Spring is Here!!...I think

April 2, 2014

Since I last wrote in my journal spring has come a couple of times.  Maybe this time it is here to stay.  For the last couple of weeks we have seen snow, sunshine, cold, rain, snow, daffodils, snow, rain, not necessarily in that order, but a pretty good mix of weather and temperature fluctuations.  On St. Patrick's Day we went to the home of one of the ward missionaries, Brother Henrichsen, to have a special St. Patrick's Day dinner and meet his nonmember neighbor.  It was a very snowy day as you can see by this picture.

We enjoyed watching the cardinals and other birds out on his back patio.  It is hard to believe that this was only two weeks ago.  Last Thursday, in between storms, we drove to the Visitor's Center to have interviews with President Cooke again.  This was Sister Moraga's first interview with him.

My companion, Sister Moraga, following our interviews

I look up to Sister Moraga in more ways than one.  She is amazing!

 Last weekend more wet weather moved up the coast and we would have had significant amounts of snow if it had been as cold as it was in Maine.  Significant rainfall for almost two days straight left the unpaved roads, fields, and other low-lying land so wet that we couldn't tell which are natural swamps and which are just the aftermath of the storm.  I will say with some hesitation, lest the storms return, that the last two days have been sunny and mild.  To quote my little Audrey, "Great for that!"

The trees outside our apartment are in full bloom now.

It was a wonderful day today to drive to the Visitor's Center once again for the mission transfer meeting.  Some changes are in store.  A new apartment has been opened up down in Lexington Park for four young sisters to start working in Southern Maryland.  I think this is the first time young sisters have worked this far south, at least in the last few years.  Most of them live close to the Visitor's Center and spend part of their days working there.  President Cooke asked us if we would help keep an eye on these four sisters and "take them under our wings".  I am not sure how that is going to work since we will still work in White Plains, and they are about 50 miles south of us.  Of course, we did drive that distance 4-5 times a week when we were assigned to Lexington Park Ward.  He has also written a letter to Suitland Stake President, President Sakai, asking him to please find more work for us to do besides "visiting teaching".  Look for more news on that as the work progresses.

We said goodbye to two elders in our district today.  Elder Carrera is going home to Pennsylvania, and Elder Radford, one of our Zone Leaders, is going back to Washington D.C. 3rd Ward to finish out his last two months there probably.

 After the transfer meeting

As far as the work of proclaiming the gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ, we have had only two days to go out and try to find sisters this week.  We tried to locate 19 sisters.  We talked to three sisters on Monday that we knew we could probably see because we have been there in the past.  By the end of the day yesterday, I was feeling pretty low.  We had seen 0 sisters out of 13 that we hoped to visit.  We talked to a neighbor at one house and a husband of one of the sisters.  We still have hope that we can meet with them in the future.  In the evening, we did have an appointment with a sister that we have offered to help with visiting teaching, and we had a great visit.  Back in our apartment as we reviewed our day, I told Sister Moraga that I was feeling a little discouraged.  She reminded me that Jesus Christ experienced rejection and disappointment to a much greater degree, so I should just have hope for better days to come.  I was reminded of the admonition given to Joseph Smith when he was languishing in Liberty Jail and dwelling on his hardships.  "…know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good.  The Son of Man has descended below them all.  Art thou greater than he?"  It was good to attend transfer meeting today and hear testimonies from the departing missionaries and from our leaders who reminded us that this is not an easy work that we are engaged in but it is necessary for all of us, for those of us who wear Jesus Christ's name on our shoulder and for those that we reach out to as we serve as His hands here and now.

Besides feeling discouraged yesterday, I actually felt quite a bit of anxiety and fear of rejection as we went from house to house.  As I have come to know, I can always rely on the scriptures to lift me up and give me hope, so I turned there once again.  In 2 Timothy, chapter 1, Paul is reminding Timothy to be strong in the faith.  He says (starting with verse 6):

6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up (or rekindle) the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands (or laying on of hands--in my case at the time that I was set apart as a missionary).

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord...but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling..."

To put it simply, this is a reminder that through Jesus Christ, I can do hard things, so I will go forth and serve.