Pittsburgh...yeah I was shocked too. But hooray! Holy
smokes, sooo much has happened! I'm not even sure where to start!
Ok so it was absolutely killer to say goodbye to my district
at the MTC. Those missionaries have been my family for the past six weeks and
now we are all splashed across the dadgum country! And you know me, I totally
just cried my eyes out because missions make people emotional and
ridiculous. But I am so proud of them. Those missionaries...they
are strong. They have incredible testimonies and have taught me so
much. I think about them often and I'm always grateful for their examples.
Meeting them and having the experiences I did in the MTC made me realize how
important it is to trust in the Lord. When I first found out that I
wouldn't be going to the Sao Paulo MTC, it was very frustrating and
disappointing. I was ticked and had a bad attitude, hate to say.
But I got there and had the best experience and grew so much! Now I
wouldn't trade that for anything! This is what made reassignment so much
easier. I figure that the Lord knew what He was doing sending me to
Provo, and now He knows that I need to go to Pittsburgh! So I will
go!
Before we left the MTC, the elders in our district gave
everyone blessings. In the blessing that he gave me, Elder Blanchard said
that the Lord promised me people to teach in Pittsburgh. That has stuck
with me every single day. It is my motivation to go out and work and find
people! You'd be amazed at the things that can happen if you just open
your mouth! I love love love street contacting and sitting by people on
the bus and just making conversation wherever we go! This badge is like, some
sort of license to give up all of your apprehension and doubts. Oh it
helps me so much! I wish real life was like this!
Speaking of real life, I have to tell you about
Pittsburgh! It is big and dirty and beautiful. There are people
here from every background you can imagine, and they are very friendly and
willing to talk with us, which is great! I'm in a trio with Sister
Romero, my trainer, and Sister Hill. We get along just beautifully and
have a lovely time together! They are both excellent teacher and I learn
as much as our investigators every time that we teach. Sister Romero is
very good at teaching with the Spirit and relying on the Spirit to know what we
should do. I'm learning what it feels like to receive promptings while
teaching and in every single aspect of my life, and more importantly, how to
rely on and follow those promptings. It's incredible.
We are teaching a lot of different people, but we're over a
student singles ward, so we just lost tons and tons of our investigators for
summer. That was kinda disappointing, but now is the time to put that
promise to the test! If there are people here waiting for me, you'd
better believe that I am going to find them! I keep feeling like there's
work to be done here, and if I can only just get it done, then the Lord
will push my visa through and I'll earn Brazil. That's probably not
realistic, but it is motivation. I want to go to Brazil so badly...thanks
for the visa prayers, please keep them coming!
Anyway, the people we teach! Lots of less-actives, few
investigators. It's difficult to teach less active people, because they all
know the doctrine already. I am not as patient as I should be, I'm
afraid. There's one that we teach who is an RM, and he's a great guy, but
I just get so frustrated because he knows everything we say already and he has
a testimony of it, he just doesn't do it! What the heck, ya punk!
But he's wonderful and making a lot of progress and I am very glad of that:)
We teach a lot of people with very difficult pasts.
One girl that we met yesterday was seriously abused a long time ago and is
still suffering from the effects of it every day. It breaks my
heart. She has scars and slash marks all up her arms and is emotionally
scarred as well. I don't feel equipped to teach her. But I know
that we can somehow, because I'm not the teacher anyway. That's what the
Holy Ghost is for.
The members here are awesome. They take us out for
dinner and make sure that we are treated well. Mike, the assistant ward
mission leader, was an absolute angel yesterday and made us this fabulous
dinner at his house and let us use his computer to Skype home! He will
get many blessings, because I put in a good word to the Man Upstairs, and
missionary prayers are highly effective;)
Wasn't it so great to Skype!? I was so happy to see you
all! Mom, your hair looks cute! It was just wonderful to see you all
again...gosh, it really doesn't feel like I've been gone that long
though!
I love being here in Pittsburgh. I love being a
missionary- it has been the best decision I ever made. Eu sei que esta
igreja e verdadeiro. Eu sei que o Evangelhio da nos muitos felizidades.
Eu sei que meu Portugues e MUITO mal...tento! Descupa!
Eu voces amo--Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Dana
Here are her last MTC pics
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| Fun on p-day |
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| Sister Butler p-day |
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| I miss our international friends! |
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| With Irmao Cannon |
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| Sister Dana does NOT enjoy grammar. |
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| Lovely Sisters! |
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| Our Elders at the MTC |
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| Our district with Irmao Perkes |
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| Nos districto |
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| With Presidetn Nielson, our MTC branch pres, and his wife |
