Solon/Kirtland, 6/15/11

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you're all enjoying summer vacation! It is STILL cold in Ohio (well, some days it's fine, but some days it's cloudy and cold), but everything is going great. We just have one week left in our transfer and I'm a little worried, because I've been in Solon forever but I don't want to leave! We'll just have to see.

 

A few highlights of this week:

 

--Nini and Nina. Did I tell you about them last week? They are best friends, both 15 years old, and they came to church on Sunday! The very first time that we invited them. They really enjoyed it! The ward did so well with them--the YW teachers completely redid their lesson plan on the spot, and ended up teaching the entire plan of salvation and gospel of Jesus Christ. That makes our job easier...

Then, the best part was last night, when we met Nina's family. They are so special. Nina lives with her mom, a sister, and two brothers--we just met her mom (Tracy) and her sister (Sheray) last night, and taught them the restoration. At the end of the lesson, Tracy said something like, "When Nina told me you were coming over here for a lesson tonight, I didn't think much about it, but now sitting here and listening to you, I've realized I've got a lot to think about." Then she told us that she had been confused for years, and that it was difficult to find a church that she felt comfortable with.

At one point during the lesson, we taught about the church Christ established when He was here on the earth, and then I asked Tracy to explain the difference between that church versus a church established by man. She understood so well, and talked about how even if people are well-intentioned, they can't duplicate the blessings that would be available to us through a church established by God. She said she wanted to be baptized! And so did Sheray. I love finding people like this.

 

-Community of Christ picnic. All the Kirtland sisters were invited to this Monday night. It was so interesting! Sis. Devenport and I sat with one of the Kirtland Temple guides and asked him all about his religion and his life as a temple guide (since they're basically our equivalent). Something I didn't realize was that since the 90's, the Community of Christ has been an ecumenical church--meaning that they do not claim to be the only true church, but rather one "tributary on the stream of Christianity."

 

-Frederika. She is an 89 year old lady from the Netherlands, and she wants to learn the gospel! She came to Kirtland on Friday with 3 other ladies from Hamlet Hills, the retirement center in Chagrin Falls where we have done a lot of service. While they were taking the tour, we said something about eternal families, and she said, "That's so interesting. How is it that you believe that? That's not common to Christianity." We then explained that it came as revelation to Joseph Smith, and she said, "Oh! I'd like to learn more about that," and then she checked the box on her comment card that said she'd like more information about the Church. She is such a cool lady--fluent in Dutch, English, French, and German, and used to work as a translator, translating philosophy books from English into Dutch! She also has a cool accent. We're having another lesson with her tonight!

 

Well, I love you all so much! I love reading your emails and hearing everything you've been up to. Keep writing me!

 

Love,

Katherine

 

P.S. The picture is of Sister Devenport and me on one of our car trips home from Kirtland (we always carpool with the Twinsburg sisters). On this particular one, we accidentally took a wrong turn, so then we got on the freeway to get home fast and correct it, but then we missed our freeway exit....We ended up taking over an hour to get home!

Solon/Kirtland, 6/8/11

Hi everyone!

 

It sounds like you're all doing well--thanks for your emails!

 

Michele was baptized on Sunday and it was wonderful! All of the residents from her Praderwilli's home came to support her! It was a double baptism with Nate, who just turned 8, so the relief society room was packed--some people had to stand out in the hall to watch!

 

I have been worrying a lot about her and if the ward would take care of her once she was baptized, but things have fallen into place. Sister Taylor, the relief society president, sent all the relief society sisters an announcement about Michele's baptism, and in it she included some information about Praderwilli's, so all of the sisters know what's going on. Also, when Michele came to church this past Sunday, she wanted to go up to the front and bear her testimony! She has no inhibitions about anything, apparently.

 

She started off something like this: "I don't know all of the proceedings of this church, or all the proceedings of the life of Joseph Smith, but I do know that it's all true." Then she talked about how much she loves the Book of Mormon, and how it can help her in any situation, and she said that this has brought light into her life. Then she said, "My family doesn't understand why I want to be baptized, but I know that my extended family here understands (here she was pointing toward the congregation), so I want to invite all of you to my baptism tonight."

 

I was so happy for her! She's been meeting with missionaries since 2007 and has had such a long road to travel. And we still have a lot of work to take care of her as a new member!  Anyway, the baptism was wonderful, but we had some funny moments because of all the young children/Praderwilli's patients in attendance. Michele has normal mental capacity (well, better than normal), but some of the other women in her home do not. During the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost, Michele's friend Yvonne was quite vocal in answering questions that were actually directed to 8 yr. old Nate. And her answers were somewhat off-base, for example:

 

Sister Patterson: "Now, who is the Holy Ghost?"

Yvonne (from the back of room): "It's the devil!!!"

 

Well, enough of that. I've attached a few pictures:

 

Picture 1--Me, Michele, and Sister Devenport before her baptism

 

Picture 5--Sisters Devenport, Wattles, Lyman, Hatch and Edman (the site director's wife). We stay the night in Kirtland twice a week now, and this night, we were celebrating Sister Edman's birthday!

 

PIcture 6--Maple Heights--much nicer without snow :-)

 

Well, I love you all!

 

Love,

Katherine

Solon/Kirtland 6/1/11

Hi everyone!

 

Thanks for all of your emails! I love hearing from all of you. Good news: Demarco was baptized on Saturday! I'm sending you a picture (Picture 3). The man on the far left is Ben, who baptized him, and then it's Demarco, Sister Devenport, and then me.

 

The service went nicely, but none of Demarco's family came! The Rust family has taken him in, though, and brings him to church every week. They are such saints. I was thinking during his baptism about how much he will bring to the ward--he has grown since we first started teaching him, and I just know his comprehension will continue to grow. The Holy Ghost really does enhance increase our capacity to understand things!!

 

Now that he is baptized, we are focusing on Michele's baptism coming up this Sunday!  We met with her on Monday after her baptismal interview, and she was just laughing the whole time because she was so happy. She started meeting with missionaries in 2007, and she has had so many things to overcome before getting to this point, but it just goes to show that people really can overcome barriers and progress! Michele used to think she would never be able to come to church, or she would never get permission to be baptized, but everything has gradually just fallen into place.

 

Pictures 6 and 9 are from our Memorial Day dinner at Kirtland. Picture 9 is from a skit--they had some of us improvise Kirtland-inspired skits using props for post-dinner entertainment. My group did a Wizard of Oz version of the journey to Kirtland, and then this group is retelling the revelation of the Word of Wisdom in the school of the prophets, but with a superstar Joseph Smith (sunglasses removed for this picture). Can you see it? Well, it was all fun, anyway.

 

I love you all!

 

Love,

Katherine