Hey there!!!!!
Oh me oh my I have had it with all this rain I tell you! The weather is supposed to clear up by Thursday hopefully, but oh it's tough to try and find people on campus that's for sure. We had a lovely tornado again luckily we got in right when the torando sirens went off. Sister Leonard came downstairs and we had a slumber party with her, oh I just love her. Everyone was safe though, nothing to crazy. We got a call from our zone leaders the next morning and they were making sure everyone was safe:)
Chris Yim received the priesthood yesterday and got to pass the sacrament!!!! I was a proud mama:) We got to watch the Joseph Smith movie with him the other night to help him continue to understand and gain a testimony of Joseph Smith. Sister Summers and I felt like temple square sisters introducing the movie and everything...we giggled. For FHE with the branch we watched the Testaments and oh that movie just makes me so happy and I love reading the Book of Mormon and visualizing what it was like back in the day:) There are some really funny parts in that movie that I guess only Sister Summers and I found funny, the rest of the branch just laughed at us, but I mean we are VERY limited out in the mission so we take what we can get with movies:)))
We have had some amazing lessons that have just been over flowing with the Spirit. We went to visit Lindsey Brown who is going through a very hard time in her life and is a single mother and it seems like everything that could go wrong is going wrong. We began teaching her when I first here and then it broke my heart to tell her goodbye but I was so excited to see her when I got transferred back. We had a couple lessons with her and she just wasn't herself and it was so sad. We have been working the elders in Beechgrove and they came with us to our last lesson and she had that light again in her eyes. The elders gave her a blessing and it was amazing. Elder Enslow explained blessings so beautifully and said that they don't make all of our trials disappear but give us the strength to keep going. He also told her that the warm happy feeling she felt when he was giving her the blessing was Heavenly Fathers way of showing her how much he loved her. I know that helped her so much and she will be able to be receptive to the gospel even more now.
We are meeting with Hillary a lot more now and she is loving the YSA branch!!! We had an incredible lesson with her and a member of the YSA branch came with us and shared an amazing testimony. There were so many moments in the lesson as we were reading from the scriptures that the spirit was guiding as to what she needs and how we can help her understand. She has so many righteous desires and she is definitely on the right path!
Easter was wonderful yesterday!!! Our dinner appt. fell through so we went to our apt and had our own Easter dinner, we were quite proud of ourselves. We wanted to do breakfast foods, even though we didn't quite have all that we needed we improvised:) We had french toast, eggs, chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie, and we didn't have any bacon so we had chicken nuggets:)
A member of the branch is taking us to the childrens musuem today!!!!! They have a new exhibit that is movie costumes and it's supposed to be pretty cool so we are excited to do that! This branch is amazing and we are having a special sunday in may where everyone will invite a friend and we are going to focus the lessons on the lessons we teach. I know it's going to be a great day! We had to move it up a week because we had originally planned on May 29 but that is race weekend for the Indy 500 and it's pure madness around here. I live about 1 mile away from the speedway and so I will probably have to leave a couple hours early for church:) I guess people will sell parking spots on their lawns for outrageous amounts of money. So that will be an interesting weekend for sure!
Life is good and Sister Summers and I are just making each day count because I know I will never get another opportunity like this ever again!!!!!!
Love you all
Sister Lamb
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Hello my lovely family:)))
It's been another exciting week here in INDY! We have been doing a lot of tracting especially on campus and on the canal walk that goes through the city. The weather has been wonderful here and so lots of people are out and about so we are able to contact a lot of people.
Renee was baptized on Saturday and it was wonderful. She had tons of support from family and friends. Her brother flew in from India with his wife and so it was so special for him to be able to baptize her. I know her parents were touched and I hope that they can see the influence of the gospel with their children and take that step too. Sister Summers and I did a musical number at the baptism, she sang and I played the piano, "Come Unto Jesus." A lady came up to me afterwards and told me that I must have had an amazing piano teacher and she was shocked when I told her that I taught myself:) It was quite the compliment. It was such a good day and the YSA branch were very supportive too and I know that she is going to do great things! She was confirmed yesterday in church and her blessing was awesome. Also in church yesterday, Chris Yim, who was baptized last friday, he received a calling and is going to receive the priesthood next week!!! Oh I just love them so very much:) We are going to keep helping them progress and endure.
At institute the other night, Kristy, a girl from the branch, brought a friend from school, Terance, and we were talking with him afterwards and he wants to meet with us. We have a lesson with him on Thursday and he came to church on Sunday! We also have a wonderful girl that we are going to start teaching, Hillary, and she is so cool! She loves church and is hopefully going to come to the activities this week. Sister Summers and I taught the lesson last sunday in gospel prinicples and she was particiapting the whole time and really loved learning about eternal families. She is going to be baptized on May 7. We have been meeting with a student that goes to IUPUI, and at our last lesson we taught him the plan of salvation and afterwards, we were walking back to the church and we just were so happy because we both just looked at each other and we both had felt the spirit so strongly testifying to us during that lesson of the plan of salvation and the happiness that it brings.
We had an amazing district meeting on Friday, Elder Eames is the best district leader. Oh he is so awesome!!!!! We learned a lot about teaching people, not lessons and we role played and the spirit was there and I learned some things that I think can really help some of our recent converts. We have a few recent converts that we are so worried about and we are continuing to try to contact them because they are in various stages of less activity and we want to help but it's been a struggle.
I have never seen a spring like this before!!!! Sister Summers and I took tons of pictures of all the beautiful flowers and all the trees that have huge blossoms on them. There is one type of tree that is our favorite, it's called a red bud and it's just full of purple blossoms!
Sister Summers and I are just making everyday count and trying to work hard. We have had some hillarious moments that's for sure. Last sunday we were driving to church and all the sudden our car started making this horrible squeaking noise and it wouldn't stop unless we hit the brakes. Some of the branch members thought it might be the belt or something, but we took it in on Monday and apparently a rock got stuck and some part of the car was rubbing against the rock. Luckily the place where we took it, they were very nice and didn't charge us. It's been great to be back here. I am living in the same place I was when I was here before. Oh how I missed Sister Leonard, she is the member we live with. I was so excited to see the pictures of the Brigham City temple. I think they are going to break ground this fall for the temple here! BAAAAAA I'm so excited for it to be here, it's in such a beautiful area, Carmel.
I love you all so very much!!!!! Thanks for all your support and your love:)
love,
sister lamb
It's been another exciting week here in INDY! We have been doing a lot of tracting especially on campus and on the canal walk that goes through the city. The weather has been wonderful here and so lots of people are out and about so we are able to contact a lot of people.
Renee was baptized on Saturday and it was wonderful. She had tons of support from family and friends. Her brother flew in from India with his wife and so it was so special for him to be able to baptize her. I know her parents were touched and I hope that they can see the influence of the gospel with their children and take that step too. Sister Summers and I did a musical number at the baptism, she sang and I played the piano, "Come Unto Jesus." A lady came up to me afterwards and told me that I must have had an amazing piano teacher and she was shocked when I told her that I taught myself:) It was quite the compliment. It was such a good day and the YSA branch were very supportive too and I know that she is going to do great things! She was confirmed yesterday in church and her blessing was awesome. Also in church yesterday, Chris Yim, who was baptized last friday, he received a calling and is going to receive the priesthood next week!!! Oh I just love them so very much:) We are going to keep helping them progress and endure.
At institute the other night, Kristy, a girl from the branch, brought a friend from school, Terance, and we were talking with him afterwards and he wants to meet with us. We have a lesson with him on Thursday and he came to church on Sunday! We also have a wonderful girl that we are going to start teaching, Hillary, and she is so cool! She loves church and is hopefully going to come to the activities this week. Sister Summers and I taught the lesson last sunday in gospel prinicples and she was particiapting the whole time and really loved learning about eternal families. She is going to be baptized on May 7. We have been meeting with a student that goes to IUPUI, and at our last lesson we taught him the plan of salvation and afterwards, we were walking back to the church and we just were so happy because we both just looked at each other and we both had felt the spirit so strongly testifying to us during that lesson of the plan of salvation and the happiness that it brings.
We had an amazing district meeting on Friday, Elder Eames is the best district leader. Oh he is so awesome!!!!! We learned a lot about teaching people, not lessons and we role played and the spirit was there and I learned some things that I think can really help some of our recent converts. We have a few recent converts that we are so worried about and we are continuing to try to contact them because they are in various stages of less activity and we want to help but it's been a struggle.
I have never seen a spring like this before!!!! Sister Summers and I took tons of pictures of all the beautiful flowers and all the trees that have huge blossoms on them. There is one type of tree that is our favorite, it's called a red bud and it's just full of purple blossoms!
Sister Summers and I are just making everyday count and trying to work hard. We have had some hillarious moments that's for sure. Last sunday we were driving to church and all the sudden our car started making this horrible squeaking noise and it wouldn't stop unless we hit the brakes. Some of the branch members thought it might be the belt or something, but we took it in on Monday and apparently a rock got stuck and some part of the car was rubbing against the rock. Luckily the place where we took it, they were very nice and didn't charge us. It's been great to be back here. I am living in the same place I was when I was here before. Oh how I missed Sister Leonard, she is the member we live with. I was so excited to see the pictures of the Brigham City temple. I think they are going to break ground this fall for the temple here! BAAAAAA I'm so excited for it to be here, it's in such a beautiful area, Carmel.
I love you all so very much!!!!! Thanks for all your support and your love:)
love,
sister lamb
Monday, April 11, 2011
SO GUESS WHAT????????????????????? I'm with Sister Summers again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it when President announced it at transfers. We couldn't stop hugging and laughing. It was a great transfer meeting and a bunch of us went to lunch afterwards, oh I love all the elders and sisters in this mission, they are just top notch. So I'm back in my first area, Indianapolis Young Single Adults. Oh I'm so happy to be back, I missed everyone so much. A guy that I taught when I was first here, he got baptized on Friday and it was wonderful and then another girl that I taught here as well is getting baptized this Saturday. It's been such a blessing to be a part of their lives and see the amazing progression they have made. Chris was baptized on Friday and we got to meet his family, they are from Hawaii and his step mom wants me to come and stay with them when I get home:) Oh his family is amazing and they took S. Summers and I out to Olive Garden before the baptism and they gave us lei's to wear, oh they were real and beautiful purple flowers. It was such an amazing experience to be there and see how happy Chris is. The next day his brother and sister got baptized in Boston and so they flew there and then flew back to see Chris get confirmed. Of course it didn't go smoothly, their flight got cancelled and so they didn't make it to Sacrament Meeting but they were able to finally find a flight to Cinncinatti, Ohio and then they just drove to Indianapolis. They made here about 6:30 last night and we were able to get him confirmed and then he spoke at our mission's fireside, "Why I Believe" and gave a beautiful testimony!!! He is such an amazing kid that is going to go far in this life. His dad is catholic and Chris said that one day soon he will be able to baptize his dad. I totally want to be there!!! Renee's baptism is this coming saturday and Sis. Summers and I are going to be doing a musical number and so we are so excited for that. It's been amazing to be back here and see the change that so many have made and also help those that have been continuing to struggle. The Lord definitely knows what he is doing:)
The weather is getting absolutely beautiful here and it was 80 degrees yesterday!!! I can't believe how gorgeous the trees are, there are these magnolia trees everywhere and everything is just getting to be breathtaking. Sis. Summers and I have been fasting to find new investigators, and I know if we are obedient and keep putting in our best each day that we will find those that are ready to hear our message. An elder told us that our mission is going to be even harder because of the temple coming and so we are just praying to help those be ready.
We had an amazing testimony meeting in church yesterday, and this branch is just ready to do their missionary work! All the testimonies were focused on missionary work and they are going to help us so much, I just know it. We are also planning an 'Invite a Friend to Church' day where we will teach the basics of our beliefs and we are all so pumped to start inviting all those that we come in contact with.
I just love you all bunches!
Love,
Sister Erica Lamb
The weather is getting absolutely beautiful here and it was 80 degrees yesterday!!! I can't believe how gorgeous the trees are, there are these magnolia trees everywhere and everything is just getting to be breathtaking. Sis. Summers and I have been fasting to find new investigators, and I know if we are obedient and keep putting in our best each day that we will find those that are ready to hear our message. An elder told us that our mission is going to be even harder because of the temple coming and so we are just praying to help those be ready.
We had an amazing testimony meeting in church yesterday, and this branch is just ready to do their missionary work! All the testimonies were focused on missionary work and they are going to help us so much, I just know it. We are also planning an 'Invite a Friend to Church' day where we will teach the basics of our beliefs and we are all so pumped to start inviting all those that we come in contact with.
I just love you all bunches!
Love,
Sister Erica Lamb
Monday, April 4, 2011
Well I got the call this morning that I'm getting transferred:(((( I can't believe how fast this transfer went! I'm going to miss Sister V. so much and the crazy awesome people here in Anderson, so it's going to be an adventure! We have transfer meeting on Wednesday so I'm excited to meet my new companion and where I will be. We are getting three new sisters so Wednesday will be a big day. This morning I was reading in 1 Nephi 3 when Nephi and his brothers are commanded to get the plates from Laban and I felt a little like Laman and Lemuel murmuring because I don't want to leave, but I know that the Lord will prepare a way and He is my companion that will never change. Elder Bronk, one of the assistants to the president, when he called this morning he told me that I'm going to love my new companion and my area, so I'm holding him to that promise:)
Conference was amazing and it made me and Sister V. homesick. I just loved every minute of it though and it was fun watching it at the church. I was so amazed at how so many questions that I have pondered over this past week were answered during conference. My testimony of my Savior and for President Monson have increased so much! We didn't have any investigators come unfortunately but we had some less actives watch it and I was so glad they came. We have been working with this guy Mike, who is a less active, and he just lost his job and is struggling right now, but he went to the Priesthood session and loved it. I think that will help him have the desire again to come to church.
We were working with these two amazing sisters and had some very spiritual lessons with them, but then it got more and more difficult to contact them. I loved them so much and they were just breaking my heart. We finally found Alice at home and she told us that she doesn't want to learn anymore and it's just too hard. Oh that just knocked the wind out of me, it was so sudden. I know she will have another opportunity to remember the things that we taught her, but man oh man that was hard to hear. Of course the Lord is completely aware of us and continues to show us miracles. We received a refferal and we were finally able to meet with her. Her name is Sherrie, and she found out about our faith because she loves food storage and everytime she would look up information, it would always bring her to our faith. So she felt that she needed to learn more about our values and standards. We invited a couple from our ward, the Barrs, and they are amazing. They remind me so much of you mom and dad, just their humor and the way they dress, and oh I just love it. They brought so much to the lesson and we really able to connect with her. Her family has no idea she is investigating the church and so I'm hoping she can stay strong through opposition.
We are continuing to work with Tina, and hoping that she will really start to progress. She wants to come to church but it's hard because she has 7 children and no car. Luckily she has been able to meet our ward mission leader and his wife and a couple of members of our ward, so they are so willing to help out.
The weather is absolutely nuts here, I have never heard or seen thunder and lightning storms like I have here. This morning while we were getting ready, it started thundering and we started seeing all this flashing and the house shook for a good minute. Oh my we were a bit nervous! No tornado sirens though:) Loooovvvvveeeee you all:))))))))))))))
Love,
Sister Erica Lamb
Conference was amazing and it made me and Sister V. homesick. I just loved every minute of it though and it was fun watching it at the church. I was so amazed at how so many questions that I have pondered over this past week were answered during conference. My testimony of my Savior and for President Monson have increased so much! We didn't have any investigators come unfortunately but we had some less actives watch it and I was so glad they came. We have been working with this guy Mike, who is a less active, and he just lost his job and is struggling right now, but he went to the Priesthood session and loved it. I think that will help him have the desire again to come to church.
We were working with these two amazing sisters and had some very spiritual lessons with them, but then it got more and more difficult to contact them. I loved them so much and they were just breaking my heart. We finally found Alice at home and she told us that she doesn't want to learn anymore and it's just too hard. Oh that just knocked the wind out of me, it was so sudden. I know she will have another opportunity to remember the things that we taught her, but man oh man that was hard to hear. Of course the Lord is completely aware of us and continues to show us miracles. We received a refferal and we were finally able to meet with her. Her name is Sherrie, and she found out about our faith because she loves food storage and everytime she would look up information, it would always bring her to our faith. So she felt that she needed to learn more about our values and standards. We invited a couple from our ward, the Barrs, and they are amazing. They remind me so much of you mom and dad, just their humor and the way they dress, and oh I just love it. They brought so much to the lesson and we really able to connect with her. Her family has no idea she is investigating the church and so I'm hoping she can stay strong through opposition.
We are continuing to work with Tina, and hoping that she will really start to progress. She wants to come to church but it's hard because she has 7 children and no car. Luckily she has been able to meet our ward mission leader and his wife and a couple of members of our ward, so they are so willing to help out.
The weather is absolutely nuts here, I have never heard or seen thunder and lightning storms like I have here. This morning while we were getting ready, it started thundering and we started seeing all this flashing and the house shook for a good minute. Oh my we were a bit nervous! No tornado sirens though:) Loooovvvvveeeee you all:))))))))))))))
Love,
Sister Erica Lamb
Monday, March 28, 2011
Oh the adventures just keep coming here in Anderson!!!! We had an amazing experience last Tuesday while tracting. We received a refferal and so we went to see if they were home, and they weren't so we tracted on that street, because there is probably a reason that we were sent there. So we tracted the neighborhood and talked to a lady who was baptized years ago but she and her husband had a bad experience with missionaries and so they stopped going to church. We started talking to her on her front porch and the Spirit was so present there and I can't even tell you what we said but it was wonderful. We talked her for about half an hour and we just bore pure testimony the entire time. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read Alma 32 which is one my FAVORITE chapters. We were walking back home and we just were on such a spiritual high and we were so happy!!! We went to visit her yesterday and she read the chapter but she still has lots of questions but oh she is wonderful and we were so thankful to be led purely by the Spirit.
We had interviews with President and Sister Collins this past week in Muncie and it was AMAZING. Oh I love them so very much and they really helped uplift my spirits and not let the slow progress of the area get me down. One thing that has stuck with me that President Collins told me after I expressed my discouragment was that people have their agency and we are doing everything that we can. He also told me to imagine how Heavenly Father must have felt to see 1/3 of His children walk away after they knew the whole plan, they still walked away. So even though the area is having a tough time right now, Sister V. and I are still going and going.
Oh my goodness last Wednesday was the craziest night EVER! We went to dinner at the Michaels, and then Sister Michaels went with us to a lesson. The weather was absolutely beautiful that day and then it just turned for the worst...Rain...Wind....lots and lots of wind. So she is driving us home and we hear the tornado sirens going off!!! So she calls her husband and he tells us that there is a tornado warning and so we turned on the radio and they are saying the same thing on all the radio stations. So we finally get home and we ran to our basement with flashlights, pillows, and scriptures and waited the storm out. We called our district leader and apparently it wasn't bad where he is serving in Marion, but luckily there was no damage:) It was kind of scary though for a minute, 2 girls from Utah, we had no idea what to do! We just laughed the rest of the night though!
On Saturday I did exchanges with Sister Humphreys and she came to my area and we had a good full day and I was able to learn a lot from her. She was companions with Sister Summers in the MTC and she is great. She is serving in the Kokomo area, which is a little over an hour from my area. We had a lot of fun! I am so excited for conference this weekend. A member of the bishopric made us little fliers to pass out to those that we come in contact with so we are hoping we get a lot of people at the church this weekend.
I love you all so much and thank you for all your love and support!!!! The weather is staying fairly nice so we are walking a TON but it feels so good!
Love,
Sister Erica Lamb
We had interviews with President and Sister Collins this past week in Muncie and it was AMAZING. Oh I love them so very much and they really helped uplift my spirits and not let the slow progress of the area get me down. One thing that has stuck with me that President Collins told me after I expressed my discouragment was that people have their agency and we are doing everything that we can. He also told me to imagine how Heavenly Father must have felt to see 1/3 of His children walk away after they knew the whole plan, they still walked away. So even though the area is having a tough time right now, Sister V. and I are still going and going.
Oh my goodness last Wednesday was the craziest night EVER! We went to dinner at the Michaels, and then Sister Michaels went with us to a lesson. The weather was absolutely beautiful that day and then it just turned for the worst...Rain...Wind....lots and lots of wind. So she is driving us home and we hear the tornado sirens going off!!! So she calls her husband and he tells us that there is a tornado warning and so we turned on the radio and they are saying the same thing on all the radio stations. So we finally get home and we ran to our basement with flashlights, pillows, and scriptures and waited the storm out. We called our district leader and apparently it wasn't bad where he is serving in Marion, but luckily there was no damage:) It was kind of scary though for a minute, 2 girls from Utah, we had no idea what to do! We just laughed the rest of the night though!
On Saturday I did exchanges with Sister Humphreys and she came to my area and we had a good full day and I was able to learn a lot from her. She was companions with Sister Summers in the MTC and she is great. She is serving in the Kokomo area, which is a little over an hour from my area. We had a lot of fun! I am so excited for conference this weekend. A member of the bishopric made us little fliers to pass out to those that we come in contact with so we are hoping we get a lot of people at the church this weekend.
I love you all so much and thank you for all your love and support!!!! The weather is staying fairly nice so we are walking a TON but it feels so good!
Love,
Sister Erica Lamb
Monday, March 21, 2011
Well this week has been so nice and warm! It's been nice to be outside more and enjoy the sunshine:) It actually makes knocking on doors all day bearable. The area is slowly progressing but we are enduring and knowing that we are doing our very best. We have had some memorable visits especially with less actives and recent converts. We are definitely getting our foot in the door so that the ward members can transtition and help them, since we move around all the time. The ward has been great at making an effort to help us make these transisitons, so we have some great appointments set up for the upcoming week.
The other night we had a lesson with a Spanish family, yeah didn't think I would have to learn spanish. There are no Spanish Elders in our area so we are teaching them:) The daughter speaks English but the parents don't so we brought a member of the ward, Bro. Gill, to help translate. Luckily we have Spanish editions of the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we use, so I have been studying up on those so I am slowly understanding what they are saying. We had a refferal that wanted a Book of Mormon and they are Spanish as well, so that's been a highlight:)))))
Like I mentioned earlier our work with less actives has been pretty effective this week and hopefully it will help them remember the importance of coming to church and those feelings that they had. My personal study has been improving a lot this week and I have been able to study the lessons but I am able to apply it more to their personal situations. Yesterday, in sacrament meeting, the topic was Joseph Smith, and one of the Bishopric was reading the account of Joseph Smith when he went into the grove of trees to pray. As I was following along in my Book of Mormon, I was touched by the part where as he started to pray he was overcome by a dark feeling that almost took over but he continued to pray and the light came. I think a lot of us go through experiences like that where we just have to keep going and the light will come. I was reading a talk by Jeffery R. Holland, 'None were with Him' and I know that the Savior went through those experiences that he did and was alone for a time so we never have to be alone. I am coming to know my Savior more than I ever thought I could and I want others to have that comfort too. We taught a woman, Sister Wilkerson, the other day and she is incredible! She taught herself how to read by reading the Book of Mormon, yeah she gets so excited when we come over. We read with her 3 Nephi 11 and she just got so excited when we read that when the Savior comes and teaches the people. I love that chapter and I keep reading it over and over:)
It's still been a tough week, with a lot of appointments that keep falling through or we go to visit some people and we can see that that they are there but won't answer the door. I think people can be scared of change, but we see so much potential in them, they are breaking my heart. Sister Vanderhooft and I felt the Spirit so strongly in those lessons, and so it is hard to swallow when they don't want to meet with us anymore. We have been keeping them in our prayers though and we won't give up on them yet. Sister Vanderhooft and I have been doing well at being motivated as we tract and we know that we just have to bear simple, pure testimony on a doorstep and it's amazing that the Spirit can touch people for a short time, even if they don't want to learn more. We just need to keep going and love as the Savior did.
Sister Vanderhooft is so encouraging and is helping so much, oh my goodness she is just the bees knees:) Every night before we go to bed, after our prayers, we tell each other something that great that the other did that day. We have definitely been doing well at looking at the good in each day and seeing the Lords hand in the work. We got called a jazebelle the other day, so the only thing we could do was laugh and tell ourselves that I guess we aren't frumpy then:))))) I have been learning how to be sweetly bold, as Sister Collins would say, and some people just need to hear it straightforward. We also started talking to this lady and her son on their doorstep, they are very Catholic, and they were asking questions of our beliefs and why the Book of Mormon is necessary. Then she mentioned something that made me sad, she believes that when we get to heaven that we won't be with our families and that we will just be brothers and sisters but won't recognize each other; she told us she won't recognize her son and that it's just temporary. We testified that we know we will be with our families for eternity and that it's a good thing and that is part of the plan of a loving Heavenly Father, she didn't believe us. She was very nice, but it's just sad because that doesn't sound like heaven to me. Yeah I have definitely heard it all this week, and my knuckles are starting to have caluses on them:)
I cannot wait for General Conference to come!!! Sister Vanderhooft mentioned a great way to get more out of general conference, as missionaries we are like pitchers of water and we are constantly pouring our water out to others and general conference is a chance to fill our pitchers back up. A member of the bishopric is making fliers for us so that we can invite those that we come in contact with to come watch general conference.
We have interviews with President Collins this week and I'm looking forward to that, oh my heavens he is so amazing. We email a letter to him every week and he responds every week, I just can't imagine reading through 150 emails a week and responding to them personally! He's amazing:) Love you tons and thank you for your prayers, I truly have been able to feel that strength!!!! Big Hug, Little Kiss, Little Hug, Big Kiss
Love,
Sister Lamb
The other night we had a lesson with a Spanish family, yeah didn't think I would have to learn spanish. There are no Spanish Elders in our area so we are teaching them:) The daughter speaks English but the parents don't so we brought a member of the ward, Bro. Gill, to help translate. Luckily we have Spanish editions of the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we use, so I have been studying up on those so I am slowly understanding what they are saying. We had a refferal that wanted a Book of Mormon and they are Spanish as well, so that's been a highlight:)))))
Like I mentioned earlier our work with less actives has been pretty effective this week and hopefully it will help them remember the importance of coming to church and those feelings that they had. My personal study has been improving a lot this week and I have been able to study the lessons but I am able to apply it more to their personal situations. Yesterday, in sacrament meeting, the topic was Joseph Smith, and one of the Bishopric was reading the account of Joseph Smith when he went into the grove of trees to pray. As I was following along in my Book of Mormon, I was touched by the part where as he started to pray he was overcome by a dark feeling that almost took over but he continued to pray and the light came. I think a lot of us go through experiences like that where we just have to keep going and the light will come. I was reading a talk by Jeffery R. Holland, 'None were with Him' and I know that the Savior went through those experiences that he did and was alone for a time so we never have to be alone. I am coming to know my Savior more than I ever thought I could and I want others to have that comfort too. We taught a woman, Sister Wilkerson, the other day and she is incredible! She taught herself how to read by reading the Book of Mormon, yeah she gets so excited when we come over. We read with her 3 Nephi 11 and she just got so excited when we read that when the Savior comes and teaches the people. I love that chapter and I keep reading it over and over:)
It's still been a tough week, with a lot of appointments that keep falling through or we go to visit some people and we can see that that they are there but won't answer the door. I think people can be scared of change, but we see so much potential in them, they are breaking my heart. Sister Vanderhooft and I felt the Spirit so strongly in those lessons, and so it is hard to swallow when they don't want to meet with us anymore. We have been keeping them in our prayers though and we won't give up on them yet. Sister Vanderhooft and I have been doing well at being motivated as we tract and we know that we just have to bear simple, pure testimony on a doorstep and it's amazing that the Spirit can touch people for a short time, even if they don't want to learn more. We just need to keep going and love as the Savior did.
Sister Vanderhooft is so encouraging and is helping so much, oh my goodness she is just the bees knees:) Every night before we go to bed, after our prayers, we tell each other something that great that the other did that day. We have definitely been doing well at looking at the good in each day and seeing the Lords hand in the work. We got called a jazebelle the other day, so the only thing we could do was laugh and tell ourselves that I guess we aren't frumpy then:))))) I have been learning how to be sweetly bold, as Sister Collins would say, and some people just need to hear it straightforward. We also started talking to this lady and her son on their doorstep, they are very Catholic, and they were asking questions of our beliefs and why the Book of Mormon is necessary. Then she mentioned something that made me sad, she believes that when we get to heaven that we won't be with our families and that we will just be brothers and sisters but won't recognize each other; she told us she won't recognize her son and that it's just temporary. We testified that we know we will be with our families for eternity and that it's a good thing and that is part of the plan of a loving Heavenly Father, she didn't believe us. She was very nice, but it's just sad because that doesn't sound like heaven to me. Yeah I have definitely heard it all this week, and my knuckles are starting to have caluses on them:)
I cannot wait for General Conference to come!!! Sister Vanderhooft mentioned a great way to get more out of general conference, as missionaries we are like pitchers of water and we are constantly pouring our water out to others and general conference is a chance to fill our pitchers back up. A member of the bishopric is making fliers for us so that we can invite those that we come in contact with to come watch general conference.
We have interviews with President Collins this week and I'm looking forward to that, oh my heavens he is so amazing. We email a letter to him every week and he responds every week, I just can't imagine reading through 150 emails a week and responding to them personally! He's amazing:) Love you tons and thank you for your prayers, I truly have been able to feel that strength!!!! Big Hug, Little Kiss, Little Hug, Big Kiss
Love,
Sister Lamb
Monday, March 14, 2011
Hello my lovely family,
Sorry I didn't write back last week:(((((( It's been one of those weeks that's for sure. Sister Vanderhooft and I have been continuing to have a blast and just enduring especially these last couple of weeks. I am so thankful for you all and for the wonderful blessing that family is. It has been hard to see a lot of families that don't have the Spirit in their home and we are trying to help them get that but it's so hard.
The ward has been so great to us and are always so willing to go to appointments with us and they are a strong ward. A member passed away 2 weeks ago from cancer and we went to the funeral and she was an amazing lady. She used to be in the tabernacle choir and her and her husband served their mission at temple square. He said that all the sister missionaries loved her because she would always give them massages:) My testimony has been strengthened of the plan of salvation, that's for sure.
We had an awesome district meeting last week and we all testified of the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong and I love the Book of Mormon so much!!!! We are definitely using the power of the Book of Mormon in our lessons and when we tract. Then Sister Vanderhooft and I went and listened to Jeffery R. Hollands talk that he gave a couple of conferences ago, 'Safety for the Soul' oh my goodness I get chills everytime I listen to it. I know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and it really can change people's hearts. I didn't realize that Indiana was in the bible belt, so I've been studying the Bible as well and becoming more familiar and helping people understand that the Bible and the Book of Mormon support each other. A lot of people don't accept that, but we have our testimonies to stand on.
This past week has been hard, just because we have had these golden first lessons with potential investigators and then they just dropped off the face of the earth. So it's been a rough time just knowing that they felt the Spirit and so did we and then they just aren't interested anymore. It's been hard to swallow that and to keep going, but Sister V. and I had a really good talk last night and we are going to keep going and going and know that the Lord is on our side.
I love you all and miss you dearly!!!!!!
love,
sister erica lamb
Sorry I didn't write back last week:(((((( It's been one of those weeks that's for sure. Sister Vanderhooft and I have been continuing to have a blast and just enduring especially these last couple of weeks. I am so thankful for you all and for the wonderful blessing that family is. It has been hard to see a lot of families that don't have the Spirit in their home and we are trying to help them get that but it's so hard.
The ward has been so great to us and are always so willing to go to appointments with us and they are a strong ward. A member passed away 2 weeks ago from cancer and we went to the funeral and she was an amazing lady. She used to be in the tabernacle choir and her and her husband served their mission at temple square. He said that all the sister missionaries loved her because she would always give them massages:) My testimony has been strengthened of the plan of salvation, that's for sure.
We had an awesome district meeting last week and we all testified of the Book of Mormon and the spirit was so strong and I love the Book of Mormon so much!!!! We are definitely using the power of the Book of Mormon in our lessons and when we tract. Then Sister Vanderhooft and I went and listened to Jeffery R. Hollands talk that he gave a couple of conferences ago, 'Safety for the Soul' oh my goodness I get chills everytime I listen to it. I know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and it really can change people's hearts. I didn't realize that Indiana was in the bible belt, so I've been studying the Bible as well and becoming more familiar and helping people understand that the Bible and the Book of Mormon support each other. A lot of people don't accept that, but we have our testimonies to stand on.
This past week has been hard, just because we have had these golden first lessons with potential investigators and then they just dropped off the face of the earth. So it's been a rough time just knowing that they felt the Spirit and so did we and then they just aren't interested anymore. It's been hard to swallow that and to keep going, but Sister V. and I had a really good talk last night and we are going to keep going and going and know that the Lord is on our side.
I love you all and miss you dearly!!!!!!
love,
sister erica lamb
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