March 23, 2014, Kearney, Missouri

Dear Family,

Well, transfers have come and gone, and I am sticking around in Kearney. I did find out my MTC companion is being transferred to the Liberty Jail, and I haven't heard from her or seen her in 5 months, so I hope I will be able to see her sometime soon and catch up with her. Also, one of the sisters, Sister Harward, who came into the mission 2 transfers after me, was just transferred to Kearney 1st ward, so we get to see her often and have P-days together. Her and Sister Harris are like two peas in a pod; they are hilarious!! Things here in Kearney are same old, same old. As for my companion’s and my relationship, I think this has been the hardest week for us, and I know there are a lot of external things in my companion's personal life that are causing her stress and then adding stress into our already struggling relationship, so it has been hard! But I'm pretty sure we're both glad that its P-day and we have a chance to get a break from things and unwind. It always comes just in time.

 

Otherwise, I think my finger is getting slightly better. The swelling and bruising has gone down quite a bit. But cool MIRACLE! So, Sister Jarman and I went back to the clinic last Tuesday for a follow-up, and we had the same nurse we had the week before. She asked us a bunch of questions about missionary service, and our daily routine. We started telling her about our morning studies, which got us into a conversation about the Book of Mormon. AND we ended up offering a Book of Mormon to her and she accepted it! It was awesome and she said she would check it out J Miracle! Also, then the doctor who came and examined my finger turned out to be a member of the Church and we told him what happened and he said he would follow up with her. It was so awesome! I just wish we could tract into her, ha-ha!

Also, guess what?! I got to meet Elaine S Dalton (used to be General Young Women's President). There was a fireside in Liberty and we got our investigator Sam to go and she was so impressed with her talk. It was perfect because Sister Dalton always does a phenomenal job of talking about our divine nature as children of God and also about the importance of covenants and the temple. Of course those things just happened to be the topic. After the devotional we stood in line and talked with sister Dalton briefly and got to give her a hug and take a picture, Sam said the sweetest things to her and Sister Dalton was just beaming. I can't believe how gorgeous she still is for her age; it’s crazy!!

Also, do you know what last Thursday was?! It was the FULL EQUINOX! So we tried balancing an egg on its end, and guess what...we didn't just balance one, but we balanced two!! Awesome!! 

Another random thing, I don't think I ever told you, but my last companion, Sister Morris, and I made up our own lyrics to the cup song on a movie called "Pitch Perfect" and our member video taped it and put it on youtube. I'll have to email the link to you so you can watch it, ha-ha! Don't judge, the lyrics are sweet, but the video is kind of lame, also I look like a train wreck on it, because it was at the end of the night and I was probably at the gained a lot of weight, blaaaaaaah! But, hey, since that video I've lost ten pounds, woohoo! And we won our weight loss competition against our zone leaders. They weighed in at their starting weight, lol!

Also, Bishop gave us another referral. His son's girlfriend came to Dalton's baptism 3 weeks ago and she started reading the Book of Mormon after that, and now wants to take the discussions. We get to teach her the message of the restoration tonight! J So that's exciting, otherwise we had a pretty good week in the fact that we were able to make quite a bit of contact with less actives and finding out information about if they moved out of the area or not, so we're still working hard.

I know this church is true and I want to share a quote by President Uchtdorf that I put on my planner, that I have found a lot of strength in over the last couple weeks:

" There may be some among you who feel darkness encroaching upon you. You may feel burdened by worry, fear, or doubt. To you and to all of us, I repeat a wonderful and certain truth: God's light is real. It is available to all! It gives life to all things. It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn."

I know that God is real. I know that He is the only one who truly understands everything that is going on in our daily lives and what we are feeling. I know that He truly is the only one that we can go to, to pour out our hearts in gratitude and sorrow of things going on in our lives. I've come to the realization that when nobody seems to be there or it seems you can't tell anyone what is going on, you can tell Him. And as it says in James 1:5,".. [He] upbraideth not...", he will not judge nor criticize. He will be there full of understanding and love us unconditionally. I know our Father in Heaven loves each of us. I am grateful for this gospel and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and grow while I am out here on my mission.

I love you and I pray for you! There are days I wish I could just sit down and talk with you face to face, but obviously that's not possible, ha-ha!  Don't worry about me, I'm doing well and I hope you have a great week!

Love always,

Sister Luening