What a great area!

Hello everyone! We'll I'm happy to say I'm thriving in my new area! I love it here and I find my self drained at the end of each day! I can't remember being this tired at the beginning of my mission! We've been working through our area book weeding out all the prepared people, we've also been tracking on a few streets and have found a few people who've accepted for us to come back! How exciting! 

 I've got a story of an awkward experience I had this week with my companion! We tracted into a woman who was seriously misinformed about the LDS faith so we set her straight on a few concepts. She was probably in her late 40's and over all seemed like a very gregarious woman. I liked her a lot, and liked her even more when she said we could come back after accepting a copy of the book of Mormon! A few days later we knocked on her door and she invited us in. I noticed in one of the back rooms her husband sitting by their computer. She sat us down and just as we were finishing our small talk, about to crack open the book of Mormon, her husband appeared at the door and basically dismissed us! He informed us that in the Bible it states there would be no more prophets to arise until the coming of Christ, which to him means Joseph Smith is a false prophet. He explained we could not convince him that he was a real prophet and he could not persuade us that he wasn't a prophet so he once again invited us to leave. Feeling a bit shocked and stunned we stood and headed to the door. Walking back to our car I felt pretty sad while on the other hand my companion felt fired up! As I talked to my companion about it I figured I was so sad because I really liked that lady! I might have been her only chance to hear the Gospel! Just goes to show not everyone is prepared. How sad.

   On a lighter note we have this AMAZING recent convert who was baptized in December. He's from Iran and was a Muslim growing up. When the Government found out he was Christian he had to flee the country (with his daughter) where he lived as a refugee in Turkey for a year. Once he came to America he found a job working in a Persian restaurant where he's worked ever since. He's learning English and loves to meet with us so he can practice. I just think he has incredible amounts of faith to leave his life behind and come to a new country to learn a new language, start  a new job (that's not as good as the job he left behind) and basically just start over, all becase he loves the Lord!! Since he can't completely understand everything the missionaries have taught him we know he accepted the gospel because of "the feelings in my heart". Luckily we found a sister missionary in the LA mission who speaks Farsi so we'll be able to Skype with her so he can continue learning the Gospel! What an amazing example!

I love you all and miss you too! Have a great week!

Sister LeStarge

Alluvial Ward!

Dearest Everyone,

 

  I LOVE being transferred! Best thing ever. It's been too much fun being companions again with my trainer! We just have so much love for one another! But the sad thing is she goes home in two days :( I'm struggling a bit with that since so many missionaries I love area going home this transfer! But onward and upward right!? I can't say I know my new area that well but we've done a pretty good job of meeting all the people I'll be working with (bishop, investigators...). I'm very excited to get my  new companion Wednesday, Sister Carpenter! She's just past her year mark this month and I've only heard good things about her, like she's obedient, loving and a hard worker! What more could you ask for in a companion right? We'll be awesome! I've made it my goal to serve her every. single. day! I feel I haven't had enough love for my companions in the past so by serving her I'll grow in that Christ like love! There's a great feeling of hope being doubled into an area, you just have to figure everything out on your own! I'm excited. And the sisters in this area have baptized the last two months! So hopes to keep that up! We don't have any dates set right now but we've got some solid people to teach! Phew, I feel like I can breath again! We'll be hard at work for the next month, not only with teaching but with getting to know members and building their trust. Sister Sims and her companion were here for 5 months together so people have gotten pretty attached, but they've been welcoming to me as well. Most of the investigators here are from part member families so we hope to reactivate the less active parent and baptize spouse and children! Ready? GO!  This area is larger than my last with some beautiful rolling hills and mountains in the northern part. We'll have to come back here to explore together :) I'm also very excited because I live in an apartment now! Not just a one bedroom studio! I have so much closet space I don't know what to do! It's great :) But I've got to go! Sorry this is so short! I LOVE being here in the CFM!!

 

Love,

Sister LeStarge

 

ps. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KATHRYN AND JONAH!!!!

BEST DAY EVER!!!

Hello Everyone!!

      This past Friday our mission president called us with a request! He informed us a Sister would be going home early due to a medical release (a sister who came in with me to the field, who is now the second one to go home from my group) and her companion would need someone to be with her in their area. So he offered to transfer me!! I ACCEPTED!!! Not only was I emergency transferred, I get to be companions with MY TRAINER!! SISTER SIMS, for the win! BEST DAY EVER!!!!! I know we didn't get along always when I was being trained but now we practically worship the ground the other walks on, sooooo is great! . Unfortunately she'll be headed home in a week when the real transfer date is, so I'll have to learn the area quickly but, I just feel like I can breath again! New area! New sister! New investigators! New apartment! Life is great! I am now in the Alluvial ward, which is actually just next door to my old area but in a different stake. I'm feeling a little lost as I was just moved in this morning, but I should be a bit more comfortable as the week goes on. I feel a huge burden has been lifted and that I'm starting my mission over! The demographic is a bit different here so hopefully I'll see more success. It will be a challenge when Sister Sims goes home because I'll be leading an area I've only been in for a week but hey, LeStarges like a good challenge every once in a while ;)

All is well :)

Love you,

Sister LeStarge

I'm being transferred!

  Woke up in the morning, waiting for the call. I"m so nervous I could hardly sleep at all! Phone rings answer the phone "Hello Elders, how are you today? You've been there for quite a while its time your on your way" I"m being transferred! Say good bye to all the members! Please forward all my letters, Thats the life of an elder oh yeah! 

  That's the song we like to sing when someone is being transferred, called "I"m being transferred"....TOO BAD IT DOESN'T APPLY TO ME!! I'll be here another 6 weeks. Dry Creek forever. On the bright side though I"ll have a nice Christmas with all the people I love! There is a GOOD reason the Lord wants me to be here!! I"ll have been here just 2 days short of 11 months by the end of this transfer. Crazy. thats my spiel for this week. 

Love you all.

Sister LeStarge. 

SO.MUCH.FOOD!

Happy December! 

  Well another crazy week has come and gone in the life of a missionary! This week held another round of great adventure!

  I've started to see the Christmas season pop up all around me, from various Christmas lights to handing ornaments and even the first Christmas tree! One of the members we visited had a beautiful 9ft tree with white lights and red decorations. I have to admit I was a little sad I wouldn't be decorating a tree this year. But because the Lord continually sheds his mercy on His missionaries my companion and I were blessed to have been the recipients of our very own tree! The family I've lived with for the past 9 months are all angels of God. They've always taken time to make sure we're comfortable and included in their family. This week their children knocked on our door and had a 5ft tree in hand with a bag of colored lights and bag of odds and ends ornaments...with gold tinsel! What made me squeal the most was when my companion let me decorate the whole thing by myself (she knows I love to decorate so she watched and admired from the side)! Having been taught by pros, I'd say that little tree looks pretty darn good. Not the prettiest tree, but enough to warm my heart! 

 On Thanksgiving we had a whirl wind of appointments. 6 meals. 2 sisters. 1 stomach! Our stops are as follows:

8 am- Breakfast with Bishop. Chocolate milk, cinnamon rolls, eggs and toast. (ate it like a champ)

11am- 1st Dinner with a single sister and her mother. Sprite, stuffing, turkey and veggies. (still in my A game)

2pm- 2nd Dinner with Ward Mission leader and his family. Apple Cider, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, butternut squash, rolls and jell-o. (still eating like a pro)

4pm- 1st dessert with new move in family. Eclair cake. (slowing down a bit)

5pm- 3rd dinner with favorite family. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato, green bean casserole, and rolls. pie to take home (having a hard time chewing and swallowing). 

6pm- final house. 2nd dessert. cheesecake and pie (so sick of eating food. but stomach isn't too angry.) 

  Disgusting right? Please don't loose all respect for me. People just love to feed us in this area. 

  We also had an awesome adventure going to the zoo this week! Whoop whoop! We got to go see "Zoo Lights" at night which were pretty cool for Christmas. It was a great day with our recent convert family and their son who's still investigating. 

Over all it was an awesome adventure filled week! What a blessing it is to serve the Lord in this time! Hora for Israel! 

Octopus

Heres when I ate the Octopus. As you can see the elder in the background cheering me on...so gross! 

What a ride!

To those reading this blog...sorry about the gaps in Sister LeStarge's letters. I'll be better about posting them. 

Happy Monday everyone! 

  Sheesh, these weeks just seem to absolutely fly by! This Sunday will be the 9th month I've been out! That's half way! Amazing. Well this week was an absolute Roller coaster!  So many Highs and Lows. I've decided I've got to stop trying to predict what the Lord has in store because I've just got no idea! 

    This past Tuesday was a fun one. My companion and I started it by going to lunch with the Elders after District meeting. They chose a Japanese restaurant and we went along. I was telling one of the Elders how easy I am with eating and trying new foods, so he decided we'd try something new! Boiled baby Octopus! He picked out one for himself and one for me! The little guys were only a little bigger than my thumb. It wasn't like calamari... because I like that. These little babies we're whole, with a head and rolled in arms! The elder ate his like a champ but when it came to my turn I couldn't even look at it to pick it up! I popped the little guy in my mouth, chewed him up...then spit him right back out! It was so gross! At first it was chewy but then came some crunchy! I just wasn't prepared mentally! And I felt pressured with all kind of elders sitting around me saying "You can do it Sister LeStarge, your tough!" or "Sister LeStarge you've got this!" so much pressure....They we're proud though in the end, and I can't say I didn't try. 

    Later that day we were really excited for a lesson with one of our investigators, we even had our ward mission leader and his wife coming! We went to his house and he wasn't home! So we called him and he dropped us! He explained life was a little hectic right now and he'd like for us to give him about a month. We'll go back. Instead of teaching him we went to our only other investigator to set up an appointment to meet with him. When we got to his house he asked us to come back after Christmas when he'd be less busy with school! NOO! Dropped by our only two investigators in one day!  We were ready for that day to be over! 

      On Thursday we celebrated my companions Birthday, which was really on Friday. We had dinner scheduled with this sweet elderly couple in the ward and when we reminded them about dinner we said "Sister Haw's birthday is on Friday!" they thought we said Thursday and we didn't have the heart to tell them it was on Friday, they were just so excited to celebrate her birthday! They even baked her a cake! We just couldn't tell them...poor sweet old members! We then celebrated her birthday again Friday! Which I think was less than exciting because its our planning day but she had a good time visiting some families at night. 

  On Saturday we had an awesome experience that built my testimony to listen to the subtle promptings of the spirit. We were running out of places to go, because parents weren't home and people were gone out and about. After leaving another members home who were unavailable to meet at the time, I felt a prompting to visit a certain sister in the ward. I talked it over with my companion and we were on our way. I was a little nervous because she and here husband weren't always home and they lived in a different part of our area. We found lights on as we drove by and said a quick prayer asking the Lord for this prompting to be true. Upon knocking on her door we found her home, but immediately noticed tears streaming down her face. She expressed she was having a hard night but invited us in anyway. We asked her if there was anything we could do but she insisted there wasn't. So we offered her all we could, a simple hug. She invited us to sit down and informed us she was worried about one of her sons. We listened and distracted her with questions about the upcoming holidays until her husband came home and could give her the comfort she needed. I am so blessed to have had this experience and to have felt the promptings of the spirit. Its all too often missionaries forget they have the spirit with them always, we just get use to it. I am grateful I was able to feel and listen to the prompting I had. I know we all can get these promptings as we slow down and listen to our hearts. 

Have a Happy thanksgiving everyone! 

Love Sister LeStarge