Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Hello Everyone!
This week flew by! We were able to witness so many miracles. It was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me how aware the Lord is of His missionaries.
Funny Moment: Last night when we were tracting and this little boy said to us, "You know it's late, so you should probably go home and go to bed." It was pretty hilarious! Kids are just so honest. We laughed about it and thought, "Is it really that obvious how tired we are?" haha For the record, we didn't go home and go to bed. We kept tracting :p
Tender Mercy time! For the past few weeks I've been looking for a cheap pair of mittens to try out since gloves don't do much for my pour circulation. Well guess what? We found a pair for 53 cents at the thrift store we do service at. Yahoo! They were just for me :) Now I have mittens! Mittens are the best. Also, they're mittens!
Another tender mercy from this past week was I got to spend most of a day in Springfield with my STL and trainer Sister Barret! My companion Sister Martinez went to the temple, so I was in Springfield with the STL's and another sister whose companion was at the temple. It was EXACTLY what I needed. The Lord is so great! He answers my prayers, even if it is in different ways then I was expecting.
Our ward is so great! Yesterday a sister gave us a whole box of food and groceries. Another sister gave us fresh pears! Best thing ever! We're just so taken care of. The Lord is so good!
We added some more religions to our long list of people we've talked to . We talked to a Buddhist family, along with a Muslim lady this past week. Super cool! Champaign has a surprising amount of diversity.
Friday was such a day of miracles! An RM sister from our ward came to a lesson with us. So great! I love learning from other missionaries. Afterward, we went to see someone we had tracted into and given a "He is the Gift card". We asked her if she had watched the video yet, but she hadn't. Without really thinking, I blurted out asking her if we could come in and watch it with her. We didn't think she would let us, but she did! It turned out her first grandson had just passed away that day. We were able to bear testimony of the love God has for us and the plan He has for families to be together forever. It was awesome :)
Later that night, we had an RM who speaks Spanish and a Laurel in our ward who also speaks Spanish come with us to visit our Spanish speaking investigators, Victor and Maria. It was so cool! I don't understand Spanish perfectly, but I was able to understand WAY more than I would've been able to if I wasn't a missionary. They told Maria that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and it was amazing the power we could feel of their words. So cool!
I know the Lord lives and loves us so much! He cares about the details of our lives. He wants greater things for us than we could even imagine! He's helped me so much as I've humbled myself and turned to Him for help. I know He can help you too with all of the things you face because He's helped me. I hope you have a wonderful week! Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good...day!
Lots of love and support,
Sister Janea Edgel
This week flew by! We were able to witness so many miracles. It was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me how aware the Lord is of His missionaries.
Funny Moment: Last night when we were tracting and this little boy said to us, "You know it's late, so you should probably go home and go to bed." It was pretty hilarious! Kids are just so honest. We laughed about it and thought, "Is it really that obvious how tired we are?" haha For the record, we didn't go home and go to bed. We kept tracting :p
Tender Mercy time! For the past few weeks I've been looking for a cheap pair of mittens to try out since gloves don't do much for my pour circulation. Well guess what? We found a pair for 53 cents at the thrift store we do service at. Yahoo! They were just for me :) Now I have mittens! Mittens are the best. Also, they're mittens!
Another tender mercy from this past week was I got to spend most of a day in Springfield with my STL and trainer Sister Barret! My companion Sister Martinez went to the temple, so I was in Springfield with the STL's and another sister whose companion was at the temple. It was EXACTLY what I needed. The Lord is so great! He answers my prayers, even if it is in different ways then I was expecting.
Our ward is so great! Yesterday a sister gave us a whole box of food and groceries. Another sister gave us fresh pears! Best thing ever! We're just so taken care of. The Lord is so good!
We added some more religions to our long list of people we've talked to . We talked to a Buddhist family, along with a Muslim lady this past week. Super cool! Champaign has a surprising amount of diversity.
Friday was such a day of miracles! An RM sister from our ward came to a lesson with us. So great! I love learning from other missionaries. Afterward, we went to see someone we had tracted into and given a "He is the Gift card". We asked her if she had watched the video yet, but she hadn't. Without really thinking, I blurted out asking her if we could come in and watch it with her. We didn't think she would let us, but she did! It turned out her first grandson had just passed away that day. We were able to bear testimony of the love God has for us and the plan He has for families to be together forever. It was awesome :)
Later that night, we had an RM who speaks Spanish and a Laurel in our ward who also speaks Spanish come with us to visit our Spanish speaking investigators, Victor and Maria. It was so cool! I don't understand Spanish perfectly, but I was able to understand WAY more than I would've been able to if I wasn't a missionary. They told Maria that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and it was amazing the power we could feel of their words. So cool!
I know the Lord lives and loves us so much! He cares about the details of our lives. He wants greater things for us than we could even imagine! He's helped me so much as I've humbled myself and turned to Him for help. I know He can help you too with all of the things you face because He's helped me. I hope you have a wonderful week! Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good...day!
Lots of love and support,
Sister Janea Edgel
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Thanksgiving 2014
Hello Everyone!
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving wherever you were! Ours was great. It was my first "White Thanksgiving". Yes it snowed! It was fun. We were safe and warm :)
We were at our Bishop's house for Thanksgiving. It was a blast! We were just sitting down to eat dinner, and Sister Martinez asks this 6 year old little boy who was there if he had named his turkey shaped dessert. He gives her this weird look and says, "Why would I name my dessert?" It was HILARIOUS! Little kids have so much sass it cracks me up :p
Another funny moment was when we were at the store buying some things to help us get over minor winter sicknesses. Sister Martinez was talking to our cashier and she said, "Everyone has their thanksgiving feasts, but I just have my orange juice." It wasn't until we were walking out that we realized she had made it sound like we were paupers or something! We could only afford orange juice for thanksgiving. We died laughing! It was pretty funny.
This week was pretty good. Our motto is that "each day things get a little better". We get more familiar with the people, the area, and our apartment gets a little cleaner and more organized. It's great!
We had Zone Leader Training this week. We learned a lot of cool things. Sister Martinez and I were chosen to do one of the role plays. It was my first time doing one in front of so many missionaries. It went well though I think. Sister Barret, my trainer who is now my Sister Training leader, was there too so that was AWESOME! It was exactly what I needed to see her and get her perspective on some things.
During our training, we were challenged to look for more of the miracles each day. It was so great! We were able to see so many! Since we were transferred to this area at the end of the month, we didn't have a whole lot of miles left over from the Elders. We had calculated it out Wednesday night, and we knew we were in trouble! We were going to have to walk all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Well, on Thursday night, after we got home from Thanksgiving dinner, I did the math again, and somehow discovered that I had been wrong (which I still don't understand because I did the math a few times the night before!). We had enough miles to get us through to today. This was SUCH a miracle because it had just snowed that day! We would've had to walk around in the snow. Thankfully we didn't have to. Such a tender mercy. It was exactly the reminder I needed that the Lord was aware of us and our needs and was taking care of us :)
Another really neat experience happened on Friday night. We had to go get gas. I decided that I was going to try to talk to whoever was at the pump next to me about the "He is the Gift" initiative. At first it seemed like the man was avoiding me, but then he started talking to me about the difference in gas prices here versus Chicago. I started talking to him about the cards we had and guess what? It turned out he was LOOKING for a new church! I wrote down our church address for him. So cool! Truly, the Lord blesses us when we open our mouths with those around us. If we are prepared, he will place prepared people in our paths :)
Another tender mercy from this past week was our Ward mission leader's wife. We went to their house to just grab a phone book since we didn't have one, and they come in handy when you have no internet access, and she decided to sit down and explain our area to us. She then went upstairs and printed out a whole map for us! She took the time to help us get organized and map out where every member in our area lives. It was incredible! She's such a great example to me of going above and beyond in our service. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people I've been able to meet so far on my mission. Such a blessing!
All in all, this week was great. I know the Lord is so aware of us and our needs! This past week I've been thinking a lot about trusting the promises the Lord has given me. I mean, I trust that He's my Savior and that I'll live with Him again and everything, but sometimes I don't trust the specific promises He's made to me in my patriarchal blessing. I'm learning though that I'm gypping myself by doing that. Those promises are just as sure if I'm faithful! I was reading today in Alma 26 today and in verses 35-37 Ammon says the Lord is mindful of his children in each verse! It was as if the Lord was like, "Hey, I'm mindful of you. Hey did you hear that? I'm mindful of you and your needs! I'm watching out for you!" I know that He is. He watches out for us and cares for us.
I hope you have a fabulous week! If you haven't gone online to see the video, "He is the Gift" I encourage you to do that! It's so good! I love this video so much because it helps people understand our similar beliefs in Jesus Christ. It's provided a really great opportunity for us to talk to people, especially during this Christmas time. It challenges us to be better missionaries and talk to more people. It's so great! I know it's such an inspired initiative. It makes sharing the gospel a whole lot easier :) Yeah missionary work!
I love you all! Keep doing what you're doing :) Don't forget you're awesome and somebody loves you in Champaign, Illinois :)
Lots of love and support,
Sister Edgel
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving wherever you were! Ours was great. It was my first "White Thanksgiving". Yes it snowed! It was fun. We were safe and warm :)
We were at our Bishop's house for Thanksgiving. It was a blast! We were just sitting down to eat dinner, and Sister Martinez asks this 6 year old little boy who was there if he had named his turkey shaped dessert. He gives her this weird look and says, "Why would I name my dessert?" It was HILARIOUS! Little kids have so much sass it cracks me up :p
Another funny moment was when we were at the store buying some things to help us get over minor winter sicknesses. Sister Martinez was talking to our cashier and she said, "Everyone has their thanksgiving feasts, but I just have my orange juice." It wasn't until we were walking out that we realized she had made it sound like we were paupers or something! We could only afford orange juice for thanksgiving. We died laughing! It was pretty funny.
This week was pretty good. Our motto is that "each day things get a little better". We get more familiar with the people, the area, and our apartment gets a little cleaner and more organized. It's great!
We had Zone Leader Training this week. We learned a lot of cool things. Sister Martinez and I were chosen to do one of the role plays. It was my first time doing one in front of so many missionaries. It went well though I think. Sister Barret, my trainer who is now my Sister Training leader, was there too so that was AWESOME! It was exactly what I needed to see her and get her perspective on some things.
During our training, we were challenged to look for more of the miracles each day. It was so great! We were able to see so many! Since we were transferred to this area at the end of the month, we didn't have a whole lot of miles left over from the Elders. We had calculated it out Wednesday night, and we knew we were in trouble! We were going to have to walk all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Well, on Thursday night, after we got home from Thanksgiving dinner, I did the math again, and somehow discovered that I had been wrong (which I still don't understand because I did the math a few times the night before!). We had enough miles to get us through to today. This was SUCH a miracle because it had just snowed that day! We would've had to walk around in the snow. Thankfully we didn't have to. Such a tender mercy. It was exactly the reminder I needed that the Lord was aware of us and our needs and was taking care of us :)
Another really neat experience happened on Friday night. We had to go get gas. I decided that I was going to try to talk to whoever was at the pump next to me about the "He is the Gift" initiative. At first it seemed like the man was avoiding me, but then he started talking to me about the difference in gas prices here versus Chicago. I started talking to him about the cards we had and guess what? It turned out he was LOOKING for a new church! I wrote down our church address for him. So cool! Truly, the Lord blesses us when we open our mouths with those around us. If we are prepared, he will place prepared people in our paths :)
Another tender mercy from this past week was our Ward mission leader's wife. We went to their house to just grab a phone book since we didn't have one, and they come in handy when you have no internet access, and she decided to sit down and explain our area to us. She then went upstairs and printed out a whole map for us! She took the time to help us get organized and map out where every member in our area lives. It was incredible! She's such a great example to me of going above and beyond in our service. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people I've been able to meet so far on my mission. Such a blessing!
All in all, this week was great. I know the Lord is so aware of us and our needs! This past week I've been thinking a lot about trusting the promises the Lord has given me. I mean, I trust that He's my Savior and that I'll live with Him again and everything, but sometimes I don't trust the specific promises He's made to me in my patriarchal blessing. I'm learning though that I'm gypping myself by doing that. Those promises are just as sure if I'm faithful! I was reading today in Alma 26 today and in verses 35-37 Ammon says the Lord is mindful of his children in each verse! It was as if the Lord was like, "Hey, I'm mindful of you. Hey did you hear that? I'm mindful of you and your needs! I'm watching out for you!" I know that He is. He watches out for us and cares for us.
I hope you have a fabulous week! If you haven't gone online to see the video, "He is the Gift" I encourage you to do that! It's so good! I love this video so much because it helps people understand our similar beliefs in Jesus Christ. It's provided a really great opportunity for us to talk to people, especially during this Christmas time. It challenges us to be better missionaries and talk to more people. It's so great! I know it's such an inspired initiative. It makes sharing the gospel a whole lot easier :) Yeah missionary work!
I love you all! Keep doing what you're doing :) Don't forget you're awesome and somebody loves you in Champaign, Illinois :)
Lots of love and support,
Sister Edgel
The Gospel can truly fill us
Hello Everyone!
Guess what? This was another great week filled with learning and lots of walking, knocking, and talking :) Missionary life for the win!
So funny Story: Saturday night we were out tracting and handing out the wonderful Christmas Cards, and this lady answered the door, and she was sooo drunk! It was pretty funny. She just went on and on about how she loved Jesus. We asked her if we could share the card with her, and she was like, "YEAH! I LOVE Jesus!". Oh man! The Word of Wisdom is a great thing :p
Another funny story from tracting this week was we totally accidentally tracted into a Roman Catholic Cathedral! You have to understand, there are SOOO many churches in the Midwest! So many of them are just converted houses. There was no sign out front. It looked like a normal house. It was pretty funny though! We left a card with the Lady who answered the door. I hope she liked the video. It's so great!
This past week I got to go on exchanges with my trainer Sister Barret! It's so cool that she's my Sister Training leader. It was fun to get to catch up with my mission "Mom" and be reminded of some of the good things she trained me to do. It was exactly what I needed! It was just a good reminder that the Lord is aware of me and my needs :) He knows and loves me!
The members here are so good to us! Last Monday we had a member who let us do our laundry at her house. So nice! The Bishop's wife also bought me some special lotion for my hands since they've been cracking so bad with the change of weather and all the doors we've been knocking on. There are just so many wonderful people in this world!
This week we were able to have legit Thai food and Mexican food! It was the best! A member's wife is from Thailand, and so she cooked us Pad Thai on Tuesday night AND let us take home some left overs! It was so great! I was in heaven. I've been craving Pad Thai since before I went into the mission field :p We also had some members from Mexico cook us Chile reysomethingos. I don't know how to spell it, but I knew how to eat them! So fun :)
I decided to start a gratitude journal this week to remind me about all of the times the Lord answers my prayers and all the good that's going on. It's been so helpful! For some reason, I was resistant to do it at first, but once I did, I felt the spirit so strong! If you are struggling to see the good, and just feel like you endure from day to day, I HIGHLY recommend it! It's been such a blessing already. Once I start counting my blessings, it's hard to stop! There are SOO many! It also makes it a lot easier to recognize the answers to my prayers.
I got to give one of the trainings in District Meeting this past Thursday. It was all about Finding, but I focused mainly on developing the faith to find. It was sooo good for me to learn more about that. I decided to recite "the Living Christ". It was really cool to do it as a missionary. It was a good reminder about why I'm really on a mission. I'm here to help people come to know the Savior EVEN MORE! So many people don't have a knowledge of our Savior and what He can do for them in their lives. They go from day to do, just looking for something, they don't always know what. They feel empty inside, but like they can fill that gap on their own. Well, we can't. We can't fill it on our own. We can try, but we can only fill it with the Savior's help. His TRUTHS are what fill us up. Satan's lies distract us momentarily and we think the hole's gone, but it's not. Only living the gospel can TRULY fill us and help us be made whole. What a wonderful knowledge that is! I'm so grateful that I know that. I know that Christ is my Savior, and advocate. He KNOWS I can make it and do good things! I am so grateful I get to be a missionary during this Christmas season. It's not always easy, but it's so worth it!
Every week things get better! We find more potentials, we get more organized, we meet more less actives who will let us in, and our testimonies of the Savior grow stronger.
I love you all and hope all is well with you. Keep on being your awesome selves! Have a super day!
Lots of love and support,
Sister Janea Edgel
Guess what? This was another great week filled with learning and lots of walking, knocking, and talking :) Missionary life for the win!
So funny Story: Saturday night we were out tracting and handing out the wonderful Christmas Cards, and this lady answered the door, and she was sooo drunk! It was pretty funny. She just went on and on about how she loved Jesus. We asked her if we could share the card with her, and she was like, "YEAH! I LOVE Jesus!". Oh man! The Word of Wisdom is a great thing :p
Another funny story from tracting this week was we totally accidentally tracted into a Roman Catholic Cathedral! You have to understand, there are SOOO many churches in the Midwest! So many of them are just converted houses. There was no sign out front. It looked like a normal house. It was pretty funny though! We left a card with the Lady who answered the door. I hope she liked the video. It's so great!
This past week I got to go on exchanges with my trainer Sister Barret! It's so cool that she's my Sister Training leader. It was fun to get to catch up with my mission "Mom" and be reminded of some of the good things she trained me to do. It was exactly what I needed! It was just a good reminder that the Lord is aware of me and my needs :) He knows and loves me!
The members here are so good to us! Last Monday we had a member who let us do our laundry at her house. So nice! The Bishop's wife also bought me some special lotion for my hands since they've been cracking so bad with the change of weather and all the doors we've been knocking on. There are just so many wonderful people in this world!
This week we were able to have legit Thai food and Mexican food! It was the best! A member's wife is from Thailand, and so she cooked us Pad Thai on Tuesday night AND let us take home some left overs! It was so great! I was in heaven. I've been craving Pad Thai since before I went into the mission field :p We also had some members from Mexico cook us Chile reysomethingos. I don't know how to spell it, but I knew how to eat them! So fun :)
I decided to start a gratitude journal this week to remind me about all of the times the Lord answers my prayers and all the good that's going on. It's been so helpful! For some reason, I was resistant to do it at first, but once I did, I felt the spirit so strong! If you are struggling to see the good, and just feel like you endure from day to day, I HIGHLY recommend it! It's been such a blessing already. Once I start counting my blessings, it's hard to stop! There are SOO many! It also makes it a lot easier to recognize the answers to my prayers.
I got to give one of the trainings in District Meeting this past Thursday. It was all about Finding, but I focused mainly on developing the faith to find. It was sooo good for me to learn more about that. I decided to recite "the Living Christ". It was really cool to do it as a missionary. It was a good reminder about why I'm really on a mission. I'm here to help people come to know the Savior EVEN MORE! So many people don't have a knowledge of our Savior and what He can do for them in their lives. They go from day to do, just looking for something, they don't always know what. They feel empty inside, but like they can fill that gap on their own. Well, we can't. We can't fill it on our own. We can try, but we can only fill it with the Savior's help. His TRUTHS are what fill us up. Satan's lies distract us momentarily and we think the hole's gone, but it's not. Only living the gospel can TRULY fill us and help us be made whole. What a wonderful knowledge that is! I'm so grateful that I know that. I know that Christ is my Savior, and advocate. He KNOWS I can make it and do good things! I am so grateful I get to be a missionary during this Christmas season. It's not always easy, but it's so worth it!
Every week things get better! We find more potentials, we get more organized, we meet more less actives who will let us in, and our testimonies of the Savior grow stronger.
I love you all and hope all is well with you. Keep on being your awesome selves! Have a super day!
Lots of love and support,
Sister Janea Edgel
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