Life-Long Commitment

TERESA - Hello Dearest Family!

First of all, I was so sorry to hear about the Empey's. I can't even imagine something like that happening and so suddenly. I am feeling so sad for them. Please send my love to them and yes, I will be praying for them.

I am sorry that I didn’t write last week, it was a bank holiday on the days we usually do it and then we didn't have time during the rest of the week so here I am now!

Let’s see.... what happened....

So things are moving steadily along over here. It looks like Aileen won’t be able to get baptized till March, because of her injuries from her C-section. Lame! So that means I will not be here to see it. It makes me really sad, I’m not going to lie, but whether I’m here or not, it doesn't matter. She will get baptized so that is ALL that matters. (I’ve just got to keep telling myself that)

Last week we really focused on teaching Angie (18yrs), Harry and Sandra Short's Granddaughter. It went really well but we are not sure if we can continue teaching her. Whenever we think she is progressing, she'll have a hiccup and then we aren't sure if she's ready to make a life change. She did have a baptismal date last week, but because she didn’t come to church on Sunday, we will have to push it back, or reconsider her willingness to commit. She is painfully quiet though so it can be tough to teach her because she won't say much. But last week I pretty much told her that to be baptized is serious and it’s not just baptism and then you are good for life. I told her it is a life-long commitment and that we promise to always live the gospel. I told her all this in a really nice, yet bold way though. Brother Short was funny when after I spoke, he said, "Basically, what Sister Kullick is trying to say in a nice way is that if you aren't serious about this, don't waste their time." Hahaha wow. Brother Short is so straight to the point, it’s great. But Angie said she knew and we still proceeded on with writing up her baptismal calendar. She was involved in the process so that she knows what she will be taught and when we will teach it to her. It went really well and we felt really good about the teach so we are looking forward to the future. But we have been changing what we decide to teach her as we go because of her few set backs.  Tonight we are going to have a fun Family Home Evening to lighten the mood a bit. And then the next lesson we are going to really talk to her about her commitment level. She still hangs around with people who aren’t doing good things so she needs to cut that part of her life out, which we know will be extremely hard. The Shorts think it is impossible. I don’t know but I hope they are wrong. I know it will be worth it for her. The happiness that comes from the gospel and true application of the principles to one’s life doesn’t fade with the music and the lights, and the crowds. All the other things do.  I pray that her heart will be softened to want to live the way her Heavenly Father wants her to live.

We are really trying to find people right now to teach. This may be normal for anyone else, but for the first time in my mission I had 2 joint teaches in one day! I was sooo happy about that! So hopefully things will progress. But we are really cracking down on finding because we don’t really have anyone else at the moment. But we are looking.

Guess what? We have a new Relief Society President! Sister Julie Williams!! The woman who loves missionary work!! I am glad though that I was able to befriend the last one, I learned sooo much from that! But the work will really progress now, she has a lot of new ideas and we are excited! We helped her family move into a new home last week and they are loaning out to us their exercising bike! Yay! Now Sister Daines and I can work out with out going out in the cold! Haha

We are also putting on a “Restoration Fireside”. This is going to be good!  That has been a real focus as of right now. The goal is to have members invite their friends and family who are not members or are less active in the church. Our ward is holding it and Bingham ward is invited to attend. The hard thing about it though is getting people to sing for it. Really though, people here hate singing! Guys here think that it is too feminine and refuse! Haha nooo! But slowly our numbers are creeping up. Our tactic is to get everyone really excited so that they will want to participate! But it’s looking good so far, the people who we choose to do certain things are agreeing to, so that is sooo good! We are really looking forward to this!

Also we found a potential investigator in the city last week. (That never happens!) Everyone we find in the Dundee City Centre lives out of our area. So it was refreshing to find someone who lives in Ardler! We are going to go by to visit him this week.

I can't even tell you how much I am learning out here. I have been going through a lot of stuff and have been experiencing a lot of different things out here. Experiences that can only come from being here. I LOVE Dundee and I know I will miss everyone here so much! My heart just aches thinking about it, so I won’t! I love you all and thank you sooo much for all the love, support and letters! They are very much appreciated! Thank you!!

Love Always, Sister Teresa Kullick