The Lord Blesses Us - Even in Times of Trial and Strife! :)

HEY EVERYBODY!!! This past week has been CRAZY!!! Oh! And really quick - I almost forgot to mention a little detail from the week before in my last e-mail! So, one day about a week and a half ago, Sister Schramm and I visited a less-active member of the ward and had lunch with her. This woman is very sweet and I love her to pieces, but she has THE WORST, stinkiest horder appartment I have EVER seen/been in! It was AWFUL! Honestly, I didn't realize just how good I had it in SO many ways in the wonderful City of Crystals (Crystal City), but I really DID have it SOOOOO good! Everybody there (or, at least 99 percent of the people I met there) is very clean and mostly high class - even the homeless people are so clean that you can't even tell that most of them are homeless until you start talking with them. True story. So, after coming from that to here in Kingstowne where there are some really nice, ritzy places, but there are also some REALLY ghetto and awful smelling apartment complexes. Really, it can be pretty bad. So, basically, that was it. We had lunch over there and I was struggling to choke down my Subway soup and salad (we buy our own food and bring it there to eat cause it's so dirty and smells like cat urine). But anyways, it just makes me sad more than anything when I see people living like this poor, sweet woman. I really just wish that I could help her! And I suppose that we are helping her in our own way through bringing light into her life through the gospel of Jesus Christ. :) Ok! Now onto this past week! I was really sick with a terrible virus cold that has been going around here lately. Seriously, SO many missionaries have been sick/are sick lately, it's crazy. So anyways, I've been taking TONS of cold medicine and amping up my vitamins every single day to try to fight this thing! Thankfully I only had one REALLY sick day, though. I ended up staying in all day on Wednesday and just sleeping for literally most of the day. It was really nice to finally get the rest that I know my body so desperately needed. As I mentioned in my e-mail last week, I started feeling kinda sick that Saturday before, then it was a lot worse when I woke up on Sunday, and it just got progressively worse each day since then. So Monday I wasn't feeling too great, but I still made myself go out and work HARD that night! We went and visited Sister K., and she was in quite the mood - she kinda scared me a little bit, to be quite honest with you. But it's all good. I ended up just mostly sitting on her recliner and Sister Schramm helped her clean and unpack some things for about two hours or so (since Sis. K. had just moved into a new apartment). Anyways, that was pretty much Monday. Not too terribly exciting. Tuesday we went to District Meeting, which was fun, as always! Seriously, I LOVE District Meeting! :) And my District Leader, Elder Stone is WONDERFUL!!! :) After District Meeting, we all went out to lunch at Panda Express (pretty much as with the other District in our zone), and that was really fun! I just LOVE any time that I get to spend with a group of other missionaries! It really is SO fun! :) That night, we went and visited a little family in the ward named the Mele's. They're really great! :) After that, we went to our Gospel Principles class, which was taught by the Elders this week - Elder Stone and another Elder who he was on exchanges with. It was a really great class! After the class, we went to visit former investigators and people on the Bishop's List (people who the Bishop has asked that we check on. They're usually people who want nothing to do with the church anymore, so they can reject us quite harshly). We actually found a woman on the Bishop's list who gave us the nicest rejection I think I have ever had on my mission! She told us that she's not really a part of the church anymore; however, when we asked if we could stop by another time, she welcomed us to come back! It was truly a mircale night - that's for sure! :) Wednesday was my all-day sick day. So I really just slept for most of the day and watched Legacy. Then that night, one of the Sister Training Leaders (Sister Roper), and my dear, sweet, Sister Butts, who Sis. Roper was on exchanges with, stopped by to visit and see how I was doing since they heard that I was sick! So they stayed over for a little bit and chatted, and then eventually Sister Butts and Sister Schramm went on a mini exchange together to go visit some members who we had scheduled to visit that night, and Sister Roper stayed in with me until they came back. It was really sweet! I love them both! I'm actually going to be going on exchanges with Sister Roper TOMORROW! I'm excited! She's SUPER sweet and I know that I can and will learn a LOT from her! :) Thursday we did our volunteer work at the local food bank. Then that afternoon, we tried doing some street contacting in a part of our area where Sis. Schramm had never been before, but it didn't work out very well cause it was all neighborhoods and houses, so granted there weren't many people out and about walking around at 3:00 in the afternoon. However, we did have some fun finding a butt tree! HAHA! Seriously! We found a tree that has a part of it at the bottom of it that's literally shaped like a butt! Don't worry, we both took pictures by it, so I'll be sure to send you some! :) Also, after that, we went to check on another person on the Bishop's List since we had so much luck with it the day before, and this time we had some luck as well! We met a sweet girl who looks like she's about in her early 20's, and her name's Kaitlyn. She was very welcoming to us and said that she was the only one home at the moment and she was getting ready to go somewhere, but invited us to come back some other time! We will reactivate these families and bring them back to Christ! I am SO excited for this! :) I really do feel like this is a big part of my mission - not only to bring souls unto Christ who don't know who he is, but to strenghthen the faith of those who already believe, and who may have already been baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This, I feel, is my main mission out here. Maybe it's because I feel such a strong connection with so many of the less-active members, but I really feel like a big part of what I was sent here to do is to bring people back to the loving arms of our Savior. Late that afternoon, we left and headed to the temple with the ward for a youth temple trip with our recent convert, Jenny! Jenny was baptized about two weeks or so before I came into Kingstowne and she is amazing! The temple was great! We didn't actually do baptisms or anything, we were just there as support for Jenny. But it was funny cause since they were a little short on temple workers that night, they didn't have enough to have a female temple worker be in the baptistry and confirmation room, so they actually split up Sister Schramm and I and called us - the Sister Missionaries, who have their own rules about being alone with the opposite gender - as the official ones to make sure that there was always a female in there with the other females. So needless to say, I just made sure that whenever the last girl was done being confirmed, I just went out of the room with her and then sat and waited in the chapel area until I was needed again. It was really interesting. So, I guess we were needed there for a lot more than just supporting Jenny. :) After the temple, we went out to dinner at Chille's with Jenny as a little celebratory event. It was SOOOO yummy! I LOVE their chips - and their salsa's pretty good, too. But if I had to choose between Chille's or Los Hermanos, it would be Los Hermanos; they win the best chips AND salsa! Haha. But anyways, Jenny was SO sweet and she even bought our meals! I just love her! :) Friday was crazy! We had a million different things going on! We finished a little bit of weekly planning, then we went and tried having a lesson with Fasaad (one of our investigators who Sis. Schramm and her last companiero met shortly before I joined the area), but he was busy, so we scheduled another time to see him. Then we visited Sister Nixon, our Stake President's wife. After that, we saw (and I met) Katy and Abby - a mother and daughter. Katy also has a son named Auggie (short for August) they are SOOOOO cute and sweet and I just LOVE them! They immediately threw their arms around me and just welcomed me into the area and made me feel SO loved! :) They seriously should be members already, but they're barley even investigating the church. They're just really amazing potentials, actually. Haha! But we set up a time to see them this week and we will actually have a lesson with them! I am SOOOO excited!!! :) That night, we let Elder Stone and Elder Harper take our car for a bit cause they had a dinner appointment kinda far away and they were walking, plus Elder Stone was getting the same thing I had that whole week, so he was NOT feeling good. So while they borrowed the car, we did some street contacting for a little while, and it actually turned into a miracle night! We met a guy and his son in the parking lot of their apartment, and we started talking with them. We told them that we're representatives of Jesus Christ and that we invite others to come closer to Jesus Christ and told them a bit about the restoration of the gospel and asked if we could talk with them about this very important message sometime - like right now. The dad looked down at his son and said, "What do you think?" the son smiled and said, "Ya," and the dad said, "Ok. Wanna come in?" We said, "Yes!" and followed them into their apartment, where the man's wife was sitting on the couch. They're a latino family from Honduras, so they are VERY kind and listened to all that we had to say! We taught them the whole restoration and most of the Book of Mormon lessons! By the end of the lesson, however, the parents weren't too interested, although they were still kind to us. But the son (who's probably about ten years old or so) spoke up and said, "Well, if it's alright with you, Papi, I would like to read The Book of Mormon and see what it's all about because I really enjoy reading the Bible." His dad said that he could keep the Book of Mormon and read it. It was AMAZING! We tried and tried to get a return appointment, however, the parents wouldn't go for it. But at least we planted a really good seed in their son's heart, if nothing else! And right before we left, the wife asked us if we could accept gifts, and we told her that we can. So she went into the kitchen and brought out a wooden napkin holder that says "HONDURAS" on it and looked as though it had been hand crafted, and GAVE IT TO US!!! It's really beautiful! I just LOVE latino and hispanic people! Why couldn't I have served a spanish speaking mission?? Haha. It's ok. I get it enough here in VA anyways, so it all works out! :) Saturday was AMAZING!!! We finished weekly planning that morning. Then that afternoon we went to Ashby Heights to try to do some street contacting, which turned out to not be a good idea cause it was another really cute neighborhood, so there was nobody out to street contact. But it was a cute area to look around. :) Later that afternoon, we had an INCREDIBLE lesson with Fasaad and PUT HIM ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!! ...This is yet to be determined if he wants to be baptized more for us, or for the gospel. Haha... It's rough being a Sister Missionary sometimes! That night we visited a cute family in the ward named the Fitzgeralds really quick, just long enough for me to say hi and for all of us to introduce ourselves, but I already love them! They are wonderful! After the Fitzgeralds, we went over to Bobbi's house and visited with her a bit and then watched Legacy with her! It was SO much fun! :) Sunday was crazy! We barley had a lunch break, and we didn't get a full dinner break! We had two really great member visits - first with the Carver's, then with the Sheng's! I love both of them! I'm slowly but surely starting to fall in love with Kingstowne; however, I'm not gonna lie, it has been a REALLY hard adjustment for me since I left Crystal City. But Heavenly Father has been showing me SO many tender mercies this week - especially yesterday! It was the Primary Program at church (SOOOO adorable!!!), and right after Sacrament Meeting, I saw a woman from the Crystal City ward standing there, so I went over and said hi and gave her a hug and talked to her for a minute! I told her how much I love and miss Crystal City and the ward and she told me how much her and the ward love and miss me! It was very much needed right then, so I am thankful for a Father in Heaven who is so mindful of us and our needs! :) After church (we have church from 3:00 to 6:00 pm), we didn't even have dinner and we went straight to a lesson... who wasn't even there... but it was ok. Cause then I was MUCH happier when we actually were able to go home and have a bit of a real dinner break! :) After that, we went over to the Grigg's home and had a lesson with our wonderful investigator, Kayla... AND her athiest dad! It was INTENSE! The lesson went really well cause he just sat and listened to us and what we had to say. However, after the lesson when we were trying to sneakily remind Kayla of her baptism date and re-invite her to baptism, that's when her dad piped up and we had about a twenty minute discussion about it. However, what it all amounted out to is that once he feels that Kayla has proved how much she wants to be baptized, then she can be. So hopefully he'll see how badly she wants this sooner than later! :) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Through the ups and the downs, the sour and the sweet, the good and the bad - it's all wonderful in the end! I love you all! :) PLEASE write me!!! :) Thank you SO much to all y'all who have been writing me! LOVE ALWAYS, Sister Aubrie Orrock P.S. Read Moroni chapter 7. I LOVE IT! :D

Me and Sister Akin prepared to take down the millipead!

Me and Elder Travis Ker!

Sister Schramm, Diana, and me

Pictures of me in the hallway area outside of my apartment in
Kingstowne! It was POURING rain this day!

Me and the Behnke's from the Crystal City ward!




Me and the Behnke's from the Crystal City ward! I love them and
miss them terribly!

 

Are you guys Mormon?" :-)

HEY EVERYBODY!!! SO SO sorry that I was so rushed last week so I wasn't able to finish updating y'all on the rest of my week! It was CRAZY!!! So here it is: (Here's the rest of the week from 10/03/13 - 10/06/13: Thursday (October 3rd) was transfer day, and I was SOOOO nervous the entire night and day (and even DAYS) before because I just didn't know what to expect! This was my very first time not either being trained or training, so I just didn't know how it was gonna go! Well, after days and days of being terrified and nervous and feelings of nausea, my fears were gone as soon as President announced who my new companion is! Sister Schramm is WONDERFUL! I love her SOOOO much!!! She was in the MTC and in the same District with my dear, sweet, Sister Akin! So it's been quite the adjustment here in Kingstowne, but it's been great at the same time! I'm senior companion - which is kinda crazy to me since I just came to a brand new area where I don't know ANYONE or ANYTHING, and Sister Schramm was "born" here (she's been here from the beginning). I mean, I know that I have been out for two transfers longer than her, so I guess it makes sense that I'm senior companion; however, I have been struggling MAJORLY with feelings of inadequacy as far as not knowing the area and the people. But it's ok. Little by little, I'm learning the ropes of Kingstowne, and it's really great! And I'm sure that soon enough, I'll grow to love it here in Kingstowne just as much as I loved Crystal City! :) Friday (Oct. 4th) was insanely wonderful! We started the day out by going to Launching Leaders and being spiritually and intellectually fed! Then that night, we were on our way to visit a less-active woman in our ward named Sister Trinh; we were walking through the parking lot when all of a sudden a woman who was pulling out of a parking space nearby yelled over to us, "Hey! Are you guys Mormon??" We reluctantly walked over to her, as we were sure that she wanted to bash, and we said, "Yes." What happened next surprised us SO much, I'm still not over it! She smiled and said, "Do you want to come over to my place for dinner tonight in about an hour? I used to feed the Mormons all the time - they were usually the guys on bikes, but you'll do." We were absolutely SHOCKED and smiled and said that we would LOVE to come over for dinner! So, long story short, we went over for dinner and talked a little bit with her (and her name's Danielle, but she goes by Dani), but mostly with her seven-year-old daughter, Kaitlin, about Church, and specifically Sunday School. Kaitlin is currently attending a Bible Study Sunday School class, but she was very excited to hear about ours and is planning on coming to church with her mom this Sunday! They both also came to almost half of a session of conference on Sunday! They would've stayed for the whole thing, but they had to leave early so that Dani could pick up her husband from work. It was AWESOME! Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 5th and 6th) was mainly General Conference, which was AMAZING, as I'm sure you all know! And SOOOO many talks were geared towards missionary work! I LOVE it! :) Also, we had an investigator at every single session of General Conference! It was AWESOME!!! :) So that finally finishes summing up the rest of that last week! Now onto this actual past week! 10/07/13 - 10/13/13: Monday was CRAZY!!! - as I'm sure y'all already figured from my quick e-mail last week! So, to start out the day, my dear, sweet companion, Sister Schramm, took off her jacket and threw it in the dirty laundry pile after we got back from the gym at our apartment complex. Well, what she didn't realize when she loaded all of her clothes in the washing machine - INCLUDING her jacket - was that our cell phone was in her jacket pocket... Yes. It's true. She accidentally washed our cell phone. However, I feel somewhat accountable for this as well because I had been having a prompting to ask her where our phone was so that I could call Sister Akin and coordinate when we could stop by and pick up some things that I left over there. However, I kept ignoring that because I was finishing getting ready for the day. Well, if I had listened the that prompting, our cell phone would've just missed being thrown in the wash. But on the other side, we wouldn't have gotten a new cell phone, so I guess we both learned our lessons, and it ended up better that way! :) Later that day, we stopped by and visited sweet Sister Akin and her new companion, Sister McBride. It was SO fun and great to see my dear Sister Akin again (even though it had only been a few days since we'd seen each other, I still missed her!). That night, we visited a less-active in the ward named Sister K. She's a sweet older woman, and I just love her already! :) Tuesday we went to District Meeting, which was great, as always! And guess what I've been forgetting to mention for the past several months! Do any of you know Elder Travis Ker?? I know for a fact that Makani Fisher and at least one or two others of y'all know him from back home in Orem/Provo! Well, anyways, we're in the same District now! We had been in the same zone for the past three transfers before this, and now we're in the same District! It's SO fun! I love Elder Ker! He's great! I have a picture of us together at a bowling activity for zone sports a couple of months ago! Although we had been in the same zone for all those months before that, neither of us had put two and two together until then and realized that it turns out we knew each other before our missions! He went to my 18th birthday party at Lagoon, and I've hung out at his house! SMALL WORLD!!! Anyways, I'll attach the picture of us to this e-mail! :) After District Meeting, we went out for lunch at Cafe Rio (it turns out that Cafe Rio is not very well-known out East. It's one of those West-coast things that I so desperately miss! However, thankfully I've been fortunate enough to be in areas close enough to a Cafe Rio, so it hasn't been an issue), which was of course amazing! Then that night, we taught a Gospel Principles class for recent converts and less-active members, and we taught it on the Creation. It was SOOOO fun! I was kinda nervous at first, but it ended up being great! :) Wednesday was crazy! We started out the morning right after studies with going over to the Saas home and assembling a grill for Sister Saas! Yep! You read that right! Me. Aubrie Anne Orrock, assembled a grill with my companion. Yes. I know. Maybe that's what it meant on that aptitude test in High School when it said that I'd be a good lumberjack or fire-fighter! I figure grill assembler is close enough, right?? Haha! It was actually really fun! And we learned a new word! Fascia! Apparently it's a part of the grill. Anyways, after that, later that afternoon, we stopped by and visited a potential investigator named Amy and had a lesson with her! It was awesome! Then we stopped by to say hi (...and use their bathroom...) to a member named Sister Romrell, who is AWESOME! She ended up inviting us to stay over for dinner, so we did! I think I'm gonna like it here in Kingstowne! :) After that, we stopped by and visited an investigator named Fasaad and scheduled a time to meet with him since he was busy right then. Then we stopped by to visit Patience and Ielee (a couple of investigators who are related to each other), and ended up seeing and having a quick lesson with their nephew Derek. It was a really good day! :) Thursday we went and did service at the local food bank (it's called Koinonia), which was really rewarding! :) The rest of the day wasn't too eventful, so I honestly don't remember much else about it (mostly cause I need to improve at writing in my journal, but it's ok. Haha). Friday was CRAZY!!! We spent a good portion of the morning/early afternoon weekly planning, then we stopped by and visited a WONDERFUL less-active woman named Lauren! I LOVE her! From the moment I met her, I felt like she's one of the people who I was supposed to meet out here! She's great! :) After visiting with Lauren, we had dinner. Then after dinner, we had a pass-off lesson to us (meaning we gained two new investigators cause they were in our area and not the other Sisters who met them), and it was AWESOME!!! It was seriously like the Pharisees and the Sadducees from the Bible! Honestly! At first I was SUUUPER intimidated cause they (it's a couple, and the husband's sister is a member) kept on asking all of these questions, just trying to catch us in something and prove us wrong; this, of course made things very difficult and stressful when it came to answering questions at times. We had to REALLY think before we spoke. What made things even more stressful was that out of the three of us (one of the other Sisters who actually met them came with us), I was the oldest (as far as being out in the field time goes), and then Sister Schramm, and then the other Sister is just barley into her second transfer! But it was ok. It all went well and they seemed to like us! They fed us dinner (which we had no idea of ahead of time), and they even had flower-less chocolate cake because they knew somehow that a gluten-free Sister would be coming over! It was amazing! I love them! :) We even got a return appointment for this Friday night that THEY initiated! :) The church is true! Saturday... wasn't so great... It was hard. We got dropped by our GOLDEN investigator, Diana! She's SO sweet and wonderful, and she agrees with pretty much everything in the church, it's just her parents... She's 18 years old, but she really doesn't want to step on her parent's toes at all, and so since she talked with her parents and they told her to stop meeting with us, she's going by what they said. So, needless to say, we were sad and needed a little pick-me-up. So, since we were already planning on going to get frozen yogurt with Diana, we went and got some ourselves really quick. It was a very much needed pick-me-up for both of us! That night, we had dinner with a family in the ward named the Grigg's, and then right after dinner, we had a lesson with our cute, sweet, 14-year-old investigator named Kayla (she's friends with the Grigg's). It was a really great lesson! Kayla's already on date for baptism for November 16th - she's just still waiting for the official stamp of approval from her parents. I love Kayla! She really reminds me A LOT of my wonderful (basically) little sister, Andrea Allen! :) Sunday (yesterday) was pretty good - minus the fact that over the past couple of days, I've accumulated a horrible cold. But it's ok. I know that there's something that God wants me to learn from this, so I'm just sleeping as much as I can (which isn't enough as a missionary), and taking naps during lunch and dinner breaks, and just praying that I'll learn whatever God wants me to learn from this experience sooner than later! :) Anyways, Last night was really great cause we found a completely inactive member from what we call the "Bishop's List" (a list that the Bishop has given us of people who he wants us to check on), who, despite telling us that she is in no way interested in the church at all anymore, was very kind and welcomed us to come back some other time! :) Anyways, That's it for now! I love you all! The church is true! And although the work and the life of a missionary isn't always easy (HA. FAR from easy), it's ALWAYS WELL-worth it! I am SO grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary and serving our Father in Heaven and our Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. I wouldn't want to do anything else in my life right now! :) I love you all SOOOOOOO much! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep writing me! I am well-aware that I am terrible at responding in a timely manner, but I PROMISE I always love and appreciate hearing from all of you! :) THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! :D LOVE ALWAYS, Sister Aubrie Orrock P.S. I am SO sorry that I have neglected to mention Sofi and Ashley in my shout-outs for quite some time now! I guess that I mentioned y'all in my mind, and so I thought that I had in the actual e-mail! I am SO sorry again! I did get the letters and the adorable, sweet package with the picture and the sweet letter from Ashey! Thank you both SO SO much! I PROMISE that I have cherished every single e-mail, letter and package that y'all have sent to me! I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! Y'all are the best! :) Also - Thank you SOOOO much to everyone else who has written me/e-mailed me/sent me a package recently! I promise I love and appreciate every single one of you and y'all are in my constant thoughts and prayers! :)