Journal Entry from 06/13/12 - Brent and Nancy*

June 13, 2012

Today I met Brent and Nancy. they gave me a gift! it was some virginia blown glass. it is a coaster for my drinks! i love coasters. but it was so cool that they just were prepared to meet me and wow. so Brent was voluntarily ex-ed...he believes in the BOM and we go to read with them but he believes that not all of Joseph's teachings were inspired by God like polygamy and just that because he is man not everything can be trusted so he believes the book and not the church but he really did not want to talk about the disaggreements he has with the church because he doesnt want us, his guests, to feel like we have to defend our beliefs and that we should be respected and not offended. so we just read from the book of mormon with them. and Nancy isnt a member and believes the book and i told her my views on polygamy because she asked. and it was cool. but their dog likes to lick people and it kept sneakin past me tryin to lick my arm every once in a while cuz i told it no. and then the dog got smart....i was asked to pray and we knelt down holdin hands and while i prayed the dumb ol' dog came and licked me right in the mouth. how could i say anything!? i was praying....smart dog. haha we laughed hard at that one!

Journal Entry from 06/13/12 - Shay*

June 13, 2012

So we went to teach Shay* and her mom Raelynn* was there. I was a little worried with Raelyn there cuz she is a definite Christian woman. and I just figured the way her personality was that she was gonna shun our message and that she would be the type to say I am good with My church. But we taught, and she listened. and It was SO COOL to see her participate in the lesson and listen intently and then we went to schedule another appointment and she wants to have a B.O.M. and she said she has all the time in the world when it comes to Bible studies. and That was sooo impressive. while we were there we got to try some mullberries and they in fact were delicious. Raelynn told me she would send some to Utah for me! that was tight! I really like these ladies! they rock!

Journal Entry from 06/13/12 - Maria*

June 13, 2012

We met with Maria*. and she has  a lot of depression. what bothers me is that she is paying for cable and tv but yet struggling for food and her depression meds, so the church helps. Food is a need! and to struggle to pay for that is scary! she says that she gets up routinely everyday yet the missionaries had to buy her a special alarm clock for sundays and call her. she is a convert for about a year now and i dont know how converted she is.
I want her to experience the atonement in her life so that she can change and let the atonement heal her wounds and her depression. she has a lot of grudges she is carrying and maybe that is what we need to talk about is forgiveness. I dont want to be judgemental on her because we should serve others according to her wants and i know she loves her children but if she is struggling for food....wouldnt that be a little more important than tv? just a thought. but i hope we can get her to that conversion because true conversion leads us to action and to healing. so we talked with her a little about that.

Journal Entry from 06/13/12 - Dan and Luke*

June 13, 2012

Today we saw Dan and Luke. Luke keeps making these lame excuses after he set up a plan to get to church and finally i just hammered down and we talked about how the gospel causes us to act and i called him out on how we made a plan for him to resolve his concern he just doesnt want to, but says he does. and we asked them why they wanted to have us over cuz they are both members. but mostly we were crackin the spiritual whip on Luke. and Luke made some dumb comment and Dan was like why are you lyin? haha he just like called him out and anyway at the end we said you know we are sorry for comin down but we want to make sure we are making a difference in your life, the gospel is all about you progressing because if we teach you somethin and it affects your spirit and you dont allow it to change your life then it's a waste of your time. wisdom can be of NO worth if we do nothing with it. but yeah Luke really doesnt care and at the end Dan was like i needed to hear that. dan has an addiction problem and is really working on it and has a bunch of health issues but it was so cool how we cracked down on Luke and Dan was like I needed that! so we left them with a question to ponder for the week "what have you done with what the missionaries have taught you, how has it changed your lives?" i really am so impressed with Dan. he is great! Luke...he is comin along and i hope he stops bein so there and just starts to enjoy life a little more.

Journal Entry from 06/12/12 - Todd

June 12, 2012

Todd* is in the hospital and we go to visit him and now we are teaching his daughter-in-law and her mom! but he is an old guy and his legs were having real issues and extreme restless leg syndrome. and i asked if we could rub them for him cuz he was trying to do it in his hospital bed but it just wasnt working out. so we rubbed his legs and even his feet. I dont know why i would ever do such a thing cuz his feet were real dry and yuck and just not something i can imagine doing. but for some reason it felt like the right thing to do and noorlander FREAKS when it comes to feet. but for some reason both of us were comforted and not grossed out and did that for him. it was a really neat experience and i dont wanna share it to brag in anyway. but when he prayed it was just so sincere and neat to hear him pray cuz i think he is losin it too. but it was so cool to just feel the comfort and it is so sad to see him struggling the way he has been. it was a neat way to feel the spirit.

Journal Entry from 06/12/12 - Nadine and Lanae

Week of June 12, 2012

We went to read some scriptures with Nadine and Lanae*. we asked them to memorize D&C 18:10 and Nadine totally did it! I am WAY proud of her. She expressed a desire to go to the temple and we told her it was gonna take a lot of hard work and dilligence. so I asked her about the drugs she has been using and we asked to take them to get rid of and she was like no way you will get in trouble havin those so she went to throw them away but we didnt want her to dig back through the garbage to get them and Noorlander said to flush them and when she was takin the trash we followed her thinkin she just was gonna trash 'em, and before she knew we were behind her she did dump them down the toilet and that was an AWESOME step! however she told us she can get them for free, so was that even a big deal for her? i dont know but she has TONS of issues and i wanna do my best to help her.

 

Journal Entry from 06/11/12 - Warm Springs, VA

June 11, 2012

Oh my gosh! I think I found another Heaven on Earth. It is called Warm Springs Virginia! It was SO BEAUTIFUL to see the wonders of God! we went for a hike on pday to the waterfalls and down below you could walk under neath it and it wasnt just like a regular river flowing but had different levels of natural pools and mini waterfalls and the green forest surrounding it was incredible. in one of the pools a man was baptized there! wow that would truly be so wonderful to experience. then we hiked above the falls and there were logs over the river we could sit on and other natural pools just chillin in a calm river and there was a rope swing in one of them and i was so tempted to swing into it. the water was SO CLEAR and BLUE! i have never seen anything like it! but dont worry i did get to pull up my pant legs and walk into the river! if it is real shallow you cant swim so that was allowed but also i did it to pick up some trash. I needed a good excuse to get in it :) but wow it was sure amazing! and the water was actually warm even in morning with the cool air so it was just perfect. hopefully someday i will get to come back to this spot.