Always Something to Look Forward To

My Zone plus the Sister Trainer Leaders

2-9-15

There are so many people here that I am so grateful for.  Particularly this week I am grateful for The M--------s.  Being in their home helps build me up for the week to come. Yesterday at their house their daughter was home and she was playing with her older sister's hair and we were all just laughing and talking and it was wonderful, but it actually made me miss my own sister way bad. It's so good to have a sister. I'm so lucky that I was blessed with both a brother and a sister. 

I have realized that here in Bluefield, when the mission is hard and I have a bad day, I can always count on an awesome member or investigator to lift me up, and I always know that no matter how hard it is, I'll get Sister M-------'s biscuits on Sunday------so there's ALWAYS something great to look forward to!!!!!!!!  :)  God is so good. I'm so blessed. 

We have Zone Conference tomorrow and I'll get to see people I have missed, and President, and the STLs.  We always learn a lot and I am so excited!  

Sometimes We Teach, and Sometimes We Butcher Hogs

2-2-15

(If you find this photo disturbing, you should skip this post. . .)

We had such an incredible week!!! We found new people to teach! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!! We also got to butcher hogs with Brother M------! In addition to that, we went on exchanges this week and I was with Sister Hutchings again and it was heavenly!  Today we are singing at another funeral.  (This makes the third funeral to sing at on my mission, and I don’t even sing!)

I am sending you a bunch of pictures of the butchering.  I was worried about it, but it was good.  The first day they killed the hogs, and the second day we cut and wrapped. Brother M------ had a blast showing us how to cut so that's what we did most of the time. It was so fun! I've never felt so comfortable with complete strangers in my entire life.

Brother M------- and I had a long talk on his back porch last night as he was going out to feed his goats and we were leaving from correlation and dinner. He was just talking about the land he's on and his animals and I was getting so choked up. At the end we were just looking out at his land and I said, "This is about the prettiest country in the whole world." And he just smiles and said, "Yeah, it's pretty good isn't it," and gives me this smile I'll never forget. I get teary eyed----this place, these people. I'm so in love.

I had an amazing interview with President Salisbury last week.  He gave me great advice, and I think the support he gave me, paired with the prayers going up for me helped to make this such a happy week.  He also said that he feels like I have more to do here in Bluefield, and he’s going to do everything in his power to keep me here another transfer.  I want that so much.

I love “the mission field.” Tons of people wear jeans to church here, and once in a while someone will have to go out to smoke, and people just love everyone. There was a young man at church yesterday who got baptized maybe three years ago and just barely is deciding to try coming back. He came to church looking kind of rough and to watch the ward just embrace this kid (literally embrace him too--every time I saw him someone was hugging on him) was so beautiful. That's what Christ would be doing. It has been interesting to be out here and have a real feel for what is cultural about Mormons and what it doctrinal. There's ALOT that is just cultural. I think it's been good for me because that culture isn't as strong out here, and it leaves the pure gospel for me to see, and that has strengthened my testimony. It makes it so good for investigators too.  Did I mention that I love it here?

The Beginning

Getting the vat up to 145 degrees

Scalding the hair off

Scraping the hair

Gutting/cleaning

Comps

Elder Tullis and I

Uh, Creepy

Cutting

Brother M------- showing us how to cut

More cutting--the sausage we made was delicious!

My throat!

A Guide to Dreaming Big for Dummies

1-26-15

We had a decent week teaching.  We finally got to teach the wife in another part member family.  The 18-year-old daughter randomly sat in on the end, and we hit it off and she started asking questions and we're going start teaching her! I love this family!  Oh, and we also almost got eaten by a Pitbull this week. Literally. It was so scary.

So yesterday we had dinner at the M---------'s.  Sister M------- cooks up a Southern storm.  She usually makes tons of green beans cooked in butter, potatoes, peas, some sort of salad, her "celestial" biscuits, and this week she made a delicious roast with the best gravy I've ever had.  I love being in their home.  I had a minute yesterday to realize, "Wow, I've been out here in the WVCM for 16 months," and I thought about where I was and where I am now. I have changed, and yet I haven't. I think I told you what Kevin said about how he feels--how he hasn't really changed, just become more him. I totally feel that. 

When I decided to serve a mission, (sometimes I'm not even so sure I decided to come; it sort of feels like it just happened and God just got me out here) I had found what that scripture in John talks about, how the truth will make you free, because I did feel freed by making good choices and having better desires, but  I had no idea that MORE freedom was in store. I didn't even realize what freedom meant. Freedom is so much more than not being tied down by addictions or sin or whatever it is; it goes beyond that until you literally have no limits. Until you realize that you are truly a child of God and that "impossible" is just a word we use when we're scared. That dreams come true and there is ALWAYS something better in store for you. 

I listened to a thing on Mormon.org that was called "Defying Gravity." It talked about how to defy gravity and keep a bike upright, you have to keep pedaling. I've thought a lot about that this week. If we keep pedaling, we will continue to progress and change and we can go wherever we want to. We can defy gravity. We ARE defying gravity. Our lives are just millions of miracles piled on top of each other if you look closely. I might have told you this, but I think that the gospel is really just A Guide to Dreaming Big for Dummies. Children of God are spectacular. It's wonderful to go around and meet so many beautiful individuals who are so different, and as I meet each of them, I can feel that there is more to the human being than just flesh and blood, that in each of us is an eternal being with eternal potential, and that being is a child of God. I know that He loves each one of us because I've felt that love.  I have felt it for me, and for others. We are all amazing. God is amazing. This mission is amazing. 

16 fingers between us because
Elder Tullis and I hit our 16-Month mark

Playing with the baby goats, Miley and Billy Ray

I need one!

A little town called Pocahontas.  They have an exhibition
mine there, but it's closed in the winter.

Ministering

Cutting wood for some elderly ladies

1-20-15

We got a new zone leader, Elder Trujillo. He spent all day with us yesterday and he just brought so much happiness with him.  He is wonderful!

Also, we had a really awesome district meeting back in the cave. We made a little fire and our meeting had a fire theme.  Elder Johnson was doing his 5-minute principle and he was talking about this talk called, "But if Not".  It talks about the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and how they were going to be thrown in the fire and they said, "Our God can save us. He can do that. But if he doesn't. . . But if Not. . . we will stand by our standards and do whatever we need to."   God talked to me through Elder Johnson that day.  I needed the message he shared, and It's so amazing to feel God mistering through someone else.  

Along those same lines, Kevin gave me this CD with a really cool compilation of quotes from apostles set to sweet music and I had this weird impression to give it to our district leader and his companion. I just thought it would be cool, but anyway, I had the thought for a long time and finally gave it to them the day before district meeting when they were down here blitzing our area. The next day at district meeting there were like, "Sister Lytle, where did you get that song??" It apparently had a message that prompted them to take action on something they needed to do, and it was HUGE for them. Cool huh? Weird little coincidences and God helping things to fall into place. I love the mission!! 

So the night of transfers we were supposed to have correlation meeting at Brother M-------'s at 7:00 and have dinner. We got there and we were knocking and knocking and nobody was answering, but lights are on. We can't call them because our phones don't have service out there (I LOVE THIS PLACE) so we all decide to walk across the street to Bishop's house to see what he knows. We walk over all together and Bishop lets us in and calls for us and it turns out no one is there and they totally forgot about it.  We were fine, no big deal, but Bishop says, "Well, what do you guys want to eat? What are we gonna make??" So we made rice and eggs, which apparently is a staple meal in the B------ household, and we all played with the kids and laughed and talked while it cooked. 

That night, Elder Trujillo got the best introduction to the Bluefield Ward in the world. I wish you could have been there, in the B-----'s warm home with the sound of K---- and M-----'s laughter and the B------ boys showing us their shark teeth from their vacation. It was almost like we had our own little world there, with our own little family. Miles away from town, in the most beautiful country there ever was. Bishop fed us good food that night, and my soul was fed as well. Everything just felt so right, so home. So... exactly where I was supposed to be. A few days later Elder Trujillo put my feelings for this ward and these people here better than I could. When asked how many people were in his family. He counted each one of us one by one and said, "You all are my family now."

You can see Elder Trujillo in the last photo--he took his tooth out

Woodcutting with the Tazewell Elders---Tullis & Erickson

Bluefield

Tearing down the theater a few weeks ago made the local paper

Our District Stays Together

1-14-15  

Well, we got the transfer news. We're both staying.

This area is heavenly and it is such a blessing to be here in Bluefield. The members and investigators here make me so so so happy. I'm grateful for my district, too. My district leader is anti-district-meetings-in-a-church, which is so good for me! We got to hike last week, and we will probably have another outside meeting this week! My district leader and his companion are coming to blitz our area so that will be super good too! He's such a good DL.  

Remember the girl I got to talk to when we did a booth at Marshall University?  Well, I got the following message from Elder Steed, and it made me so happy:

“Hey, just thought you would like to hear this. We were helping do the Marshall booth and a girl walked up to us and said that she talked to a blond haired sister missionary and you gave her a card and she said that she checked out the website and then chatted with the missionaries on Mormon.org and she was really interested. We got all her info and were going to teach her. So that was awesome! Keep up the good work.”

We hiked to this lake near Wytheville, Virginia

 

Our District is staying together!
Larson, Davis, Lichtenstein, Garrett, Johnson

Elder Garret NOT jumping with me, haha

Fine, I will jump all by myself

Passing

1-5-15 

I'm so glad you got to see We are Marshall!!! Because now I am Marshall!!! I can't wait to see it! I'm also super super jealous you got to ski. My heart just wants to go skiing so bad. Those were such good times going as a family. I also can’t wait to eat at your newly-found Vietnamese place when I get home! I have to say, though, that the people feed us so awesome here in Bluefield. Yesterday we went to correlation meeting and we didn't expect to get fed but Sister M------ is a crazy awesome cook and loves to feed people and she said, "Y'all hungry?" and proceeds to make us the most delicious omelets I've ever eaten in my life. And it was Sunday. . . and it was breakfast food. . . I can't tell you how happy that made me! Being with the M------‘s----man, it just felt like home! I was full and they were asking me if I wanted more and I said, "no, thank you so much though," and Brother M------- (he's hilarious) said, "Have some more, you're too skinny, you look poor." Haha. Church was cancelled yesterday because the wind blew the power out. It was super depressing as a missionary. It was even worse because we had two investigators coming!

I told you about the family we are teaching who are into archery.  They have a little land with archery targets all set up all over. The husband wears this awesome bracelet made out of bullet casings. He's really, really sarcastic and kind of has a sense of humor like Dad's—except a little meaner----but it's awesome because I know how to deal with it and I like it!  His wife is such a sweetheart! 

 So this last week we were at the rest home with Sister S------, a lady we visit. She was gasping for breath when we got there and I couldn't really tell, but I kind of had a feeling she was going to die soon, but I kind of brushed the feeling off because I had no knowledge to base that feeling on. Her niece was there, and the niece is probably in her 50’s.  We talked to her a bit and comforted her as she cried, and she just kept saying that she wished the Lord would just take her aunt. The niece had to leave to go make some phone calls, so we stood there with Sister S------ for a bit until I said, "Let's say a prayer," so Sister Lichtenstein offered one and pretty much asked that she could be taken out of her pain. After the prayer we both felt like we should sing to her, so we did. We sang the first song together then Sister Lichtenstein wanted to sing one I couldn't sing.  Sister S-----'s breathing kept getting slower and slower until after a few gasps. . . it just stopped. Her eyes were twitching,  and deep inside I knew she was gone, but it was the first time I had ever seen someone die and I was a little distressed so I kept telling myself she had just fallen deeper asleep. 

After the song finished we looked at each other and knew we needed to go get a nurse. We got one, and she looked into the room and immediately was like, "Oh yeah, she's gone." Things then got a little hectic and more nurses came but when just the first one arrived, she looked at us and said, “Do y'all want to pray?” And so we held hands with those two nurses and said a prayer of thanks and love for Sister S------. It was really, really beautiful. I'm honestly having a really hard time finding words for it because it was so. . . spiritual I guess, and peaceful. But at the same time it was a little shaking. Luckily it was the last thing we had scheduled that night and we were able to go home after. We walked out of the nursing home with our arms around each other. We were able to be with a beautiful woman as she passed through the door from this life into the next, and it was beautiful. It makes the plan of salvation even that much more real to have that experience. It was also interesting, because at one point while Sister Lichtenstein was singing, I just thought of Matt. Out of nowhere. He just came to mind. I feel him often taking such good care of me :)

Christmas in the WVCM

Back to my roots.  Do I look like the great-granddaughter of a sheepherder and a farm flock owner?
I believe these are Dorsets, and they belong to my Bishop.

12-29-14

Talking to y'all on Christmas was the best thing of my life!!!!!!! It was such a good day, and the people of Bluefield made it great for us.  Thank you so so so much for all the Christmas stuff!  You spoil me.  We had a really good week and exchanges were AWESOME!!!  I actually ended up going to Blacksburg with Sister Hutchings, and it was so helpful! We had a  district meeting while we were there and the district leader gave me a blessing, then yesterday I spoke in church.  It's been a whirlwind here, but I love it.

Exchanges were so much fun!
Sister Frehner from Instagram, Me, Sister Lichtenstein, Sister Hutchings

Our cool gift from President and Sister Salisbury--a temple recommend holder