August 27,2008

Hello everyone!

What a crazy spiritually uplifting week!!! We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday! It was miraculous!!! Two of them were in the same family, but the other three came with their fellowshippers. It was awesome!!! The Spirit was so strong in the meetings. I love the Salem ward!!!

During Sacrament Meeting, we sang "Secret Prayer". It gave me such comfort to know that my Savior truly is there for us if we know how to access Him!"When sailing on life's stormy seas, 'mid billows of despair, 'tis sollace to my soul to know God hears my sercret prayer.When thorns are strewn along my path, and foes my feet ensnare, My Savior to my aid will come, If sought in secret prayer."Later we sang Sweet Hour of Prayer "And since He bids me seek His face. Believe His word, trust His grace. I'll cast on Him my every care and wait for thee sweet hour of prayer!"

I love my Savior so much and am so grateful that there has been a way provided by our Father in Heaven to access the power of the Atonement!

Lately I've been thinking a lot more about extending my mission. The only problem was that with school, I can't extend a whole transfer or I'll miss the start of the semester. This morning in comp study, Sis. Ewing and I were talking about the Savior's ministry in the Americas. I have always been facinated by the part where he blesses the children. Something I noticed a while ago is that the parents brought the children to Christ. This morning as we were discussing that, I realized how similar being a missionary and motherhood really are. We rear God's children and bring them to the Savior so that He can bless them. As we were talking about it, I had the Spirit teach me that my life as a missionary will not be through in December. I will just be able to be a missionary in a different kind of way later in life. Now for all of you that think I'm getting baby hungry...that is NOT the case. I just needed that confirmation to know that it is ok if I am not able to extend my missionary service. Which was really good, because about 30 min later, President called me and we talked about my extending and it isn't going to be a possibility. I love the Spirit and how He prepares us to know what God would have for us!!!

Now to the secular stuff--the zoo was really cool. I bought this pen that says Virginia Zoo on one side and Sister on the other! It's pretty awesome!!! I also got a penny for Jayne's passport. The pictures are fun! We found LittleFoot. I loved the sign that says "Dessert" with greenery all around it. We had a good time. The giraffes were probably the coolest!

Man I love being a missionary!!! There truly isn't anything greater! I'm so excited because we have Zone Conference this week and Elder Zwick of the 70 is going to be there!

Jesus loves me this I know....:)

So we had the most miraculous day yesterday!!!! On Monday night during planning, we were discussing a lesson that we were going to be having with Sis. Milanak (PM). We felt strongly that we needed to commit her to be baptized. So we decided to fast on Tuesday to be prepared spiritually to do that. We talked to an amazing member of the ward who has been fellowshipping Maddy and went over the lesson with her so that she could be prepared as well. And everything went GREAT!!!!! In my morning study, I found the scripture in 2 Nephi 29:30 about line upon line and precept on precept and I felt very strongly that Maddy needed to know that God doesn't expect us to be perfect, just to continue progressing! Then we taught about the role of the Holy Ghost in learning. When we asked her how she felt about baptism, she said, "I need to set a date!" How AWESOME is that?!?!?!? I know that the Lord knows us! He is amazing!!!!!! I love being a missionary!!! So she is going to be getting baptized in 6 weeks!!! Bro. Milanak couldn't be prouder!!!

Compared to that, our week seems kind of lame. Sis. Ewing has been sick...we think she might be lactose intollerant. I personally think it's celiac! :) But we will see. It is really interesting how I can now see that I needed to be comps with Sis. Hummel to know how to help a companion who is in pain but won't talk about it. So thank you Sis. Hummel! :) The Salem ward thinks they make missionaries sick though.

Sister Hopoate left us last Thursday to go to Zion! I've decided that H'Burg is Zion, and Salem is the Celestial Kingdom....so does that make Elizabeth City the Spirit World?...Hmmmm?!

The work here is going great!!! We are continuing to strive to find the elect! They are out there, I know it...we just have to find them! Maybe there are other holes of the rocks that we haven't found....hmmm,....maybe we should go finding with my head lamp?!

I love you all sooooo much. I'm sorry I wasn't able to personally respond to all the e-mails this week!!! Please know that it is not a lack of love...just a lack of time!!!

Oh, and I'm going to the Norfolk Zoo today with the Arney's, so next week we should have some good pictures!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

The Plagues of Egypt are back!!!

Hey ya'll!!!

What a crazy week!!!! I hit my 13 month mark!!! That was exciting! And it didn't pass without a bang! I got attacked by a dog! And not just any dog...a German Sheppard!!!!! How AWESOME is that?! Ben would be disappointed...I didn't kick her in the face. But it was awesome!!! I am a full fledged missionary now! I have to go get x-rays soon, but only as a formality. They think my bone is bruised. She bit my right foot....you know, the same one that I sprained last year! Really, I'm fine though. It didn't break the skin. Oh and the picture of my leg...those are mosquito bites! I don't know if I got all of them in the picture, but I had 18 just on my right leg. Gotta love VA summers!!

Isn't being amissionary awesome?! When else in my life can all this chaos happen?! Speaking of chaos, transfer calls came in last night. Sis. Hopoate is being transfered to HARRISONBURG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am pretty sure the only way I could be more excited is if I were going myself!!!!!! I am excited to stay here with Sis. Ewing though.

The other pics are random...there is a family here who we had dinner with last night. They are sooooo cool! They are a lot like the Bowmans. In fact, his name is Jason and they have a daughter Jayne! They called and asked how we felt about cooking out, so we roasted hot dogs on the fire pit. And we did smores while talking about the doctrine of the Resurrection! What a blessed day!!! He also has an obsession with pirates!!!! I love their family!!! Oh, the speed stack timer is how fast I did the cycle stack last p-day!! I thought you would want proof!

Wow....zers!!!! I love being a missionary! This morning I was reading about Nephi and the bow and for the first time I saw it as a missionary story! They went out to Hunt (Jer. 16:16), and they found game "by the way", and followed the Spirit/Liahona to find more "fertile" ground! We have to look everywhere for those prepared to receive the gospel and follow the Spirit to find the elect!!! I love this gospel!!!!

Love,
Sister Abbott

Spiritual Growth Spirt!

Holy Cow I love being a missionary!!!!! This was such an awesome week!!!!!!!

First off...I saw that Sam asked how I am doing...Please tell him that I am doing soooooooooooooooooooo good! I love reading his e-mails and I can't wait for the day that we can sit down and hash out old mission stories! Oh, and the other day this awesome family made Hungarian Goulash (sp?)!!!! It was soooooo amazing! I realized that I hadn't had egg noodles since being out here. Can you even imagine almost 13 months without egg noodles...Josh would die! :) Ironically I felt right at home even though I have never even had that dish before. I was able to tell them all about my awesome cousin who is serving in Hungary! Man I'm jealous....but in a righteous-I'm grateful to be serving where I am because that's where the Lord needs me-but I hope you are enjoying your mission because that's where I wanted to go-kind of way! :) I realized that no matter where you are serving, it is just AWESOME to be a missionary!!!! I got a letter this week from Stacie Riddick! And I realized how grateful I am to be serving God with all that I have. She thanked me for bringing the gospel to her and her family. It wasn't me! It was the Spirit! But the Spirit can't do His job unless we do ours!!!! I love the Riddick family! And I know that we have a bond that will never be broken! We will be able to rest together! (D&C 15:6)

How much postage does it take to send letters to Sam? I'd love to send him a letter.
I think I told you about the Speed Stacks that a member bought!? Well, I love playing on P-Day!!! I've gotten down to 16 seconds for the full cycle!!! Woot Woot!

Other than that...our week was soooooooooo grood...I mean great...and good!!! :) Yesterday we taught 2 member referals in the member's home!!!!!! Holy Cow that was sooooo awesome! I love teaching in member's homes! The Spirit is always so strong!

Last Thursday during planning, I was looking through our ward roster with a prayer in my heart trying to see who we should visit to seek referals from. A name stuck out to me and we made plans to contact them the following day. When we went, they were leaving but we set up a time to come back the following day. The son is a member because he was baptized while he lived with dad, but now he's 22 and has a bad taste in his mouth of the church. Well, mom isn't a member but is going through a rough time. So we have been teaching her! She is so open and receptive right now and is reaching out for help! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Restored gospel! That is truly what she needs and she is starting to see that!!!!
Also, we had interviews with President Millburn this week. That was amazing!!! We started talking about some of the struggles and trials that the area is experiencing and he called it my growth spirt!!! I love it! This really has been the most trying part of my mission, but I didn't sign on for a cake walk, and as President Holland says, "It (missionary work) is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience!" It is so true! I love the Savior and I am grateful that He has placed us here to be His hands! How great is our calling!!!!

We also had a really great experience the other day working with members. We were eating dinner with a woman who in the middle said, "Sisters, I don't want it to be awkward...I haven't shared the gospel with anyone this week. And I don't know anyone who I could, but I tried." That was a little awkward and we didn't know what to do when it came time to seek referals. But I had the thought to watch a clip from the PMG dvds about how a member invited their neighbor into their home and how that happened. We watched it and said, "We are here to help you do that." She immediately started talking about her neighbor and how she could invite her to meet with the missionaries! She contacted her and invited her to dinner for Sunday... we are still waiting to hear back, but I am soooooooooo grateful for the promptings of the Spirit! I love this work! And I know that as we do it in His way, and by HIS power, MIRACLES will happen! I know that! I've seen it! I've felt it! What a marvelous work!

Love,
Sister Abbott