Monday, August 19, 2013

Hellloooo!

Kaibab is great and I am getting to know the area more and more everyday. It's pretty tough considering how huge it is!

So last Monday was my first Pday where I actually went and did something touristy! YAY! We went to a place called Best Friends it is a no-kill animal sanctuary. I know dad would have loved it ;) We went on a "Bunny tour" pretty much just looked at bunny's for a half an hour and then we went to their pet cemetery that they have there. It was fun to just look around at all the pet names people come up with. I will have to send you pictures of it later!

This week we tracted quite a bit and tried to contact all the potential and former investigators that our area book has. No luck on new investigators so far.. But we did contact a lady named Betty. Sister Roth had found her a week before I got out here. So we went to go visit her. She is a HOOT! Seriously so funny. She is from Vegas but I thought she was from the south when I first met her. She is in her 80s and not doind so well so she wants to "walk a closer walk to God". That's what she told us, but she isn't sure how she feels about going to church every Sunday. But she does LOVE Mormons. Her neighbors across the street are serving a couples mission right now but get home in 2 weeks so hopefully that will help her out! We talked about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy and asked her to read the introduction. We tried to set up another time to come back and she wouldn't but said we can come back any time so we will see.

That night we went to a restaurant here in Kanab, one of the 5 they have haha. It was pretty good but Sister Roth and I felt so sick afterwards but luckily we had to drive out to Colorado City which is like a 45 minute drive so we could kinda rest then. We went and visited the Chatwin family when we got there and felt better when we were there. They used to be a part of the FLDS church but now apart of Winston's Group. It's a polygamist religion based out of Canada. They are interested in our church but the dad has 2 wives.. so obviously that can't happen. He has 34 kids between both wives. I'll attach a picture of a wall with all their kids pictures on it! It's crazy! Sister Roth and her trainer put their pictures on the wall too. So funny!

So that night we stayed in Cane Beds and the next day was my birthday! Thank you for the card and brownies mom :) We started out the morning picking weeds for a Greek lady named Leanna! (We seem to pick a lot of weeds out here haha) Leanna is a non member but was actually married to a member. She is Greek Orthodox so pretty set in her ways but she loves Mormons too and really appreciated our help. So she fed us dinner Friday night... Not so sure Greek is my favorite kind of food. Another reason why I got called to Utah.. I can't handle foreign food haha! After Leanna's we went back to Colorado City to visit the Barlows. They weren't home but were across the street and told us to go there. So in Colorado City if you are apart of the FLDS church you have to have a ZION sign over every door, and so this house had one. We were nervous but knocked on it anyway. Luckily it was the right one. The man who lives here had 22 wives and 100 children all living there at one point! Insane right? But now he just has 2 wives and I think 10 children that live there. Anyways, I guess that is the Barlows uncle. We weren't able to have a spiritual discussion because their kids were running around everywhere. But hopefully we can make contact with the Barlows again. They have gone to our church an few times and like it but they don't think they need to be baptized because they already were.. Just the wrong church! Ugh.. so we will see :)

Thursday we had our weekly District Meeting up on Hurricane. President and Sister Center were there and so they asked if they could drive Sister Roth and I back to Kanab! An hour and a half drive! It was so awesome. We were able to show them our area (well most of it) and then they took us out to lunch. It was so neat to spend all that time with them just one on one! They are so great, I love them! They also told us that on September 7th we are having a whole mission conference in Salina! That has never happened in this mission before. Aaanndd one of the 12 apostles will be there. There will be 2 buses full of missionaries driving up there. And because we are so down south us and the other 4 Kanab sisters will drive up to St George the night before and have a sleep over with Sister Center!!! I am so excited! I can not wait to see who will be speaking to us.. Apparently it's a surprise!

Last week we went to a nursing home and got to talk to the residents there. We played a game of Yahtzee with Jim and Jan. Jim is 97 and so smart.. still so lively!!!! He used to live in Oakland, CA and said he loved looking at the Temple there. He is out of town for a month now but we are hoping we will be able to meet with him again when he gets back.

Yesterday, we gave a talk in one of our Fredonia wards. I think the Lord is really making me learn to love talking in church because we are talking again in 2 weeks in another ward. I guess that's the life of a missionary.
I love this life though. The people here in the Kaibab stake are so great. So humble! I love working with the people here.
Well hope all is well! Talk to ya soon! ;) Love you all!

 

 This is "The Zion" sign I was talking about that all the Polygamist have above their door.

Sister Donovan, Sister Raby, Sister Roth, and I at "Best Friends" for our bunny tour.

 

Polka Dots DML