Email Received January 26, 2010, A Little Growing Up

So, time for a little growing-up story.

No matter what you do, after a certain period of time, you fall into habits. I've been out a year, and I admit, I had developed some unhealthy missionary habits. We had a zone meeting on the new Standards of Excellence. I admit, I felt rocky about it, but I swallowed it and said, without much thought, it's got to be possible, so let's see what I can do.

Well, then I got sick, as you recall.

Getting back into the work on Wednesday evening, I just couldn't seem to find my rhythm. Planning for a lesson that night, I saw in a moment good things to share, but when I got down to it, I couldn't even explain my ideas to my companion. So I gave up, and agreed with her ideas instead, even though I didn't particularly care for them, especially as she wanted to give an exceedingly short lesson to a family we were hoping to baptize this month. (More on them later.) She saw I was frustrated, and felt like I was just spitefully caving. I pointed out that she had several good arguments for why she wanted to do what she did (talking about how PMG says we should keep lessons down to 30-40 minutes, and leave with the spirit following us out the door) and that I couldn't even put my ideas into words, even though I felt that they were excellent. I was upset, but I was swallowing my pride and letting her take the lead, because I really couldn't offer any argument. Well, things kind of devolved from there, her upset because she felt we weren't planning as a companionship, me still trying to swallow my pride, just wanting to move on, and hoping that a full day working would help me feel better again. We didn't really fight, but we were both frustrated.

The next day was weekly planning. I still didn't feel particularly with it, and being on the couch for three days had made me homesick. I mechanically led the process of setting numbers and planning for our investigators. For some reason, we ran out of time, and had to wait until Saturday to finish.

We start planning again Saturday after I felt a little better, and Hermana asks me a very important question.

"Why don't we ever reach any of our goals?"

I was a little stunned. "What do you mean?"

"Look at our member-present goals - we set for three every week. We discuss who we can bring to each lesson, and plan to have twice that many, but I've only had 1 member-present lesson my whole mission. And look at our contacts - we don't get anywhere near our numbers. We just set contacting as something to do we can't find anything better. We barely get our less-active lessons, and we haven't reached out lessons with supers goal in weeks." she went on to explain how she was studying goal planning in PMG, and how she thought we needed to seriously re-evaluate what we were doing, not only in planning, but in our efforts during the week, and why.

So, I guess I'm a prideful person. I got mad, and felt she was attacking everything I had learned on my mission to that point. But there are two huge things I've learned in my mission:

1. When two people are not on the same page, ask questions before you speak your opinion.
2. If my companion says something that makes me feel bad, there's a good chance there's something to what she's saying.

So, rather than defend myself I swallowed my pride, again, and asked her to explain what and why she thought the way she did. She saw I was upset, so she was hesitant to explain, but I insisted. So she laid out a logical, well thought out, and totally founded argument, and by the time she was done... I felt absolutely awful. Not because I disagreed, but because I couldn't help but agree. I had been doing an absolutely horrendous job planning of late, and I had been had definitely not been striving to reach my goals. I mean, I had felt like I was struggling a little in that department since the beginning of the holiday season, but her words really shocked me and made me realize how far off I was. It was a full-fledged call to repentance, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Of course, I have no poker face. She starts getting upset because I'm upset. We have a little bit of a breakdown together, (does that happen with elders?) and we move on, setting better goals, and resolving to be more diligent and consecrated. It was awful. I still feel bad about how casual I had gotten with the work. I'm repenting hard, and hoping I can relay be better.

So, I said I would talk about Ruben and Rosa. We found them around Christmas, and we were thrilled. They were so prepared, and so enthusiastic. But Ruben has been out of work for months. He went down to Mexico to make an attempt to sell their house down there, to no avail. We had a couple more lessons with them, and then he missed one. While not unusual, it was unexpected, because they have never missed a lesson before. (Tangent) I think it has to do with the fact that we general teach lesser- educated migrants, but flaking out on lessons is an everyday occurrence. And getting both the investigator and the member to the lesson at the same time is nigh impossible.(/endtangent)

Well, two days later, they call us, with the standard, "We're super busy, we don't want you to come over because we're never home" sort of drop. We were heartbroken. Usually when we get dropped, we feel OK, because they don't really understand some point or another. Typically, they just decide they're happy where they are and aren't interested in learning a new religion, not really understanding the apostasy or the restoration. (Teaching the idea of authority takes weeks of repetition of the ideas involved most of the time. the false doctrine that 'all churches are true and good because they all worship the same god' is too soundly entrenched.) That was not the case with Ruben. He knew exactly what we were about. He knew exactly what the claim to a modern prophet meant, and agonized over it. He had now answer yet (Still had not asked. The idea of asking a QUESTION to god is a foreign as divine authority.) But he knew it was huge, one way or the other. So when we dropped us, we felt awful. He knew too much. If he didn't make the change here, his chances in the spirit world were slim to none.

Well THEN he called us back again, from some random number in Chicago. He says he's reading the Book of Mormon, but he's looking for work. He doesn't know when he'll be back, but he'll call when he is, or on the off chance they decide to move to the city. He calls two other times to talk to us, and we encourage him as best we can. Hope things go well! Maybe he'll find someone to teach him in the city.

Well, that's my novella. Love you all. Keep being amazing.

Hermana Maren Jones.

Email Received January 19, 2011

Well, just when I was finally getting better, Sunday night/Monday morning, I got super, super sick. I emptied my whole digestive tract in about 3 hours between midnight and 3 AM. Needless to say, I think that was the worst night of my life. I was so incredibly sick, and a little scared, so we finally ended up calling Sister Doll about 1:30. (My companion did. I was busy in the bathroom.) Sister Doll just said I had a really bad flu bug, and I just had to let it run its course. I couldn't take any medicine, of course, and I was so thirsty, but couldn't drink. So I basically just lay on the couch all night (morning) long, curled around my stomach. The next day I ate very little, and yesterday, a little more. Just me, the couch, and my scriptures... and let me tell you, when your brain is mush, the parable of the olive branches is just not going to cut it. I was bored out of my mind, drifting in and out of sleep, with an intelligence score of about 7 not counting situational modifiers. (D&Drs should get that).

I sent a letter to Bishop Lott a while back. Hope he got it. How goes the stake reorganization, by the way?

Um, afraid not much else has happened. That's what happens when you're bed-ridden for 48 hours.
If you could put a gentle petition for letters in the blog, I'd appreciate it. I think everyone thinks they're in touch with me because they know what's happening in my life.

Since I have few minutes left, I thought I would write second e-mail detailing some of the things I've learned about my companion.

Hermana Lockwood is, at 5'8", the shortest in her family. She an outdoor enthusiast, and watches almost no TV. (Outside the mission, of course. We don't watch any here.) She enjoys weekend long backpacking trips, mountain climbing, and hiking, but not so much swimming. She claims to have superior genes (to which the elders always reply, "We’re not allowed to wear jeans in the mission,") and since she has not caught anything I have, I believe her. she has webbed toes, and is in awe of how wearing a missionary name tag is somehow liberating (the phrase, "we're missionaries; we do whatever we want" has been our theme this week, refereeing to the fact that we can do a lot of bizarre things that 'normal people' would never consider) and instantly adds +4 coolness, and allows us to use ugly skirts and ties to add to our coolness score, rather than detract. She studied Spanish for 5 years before the mission, but is having fun learning that there is a lot you quite simply don’t use in a real conversation. ("Baloncesto," despite what the teachers think, is not equivalent to "basketball.") She's perky, funny, and geeky, (her boyfriend is, absolutely no joke, an electrical engineer,) and we have a lot of fun together.

On a side note, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but knitting is a huge thing among the elders out here. I mean, HUGE. They get together and they're all talking like "circular needles, front stitch, yarn gauge, cable knit, PURL!" I've seen some pretty AMAZING beanies out here, and knitted ties are all the rage. Knitted camera cases are common too, and I've seen a few scripture bags that are knitted too. We all think its Hilarious.

Lots of Love,

Maren.

Email Received January 12, 2011 "For Health and Strength and Daily Food, we praise thy name O Lord."

So, I'm feeling much better. I just have lingering cough that causes trouble sometimes. And It feels so good to be out and about and teaching again. Loosing you voice is frustrating when you job is talking to people all day long.

Even though we've been inside all the time (we've contacted a grand total of 3 people in the past two weeks) we feel like we're making huge progress. We're seeing our investigators often, even if we can't seem to get lessons in. We' have 4 new investigators in the past 5 days. (Don't look at me, I don't know where they came from) We've tracked down some formers as well. I'm so thrilled to be working again, and our teaching pool is a baker’s dozen, full sized, and full of potential.

I might have at some point mentioned that the English sisters and us (we call each other "the sisters' and "the hermanas", in case I get confused) built a snowman a while back. (Pictures will get to you at some point.) But the snow didn’t roll up like normal, so we ended up making a pile and packing it into the shape we wanted. In fact, the snow here is so much like that, that sister Murphy, who is from California, is convinced that when we talk about rolling up a snowball, we're making a joke, and that rolling a snowball doesn't work at all - It's something we made up. Well it snowed yesterday, so we're the right kind of snow, so we can show her how to make a snowball the "right way."

In other news, Hermana Lockwood and I have come to the conclusion that we don't know how to shop... or eat, for that matter. Any and all suggestions for missionary recipies and shopping hints are welcome. That said, all in all, we're better off than the Sisters or the Elders of our district, because they have been this whole week without a fridge. Wish them luck.

Love you all, miss you all, and I think I'll be very happy to come home.

Sincerely,

Hermana Maren Jones.

Email Received January 5, 2011

So, this week has been less than spectacular for me. Although I'm very ill, we've gone out and worked almost every day. Started New Years Eve, and has carried on. I think the general issue is I'm not resting like I should. My voice is basically gone (which makes lessons very interesting) and I probably would have been fine by Tuesday, except we had to take the car in to get it fixed, which took forever, so we ended up (Myself, my companion, and the English Sisters, who also had to get their car fixed) wandering around Crystal Lake in the freezing cold all day, looking for somewhere to sit down and study. Needless to say, when we were all done at 5 PM, I went home and to bed. Yesterday I was feeling better, but last night, I spent coughing all night long. If I don't feel better tomorrow, I'm going to call Sister Doll and get to the doctor.

The punch line to all this is that I'm not running a fever. My average temperature is 97.8-98.0, at least with my current thermometer. All this week I've been running 96.2-96.8, and that's when I haven't taken Tylenol all night long. Suggestions welcome.

We had an interesting lesson the other day. It was at the end of the day, and I being sick, was pretty much out of it. We were wrapping up a plan-of-salvation lesson, when my companion, out of the blue, asks this lady to be baptized. Well, I start paying real close attention. The investigator says yes immediately, and we begin to promise her blessings.  Her face clouds over a little bit as we go along, and she finally says, "Wait, I've already been baptized. Is this going to be OK?" We're out of time, but we tell her it is, and we will explain more of the hows and whys of baptism the next time. (We were already planning to give a lesson 3, which is the 1st principles and ordinances.) She still is unsure, but I found it interesting that, when all she was doing was following the spirit, she said yes, but the moment she began to think about everything else. She doubted. I still think she'll make it. We've just got to get the idea of apostasy through to her in a real way.

that's all here. Love you. Miss you. Wish you the best.

Hermana Maren Jones

Email Received December 29, 2010

I was so thrilled to talk to evermore for Christmas, and I was happy the gifts got there in time. I am glad you all liked them.

I'm not sure what there is to say. Not much has happened since Christmas.

Loved all the gifts I got. Thank you so much for the pencils. I tried them our right away. And the paper you gave me makes my frog pattern come out looking like poison-dart frogs. Very cool.

As I mentioned the weather here is very cold. The fun part is, how cold it is has little to do with what the thermometer says. Let me give you a sample scale:

1. 45-38 Feels cold, but not unpleasant. Days are likely to be damp from mist or rain, possibly foggy.
2. 38-32 - Cold. Likely to snow.
3. 32-25 - Ridiculously cold! I mean, like, throw on 7 layers, icicles in your nose cold! Even worse if it snows! Moisture in the air is killer!
4. 25-12 - Cold, but way better than 32-25. The moisture freezes out of the air, so you can be fine with your regular winter stuff, although at the low end your face gets cold and tingly. Will not snow, and clear skies.
5. 12 and lower - Really cold, good idea to try and stay inside.

Also common around here is a type of freezing fog I've never seen before. It only happens at night when the temperature drops rapidly from about 22 to 12. Although, the fog lasts several hours. The fog does not cover things in ice, as you might expect, but instead freezes and keeps hanging in the air. (At least, I think that's what happening.) The result is a fine mist that sparkles brightly as it floats around. And I as you know, suffer from a bad case of SOS (shiny object syndrome.) It's distracting as all get out when I'm driving.

No one came to church this Sunday. I mean no one. It was really kind of sad. I ended up leading relief society, but whatever.

Um. Really don't know what to say more. Hope you New Year is bright.