Haggis!

TERESA - Hello Family,

Mom, guess who was asked to teach the Relief Society Lesson last Sunday? You guessed it! The Sister Missionaries. When I looked in my Gospel Principles Manuel and saw that you were teaching that very same lesson (since I have the schedule in it from the Saratoga Ward) I wanted so badly to see your lesson and just do that! haha but unfortunately that wasn't going to happen! So we did our best with the zero materials that we had. Seriously guys, don't ask the missionaries to teach those lessons, we have zero time and resources for that! But it worked out ok. People said we did a good job :) But church as a whole was soooo good too! Better than usual. We had an investigator come and he liked it and we also had some less-actives come as well! It is such a great feeling when you see the people you work hard with progress! So yeah, it was a good Sunday.

Things feel like they are really starting to move forward with the ward! They are becoming, little by little, more missionary minded! Yay! So although not too much is happening at the moment, I see things moving in the right direction :)

We taught this one woman named Donna. She's married (hard to come by!) and has 2 kids. She is the friend of a less-active, Michelle, who is trying to get back into it and come to church! We had an amazing first lesson with her where Michelle bore the most powerful testimony! (Seriously guys, that's why we need members to go out teaching with us! The investigator just sees the badge and kind of just expects us to say the things we say. But when a member says what they know to be true, it just adds as another strong witness!) And Donna said that since Michelle is not a sucker then it has to be true, haha, but we asked her to pray about it as well. And then at the end she started laughing a bit and she said beaming, "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I just feel so happy. In fact, when you gave me the pamphlet I felt this feeling of warmth and happiness right then." And I said "Donna, that's the Spirit!" haha. She actually felt and recognized the Spirit! Wow! It was an excellent experience. The stuff that happened in that lesson is the kind of stuff missionaries dream would happen but think never will. But it did! Sister Sheffield and I skipped away from that teach so excited! I am sooooo glad I have this opportunity to see these things happen; people's lives changing for the better :)

Aileen Baird, the dry Mormon I told you about, talked to her husband for the first time about baptism after going to church for a year. And he wasn't opposed to the idea! She was soooo happy and says that there may be a baptismal date scheduled soon! She just wants to make sure he's a hundred percent on board with the idea. Things are looking really good. :D

I finally ate Haggis! (A national dish of Scotland. A haggis is actually a large spherical sausage made of the liver, heart and lungs of a sheep, all chopped and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal and seasoned with onion, cayenne pepper, and other spices. The mixture is packed into a sheep's stomach and then boiled.) And you know what? Not too bad haha. I liked it, in fact! Just a little bit of ketchup and it's quite the meal. It was battered so I'm sure that helped as well :) I also had White Pudding too. Which is basically Black Pudding but without the blood. haha I really liked that too actually. If you haven't tried it yet, you really should, even if just for the experience of eating it. haha

Well, I love you all and I'm so grateful to all of those people who have written Rachie and me! We are praying for everyone back home, you guys are definitely always in our thoughts and prayers. I love you mom and dad and thank you so much for being the example that I look to when I'm stuck. Being out here has definitely made things so clear as to seeing the blessings that I had growing up back home. And you guys were and are that major and obvious blessing! I am so glad and forever in debt to my Heavenly Father for loving me that much to give me you as parents. Because you were made just for me! No other parents would do or could do. You were just what I needed. Thank you so much for all the love and endless support. I love you guys so much and I'm so happy you are my mom and dad!

I LOVE YOU!

Love always, Sister Teresa Kullick