Sister Stewart & Sister Kingston

Sister Stewart & Sister Kingston

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Retirement Center

Hi Mom, Dad, and Fam,
Thanks for your e-mails and especially the pics! The triathalon sounds like fun. I'm in for next year as long as I'm not away for school :). Wow, lots of changes in the Stake. I'm happy for Katrina, I know she will do AMAZING!
Mom I'm not sure what kind of usb cord my camera needs, I forgot to look. But I only have one memory card so if you could send me another then I could mail the other one home.
This e-mail's gonna be a short one, sorry. It's the day before tranfers so there's a lot to get done and I don't have much time. Yup I'll be getting a new companion tomorrow. I was only with my greenie for one transfer, but I know this is what the Lord wants. I actually like change. The longest I've ever been with a companion has been 2 transfers. So it looks like the Lord has established a pattern with me haha. I think it's because I just go with the flow. I'll let you know what happens!
Last week was good! One of our investigators, Michelle, stopped drinking coffee before we even taught her the Word of Wisdom. I love her! She has a physical disorder called prater willie (which I have no idea how to spell). Giving up coffee was a HUGE deal for her so we're super excited about her progress. She lives in a group home and I love going over there to teach her. Seeing the other residents puts a smile on my face.
Speaking of residents putting a smile on my face, we volunteer at a retirement center for a couple hours each week. I LOVE it! We start out by doing exercise with them. We all (there's about 30 of us) just sit in our chairs and do different hand motions and march in place. We follow the instructor Hector and he plays some 80's work out music haha. It's so cute to see all of these seniors doing these chair exercises in unison! After exercise we help with whatever activities are going on. Last week we had a pizza party! As we helped to serve pizza all of the residents kept telling us that we were so beautiful and they would ask us about our missions. We've definitely made lots of new friends there!
Well I'd better get going. Oh yeah, this weekend we have two baptisms!! I'll make sure to take pics and talk about it next week. I love you all tons and pray for you daily. Write me!
Love
Sister Kingston

916

Hey Everyone!
Dad, your e-mail did make it on time. So I would never have even known that you forgot about me...except that you said you did Lol. I'm glad you had fun at the Michael Buble concert. I love him! In fact all of us Sisters do. Sometimes when we make referral calls we get to listen to some of his songs on people's ring backs. We put it on speaker so everyone can listen haha.
Things in Kirtland have been crazy! Four sisters left in the past 2 weeks. Three of them went home for health reasons and then we had a visa waiter who finally got her visa and left for Spain. It's been kinda sad around here lately. We really do become best friends so losing Sisters is hard.
Tours have slowed down a lot! If I'm still in my area next transfer (in a week) they'll probably cut us down to 2 days in Kirtland a week rather than three. I'm pretty sure I'll stay in this area for one more transfer at least, but you never know for sure.
I've been thinking about the random experiences that I get to have on my mission. For example, a couple days ago I took a married couple from Switzerland on tour. He teaches seminary there and they'll be studying church history this year. It hit me that kids all around the world would be learning about the place where I get to serve!
I've also thought about how my mission will effect the rest of my life and how I raise my family. As I've served with different companions I've come to truly appreciate my upbringing. I've had multiple comps say the phrase, "Only on a mission" and my response is usually, "You mean you've never seen that before?" I guess I'm still surprised that a lot of these Sisters haven't been exposed to different cultures and backgrounds before. Dont get me wrong 'Ive had plenty "Only on a Mission" moments, but I'm definitely happy that I didn't have to wait until I came on a mission to be well rounded :)
Well, I have to go. Sorry not much exciting news. It's cooled down a lot which I'm excited about! I can't wait for fall,  it's going to be AMAZING! The gospel truly does bless us and don't be afraid to share that with someone you know this week! Thanks for everything and I love you all!
Sister Kingston
p.s. Cool experience. This girl calls into the referral center and I answer the phone. Her number pops up on the computer screen and I see the 916 area code :) Her name is Jenae. She's 16 years old and has been less active for a long time. She just moved back to California about a year ago after living in North Carolina. She was calling to get the number of her assigned Bishop because she wants to start coming back to church. I put in her address on LDS.org to find out who her Bishop is. At first I thought she was in a ward in the East Stake because instead of looking at "assigned meeting house" I looked at "closest meeting house". I realized this after calling Bishop Timpson and leaving a message haha. Anyways, I find out that she's in Natomas 1st ward! I called the Elders and told them to visit her. She lives with her non-member grandma so hopefully they'll be able to teach her! So family, here's your assignment for the week. If she comes to church make her feel welcome and introduce yourselves to her! Tell her I said hi too :)