Gordon the Snail

This was a good, good week. I finally feel like I am functioning like a normal human being again! What a relief! It's crazy how fast you can go downhill and then how much of a longer process it can be to rebuild. But by small and simple things... :)

It was really another week of miracles! For one, we have a new investigator named Betty! She's the neighbor of members, the Petersons, and is super nice! She has horses and the best view in all of Washington, I'm telling you... Beautiful green rolling hills and blue skies (when it's not raining). We have been helping her pull weeds and then she invited us to come on the porch and talk! I had the opportunity to just teach on the spot and testify of the Restoration. Sometimes we don't wait for permission to teach -- we just teach. :) We invited her to come to the Family History Activity the ward was putting on. WHICH LEADS TO ANOTHER COOL STORY: Initially Betty wasn't super interested in family history, but she knew her neighbor, Pat, was. So she went over to Pat's and gave her the invite and Pat FREAKED OUT and got SUPER EXCITED and wanted to go super bad! Which is amazing because she's another one of the Peterson's neighbors and Sister Peterson was going to go over and invite Pat herself to the activity, but Betty got to her first! Haha! Our investigator totally did missionary work! Solid... 

Betty wasn't totally sure if she was going to come, but Sister Peterson and Pat encouraged her... and by a miracle... SHE CAME! It was the coolest thing to see her there! And it really inspired her to do family history! Go Spirit of Elijah! We are thrilled. It's also super inspired me to work on my family history when I get home. It's so important! Our ancestor's need these saving ordinances. The Cedar River ward is super into family history and it's been such a blessing for me and inspires me all the time to do more of it. For sure going to do that when I get home! 

We finally got in contact with Russell again and found out that he has been struggling with addictions again. It's so hard. :( But, I felt inspired to ask him if he wanted a Priesthood blessing, and he agreed! We went over with Bishop and Bro Campbell, his first counselor, on Saturday and it was an INCREDIBLE spiritual experience! Bishop and Bro Campbell spent a long time talking to Russell and helping him understand faith and action and the Atonement and it was just an amazing meeting and I wish I remembered all he said! Oh, and this is all happened on the porch, by the way, outside his house cause we didn't have another Sister to go in, haha... :) The blessing Russell got was so powerful and the spirit was strong. Bishop and Bro Campbell left and we stayed and talked to Russell. We got to clear up some of his concerns that people have brought up with him about Mormons (such as the notion that we don't believe Christ to be the Son of God; why, of course we do!) and he was happy to get a lot of things cleared up. He is so willing to learn! He's still not sure if he believes the whole "mormon thing", but I told him straight up: It all weighs upon the Book of Mormon. It's either true or it's not. And if the Book of Mormon is true, everything we've told him is true. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet and really restored this Church and really translated the book by the power of God, and we really do have the priesthood restored. THAT is how important the Book of Mormon is. I challenged him to read it and find out if it's true. And he said he would. 

Being a missionary is so cool. To be completely honest, it's taken me a little while to get to this point with trying to adjust to the life of a mission and getting over home sickness and such, but after seeing so many miracles and testifying boldly, I can say that I know this work is the most important thing I could be doing right now and yields so many eternal consequences for more than just me. It's just... incredible. 

Anyway. 

Lots of fun little miracles this week, such as making plans to do one thing, but then that one thing not working out, but we were supposed to see someone different along the way -- that happened a lot. For example, we made a plan to go see a former investigator, Bryn. We went over there and she wasn't home, but we saw a man working outside. Sister Stewart stopped the car and said, "We have to go talk to him." And so we turned around and went over to him. COOLEST EXPERIENCE EVER, so his name was Arnesto and he's from Auburn (not in our area), but Sister Stewart totally turned into a spanish speaking hermana for a second... She asked if she could practice her spanish with him and he agreed and she just starts fluently speaking spanish and I'm like ???? woah?? what! It was so cool! He ended up only taking a card, but it was so cool to hear my comp suddenly be speaking spanish. So we get back in the car and I'm like WAY TO GO! And she tells me that that morning during exercise she had felt a prompting to brush up on her spanish and she practiced a pretend conversation in her head of talking to a spanish speaker and such, and in her head, she made up the name.... ARNESTO. The EXACT name of the person we met on the street! She said the conversation that happened in real life was the EXACT conversation she practiced in her head...and the SAME NAME OF THE PERSON. That is just... You can't even deny that God is real after an experience like that, ha! A testimony of role playing often to receive inspiration, I swear! SO COOL! We hope one day the missionaries in Auburn find Arnesto. :) 

SO, the title of my email... :) We were tracting before dinner last night and it had been raining pretty bad and we walked down this hill... and saw the BIGGEST snail I have ever seen in my entire life. Just look at that thing! It's as long as my hand! What the heck! It was pretty gross. Haha. There are snails and slugs everywhere here when it rains. Seriously, though, this snail was just massive. We crouched down and watched it for a while and since we couldn't find anyone to teach, we just...well...decided to teach the snail... :) I named him Gordon and we told him God loved him and created him and everything! Sister Stewart started poking at Gordon and he shrunk up and did that weird snail thing where they hide inside of themselves to protect themselves. Then I realized, there was definitely an object lesson here... 

Sometimes, when adversity hits and satan starts poking at us, we shrink and hide. We turn inward and shut out the world, assuming that no one has it as bad as us and that life will never be okay again. Yet, what Gordon had to do in order to get to safety (since he was in the road) was to actually turn outward -- to come out of his shell and to act and do something. The same is for us. When we find ourselves struggling, our initial response is to turn inward and only care about ourselves. But it is not until we turn outward and start looking towards others that we find peace and healing. The second the snail came back out, he was able to start moving again and get to safety to the side of the road. 

You can find gospel principles and life lessons in anything...even giant snails. :)

There were many other miracles this week, just being in the right place at the right time and seeing the people we needed to see, but this will suffice for this week. I am so grateful to be on a mission. More and more every day I am seeing that this experience and everything that goes along with it was so needed for my eternal salvation. Literally. I needed the experience I am having here and the people I am meeting. I have been realizing more and more how not ready I thought I was for other upcoming stages in my life. I had/have so much to learn. And I am grateful I am learning! I will be a better member, wife, and mother for going on a mission. I am being prepared for my future family. And this is the best possible way I could be preparing! 

What a humbling thing to say after saying for 5 years I'd never go on a mission. People change, I guess. :) The Atonement makes it possible. 

Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Eldridge

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

Thank you for the prayers!

Dear everyone,

I can honestly say that this week was INFINITELY better than last week. It was a miracle that I recovered as quickly as I did. I know, without any doubt, that all the prayers in my behalf gave me the strength that I needed to recover and keep going in the work. I had a relatively normal week this week, with strength to do the normal missionary things. It was a miracle! 

RANDY WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! And it was an amazing baptism. We had 4 other sets of missionaries there and 54 people came, including Randy's daughter and 2 grandsons. Just an amazing service. I played a little violin number with the daughter of our ward mission leader! And, PRESIDENT AND SISTER EATON CAME! We had no idea they were coming. It was way cool. He spoke, too! The original missionaries that found Randy came, too. Sister Loeak spoke about the Holy Ghost and Sister Davis (and her comp, Sister Parsons) did the presentation about the Restoration. It was amazing having them there! Randy was the miracle door for Sister Loeak and Davis... They were about the give up, but then thought they would knock on one last door... And that door was Randy's! And now he is baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The ward is SO amazing here and so welcoming. He was already pretty much a member before he was baptized, it seemed. :) I attached the picture of us all. Bishop is to my left and he baptized Randy. The spirit was SO strong at this baptism. Members of the ward were still talking about it the next day at church. Such a blessed experience to be a part of it. 

What's also really cool is Beth, the less-active we tracted into in February, whom we LOOOVE, came with us to the very last lesson before Randy's baptism, which happened to be about baptism and confirmation. It was so amazing, because she said it rekindled her own feelings of her baptism 8 years ago or so (YES). And, what's even more amazing, is now she wants us to meet with her husband (nonmember) and we have dinner with them TONIGHT! Gosh, miracles happen. All. The. Time. Are you looking for them? If you are in tune with the Holy Ghost, you will recognize the little miracles every day. :) 

We had exchanges this week and it was the best exchange ever because I got to be with my old comp/trainer, Sister Loeak!! She came back to Maple Valley for it and it was honestly the best. It felt so NORMAL, like she had never left! We had such a blast working together again and it felt weird that we weren't actually companions anymore. I will miss her so much! I said goodbye to her for the last time last night at the Missionary Devotional. She goes home in 2 weeks to go back to the Marshall Islands. I'll always remember my crazy Marshallese trainer! But, yeah, the Missionary Devo was last night and it was amazing. Playing the violin went really really well and I know Heavenly Father blessed me to play well because I did NOT have enough time to really practice! OUR INVESTIGATOR CAME! Stormi came by a miracle! She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to, but we prayed all day, and she came! She LOVED it, and got to meet the YSA Sister Missionaries that will probably be starting to teach her soon. Sad, but we know it's the right thing to do. We will still be a light in her life, though! 

We are looking for new people to teach now that our investigator got baptized. Russell, our golden investigator, dropped off the face of the earth and we have no idea what happened... We are referring stormi... Haha. No one to teach, really! But, we have a lot lot lot of potentials. Just need to keep working and keep praying. Things are happening, though. Like the dinner tonight! 

So earlier today, we went to the Roxstrums, and awesome old farming couple in the ward that WE LOOOOVE (and teach once a week). The animcal science class at the high school had a field trip to see Bro Roxstrums calfs and we wanted to go! So we did! And... welp. I just saw a calf get castrated. Hahahah. Yup! That happened! All my years in Texas and Idaho and I've never seen that happen until now, on my mission. Always an adventure here in Maple Valley. :) It was kinda gross... but my comp, Sister Stewart, who is a farm girl through and through, and has done it tons of times on her farm back home, thought it was totally normal... :) Haha. I ask her lots of animal questions. She knows everything, I swear. 

Ah, man. It feels so good to be feeling better. I still struggle with finding, but things are slowly, but surely, getting back to normal. I'm, again, SO grateful to all the prayers that went out for me and are going out for me on a daily basis! I can't do it without them and without the Lord... Thank you so, so much. I love you all! 

Love,
Sister Eldridge

PS:

Randy's Baptism picture! That's his daughter and 2 grandsons in the picture! 

I don't know if you can see that sign...but we thought it was funny. :)

Our group at the devotional :) We see the two sisters on the left, Sisters Erickson and Herlin, every week because they are in our District and they come to the food bank every friday, too. They are over the YSA!

ANNNDDDD...last but not least...Sister Stewart and I were soo warm in our apt last night... we just, like... you know... pulled our skirts up really high... real classy...

 

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

 

The Savior is Real

I have been contemplating how I should write this week's letter. A lot went on and I didn't know how much I really wanted to include. But, I want to be honest with all of you; this week was extremely, extremely, extremely difficult.

After emailing on P-Day, I didn't feel very well. I was super homesick and overly sad, and I didn't really know why. I took a little quiz thing online that we are to take as missionaries that basically checks where we are emotionally and our stress level. And when I did that, I was in the red zone (that's bad). I didn't really know I was stressed until I took the quiz. My companion looked over at my screen and was all, "Uhhh...??? What?" I was kind of as surprised as she was. But, when I really thought about how I was feeling, I was in the red zone. I felt stressed, but I didn't totally realize it. 

We went home, and I only got worse. I don't know how. I just did. I got super sad. Eventually, my companion pulled out a sheet that describes what the symptoms of depression are. And, well. I matched every single one of 'em. 

I didn't really suppose it was real. I knew I got sad every now and again, but I thought that being debilitated in your bed once a month was just normal, right? Mmmm. I suppose not. I got progressively worse as the day went on. Eventually to the point that I couldn't even get up off the couch. Finally, my wise companion, texted the mission president's wife, Sister Eaton. She explained what was going on and asked for permission to stay in for the evening because I was in no state to go out. I felt so bewildered and confused about my state. And frustrated. And upset. What was happening to me? Why? But I was just sad. So sad I couldn't really move. 

Eventually Sister Eaton asked me if I wanted to get a blessing. I said sure, but honestly didn't have the strength to go anywhere to get one. But, then, a few minutes later, Sister Eaton texted back and said that her and President were coming over to give me one. WHAT. I semi-freaked out and felt so embarrassed at how not-okay I was. 

President showed up with his wife and they were so kind. He didn't ask me any questions. He just saw my violin case and told me to play. It was kind of incredible, because leading up to that, I had my violin in my hand the entire day on the couch, plucking out hymns and trying to find comfort. The fact that he pointed at the exact thing that was bringing me comfort all day was kind of miraculous and totally inspired. I pulled it out and he sang while I played the violin part to Savior Redeemer of My Soul. It was kind of awesome. Then, he told me to feel no guilt, because I felt guilty for not being able to work. He said, "Would this be any different if you had gotten in a car accident and you couldn't walk?" He made a point. And he repeated that I should feel no guilt. The blessing he gave me was beautiful and comforting. I still couldn't believe, though, that the mission president had come specially to my apartment just to give me a blessing... He cares about his missionaries, that is for darn sure. 

Sister Eaton informed me that I had a doctor's appointment set for Thursday. I just had to make it to Thursday.. but in the state I was in, I did not do a very good job of that. I hardly got up in the morning. I felt sick all the time and exhausted and fatigued. I had no energy, no drive, and I lost all desire. I didn't even know why I was even there anymore. And I didn't care. I just wanted to feel better already. I had approached what felt like the ultimate depths of despair and darkness with little hope of climbing my way out. I just wanted to come home so I could be better. I just wanted to be better. I couldn't work properly for a good, solid, 3 days. I tried going to a few lessons, but I felt dead and emotionless. It was miserable. Finally, my doctor appointment came, and I cried in it and it was no fun, but I found the help I needed. 

Not doing missionary work on a mission is the hardest thing ever. You feel so, so useless and bad. But, I had literally no energy to even keep my eyes open. I'd try to get up for studies, and would make it to the other room, but then fall asleep for the 2 hours studies went on. It was brutal. Depression is a real thing and it is hard. And having it as a missionary? Absolutely impossible. 

Slowly, but surely, I started to feel a little better. We took it slow. I had an extremely patient companion that helped me through it all. She was seriously sooo patient with me when I couldn't work. I am glad she helped me get help, or I would have never gotten it. We're slowly getting back into the normal schedule. I'm not 100% yet, but I'm not 0% anymore like I was. I am very proud of getting up in the morning. I am proud I exercised today. I am proud I made it to choir practice and the library. Little steps. Trying not to run faster than I have strength.

I wanted to write you all this week and tell you about all the amazing experiences I had, but this is real life. It was difficult. But, what I learned is my absolutely, desperate need to rely on the Savior. I cannot do this alone. Not even a little bit. None of us can do this life alone, no matter our strength, no matter our grit. In the end, our own devices will fail, and when they do, to what source do we look for the strength we need to keep going when we no longer have the strength? The Savior. That's why He's there. He's there for this. And all trials, infirmities, and hard days. I felt the redemptive powers of the Atonement during Sacrament meeting yesterday as I took the bread and the water. I could literally feel my spirit lifting and being fed. It's not that I felt completely happy again or that my depression was magically gone. But, I was being lifted and the burden of it all was being lightened. My spirit was growing in strength. It was incredible. I haven't felt as spiritually filled as I had in this Sacrament meeting in a very long time. 

This is a testament of the power of the Atonement. It literally grabbed me from the jaws of hell and brought me back out. I feel strength to keep going. I feel the enabling power of the Savior with me every second. There's no other way I could ever have gotten through it the way I did, along with the help of the doctor. 

Reading Elder Holland's talk, "Like A Broken Vessel", helped a lot this week. My comp happened to have a copy of it handy. That talk is near and dear to me. 

When I did finally get to go do a little missionary work (taking lots of breaks in between so I wouldn't burst into tears or anything), some great things did happen. Russell is a progressing investigator now and came to church on Sunday. We prepped Randy for his Baptismal interview and helped him decide who's going to Baptize him. We are teaching another girl named Stormi and she has honestly become one of our best friends. It's a testament that even if a missionary is sick, the work will still go forth. Having 2 investigators at church (Russell and Randy) was so cool. So yeah, Randy's Baptism is Saturday! Sister Loeak is coming back for it and speaking at it, too. :)

I am so grateful for the support that I have been shown this week while I struggled. Everyone rallied around me and helped as much as they could. I know there have been so many prayers in my behalf and I could not be more grateful. I so grateful to be in a mission that is so caring and helpful. The members of the ward, too, are so amazing. They noticed since I was unable to attend normal meetings and lessons. The Bishop here is so great; him and his wife said they prayed for me, too. I am grateful to be in a church that lives up to their baptismal covenant to bear one another's burdens so they may be light, mourn with those that mourn, and comforts those in need of comfort (Mosiah 18). I have been the recipient of all those things this week. 

I am slowly returning to myself again. I'm getting better each and every hour. I will eventually be back in full swing, too. Like I said, I got up this morning! Awesome! I have been sufficiently humbled this week. I will now more fully rely on the Lord and not my own strength. I know understand and know that missions are hard and I shouldn't think otherwise (I thought perhaps that I'd be able to beat the "hard" part of my mission because I'm "old" and "so experienced.". Pffft). It's hard, yes, but it is also the best thing for my life. My wise younger sister, Elizabeth, when I told her I almost went home said to me that a mission is the best place for me to learn all these hard lessons (like dealing with depression) and I asked her why she thought that and she wisely responded, "...You get to learn how to deal with it under the best and worst circumstances. Probably no other time in your life will be as trying as a mission and if you can deal with it now, you're golden. And as a missionary you're living so in line with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that you're who you need to be to get the administration from them that'll best help you." 

She is so right. I don't know about other 20-year-olds, but Elizabeth wins the prize for wiser beyond her years. Seriously. 

Here's to a new week, full of dependence on the Savior. I can do this. He's definitely going to be carrying me through the entire thing. 

Thank you for all the support. I hope this didn't bring you sadness for me, for that's not what I intended. Know that in this moment, I am okay and am on the up. I will be okay. I am going to stick this out to the end. Cause, when my mind is able to actually work properly, I am a pretty determined person. My motto, after all, is "fall down 10x, get up 11." I might fall a lot more, but at least when I got up this time, I let someone help me up and I took a hand to stand again. Getting help is hard when you're prideful, but this time, I'm glad I got help. 

The Savior is there for everything! He lives and He's there to help you, too. 

Love you all,

Sister Eldridge

ps: SO COOL THAT WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY! GO RANDY! Also, he just turned 76. Hee hee. 

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

The week of buff legs

Soooooooooo, hi! This week was kind of insane! In an insanely good way! I don't think I've seen so many miracles in such a concentrated amount of time in my life ever. It was crazy.

Sister Stewart and I were PUT TO THE TEST OF OBEDIENCE this week, as we were basically out of miles for the month (due to the fact this car took an hour trip to Graham a few weeks ago...) and in an attempt to save as many miles as we would...we biked. Yup. On Wednesday, we decided biking was the only way we could save the amount of miles we needed for our most important appointments in the next few days. So we saddled up, and went forth. Now, let me just tell you, there is a REASON Maple Valley is NOT a biking area. It's huge. It's rural. Everything is spread out. It's not logical to bike here, like, at all. But, we did what we had to do! And it was amazing to see the result...A few days prior, President Eaton had invited us to get out on our bikes as much as we could because it was going to be sunny, and by doing so, we'd stop and talk to more people that we normally would not talk to. And, that's exactly what we did Wednesday. We dubbed the day "DAY OF BUFF LEGS" in our planners, pfft. We started at stopping at the mission office (which is conveniently in our area, woo) to drop something off and Elder Young, one of the office workers, was so stunned that the Cedar River Sisters were on...bikes?!? He was so amazed that he took a picture of us in our helmets, ha ha! So funny. He was impressed that we'd go to such measures to save miles and not go over for the month. We do what we gotta do. And thus started our long trek. I tell ya, we probably went 15+ miles on our little Huffy bikes that day. Walking up BIIIIG hills and riding down the hills, too! Everywhere we went, we saw miracles. Talking to the right member to learn things about previous investigators, running in to the right people, getting referrals, getting a GOLDEN POTENTIAL that we would have NOT seen unless we were on bikes, catching a girl in her car who happened to exactly be on her lunch break when we rolled up, etc etc etc! Basically, the entire day was being in the right place at the right time. And a miracle happened at the end of the day too, when a member was graceful enough to drive us and our bikes home, AND come to our evening appointment with us, thus not using a single mile on our car that day. It. Was. Incredible. We couldn't believe how blessed we were that day -- and HOW EXHAUSTED! It really did us in. But, man was it cool. We felt like "real" missionaries that day, ha! Biking in skirts all day...yeaaaaaaah. It's real classy. We were totally protected that day, too. We didn't get hit by any cars... Haha. The Lord looks out for us! All of us. We ended up biking a little bit the next day, too, after we got a ride to the stake center for interviews with President. Luckily, President showed me a rad trail we could ride home that was way safer than the road. It was awesome! We saved so many miles! AND AT THE END OF THE MONTH: We had 5 miles to spare. :) Nailed it! Exact obedience!  

Some other EXCITING news... Randy is getting baptized April 16th! We finally got a date that works for all his family to come. FINALLY! He is well on his way to baptism and we are thrilled. He watched conference with us yesterday and he loved it. We have been focusing on Prophets and that there's a living Prophet today, so it was so cool for him to actually see President Monson.

We have a new investigator, too, named Russell! He is so solid and prepared... We had an AMAZING first lesson last Tuesday and we can't wait for the next. He was holding the Book of Mormon in his hand and he asked us, "So, did Christ ever come to America?" ...WELL AS A MATTER OF FACT. Hahaha. Sooooo prepared! We have another lesson with him tomorrow. So stoked. 

SO YEAH GENERAL CONFERENCE, THOUGH. It was incredible. Innnncredddibbllleeee. I'm so grateful for it and I'm always sad when it's over. Some of my favorites were, of course, Bednar's and Holland's. And the Prophet, wow. He is hanging in there. I am grateful for his counsel! Choices do determine destiny. May we all identify the choices we are making and where they are leading us and what they are leading us to do. I hope President Monson is okay. I asked all the Elders sitting behind us if they think he's going to make it to next conference...they were not too positive in their response. Ahhh. :( But, he has done an incredible work. He is the true, living Prophet in this earth! 

Also, I was SOOOO PUMPED to see the BYU-Idaho choir in Saturday afternoon!!!! I was freaking out. I saw soo many friends! I totally took at class from Sister Ashby, the director. I made a list of all the people I knew on the screen. :) Gosh, it made me MEGA homesick, though! Like, man! It's not a normal thing to see 15 of your friends on the screen! Haha! It was tough to pull my mind back to the work after that, but the rest of Conf helped, of course. Can't wait to go back and read them. 

After biking all week, Sister Stewart and I were sooo dead tired. The end of the week sizzled down in the amount of miracles we saw, but we know the Lord is still mindful and the work is going forth, even when we're not on fire in the work 100% of the time. Last night was tough and we felt like we weren't making huge progress, but as we were walking back to the car, feeling kind of solemn, we happened to run right into a member! She greeted us warmly and was so kind. It was a little tender mercy, showing us that the Lord is looking out for us. It's so cool when you just run into the right people as a missionary. Stuff like this doesn't just happen. :) 

Well, I hope that this week brings more miracles. Mostly, I hope to be able to focus this week. I get into ruts from time to time where I find it hard to focus on my purpose. Mission life is good, but it's difficult. Not gonna lie. But, that's pretty common knowledge. Missions are hard. 

May we all hold fast to the counsel we received in conference. Now more than ever before it is VITAL for us to follow the prophet, his apostles, and all the Lord's servants. The world is rampant, but we have the protection. 

Love,

Sister E

PS:We had a picnic on the grass with Randy and the other sisters in between conference sessions yesterday. SO SUNNY! (I don't know what's going on with my hair, like, ever...) 

Also, at the trail the other day, I found a staff...and I called it my Gandalf staff. :) I keep it in a certain place at the trail for me to go and find every time we're there, ha!!