Kenosha South, WI. Mission Email #2

From: Camille Weller [mailto:camille.weller@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 11:39 AM
To: Melissa Wheatley
Subject: Kenosha!

So this past week has been madness so i will try to tell you all the highlights(:

5/14 Tuesday It was so good to get to talk to all of you! I loved hearing your voices! I didnt have anyone sitting next to me on either flight so i tried to sleep but it didnt do much good. I was so tired when i got to milwaukee i didnt think i was going to make it through the day. The president, his wife, and the APs met us at the airport and took us to the presidents house, we ate lunch, got to take a little nap(soooo nice) and then had interviews with the president and the APs. Then we had dinner at the church and had a testimony meeting with all of us that had just got there. Everyone was falling asleep it was hilarious to see it when i got up to bear my testimony. I even fell asleep during the last song.. in the middle of singing.. haha it was great. We slept at the presidents house that night.

5/15 Wednesday: We went to the church to meet our companions, i found out i would be in a trio with sister barnes as my trainer and sister vance as my other companion( because they dont know when i will leave) I'm not speaking spanish here but my trainer is fluent in spanish and we have language study an hour a day so hopefully i can keep it fresh on my mind! We had orientation and then went and took our stuff the the apartment and got straight to work! We went and tracted and tried to get in touch with a head quarter referal but didnt have any luck. On the way to dinner i was just really down, i wasnt feeling like i could do this whole mission thing and i really missed my family, then a song came on that i knew i recognized from somewhere... it was Hello Sunshine by mercy river and i remembered Yvonne telling me that i needed to listen to that song when i was home sick or having a hard time... I knew the lord was reminding me of how much support i have back home and to just keep trying. We had dinner with the Peacheys a recent convert family and they were the sweetest, they live in a trailer park, and you could say i felt right at home(: After dinner i had a feeling we should walk to our appointment we had that night, right as we left the apartment we saw a lady parked in the entrance to another apartement complex, she stopped us and asked if we were from a church and said she was looking for a new church.... are you kidding me?? haha She took a book of mormon and we set up an appointment with her for sunday, you could say we were all pretty pumped up after that! We didnt have much luck after that but we did get to visit with a less active member so that was good!

5/16 Thursday: We have a park right next to us so we get to go run there in the mornings, we had weekly planning which takes like 3 hours so after studies thats pretty much what we did all afternoon. We went to Culvers for lunch... AMAZING! They have butterburgers. i dont know what that means but there so good and then they have deep fried cheese curds! mom you would love them! Then we did some service and helped the Aikens an investigator family whose son went on a mission and just got back, the mom is getting baptized next month so thats really exciting! We helped them clean their basement which was spider central but it was fun getting to help them! Then we went back to get in contact with kurt the head quarter referal, and it got very interesting... The first thing he said when we started talking was "maybe i can teach you something today." haha he proceeded to tell us how we were sinning because we were woman and we were trying to teach a man and how eve was the reason of sin and all this stuff and then told us that he was going to start his own church.. needless to say we left as soon as we could but it was a very interesting experience(:

5/17 Friday: i noticed that there are squirrels everywhere here! haha they're so cute (: We met with a less active family, the Christiansens and they were so awesome, their house is jammed packed with nick nacks and they chatted for quite some time with us. haha we tracted for a bit and then went to meet with sister bitner an investigator that is trying to quit smoking. shes so sweet, she is wheelchair bound and just broke her ankle so its been a struggle to get her to church. we might just have to walk her next week! It was really cold that night and i seriously started to wonder what i was doing here. People litteraly run away from us. A lady turned around and told her kids to hurry, a guy doing lawn work dropped his weed wacker and went inside and another guy walking his dog crossed the street. haha its not an easy work out here but as i thought of how hard this is i remembered the Savior and how much he was rejected and everthing he went through and i remembered that my life isnt so bad, i can handle getting doors slammed in my face and people saying no.

5/18 Saturday: We visited some more less active families and heard some cools stories from one family, the Alwards that the wife went on a mission so she told us some interesting things that had happend to her. We visited with another Lady sister Goliher and her daughter, she said she hadnt been to church in years but new she probably should, were hoping to work with her and get here more active. We tracted a lot and didnt have really any success... i was really missing home and just wanted to give up but thats why we have sundays(:

5/19 Sunday: Finally we got to go to church and talk to people who actually wanted to talk to us! I never thought i would appreciate an actual conversation as much as i do now. The bishop had the new missionaries get up and introduce our selves and bear our testimonies so that was fun. Then the speakers in sacrament and the lesson in relief society were on the two talks from conference on missionary work! Which was sooooo what i needed to hear. The best part was this black lady who sat behind us who is an investigator of the Elders and after everything the speaker would say she would say something like.. oh yeah, thats true, i believe that, yes we do, mmmhmmm, or something to that effect after almost everything he said. haha it was great. We had correlation with the ward missionaries and then we had our lesson with Tammy, the lady that had stopped us on wednesday.. It went perfectly. Her son and her husband were there and she was so interested in everything we were teaching and pretty much already beleived in everything our church believes in. She had been catholic and baptist and just didnt feel like either were right, we taught her the restoration and the plan of salvation and asked if she had ever felt the spirit before, she said she hadnt, but at the end of the lesson pointed to her heart and said she could feel it... she agreed to be baptized and we have another lesson with her on wednesday!! Her husband and son didnt seem as interested but still asked a lot of questions and want to learn more! I was so happy as we left her house. I know that the Lord has prepared people for us to teach and to help, and if thats only one person the whole time im out here than thats okay! I really needed that lesson and im thankful for the opportunity to teach and be out here! Even though its really hard and i get discouraged at times i know it will be worth it. We had dinner that night at the Bostons, a cute younger family in the ward with two other families from the ward, one of them is getting sealed in the temple in a couple weeks! So exciting! Two of the husbands were RMs so we all joked and they told us their funny stories, it was great, sister Boston reminds me a lot of nikki. Made me miss her and the whole fam. but thats an everyday thing(:

5/20 Monday (PDAY) We stopped on our way here by the lake, and it is so gorgeous!! We come to the library to email so thats kind of cool, thats it for today so far(:

So yeah, life out here is good! its hard work but its good! I do miss my mountains and my family though! Mark would love it here though, every house i've been in has packers stuff everywhere and like every car and just everything is packers here. haha

Make sure you all try to feed the missionaries as much as you can! I get taken care of very well out here but i know how much i love having dinner appointments! And help them, i know its scary but give them referals and people they can teach.

Another thing i want to invite you all to do is to take time to pray out loud once in a while, it makes such a difference to say the words instead of just think them! Also how is everyone doing on the commmitment i left with you at the airport?? (: Another thing i want you to do is to pray to know if the book of mormon is true. I know most of you probably have but do it again. I know that if you do you will recieve another testiment of its truth. Also read the introduction to the Book of mormon, especially pay attention to the last to paragraphs of it and the promises that are said!(:

I love you all and i miss you!! I am doing so good and Cant wait to write you next week! Write me letters and keep me updated with all of your lives!! The church is true(:

love,

Sister Weller! (: