn to love them, listen to them, and then share what means so much to you. This is the pattern that I have seen with everyone I've been able to share a greater portion of the Gospel with. But the story's not over. We go to leave a note on the member's door and they pull up as I'm writing and bust us! So we talk and go to leave again. 1/2 mile from home. Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop! Drop! Driiip! Sprinkle...DOWNPOUR! We got soaked to the bone. I felt like I had pants on my skirt was clinging to me so much. Heavensent. God was thinking of us. We made it inside and it poured even more and then the thunder rolled...really.
One last thing. This has been a hard week. I've struggled focusing and being optimistic. There are a million reasons to be hurt, depressed, or hard on yourself, or to just have a poor attitude. What I realized this week is that it's okay to have those millions reasons. It's reality. It's mortality. But with that, you only need one reason to smile.
So that is my challenge this week. Be okay that you have 1, 2, 35, 97, or five trillion things beating at you. You only need one reason to smile. If you can't think of one, think of how much I love you! Because I do. I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much...and then some more!
Have a blessed and happy week!
Hermana McNeece