Email 09/14/09 - Lowestoft what a unique place! :)

Hello Everyone!!!
Well this week had been so busy! (I think I probably say that every week huh?) Anyway... Starting off we were able to witness a blessing of a home. I have never experienced this before. There is a family in the ward. The only black family and they had their 14 or 15 year old son die about 3 months ago from him playing around with a tie on his bunk bed and hung himself. So this family has 6 children and they are so strong. They had us over for dinner and the stake pres came over to bless the home and the spirit there was absolutely AMAZING! I felt very privileged that they wanted me and s. Shattuck to be there for our spirits. We then sang how great thou art. Tears were very close to coming. They are such a good family and I am sure it is so hard for them I am truly blessed! So that was a great experience. Then we taught out new investigator Jenny who is in her 60s and she is GREAT! She loves us coming and just feels so good (which obviously it is the spirit) We watched the restoration with her and she cried. It has been so good to see people be able to feel of the spirit. She didn't come to church but she is very involved in her church so we hope things change. Its hard because she has been going to this Church of England church for a long time. But we love her and will continue to pray for her to progress more.
Oh and by the way...They EAT SO MUCH FOOD!!! These plates they have are FULL! We don't dish ourselves up. They do it for us. So you just have to eat it all. Its horrible. Plus I am getting down the way they eat here. Their etiquette they have, the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand and you use your knife to push all the food on your fork and the fork is turned upside down so it is really hard to eat peas and corn unless you squish it on with mashed potatoes or something. Ha! Its funny, but there ya go.
Another great story...It was the 1st time in my mission while I was teaching that someone started falling asleep. HA! It totally reminded me of dad. It was so funny I had to laugh. GREAT STORIES on the MISH!
We have a lot of less actives here. SO many people less active. We have a lot of work to do and so trying to get them to church and the less actives. It keeps us busy.
A really big change that President Patch has addressed us this week. Our standards has been 15 hours of finding for the week. Well he took it away. I CANT BELIEVE IT! But the new thing is... Our Standard is to get 4 new investigators in one week. So we are to do everything we can to get those 4 new investigators. So me and Sister Shattuck have been trying to be creative to find new people and look through the Area Book and so on. We are trying to follow the spirit in any way we can. It is a challenge but through faith I know we can do it. Even though this ward is known to have lower number of baptisms. I can take the challenge. Sister Shattuck and I are very driven and want to make changes even though this ward might freak out because they like the way they do everything. FUN STUFF!
Oh I am so glad that your keeping up on studying the scriptures. Its one of the best things that we can do to grow spiritually and physically. Keep on going, you will be blessed! :) (It sounds like a missionary, huh? ha)
Ok so another neat thing happened. We have a lady, Tracy, who is supposed to be baptised on the 26th of September. We saw her earlier this week and the first thing she said was that she was canceling it. She is someone that has a very strong personality so not some one to be pushy. So we just talked and asked questions to figure out her concern. By the end of the lesson she said, well I think I am going to think about my baptism still and I will call you later on tonight to let you know. We got a call that night. She is going to continue to do it! YAHOO!!! Blessings! I am so excited for her. She is great. She teaches karate and is busy all the time so we are trying to see her as much as we can to get all the lessons in before the baptism. :) I'm excited!
Another Miracle that has happened this week...We had an investigator who came into the church on Sunday. She was only able to stay for an hour. Her name is Aisha from South America or South Africa. I forget. But she said that awhile ago she met some man on the plane coming home and they talked forever. He being a member and gave her the address to the chapel even though he is about 4 hours away from the Lowestoft chapel. So on Saturday she was looking for a house and she didn't realize that is was to the church and someone was there and gave her the hours to the church services. Her family does not want anything to do with religion but this is something she wants for herself. She is also a lawyer so she is very smart and so we are excited to start teaching her. She wants us to come and she told us she loves the feeling of the meetings. She is great. So I will keep you updated on her.
Well...there ya go. There was our full week this week. We are finally getting to know the members more and I love it! It is so fun! Thanks for everything, the package I got this week was the best! I love you all! Look for those missionary opportunities. It will bless a missionary later in life. LIKE ME! Thanks to that man! LOVE YOU ALL!
-Sister Jennifer Olsen!