Happy 4th: D&C 101:80
This is where I'll be the duration of my mission:
When I was a child I used to look at this part of the country (Maine) and wonder who would ever live up there. Little did I know that I would serve my mission in the most beautiful part of the country. YARMOUTH MAINE BRANCH: where the LLBean headquarters is (Freeport) and definitely one of the most affluent areas of the mission. The members do the less active contacting. They even fill the font up for baptisms. They allow us to focus all our efforts on MISSIONARY WORK. The trick will be coordinating our efforts, which takes trust and lots of patience.
I finally made it to the ocean.
I said it a long time ago, but nature praises God without saying a word. You just FEEL His presence when you're in the thick of it. A lifelong goal I have is to be like nature, and praise God as one of His greatest creations without saying a word. I want to make wherever I am holy. I feel power in consecrating my efforts to the Lord, this is His time, and His errand. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven. We can praise Him through our actions as we sacrifice our will. Humbly, we serve Him without thought of our own selfish desires. When we think of ourselves less, our soul is enlarged. We feel ALIVE. Again, as I've said in previous emails, the realest of realities.
While reading 2 Nephi 9 this morning the Lord affirmed to me that the only protection we have is our own will. We are slaves when we give it away, ensnared in the adversaries chains. So clearly I understood the need for a redeemer. Like Nephi I echo, "oh how merciful is our God!"
This area is anodyne to my stressed soul. I can breathe. We wake up wicked early to go running; I feel refreshed. Not knowing the area has allowed me to step back and repair myself. I feel like I can move forward with all energy even though I hardly know the area. Sister Westling (the dry, heinously hilarious companion I've been waiting for my whole mission) has only been here for a transfer (and only has two transfers left), so we're learning it together. Neither of us have any idea where we are going (praise the GPS, what would I do without it). I can't wait until I know the branch better and the area. This branch is INCREDIBLE! We have a baptism this Sunday and the ward has enveloped Allie in LOVE.
ALLIE: She love essential oils, running, meditating, and pondering the Book of Mormon. She's intrenched in its words. She spends an hour every night meditating and praying. She's all about body, mind, and soul. She lives on the ocean. Oh how I LOVE HER!!!! She's the person I've always wanted to teach! Our whole branch is like this! We spent lunch Sunday with her and her longtime friend Jeff. We ended up teaching the Restoration and have plans to teach him again. He agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, come to Allie's baptism and church, and meet with us again.
Every meal I've eaten has been straight out of someone's garden. I'm so happy and feel so good all the time! My energy has come back as I've allowed myself to breathe more. I honestly don't know how I made it alive out of Manchester, I ran (literally) around that city for 6 months with my head chopped off. Leaving Sister Collins was close to impossible. She's always on my mind, and I just pray that she's doing alright.
We've seen some miracles from the SMR lessons we've been teaching at doors and have RETURN APPOINTMENTS and NEW INVESTIGATORS that have accepted soft baptismal commitments (will you be baptized if you come to know this is true, more or less). There are so many places here that have never seen missionaries before, the area is so large, there's so much to do. The trick is to just TEACH. They say it in Preach My Gospel, whatever your approach, refer quickly and simply to the Restoration. It works... some of the time! So far people have been either REALLY NICE or EXTREMELY RUDE. There hasn't been a middle ground.
The Lord can't work through an already decided mind. So if you think they won't accept the Gospel when you talk with them, chances are they won't.
4th of July: We went downtown Freeport to the PARADE to get in contact with the public. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated by all the people. We talked to many. One of the boyscout leaders came up to us and asked us some questions about what we believe. He was polite, but declined a return appointment. We went to a family BBQ with a bunch of families from the branch, I felt like I was in Utah. I haven't seen that many children in one house on my mission. We spent the duration of the day weekly planning and going through the areabook.
At transfers I pointed to Sister Westling and told her I was going to be her final companion. I told everyone I was going to Yarmouth, I was certain that's where I was headed. Sure enough, I was called to Yarmouth to be with Sister Westling! She goes home in less than two transfers, then I have two transfers after that. The two sisters who were here previously both completed their missions (died) in this area.
She always makes silly faces in our photos. I love her already. We spend 80% of our time laughing when we aren't teaching.
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