Hi family,
I just realized that I'm on week 5 of this transfer! Maybe it's just me but it seems like this transfer has flown right by! It reminds me of a quote that one of my teachers had in their room, "The best way to kill time is by working it to death." Although I'm in no way trying to kill time, I've certainly seen that manifest! Sheesh!
So there were some questions asked about the Glennallen trip and if it's in our area. Yes, Glennallen is in our area, and honestly I'm not quite sure how large our area is. I'd imagine maybe about the size of Sanpete and Juab county combined, but possibly bigger. It's pretty huge, but like I mentioned we stay in Valdez except for about once a transfer when we visit the members in Glennallen. It's truly amazing to me how many people live in between Glennallen and Valdez. There are so many hidden houses off the highway. We have addresses on our roster that we tried to find when we were going out there but people make it pretty obvious that they're trying to hide, and even if we wanted to do any tracting out there, I'm sure President Beesley wouldn't be thrilled.. haha. The members in Glennallen are part of the Valdez ward, and sacrament meeting is broadcasted to the Glennallen building every Sunday. They have a Young Man that is about Bryce's age and he blesses and passes the sacrament every Sunday. It's a pretty amazing little building and it's always amazing the technology that we have to include those in the gospel of Jesus Christ, no matter where they live.
The daylight hours are getting longer and longer! We are now to the point that it's light when we go to bed, and it's light when we wake up. It makes it nice for waking up in the morning, but we might have to put foil on our windows again this summer so we can sleep at night! There is still snow on the ground, but with the warmer weather we've been having, I'd imagine it will all melt within the next couple weeks! Remember that picture I sent with the snow almost taller than me? Well we drove past that house yesterday and now the snow is only maybe six inches deep! So it melts fast, and as the days continue to get longer that will certainly speed up the melting!
For finding investigators we've been doing quite a bit of tracting, much more than I ever have before on my mission, but also working with the people that were former investigators have proved to be quite successful. The records were a mess when I came in so we've been really working on cleaning up the area book. We've found a ton of investigators in our area book with no drop notice on why they stopped investigating and most of them are so excited to see us and invite us right in! We also do a ton of service which has been so good in a small town like Valdez! We do much more walking then I have before as well, it's nice because the weather has been cooperating with us, and it gives us a chance to do more street contacting, and the members see us out and people have started to notice us more.
Speaking of service, we had a cool experience last Wednesday. We were invited to a volunteer luncheon for the Valdez Museum, and following the meal a lady came up to us and said, "I've seen you two walking around town and I just had to come and met you!" It was much the opposite of what I'm use to, but I'm not complaining!
Also we were invited to a dinner with the people at the food bank and there were like 20 people there! One of the ladies there was a referral we found on our potential investigator sheet and we hadn't caught her home, but she told us she'd love to sit down and talk to us soon! Some of the people we hadn't really had the chance to talk to before were asking us question about our missions and what we do all day! People's hearts are softening slowly, but surely!
The big weekend will be this next week! President and Sister Beesley, the departing missionaries, and the sister training leaders will all be coming down for the fireside this Sunday! We've just about figured out all the arrangements for sleeping, food, and service which is good. It's been so stressful trying to coordinate everything, but it's all coming together which is a blessing. It will be so nice to have that extra boost of the spirit this next week!
C, E and J are all progressing really well and keeping their commitments! It's so fun to see them making those steps to come closer to Christ, it makes every angry word or slammed door worth it!
I love this work! In 3 Nephi 11 there is a great example we can all learn from. As we know, this is the chapter when Christ comes to America. After three days of darkness and turmoil, they heard a voice, a small voice. It wasn't until the third time that they understood it. As verse five and six states, "And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came. And behold the third time they did understand the voice which they heard.." It wasn't until they stopped what they were doing, and they did open their ears and their eyes towards heaven and looked steadfastly to that direction that they understood the voice. We know the second coming is getting closer every day. Now is the time to focus our attention on the things that truly matter-the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must never forget who we are and why we are here! The voice of the world can seem really loud, but as we focus our attention on that voice, we won't miss it.
I love you all so much, thanks always for your love and support.
Love, Sister Hedelius
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