Kirtland, 11/15/10

Hi Mom and Dad!

 

Dad, thank you so much for the music you sent me! What a wonderful package! I have not gotten to play most of it yet, but I used the Darwin Wolford book to play prelude for zone conference this week, and that was really nice. I'm sure I will use that a lot. Sorry if I sounded impatient about getting music, I was just worrying about not having anything to play at the fireside I'm supposed to play at next Sunday.

 

And Mom, thanks for your letter! I loved reading that! The other sisters here all thought you had beautiful handwriting. (Don't worry, I didn't show them your letter, they just saw it sideways. It's hard to keep letters private around here, because the mail comes to the visitors' center.) Has the heat gotten fixed yet? I'm glad you've been doing some writing and practicing, but I'm sorry you feel like you're falling behind in cello. I heard a cello piece on a CD recently and pictured you playing it the whole time. It's always like that when I hear cello music, but this made me sadder than usual.

 

I'm glad to hear about Aunt Debbie and the echo, though! So, she's not a nun anymore? That's so sad! I loved visiting the convent. Is she still in Athens? Do you know her address? I would like to write her a letter.

 

Also, thanks for answering my questions! Here are answers to yours:

 

1. I did hear about Sister Barney, that's so sad. The ward will not be the same without her.

2. No, nobody ratted on you about the website, but in the email you forwarded me that you had sent to Grandma, you mentioned you were behind. :-) So, that's how I knew. It's okay, I know you're busy.

3. Sister Carter will only be with me for one more week, counting today. She goes back to the mission home next Monday! I have no idea who my next companion will be.

4. Connie and her husband got anti-ed, meaning that someone gave them anti-Mormon material and now they are completely turned against us. This is, sadly, what happens to most of our investigators. I'm thinking a lot about this problem and trying to find ways to avoid it. Do you have any advice?

5. Yes, Chardon is fine, I haven't heard anything about that explosion for awhile now.

6. Dad sent all the music I wanted and more, thank you very much!

 

In other news, things are going great around here, except for our investigators all getting anti-ed. But, we have found some new ones! We had a cool experience yesterday--we stopped by a lady named Donna, whom we found a couple of months ago tracting. She had said we could stop by again, but she didn't set an appointment, and we were beginning to worry we would never see her again. But yesterday, when we went to her house, she was there, and her sister and niece were there visiting, too, and all three of them wanted to learn more about the gospel. The whole situation just felt natural, and I don't even know why they wanted to learn more, but somehow, when we left the house, we left with all of their contact information and had given them the Book of Mormon. One of the ladies had met with missionaries for a few weeks when she lived in Florida, but then she moved and never got around to finding the missionaries again. But she said she would love to start meeting with us. Pretty cool! I love it when people want to learn more before we even say anything to persuade them.

 

On another note, musical opportunities have been falling into my lap recently, which I love. The Community of Christ sponsers a community Thanksgiving musical service in the Kirtland Temple every year, and the Butterfields asked me to play piano for it this year! Also, the four of us living in the Smith Home have discovered that we can sing 4-part harmony, so we're singing for something at the visitors' center tomorrow. And, do you remember the Messiah performance in Chardon I told you about? Well, Sister Debenham, one of the other Chardon sisters, and myself both get to sing in a small ensemble for it! I wouldn't have tried out, but Sister Debenham did, so I did too. I think it will be fun, and the Church in Chardon needs positive publicity, so I'm glad we're involved in something like this. Anyway, I'm grateful that these opportunities have all come up, because being involved with music in the community is such a great way to break down barriers and relate to people and help them see that Mormons are real people!. And these opportunities are all just falling into place.

 

Well, that's a long enough email for now. How is everything going with you? I love you!

 

Love,

Katherine/Sister Lyman

Kirtland, 11/8/10

Hi Mom!

 

Thanks for sending me those poems for Grandma. I love them! Yours is especially good. Let's see, I think it was talking about apple pie, and DaNece, and a few other things. I loved how symbolic it was, though! I really had to think about it.

 

I have a question, though--would you like me to ask DaNece if she could start doing my blog from now on? She's probably settled into BYU life by now. And it probably wouldn't be much extra work for her, since she's on the computer all the time anyway, I'll bet. Just an idea...

 

How is everything going for you? What are you practicing these days? Where is the family going for Thanksgiving? Or who are you having over?

 

Everything is going well here. I started driving this week! Sister Carter's license was revoked because she got too many speeding violations, so they gave me an emergency clearance to drive.  Anyway, the very same day that happened, it started snowing! And now I can tell you that all the horror stories about lake effect snow are true! Saturday night, we were driving home via Chesterland, which is south of Kirtland, to deliver a Book of Mormon. It was so scary because there are almost no street lights in Geauga County, so I could only see a few feet in front of us, as far as the headlights shone. And the roads are all narrow, fast, hilly, and windy, and there are trees everywhere. And then it started snowing hard while we were driving, so the roads were super slick and we were fishtailing all over the place. And then I started panicking, because I suddenly couldn't remember anything about driving in the snow,  and the house we were driving to was at the bottom of a big hill, which ended in a cul-de-sac, and of course the brakes locked while we were going down the hill, etc.... Well, everything turned out alright, and I think I can be level-headed from now on, but it was scary.

 

We found a wonderful investigator this week named Beth. We were at her house delivering a Finding Faith in Christ DVD to her dad, and he really wasn't interested in learning anything, but she was. We taught her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and she told us that we answered several questions she has been struggling with recently. I hope that nobody gives her anti-Mormon material before our next meeting--that is a big problem around here. And then once it happens, they won't listen to anything else we say, even if the information they found is completely false.

 

In general, though, I love being a missionary. I especially love being in Kirtland, because it is a constant reminder of what this church is all about. The things that were established in Kirtland are the most important parts of the restored gospel: the Saints received revelations, they learned how to use the priesthood, they built a temple, they organized missionary efforts, and they started an education system with the school of the prophets. I love this period in church history! I can't wait until I can give you guys a tour. :-)

 

Well, let me know how everything is going down there! Love you!

 

Love,

Katherine (Sister Lyman)

Kirtland, 11/1/10

Hi Mom and Dad!

 

Which Shakespeare play did you read? I just told Sister Carter about that, and she laughed, but I think we are the coolest family ever. Tell Sophie happy birthday! I will try to send her something soon. I'm sorry I didn't send her anything to be there on her birthday, though. I'm not quite used to having one day a week to take care of letters--I don't look far enough in advance. I did have her birthday written in my planner, though, so I was thinking about her yesterday! Jamie got called as the new teachers' quorum president? Yay! That will be wonderful for him! He will do such a good job, too, and this will give him a chance to be so responsible. Tell James that I say that's an important calling, because if there are young men in his class who he doesn't watch out for, then the missionaries end up having to take care of them, and we already have too many people to take care of.

 

What, Norman played on your recital? You mean he accompanied? Or have you been teaching him little cello parts? Good for him!

 

We've had a great week here. I don't know if I've told you about our investigator Lani yet, but we found her tracting, and we've had two lessons with her in the last couple of weeks. She is a golden investigator. She is a nursing student, currently lives with her parents, and was just sitting outside by herself thinking about life when Sister Carter and I came walking down her driveway. Her first lesson went great, and for her second lesson, she came to the historic sites and we showed her the Joseph Smith movie and took her on a tour. She is doing great! She isn't sure the Book of Mormon is true yet, but she's really trying to do everything we ask her to. And she has been reading so much! It is neat to get to work with her.

 

Our investigators Tina and Jody are also doing great. I love it when investigators call us, and both of those two call us sometimes just to let us know how things are going. Tina called yesterday to apologize for not coming to church, and Jody called us yesterday so we could pray for her while she was dealing with some things. She likes us to pray with her on the phone, too. She calls us her "Mormon girls." But then she corrects herself and says her "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints girls." We hadn't seen her for a couple of weeks, but we stopped by on Thursday, and it turned out to be at a time when she really needed us. She is so sweet and says she wants to come to church with us this week and bring all her friends!

 

Chardon is growing on me. Would you believe they changed Halloween to Saturday? That gives you an idea of how Bible Belt it is around here. And the town is small enough that they were able to have a Halloween parade Saturday night and then cider and donuts afterward on the town square. Cute, isn't it? This was a sad week for Chardon, though, because there was an explosion that caught a lot of storage units on fire at the edge of town. That impacted a couple of the people we're working with right now, actually, and it's been a trial for them.

 

Today as Sister Carter and I were walking into the library, we ran into a couple of members of the Community of Christ putting up a Kirtland Temple exhibit at the front of the library. It is nice having the Community of Christ around--we're not completely the same, but I feel some kinship with them just because we both use the Book of Mormon and we share all the same Kirtland history. And they are so friendly. This is an interesting area, because we see so many split-off groups hanging around Kirtland. The Community of Christ, of course--their guides who work at the Kirtland Temple live in Sidney Rigdon's house, just a few houses down from us in the Smith home. And there is a little church called "The Church of Jesus Christ" down the road from the temple, too. It is also called the Restoration Church, a split-off from the Community of Christ. And we got a group through on tour recently called "The Remnant," another split-off from the Community of Christ with basically identical beliefs to our church. I wonder why more of the split-off groups don't just embrace all of it and join our church, but then again, some of them do.

 

Oh, on a slightly less missionary note, could you please send me some piano music? I would really love to have one of our hymn arrangement books, either the Darwin Wolford or Sonos books, as soon as possible. Also, I would love to have something classical, like a Mozart sonata or Chopin (etudes or nocturnes) or Kabalevsky sonatas. I want to be prepared to play if the need should arise. Thanks! :-)

 

Also, what is Aunt Debbie's current situation? And address? I've been thinking about her lately. Partially because there are nuns who sing with us at Messiah practice. I am loving Messiah practice, by the way! And the other people there are awesome. We don't proselyte, since it's inside a Catholic church, but it's so effective to be seen there.

 

Also, where is the Echo? Just wondering.

 

I love you! Happy November! I hope it's not too cold down there. Keep reading Shakespeare plays! You all should read The Tempest, that is my request.

 

I love you!

 

Love,

Katherine

Kirtland, 10/25/10

Hi Mom!!

 

I hope you're still on the computer. It's so fun when we're on here at the same time. I got your email after I had already logged  in, so I know we were here together for at least part of it!

 

Thanks for the update on everyone. Tell Jocelyn congratulations! I'm so glad she got to be in the play. I agree with you on the Shakespeare alterations, I think they usually just draw attention to themselves. Also, tell James good job on his self-portrait and good luck with his lesson! I like your insights on Job--that's really true that he is similar to the Savior. We talked about Job a lot in my comp lit class freshman year. Brother Peer said that the book was written as a hypothetical situation, and that Job wasn't a real person, but that his story was written as sacred literature that explores all the possible reactions to suffering and then the process by which we can respond to it using the Atonement. Either way, it is a great book! I'll have to reread the chapter you mentioned.

 

Haha, I'm sure Sophie had a huge wish list. I wish I could be there!

 

Why is October so busy for weddings? I'm glad you're starting to get out of that, though. And that you got to go the temple, that is wonderful.

 

Okay, Pioneer School: It's one of our service projects--all of the Kirtland sisters take turns doing it. There is a historical society nearby in Painesville (the town Edward Partridge was from) that sets up a mini-Williamsburg experience for elementary schoolers from all around Ohio and Pennsylvania. The students come in for a day and go to different centers--a log cabin where they learn about keeping house in the early frontier days of Ohio, a schoolhouse, and then a big barn where they learn about candlemaking and make their own candles. When we volunteer there, we get to be the candlemaking ladies. And we wear pioneer dresses! I'll send you a picture. I like it, especially because we get a lot of kids from Cleveland, and they are a fun group. Also, I feel like I am living my dream of working at Colonial Willliamsburg!

 

We took a Kirtland temple tour as new missionaries, our second day in Ohio. So yes, I've been there. Also, LDS family services had an adoption conference in the temple a couple of weeks ago, and we got to sing at it! It was amazing. The meeting was in the early morning, so the sun rose while we were in there, and the way the windows are set, the sun casts lovely patterns on the wall while it's rising. And we got to sing several of the hymns they sang at the 1836 dedication! Well, I played, the other sisters sang. Anyway, the temple is probably my favorite spot in Kirtland, even though it is a little strange, you're right.

 

Visitors' center attendance is down from the summer, but there are lots of "leaf people" who come through because this is peak leaf season, so everything is pretty. Sister Carter and I have spent tons of time at the center lately. Actually, we did zero hours of tracting this week because we were at Kirtland so much. But oh well, I honestly prefer being there most of the time. We usually take 1-2 tours a day. And yes, they're different every time. I read our Kirtland manual a lot, and I try to incorporate something new from it into every tour. The manual is huge, but I'm not sure what I'll do when I finish reading it... Well, there's lots of information in there, it allows us to go into detail about any topic that might be of special interest to a visitor.

 

We got three new investigators this week! Quick story about two of them: Last week we found a lady, probably in her 70's, named Connie. As soon as she saw who we were, she said she and her husband had been to Temple Square and they had loved it. And she invited us to come back when her husband was there, so they could both meet with us. Then, she set an appointment with us and sent us on our way and we had hardly had a chance to say anything! Well, we went back this week, and when we came in, there was a big whiteboard in their kitchen with three balloons tied to it that said: "Welcome, Sisters! Thank you so much for coming!"  And there was old movie music playing in the background, and Connie and her husband were all ready with a notebook and a pencil. Apparently, they have had missionaries to their house in the past, and they just enjoyed talking to them. But they'd never heard the first lesson, so we taught that. It was an unusual situation all around. Connie showered us with gifts when we left, too, she was so sweet.

 

We had dinner with our German family this week, too! I love their house, they were playing German folk music when we walked in and they've got cuckoo clocks everywhere. They are so fun.

 

Well, I should go, but I hope you have a great week! I love you!

 

Love,

Katherine

Kirtland, 10/18/10

Hi Mom!!

 

Thank you for your tracting advice! I will remember that. The fall colors are even better this week. We're rushed for time right now, but I'll send you some pictures next time.

 

Wow, I'm so impressed with Cecilia! I remember trying out for all-state choir and not getting in. :-) I'm so happy that she's enjoying that and doing so well with that. I'm doing choir again  now, too! Sister Carter and I and the other 2 Chardon sisters are all singing with an inter-religious choir that sings the Messiah every year! It is so wonderful, I'm so grateful to be doing it.

And I heard about DaNece's audition! And tell Jocelyn I wish her all the best for her play! I'm so proud of her, too.

 

We had a great week! I have a good missionary story for you...  A few weeks ago, Sister Carter and I were doing our daily planning, and we both felt pulled to tract this one street in Chardon called Grant Street. We didn't get to it until about a week later, though, and when we got there, it only had five houses. So we tracted those five, and nothing happened. But then the next week, we were driving down that same street, and I noticed a house on the end that we hadn't seen the other time. So, I  mentioned it to Sister Carter and we decided to come back and tract it eventually... And then, this week on Tuesday, we were driving past Grant Street, and all of a sudden Sister Carter just turned and pulled into this house and said, "Let's tract it right now!" So we did, and  nobody was home, but as we were walking away, a truck pulled up and this man got out and said "Hey, sisters! I'm an elder! I'm Brother Bob." It turns out he is from Ashtabula and hasn't been active in the church for awhile, but he has been living in Chardon for the last few months and was just thinking about how he wanted to come to church again. I am quite sure he is the one we were supposed to find on Grant Street. It was a good miracle!

 

Our investigator Tina is also making good progress. Oh, we set a baptismal date with her! It's for February and I really think it will happen. We went over the qualifications for baptism with her yesterday, and she is serious about getting ready. I'm so impressed with her!

 

Well, we have to go, sorry this was on the short side. Our car is in the shop all week long and now we're sharing with another set of sisters, so P-day schedule is tricky.

 

I love you, though! Keep writing me long emails, I love to read them!

 

Love,

Katherine

 

P.S. Have I told you about Pioneer School? I will have to next time.

Kirtland, 10/11/10

Hi Mom!

 

How are you? How did everything go this week? How is Norman doing?

 

This has been an exciting week in the Chardon Branch. Yesterday, Sister Carter and I had several important people at church. Have I told you about Billy? He is a less active man in the branch, and Sister Carter and I have been meeting with him every week since I got here. He was baptized about three years ago, but he fell away shortly thereafter. Lately, though, for some reason he has completely turned his life around.  Yesterday was his first day back at church! He was just beaming when we walked in and saw him there in the hall.  He is so sweet and sincere about making changes in his life. I was so proud of him yesterday. The neat thing is that we don't know why he wanted to change, and it was all so self-motivated. We called him to set up the first appointment at the beginning of September, but since then, he's the one who texts us during the week to make sure we're still meeting on Friday. And he texts us sometimes to update us on his progress.

 

Also, our investigator Tina finally came to church yesterday. At our meeting with her this week, we talked about baptism, and she wants to do it! Also, she prayed out loud, and Sister Carter says Tina has never agreed to that before. She is another one who is making some amazing changes all on her own. For our next lesson, she requested that we talk about fasting and tithing, because she said those are the two hardest principles for her, and she really wants to get over them before she is baptized. But then, on Saturday, when we called her about church the next day, she asked if it was alright for her just to eat something small that day to go with one of her medications. Apparently, she had thought it was fast Sunday, and she was already planning on fasting! She keeps surprising me with how willing she is to make changes.

 

This week is transfers, but all four sisters in the Chardon Branch are staying. That's good, because none of us expected or wanted to be transferred. Next transfer I will definitely get a new companion, though, because Sister Carter dies at the end of this transfer! Did you have lots of missionary jargon in Italy? I never realized there was so much of it. For example, I was born in Chardon, I'm growing up in a home (meaning I'm living in one of the historic Kirtland homes for my first few transfers), I'm killing Sister Carter (because she dies while I'm her companion), investigators flame us when they don't show up to lessons, and Sister Hill and Sister Palfrey are my sisters because we all have the same mom (trainer). Funny, isn't it?

 

Also, have I told you about the Ohio accent? It's similar to the New York/Pennsylvania accent, in this area anyway. You can do it if you just change your short a's to "ee-a" dipthongs. For example, the most common thing we hear tracting: "I'm Cee-atholic."

 

Do you have any tracting advice? Most of the people here don't want to talk to us at all. I think that's partially the culture in this area, though, because people are busy and not super-friendly. Oh well, I love them anyway. And we found a few great people this week! I love it when that happens, it's always a miracle in some way.

 

On a side note: If you ever might want, perhaps, to send me a Christmas present, I would really love a beautiful Mormon Tabernacle choir CD. The new mission rule is that we can listen to anything sung by the Mormon Tabernacle choir, so it's not just hymns anymore!

 

Hope everything is going well! Love you!

 

Love,

Katherine

Hi Mom! Alright, I just got your email!

 

I did hear about DaNece, I'm so excited for her! 

Hm, Ceci's mental block... If she were an investigator, I would sit down with her and ask her lots of questions to try to get to the "center of the onion." They teach us that when someone has a question or concern, usually it's just a cover for a concern that's several layers deeper, like layers on an onion! That would be the missionary approach. Oh, and then I would read her a story from the Book of Mormon about someone who has her same concern, and help her relate to that person, and then have her see in the scriptures how that person gets an answer to their problem. And then have her pray out loud! :-) I'm glad Sophie's reading, too.

 

Well, I love you! Have a good week!

 

Love,

Katherine