Sister Edholm - week 3

So much has happened this week, it was our last day with Brother Wilford on Saturday and we took some pictures with him, but I will tell you more about that next week when Sister Perkins sends me the pictures because they are hilarious and you won't understand until you see them.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday on the light of Christ. It went well a lot of other people talked too, we all talked for only like 5 minutes, it wasn't too bad. We also had a testimony meeting on Sunday night and it was so good!! Everyone was crying at the end except for me because I caught the emotionless gene, even when I bore my testimony I didn't cry, nor was I close to it lol. Sister Freeman called me a stone.  

On Monday we woke up at 4:45 am and got our stuff brought downstairs. We left at 5:45. We go to Edinburgh at 10 am. The craziest thing happened too. I have a friend that is serving in this mission that I danced with and she was at the mission home getting transferred when we got there, so I got to say hi which was cool. Yesterday was the longest day of my life, actually just kidding today is the longest day, but yesterday was pretty bad. I almost fell asleep during the presentations. We did a role play and I definitely could not think straight. 

I got to my first area, it is called Greenock, kinda close to Glasgow. It is super pretty, but we are white washing the area so we both don't know anyone or where anything is. Also our flat is probably the grossest thing I have ever seen (not as much anymore because we cleaned). When we first walked in there was stuff EVERYWHERE and the carpets looked like they had not been vacuumed in 10 years, no joke. Also there was fingernail clippings on my nightstand and there are boogers wiped all over the wall where my companion's bed is. There was also tons and tons of moldy food in the fridge. I could go on and on. We cleaned it for the most part. Except for the bathroom, the shower leaks because the people that were there before had it fixed, but they were supposed to have the pipes sit for 48 hrs before they used it and they didn't so now they leak. Anyway my trainer is Sister Truman and her mom went to high school with my mom! She is from St. George, Utah. She only has 3 months left, so I will be with her most likely until she leaves. We taught our first lesson today and we gave him a baptismal date, he had one last year, but the missionaries left the area and they didn't come back in contact until now. We taught the lesson with a senior couple, Elder and Sister Walker.

P.S. I am sorry if this doesn't make any sense I feel like I got hit by a bus and I am REALLY struggling to stay awake so.. I will send pictures next week when I get them

P.P.S. My mission president gave me permission to hug Nathaniel

Sister Edholm 

Pennsylvania Day 5

SOOOO, we were supposed to be flying into Denver today, but at the Pittsburgh airport they were asking for volunteers to get bumped since they overbooked the flight. We decided to go for it since they gave us each $800 in flight vouchers and a free nights stay at a hotel, which happened to be the Marriott, and $40 for dinner which all made up for the fact that we had zero luggage. We fly out tomorrow morning and get a non stop flight instead of having layovers, so that's great.  We drove around Pittsburgh a bit today.

Pittsburgh Steelers Three Rivers Stadium

Pittsburgh Pirates Stadium

View from the 10th floor at the Marriott

It's been overcast the entire time we have been gone, including in Wyoming when we left last Wednesday, but I haven't minded at all.  It's been a wonderful time!

Day 4 in Pennsylvania

Sunday!  We found a church in Youngstown Ohio to attend today. 

Parking lot of church

It took us about an hour and a half to reach Youngstown from Clarion. Then we drove through Middlefield Ohio because that is the center of Amish country.  We saw a lot of Amish buggies and girls walking along the roads. 

You can see the buggies in the distance

This is in the Walmart parking lot

There were other stores that had these outside in the parking lot as well

We drove around for awhile waiting for the visitor center at the John Johnson home to open, which is in Hiram Ohio, not far from the Amish.  Our time visiting there was wonderful and we felt the power of the Spirit in the home where Doctrine and Covenants 76 was received among other sections.

Then we drove another 45 minutes to Kirtland. We went through the temple and found the bench that Brian's brother, Barry, made for the Kirtland temple in 2006.

His name under the bench

Then we went to the Church's visitor center and went on the tour with the sister missionaries to the Whitney story, Whitney home, and the Johnson Inn. It was a great experience and I really felt the sacredness of those places.

Tomorrow we leave and I will be sad to say goodbye!

Days 2 & 3 in Pennsylvania

Friday Brian and I at the suggestion of our Bed and Breakfast host, Bill Miller, (aka host extraordinaire) drove through Cook Forest which starts just a short 20 minutes outside of Clarion.  It was beautiful as we drove along the Clarion River with trees heavy with snow and the serene river.  I didn't take any pictures (my bad) as I was just enjoying the drive. So I am going to cheat and insert a Google Pic of the Cook Forest.

Friday night we had a reception at the director of the program's house who also happens to be my advisor, Dr. Lillard. We were able to talk with someone from the American Library Association (ALA) who was there to speak with the online graduates. It was an amazing time to meet all my professors whom I have taken classes from and talk with them and other students. Dr. Lillard's home is just a block from the Bed and Breakfast and the walk there was beautiful as well.

 Earlier that day Brian and I walked around the campus. Clarion has been around for 150 years and has some beautiful buildings. I took a picture of the Library, of course!

This simply beautiful cross stitch is in our room at the B&B and it summarizes perfectly what my idea to go to grad school years ago did for me today.


Today was the big day--Graduation!  We had a brunch before the ceremony at Dr. Lillard's home and again it was great to talk with everyone.  Then amid lightly falling snow we went to the ceremony.  I could hardly believe it when I walked into the gym with the rest of the graduates.  It was almost surreal.

Waiting to go into the ceremony

My selfie attempt

Brian took this you can see me turning my head to look at him in the middle

There it is, my diploma!

The happy couple!

Brian caught the announcing of my name on video:

My professors, Dr. Lillard (director of the program and my advisor), Dr. Clark, Dr. Ha, and Dr. Aristeguita

It was an incredible day and I'm so grateful I had this opportunity and that I came all the way to Pennsylvania!

Day 1 in Pennsylvania

Brian and I are in Pennsylvania so I can walk through graduation at Clarion University of Pennsylvania on Saturday and receive my Masters of Library and Information Science.  We drove from Worland to Denver yesterday and stayed overnight so we could fly out of Denver this morning. I was so excited to touch down in Pittsburgh!  I've never been this far east and I'm loving the beautiful country!  We are staying at the Clarion Bed & Breakfast which is a 125 year old home and it's incredibly beautiful!  The owners have welcomed us and have made us feel comfortable in every way.  Here are a few pictures which do not do this house justice.

Beautiful stained glass in the sealing.

Antique decor throughout the home

Our room, the "blue room"

Stair case, all the woodworking is amazing

This tree is phenomenal!  It took Bill and his wife Judy 7 days to decorate it!

Dining room, I love window seats!

Tribute to my mother, she would have loved these-beautiful blooming Christmas cacti

Sister Edholm - week 2

This week has been amazing! I have talked so much about how there is no such thing as coincidences. It isn't coincidence that I got called to Scotland/Ireland, it isn't coincidence that Sister Bair is my companion, it isn't coincidence that Sister Harkness was sick the first week and we were able to teach Brother Robertson's investigator "Eron" instead. There are no coincidences, God knows what challenges and what experiences we need to make us stronger.

Also I had the two most influential lessons this past week. The first lesson was on "How to Begin teaching Part 1" and Sister Harkness and Brother Hunter taught us. I learned so much from them, I learned that we need to plan and then rely on the Spirit in our lessons and RELAX. It's okay if you don't have every answer to a question. That night Sister Bair and I taught probably the best lesson that night after that lesson because we were relaxed and everything went as planned. The lesson before we had asked her to read the Book of Mormon and so this lesson she had some questions for us. She asked us about Nephi killing Laban and she wondered which chapter it was in and I looked down after opening my scriptures and read the first heading I saw and IT WAS IT!! So I said chapter 4 and then she asked us why he did it and I looked down again and I saw verse 6 which says, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." We then talked about how he got the prompting 3 times. Anyway it was such a good lesson and everything went as planned and it is because I applied the doctrine of the lesson. I realize that that's not going to happen every time, but I learned a good lesson that I just need to relax. 

Side note: There was also another lesson that we had the day before with Brother Wilford where we did this role play where our "investigator" (One of the people from our district) picked a question that they were struggling with and then we would pick a scripture to help them in the moment. I was terrified nonetheless. I was of course the missionary and I was paired with Sister Taylor. She asked me why she had to go to church if she was doing the best she could to be good and life was going great. I could not find a scripture and I was searching for a good 2 minutes and finally Brother Wilford came over and helped me. He knew that I couldn't find a scripture and he said that was okay he said, "I don't know that answer right now, but during our next lesson I will have researched it and let you know, but my companion (me) has an experience where she found an answer by a scripture" and then he turned the time over to me and I told her my experience and shared my scripture. From that I realized that your own experiences can be as powerful to the investigator, really no one is a perfect missionary and knows every answer without research, unless your Jesus. It was a stressful situation.

Influential lesson 2: Yesterday we had a part 2 with Brother Wilford on How to Begin Teaching, but we focused more on the last bullet point in the section, where when you meet someone you tell them your purpose as a missionary. I never realized and my purpose never clicked as much as it did then. I know why I am here now. It was such a powerful lesson. The thing that was even more powerful about it was that he had said before that the lesson that the lesson he had prepared was not coming together and so he changed the lesson on the spot of what he was going to teach it and it ended up being the lesson that I needed to realize why am I here and not to be so scared of telling people what our purpose is and that as we talk to them that they will want to be baptized, it doesn't have to be so bold that they get scared away.

Also I have all 42 principles memorized and I am working on memorizing scriptures to go with them!!

xoxo

Sister Edholm

Sister Edholm - Week 1

Hello Everyone!

I absolutely love it here at the MTC! The food portions here are so so so big and I am never hungry. 

When we first got here, we didn't do much, my suitcase was lost for a little bit because they had put it in the wrong room, but I eventually found it. I took a nap for an hour or so and then we had devotional with the area 70 for our area and his wife. Their names are Elder and Sister Ternicliff, Sister Ternicliff talked about how we should be the missionaries that our mothers think we are. Elder Ternicliff talked about the metaphor of walking and that as missionaries we need to walk confident and collected. 

Our first official day at the MTC we met our teacher. My companion is Sister Bair and she is from Seattle, but her family moved to Oregon while she was at college, she went to BYUI. My district is the Abinadi district and we have 6 sisters and 2 elders. Sister Taylor (Bournemouth, England), Sister Perkins (Mountain Green, Utah), Sister Kearns (Denver, Colorado), Sister  Freeman (Port Talbot in South Wales), Sister Bair (Umatilla, Oregon), Elder Skelton (Lake Havasue, Arizona), Elder Rowlan (Morgan, Utah). Brother Wilford is my teacher and he is probably my favorite teacher ever. He is from South Africa, but his family lives in Scotland now in a town called Alloa. He is the lead teacher and so he usually doesn't teach a normal class, he usually only teaches the group ones where all the districts get together, but since a lot of the teachers are gone because it is close to Christmas he teaches us. Our other teacher is Sister Harkness, but she was sick last week, so we had a sub and his name is Brother Robertson. He is also a great teacher, he really know how to invite the spirit, he talks really quiet, but everything he says is really profound. 

We finished teaching our first investigators yesterday, we taught them 4 times, Sister Bair and I and the Elders in our district only go to teach ours for 3 and then we had a different one for our last lesson. Our teachers were our "investigators," but that doesn't mean it wasn't a real conversion story, it seems like they all have split personalities. I had Brother Robertson as my "investigator" he was playing a guy named Eron. We taught him and then the last time, we weren't going to ask him to be baptized because we didn't think he was going to be ready, because he hadn't kept our last commitment, but while I was reading the Plan of Salvation pamphlet I wasn't even reading about baptism at all, but I heard this voice in my head say "Ask him to be baptized." I immediately looked up and told my companion that we needed to ask him to be baptized. When we went into our lesson, he was so happy, he said he had done the commitments we had set, so we asked him to be baptized and he said yes!! I know it was only a practice, but it felt so real. I was really surprised at the love I felt for him, even just the first lesson! I didn't really feel like a missionary yet until I taught that first lesson, I felt like we were only at a camp, but after that lesson, I was so excited to get into the field and actually do it to a real investigator!!

Yesterday we got to go out to Manchester and proselyte in Piccadily Square, we didn't get any referrals, but other companionships did get some, but that's okay, we still had a really great experience and I just loved talking to all the different people. We were talking to this one lady and a guy walked up and was smoking weed and was yelling at us and getting in our faces and saying that we were Jehovah Witnesses, but we kept saying no and that we were LDS missionaries, but we didn't want to fight with him because he was clearly not in the right mind, and then he grabbed my arm and said "come with me," but I just said "no, I can't I have to stay with her" and I pointed to my companion. Obviously we were being watched out for because the missionaries from that area came and we started talking to them instead and that guy ended up leaving. I reeked like weed the rest of the day.

Today we are also going to the temple and one of the sisters is going through for the first time, because she lives in Zimbabwe and the closest temple is 14 hours away from her house, I am so excited for her!!

p.s. I'm sorry if this was mumbled I was in a hurry.

 

Love you guys!!

Sister Edholm