A Day In The Life

A day in the life of a Sister Missionary in Nebraska!
So, Sister Missionaries in the Nebraska Omaha Mission (NOM) are a little bit different than most Sister Missionaries in the church. We serve in the Mormon Trail Center as well as serving in our assigned areas. This means that we have half of the time in our area than a normal missionary would, so we have to make our time count! Usually a day would look something like this:




6:20 am Wake up!
6:30 am Work out at the Trail Center
7:00 am Shower/get ready
8:00 am Personal Study
9:00 am Companion Study
10:00 am Book of Mormon Study
10:30 am Travel to our area
11:00 am Area! (So we teach lessons, tract, whatever we have planned for the day)
2:30 pm Travel to the Trail Center
3:00 pm Tours at the Trail Center
9:00 pm Go home and plan for the next day
9:30 pm Get ready for bed
10:30 pm Lights out!

Sometimes its a little bit different, depending if we're working the morning or afternoon shift at the Trail Center. Some days we evenwork there all day, and some days we don't work there at all. It's all about being flexible and ready to adjust plans. I love it!

These 2 pictures courtesy of Sister Bielefeldt. :)

We get to drive over this bridge on our way to the Kanesville Tabernacle.  It's supposed to represent a sunset.

Our investigators are good! No huge progress, but small steps for sure. That's all that we can really ask, right? We're focusing on two people this week. One's name is Felicia. She is awesome! We're hoping to set her for baptism this week. She has been investigating the church for a long time. Like 2 years. We've seen some amazing changes in her recently though, and we think that she is ready to be baptized! It's been a long road for her, but she has her life all in order now and has truly seen what the Gospel can be in her life.

The other that we're focusing on is named Petria. She's also awesome! We want to set her too. She actually referred herself off of an add that she saw on TV. She's been taught for a few months. There have been some ups and downs with her, but I think that she's really starting to understand. She got a blessing last week and ever since, she's been really dedicated. We asked her to read 1 Nephi 8, but when we called to follow up with it she said that she read 1 Nephi 1-18. She's SO great!
Oh and we're also teaching a woman named Betty. We've taught her the restoration twice and I think that we need to teach it again the next time that we see her. She's very sweet though and so willing to try to understand! 

There's another investigator that is just struggling with acting on what she knows. She doesn't want to come to church because she doesn't like meeting people. And before I got here she read in 3 Nephi that we are damned if we take the sacrament unworthily...so she doesn't want to do that either...great. 

We've been finding some great people though! That's a huge answer to prayer for us! Now we just have to find the time to see all of them..

I'm learning so much here! I love being a missionary, it's the best thing ever!!
Love,
Lucy

Kanesville Tabernacle

A wonderful new policy change has brought the sister missionaries to the Kanesville Tabernacle. Today is a freezing cold day, but we stay warm inside. Sister Harris and Sister Watson have been a joy to serve with us today. It may be the "slow" season for visitor centers, but it is not a slow down in testimony growth or enthusiasm and desire to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

  (Picture and above Copy both courtesy of Sister Bielefeldt's Blog  :)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Hello Everyone!

This was our first week at The Kanesville Tabernacle, where Brigham Young was sustained president of the church. Kanesville was awesome! It was so fun, even though it wasn't very busy! I love getting to learn more about the pioneers. Elder and Sister B gave us a ride there and back, which was so nice of them!
A lot of the site is about the Mormon Battalion because the Battalion left from Kanesville, Iowa. (Which is now called Council Bluffs) So there's a small visitors center there and a life sized replica of the tabernacle.  The real Tabernacle was built in about three weeks because Brigham Young wanted there to be a building where he could be sustained. But the original fell apart pretty fast. 


I heard Denver got lots of snow this week.  Are Rexburg and New Hampshire getting snow too? We had a snow day here! It was from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon. We actually had a bunch of Sisters stay at our house! It was like a huge sleepover, so that was good. I love all the Sisters! They are all like my second family. And all of the senior couples too!

I remember when I got set apart to be a missionary, President Jones said that President Weston and Sister Weston would become my mission Mom and Dad. Its so true! If I ever have a problem, I know that I can talk to them. Or any of the sisters or any of the senior couples that serve here. Its awesome! 

 Zone conference was so great!

 We talked a lot about working with members at zone conference. Members are SO important to missionary work! I never even knew how much of a difference I could make. We also talked about the sacrament and how important it is. We can be clean every week! How awesome is that?

Sister Weston told the sweetest story. She said that she, President, and their kids were going to a football game when their kids were little. There was this huge crowd, and Sister Weston somehow got separated from her family. She had no idea how she was going to find them or where they were sitting. She was about to just go and sit down somewhere, when her little son came up behind her and said, "Come on Mom! We're over here!" She asked, "How did you know where I was?" And he replied, "Well, Dad knew where you were". She likened it to us and our Heavenly Father. He ALWAYS knows where we are and He is ALWAYS taking care of us!

I have to get going!! I love you so much! Have a great week!

New Assignments!

 Hi all!

Things in Nebraska are good! We had transfers this week and Sister Bown went home :( 

But I got a new companion named Sister Watson! She's awesome! So that's pretty exciting. 

 

 

I'm loving the Trail Center! We got a new Trail Center Director last month and he's great! So far at every training meeting he's changed something about how things are run at the Trail Center. 

 

 

Click here for More info on the Mormon Trail Center - Nebraska

 

The first thing that he changed was the rule about wearing a cardigan/blazer at the TC. We don't have to always have them on anymore! Yay! 

The next thing was the way that we do tours. We used to just take tours by ourselves, but now we're doing companion tours. So that's cool. 

 

And the last thing that got changed was kind of big. It used to be that the young sister missionaries only worked at the TC and the senior couples worked at both the TC and the Kanesville Tabernacle, but now the young sisters are going to be working at both! Crazy! We have our first shift at Kanesville this Wednesday, so that's going to exciting! 

 

Click Here for more info on the Kanesville Tabernacle- Iowa

 

I'll have to tell you how it goes this next week!

 

 ----Lucy
 .

Oh and here's a picture of all of the Sisters at the TC!

Also, our P-day schedule changed. We now have set P-days. Mine will be every Monday!

 

 

 

Picture Week

Welcome Signs! (NOM= Nebraska Omaha Mission)

Mouse caught in a pencil cup.  Tried to feed it but it died of fright.

With Sister Whittaker wearing some uh "headwear" given to them by an investigator.

With Bro and Sis Watson, former Trail Center Directors.

Hey!

Nebraska is awesome! Its so weird to think that I've been out here for almost 6 weeks! I can't even believe how fast its going. Crazy. 

Some great things have been happening! I feel like we get to see miracles everyday here, which is great! But some funny things:

*A boy giving his first talk in church. He was speaking on the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet. He was reading this list of things that we can do to...be better or something. He was like, "And we can be happy, and be helpful, do our homework...and our chores......Wait. Who wrote this?!" hahah greatest thing ever!

*We were eating at a members house and this little 4 year old girl was saying the prayer. She said, "Please help my mommy and daddy to be nice to me. And help me to jump as high as the moon." So cute!

I also love the Trail Center! Giving tours has definitely been a challenge for me. I just didn't feel as prepared to give them because I didn't know the information! But I have learned that its not about the information at all. We need to give tours to people based on their needs. Which is crazy, because most of the time we don't meet people until they walk in the door! But it keeps it interesting for sure. You never know who you're going to get or what they're going to be like, so you have to be prepared for anything. And sometimes elementary school classes come in for tours (or just random big groups of people), which is always crazy! But I haven't given one of those yet, so thats good! But I'll definitely let you know how it goes when I do. 

I have to get going but everyone have a lovely day! Thanks for being so awesome!

Lucy

First Solo Tour

 Sweet Sister Harris, who's been here less than 2 weeks, is preparing her pioneer stories and scriptures to organize in her Book of Mormon for when she gives a tour. She always has a smile and a cheery word for everyone.

Note from Randi:  I found the blog of a missionary couple in the same mission.  The picture and quote are from her blog.  Thank you Sister B!

* Now back to your regularly scheduled Sister Harris Post*

Hi everyone!
I'm starting to learn how things work here. Usually we're in the Trail Center for about half of the day and out in our area for the other half. Its really slow at the TC, so we study and things like that. But every once in a while people will come in for tours. Its fun taking people on tours. Definitely scary, but fun! Its awesome to get to meet people from all over the place and tell them about the pioneers.

I've really learned that its not about the facts that you know (even though that does help) but the spirit is so much more important in a tour.  I gave my first tour all by myself yesterday and I used some of the stories in my Book of Mormon, so that's fun.  The tour that I took was 2 people. They were both members and they were just stopping on their way through. I really like giving tours and teaching!

******

 My companion Sister Bown is from St George. We live down the street from the TC, which is funny because Bellevue, our area is about 25 minutes away. So we don't actually live in our area, but we're really close to the TC.

When we're out in our area, we try to see as many people as possible, or we go finding. But we work a lot with less actives and recent converts. Sometimes you prepare for lessons, and sometimes you just come up with them on the spot, so that makes life interesting. Its a lot like that in the TC too. Every tour needs to be different depending on the person and their needs, so you're pretty much thinking of a lesson on the spot for every tour.

We teach mini lessons ALL. THE. TIME. On someones doorstep while they're trying to get rid of you, in the store, everywhere. And definitely on every topic that you can think of. One thing that I have been trying to practice is giving a PMG lesson in a minute or less. Its so hard! But helpful. Try explaining the restoration or plan of salvation clearly and simply in a minute. Its crazy!

Oh and we taught relief society yesterday...with only a little bit of notice. haha only like an hour before church. I surprised myself by not being nervous about it at all. Maybe that just comes from teaching and studying all day everyday. But it went well I think!

******

I think that everyone here is getting sick. I haven't yet ....but Sister Bown has pneumonia right now so that's not good at all. She is SUPER stubborn and didn't want to go to a doctor. But her dad is a doctor, so she just ended up getting permission to call him and he prescribed her something. She's feeling much better now. I think that it was a pretty mild case compared to what it could have been. We had to stay in for a few days, but we're getting back to normal now.

We're really well taken care of though. Sister Weston is in charge of medical stuff, so we call her and she helps us to figure out what to do. Usually we go to a doctor, but if its an emergency we call her and go to the ER. So that's good.
Pres and Sis W are SO nice!

******

 Its super funny working out here in the mornings. I usually work out upstairs, but they have some workout equipment downstairs too. I run around the gallery (26 times=a mile. its just painful) and do floor workouts. We're not allowed to do workout videos anymore :( But I just have to get creative about it. Its not weird at all to see people lifting packets of printer paper and using regular supplies around the TC to workout. But this morning was AWESOME. We made a music video! Its so great. Sisters just pop out from random places in the gallery and start dancing. Love it.

Hey From Nebraska!

The Newest Sister Missionaries with their trainers.
(picture courtesy of  Sister Bielefeldt.)

Hey from Nebraska!!
Oh my goodness I LOVE it here! My companions name is Sister Bown and she is AWESOME! Our companionship is a little bit unusual though. The training program for new missionaries in the field is 12 weeks, but this is Sister Bown's last transfer, so she'll only be here for 6 more weeks! So we made a goal to do the 12 week program in 6 weeks...I'll let you know how it goes. But I'll probably just be weird and have two trainers in two transfers.
We're in the Belleview First Area. The people are great! The ones that I've met anyway. And we're teaching some awesome people too!
Working at the Trail Center is really fun as well. Although giving tours is still a little bit scary for me...But I'm sure that I'll get used to it.
I LOVE being a missionary! It's so cool to know that you are truly helping people come closer to Jesus Christ.
Lots of love!
Lucy