New Companionship

It's been another crazy week. Sometimes throughout the week I'll think, "Oh, I have to remember to tell my family about that!" but then by the time I actually am able to sit down and write you guys, I feel like I have nothing to say!

Last Tuesday (oh man, that was a million years ago!) we all met at the mission office, and were waiting there until around 9:30 when President Bonham was finally done interviewing, praying, and rearranging companionships. It's really cool the way they put the companionships together. Basically the new missionaries sit on one side of the chapel and the trainers sit on the other side. We'll sing hymns until President Bonham has come to a decision about all the companionships, then when President Bonham comes he'll say the names of the companionship and the area they're serving in. Both missionaries meet and hug in the middle, then sit together in the middle pews until everyone has been paired up. It's pretty hilarious watching some of the elders pretty much attack each other. Our zone leaders are going to be having 2 more elders that are waiting for their visas with them, so when President Bonham announced the fourth member to their quadpanionship they all leaped up and said, "Get him!" The new elder was a teeny tiny shy redheaded elder and I think he about fainted when they all surrounded him in a big bear hug. Such a funny moment!

My companion is Sister Anderson, from Las Vegas, Nevada! She is very open and extremely bubbly. I don't think she owns anything that isn't pink, and if I had to describe her I'd say she reminds me of five Eliza's in one! She has a lot of excitement for the work and she genuinely wants to do everything that she can to help others!

I think Satan knows that I'm feeling very inadequate and that Sister Anderson is homesick, because He sure works hard on new companionships. I remember when I first got here with Sister Turley pretty much all of our appointments that week fell through, and all three of the people that were on date for baptism fell off date. Well... we've had another rough start. For whatever reason all of our appointments have been falling through and I have to keep reminding myself that as long as we're continuing to work hard and relying on the Lord, I can't blame myself for other people’s agency.

Despite the frustrating things that have happened, there have been tender mercies! Our dear friends Bennett and Verna came to church on Sunday and loved it!!!!! They've been asking more about baptism recently, and we're really hoping that they'll agree to setting a date for baptism this week. Out of all the people we have taught, Bennett and Verna are my favorite. They are basically the greatest. The more I love teaching them and sharing special experiences with them, the more anxiety I feel. Something that has been so apparent to me since coming on my mission that for whatever reason I didn't really expect is that Satan is real. He works very hard on missionaries, and he works overtime on their investigators. Both Sandra and Shannon have decided to completely discontinue lessons. Even though they both have received that witness that this gospel is true, the stress from living the gospel got to be too much for them. It's very sad, because we love them, but in the end there's only so much you can do, then you just have to hope that sometime in the future they will find the strength they need to commit. Right before transfers Sister Turley and I had a lesson with Bennett and Verna. It went really well, then at the end of the lesson I suddenly had the thought that I needed to ask them if they had been praying specifically about what we have been teaching. I was so glad I did, because Bennett said, "Yes, problem is, I've been getting the opposite answer." Apparently on the nights that Bennett prays to know if this church is true, Satan has been working extremely hard on him, particularly through his dreams. We shared with them the part of the first vision that we don't normally share with investigators about how Joseph Smith experienced the power of the adversary before seeing a pillar of light. Bennett and Verna are SO strong and SO prepared, and Satan absolutely knows that. I feel like we're actually fighting for Bennett and Verna. I can't let him get these two, they're too special. Prayers would be much appreciated.

A few weeks back Sister Turley and I knocked on a door and met a woman named Jennifer who said that she wasn't interested. She seemed really family-oriented though, so we gave her a Family Proclamation. Last week Sister Anderson and I decided that we should check in on her. We did, and I was so happy when she told us that she had read the Proclamation and really liked it! She agreed to have us come back, and our first lesson with her went really well! She said she will definitely read and pray, and she also said that she will definitely be baptized if she finds that these things are true. :)

One of my favorite hymns recently has been "Because I Have Been Given Much" because some days I'll have these little epiphanies where I'll feel absolutely overwhelmed when I think, "How did I ever get to be so blessed?" I know that this is the Lord's work and that each and every one of his children mean so much to him. I've been thinking a lot about the atonement recently whenever it rains, and about how people always say that there are two parts to the atonement- the cleansing power and the enabling power. I know that the atonement is real! His love for each and every one of us is infinite and unconditional. It feels so good to know that I have already chosen the winning team. I hope that you have too! He's rooting for you!

Love, Sister Slade

A daughter and a baptism!

So. I don't even know where to start. This has been the craziest, longest, most roller-coaster stressful week of my mission! Last Monday feels like a lifetime ago.

I guess I'll start by telling you that I'm going to be a mom! Let me explain. So we have our own special "mission language." Someone’s first area is where they are "born" their last area is where they "die," if you leave an area then come back you are "resurrected," etc... So Sister Turley is my "mom" since she is my trainer, and Sister Cromar is "grandma" since she trained Sister Turley. Leadership calls were on Thursday, and both Sister Turley and I are going to be training new missionaries!

We've known for a few weeks that they had 19 sisters coming in tomorrow, so I've known that quite a few sisters would be training and that it was likely that some of the sisters in the group that came in with me would be asked to train too. I've been a little bit stressed thinking about it all week and always having it in the back of my mind. More like a lot stressed, to the point of feeling sick to my stomach whenever I dwell on it. When Thursday came around we had quite a few lessons scheduled, but I couldn't focus very well, and when the phone started to ring at 9:30 Thursday night I was sweating bullets!

I'm feeling very inadequate. Even though I've learned a lot in the last few weeks, I still don't know what I'm doing. Going to Trainer's Training on Friday helped a little bit. President Bonham talked with us about the process he went through to decide who would train and where everyone would go (They're opening up 10 new areas for sisters). He said that he organized his board the way that made the most sense, then he prayed and to his surprise didn't feel right, then he would rearrange and pray again, then rearrange and pray again. He said that when he finally felt at peace over what he had decided, he knew that each of us were supposed to train for a reason and that "Whom the Lord calls He qualifies." This brought me a lot of comfort, but I'm still scared. At the same time, I'm really excited because I know that this is going to be a big learning experience. Already in the last few days I've seen a big change in how much I rely on the Lord- there's something that changes about your prayers when you're really pleading because you realize that you need 10 times as much help as you realized.

So anyway. We'll be going to Mill Creek for transfers tomorrow. Ahhhh! I'm so nervous. Oh! And Penn Cove ward is getting a 2nd set of sister missionaries, but the mission office hasn't been able to find an apartment in their area, so there are now 4 beds set up in our apartment and we're gonna be 4-packing it for a while. I guess it's not a real 4-pack because they're covering a different area, but it's going to be interesting living with 3 other girls instead of just my new companion.

Darlene's baptism was absolutely beautiful. Everett performed the baptism, and I had the chance to talk with Darlene a lot afterwards since I was her escort. She said that she had had tingles all day, and they had just been building and building. I can't even tell you what beautiful, wonderful people Darlene and Everett S. are. Yesterday they gave us both the most beautiful letters of gratitude and love they had written for us, and I feel like I can't even share what they wrote because it was just so special. We're all looking forward to going to the temple for them to be sealed in a year!

I wish I had more time to write about investigators and the lessons we had this week, because there were some significant (and not so significant) ones, but that might have to wait until next week since we have a lot to get done today so we're trying to cut our emailing time short. But I love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

P.S. Really quick I just remembered that I have to tell you about the most hilarious thing that happened this week- so yesterday the ward knew that one of us was going to be leaving (we're still waiting for the call to find out which of us it is any hour now) so everyone was saying goodbyes and that sort of thing at the linger longer, and Brother Hansink (sassiest, most hilarious old man you will ever meet) comes up behind us, puts an arm around each of our shoulders and says, "Now listen, I don't care what the book says, I'm gonna do it anyway," and he gave each of us a kiss on the cheek. Sister Turley and I were laughing so hard. We teased him that sister Hansink isn't doing her job of keeping an eye on him. So I guess now I can say that I was kissed on my mission... ;)

Thigh On A Mountain Top

I'm not sure what to write about this week. After a while the days and weeks just seem to kinda blur together. I've noticed that if I miss even one night of writing in my journal (which some nights I'm so tired I just go to bed instead of writing :/) by the next day I have to look in my planner to remember what it is that happened the day before.

Probably my favorite lesson that we taught this week was with Bennett and Verna (Don't tell the other investigators, but those two are always my favorite. :)) Such a big love in my heart for those two wonderful people! We taught lesson 3 about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and afterwards I invited them to be baptized again. They both said that they're not quite ready- Bennett has more questions and Verna wants to hear the rest of the lessons first, but Bennett said that there is a "strong likelihood" that they will decide to be baptized. Bennett told us that he absolutely loved church! He sat next to Brother Penaloza in Prisethood, and brother Penaloza showed Bennett how you could download different LDS materials onto his ipad, and Bennett told us that ever since then he has been "like a kid in a candy store." He's been downloading gospel principles, the other standard works, etc... He even told us that he knows our missionary schedule now, and also that "I found out that I'm an investigator!" We congratulated him and told him that not only that, but because he came to church, he is a progressing investigator! This was after last Sunday, when someone approached us and said, "Oh, is this one of your investigators?" and Bennett said "No, I'm just visiting." We all laughed about that. Bennett and Verna didn't come to church yesterday, even though they said they would be there :/ Sister Turley says that we might have to spank them. That's not against the white handbook, is it? :)

Bennett and Verna are planning on coming to Darlene's baptism this next week though! Darlene is excited as can be, and we are too!

Shannon came to church for the first time yesterday, even though he only stayed for the first hour. I think he started to feel a little bit of anxiety and had to leave. Sandra told us that she was coming but didn't show up. Oh Sandra. I'm not sure what more we need to do to help her. :/

In the middle of ward council I looked down at the agenda and saw that the opening hymn was "Thigh on a Mountain Top" and it took all I had not to bust up laughing, for whatever reason the immature side of me thought that was so funny.

Transfers are next week. Why are transfers so stressful?

I love you all!!!! I'm looking forward to hearing from you! Letters are still much appreciated :)

Love, Sister Slade

Talking in Church

Great things are happening in Oak Harbor! Probably the highlight of my week was yesterday. Sister Turley and I were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting. After struggling for weeks to get anyone to come to church, last week 3 of our investigators made it, and yesterday 4 of them made it!! I'm thinking that this means that we need to get 5 investigators there next Sunday. :) Our end goal is to have more investigators at church than there are members... :)

Chuck Q. wasn't able to come this week, as he works every other Sunday. Darlene came again, though, and we've also been teaching her twice a week to prepare her for her baptism. She says that she is 10 times more excited for her baptism than anyone could ever be. She has been so prepared. When Darlene was little her family wasn't raised in any religion. She says she remembers going to the store with her sister on Sundays, and when she would see all of the people coming out of church in their nice skirts and ties she would hide behind the cars because she so badly wanted to be one of them but she felt ashamed that she didn't get to be. Darlene really related to Joseph Smith's story because when she was older she still wanted to go to church but she never did because she thought, "Well, which one am I supposed to go to?" We had a lesson with Darlene at the Glade's home earlier this week, and after we taught the Plan of Salvation Darlene asked what the Plan of Salvation meant for her mom, since her mom didn't have any particular faith and was never baptized. We were able to talk to her about the temple and how after she is baptized she can do her family history. The spirit was so strong and it was so overwhelming to realize that when Darlene is baptized it won't just be Darlene, but it will be her mom, and her grandparents, and her great grandparents, etc... such a happy moment for all of us!

We had a lesson with Sandra earlier this week. In last week’s lesson Sandra said that she is "Ready for Round 2." She is fully realizing what Satan has been doing in trying to prevent her from being baptized. Sandra even told us how her triple combination she ordered a while ago came in, but she put it in storage. When we asked her why she said, "That's my gift to myself for when I get baptized." With Sandra it really is "when" rather than "if." She says that when she went to the Baptist church for most of her life it felt "easy," but now that she knows this church is true she knows that she is accountable, and that scares her. The main thing that is holding her back from baptism is that she knows just how hard it will be and what a serious commitment that is. In a sense she is scared she won't be able to be perfect. Oh Sandra, if only you knew how similar we all are. In the lesson last week we discussed baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost again. We told her that not to downplay baptism, but in the end it doesn't really matter if she's baptized this month or next month or the month after, but the gift of the Holy Ghost is something that is worth hurrying for. We invited her to set another baptism date for September 28, and she said she is going to pray about it. She also promised us she would come to church yesterday, which she did! Sandra absolutely knows this gospel is all true, so it felt more like a returning less active rather than in investigator coming to church.

Tiffany also came to church again, and this time she brought her daughter!

Then the absolute greatest feeling was sitting on the stand and watching our dear friend Bennett H. walk into the chapel. He stuck out like a sore thumb sitting in the middle of that mass of white old people, I almost had to chuckle! I have such a big love in my heart for Bennett H.

I loved looking out at the faces of all these people we've been teaching and all of these members who I have grown to love so much, and having the strongest feeling of "This is where you belong." They all couldn't be more different. Bennett the business owner was looking down right classy with his nice black suit and shiny red tie and ipad that he used to look up scriptures. And Tiffany was as loud and interesting in appearance as she is in talking. Yet they all just seemed to fit anyway.

Love you all bunches!

Love, Sister Slade

Most Devoted Writer Award

I have decided to prepare the "Most Devoted Writer Award." This special surprise will be given to the family member deemed as "Most Devoted Writer" from now until the end of December. I'm not giving any hints as to what it is... just saying that if I were a Putnam I would start writing my favorite Washingtonian pretty quick here! Bi-weekly family updates are preferable, but weekly updates will also be accepted with gratitude... :)

Love ya lots!

Love, Sister Slade

P.S. "If ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work!" Bonus points are awarded to the individuals who include stories about their latest and greatest missionary moments in their letters :)

Baptisms!

This has been an absolutely incredible week! Probably one of the best weeks that Sister Turley and I have had thus far, actually! I'm not even sure where to start.

I suppose I'll start with Darlene. I think I mentioned a few weeks ago how we had been having lessons with a man named Everett Seeley (He's the one who joined the church in his early 20's and approached the bishop a few months ago when he decided to come back to church after 40 years of being inactive) Anyway, we finished lessons with him just in time to start to get to know his wife, who is not a member. I guess every time we would teach Everett he would go home and he and Darlene would spend about an hour discussing what he had learned that day. She has come to church a few times and is very interested in learning more now that Everett has made that complete 180 degree change in his life. She is one of the sweetest people I have met here, I just love her! We went over to their home for dinner and a lesson earlier this week. During dinner I asked Everett and Darlene what they had left to do on their bucket lists. Everett said he wanted to go to the temple, and Darlene said that ever since she has been a little girl she has always wanted to be baptized. Can you say golden? We taught the first lesson, and the spirit was so strong the entire time! When we taught about the first vision Darlene said, "You see, it's from hearing that story that I first knew without a doubt that this had to be the only true church. When Everett said those words a few weeks ago, somehow I just knew. And the same thing happened to me just now." What!? You mean you already have a testimony!? Well that makes our job easy! When it was time to invite Darlene to be baptized I could just barely get the words out of my mouth, because I felt so much love for Darlene, and in that moment, knowing that she was going to say yes, I realized the magnitude of that decision and it was so overwhelming. I realized that so many people had said no, even people before my mission, but in that moment it didn't matter, because they may have said no, but Darlene Seeley had said yes! Talk about "How great shall be your joy." I'm so excited for Everett and Darlene! AUGUST 24th can't come fast enough!!!!

Earlier this week we had another lesson with Chuck Q. We went into the lesson fully prepared to have a drop lesson if we needed to because we weren't sure if Chuck was progressing or not, but he completely surprised us by telling us that he had tried praying a few more times since our last lesson with him! He even agreed to say the closing prayer for our lesson again. He says that he's trying to be genuine, and he really thinks about the words he is saying before he prays, but he doesn't feel like his heart is quite in it yet. But he is trying!!!!! We taught lesson 3, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we invited him to be baptized. After we asked him if he would be baptized it was silent for a few moments. Chuck didn't say yes, but he didn't say no. He just sat there thoughtfully for a few moments thinking. Then as if on cue the baby spit up all over Sam, providing a very inconvenient but much needed distraction. Anyway. We talked to Sam privately this Sunday and she told us that after we left Chuck told her that he was seriously considering saying yes!!! For a long time I've suspected that Chuck believes in God way more than he lets on or will even admit to himself. He's felt the spirit multiple times. He knows that this is good for his family, and he told Sam that he hates barriers and feels that religion is the biggest barrier between them that needs to be taken down. If Chuck decides to be baptized he will live the doctrine so that he can wholeheartedly support his family. I just really hope that Chuck can feel that he has that testimony of his own before he decides to take a step that he knows would be good but is more for Sam than for himself.

After weeks of struggling to get investigators to come to church, yesterday we had 3 of them there! A Christian, an Atheist, and a Wicken. Oh my! We invited Tiffany to come to church earlier this week, and she said she was pretty sure she could make it. We said we would call Sunday morning to remind her, but when we called nobody answered.  We knew Chuck and Darlene would be at church, but our goal for investigators at church this week was 3, not 2! We had been very blessed and just barely met all of our other goals this week- it was a miracle! So we decided that there was no way we weren't going to get Heavenly Father that 3rd person at church. Around 12:30, half an hour before church was going to start, we drove out to see Tiffany. She was still in her nightgown, but when she answered the door she said, "Oh no, I completely forgot, is it too late? Can I still come?" So Tiffany frantically put some clothes on, we met her at the church, and we all made it just in the nick of time. Tiffany absolutely loved it!! She said she hasn't been in a Christian church in 10 years, so she was nervous, but here she didn't feel judged. She told us she had learned a lot and she had quite a bit to think about before our next lesson with her family. She wants to come back next week, and hopefully bring her husband and little girls!

Next week is Bennett and Verna's week, I can feel it! If there is anything that I've learned this week and the week before, it's that this work is going to go forth no matter what. It's happening quickly, and the spirit is strong. Sister Turley and I have had a few creepy experiences where we could tell that there's a ton more out there than a fairly sheltered BYU student sees. I have a testimony that Satan is real and that he is absolutely running rampant, but I also have a strong testimony that the Lord is so much stronger than He is! In the end, good will conquer!!!

Don't forget to do your part in the work, the Lord needs you too!

Love you all bunches!

Love, Sister Slade

Three Lessons

There were some great things that happened this week! I'll tell you about three of the lessons we had this week that were particularly meaningful.

There is a less active family that we saw a few times when we first got here, but they wouldn't keep appointments and when they did they seemed a little bit disinterested, so we hadn't seen them in a few weeks, but the mom called and asked us to come over last week. Sage has a son who has really struggled with making some bad decisions in the past few years, but recently out of nowhere he's been thinking about the possibility of going on a mission, but he's just not sure how to get himself out of the place he's in. I've been studying personal revelation for 10 minutes each morning as part of my personal study (a suggestion from Pres Bonham) since one of the things I'd like to improve on is recognizing promptings from the spirit and acting on them. When we were planning for the lesson I suddenly had the thought that we needed to read Alma 36 with them- the thought was so quiet that at first I wasn't sure, but it came out of nowhere and as I turned to Alma 36 the feeling became more powerful. Throughout the day I was a little bit afraid, worrying if the thought really had been a prompting from the spirit or if it was just my own thoughts, and I didn't want Sister Turley to be upset with me if it didn't end up being what they needed. When we got to the lesson and began talking with them it was absolutely incredible how apparent it was that Alma 36 really was what they needed to hear. We read it and testified about change through Jesus Christ, and Esteban started to cry. I felt really bad for him, because his family started to ridicule him for it, but we told him that it was the spirit he was feeling. We invited him to say a prayer at the end of the lesson, and his prayer was so sincere. Esteban is very humble and I think that he would make a great missionary. We actually just started teaching Sage's brother Jeremy who is not a member, and we have another lesson with him tonight, so hopefully he is interested.

On Saturday we had another lesson with Bennett and Verna. Throughout my mission so far I've had moments where I felt guided by the spirit, but never an entire lesson, and this was the first time that I can really say that the entire lesson was guided by the spirit! I'm not sure what came over me, but somehow I was able to not worry about what I was going to say or whether or not what I was saying was coming out right, but when it was my turn to speak I just talked, and as I did scriptures and thoughts just popped into my head instantly. It was amazing! We finally finished the Plan of Salvation lesson, and we also talked a lot more about baptism in this lesson. At the end I invited them to be baptized, and they both said that that's something they would like, but they need to study and pray more. It just felt natural to ask them to be baptized, and I think it's because I just have such a big love in my heart for those two wonderful people. Bennett surprised us by telling us that he finished 1 Nephi this week and he has also been praying (last week he told us that he was hesitant to actually read the Book of Mormon because he was afraid that reading it would "convince him" and he wants to know its true before he reads so he knows he's not being persuaded... haha) Bennett also told us that since we have been coming, people from his past dreams have been appearing in dreams again and "telling me interesting things and answering questions" He told us he doesn't want to tell us about it quite yet, but soon... I am so curious! I think that his brother Bobby is working pretty hard from the other side. Way to go, Bobby! Verna also said something interesting. She said: "I think the Lord knows that he's already got me, he just hasn't told me yet..." Hmm. I hope that that means what I think it means. :) Sadly, yet again Bennett and Verna didn't come to church yesterday even though it sounded like they were going to. Next week I'm kidnapping them and dragging them to church in their pajamas if I have to. :)

We also finally had a second lesson with Shannon this week. The spirit was very strong there as well, and after telling him about the restoration, we invited him to be baptized, and he said that it's something he definitely wants to think about. Shannon has been making a lot of amazing changes in his life, and you can tell that he has been prepared recently to hear the gospel. Since half of our investigators seem to be African American, we've decided that we look forward to having a "blacktism" in the coming weeks. (Don't worry, there was a black elder serving here a few transfers ago who coined the term, so therefore I'm not being racist... :) haha)

I feel like I'm working as hard as I can right now, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed by just how much more improvement I have to go to be a good missionary. One of the biggest fears I have is that by the time my mission is over I will just barely have learned how to be a good missionary, and by that time I'll be going home.

We had a lesson with River this week that will go down in the history books as the worst member present lesson imaginable. Oops. We won't go into that haha. All can be made right through the atonement of Jesus Christ, right? We invited 11 people to be baptized this week! So that was cool. We decorated a cake for the ward linger longer. We're teaching a wicken woman. We always seem to have investigators, but none of them actually want to progress. In the words of our wise district leader, "Plead, Promise, Persist, then after that accept that people have their agency." Also, I have to remind myself frequently that you succeed when you invite.

This week is the week we are going to have someone on date for baptism, I can feel it!!!

I think about you guys all the time, and keep you in my prayers.

I love you!

Love, Sister Slade