Greenies in Greenock

Monday

September 17, 2012

12:30 PM

My dearest family,

I am so happy to hear that everything is okay with little James. That had me really upset and worried when I read your emails about his 50 minute seizure. That is so scary. I am so relieved to hear that everything is okay now and Amy said he is back to school, which is GREAT to hear. He has been in my thoughts and prayers all week. I can't beleive that happened. Amy said that when she brought him back to school and they were in the principal's office, that James fell over on the floor just to tease and it scared the principal to death. Haha. That made me laugh. What a little cutie. I am so happy he is okay now.

Well this week has been really busy. We had zone conference/training all day on Wednesday and that was really good. Everyone in our zone travelled to us so we met in the Irvine church building and it was a great conference. I felt like I came away with a renewed sense of what I want to improve on and other ideas of what we can do. We then had sister exchanges!! I was so excited because I had heard that they don't do those very much here, but President Brown (who I love so much. He is great) likes doing splits so we had one last week and so I was shipped off on a train to Greenock with Sister M. She is a greenie also haha so we had a blast having 24 hours together and seeing what the other person does. I really liked it because I was able to gain new ideas of street contacting and her methods of approaching people and we were able to share together what we do. It was nice. Plus, Sister M. and I are basically twins. It's almost creepy. We can relate on almost every level and we have the same thoughts about things and we enjoy doing the same things and she even has the same curly hair like me so we could talk about curly haired girl problems. Haha. My throat was sore after from talking so much with her. We're hoping we will be companions at some point. And Heather knows her from when she lived in Idaho! What a small world! (Sister T. and I are still doing good by the way. We can joke around with each other and we make things fun which is nice.)

Anyways, as far as Yvonne, she has been keeping her commitments and living the word of wisdom and was doing so so well this week! But yesterday she had a few serious blow ups/temper tantrums at church because she has a hard time seeing so many families together at church because of her family siutation. (Ex husband cheated on her, kidnapped her 2 kids, mother hates her, kids won't see her because her husband has turned them away from her, etc.) So we are in a bit of a rough patch right now. She's very depressed about it and I think it has been building up for the last 30 years and it kind of unleased on us yesterday. Slightly terrifying. I didn't know she could have that in her; she's so sweet usually. Anyways, it shook Sister T. and I up pretty bad. We're thinking she needs professional help before we can move forward with her. We're going to try and figure out if there is LDS counselling out here or if she can meet with normal counselors because she is very unstable and needs to get this resolved. It's preventing her from being interested in the church because of our focus on families. I couldn't sleep last night because I was up worrying about her and the situation and everything. The elders that share the ward with us called us last night and they were saying that we should probably consider dropping her because she's not in the right frame of mind mentally. And I do wonder now after yesterday if she is all there. She might have some mental problems; I don't know for sure. But all we can do is move forward, love her still, and follow the spirit on how to handle this. Because I sure don't know how to! But I don't want to give up on her because she has been keeping her commitments so well and she loves the morals of the church and has been accepting all of the lessons we have talk her and she quit smoking. Hopefully we can get past what happened yesterday.

But ya, everything else is going well. Another family that we have been seeing came to church today and it made me SO happy! I absolutely love seeing people come back to church. I love talking to people out on the streets about the gospel too. It's what makes me the happiest! I'm happiest when I'm teaching people and helping them and seeing the gospel influence their lives. It's a very satisfying work.

My thought I'll leave with you is about hope- 'Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world..which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.' (Ether 12:4) I know that hope is when we trust in the Lord and we go through our trials and difficulties with confidence and optimism that the outcome will work together for our good. If we want to increase our hope, we must increase our faith. 'For if there be no faith among the children of men, God can do no miralce among them; wherefore, he showeth not himself until after their faith.' (Ether 12:12)

So I know that hope and faith go hand in hand, and as we increase our hope (by increasing our faith) we are promised in Ether 12:4 that our hope will become an anchor to our souls, which will make us sure and steadfast, always abouding in good works.

I love you guys. Thank you for your emails and letters and support. It means so much to me! I have the best family in the world. It blows me away. I don't know how I can be so lucky.

I love you all! Have a good week. :)

Sister Knab

 

PS- When you send packages to me, send them to my mission home address and make sure you mark it as a GIFT and check that the contents cost under 60 dollars. Even if it costs more than that, otherwise it will get lost or will have to be paid for here or something like that. So just remember; Gift, and mark as under 60 dollars. That's what I was told. Haha.

PSS- Do you know/have heard anything about my friends Amanda/Kim/Tristyn on their missions? I want to know how they are doing! (Amanda Nordhagen, Kim Blauer, and Tristyn Bingham)

PSSS The pictures attached are of the first castle we got to explore :) So fun!!