Well! It was one of those weeks!

We couldn't meet with any of our progressing investigators.  They were either at drill for the reserve, studying for finals and at the Library or work for hours, and a variety of other reasons.  Which makes missionary work very difficult, but we did the best we could! 

It was also pouring down rain.... :) At one point we were on our bikes, in the pouring rain. I was up front, and kept thinking how I was putting poor Sister Black through this (it was her first time on the bike!) When we got off our bikes though and looked at each other, she had the biggest grin on her face-- as always. Love that girl! She is so positive and such a hard worker.  

Our Bishop here asked Sister Black and I to speak Sunday. My topic was the Atonement. I've done a lot of public speaking before, and so I am pretty good at writing talks. I can keep people interested and make some good points. So what? This time I wanted the spirit to really speak to the ward (congregation)...so I didn't write a talk. Don't get me wrong, I spent hours looking up scriptures and material about the Atonement and made little notes so I would remember, but I didn't actually organize a talk. I was scared to death, but I wanted to rely on the spirit and say the things Heavenly Father needed me to say.  I don't usually get too nervous, but I was sick to my stomach when I stood up there. And then as I started, I really did feel the spirit guiding me what to say, and I felt peace. It wasn't perfect, I don't think I changed anyone's life or that was I said was even that great, but as I looked at everyone, I know that what they were feeling while I was speaking--the spirit--was touching their hearts. I hope to use that more in our lessons, and really listen to their needs. I will be a much better missionary if I do.

Tonight we are going to play floor hockey with the Young Single Adults here.  They bring a lot of friends and it's great.  The Oja's are the FHE (Family Home Evening) coordinators and they are an awesome family...from Washington and Oregon :) Best place on earth! 

Tomorrow, back at the Elliots!

Friday-the temple. Oh good! 

Also, I can't believe I have been out for 6 months..... crazy.  My proselyting card expires in a year from today...

Gah! I still have so much to do! haha :)

Love all y'all! Hope you have a great week! So thankful for you :)

Hope you Christmas season is starting off wonderfully!

Hermana McClune

Howdy Y'all! 
It's been a great week-heard that one before?  It's true!

It was sad to say good-bye to Sister Krage, and were running around like crazy, but I can just say how much I love Hermana Black??! She is the best little trainee ever! She came from the Mexico MTC.  Really though she doesn't need much training!  She is from Paige Arizona (Lake Powel).  She was also at BYU this past year, and stayed in Y-view.  She is majoring in Photography.  Basically, she is the most positive person you will ever meet!  She doesn't stop smiling! I love it.  She has already made Columbus better, and she hit the ground running! 

Thursday, Thanksgiving, was her first day!  And we had two dinners :)

The first was with the Elliotts.  We invited Terry to be baptized last week on December 14th.  He has changed so much. He has never offered the Thanksgiving blessing before even though it's been house, for a variety of reasons. It is difficult for him to pray out loud, and he hasn't felt like he could before. This was the first year he offered the blessing.  It was short, but probably one of the most sincere blessings I've heard.  It was very neat to be there.  

Of course they ordered us to try a little of everything, which doesn't sound too bad until you see the lay out of food, and realize a little of everything = a whole lot.  They stuffed us!  It was so fun to be apart of, I love that family so much.  And Hermana Black fit right in! It was great.  

After a while, we asked if we could share a message with them.  The 30 people there didn't look very enthused to stop shooting their guns, come inside, and listen to these two strange girls who both had the first name "sister".  We shared Alma 34:38, about giving thanks daily.  As we bore our testimony of the Savior, their demeanor changed. The spirit touched each of our hearts, and we could see it in their faces.  

In between appointments (they were pretty close) as we were driving, I realized I was not going to be able to eat one bite at this next appointment, and I really didn't want to be rude.  So I pulled over, told Hermana Black to roll down the window and start driving. You can imagine her confused expression, especially as I got out of the car, and in my skirt and boots, started to run along side the car down the road.  I had to make some room in my stomach!  And I still could hardly eat another bite, but I managed. 1st world problems.

Anyhow, the work is definitely progressing in Columbus! we are on our toes.  It is such a blessing to participate in this work. 

Did I mention I am blessed?

I love your guts!

Sister McClune

Hola, Howdy, Hey-there

I know, that's quite the subject for this e-mail, but trust me, it's been a good-week.

First the sad news though: Hermana Krage is being transferred.  Basically we have drowned our sorrows in peanut butter cookies (because we haven't eaten chocolate in 3 weeks in an attempt to loose some of this Southern Squish... pb cookies are a healthy alternative right??) She has been here for 6 months now though, and has done a lot of great things here.  I will miss her! Love that girl!

Wednesday, I will be picking up my new companion fresh off the plane.  Training! Yikes!  I've been praying for this new little sister, whoever she is. Her first day out will be Thanksgiving, which I can imagine will be hard because we are away from our families.  It's a great opportunity for me to reflect, and see what I want to change.  I hope it goes well!   

Anyhow, now to explain about why yesterday was the best Sunday on my mission.

THE ELLIOTTS CAME TO CHURCH!

Pam and Terry have not been inside that building since the day they were married, 15 years ago.  And not only did they come, but their son Josh and his wife, and Kayla, and Sage!  Josh and Kayla are members, but Josh's wife and Sage are not.  Sage is sort of an adopted son, and the brother of Josh's wife (I know it's confusing). But basically what you need to know, is they came to church! And, it was honestly the most perfect sacrament meeting for them.  Brother Young was speaking, he is a convert and a very good friend of the Elliots.  His talk was similar to a sermon, which is what they are used too.  And it was such a great talk on gratitude!  Then we had a youth speaker, which gave a great talk and really impressed Terry.  THEN (it keeps getting better!) we had a beautiful musical number that just happened to be Pam's favorite song.  They both cried! 

I could not have planned a more perfect day for them at church if I had tried.  It just goes to show, the Lord will do what's best in his way, in his time.  I have fought tooth and nail before to get people to church. I've knocked on their door and 6 30 so that they'd get up and get ready.  I've called the Sunday School Teacher, RS Pres, Bishop, ward members to fellowship...to make sure the Sunday went well.  And I've never been able to put it together like that.  Yesterday, I was praying so hard that they would have a good experience, and as the meeting unfolded, I just sat back and was amazed at how my prayers were being answered.

I love the Elliotts so much, this family means so much to  me.  Their faith is really growing, and we hope that they will be baptized soon.  I pray that I can see them go to the temple.

AND I SERIOUSLY JUST GOT THE BEST EMAIL EVER FROM MY COMPANION IN DECATUR. My dear Miss Brenda has committed to a baptismal date for the 25 of JANUARY! oh my goodness! I just screamed I was so happy! She is so close to my heart! I am so happy for her, I know this will bless her.  The gospel has answered so many of her questions and given her the strength she needs.  She is so wonderful. 

I am so blessed to be a part of this work.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve am mission.  I love the people here. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father

I really do miss you all, especially at this time of year.  It will be hard to be away for Thanksgiving ( Nortons, Elliotts, Smiths....)  We have about 4 homes to go on Thanksgiving day though, so don't worry, I will be with the people I love here.

But no one replaces family, and I just want you to know how grateful I am for my family and friends.  

I love all y'all!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love your guts!

Hermana McClune

 One of the Hispanic ladies we work with made us the best PJS in the world! 

YES, I 'VE WORN THEM ALL WEEK! WITH PRIDE! it's basically a massive sweatshirt that goes to the floor

Pam, Terry, Hermana Krage, and I have started an air band.  We made them instruments.  After my mission, they are going to take my hunting and we are going to do karaoke to every country song under the sun.

And Kenzaria did my hair the other day right before we did a little lesson.  Cute right??? 

Howdy!

It was a crazy week!  

No body told me it got this cold in the South!  There is a saying here though that goes, "If you don't like the weather, stick around, it'll change in a few days".  Tuesday, we were biking in 25 degree weather + intense humidity = freezin' my toes off.  But then Thursday I had to de-layer because I was starting to sweat while biking.  What's up with that???

Speaking of Thursday, we were leaving a lady's apartment, and were biking past an officer.  I was wearing black boots, thick black tights, and a black skirt with a long black coat, with my helmet.  Apparently the officer assumed we were Elders, because when I said hello to him, his response was, 

"WHOA! It's a female!" 

and then as my companion passed by he said 

"WHAT? It's two females!!!!"

Yeah. That's what an announcement in Octobers conference announcing the age change for Sister missionaries does.  Go Sisters.  

Basically the best part of my week.

Well, almost, because Friday was Zone Conference, when our President comes to speak to us.  I swear, I have the best Mission President in the world!  President and Sister Hanks are the most genuine, loving, fun people.  I don't know how to explain how awesome they are.  

  

 There is never enough time, and we certainly felt that this week with zone conference, and then stake conference; but I great spiritual-kick-in-the-rear that I needed.  I seem to have lost a lot of fire that I had when I first came out, and I am working to re-kindle it.  I love this work, I love the Lord.  I want to do my best!  I learned and re-learned a lot of wonderful things that will help me to find that fire again.  At home, we got a big sign on the door that said "FOGO".  That is how you say fire in Portuguese, where my Dad served his mission (Lisbon, Portugal).  My parents always told us to have FOGO in whatever we do, not just sit back and be a spineless jelly fish.  I've been out for 5, going on 6 months, and I've lost a little bit of my fire, but I am going to get back my FOGO! 

The Elliots, our red-neck family, are really progressing though!  Terry, the father, has read up all the way until Jacob 4; we only asked him to read to Moroni 10!  He has been reading everyday during lunch!  Isn't that wonderful?  It is so amazing to see the effect the spirit is having in his life.  Yesterday night we read some of the scriptures (Moroni 7: 13, 16-17) you had shared with us during conference to explain how the spirit talks to us, because that was one of his questions.  He went on to explain how he has withheld from cussing, not let his temper get the best of him, and not been so prejudiced -all because of the Book of Mormon!!!!  It truly is a book inspired of God!

I wish everyone would read it!  It really helps us learn more about Jesus Christ, and come closer to him.  The great thing, is that everyone can find out for themselves if it is true! If someone reads just even one chapter, and prays with a sincere desire to know if it is true or not, there is no doubt they will receive an answer, because Heavenly Father loves them that much.  He wants each of us to have truth, and feel of his love.  It's amazing.  

Well if I haven't bored you yet, I won't keep it up!

Life is golden! I'M SO BLESSED! thanks so much for all of your love, support and prayers.  I am so thankful to have you!

Love all y'alls guts!

Hermana McClune

Howdy y'all!

I don't know where this week went.  I literally say that every week.  

We are continuing to make progress with my large part-member family.  This is my true, red-neck family.  Each time they leave they tell us "Watch out for deer! But if you hit one, call us!".  The first time they said that, I thought how kind it was and how they'd be helping if we were hurt or the car was damaged or anything.  Then I realized it was because they wanted the deer meat....

(btw I have never seen so much road kill in my life. it's all over the south)

but seriously, these guys are awesome.  And family is number one priority.  They really have welcomed us in; we are even on the chore list now :)  I love these guys guts!

The Mom, has stopped going to church because she didn't want a divide in her family.  Her husband though is slowly opening up.  He  is not a member, and has a lot of questions and isn't afraid to ask.  Which is good, because we are able to clear up his understanding.  He continues to open up as we teach.  We hope to have them at church soon.  

As we have taught this family, I've really learned what it means to teach by the spirit.  In the scriptures we are promised:  

Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

There have been many times in the lessons where I pray "Heavenly Father, I don't know how to answer this question, or what to say, please help me".  He asks some hard questions.  My mind is blank, and I'm scared, but as I start to talk, the words start coming.  

We are also making progress with a few other less-actives in the ward, and they actually came to church for the first time in years on Sunday!  Brother Young always comes, but his wife, daughter, and granddaughters have not been for years.  The granddaughters are not members.  Sister Young is very closed off, and so we started with the only thing we knew how to do-service.  (have you heard that one before?)  We started coming over after school to help her granddaughters-ages 12 and 8-with their book reports and science projects.  Now the girls love coming to church, and have been coming for a couple Sundays with the grandpa, and then yesterday Sister Young and the girls mother came!  We were so excited!  

I'm also finally attaching some photos! 

The second photo might look familiar.  Yeah...that fried chicken we get from Tony's Market on the corner of Grant and Kentucky in East Wenatchee, that the boys (Derek and Landon) love so much?  It's like all over here.  Yup, gas station southern delicacy.  That's why it's good!

The third photo is of a building at Mississippi State! I went on an exchange to Starkville- home of the Dawgs.  Beautiful campus!

And the last photo is for My Mommy :) Sorry it's a week late! I forgot my camera last week when we came to do e-mail.  But I hope you know how grateful I am for you.  I love you so much, and am glad you had a great birthday!  

I hope you are all doing well :) thanks for all the prayers, letter and love! you are wonderful! I hope all y'all have a great week.

Love

Hermana McClune

Howdy Y'all

Oh Boy, what a week. 

I am tired of fried food, but Kathy had to make sure we had the full experience.  She took us to the best place in town.  Everyone there was so dismayed we had never had catfish or a hush puppy!  Mmhhhm good!  And, thanks to Kathy, I know how to make all of this southern, fried goodness.  Y'all will have to unbuckle your belt when I get home!  Ha! Last P-day we went to Kathy's again, and she taught us to make chocolate pie, fried spam, turnup greens, REAL cornbread (there is a difference), pinto beans, fried potatoes, and dream catchers.  It was all delicious, except for the dream catchers of course.  She does a good job of making sure we get the full southern experience! 

Other adventures for this week included going to Charlotte's.  She is a sweet gal who lives in Oklahoma.  Due to financial and health struggles, she hasn't been able to really visit with her Mom for the past 10 years.  Her Mom was just put in the hospital, and so she came down.  Unfortunately she found that her Mom had been bad for a while, even though they talked everyday.  The house needed a desperate deep clean.  Poor Charlotte didn't know what to do, so we are helping her out.

Lesson of the week: Clean behind your appliances.  

Honestly though, we loooved cleaning it!  It was great :) 

Saturday, conference was so awesome. I love conference! How cool is it that we get to hear from a true prophet of the Lord?! I love President Thomas S. Monson.  The words given during conference were inspired for me, my family, my friends, and my investigators.  You were each on my mind.  

Saturday morning, we went to Brenda's.  She has two daughters who have been members for years.  She has been very supportive of them and grateful for the principles of the church as they grew through high school and started their own families.  Now, her heart is being opened to the gospel.  It was so great! she made us french toast, and we all wore our pjs and camped out on the floor.  She loved conference, and watched all of it!  She is so great.  

Stacey and Kevin are still great, love those guys.

It's amazing how the Lord works.  He has blessed me so much.  I realized this week though that I need to trust more in his timing, for me, and for my investigators.  I want everything to happen on my time, but it's not really mine.  Shucks.  He knows much better than I do :)

Love all y'all's guts :)

Sister McClune

Day 52, Decatur, Alabama

Hello Friends and Family,

   

I don't even know where the week went, but I think I say that every week.

The work is great.  I love being a missionary.  It certainly isn't easy though.  

It's great because I have the opportunity to share something so important to me.  It's hard though because not everybody wants that, and sometimes they are very clear in expressing that- insert slamming door.

But that is okay!

Hermana Leahman and me!

We are really focusing on finding people to teach right now.  I have met so many wonderful people!!! We are teaching one family right now that is just awesome.  They are from Guatemala, and so their Mom only speaks a dialect.  Her oldest son, Pasquel, is 14 and speaks only Spanish and dialect, and then their youngest daughter who is 8, speaks English too.  They recently lost a younger brother, Edwardo, and they miss him very much.  When we taught them that they could live with their little brother again, it made every hard part of the mission worth it.  I love that family.  Pasquel is starting school soon, so we are going to try and start teaching him English.  It would be so hard to move from another country.  I am so blessed!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve!

On a funny note, Sister Leahman and I get a crack out of people's expressions as we ride our bikes.  What's so weird about seeing two girls riding bikes with skirts?  Apparently it's pretty weird.  We get creative to make sure we keep our skirts down where they are supposed to be.  I took two long, knee high socks and cut off the toes.  Then I pull those up around my knees, and tuck my skirt in the end.   Creative right???  And it totally works!!!!!  

Funny/scary story I probably shouldn't tell my mom:

The other day we were out walking about trying to find a members house.  We stopped on the side of the road to look at our GPS, and then we notice a black truck slowly roll to a stop. There were two men inside.  One of them yelled to us "Well, what are you going to teach us?"  I was super confused, and was like "Umm hi, are you interested in learning about our faith?”  He said "Yup.  I'll be honest though, we are working for the Devil".   Except I heard everything but the Devil part, but my companion did.  Cars were piling up behind them so I pointed to the cars, and they said they would drive back around. As soon as they left, my companion explained what they had said.  We didn’t know what to do, and it was getting dark, so we picked up our bags, held onto our skirts, and booked it.  

It was hilarious!  

Don't worry Mom, I'm safe!  Life is good here in Alabama.

Today we went to the farmers market.  Reminds me of home!!! We bought us some peaches and watermelon, and then I told them all about where I was from.  I have a lot of Wenatchee Pride.  And if people didn't know about it, well, they do now!   It's great.  We met one guy today who sold us a watermelon, his name was John.  He has a granddaughter my age, and we had the greatest conversation.  Then he gave us some of the yummiest green grapes I have ever had.  Love that Southern Hospitality!

My drawl is becoming more pronounced.  I thought Spanish would be the most difficult thing to learn..psh.  Try Southern!  Just kidding :)

I hope all is well with everyone back home.  I'm sending my love and prayers.  Thanks for all the support!!!  

Much Love,

Hermana McClune