1: my district from the MTC I miss them!!
2: my beautiful companion and I
3: my wonderful bike
4:4th of July :D a recent convert Sis Carmikle on the left and Anna on the right is so willing to help all the time
5: I love her
6: the beautiful man-made lake ;)
I've been on my mission over a month now! I can't believe
how precious time is out here. This week had a lot of ups and downs, but the
ups were INCREDIBLE.
Monday- The heat exhaustion really got to me. When it's over
100, high humidity, riding bikes all day my body gets really mad at me
apparently. But that night we had the cutest family home evening with a less
active family. They have four daughters who were similar ages to my siblings so
it was a lot of fun spending time with them. We did an object lesson that
involved jelly beans that the kids liked a lot. One of the little girls
nicknames all the missionaries and so my nickname is Jelly Bean!
Tuesday- We had our District Meeting on Tuesday. We feel
every time we have meetings with other missionaries because our numbers are so
good comparatively.. Those poor elders work so hard too, they just have a really
rough area. We visited the Singh family! I don't remember if I've talked about
them, but basically he's this cute old Indian man who came up to us while
walking his dog and told us all of his info and that he couldn't come to church
this week but would come the next week- all without us saying a word. In fact
we weren't even dressed as missionaries- we were out exercising. So we went to
his house and got to know him and his wife. They are Sikh which is a religion
primarily found in India. Research it because it is such a beautiful religion!
There was a slight language barrier, but they are the nicest people I've ever
met. She kept bringing us food and we interrupted their dinner but they left it
and talked to us for almost two hours about their story. Sikhs are so peaceful!
They won't even kill a bug because it is a creation from God. Their God isn't
our God in the sense that they are not Christian, but they do believe He
is everyone's God and we are all brothers and sister. The men wear a turban and
don't cut their hair. They have a lot of the same morals we do including no
alcohol, tobacco, tithing, and more. It's also really sad because the Sikh
people provide 80% of India's army and they are only 2% of India's population.
They believe in fighting for freedoms and their families and country so
strongly. So this coming week we are going to go to their Sikh temple in Dallas
in exchange that they'll come to church with us!
Wednesday- We prayed about where we needed to go tracting
and I felt inspired to go to a street on the other side of our area. It
was like a half hour bike ride just to get there and it was already night time,
but we followed the Spirit. We met a man named Randy in the first house we
knocked on. His wife has major heart complications and was supposed to have
died last Christmas. Her condition hasn't gotten better, but she's had longer
than expected. We shared with him The Plan of Salvation and how God really does
have a plan for us so that we can live with our families forever. My experiences
on my mission make me appreciate my life so much more. I've never faced
anything that hard, nor do I ever want to. But my favorite part of being a
missionary is sharing that peace and comfort God's plan can offer to everyone
who will accept it. We also taught a boy named Bruno that day about The
Restoration. I just thought this was a funny experience and my companion said
in all of her 10 months this has never happened. We asked him to say the
closing prayer, we explained how to do it and he said he would. While we were
all kneeling, he began to pray..but in his head.. so we were all sitting there
with our eyes closed just waiting- it was the most awkward thing ever
haha.
Thursday- It was 7/11 day! So of course we went and got a
free slurpee;) I know my mom would be so proud of me for carrying on that
tradition. We also got a CAR!!! That morning the mission office called and said
they had a car for us so we drove down and picked it up! It's a chevy malibu.
God must have felt sorry for me. I honestly have no idea how the mission knew
we needed one. Neither one of us complained about our bikes, and there are
other areas that need a car much worse than we did. I never even prayed about
it, because I figured if God is asking me to ride a bike, He will make it okay.
Thankfully God knows me perfectly. My dad just so happened to have sent me 8
cd's on that exact day as well so we had music for the car! I love how the Lord
provides for His servants.
Friday- This was such an up/down day. We decided to go plan
and have lunch at Chik-fil-a and it turned out to be the one day out of the
year when if you dress up like a cow, you get free stuff. So everyone who
walked in was in an absurd cow outfit- it was hilarious! And very distracting..
There was also a magician and a balloon man so it turned out to be a bad place
for planning;) We are also working with a Chinese woman. She is so sweet. There
is a language barrier but today we are bringing a sister in the stake who
served her mission in Hong Kong. In their culture, the first lesson is all
about 'getting to know you' so we shared pictures of our family and it was so
great. By the way, I need pictures of Oregon if anyone wants to send them! She
also feeds us a ton. How come the american culture can't be as sweet as all
these others? Anyways, it turns out having a car allows more time for
disappointment, so it felt like we should have gotten a lot done but no one was
receptive the rest of the day. It was really hard. On one of the cds my dad
sent me there was a bunch of pioneer songs. They made everything better. I
couldn't get through the song Come, Come Ye Saints without crying.. They
provide such a profound example of courage and faith. I found this quote from
President Monson in the Ensign I really liked: "The passage of time dims
our memories and diminishes our appreciation for those who walked the path of
pain leaving behind a tear-marked trail of nameless graves. But what of today's
challenges? Are there no rocky roads to travel, no rugged mountains to climb,
no chasms to cross, no trails to blaze, no rivers to ford? Or is there a very
present need for that pioneer spirit to guide us away from the dangers that
threaten to engulf us and lead us to a Zion of safety?"
Sunday- We got our investigator Andy to come to church! We
showed up at his house 2 hours before church started and told him to start
getting ready because we had a ride for him coming. We've been teaching him for
two months and he's been too scared to come to church. But that extra effort
got him to come! We showed up and he looked so good in his Sunday best! He's an
old man who's wife died last year so we are planning on baptizing him very
soon- even though he hasn't realized it for himself yet! Every time we teach
him, I can feel his wife helping us and encouraging him. Later we had a really
sad lesson. Bruno, the boy we taught earlier that week came to dinner for a
lesson. We didn't realize it until that night that he read some horrible things
online throughout his life and because of that he has some very anti-Christ
views. He believes in God, just not Christ. It's the saddest thing. He refuses
to pray about Christ and can't progress if he doesn't. I had never met anyone who
had anything bad to say about Jesus Christ up until that point. That was the
first time my soul felt that much pain. My Spirit felt so offended. It makes me
so angry that Satan has been able to get people to think bad things about
Christ. Especially because Christ suffered for everyone even if they won't
accept Him. I can't imagine how hard it is for Christ to see this happen. All
we can do is pray for those people. Bruno is so much more alone that he needs
to be.
On a much happier note, we talked to a less active family
for a long time! The dad is super into triathlons and gave us a bunch of biking
tips. Tomorrow we are waking up at 6 to go to a running clinic with him.. the
things we do for the people we are teaching.. ;)
I love my mission! Even though it's hard, it is so worth it.
I say that all the time, but it gets me through a lot. I'm so thankful for all
the prayers. I feel them all the time. This quote from Elder Gibbons in the
Ensign really spoke to me "When the night is darak and the clouds thick,
we have an opportunity to put our hand in the Lord's hand and rely on Him to
help us through." I know that is true. I could not have gotten through
several moments in my life if it weren't for Christ.
Also I can't emphasize enough how important member
missionary work is! This promise from Elder Anderson was said at the last
general conference "I promise you, as you pray to know with whom to speak,
names and faces will come into your mind. Words to speak will be given in the
very moment you need them. Opportunities will open to you. Faith will overcome
doubt, and the Lord will bless you with your very own miracles." I know
that is true! The church is true so what do we have to lose? Nothing. I love
you all so much, especially my family. I miss you like crazy, but I would
rather be no where but here serving The Lord and the wonderful people in Texas.
Thank you for all your support! Let me know if there's anything I can do to
bless your life!
Sister Kristina Dalling
c/o Stuart
and Cindy Alleman
2812
Treasure Cove
The
Colony, TX 75056
