Nothing too exciting

Dear Family and Friends,
My time is short today so I'll just mention a few of this weeks highlights:

*It's only been spring for a few days, but I've already had the first sunburn of the season. Sister Morris and I were outside on Saturday for several hours and I didn't take any thought to the sun being on my neck until it was too late. I'll be stocking up on sunscreen later today.

*We got stopped by another cop at the end of last week. He was driving by and suddenly flipped a U to come and talk to us. We knew we hadn't done anything wrong, but I was quite nervous. It turned out to be a member of the Lake Villa 1 ward stopping to say "hello" and offer us a ride. Sadly, we were only walking about a block so his offer was declined. That would have been a great story to tell!

*Bro. Romig informed me that USU lost by 1 point in March Madness. Apparently, he now owes several of his friends lunch because his team lost. In his words, "that's the last time I'll ever bet on the Mormon's!"

I hope none of you fell asleep while reading this letter-that was not my intention. As it is with "real life," some weeks are just more exciting than others. I miss you all and look forward to hearing from you soon. The gospel's true!

HUGS!!!
Sister Sara

Commitments required for happiness

Dear Family,

This isn't my weekly letter so don't get too excited. A few days ago I was going through all of the letters I've received since entering the mission and came across a letter from President Stoddard. I would like to bring your attention to a portion I found quite interesting: "...We pray for your continued support and encouragement of your daughter as she begins this challenging and extraordinary experience. It will be a great blessing to Sister Waters and to the work in our Mission. PLEASE WRITE TO YOUR DAUGHTER EACH WEEK and encourage her to be diligent. We suggest that all of your letters be positive, upbeat, and spiritual. To the extent possible, discussions of bad news, disappointments, discouraging items, etc. should be avoided..."

Every missionary lives to check the mail at the end of each day. When a whole transfer goes by without receiving anything from your family, it kinda hurts. So, as any good missionary would do, I would like to commit each of you to writing at least one letter every transfer/every 6 weeks. Allow me to phrase that in the form of a question: WILL YOU write your favorite missionary at least one letter every 6 weeks? I know that many blessings will come to you as you strive to do so. I in turn will also do my best to write personal letters, but knowing that you support me in this calling really makes my time here easier.

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon! Hugs!!!
Sister Sara

Tomorrow finally came! The sun is out!

Dear Family and Friends,

What a great feeling it is to inform everyone that I've survived an Illinois winter. (Spring isn't officially over, but it will be by the time I write again.) However, it's a sad thought knowing that I still have one winter to go before heading back to the Utah winter. (Angela, I'll be taking you up on your offer to "thaw" out in CA when I get home. Start making plans!) Either way, the sun is currently shining, temperatures have been in the 70s, I lost 10lbs by ridding myself of winter clothing, and people have started venturing outside giving our knuckles a rest from the doors. Yay for spring!

It's been a great week here in Lake Villa and I'm happy to announced that one of our investigators, S********, accepted our invitation to be baptized!!!! I'm not sure if I've told you about her so I'll give you a little bit of background. She was tracted into by the Hermanas and they handed her over to us after finding out she's in our area. S******** is very quiet so the first lesson wasn't anythings special, just a review of the Joseph Smith story-something she finds to be fascinating. Our next lesson however, went amazing! We taught her about he Plan of Salvation and everything we said made sense to her. Ironically, Stephanie was watching a movie about evolution vs. God's creation just before we came. I asked her what she believed and she said that everything we see has been put here the way it should be. God didn't put us here on this earth as monkeys so we could become human; He put us here as humans so we could learn about Him and be willing to change. We still have a long way to go, but she's already changed immensely in a short time.

Last week we had Zone Conference and President Stoddard made several surprising announcements: the church is going to start decreasing the number of missionaries in each area throughout the next few months. This is due to the children of the baby boomers having already served missions so now it's just waiting for the grandkids of the baby boomers to reach missionary age. This should start happening in the next 6 years and then the numbers will go up again. However, this means that our mission of 122 missionaries will be reduced to 80! Areas that have more than one ward will only have a single set of missionaries instead of one set for each. This is going to stretch us, but the larger area will keep us busier than we already are.

The next announcement concerned the fact that President and Sister Stoddard will be heading home at the end of June. The new President of the Illinois Chicago North Mission will be............Sherman and Linda Doll from Concord, CA. (There is a picture of them in the Church News) It's strange to think about having a new President, but also very exciting; maybe he'll allow Sisters to work in the city. I'm not worried because as President told us, "whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies."

Well, it's time for me to close. Pday is short and there is still much to be done. I miss all of you and pray that the following week won't offer too many surprises-unless they're good ones. HUGS!!!

Sister Sara

A Fishy Smell has a Fishy Taste

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sure you're wondering what I mean by this weeks topic. Well, allow me to explain. (Dad and Vicki, please try to restrain yourself from fainting after you read the following.) Last week I mentioned that we met a couple from Africa with plans to start teaching them about the gospel. They invited us back for another appointment and said that they would love to cook an African meal for us. Naturally, Sister Morris and I accepted, immediately trying to imagine the menu possibilities. We told several members about the invitation and they quickly gave their vote: monkey. I prayed that it wouldn't be so. Monday evening, we arrived at their home and stepping inside, I was hit with the unmistakable smell of....fish. Fish, fish, fish, and more fish. A large platter in the center of the table had large pieces on it, with the eyes staring right at me. A red sauce containing more fried fish was offered to pour over a mixture of rice and beans. Thankfully, I was taught good manners as a child, so I managed to make several comments about how good everything tasted while taking several sips of water every few minutes. I can now say I've had African food and can also say that I would never try it again.

After several days of WONDERFUL weather in the 60s! it turned sour again with several days of rain. Saturday afternoon, Sister Morris and I were walking along a main road, trying to find the home of a former investigator, when a speedy car drove through a large puddle, splashing the front of our clothes. Every time I think about that, the opening scene from "That Touch of Mink" pops into my head. Unfortunately, Cary Grant wasn't in that car. By the time we got to our next appointment, we were both soaked with credit going not just to the car and the puddle, but the rain in general. The natural curl look has been working well for me these past few weeks, but the rain caused them to go BOING! so I went around for the rest of they day looking like a strawberry blond-ish version of Little Orphan Annie.

The area continues to get better each day. Talking to President about the messy Area Book and not really knowing anything about former investigators, he said we should just pretend that we're detectives trying to solve a mystery. Just call me Sherlock Holmes.

Well, I must be off; Sister Morris is waiting for me so we can get on with the rest of our wonderful p-day. Adventures continue in next week's edition of "The Mormon Nun!" (I can tell you're excited!)

Hugs!
Sister Sara

In my former life, I was a Pioneer

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week, another mile. Do you remember the primary song about the Pioneers? "And they walked, and walked, and walked, and walked." Each day, that line plays over and over in my head. Mainly because it seems that walking is all Sister Morris and I do each day. That and knock on doors that never get opened. Such is the life of a missionary. Each area has a certain number of miles to use each month; this area isn't very big so we've been given the grand total of 950 miles. In the past week, I'm estimating that we've walked about 15 miles. I don't mind walking because it offers me a different perspective (like all the trash that gets thrown out of windows), but it's scary on a main road. Oh well. There are worse things.

Several people have asked me if this week has been any better than the past ones in the area. Thankfully it has been. Sister Morris and I were both getting very discouraged because of our empty teaching pool, but for several days during our personal study, we both realized a few things: 1)Attitude is very important. 2)As long as we're being obedient there isn't anything to worry about. 3)Happiness should not depend how many people we're teaching. It's all about doing the Lord's work. Last week, I was reading an older copy of the Ensign and came across this quote from Mother Teresa: "I have not been called to be successful but FAITHFUL!" I've made the quote my theme for this transfer. As long as I'm doing all I can to make sure this work is going forward by knocking on every door, talking to every person I can on the street, and making sure the spirit is present during a lesson, this area will be blessed. An apostle compared missionary work to a fisherman: the line might be in the water for hours, but is the fisherman doing all he can to make sure fish will be caught? Whenever I just want to give up for the day and go home to sleep, I think about that analogy and decide to stick with it.

I'm happy to tell you that the Lord has blessed us for our labors this week. We've found several new investigators and the ward is stepping up its missionary work. One member in particular, Bro. Gifford, is making sure that we are taken care of. In PEC on Sunday, he suggested to the Bishop that he make an announcement encouraging members to give us referrals so we'll have people to teach. That same day, Bro. Cox informed us that his neighbor would like to learn about the church. We stopped by the other day and had a wonderful first lesson with them. They're from Africa and invited us over for an African dinner next week. We've also found a part member family and a young mom who was previously taking lessons, but the Elders neglected to make note of her in the Area Book. Very exciting!

Each Sunday, I realize more and more how amazing the members of the Lake Villa 2nd Ward are. It's an understatement to say that they're excited for Sisters. I just mentioned Bro. Gifford, but his entire family is amazing. They invited us over for dinner on Sunday and it was one of the best evenings so far of my time here. Bro. Gifford and his wife met on their missions and are now raising 4 daughters and one son. After dinner, Bro. Gifford asked Sister Morris and I what made us decided to come on a misson; they are very encouraging of their daughters pursuing a mission and are showing it by example. They are very excited to help us in our callings and made a goal to pray for someone who might be ready for the gospel. Before heading back to our apartment, Bro. and Sis. Gifford made sure we're taken care of by sending us off with quarters to do laundry and about 20 gift card to Panera Bread-a Paradise Bakeryish type place. I think I have a new favorite family.

So, things are getting better. I fully realize that a missionary has extreme highs and lows, but they're better handled if I have the assistance of my Heavenly Father. Somehow, he'll make sure everything works out the way it should.

I love you all!
Sister Sara

P.S. The Chicago Temple is reopened! The infamous Jack Rasmussen will be going for the first time in the next week or so! Yay Jack!