Monday, October 31, 2016

Letter #15 - Another Transfer in Denton

October 31, 2016






Dear Family and Friends, 

Well transfer calls came this morning and I will be spending another transfer here, and my companion is going to another area. The weather remains nice here (it's been mid 80s all week), so I'm not sad to stay. I know my new companion (I've talked to her on several occasions), but I cannot spell her name, so more on that next week. 

This past week we went on exchanges with our sister training leaders This time I stayed in Denton while my companion went to the other area. Because I was staying in the area, I got to drive for the first time in over three months. As such, we spent most of our time together in the car trying to figure out how to get to places. I'm not sure who will be driving this next transfer, but it was really good practice. I know that I at least know how to get to the church and home, which is comforting because it's pretty far out. 

Today is Halloween. We've been told not to go tracting, but we can still do other normal missionary activities. I'll be hanging out with the ward at our Trunk-Or-Treat activity. The ward is combining with two other wards and the missionaries are in charge of the popcorn booth and judging some contests. It should be fun. For P-Day all the missionaries are planning on getting together and carving pumpkins, so that should be fun.  

I hope all of you are well!

Love, Sister Prue

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Letter #14 - Scripture Power!

October 24, 2016



Dear Family and Friends, 

This week was a good week. One thing that I've really enjoyed doing since I've been out here is taking members on exchanges with us who have never been out with missionaries. I love it because I know I would have been uncomfortable doing exactly what they are doing and yet they are leaving their comfort zones just to help us out. And I like having another beginner out there with me. Unfortunately I think in every instance our appointment has cancelled, but all of them have been willing to go out and do some running around with us and have ended up having a positive experience that has helped build their testimony and my testimony. I am so grateful for the members here!
We had some good experiences with some less active members that we decided to try talking to. We had never heard of most of them, but were able to share a message with all of them and one of them even told us that God had sent us to her in her time of need. She even asked us for a return appointment! It felt really good to know that maybe we are doing something right and are being led by the Spirit even if we didn't recognize it at the time. Also being built: my testimony of the back-up plan. These experiences were only made possible because we had come up with a back up plan for an appointment we had set. We are always supposed to have a back-up plan, but it's something I'm not very good at doing. We're getting better though!
We also were able to hand out more copies of the Book of Mormon than we have been handing out lately and these have been quality placements. The recipients have been reading them and one of them that we followed up with has really enjoyed it so far. They are feeling the Spirit that comes into their lives as they read the Book of Mormon and they hunger for more. I know that the Book of Mormon has been a great source of comfort and strength to me out on my mission and I am grateful to have had experiences in the past that let me bear witness of it's power in our lives as I teach others. 

ALSO- Next Monday I find out if I will be transferred or not. Transfers are on Nov. 2nd, so I wouldn't send any mail from now until I let you know where I will be next transfer. For some reason the mail has been slower than usual in getting to me. Thanks :)

Love, 
Sister Prue

Monday, October 17, 2016

Letter #13 - Mission Tour

October 17, 2017




This week was exciting because we got to hear from Elder Kim B. Clark.  I think one of the things that I and my companion took away from the experience is that we need to be committed to our investigators. When we commit them to doing something then we need to be committed to helping them keep their commitments. My companion and I took that to heart during weekly planning the following day. We talked about our commitment level to the people that we have been trying to get in contact with. We talked about some of the things we need to do in order to show and be committed to helping them succeed and receive the restored gospel. I also enjoyed what was said about love being a gift from God and that we need to pray as well as act in order to have that love for those we interact with. I have been praying for an increase in love for my companion as well as those that we meet while out and about. Another thing I learned from the meeting is that God really does want us to do better and he lets us know how, but he never does it in a way that discourages us. The Lord and his servants always encourage. The Spirit encourages and inspires us to do better. He doesn't demand or demean. I have also been working on trying to talk to everyone, even if it is just a hello. The more I practice, the more comfortable I become and the closer I move toward making bigger improvements. I love you all and hope you are well! Thanks for all the support :)

Love, 
Sister Prue

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Letter #12 - Short and Sweet

October 10, 2016



It's another holiday, which means typing on my iPad, which means I'm
going to keep it short. Yesterday marked two months in Texas. Crazy.
This week we will have a conference with Elder Kim B. Clark, which is
cool because he is the former president of BYU-I and used to be in my
ward. We also will have a few other meetings, so it will be lighter on
typical missionary work. We've been working more and more with the
members and one day we went on a four hour exchange with one of the
counselors in the bishopric and his wife. We worked on the ward's
search and rescue list. We knocked on houses to try and locate the
member, although in these cases we already knew they didn't live there
any longer, so another step was to talk to their neighbors to see if
anyone knew where they went. Our ward receives bread donations from
Panera bread and so we took bread with us when we went to talk to the
neighbors and we left bread with them. We were able to teach a lesson
along the way and we also bumped into someone at one of the addresses
who is looking for a church. It was a good experience and the ward
hopes to continue to utilize us in this way. I've also been working on
reading the General conference talks. Mostly I read priesthood
session's talks. They were all ready good. I liked the one about the
Book of Mormon and also President Utchdorf's talk about Alma and
Amulek. Anyway, hopefully a longer letter next week. Have a great
week!
Love, Sister Prue

Monday, October 3, 2016

Letter #11 - Conference Weekend is the Best

October 3, 2016




Dear Friends and Family,

General conference has always been a highlight in my life, but as a missionary it is even better. It's interesting to see how the apostles and other leaders teach the principles that we as missionaries are supposed to be teaching every day. And there were a ton of really good talks about missionary work, so that's always a bonus :) I liked what Elder Rasband talked about when he said that we need to record the spiritual experiences we have, so that when times get tough, we can look back at them and remember the feelings and experiences we have had with the Spirit. They told us that at the MTC and said we should be recording specific experiences to look back at when things got tough in the field. Conference does significantly reduce the time you spend out tracting and doing regular missionary work though. However, it is nice to break up the routine every once in awhile.

This week my companion and I got to have the mission president observe our companionship study. It was fun to have him and his wife study with us. They were able to offer suggestions for the lessons we were planning for the people we were going to meet with that day. They were more participants than observers, which was nice. Thanks for all the letters and e-mails this week! It's always nice to hear from all of you and see and hear about the changes that are happening in your lives!

Love, 
Sister Prue