Week 5??!

Hey, everyone.

It's blowing my mind that we're already starting the 5th week of this transfer. That means only 3 weeks left of the transfer...??? (There are 7 weeks in this transfer instead of the normal 6) It went so fast, yet so slow. I dunno, like I said, time is weird in the mission. My teacher in the MTC told me, "Don't try to figure out time in the mission...just...don't." Hahaha. I see what he means. 

Well, the work is slow in Maple Valley, yet progressing. We have found a few new potential investigators. One of them is named Dale and he is sooo prepared. We knocked on his door and he was happy to talk with us. He is struggling with overcoming an addiction and is very lonely and looking for GOOD people to be in his life. Well, hey, we're good people! We hope to be able to teach a lesson to him soon, as he was super receptive to everything. We called him Saturday night and felt impressed to invite him to church and he was so super excited to come and he expressed how he never really knows what to pray for, but knows he needs to pray. We ended up praying with him on the phone (I said the prayer) and I think it really helped him! He is so excited to start a new chapter in his life. Yet, sadly, he didn't come to church yesterday! I think he is feeling a little overwhelmed by everything, and he also canceled our lesson for Monday, but I don't think that's the end. He just needs time. But, I just feel so strongly that he needs the gospel right now! So, we will keep trying. Working with the agency of others is what sometimes makes missionary work tough.. But, we all have our agency, a gift from God, to know good from evil and truly choose to follow Jesus Christ. 

So about a week ago we met Joan and Gene and I don't remember if I mentioned them, but they are the nicest people, yet not super interested in the gospel. We visited them last night and chatted about their lives and stories they had. She has so many great grand children, it's amazing! I liked listening to them and we actually invited them to the ward's upcoming Easter event. Even though we don't get to really fit in anything about the gospel, I felt that it was important and worth getting to know these people. It was crazy, the last time we met them was the FIRST time we'd ever met them by knocking on their door by change. Now, they welcome us in and say we can stop by at any time (and even use the bathroom, haha, if we're in the neighborhood.. :)). I never would have thought I'd get to know people so well so quickly by just knocking on their door. Perhaps one day their hearts will be softened for a message. But, if anything, they are great people and we enjoy their hospitality. 

You meet so many people you never thought you would on a mission. You learn of so many peoples' stories and experiences. It's like opening a new book every time you knock on a door that is fruitful. My problem is never quite being sure what door to knock on! I want to badly to find those the Lord wants me to find, but sometimes aren't sure if I'm going the right places to find them. I guess I need to continue to learn the voice and language of the Spirit. 

Even if we aren't teaching a whole lot of people right now, I know I must be doing some sort of good. I know I must be leaving some sort of mark in all places I go and with all I interact with. Or, at least, I hope! We may never know the true, full extent of our effect on things and people. We may never know what touches peoples' hearts and minds. It may just be a smile, honestly. Who knows? All I know is I'm trying to remember that even if I don't see tangible progress, I still must be doing some sort of good.

Randy is slowly progressing, though there are still road blocks. Haha, the other day we wanted to share a lesson with him, but we didn't have another sister to come with us, so we literally taught him in the door way with the door open. We had chairs and everything! Albeit, it was cold and raining. But we got to teach him! We taught him about having Faith in Christ because we realized that none of this is going to go anywhere unless he understands truly what Christ did and can do in his life. We all need to have this relationship with Christ. He knows who Christ is, but hasn't truly developed a relationship. We think he wants to, though. Yet, he didn't believe me when I told him that we will be resurrected. Sometimes I forget that some of our most basic beliefs seem impossible to other people that didn't grow up in the gospel. Most people understand Easter, that Christ rose again, but do they really, truly comprehend that because of that, we will also rise again? Literally. We will be resurrected. Our bodies and our spirits will be reunited and in our bodies, we shall see God. And we will be perfected. Think of it! Everything that's wrong, all illness, any lost limb, will be restored. What an incredible gift! That's one of the things the Savior did for us (incredible to think that it's only one of the things, seeing as it's SO AMAZING ALREADY). Well, hopefully Randy's heart will be softened and he will come to truly believe and know all these things. Again, everyone has agency. We just help. We are guides. It is ultimately them that decides in the end. In other news, Randy came with us to serve in the Food Bank on Friday! That's what the pictures are from. So, yeah, that's Randy! 

Hope everyone is well at home! Spring is coming here so things are beginning to bloom. Apparently spring in Maple Valley is AMAAAZINNGGG. Like, everyone I talk to is so pumped for spring. Washington is pretty beautiful, it's true. It's starting to rain less, too. 

I gotta say, though, a mission is humbling in its difficulty. Being on a mission post-college degree has been hard for me because I've already learned SO MUCH and a lot of the things missionaries are learning all around me seem "obvious" to me. This makes me seem so proud and like I know everything, but I honestly don't want it to seem that way. I really don't. It's actually a struggle for me to figure out what mission life is for me because I am different than other missionaries I've met. I already understand a lot of the things that are revelatory events for other people. Yet, what's been interesting for me is not that I'm learning all these new things that I'd never considered, but that I'm adding to the things I've already learned. It's a different way of looking at the things I've already learned. Being "mature" is helpful for a mission, because, yeah, maturity and stuff (to put it  eloquently), but at the same time I see it as hindering because I am a firm believer in "ignorance is bliss". Haha. I can gauge what is going to happen in situations based on past experience, and because of that, I assume a lot of things I shouldn't. I assume I know how things are going to turn out because I have so many past experiences to draw from. That leads me to being a tad cynical and have a "know it all" attitude. I can't just be. I want to just be and let this experience happen and not hinder it by my "wisdom". Does any of that make sense?! I don't even know! More of the story: Sister Eldridge over-thinks everything. :) 

I guess what I'm wondering is, what will my mission be for me? I met a sister at choir a few weeks ago that said, "Everyone's mission is different and for them." I am curious to see what my mission will mean for me. What will I learn? What will change my life? I need to stop assuming I've learned it all, ahah! I'm ridiculous sometimes! It's ohh sooo humbling. 

 5 ¶Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

This is a great reminder. For all of us! 

Never assume we know the outcome. The Lord's ways are not our ways. Not even close! 

May we all more fully trust the Lord's ways, for they are best.

Til next week!

Love,

Sister Eldridge

PS: If there's anything I really need prayers for, it's knowing how to talk to people in tracting/finding! Gah! Still a struggle! 

PSS: I got a violin to use from a member!!! It's legit! We took it to the park the other day to try to find investigators hahahah... I played on a trail under a tunnel where it echoed and we had pamphlets set out. Didn't yield any fruit, but hey, we tried!!! :) And now I have a violin! Yay! Okay, bye.

 

Food Bank!

 

 

Sometimes Washington is sunny...

...and when it's sunny, it's still raining, but when that happens, you see rainbows! Seriously, it's beautiful up here. I love it. When Heavenly Father decided where I needed to go on my mission, he totally kept in mind my love for the north, the mountains, and the greenery. So awesome.

Ya know, this week was really great. I'm really starting to get fully adjusted as things are becoming more routine. Wow, it's weird to say that things are already becoming "routine". We're already in week 4! And this past Saturday marked one month on my mission! One month, woaaahhhh. That's so weird. It feels like it's been an eternity, though, let me tell you... 

There were some pretty cool miracles this week. And when I say "miracles" I mean moments where you just know the Lord's hand is in charge and is leading and guiding this work. It seriously is not my work at all, it's the Lord's.

Something I've learned this week is how very subtle the still and small voice of the spirit can be, but also how stark and apparent it can be as well. I've been wanting to learn what it means to truly follow the spirit in everything that I do as a missionary and I think what I've felt from this past week is that the spirit, to me, is a gentle nudge in the right direction to lead me to action and in what to say. And it's my choice whether or not I follow it. But, when I do follow it, I see the beauty of the Lord's hand in all things. He is so in charge!

In following the spirit this week, we knocked on a very inspired door in which we found a sister that knew who we were as mormons! Because she's actually been less-active for about 7 years, but has no negative feelings towards the church. We became fast friends and she is a joy to talk to. She told us she stopped going since she moved here because she didn't really know anyone and that she didn't want to go without her husband because he's not a member and not super interested. Yet, she knows it's still all true and was so willing to listen and have a gospel conversation with us. She told us her husband lost both his parents recently and is really struggling because of it. The spirit made it immediately known the importance that it is that Beth re-kindle her testimony in the gospel so that she may share that with her husband. We are striving to be supportive to her in her efforts to return to church, following the spirit in what we should do and say. But, what's incredible is when we were tracting that night that we found her, we both looked at her door and listened to the spirit of whether or not we should really knock on it. I had a very peaceful feeling about it so we went up to the door and knocked. And then that's when we met her! It was an example of the subtle and gentle ways the spirit can lead and guide us. And now I ask myself, "Wow, what would have happened if we didn't knock?? We would have never met her!" Now I see that the Lord really is preparing us and we ought to listen to the spirit to guide us!

In contrast of the spirit being stark and apparent, we were tracting on the Cedar River Trail the other day and ran into two men that were quite anti-mormon, throwing at us statistics and research done and how DNA tests don't match up with the Book of Mormon people and this and that and everything, telling us we had been deceived and it was their intention on saving us and telling us how to be born again. They were quite urgent about it. We immediately realized that there was no worth in trying to convince or discuss anything with them, though we tried our best to testify of Christ and not fight with the Bible, as they were doing, throwing out this verse and that and how they really should be interpreted and whatnot. As I was standing there listening, and being full aware that the spirit was offended (these two men made the space feel very dark and loathsome), the spirit, however, as clear as day said to me, "This is a waste of time." And the spirit was right. While we were tied up with these two conspiring men, many families walked past us on the trial that we really would have liked to talk to. Yet, our precious time and opportunity was wasted. It was frustrating. When we finally broke away from these men, the spirit had left, and we lost all ability to talk to anyone else on the trail. It really showed me how important the spirit is so that we may not be confounded. It also showed how the spirit will immediately let you know when something is not true. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi tells us that he delights in plainness and speaks to us in plainness about the Gospel. Because, the gospel IS plain and simple, even so much that a child can understand. And, these two men were doing quite the opposite, throwing at us complicated intricacies of doctrine and, basically, were making claims based on man's knowledge and wit. It was like a real life Book of Mormon experience where the priests throw out their wisdom trying to find fault in the church. Crazy. But, all I know, is what I felt from the spirit. The spirit knows truth. If you are searching for truth, seek first for the Holy Ghost and understand it's role and power in your life. Then, truth will be made known to you, because you know how to recognize it. The Holy Ghost never lies, because God never lies. Everything good is of God. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance." (Galatians 5:22-23) If you're feeling any of those things, it's of the Spirit, which is from God. :)

Something reaaaaaally cool that happened this week is with our investigator Randy. We have been trying to help him understand that the way for him to be able to be with his wife again is through following Christ and being baptized, then going to the temple to be sealed to her for all of time and eternity. But, he is still hardening his heart and not accepting the truth all around him, or even the answers he is receiving. I'm not sure he really realizes he's gotten answers, though. We tell him we know his wife is in the spirit world waiting, but he just always says, "Well, I hope..." not really believing us. But, anyway, something cool that happened the other night in a lesson with him was we were discussing his same concern he always has, that he can't really be sure that there is just one church, because how can one church be "better" than another (in his words)? Well, during this discussion, Sister Loeak, who, by nature, is not a touchy-feely, emotional person, suddenly said, "Randy, I feel impressed to tell you something." The room went silent and we all stared at her waiting to know what she had to say. It took her a moment, and she had started to sob. Then, full of the spirit of God (for the influence was very strong), she says, "Randy, I feel impressed to tell you that your wife has accepted the gospel and is waiting for you." It was incredible. The spirit flowed in like crazy. And I knew she was right, because I had been having the same impressions, too, that his wife was VERY near and involved in this process. Randy didn't say much, but I know he had to have felt something... We just hope it touched his heart in some way. That night, after we were home, I had prayed for something oddly specific for Randy... I prayed that his wife would come to him in a dream. As a companionship, we prayed that his wife would help us, because Randy is a hard person to reach sometimes. The next day, as Randy sat with us at church (this is his third week in a row to go to church!), he told Sister Loeak something incredible... He said he had a dream with his wife last night!!! Whaaaaaaaat! I was stunned. When she asked what happened, he just said that they were together in the dream and he didn't remember much else. BUT WOAH HOW INCREDIBLE IS THAT?? She is sooo involved! Sometimes, when Randy is harping over the same concerns each lesson, I can almost feel his wife saying, "Oh, Randy, you're so stubborn." Hahaha. She's waiting for him! 

We hope to continue to help Randy realize the truth right in front of him. He said he'll know when he feels it. I wonder when he will realize that he has felt it. Yet, we all have our agency, and it is ultimately his choice. We are just his guides and helpers. But, we are definitely keeping close with the spirit to know how to reach him. 

Life is good as a missionary. You meet a lot of good people. You can learn something from every single person you talk to, if you're listening with love and with the spirit. Every moment of the day is an opportunity to learn and grow from something and someone around you, to progress in some sort of way. And that's why repentance is so important! Because it's what allows us to continue to progress in every moment. Sin stunts our growth and stops us from progressing. Repentance re-positions us and allows us to continue forward. So often we see the word "repentance" as a negative thing. But, it's the most joyous gift the Lord has given us in this mortal life. If we didn't have to repent, what would the Savior be for? There would be no Atonement. And then there'd be no us. Adam fell that man might be, and men are, that they might have joy. So allow yourself to repent (turn your heart back to God), and have joy! 

Yesterday I attended my first missionary fireside that the mission holds once a month. We had two investigators there, including Randy. It was SO COOL hearing peoples' conversion stories. I sang in the choir, too, and loved that. I told the choir director I play violin and wanted to maybe do something next time because this time there was someone playing violin too and she was like a little skeptical because sometimes people are sketchy in their violin skills, if you catch my drift, but then I was like "yeah so I have a degree and stuff" and she's like OOOHHHH MY GOSH WHY DIDN'T A KNOWW AHHH WE WILL TOTALLY USE YOU NEXT TIME! I laughed really hard inside hahahahaaaa. So hopefully I'll find a violin and play soon. :) But, yeah, the fireside was AMAZINGG. The church is true, ya'll.

Sorry, no pictures this week. Maybe next week! 

Hope all is well in all the places you are all in! Thanks for all the support. You are all on my mind a lot! 

Love, Sister Eldridge

PS: The Book of Mormon is important and if you're not reading it every day start doing it. It WILL change your life.

Week 2 in the books

Hey hey, family!

I'm writing a day late this week because yesterday was President's Day, so all the libraries were closed. So a Tuesday P-Day it is! It'll be back to normal next week, though. 

Where to even start... This past week was really good and really hard. You grow and learn at such a fast rate that I feel like I'm having growing pains. If that makes sense. All the growth is good! But, man, the refiner's fire is hot. Scolding. I've been quickly learning that I have to let go of my own desires on this mission. I can't not do things because I just simply don't want to (like talking to people). I can't just take naps when I'm not feeling up to things. I can't "skip class" like in college and take an hour off and hide in a practice room (NOT THAT I EVER DID THAT...). Bottom line, is you have to be ready to work. I find myself constantly praying all day every day in trying to keep going, but it does get easier, I've found. 

This past week, I attended my first Zone Conference and it was soooo good! President and Sister Eaton are so wise and awesome. The theme of the conference was "Agents, Not Objects." Meaning, we need to treat our investigators as agents, not objects. We are to not just teach, but help others discover the gospel and act on the message, not just take the message in. Sometimes we get into the mindset that there is only one way to teach, and one way only. To talk at people. But, as I was reminded and taught at zone conf, we are to help other act and discover the message. Granted, sometimes it's fine to just talk and explain, but interaction is much more meaningful. We were taught Elder Bednar's forumla for teaching/learning: 1. Prepare to learn, 2. Interact to edify, and 3. Invite to act! Also, a great quote by Elder Jay Jenson: "Learn to put more of the burden of your learning on the student. You assume too much of it. Shift it." SO GOOD! Everything we learned in the zone conference was everything I was taught as an education major at BYU-I! President Eaton used to work at BYU-I as a professor so he talks about the learning model and such from BYU-I and I was so happy because it's something I'm used to and know all about! What I've realized about myself is that I understand how to do things and have great ideas, but when the time comes to actually do them, I forget and get nervous. But, I just need to keep practicing. Something else President encouraged us to do is to ask inspired questions that help people open up and talk about themselves, as well as helping them know that we are interested in them and their lives. It's straying away from the simple yes and no questions and really wanting to know what people think by asking things such as "What can we learn from _______?", "Why is _________ so important?", or, "What do you wish you knew before _____?" A question I came up with is, "Why do you do what you do because of what you know?" Cool stuff! And, of course, in all things, be in tune with the spirit. It's the real teacher. 

SOOO, a cool thing they do at zone conference is they check people's cars to see how clean they are (as well as general maintenance) and who ever has the cleanest car gets the GOLD PLATES!

 Haha, so if you win, you get a gold license plate cover that says "GOLD PLATES" and you have it on your car until the next conference. WELLLL, GUESS WHO WON THE GOLD PLATES??? That's right. Sister Loeak and I! We worked suuper hard at cleaning our car! SO AWESOME. It'll be on the car til about May or something, haha! I forgot to get a picture. I will for next week. But, we feel pretty awesome having the gold plates. :) 

So things are interesting with investigator's right now... Randy agreed to be baptized on March 5 if he gets his answer by then! We have high hopes. He is still unsure, but learning and growing each time we teach him. He has come to church 2 weeks in a row! Even this past Sunday where we had a Regional Conference broadcast from Salt Lake! WHICH WAS SOO GOOD! C. Scott Grow, Bonnie L. Oscarson, James J. Hamula, and Dale G. Runland spoke. We basically had our own personal general conference. It reached us, Orgeon, Alaska, part of Canada, and I think the San Fran area..? Pretty cool. Most of the messages were about standing up for our beliefs, being firm in our faith, and sharing the gospel. Dale G. Runland shared a great insight for when people ask us why we, as Latter-Day Saints, do things, such as not drinking coffee or wine or why we don't do things on Sunday, etc. Anything. He said, instead of just bringing up things such as "oh health benefits.." or "it's a family day.." or what have you, he inspired us to do what his wife does. When his wife was asked once why they don't drink coffee, she said, "Let me give you the short version! In 1820, a 14 year old boy knelt in a grove and prayed..." and then she goes on to share the entire restoration (quickly), and finishes with telling them that everything we do is because of revelation! Because we have a living prophet that receives revelation from God. That's why we do what we do. We can go around and around about health benefits (basically, man's reasoning), or we can just be straight forward and say, "Well, in 1820 a 14 year old boy...", ending it with revelation. :) Really cool! You should try it the next time someone asks you why you do what you do because you're Mormon. 

Anyway, Randy. He has met a LOT of members and is really being fellowshipped and it's great. We are teaching him tonight in Bishop's home. We're going to teach him about the Atonement! Why we need (NEED) it and what it really means to us and the entire history of eternity. He understands the concept of Jesus Christ, but we don't think he really comprehends what He is to us. We hope to help change that tonight. We have also helped him a lot with his family history! Family History is so important... Our ancestors are waiting! 

We have been struggling with finding people to teach, as Maple Valley is a large, spread out place, but we found a NEW neighborhood that Sister Loeak says she's never really been to (she's been here for like 5 months or something). I had a REALLY good feeling about it and for good reason, because we found 2 people and they both gave us return appointments. One of them is named John and he's a 92 year old war veteran. Very very nice! He wanted to let us in, but he was home alone so we couldn't (the rule is we have to have an extra sister when we teach single males). He told us his wife is in a nursing home. I reckoned he had a lot of really great stories and I said to him, "I bet you have a lot of great stories, I'd love to hear some soon!" and he said, "My motto used to be, 'you don't get away without a story'"! Haha! Love it. I told him we'd love to hear his stories if he'd be willing to listen to a message. :) We teach him Wednesday. The other person we met is named Cathryn and she's probably in her 60s and has rad long, blonde hair. She said she doesn't believe in organized religion, but was SO friendly and agreed to have us come. She even gave US her number. We left her with a prayer and she's so funny and spunky, she ran up and grabbed our hands and wanted to pray holding hands. So we did. It was cool! We hope to see her soon. Those two were huge miracles and blessings because I've REALLY been struggling with tracting. I have been having a lot of anxiety about talking to people, but I've been trying to just get over myself and do the Lord's work. I found a scripture in D&C 60:2-3 that was, like, the perfect chastisement I needed, 

 

2  But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.

3  And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have.

BAMMM. When I read that, I was like, "Yup. Okay. Got it. I'll stop being selfish now." Those verses seriously helped so much. Yet, at the same time, I think it's also that we were in the right place to tract that day! The Lord placed us there. So, it was honestly easier to open my mouth. The words just came. I just need to have more faith and stop fearing man. Because, man can do nothing. God is greater than all. I also thought of the scripture D&C 122:8, "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" Are my afflictions really greater than the Lord's? Honestly? Just because I'm afraid to talk to people? Come on, Sister Eldridge, get a grip! It's a process, though. I'll get better each day. 

Today, I went to missionary choir for the upcoming missionary fireside this weekend. It was wayyy cool and I'm happy to be around music. :) There was someone playing violin and I was like ahhh I want to play, too! So I talked to the director and told her I'd be willing to play and she was THRILLED to find out I have an actual degree, haha. So I'll be playing at a future fireside. I'm so glad I get to share my talents. Actually, I got a violin that was in the mission office, but it turns out it's too small. It's weird, it looks like a full size, but the neck is too short so it's awkward to play. But, I'll hopefully find another violin. Still not sure if I want mine sent up here. Maybe. I'm thinking about it. I dunno, it makes me nervous. We'll see. 

I'm not sure what else to say. I'm learning. I'm growing. I'm being as obedient as I can. Except, hahaha, yesterday, Sister Loeak thought she set the alarm, but she didn't and we woke up an hour and a half late to the phone alarm that goes off to prep us for morning study and we were like, "WAIT WHAT! NO WAY NOOO!" Hahahaha! It was sooo funny.. We felt bad, of course, but it honestly wasn't our fault. Don't worry, today we got up on time! :) Things happen. Hahaha. We just laugh about it, though. We're super obedient otherwise, though. 

Maple Valley is treating me well. The members here are amazing. We visited a few yesterday and one of them let me play their baby grande piano. Yeaaahhh. It made me happy. 

When reading your scriptures, liken them to yourself. No, really. Think about how you can apply what it's teaching to yourself. And if you're in the war chapters, look at general themes. Like what happens when people heed the Lord in their battles and those who don't. Stuff like that. 

Well, until next week. 

Love, 

Sister Eldridge

PS: I BOUGHT STAR WARS GUMMIES. And, yes, I brought that Darth Vader from home...

Also, my mission sweatshirt from the MTC came in the mail! I love it! It says "Federal Way Mission 2016-2017"

And my goofy companion! 

My first week in Washington... almost!

HELLO FAMILY!

I've been in Washington for almost a week now and I can't believe how slow time is going, let me tell ya! Haha! I can't believe I'm a missionary and life is just so surreal. 

Things got going really quickly, the second I got off the plane at the Seattle airport. President Eaton and his wife met us at baggage and immediately they were having us do missionary work, talking to people that work at the airport. At one point, I was given a pass along card by President Eaton with Christ on it and he was like "tell this man about it!" and I was like uhh uhhhhh...!! It was scary haha, I had no idea what I was even doing, but I did it? So, basically, the second I was in the field, I was thrown into the deep end and told to swim. Ahhhhh! 

That's basically how this whole week has been. I was thrown head first with not a clue what was going on. Every day and every second I was learning something new about what it means to be a missionary and what I'm supposed to do and say. I seriously have no idea what's going on half the time, it's great. But, each day I learn more and what I'm supposed to do and why I'm even here. It took me a few days before I actually, like, talked. When I got my companion at the stake center, I was immediately told I was the driver and I was like WELL THEN OKAY. I was terrified at the start at not even knowing who my companion was and then told I was to drive away that day in the car. Haha, I feel like the first few days there was no explanation of anything, just, "OKAY GO AND DO STUFF" and I'm all, but...but...ahh, okay??! Haha, it's taking some getting used to. I don't like feeling uncomfortable, but I guess I better get used to that. Comfort zones don't exist right now.

So, as mentioned before my companion/trainer is Sister Loeak from the Marshall Islands. She is really patient with all my questions because half the time I still have no idea what's going on. I ask a LOT of questions, too...because, Sister Loeak forgets I'm new and starts doing something expecting me like I know what's going on and I don't... :) She says she forgets I'm new because I'm already getting super involved in everything, like teaching. It's weird for her to remember I'm new, haha, so I have to remind her. Especially when I'm driving. I haven't a clue where I'm going, so sometimes we miss turns because she thinks I know where I am when I don't! Haa. Like I said, though, she's wayyy patient and is teaching me a LOT. She is so kind, when she found out she was going to be training, she prayed that she would get the best, most obedient missionary, and she got me and is really happy about it. She says I'm doing really well, even though I'm terrified, haha.

The work got started pretty quickly when I came here, as we have a few investigators that we are working with. One of them, Randy (he's a 75 year old man with a lot of stories!!), came to church with us on Sunday! It was kind of a miracle because Sister Loeak and her previous companion had asked him before multiple times and he was like, "nahhhh...not ready." But, then we just decided we were going to stop by Sunday morning with a member and just straight up invite him again. So, we get to the door and the member we are with, who didn't know that we hadn't already actually invited him yet, goes, "Ready to go??" and Randy goes, "Let me get my coat!" And Sister Loeak and I are like, wait...what?! We didn't even ask him to go to church and he's just ready to go! It was crazy!! So he came! It was fast and testimony meeting so I got up and bore my testimony and Randy said it was beautiful. He is the nicest old man! Seriously so sweet. We are reading the Book of Mormon with him right now and helping him with his family history. He's still unsure about everything, and sometimes doesn't like to listen, but we are taking small steps with him each day all the time to help him. He really wants to be with his departed wife again, so we are trying to help him understand how that can happen. We'll keep trying. I have such a love for this man I just met.

We have a few other investigators. Bryn, a mom of 2, commited to be baptized, but we haven't been able to see her in a few days. But, she is a huge potential because she is searching for truth, as she put it. Super open to what God wants for her. So we have high hopes. It's just hard to get together with her because of her schedule. Victoria is another, who is coming to church each sunday, but still just trying to figure out which church is really right for her. She said she just needs time. 

It's hard figuring out how exactly to do this work. I want to make sure I'm doing all I can...following the spirit as well as I can. Praying for the right things. Praying often... I get so caught up in making sure that I'm doing things "right" that I don't enjoy them anymore. I'm also still nervous a lot and learning a lot, so I'm a little apprehensive. There's also a TON of paperwork/logistical things to learn too... I have no idea what this 18 months is going to bring, but I know it's good things... I just need to be patient in the adjusting period. After all, it's only been (not even) a week! It's felt like sooo much longer... Time works weird in the mission. One minute seems like an hour (in a good way). You seem to have a lot more time than you think. If that makes sense. Being obedient, I think, does that. Going to sleep at 10:30 and waking up at 6:30 exactly right. Honestly, I'm just tickled to get up at 6:30 because that's normally when I left the house for student teaching in Vegas, ha, so this is a great plus.

The place we live (in Maple Valley) is a SUPER nice apartment over a garage at a member's home/property. It's a gated property settled in the woods. SO beautiful... seriously. The trees are SUUUUUUUPER TALL here! I have never seen trees so tall in my life! I'm currently in Maple Valley and they say this is one of the most beautiful areas. I see Mt. Ranier (no idea how to spell that) every morning when we drive from the house. So cool. So foresty and green around here. Also, the moss. Moss everywhere on everything! It's cool. This area is kind of tough, though, because the houses are super spread apart and most of them are off the high way, so tracting is a little awkward... They all have super long drive ways and are off by themselves, so it's like, when you knock on a door, they know it took actual effort to get to their doorstep and they're kinda like, "what are you even doing here and how did you find me" hahahaha. Tracting is not my favorite, but I'm trying my best. I just don't know what to say to help them understand why I'm on their doorstep because apparently we're supposed to stay away from, "we're the missionaries." I dunno. I guess I'm just going to have faith that I will find those that are prepared. 

The ward here, the Cedar River ward, is great. The bishop is amazing. He's a younger bishop with a family and SO dedicated not only to his ward, but to missionary work. We also have a really dedicated Ward mission leader who is incredible. We get a ton of support from the ward and it's super helpful. We usually easily find members to come to lessons if we need it.  Like with Randy. He lives alone so we have to bring a member every time we teach him, but we usually find them! So yeah the ward is great and super welcoming. They were amazing when Randy came to church. Lots of people introduced themselves and made him feel welcome. 

I'm trying to think if there's anything else...hmm... I dunno. I'm a missionary. That's still weird. It's exhausting, but it's not. Honestly, I'm still weirded out by the fact that I'm not practicing/playing my violin every second of the day. There's more down time in missionary work than I expected. Not that we're not doing anything, because we are, we're constantly planning or calling or whatever, but it's not like I am out walking 24/7 or anything. It's honestly way more chill than I expected it to be. It's busy, yeah, but I dare say not as busy as school was. If anything, what I'm saying is, being a music major really prepared me for missionary work because I'm really not stressed out about the amount of "stuff" to do. I'm stressed out about all the new things I'm learning, but not the to-do list. If that makes sense. Being in a schedule is just normal life. (Except for my last few weeks of living at home before my mission when I spent 12 hours a day in my Batman onesie... ;) )

Welllllllll... if anything, I'm doing pretty much okay. A little nervous, still, but okay. I want to get to the point where I'm totally lost in the work, but I know it'll take time. Right now I'm still in the "figure out how to function as a human being" stage hahaaa. 

Love you all! So happy I got to write today on p-day! 

Love, 

Sister Eldridge

PS: Here is my mission president and his wife on my first day in the field. 

THE GUY IN THE BACKGROUND IS PRESIDENT MONSON'S GRANDSON!

We all signed the doorstop to our MTC classroom :)

In the beautiful land of Washington‏

Well, everyone. I'm in Washington. I'm here! It's green and it was ACTUALLY sunny when I got here (weird). The trees are the tallest things I've ever seen. The mountains are beautiful. My companion/trainer is named Sister Loeak and she's from the Marshall Islands and she's legit. She's really patient with me.

I don't have super long today, so this isn't a full update, but my p-day is monday so I will write then! But, until then, I am here. And I am terrified. I don't think I've been this scared since my first semester at BYU-Idaho as a music major. I'm sooooo nervous. I hardly talk (which you know is weird because I'm obnoxious normally). We went tracting last night and I had no idea what I was doing. It's a little frustrating because I want to just be myself and show others my personality and love for the gospel, but I'm walking around like a lost puppy, hahaha... But, this is for me to grow, and I truly have a desire to become brave. It is, after all, only day 2 in the field. They throw you in quick. At the airport, my mission president gave me a pass along card and had me teach about Christ on the fly. I have no idea what I said, haha, but he took the card. 

This is mega hard. But, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be the greatest thing of my life, so I just have to be patient with myself and the progress I need to make. Here's to hoping I can come out of my shell more and actually remember what I know to be true!

Also, I'm limping today because I RAMMED my knee on the bed post last night, like super bad. Hahaha. Stairs hurt. Yaaay.

I'll write more soon! Love everyone!

-Sister Eldridge

PS: I'm in Maple Valley in the Cedar River ward. I am driving a car! And I saw my first Washington "spit" today (it's raining). 

Sister Juliann Marie Eldridge
Washington Federal Way Mission
23175 224th Pl SE Ste E
Maple Valley, WA 98038
United States