It has been a challenging week.

March 5, 2012
this week has been hard, we have been dropped by two investigators this week, one wasn't progressing so that wasn't a surprise and one doesn't want us over since sister Bentley is gone and i didn't develop a good relationship with her so she doesn't trust me and she wasn't really progressing as well but had great potential to and a less active we have been teaching told us not to come back anymore either so we have been tracking and contacting less actives, we got two referrals who we are trying to contact and met a less active and her husband who said we could teach him the lessons, he had the lessons before and never finished them and they are a young couple expecting a baby any day
 now and are super nice and i am really excited about teaching them once they let us know their schedule since they are super busy and probably wont teach until after they have their baby, we also met two less active sisters who are super nice, one is older with grown kids and they do war reenactments and was telling us all about that and offered to teach us how to knit and welcomed us back to her home before they move which they are in the process now but only the early stages and the other one is young early thirty's who is super nice and let us come over and talked about her hobbies (she likes doll houses) and basic get to know you questions, she still reads her scriptures and prays everyday but is kinda a hermit and socially awkward so she doesn't come to church but she told us to get her a list of activities the ward is doing and depending on her work schedule she will come and said we are welcome to comeback and we had dinner at a members house and
 after dinner we made soap which was really fun and she gave us the finished product on Sunday. i am in the choir at church which is really fun and its hard since i cant read music notes but its interesting, have a great week. don't forget I'm doing this for you as well as for me and the lord. Jenni

Sis. Bently going home.

February 27, 2012
well sister Bentley went home this week her mission is over and it was hard saying goodbye and miss her like a missing limb but i got a new companion named sister salmon who is really nice and i am the second greenie she has followed up trained since she followed up sister Bentley's greenie before me named sister luker so salmon has had sister Bentley's last two greenies.sister Bentley is doing well at home and is staying in contact with everyone. i have been showing sister salmon st Charles and our investigators, she was serving in champagn Illinois so this is her first area other than that and we have done a lot of tracking this week and stop by for less actives, this transfer was huge so there was different people going different directions. there are three elders and one sister missionary to our district so there is me and one elder from our district still here and now there are two sets of sister
 missionaries in my district which is fun. i did a phone interview with a girl named Hannah who needed to interview a Mormon for a project for her religion class and so i answered her questions about our religion and she asked some really good questions that stumped me but it went well and she will be emailing me her report so i can make sure everything is right before she turns it in. we are going to see our most progressing investigator twice a week which i am excited about at a members home, this week has been crazy busy. Jenni

PD fun at the Bently dealership.

last Monday we went to the Bentley dealership which was fun sister Bentley has been wanting to go her whole mission and was so excited, we went with two other sisters and two elders and the sales people ignored us so we just walked around taking pictures of the cars, Saturday was our ward valentines day party with the Spanish branch who shares our building, it was fun they had a contest where two couples had to eat an apple the fastest without using their hands so they looked like they were kissing and then a couple teenagers went one on one with grapes instead of apples and the kids really got into it and i tried to take pictures but

 they didn't turn out so i recorded it the best i could and there was dancing and i got a video of brother and sister Larsen dancing to swing music, sister Larsen is sister Bentley are best friends and they have us over all the time and met a potential investigator there and got one of our less actives there so it was fun and the kids loved it, and we made flower barrettes at sister Larsen's after the party which were cute, me and sister Bentley wore ours on Sunday.

Feburary 9,2012

this week has been an interesting week, we had exchanges on Wednesday and Thursday which was a lot of fun since i got to be with each sister and got to learn from them and show them our area and who we are teaching. we got to see one of our investigators who we couldn't get a hold of all week so i was pretty excited about that and i got to teach the restoration to a part member family while the sisters were here and i was really excited about it because i thought it went great and although we didn't get through the whole lesson the spirit was there.one of our investigators dropped us which was hard since he really didn't try to find out for himself if it was true. i learned that i was trying to give the lord back my agency so i wouldn't have to make a decision that might be wrong, i didn't have confidence in my judgement so i was afraid to make decisions
 knowing i had no idea what the consequences might be so the sisters really comforted me and told me that i couldn't let fear rule my heart and if i did my best to follow the spirit and rely on the lord, he will take care of the rest and gave my scriptures on fearing not and suggested i keep a little miracle journal and pointed it out that if i had trust and confidence in the lord there would be no room for fear and doubt in my heart, so i have come to realize that my faith and confidence in him needs to improve and to rely on him which i haven't been doing, so it was another lesson and confronting the emotions i have ignored and the sisters were so wonderful and the spirit was there and so i know what i need to work on and realize i cant give back a divine gift of the lord and just do my best to use my judgement and the spirit to lead me in righteousness. i feel like i am growing and maturing in a way i never imagined, its like heavenly father is molding
 me after him and that my spirit and mind will be in harmony of his will and desires for me, i don't know i just know i am changing and hope it benefits everyone around me. i had a great day at church two investigators came and had a great time, so this week has been long and exhausting but it was good, the spirit was there and i learned and had great teachers and so you don't need to worry i am doing fine and although sis Bentley leaves in two weeks to go home and i get a new companion it will still be an adventure so i am looking forward to upcoming experiences.

January

January 15, 2012
i have been feeling that i am not progressing and i need to be patient and just do my best but this week i just didn't feel good and couldn't understand why because our investigators are progressing and keeping their commitments and i am getting better at role playing and when sister Bentley came home from leadership she taught me to teach by the spirit and i did good when we role played but there was this ball in my stomach and i felt like a wall was suffocating me and blocking me from the spirit so yesterday after sis Bentley corrected me i just started crying and couldn't really explain it since my emotions were all jumbled and told her i felt like a bad companion and wasn't progressing and told her it did hurt when she corrected me and we just had a really good talk and she held me while i cried. i didn't talk to her before because i didn't know exactly what i was feeling and was afraid she think i was complaining or criticizing or being onrey and i told her that i was trying to avoid breaking down and do everything i can to be a good companion and said it was too soon to have a crying fit and so we called the elders closest to us and asked if they would give each of us a blessing and the blessing they gave me was so special and comforting and i cried through the whole thing, they said as i love and serve our investigators my struggles will melt away and that heavenly father is proud of me and is always there and after that wall i felt suffocating me broke apart and the elders and the brother that was with them assured me i was great missionary and just really were friends to me and i will always treasure that and i learned that i need to talk to my companion even when i cant recognize my feelings and not be afraid of how she will react and her blessing was powerful too and she had been wanting one for  a while and it was great we got to do it together but at the time i wanted you to hold me but it all worked out and brought me and sis Bentley closer, now don't get me wrong sister Bentley is great and a wonderful teacher and yes  she corrects me quite often but its still hard to hear and had to tell her it hurts me but she isn't being mean to me or intentionally making me feel bad, i guess this was something we just had to go through and i feel so much better and know i am going to be fine and i guess even with a great teacher constructive criticism still stings, i try to see it from her point of view and guess i just avoided my feelings a little to long but all is well now and i know it will only make us stronger companions and stronger people. the two days sis Bentley was gone went really great and i was a good senior companion in my opinion and me and sis toala had a great time and although we got lost a couple of times and i couldn't back out of the driveway without Edie's help i think i gave her a great experience and learned that if needed i could be a leader and the lesson we taught went really well so i was relived it went well and was over. Jenni