Hi Family and Friends,
It is so good to hear about home and what's been going on. I did get the package with the shirts in it and I'm actually wearing one right now. They are perfect! Thanks! I'm glad BYU has such a good ranking. All we hear about here is FSU, and it is pretty boring for me. The pictures are both from back in Andalusia. The first is Brenda and her family. The second is my district last transfer.
We moved this week! We have a pretty nice apartment. It actually is a duplex on a pretty quiet street. It is a little bit farther from campus, but that's alright. There is an institute across the street from campus. It is near one of the two church buildings in town. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I guess since I only remember the Salt Lake and Orem institute buildings (and they are massive) the one here would feel small. It is good though. I remember that Brother Garr was here, but I can't remember how long ago he said it was, though. Because we moved, we also had to clean the other apartment and get it ready to close. The senior couple who handles the apartments came to make sure everything was alright.
Thursday we went to the hospital for Sister Benfield to have a cat scan. It took forever. She will probably go home this week. She says she wants to go home so she can do other things. It is sad to think that. In a week, I have to go to the dermatologist for a problem I'm having with the skin on one of my fingers. I wouldn't have worried about it, but Sister Summerhays says I need to get it taken care of right away. I wouldn't have gone because it will waste proselyting time. I hate not being about to proselyte like I want to.
We are teaching a 10 year old girl of a member family. They specifically wanted sisters to teach her. It is fun. Other than here, we aren't really teaching anyone. There is such a direct correlation between obedience and dilligence and how many people you have to teach. I really like being here in Tallahassee, but when the people you work with don't want to keep the rules and actually work during proselyting hours, it is hard for the Lord to want to bless you. It is really frustrating. I'm already ready for some changes, and I've only been here for a couple of weeks.
We have been working here in the mission to create a culture that will foster hard work and allow the Lord to bless us. I spent a lot of time studying how I can help create that culture and truly give the Lord my will. Yesterday while I was studying, I came across a scripture in D&C 64:33-34. I love what the Lord says in those verses. We can't be weary or lazy in doing what the Lord asks us to do because whatever it is that we do, that builds a foundation for the future. If we are lazy in our building, we are not going to have a strong foundation. If we are steadfast in what we are doing, we will have a strong and steady foundation that will last through all the trials and difficulties that will shake our testimony. If we are willing to truly give the Lord our heart and our willing mind and obey because we want to, THEN we will reap our reward. The footnotes to Joshua 22:5, Mormon 9:27 and D&C 97:8-9 help us know how we can really give ourselves up. For the first little bit of my mission, I was really hesitant and cautious to give my heart completely to the Lord and do His work. I was scared and nervous, but eventually something clicked that made it so easy for me to hand the Lord everything that I had. As I did that, I saw the blessings that the Lord promised. There are amazing miracles happening in Andalusia. We were finding people who were ready and prepared to hear the gospel and be baptized so that they could go to the temple. It was great. And it wasn't just in Andalusia. In our entire zone we were having so many great miracles. In two weeks, we had 8 baptisms. Everyone had a pretty large teaching pool with lots of good people who were really progressing. It was great. It felt like that is what Zion will be. Then I came to Tallahassee. That culture doesn't exist. It is trying to be established, but everyone wants to have a good time and have fun. Nobody really wants to work. Nobody wants to be exactly obedient like we are supposed to be. It is not the type of mission I want to serve. One of the assistants told me while we were moving that there is nowhere else in the mission like in the Dothan Zone. None of the other zones have really given up that desire to change and freely given up everything to do the Lord's work and focus on that. When we don't give the Lord everything freely, it doesn't work as well. We can reap a reward, but it isn't the greatest reward that the Lord wants to give us. It is frustrating to have to serve with people who aren't willing to do that. In Luke it says, "For with God all things are possible." And it is. It is just hard when you have disobedient companions who don't want to work hard, because blessings are predicated on obedience.
Sorry about that tirade, but being with my companions here in Tallahassee has been pretty miserable. I'm not very happy because we don't have any thing to do. We hardly ever teach, all we do is wander around saying hi to people and asking them if they are interested in religion or sit in the institute with nothing to do. I hate it. I want to work!
I should probably go. I love you all!
Love, Joanna
It is so good to hear about home and what's been going on. I did get the package with the shirts in it and I'm actually wearing one right now. They are perfect! Thanks! I'm glad BYU has such a good ranking. All we hear about here is FSU, and it is pretty boring for me. The pictures are both from back in Andalusia. The first is Brenda and her family. The second is my district last transfer.
We moved this week! We have a pretty nice apartment. It actually is a duplex on a pretty quiet street. It is a little bit farther from campus, but that's alright. There is an institute across the street from campus. It is near one of the two church buildings in town. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I guess since I only remember the Salt Lake and Orem institute buildings (and they are massive) the one here would feel small. It is good though. I remember that Brother Garr was here, but I can't remember how long ago he said it was, though. Because we moved, we also had to clean the other apartment and get it ready to close. The senior couple who handles the apartments came to make sure everything was alright.
Thursday we went to the hospital for Sister Benfield to have a cat scan. It took forever. She will probably go home this week. She says she wants to go home so she can do other things. It is sad to think that. In a week, I have to go to the dermatologist for a problem I'm having with the skin on one of my fingers. I wouldn't have worried about it, but Sister Summerhays says I need to get it taken care of right away. I wouldn't have gone because it will waste proselyting time. I hate not being about to proselyte like I want to.
We are teaching a 10 year old girl of a member family. They specifically wanted sisters to teach her. It is fun. Other than here, we aren't really teaching anyone. There is such a direct correlation between obedience and dilligence and how many people you have to teach. I really like being here in Tallahassee, but when the people you work with don't want to keep the rules and actually work during proselyting hours, it is hard for the Lord to want to bless you. It is really frustrating. I'm already ready for some changes, and I've only been here for a couple of weeks.
We have been working here in the mission to create a culture that will foster hard work and allow the Lord to bless us. I spent a lot of time studying how I can help create that culture and truly give the Lord my will. Yesterday while I was studying, I came across a scripture in D&C 64:33-34. I love what the Lord says in those verses. We can't be weary or lazy in doing what the Lord asks us to do because whatever it is that we do, that builds a foundation for the future. If we are lazy in our building, we are not going to have a strong foundation. If we are steadfast in what we are doing, we will have a strong and steady foundation that will last through all the trials and difficulties that will shake our testimony. If we are willing to truly give the Lord our heart and our willing mind and obey because we want to, THEN we will reap our reward. The footnotes to Joshua 22:5, Mormon 9:27 and D&C 97:8-9 help us know how we can really give ourselves up. For the first little bit of my mission, I was really hesitant and cautious to give my heart completely to the Lord and do His work. I was scared and nervous, but eventually something clicked that made it so easy for me to hand the Lord everything that I had. As I did that, I saw the blessings that the Lord promised. There are amazing miracles happening in Andalusia. We were finding people who were ready and prepared to hear the gospel and be baptized so that they could go to the temple. It was great. And it wasn't just in Andalusia. In our entire zone we were having so many great miracles. In two weeks, we had 8 baptisms. Everyone had a pretty large teaching pool with lots of good people who were really progressing. It was great. It felt like that is what Zion will be. Then I came to Tallahassee. That culture doesn't exist. It is trying to be established, but everyone wants to have a good time and have fun. Nobody really wants to work. Nobody wants to be exactly obedient like we are supposed to be. It is not the type of mission I want to serve. One of the assistants told me while we were moving that there is nowhere else in the mission like in the Dothan Zone. None of the other zones have really given up that desire to change and freely given up everything to do the Lord's work and focus on that. When we don't give the Lord everything freely, it doesn't work as well. We can reap a reward, but it isn't the greatest reward that the Lord wants to give us. It is frustrating to have to serve with people who aren't willing to do that. In Luke it says, "For with God all things are possible." And it is. It is just hard when you have disobedient companions who don't want to work hard, because blessings are predicated on obedience.
Sorry about that tirade, but being with my companions here in Tallahassee has been pretty miserable. I'm not very happy because we don't have any thing to do. We hardly ever teach, all we do is wander around saying hi to people and asking them if they are interested in religion or sit in the institute with nothing to do. I hate it. I want to work!
I should probably go. I love you all!
Love, Joanna
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