Monday, January 26, 2015

Guess What! I've Been Out for 2 Months!

Hola!

Guess what!  I've been out for 2 months! It's super weird... Oh how time flies! So, I've decided to add a new section to my letters called: "You know you're a missionary when..."  So, this week you know you're a missionary when you start introducing yourself as Sister Fields in your dreams. That happened this week.
 
Anyway, this week was a pretty good one, full of adventures both spiritual and just us getting lost. We do that a lot even with Elder Darcy, our trusty GPS. For example: this week we set aside a day to go out to the towns of Farmville and Fountain. We headed out, determined to find a brother that the bishop asked us to visit out on a road called Pocosin. Well, we know a sister that lives out there that we just recently had dinner with and so we put it into our GPS and headed all the way out to Pocosin. Once we got to the road, Elder Darcy said that we were at the house... and there was just a field there..... so we just started driving up this road that is really just out in the middle of nowhere with only maybe 10 houses on it. And then, we got to the end of the road and we still couldn't find the house! So we started driving back to look again and then we started talking about Veggie Tales and before we knew it we were once again at the end of this 5ish mile road! So we decided to try one more time... and we still didn't find it. We decided to just knock on a door that we thought might be it and so we parked by the house of the sister that we knew. When we parked she came outside to see what we were doing so we told her who we were looking for and she said that she didn't know who that was. Then she asked, "Does he live in Greenville or Fountain?" And that's when we found out there is a Pocosin Dr. in Greenville and a Pocosin Rd. in Fountain..... So that was awkward. It was a really pretty drive I guess. Funny story, anyway.

I just love being out here. As much as I don't like talking to people, I just love everyone that we teach! Last week we started teaching so many new people that I can just see have been being prepared for this gospel for a long time. I just hope they accept it! One example is a lady named B*. She is an older lady that we started teaching this week. She is some kind of Baptist, I think, but she said that if God tells her she should join our church that's what she'll do even if it takes all her faith. She really is amazing and already has soooo much faith! That was such a great lesson. As I was telling her about Joseph Smith being visited by Peter, James and John, and John the Baptist, I felt like I was talking to a sponge! She was just soaking it all up and the spirit was so strong! At the end of the lesson it somehow came up that we volunteer to come out on missions and she just looked at us so shocked and said, "God is looking down smiling at you right now. He is so proud of you." And I just wanted to cry. Heavenly Father really works through people to send you messages he wants you to hear. Especially when He knows that you are having a bad day. The night before we had had a kind of rough lesson with a lady that was very firm in her Pentecostal beliefs and I really needed our good lesson with B to remind me that people actually do want to hear this message. Being a missionary is super great. 

Something else I have learned this week, the opposition really really doesn't want people to get baptized. One of our investigators was set to be baptized this week and then this crazy thing came up with her mom in Philadelphia, and so she missed her interview and so we have to push back her date. She is sooo ready to be baptized, but of course something had to come up... She is doing really well though and is still reading and even went to church out in Philadelphia! Another time this week we were teaching another investigator that has been being taught for over a year and so we had a big talk about faith and right when we were getting to baptism her dog freaked out and started running around barking... I've heard stories about stuff like that happening, but I didn't know it was real! Sister Hansen and I just have to remind ourselves, in the words of Veggie Tales, that "God is bigger than the boogie man" and that everything will work out! 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all!

Hermana Fields

*I'm not sure about posting names on Hna. Fields' blog - so, that's why the initial B instead of a name. [~Angela]  :)

Monday, January 19, 2015

Week 8

Sorry! This is going to be a short one today, and I don't have any pictures!
 
     This week was pretty great; a little rough, but good! We had interviews with President Baker and that was super nice and insightful. We have been teaching a lot of member lessons this week and that has been super fun. The ward here is awesome! We have had dinner every day this week! And through members we got 18 referrals last week! And just all together, Southerners are my favorite. 
  
     We were meeting with an investigator on Saturday.  She is in her 60's and is just hilarious. A little way into the lesson she looks at me and says, "I feel like I'm in a room with an Indian princess. You are Indian, aren't you?" I said, "Yes" and she said, "I knew it! I'm goin' to call you my little Indian princess! And, you are prettier than a Georgia peach, too!" It was hilarious and also very different because I haven't ever had anyone guess that I was Native right off! 
 
     There was another time we were meeting with a less-active sister. She was an absolute crack-up. She's an older black lady who is a recent convert. During our lesson she kept telling us about all these crazy superstitions that her mom had. One of them was that you can never wash clothes on Fridays. Why? She doesn't know, but she has been following that tradition of her mother's her whole life and then that day she had spilled juice on a rug and she had to put it into the wash on a Friday! The member that was with us said "That's okay, because it wasn't clothes." The sister was so relieved that she hadn't broken the tradition! She kept saying, "Oh, thank you! That is SUCH a relief!" None of us could stop laughing. She then said that she liked to keep people laughing because, "When you frown, you ugly." She is hilarious. At the end of the lesson she asked us if Sister Whitley was taking us out to dinner that night and then she said, "Miss Elizabeth said you had something with gluten? Or something. You got something wrong with you!" I wish I could just record the way she talks... 
 
     This week was very spiritual, too. I have seen so many little miracles and I have really seen Heavenly Father's hand in my life. We were working on trying to get the lesson on the Restoration down this week. It's crazy how the Lord has helped me learn and helped me teach our investigators. I also know that He definitely has a plan for me. I was pretty bummed and frustrated when I found out that I wasn't going to train in Spanish, but I have really started to see why this week. Heavenly Father knew that I needed to improve my teaching skills before I move on to teaching in Spanish. This English thing has been such a blessing. I would be sooo overwhelmed if I had had to just dive into teaching in Spanish, and God definitely knew that! That's another thing I have started to learn. Heavenly Father knows us all perfectly and loves us all more than we can even imagine. I have seen that and felt that as we have taught our investigators and members in the ward.

I hope everyone has a marvelous week! Love you all! 

Hermana Fields

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hermana Fields in Virginia!

Hermana Fields made it back to the US on January 6th, woot!
Chesapeake! I made it!

President and Sister Baker

Hermana Fields and Sister Hansen

Hola from Greenville! (Weeks 6 & 7)

Hola from Greenville!

After two weeks of waiting, here I am finally writing again! Sooo much has happened, so we will see what I can fit in in the next 15 minutes... 

I finally made it to the actual mission field! I am currently serving in the Greenville NC 2nd Ward and I love it.  The people here are incredible! As some of you may already know, I'm currently just English speaking. We got here to find out that there were only two Hermanas available to train. So, some of us are doing all our training in English. I have no idea what will happen after my 12 week training.  But I will continue to have my hour of language study every day and keep faith that the Lord has a plan! Which I know He does. I have seen in it countless times just in the last week, so I know everything will work out! 

So, before I get too ahead of myself, I'll tell y'all about my last week at the CCM! There isn't a lot to say, but it was a good week! The hardest part was saying goodbye to my district, we had all grown so close! We are planning a reunion in two years though... and we have a Martinelli's bottle that we all put our mission goals into and we are going to break it at the reunion! 
Oh, but guess who I met, though! So, one day I was standing in line for food and an Elder that I had seen around a lot suddenly stopped me and said, "Hermana Fields! Do you have family in Virginia?"  I told him yeah, and that I have an aunt out there. Turns out he is from Aunt Val's ward! Apparently she had told him to keep an eye out for me and it took him 6 weeks to finally find me! It's funny what a small world the church is. Anyway, so that is who Elder Padilla is! 

Saying goodbye to the CCM was hard, but I can't describe how happy I am to be back in the States. I absolutely love it here in Greenville.  Their accents are the best. There are so many things that I have heard of as being stereotypical Southern things, that I never knew were real things until I got here! It's just so Southern! There are literally churches on every corner, and EVERYONE is religious. I have not met a single person that doesn't already have a strong belief in Jesus Christ and it makes me so happy! The people here are so receptive to the gospel, and it really is such a joy to share it with them. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell y'all about my companion! Her name is Sister Hansen and she is the greatest. She's from Arizona and she has been out for 15 months and so she is a great trainer:) We live an apartment and we have a car named Maximus and a GPS named Elder Darcy. :) He always saves us damsels in distress when we get lost... so all the time, haha.

Anyway, it's great to be out here. I have already seen so many little miracles and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for next week. I love you all! Be good, say your prayers and read your scriptures!

Sister (for the time being) Fields
 
 PS - Sorry for the lack of pictures of North Carolina!
 
Christmas lights at the CCM
District 12C
District 12C
Elder Padilla
Me and Hermana Reed
Me and Hermana Arnaud!
District 12 Hermanas
 
Package from home! It says "baby girl" on it... that made for a good laugh!