September 9, 2013

Before

 
After

 

Just a note for September 8, 2013 TO everyone! Erin got transferred and we are not sure of her address at this point. I assume will find out next Monday.

So on Tuesday we were setting up lessons with a couple of people and I mentioned to Sister Yates that it looks like we meet our goal for the week in member present lessons. She seemed shocked but said nothing about it until later when we were beginning to eat lunch. She let me know that my statement was a silent rebuke. She had been going through motions of "Oh, maybe we can reach that this time" and "We'll say 1 because we can't say 0". By pointing out that we might be able to reach our goal, she realized that she needed to stop going through the motions. Later that day, our investigator, Kaui, did not show. We found out later (we only have his email) that he was running behind from class and was headed our way at the time we had scheduled the lesson for. We are currently trying to reschedule the lesson. From there we went to the Interfaith Fair. A few people talked to us about what we believed but none were very interested. We ran into a few former investigators though. We were able to see Adam, Hope, and Kevin. Sister Robinson and I had previously taught Adam and Kevin but had had to drop them for varying reasons. With Hope, she is so busy her lessons keep getting canceled and we have yet to be able schedule a new one. That night we had dinner with the Lewis family. It was super fun to be around a family. That night after dinner we went bus contacting. Sister Yates hates bus contacting because the bus drivers think that we are weird for riding the bus for hours on end without getting off. We were talking (somewhat arguing) about what stop to get off at because either way we would get home early. I told her we should wait a couple more stops but she wanted to get off then. I pointed out that we had already planned on getting off at that stop and she agreed. Then she goes to talk to the only other person on the bus, besides and the driver, who is sitting across from her. His name is Reza and he had missed his stop. She talked with him about we believe and gave him a Book of Mormon. We, of course, missed the stop had been planning on getting off at but we ended walking back anyway. What was really cool was that he asked "How do I become a Mormon?". It made our day. Then when we were home, one of our potentials contacted US.

Wednesday we had district meeting. We started late because a member needed a blessing and the elders had to have the other sisters in the room with the member (woman). Elder Daniels delayed starting as much as possible because he was unable to plan for the meeting. He let us know that he had not slept at all the previous night and was unable to make a plan for the meeting. So we just talked about what was going on in our areas and tried to come up with things that would help us improve our numbers. After lunch, Sister Yates and I went to my doctor's appointment. After a a detailed conversation with the doctor, it looks like my stomach problems might be solved with one gigantic pill. We had dinner with Sam Webb and the other sisters at a place called The Diner, it was pretty good. We then headed to Institute.

Thursday morning was rather awkward. During the night, Reza had texted us but I had not seen the text until morning. From what he was saying it was rather obvious that he believed he was going on a date with us. At first he had asked us to go meet him in a bar! We told him that we would not do that and he choose somewhere else but then the whole time situation wasn't working so we said we would have to wait to meet with him, possibly next week. After studies we walked to Walmart and picked up my medicine (the pill bottle is giant!). At Forums, all of the missionaries were low in supplies so we were doing our best with what we had. We handed out Institute class pamphlets, multiple Book of Mormons, pamphlets (Plan of Salvation, Restoration, and Gospel of Jesus Christ), and what pass along cards we had. That night we went to the Relief Society activity for the 2nd ward. It was fun. We were able to meet more of 2nd ward. Sister Done (she is in the Stake Young Women's Presidency).

Friday we had a lesson with Candice about teaching and learning in the church and service. The lesson went real well. We had dinner with a member, Rob, who was having some problems with his roommates whose standards are not the same. We went to Baby's and it was amazing. On the was to the bus stop, Rob was walking with us when he walked into a lamppost. Sister Yates burst out laughing. He wasn't hurt but his pride was. That night on the bus heading to a meeting when we ran into Reza again. Sister Yates taught him about the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and Word of Wisdom in a 30 minute bus ride. Not only was Reza listening but a couple of other bus passengers too. On the walk home from the Walmart bus stop, I got a  transfer call. It was official, I was leaving State College.

Saturday we were in isolation. The reason being a Penn State home game. We talked with our district leader and he talked to the zone leaders. The consensus was for us to stay home because it was not safe or productive for us to be out. After studies, the sisters (Sisters Hanseen, Hurdsman, and Yates) gave me a makeover. There are pictures. When they left, I began to pack. It took me less then 2 hours to pack everything. We then had Dominos with the other sisters (no one wanted to cook - the other sisters spent nearly 6 hours cleaning their apartment). Later that night, the State College Elders (Elder Vassallo and Elder Trotman) showed up. They knocked on the door wanting to see the after of the makeover (they had talked to the other sisters first), only to find me in the middle of putting multiple braids in my hair. It was kind of funny.

Sunday morning, I got ready and dolled up once again because I knew I wanted a ton of pictures with branch members before I left. One of the members said they did not recognize me when they saw me (my hair was full on curled). After church, we had a lesson with a girl named Anqi (An-chee) and it went rather well. Sister Yates and her new companion will meet with her again this Thursday. After dinner at the Collins we headed to the church to finish training. On a picnic bench we did the last of Sister Yates training. We then headed into the church for the CES Fireside - Elder Nelson. Sisters Romero and Franklin (they had served in State College before and are off of their missions) were visiting and we were able to watch it with them. It was an amazing experience.

 

 

 

August 26th - September 2nd

Monday was an odd pday. We did the normal grocery shopping and emailing but we didn't spend the whole day with the other missionaries. Instead we stayed downtown while they went on to the Grange fair. We would be meeting our investigators at the church before we headed to the Grange fair for FHE. We looked into a few stores before we got tired and then just headed home on the first bus we could. Sister Yates took a nap and I worked on our white board for the area. That night at the Grange fair, I had my first funnel cake! It was huge! One of our members - Kade Moss - turned 22 so we wished him a happy birthday!

On Tuesday, we had a last minute exchange. That morning during studies, our lesson with Hope was canceled. Sister White (she is Sister Ferrin's companion) and I instead went to Forums. Forums were crazy!! We ran out of pass along cards. At about 4 o'clock, Elder Clark decided that he was going to hand out a chastity pamphlet. Keep in mind we are in a college town. He didn't end up doing it. During forums we saw our branch mission leader - Justin. We then saw another of our members - Sam Webb who helped us out with forums. We saw Candice for a little bit with one of her friends. We were also able to see Matt who we had not seen since the end of the last transfer. He basically drooped us but wants to still be invited to activities.

Wednesday morning we finished the exchange and went back to our normal companionship. We had mormon.org rime where I printed out 102 pages worth of articles. I finished them today (the 3rd). That night we had the first institute for the school year.

Thursday we had district meeting. It was a very profound district meeting.

"Blessings come from doing the hard things." - Elder Daniels

"We without them cannot be saved." Elder Daniels qouting a member from his branch.

"Just turn it off, I am losing my marbles already." - Elder Daniels to his companion, Elder Haws.

"We went from a dead area to an ocean teaching pool." - Elder Daniles

"Ultimately we just need to show our branches (our members) that we are here to work and show them how to work and to build up the branch: because ultimately this is not our area, it is theirs!" - Elder Daniels.

"We need to work with the members. We need to change them from Latter Day Saints to Mormons through prayer, service, and fasting. If you build them, they will build your teaching pool."
- Elder Daniels

"We are here to serve his sheep."
- Elder Daniels

"If you, out here on your mission, search for all of the lost: you have every right to call upon the heavens for the help with those of your lost."
- President Topham's promise retold by Elder Daniels

Forums were once again busy but this time we were prepared and did not run out of cards. We had dinner with Sam where we had an amazing waiter named Katie. Sister Yates tried the crazy burger. A glazed donut was used as the bun for a regular burger.

Friday we had a lesson with Candice about priesthood and auxiliaries. We also had dinner at Alice's. For the spiritual thought where we ended up bearing our testimonies.

Saturday we had lunch with Kaitlyn at Irvings. Apparently the salads aren't good - Sister Hanseen got a bad one. It would be our last outing with Kaitlyn as she leaves tonight (Tuesday - the 3rd) for school (at BYUI). We visited Rob Ross at McDonalds - apparently he works there now because he has to grow up. He is engaged. We had dinner with the Esplins. That night we were surprised by Sam who brought us ice cream cupcakes from DQ. We were even further surprised when Yong showed up and scared us. That night, I wrote a poem about Kailtyn for her going away card.

  It reads:

Kaitlyn Moss

A friend so true,

To the sisters in two,

Caring, helpful, and charitable,

Traits that shine bright,

Even in the darkest of night

Sunday at church I discovered that I cannot fast, not even for one meal. I was shaky all morning and during Relief Society, I ended up throwing up. Not fun. We found out that Shawn's girlfriend, Clarissa is being baptized on the 7th of September. Kade Moss, a former branch missionary, was called to the Elder's Quorum's presidency. Brother Josh Wilson was called as the second counselor to the branch presidency. That night at break the fast we were surprised by our investigators. We were waiting to head over to the Owen home (where it was being held) when we got a text from Matt saying that he was in front of the address we had given home. Justin brought him and his friend in. Anqi, someone we have been trying to get a hold of, was there with Candice and Fei. It was amazing!

Monday we had a labor day picnic with the 2nd ward. We then went shopping and headed over to the church. We ended up playing 12 rounds of scattergories! It was a fun day.

 

 

 

Round 2 Pictures from Erin's mission August 13, 2012

Recent Pictures August 13, 2013

Not sure who everyone is... recent pictures Erin Sent...

 

Update August 12, 2013

It was a tiring this week this week. I had not been able to sleep well at all. Only catching a few hours each night. On Monday, all of the missionaries wanted to do something different so we went "shopping" aka follow Sister Hanseen around to stores and look at stuff. While we were in store that sell Penn State stuff I got a call from the doctor (GI specialist) calling to set up an appointment for September 4th (4 days before the end of this transfer). At FHE we did water balloon battleship and then a full on free for all. Of course, Yong decided to start that part early so Sister Yates and I went after him and landed a few balloons on him.
 
Tuesday before Forums we taught Yong. We found out in his lesson that he now has the Aaronic Priesthood as of the past Sunday. We had no clue and we were teaching him about priesthood! Yong decided that he would join us whenever we had forums so he came with us to forums. Of course, this is the first forums where the campus police decide to show up. Apparently the Palmer museum (on campus - we were standing in front of it) had had some people say someone was handing stuff out in front of it. It is illegal without authorization through the school, we had permission. After some report stuff everything was fine. We also went to the leasing office to get all the apartment stuff rearranged and it looks like it might take forever for me to get a new bus pass (my last one expired).
 
Wednesday morning brought allergies. Yep! Apparently I have them. Not cool. My right eye was real bad and I couldn't keep it open. Thankfully, Sister Hanseen had eye drops and allergy medicine. After district meeting and lunch, Sister Yates and I went to CVS Pharmacy to pick up allergy medicine and eye drops. Allergy medicine is expensive!!! We had a lesson with Yong about eternal marriage - it went amazing well. He was way excited about having an eternal family. He said it made sense. We went to the Leavitt home and had dinner with them. They are an amazing family!! That night we had the last institute for a couple weeks - the 28th of August we will pick up again in the Pasq.
 
Thursday brought the allergies back again. It didn't help that I had only a couple hours of sleep that night. We had Yong's last lesson on enduring to the end. :( He told us that it just was basically review for him but he loved the lesson anyway. At Forums, I ended up sleeping on the stone steps due to a massive migraine and allergies. I literally was swaying back and forth. Not very balanced. Sister Yates participated in Forums while I attempted to sleep on one of the elders bags. Not comfy but the medicine was able to kick in so I was semi there after forums. After dinner we went street contacting but met no one. During that time Sister Yates and I just talked getting to know each other.
 
 Friday was a day of firsts and lasts. We began weekly planning (we did two hours of it). We then went to have lunch at Baby's with Yong and Katilyn. It was a goodbye lunch for Yong. He would be leaving on Saturday. He helped us out with one last lesson with a girl named Polaris who had been taught by sisters before but was gone for the summer in China. We ended up having dinner at Panera's via a gift card that the Sassers gave us. That night when we got back we finished weekly planning and had a forty minute companion inventory. Nothing bad - we were just getting to know each other. After weekly planning we closed with a prayer and began daily planning with
the same prayer. Sister Yates then got up and went over to the couch. I gave her a strange look and then she realized that we actually needed to do daily planning. She said she forgot because we had done so much planning already.

Saturday started out funny. During companion study, Sister Yates was doing a yoga pose while we were reciting scripture so I pushed her over and she landed on the ground in laughter and shock. Yong came by a little later with a Penn State bear (for me) and a Penn State color bracelet for Sister Yates. After a whole switcaroo thing a ma jig that I don't even understand we were informed that we were having dinner with the Shaws on Sunday and not the Collins. We then went to an apartment building and visited three potentials and an older women we help out. We also went by a less active girl’s home but she was not there so we left her a note. That night we spent over an hour organizing our area book, finding binder, and white board. Nowhere near done. After planning, I was picking up my stuff when I went to get a notebook of mine Sister Yates had a funny reaction. I leaned forward to get it and she screamed and fell over (she had been stretching). I spent the next several minutes laughing.
 
On Sunday at church, our investigator that was actually in town did not show. He texted us later saying that he slept in as he stayed up working on a paper. We spent more time on the area book and finding binder (it is a complete and utter disaster) after church and then after dinner. We had dinner with the Shaws, Chris and Christy. All fours are returned missionaries. For the spiritual thought, I shared part of Thomas S. Monson's talk "Dare to Stand Alone" and his experience in the Navy and the scripture Alma 5:44. It was wow, it was amazing. That night while doing training, we heard a knock on the door and it is the other sisters with a frog (Sister Hanseen held the frog while Sister Hurdsman held a camera). I immediately went to shut the door not wanting the frog in the apartment. Sister Yates comes up behind me and decides to hold the frog. Sister Hanseen then informs us that the frog had peed on her! Yuck!!! Later, after daily planning, I decided that our district leader, Elder Daniel's, was taking to long to call for the call in summary report and I needed to do something so I cleaned my closet. I found a tie in there that I ended up giving to the elders this morning, Elder Trotman took it. Then Elder Daniels called and while I was talking to him about the week our sister training leader called. We called her back and talked to her about everything with the changes and our week.

 The first picture is Sister Yates and I with Yong at forums on Thursday.

The second picture is Sister Yates and I after we were told we were officially companions.

 

The third is a tree that was hit by a car...the joys of living in a college town!!

 

The fourth is a picture of our white board with all the information for the University 2nd sisters as of Saturday and it already needs to update again."

 

Sister Erin Kingsford

LONG over Due!!

Hello All!

Erin and I have been hit and miss the last, well since the end of May. She has sent some letters to include in her blog, but I have been home or haven't had the time to sit down. So... to catch those of you who are actually reading you up.... I will start with the most recent and then add the others from earlier.

If you choose to send things for Erin's birthday.. which is actually now past. But, she could use gift cards to Wal-Mart.

Also, Erin has been in the hospital. A few weeks ago she was throwing up blood. Her companion insisted she go to the hospital. In the hospital they gave her medication to help counteract the overabundance of acid in her stomach. Not long afterwards she had an upper GI. She still has stomach aches. At this time, we still have not received word what exactly is going on. We have our suspicions. I personally believe a bleeding ulcer. Please keep her in your prayers so she can become healthy and still serve the Lord. They need her there.

Anijanette (mom)

July 8, 2013

 

"Monday the onka ball died once more. I got better at throwing and catching the football. We went to Texas Roadhouse with the Owens. We then played volleyball for FHE.

On Tuesday I got way sick before and during a lesson with Adam. The lesson was a disaster. We meet with two friends of a member of our branch - Ryn and Heather are friends of Rob Ross. They are interested. Heather said that she wanted to pray about what we were talking about when we began talking about prayer. We ended up having to reschedule Candice's lesson as she was out apartment hunting and had forgot about it. We had a lesson with Yong and we went over a couple of baptismal questions and set him an assignment.

Wednesday we had district meeting about prayer. We had a lesson with Candice - a mock baptismal interview. We had a lesson with Shawn and his girlfriend, Clarissa. We then attended institute - there was a substitute.

Thursday was 4th of July. We breakfast with the branch. We ended up marching in the parade - we were carrying the football. Sister Hanseen got way burned. We had dinner with the Leavitt's - it was amazing! Then we watched 17 Miracles later on that night as we had to be in by 6.

Friday we had a lesson with Yong - it was amazing! He still has a struggle to work on but he is getting closer. We then had another lesson with Heather. She was happy to discover that we believe in the Spirit world. Then we were walking downtown and a guy gave us black raspberries from the Amish - his family are members of our church but he is not. We then ran into Candice on the bus - she was on her way to check out an apartment. We ended up having to start our exchange late as Sister Ferrin got back from her meeting later.

Saturday was brilliant! Candice had her baptismal interview - she is getting baptized this Saturday. We gave her a church tour and was able to find baptismal clothes for her. We had a lesson with Michael - he is very open minded and willing to work on knowing.

Sunday we had 3 investigators, 1 potential investigator at church. Heather loved church and was participating. Candice was flirting with Yong at Break the Fast. We found out that Candice will be able to get a limited use temple recommend for when she goes to visit LA. She also asked Yong to pray at her baptism in Mandarin and he said yes. Normally it is a struggle to get him to pray in lessons.

 

Sister Erin Candice Logan Kingsford"

 

 

July 5. 2013

 

"Hello everyone,

 

Its me again. First up we have Tuesday. The day of many firsts. We saw the other set of sisters and the state college elders (they were on exchanges so Elder Bartlett - an assistant to President Topham was there.) Neither of them heard or saw us. After lunch we did street contacting. We then went to Eric's appointment until forums. Forums are area scheduled time and place so that we can legally proselyte on campus. We were out there for a couple hours but they went by way too fast. During that time we got a profuse apology from Eric for not showing up. We said it was okay and asked when would be a good time to reschedule. He hasn't responded yet.

 

After dinner we tried to meet people on our way home and then met with the other sister missionaries for a monthly planning.

 

Wednesday. The day of "that didn't go as planned." We had studies and then we had district meeting. Our zone leaders were one of them, Elder Platt, used to date a sister in my district before coming to the MTC. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ in our meeting. I felt very inspired and took lots of notes.

 

As we were headed to the library, Eric called. We set up an appointment for Thursday. We were thrilled that he called. We had dinner with the Williams, they took the other set of missionaries and the Elders at the state college to Texas Roadhouse.

 

Thursday we met Shawn at the public library. He is a less active member, we ate a quick lunch with him and then quickly headed to meet Justin. We did have a lesson with Shawn about the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. We then headed to forums. The weather was so hot, and the humidity is so high, I started feeling sick. I tried to ignore what I was feeling and meet a lot of people, many people came through, but after a half hour I could  not ignore how bad I felt any longer. I rushed to the bathroom and threw up. I sat down and drank some warm water and had pringles. Elder Vassallo came over and gave me a hand hug. A hand hug is where the pinkie and thumb wrap around the other person's hand. Not too much later we headed back to the apartment. After we got home, I laid down, and was not there long, and had to run to the bathroom and throw up again. We stayed inside and relaxed until we were picked up for dinner.

 

After dinner, another member Monica picked us up and we headed to Bellefonte for a lesson with Destiny. But she wasn't there and we talked to Susan instead. We committed to going back and helping Susan and her boyfriend to pull out weeds.

 

Later on we took a bus from campus and spotted Manela who was working with us to teach Candice. I started off Candice's lesson and we talked about fasting, about the Book of Mormon and emphasized the importance of it.

 

We went and met Brother Owen and his family which he happens to be in the bishopric, they took us out to Olive Garden.

 

Sunday we met with Candice again. She was better able to get a grasp on how to keep the Sabbath day holy. In Relief Society we talked about three different topics, Visiting Teaching, Service and Convenants, Candice did come to church with us and dressed really nice in church clothes.

 

We did talk with Elder Davidson, our district leader and reported our success for the week.

 

Monday we had the chance to go bowling and I scored a whole 63 points. Later on we got to play with all the missionaries a game called Onka. Elder Howell kept nearly hitting me in the head despite the fact I was on his team.

 

We were able to schedule an appointment with a lady named Ellen, her first lesson is Tuesday.

 

I am having a great time, and really enjoying serving.

 

Sister Erin Logan Candice Kingsford"

 

May 28, 2013

 

"Hi Everyone!!

 

Its me again! I am going to start out by introducing who is who of the missionaries. First up is Sister Robinson who is my trainer/senior companion. She is from Oregon but attended BYU-I before coming out here. Her major was horticulture which means I am learning a lot about plants, trees and flowers.

 

Next up is Sister Hanseen. She is from Provo Utah. She attended BYU for a year before coming out here. She was accepted in the Public Relations program before coming out here.

 

Next, Sister Ferrin who is Sister Hanseens trainer/senior companion. She is from Arizona and was attending a University out there but she had not choose a major yet.

 

Then there are the elders. The State College Elders are Elder Howell and Elder Vassalo. Elder Vassalo was in the MTC at the same time I was. However until we got out here we had never met. Elder Vassalo is 24 and attended a year of college in Utah ( I don't remember the school) before coming out here.

 

Elder Howell is 18 and has not attended any college yet but will attending BYU when he gets back. He will play football but I do not remember what position.

 

Next up are the Bellefonte elders. I don't know much about either them as I don't see them as often. Elder Olsen builds cars and then sells them, that's what he did before he came here. Elder Clark is 20 and when he gets off his mission his parents will be in New York.

 

Then there is our district leader - Elder Davidson and his companion Elder Bowies. I really do not know anything about either of them.

 

Tuesday was really stressful! We were supposed to meeting with an investigator named Sam, the lesson seemed to be doomed from the start. Throughout the lesson all I could think was, "what I am doing wrong?" At the end of the lesson he told us that he had talked to his pastor and he didn't want to read the Book of Mormon if it wasn't true. We asked him to pray about it and to read a chapter if he found out for himself if it was true. As we took the bus home, Sam sat next to us on the bus. The whole way back we talked about a variety things, some related to the gospel, some not. I do not remember everything we talked about, but he did ask many church related questions.

 

We did have to reschedule another appointment with a lady named Loretta, we were headed back from zone training when we were supposed to have a lesson. The next day, a guy named Stephan called and cancelled on us. It made me feel so bad.

 

Later on as we stop to visit the ladies room we ran into a lady named Clarisa, who happens to be the girlfriend of another investigator named Shawn. We taught Shawn and Clarissa.

 

We went to Institute and we had dinner, Sister Robinson asked a branch mission leader Justin to give her a blessing of comfort. It was the longest blessing I have ever heard. Heavenly Father had a lot to tell Sister Robinson.

 

We later were able to teach Candice and about the law of Chasity, and the word ofwisdom, enduring to the end, obeying and honoring the law of the land, and baptism and confirmation. After we headed to our apartment and went to the lounge to meet with May. May speaks Chinese, we did have a translator but, the translator had a family member die and could not make it. Because May has a husband, Elder Olson and Elder Clark will be teaching her. We did try teach May but the lesson did not go well because of the language barrier, it was our biggest challenge. All we could do is give her a Chinese Book of Mormon and Chinese restoration pamphlet.

 

We did meet with a lady named Destiny. We did teach her abut God and prayer, she did seem interested.

 

We got a call from the Elders asking if we like to visit with a non-member who was having a birthday. John is an elderly man who is a widow, who is approximately 93-95. Just visiting him brightened his day. He likes to have people over as it reminds him of when his wife was alive and he gets really lonely.

 

Candice was able to come to church, she brought a friend with her named Amber. We were thrilled to see them.

 

Sister Erin Logan Candice Kingsford."