Hey everyone ... sorry this is so late. Ashley just sent us the letter yesterday, and I haven't been able to get it posted until now. Thanks for your patience!! ~Tricia
Dearest family and friends,
Some pretty crazy things have been going on! With my new responsibility, I had the opportunity to participate in what we call Mission Leadership Council. It happens the first Monday and Tuesday of every month. That's why I couldn't email until today. We would have emailed on Monday but the library doesn't open until noon and we had to leave Charleston by 11 to get to Tulsa on time. My new companion, Sister Ficklin, stayed in Claremore, OK with another missionary while Sister Magness(serving in Claremore), a few other Sister Training Leaders, and myself went to Tulsa for the meeting. It was an amazing meeting and I had no idea how much the Zone Leaders had part in what is going on in the mission. We really help all the training meetings that we have and what goes on there. It is pretty sweet. On Monday night, we had a devotional type thing and Elder Southward, the Area Seventy, came and him and his wife did the devotion. He is a great guy and we are going to see a lot more of him in the next transfer. He is going to go around to all the stakes and help with the special Zone Training Meetings that we are going to have that involve even the members in the stake. Usually these meetings only involve the missionaries but we are trying to implement the things that we learned from the meeting on the 23rd. It is truly a great time to be a missionary and I'm so excited to be serving right now.
So my new companion, like I said before, her name is Sister Ficklin. She is 19 and is from Las Vegas. She is truly fantastic! I love her so much and am so grateful that she is my companion! I could not have asked for a better trainee! She pretty much already knows what she is doing and what she is supposed to do. It is great! We think we are only going to be together for this transfer though because President Shumway is going to try and get every STL with another STL in the same companionship - like Zone Leaders. So that will be nice, we won't have to do as many exchanges and we will get to share the responsibility instead of having it all on one person.
I am going on my first exchange on Friday to Muskogee!! I am so excited! I think it will be good to help out the sisters that were just moved there. I just hope that I know what I'm doing as a Sister Training Leader and can do what I'm supposed to do. :) But I get to call the other STLs whenever I want for support or to answer any questions that I have, so that is great!
In Charleston, we went and tried to visit all the Less Actives in the area. We met the Riley family who haven't been to church in about two or three years. We asked them if they have the goal of going to the temple and they said yes so we told them that in order to do that they need to come to church! So on Sunday, after Ward Council, we walked into the room that we have Sacrament Meeting(more like a gym than a chapel), and Sis. Riley and two of her boys were sitting on the back row! We were so excited to see them!!! Her husband would have come but their youngest boy was up all night and so her husband stayed home with them. Their oldest child is 8 and has not been baptized yet so we are excited to start working with them!!
Our assignment is to work specifically with the less actives so that's what we are going to try and do. Everything is so spread out here that we are going to do some major praying to figure out how we are going to effectively work with all the members. But, I know that the Lord will provide and He will guide us to do the things that we need to do.
I met a lady at church on Sunday. Her name is Marsha Qualls. She knows Grandma Wilberg! She is Melissa Anderson's aunt I guess. So that was SUPER cool to meet her!!!!! I was so excited I pretty much started crying! We are going to try and have dinner with her this week. Her husband is a nonmember and was really receptive last time there were sisters here but when they got elders, he kind of backed off so we are hoping that he'll be receptive again!
The work is so exciting!!! I know I say this like every email, but I truly am so happy to be a missionary right now. I know that it is what I need to be doing right now! I can't even describe my feelings!!! I'm so happy!
Well, I love you all! Thanks for everything!!!! I only have an hour on the computers here and there is so much to do so sorry if I am terrible at responding to email!
See you soon then!!
Love, Sister Pahl
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