week 5 - Summer?...

Nov. 7, 2016

Hi, everyone!

The weather is beautiful here in Dickinson. The sky is blue, the breeze is gentle, the sun is shining, and it's a balmy 70 degrees or so every day. Sister Harrington hates it. She is a California girl who had almost never seen snow until last year, and now she is anxious to enjoy it again. We are looking forward to a white Christmas. :)

We had a marvelous Halloween last week with the Hollis, as I'm sure you saw. They made a wonderful dinner, complete with a loaf of bread shaped like a spider and a cauldron of homemade root beer. They had pumpkins for us to carve, and Brother Holli read us a story about skeletons scaring each other. Sister Holli made a beautiful cake with black icing and a white icing moon and cookie bats on top, with candy corn colors inside. They really spoiled us, and I was so grateful. It felt like being at Grandma's Halloween party. It was a little taste of home, and I could not begin to express to them how much it meant to me.

The week was about average. We visited with Ramon, the man with the baby from a couple weeks ago, on his doorstep. He promised to talk to his wife and call us, but we haven't heard from him yet. We have 2 new investigators--Jessica, who is the non-member wife of an inactive husband and the mother of two adorable kiddos--and Nate, who we met street contacting and who seems genuinely interested. We also had a fantastic lesson with a part-member couple in our ward. Brother Huitt joined the church two years ago, and the missionaries have been working with his wife off and on ever since. We were over to their house for dinner and taught the restoration, as we've been asked to teach our discussions to the members we visit. We expected to just give the quick version to both of them and call it a day. To our surprise, Meldene started firing off questions at us and sharing experiences as we taught. I felt strongly impressed to ask her if she wanted to be with her husband forever. She said that she did. Sister Harrington asked if she believed that her husband held the priesthood power, and she said yes again. I testified to her that the priesthood power to bind families forever has been restored and asked her if she would read the Book of Mormon, and she said YES! She even suggested herself that she and Brother Huitt could read together that night, to which he happily agreed. He told us Sunday that they read 1 Nephi 1 together, and we couldn't have been more thrilled. Sister Harrington told me that in her experience with teaching them, Meldene had never been that inquisitive or so definite in her acceptance to read. We have high hopes.

I can't tell you how strong the spirit is in this work. We pray all the time--in our planning, in our tracting, at member houses, with investigators, with people on the street, and basically any time we aren't sure what to do. We had an incredible weekly planning session this last week (every week we take about four hours or so to plan the next week). We felt the spirit guiding us so strongly. We decided to pray about choosing three names from our list of past investigators to go find and visit again--and we thought of the same name. It was incredible. The Lord really does guide his work and his missionaries.

We went to Bismarck this week for zone training meeting again. The meeting was very good. We went to get burgers with the elders afterward and then... to the temple! What a blessing it is to be in the house of the Lord again! I can't even describe it. Sister Harrington and I did initiatory, then had the privilege of sitting in the celestial room for half an hour. We had the entire room to ourselves. I couldn't even bring myself to read from the scriptures--I just wanted to sit and drink in the spirit I felt there. After a while we went to the baptistry and had the honor of doing baptisms with some of our less-actives. We have one member of the ward, Rodney, who has come out teaching with us a few times--he is an early 20s hispanic young man who is working on preparing for the temple and the Melchizedek priesthood. He hadn't planned on coming and told us that he couldn't get a temple recommend. Imagine our joy, then, when we went to the baptistry, and there was Rodney! I don't think I've ever been so elated in my life. I could have just floated away with excitement, and my grin stayed on my face all night.

Sister Harrington had kind of a rough time this last weekend. She endures daily pain in her back and neck from whiplash from a car accident she was in years ago. She also deals with anxiety (we support each other on that one). She amazes me every day--it is so much harder for her to be out here than it is for most people, but here she is anyway, because the work matters that much to her. She had a really hard time with some things over the weekend, and I was able to comfort and encourage her and help her feel better about things. It was a sacred privilege to be able to serve my companion when she was in need, and it meant to world to me that she felt she could reach out to me.

We had a fantastic regional broadcast yesterday. Elder Rasband spoke and talked about how everything we do in this church is done "one by one." It reminded me of our stake mission statement. I am out here to help rescue my brothers and sisters one by one--or at least to extend the invitation. :)

I love you all so much. Please write to me! I love getting your emails and your letters. Sorry for the dearth of pictures--I left my camera in the car. Please enjoy those attached--the Bismarck zone after ZTM, and the sisters doing an awkward pregnancy picture because we can. :)  The sisters in the back are trainers, or "moms," and the girls in the front are the trainees. We have four mom and daughter sets in our zone! :)

I love you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Pullan

The Bismarck Zone after zone training meeting in front of the Bismarck temple.

An awkward "pregnancy picture" because we can.  The sisters in the back are trainers and the sisters in front are trainees.  (But I want to know - who is the elder in the back?)