Hello Everyone, and greetings from Norfolk!
The work here is going great! I hardly even know what to talk about! I think that I'll start by telling you all a little about the area. Norfolk is just west of Virginia beach. There are two wards here, and 4 sets of missionaries. We have elders and sisters in both wards. I guess that tells you all a little about how much work there is to be done here. There is a lot of military here, and the ward reminds me a lot of Del Norte or Haines ward. Small, struggling and very transient. As much as it reminds me of home, it's strange after so long to be back in a ward like this, and it's been a little bit of an adjustment. We spend a lot of time working with less actives because we need that strong backbone of support to be rebuilt so that we have something to bring people into. It's something that is going to take a lot of work and time, but the people here are so willing and ready to hear the gospel. As wonderful as that is, it also means that satan is working hard against us. A prime example of that is a woman that we met last week. She was so prepared by the Lord to be taught and come into his church. We found her while tracting and sat on her porch and talked to her for nearly an hour about the restoration and the book of mormon. She had heard about native american legends of Christ coming to the people here, and them burying their weapons of war, and was excited when we showed her in the book of mormon where those accounts were scripturally. She said she thought that God had lead us to her, and that she needed to pay close attention to the book. I think I wrote a little about her last week in my email home. Well, unfortunately, she went and was telling people at her bible study about what we had taught her, and was antied really well. She now will not meet with us, she won't even let us explain how we actually believe. She hangs up on us every time we call, but we know that she felt the spirit, and we know that we were led to her. She will come back. It's just a question of when. It's a hard work.... what we are doing, but it's wonderful!
It is extremely hot here in Norfolk. The humidity does make it worse, but for the past several days, it has felt like the temperature is well over 100. On days like that I'm grateful for the car, but at the same times, I still struggle with it because it really means that we spend less time talking to people. I'm learning how to balance that. I'm not sure how I feel about it completely yet. I think I've sweated more in the last two weeks than I have the whole rest of my life combined. Today it's cooled down a lot though, so hopefully it will stay that way for a while :) at least the summer doesn't last forever. I'm really looking forward to fall. I'm excited to see everything in color.
Our mission president left yesterday, and I think the new one came in as well. It will be interesting to see how things change with the new president. I'm not too attached to the old one, but everyone else really likes him and so they are all nervous about getting a new president. The only thing I know about the one coming in, I've heard from an elder that I was in the MTC with. He is from Seattle, and his parents know President Perry. I guess when he was bishop, he took away all ward activities until home teaching and visiting teaching were all done and functioning the way they were supposed to. It will be interesting to see how the work grows with this change. God has a purpose for putting each person where he does, and there is something that this mission, and missionaries can learn and grow from him being here. It is an exciting time to be a missionary in the Virginia Richmond mission. It's the only mission in our area where the number of missionaries is increasing instead of decreasing. there is a great work to be done here!
I absolutely love all the people I meet here. They are so friendly! They are also so humble, and many of them work so hard to provide for their families. I've been so impressed by the lengths that people go to to provide for their families. What an example to me of perseverance and dedication.
The miracle from this week that I'd like to write about comes from a former investigator. She hadn't been progressing, and so the sisters before had stopped working regularly with her. The other day we stopped by her home, and as we were talking, family history came up, and how we as members of the church work hard and place a big emphasis on doing family history. This really peaked her interest, and yesterday we took her down to the stake center and got her started in finding her family. We have plans to to this regularly. It's exciting to see people who are so excited about family history work. It makes me want to get started on mine when I get home... it's a long time from now.
This is the Lord's work. I know that with all my heart. Back about 13 years ago, President Hinckley promised that if we really put forth our efforts, we could double the number of convert baptisms that had been done that year. We have yet to fulfill that promise, but I know that if we do put forward that faith and trust in the Lord to work those miracles, and do our very best to be instruments in his hands, that we will see that work moving forward. We will see the hand of the Lord bringing souls to him. I'm so excited to be a part of this great work. I love the Lord, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to share with others his restored gospel! Thank you everyone for your support!
Love,
Sister Boston
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