Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Sister Edholm - week 3

Monday, December 18, 2017

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!

Sunday, December 17, 2017

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!

Saturday, December 16, 2017

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!

Thursday, December 14, 2017

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

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Sister Edholm - week 2



Tuesday, December 5, 2017

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