Getting Chilly in Rapid City...

Fashion Queen!

Holy smokes! I only have 25 minutes left to update you! This will be a list of bullet points because I actually made a list of things to share with you this week!

The weather is changing here, dramatically!  I am grateful for generous ward members who let me borrow a coat so I wouldn't freeze.  I have had to make some interesting fashion choices with my tropical weight clothing:

HOLY VISA UPDATE! I just about peed my pants when I saw the picture of my actual visa today! AAAHHHH it's SO exciting.  I'm really really really excited to go!  It's definitely a lot easier to work happily in a really hard mission when you have the hope/knowledge that you're leaving soon....is that terrible to say?! Provalamente, maaaassssss tudo bem haha.

Sister B and I have now made it through all 214-ish people in our area, and have updated the ward list....we have 13.2% activity in our area...and MANY of the less-actives realllllly don't want to have ANYTHING to do with the church. So yeah, that's been fun. To put it in perspective: we made 43 phone calls on Thursday. 3 of them answered, yelled at us, and told us to take their names off of the records, and 40 of them did not answer, nor have they called us back. I think if I were to record a specific sound to sum up this mission, it would either be an endless dialing tone, or be that terrible beeping noise right before you leave a message. So yeah, that's been fun! haha..........

Our investigators L and Z...well. They're keeping their appointments and commitments, other than coming to church. The whole church thing is really frustrating because it's such an essential part of conversion! Cool story: Sister B and I were traveling through L's area on Saturday, and I got a strong prompting that we needed to stop in and see her, even though we hadn't called and made an appointment. She answered the door in her PJs, and was suffering from allergies, but she was happy to see us, and expressed how she had been feeling incredibly lonely and she had prayed to Heavenly Father for some comfort--she tells us that we have been an answer to her prayers on multiple accounts. She's such a cool lady, and I can really see her starting to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon--often we'll be reading together, she'll whip out a highlighter, stare at a scripture that had profound impact on her, and start to weep as she marks it in her scriptures. I hope and pray that she recognizes the Spiritual answer she is receiving, and that she acts on that answer in order to express her faith and follow the example of Jesus Christ to be baptized.

Another cool story: last week we had a deaf woman named L approach us after church. Sister P translated for us, and told us that L wants to be baptized! (I think I may have shared this with you before?) Anyways, L has a heart of gold, and we are teaching her for the first time on Thursday! It will be very interesting to teach through an interpreter, but SB and I are really excited :)

Scary story: soooo. I guess some missionaries don't tell their moms about sketchy things, but I'm pretty sure that our family is all about being open and sharing gross/weird/sometimes scary things haha. SO, we were trying to contact a referral a few nights ago, and it was one of those 920 1/2 type addresses where they live in the basement of 920, so you have to walk around the house and down some stairs in order to knock on their door. It was about 8ish, so it was dark, and as SB and I walked around a sketchy dark house and approached the unfamiliar door, we saw a streak of coagulated blood on the wall of the stairs. AAAAHHHH. The person didn't answer the door, so we're pretty convinced that she's dead. Just kidding. But really. Blood. On the wall. It's gross. BUT, there have been a few times where we've gotten out of the car, and we're like, "well. Do you feel like we need to leave, because I feel like we need to leave." And then we do. The Spirit is looking out for us, and giving us fair warning for dangerous situations.

We'll go where you want us to go......

10 minutes left.....

We've had the opportunity to work with J, who is a less-active (actually, inactive for many years) who is just starting to come back to church. She's making amazing changes in her life, and is really self-motivated to make sure that she stays on this new path! Sister A (seriously the best, well second-best, shout out to Sister S, relief society president ever) has been an incredible fellow-shipper for J, and helped her feel comfortable with attending all 3 hours of church this past week!

The amazing B.  Family

-The B family continues to be really awesome. I think I'm going to invite them to my wedding haha. They're so cool! Sister B fixed my green skirt's weird pockets and sewed some eyelet lace onto SB's skirts. She's neat. I love them. Actually, there are a lot of members of the RC ward that I love a lot, and I feel like we know most of the ward now! I'll be sad to leave the members in a week or so.

-Dad, your cookies are amazing. I definitely have eaten waaaay too many of them, but they're seriously delicious.

-PACKAGES! Holy packages! They're so awesome! The CDs have been a huge blessing--especially the "Lead, Kindly Light" CD. Actually nope, they're all awesome. Thanks so much! The gospel books are super helpful (esp because we've been teaching an 8 year old), the CD player is great, and BECKY S. IS THE COOLEST MOTHER-IN-LAW OF MY SISTER EVER. Seriously. Her packages make my heart smile. Please tell her that I LOVE the post-it notes and pens and all of the random things she's sent so far :)

-Okay, my last thought--I'll probably write a note this week as well. I love love love the scriptures. I've never felt so connected to them before, and it's so interesting to feel and experience the different personality types of the Book of Mormon prophets. I'm re-reading the BoM right now, and I'm in Jacob 5....but I just love the last few chapters of 2 Nephi. He felt every emotion so deeply, and every time I read it I think of Levi! haha! SO, LEVI, make good choices! Continue to feel things deeply! You're going to be an awesome missionary--mark the crap out of your scriptures, and really dig into PMG before you go, and you'll be leaps and bounds ahead of a lot of elders. Prepare now!

Favorite Nephi scripture of the week:
"For I pray for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night." - 2 Nephi 33:3

It's okay to feel disappointment, and it's okay to weep for those you love! This is hard, it will always be hard....but, a favorite new quote:

Life is full of problems,
it's full of "ifs" and "buts,"
and the man that's grinning all the time
must be completely nuts!
-quoted by M. Russell Ballard

I love you all a lot. Thank you so much for the packages and love that you've sent this way! I can't wait for Brazil, and I can't wait to talk with you on the phone again!!! AAAAHHH!!!

Sister Colvin 

Something is up there???

I bet I don't see this in Rio.

PS. Below are pictures taken at an outdoor educational facility in Rapid City.  I had a great time!

Beautiful P-day!

All of the Sister Missionaries from this area
-Sister P (Sister Training Leader) & Sister T (from the island off of Figi)
-Sister D & Sister R, and Sisters Colvin and SB

Sister B - always learning!

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Doe eyes

Fake Zip-lining

South Dakota contemporary art!

Mud pies - just like Mom makes!

Reading Diversion on P-day!

More Presidents

This week was...slow

Where to go?

Well.

Rough.

Missionary work is hard.

I think regardless of where you are as a missionary, the work presents unique and difficult challenges. Unfortunately, a lot of the time here, the challenges circulate around many factors that are out of your control--like how people are just flat out rude to missionaries. It's hard not to take things personally, and I don't really have any advice, because I am in the midst of these challenges right now, and am struggling to maintain hope and positivity. 

Rio de Janeiro - Christ Redeemer Statue

Pray for Patience

But on the bright side,  I can't believe that the visa situation is going to be over so soon! (we received notice that both Colvin missionary visas are complete - we are anticipating departure for Brazil in the next few weeks.) I am sure there have been countless miracles and hard work behind the scenes. Thank you so much everyone who helped this to happen! I long to be in Brazil...I know I'm here to learn something, but sometimes I just really really want to utilize Portuguese, and to be in my original mission call. Visa waiting is a lot harder than I anticipated... Patience......uggh. Such a hard Christlike Attribute for me. I am fairly certain Heavenly Father sent me to RCSDM purely to teach me a lesson in patience.  

I suppose one thing that has always brought me peace is knowing that I am working hard--even if "by the book" or "by the numbers" that work is not reflected, my companion and I are striving to fulfill our missionary purpose. Part of this effort is making sure that we do our FOUR hours of study every day (personal, companion, language, and training). I love this study time, as I find myself a lot more calm after personally meditating on the scriptures and other things. "Daily Bread" is definitely an important part of maintaining hope (and sanity). 

I am so grateful for Sister B, and the fact that we are very much in the same boat. We both want to work really, really hard, and so are discouraged when things go so poorly, but we try to brush ourselves off, and resolve to have positive attitudes.

Some fun things this week:

1. Our best contact of the week was.....a horse.

Give a little love to a horse......

...Get a lot more love back!

2. We do service at an assisted living center, and oh my goodness, old people are so funny. K, so there is this one paralyzed lady who is mostly silent. We've been doing craft days with them for the past 3 weeks or so, but unfortunately during this time I have to do a group conference training call (called "bridge calls"). It usually works out pretty well because I can just sit in the corner of the room while SB does crafts with the ladies....but this one day, we had another woman joining us. who does not get along with the paralyzed woman. Despite being silent for 3 weeks, she started loudly exclaiming, "I haaaaattteeee huuuuuurrrrrrr!!!! I HAAAAATTEE HUUUUURRRRR!" hahahaha oh man. AND THEN, the other lady starts yelling back! haha! This little senial old lady getting into a screaming fit with a quadripeligic. The activities director then wheeled the elderly lady out (much to her destain), and gave a firm talking to the other lady, we do NOT yell at people." She just kind of rolled her eyes and pretended to ignore her. I had a hard time not cracking up, and I'm sure the people on my conference call were wondering what the heck was going on haha!


3. I get to go on daily walks with Sister B in a nearby park....a great stress reliever!

4. We got called and asked to work in the office 2 hours a week, which will actually be nice so that we will at least have something other than cancelled appointments to do!

Quad-Zone Meeting with Elder Snow

5. We had a ginormous quad-zone meeting on Thursday with Elder Snow. It was awesome! He is a great teacher, and had a really relaxed, but strictly obedient teaching style. I've come to look forward to meetings like that.
 

Someone our own size!

6. Our musical number ended up not working out (one of the ladies got bronchitis), so I played "All Creatures of our God and King" by Josh Wright yesterday. It went very well, and the ward seemed really appreciative.
 
7. Elder O turned 21! He is getting ready to go home in two weeks and has been a great elder/leader/assistant to the president/co-missionary in our ward.  Sister B and I did our best to bake him a birthday cake.

8. We also learned how to make a new dish thanks to a sister in the ward who gave us this recipe for puttanesca:

I don't have too much more to update you on. It's been a really slow week, but I'm sure it will get better, and hey.....I'm going to RIO! SOON! AAAAHHHHHHHH THERE IS FINALLY HOPE! That's all for now! I love you a LOT.

Com amor,
Sister Colvin

The reason why I am doing this ...

As a member of The Church of Latter-Day Saints, and as a Mormon Missionary, my purpose in the next 18 months, as well as throughout my life is to invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The reason why I feel such a great importance on missionary work is because I know how much love and peace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can bring people. It relieves feelings of inadequacy, guilt, or shame, and it bestows a renewed purpose to our lives, as we realize how important we are to our Heavenly Father. We have infinite worth! As a representative of Christ, I strive every day to help others feel of this immense love and value that I know our Father has for each and every one of us

In a world that is increasingly crazy, the Lord has not left us alone. The gospel that Jesus Christ organized in His short Earthly ministry is restored once again. http://mormon.org/beliefs/restoration
The family is continuing to be torn apart, but through the simple principles of the gospel (faith, repentance, and baptism by immersion by someone holding the priesthood authority, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), families are strengthened. I've seen this in my own family--through struggles with children and trials in life, we've always been united through our love for the Lord, and His love for us.

I could outline the principles of the gospel, testify of what I know to be truth, and spout off the benefits of being a member of this church until I'm blue in the face, but no one can come to knowledge unless they discover it for themselves. Academically, this is simple--you study the text, often a concrete, universal "truth." But spiritually, this tends to be an area of conflict and tension for many. My challenge for you, faithful blog readers, is that you seek out answers directly from our Heavenly Father. As you ask questions about what is true, the Holy Spirit will manifest truth unto you, often through feelings of peace, calm, warmth, and comfort.
 
I extend challenges to people every day to pray, read scriptures, go to church, etc, because I know that these things help us to become closer to our Father in Heaven....but many are not willing "even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith" (Alma 32: 27). I can't force people to do anything, and sometimes it's just really hard to be trying to help people and to know of the strength that comes from the guidance I feel in my life, but have person after person reject you. I suppose it is no different than any of the ancient prophets and disciples, or even Jesus Christ himself, but I love these people, and I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ can help anyone and everyone.

This is a hard mission. There are not very many people to teach, and people in general are not very accepting. Though missionaries strive to be upbeat, in general, I think we are all pretty frustrated. There is nothing I want more than to help people. I want to help them feel close to the Lord, to know of their worth, and to know that through Jesus Christ, we have so much hope...but that message is impossible to share if there is no one to receive it! We are teaching about 7-8 lessons a week...which means that a lot of our time is spent seeking out service opportunities, tracting (ie, getting doors shut in our face), calling less-active members (ie, leaving a lot of voicemails), and going to our few appointments (ie, driving a long ways only to knock on the door and have no one answer...). Haha! It's such slow work here!   
   
Our investigator, Z, is pretty great. We've had some really really strong lessons with her, and I feel such a huge love for her as we teach. We invited her to church and were pretty sure that she was going to come...and then she didn't. And that stunk. Especially because it was an awesome church service!

We've had some CRAZY door approaches. On Saturday we were trying to find a few people from the ward list, and we went to one lady's house....the member definitely didn't live there anymore, because this lady came charging out the door with a wild look in her eyes, exclaiming something about how the drunk man needed to shut his mouth and be quiet (no drunk man in sight or sound...), and then she started screaming about her shoes or something. Sister B and I were pretty weirded out, and she hesitantly asked if she was so and so...she wasn't...so we left haha. We then tried a former investigator's house, and after we knocked on the door they turned the music up really loud (one of the less-subtle ways of letting missionaries know you aren't interested....), we got back into the car, and I felt a strong prompting to talk to their neighbor next door...not quite sure why, since she turned out to be a drunk bible basher with needle marks in her arm, but these are all God's children, so who knows....but yeah, that was a crazy day!

M has been avoiding us for about a week, but we were finally able to get in with her yesterday! Only...it was the WEIRDEST lesson that SB and I have ever taught...she invited us in, we reviewed a scripture in 3 Nephi that talks about the Holy Ghost, and she started going off on a tangent about Ghosts, and how she'd seen some in her life.....then her friend knocked on the door and told us a tornado and thunderstorm was coming (true on both accounts, though it actually only led to minor flash-flooding), then M said that maybe we should come back another time. SB said a quick closing prayer, and then we left. We were only there about 10 minutes, and after we left we just kind of sat in our parked car for a while, and we were like, "what the heck just happened?!" It was a really really strange lesson. Hopefully we can see her this week and talk about the "Ghost" that is part of the Godhead.....

The packages have been awesome! Thanks for the cookies! Thanks for the socks!

Mom, could you send me (via snail mail maybe) some ideas for simple lessons to teach to children? Like, really good object lessons?

We've STILL had a huge problem with spiders this week...I've slain a ton.

K. This is a lame email. Maybe I'll hand write you a funny story or two haha.

Com amor,
Sister Colvin

PS~ Sister H and Elder R got emergency transfers....there goes our trio, and all hopes of speaking Portuguese while I'm here....gaaaaaahhhh this is hard! 

The forbidden tree house in our backyard.

Backing up the car (a mission rule)

Diligently searching the area map.

All the rapid city sisters!

Final trio shot as Sister H was reassigned.

The Eclectic Blog post

The Rapid City Trio

Ten MINUTES left on computer time:
 
I am sure that everyone is dying for a foot update: My feet are looking really good this week! My toe is on the mend and the grandma feet are gone...GONE!  I have packed away the shoes that seem to make my feet sweat the most, and the one pair that hurt my toes (her Keens) and now I am using smart wool socklets.  Also, guess which shoes are my favorite? The first pair that my mom and I bought at REI which my mother insisted on gettng, that I didn't think I would like. Depending on how they fare in Rapid City, I may want to get another pair before heading down to RIO. Also....the Costco skirts, that I intially hated but my mother promised me would be my favorite,  are my favorite.... When will I learn to trust and listen to my mother?

Best split partner ever- Hannah S.

Okay. So we've been doing lots of splits recently, and I've been with Sister B, and then with Hannah S. (who is a recent high school graduate from my home stake, and former ward in Spokane!!), which is a HUGE blessing (ie, a nice break from companions). Hannah is earning money in Rapid City while she prepares for her mission. I've decided to take a gung-ho attitude when it comes to tracting, and for whatever reason, my door approaches work! We've been able to find L. and M., who are very sweet ladies. L. is in her late 60s, and SB and I found her. She is a TALKER and has a really beautiful story. She's deeply religious, and really does have an aura about her. She LOVES us a lot already, and we've taught her twice with a return appointment. I found M, and we have an appointment to teach her again on Thursday. She's an older native american woman who lives very humbly, and has recently had family members die. She's really ready to accept the gospel, I just hope she lets us back in! SO, moral of the story: tracting does work, you just have to believe every minute that it will work, and be led by the spirit to specific houses!

Trio life...hard. I'll write more about it later!

At the beginning of last week (ie, monday-wed), we had ZERO lessons taught. ZERO. SO FRUSTRATING. Luckily, we were somehow able to get 7 lessons taught before Sunday, found a new investigator, and had return appointments with several LAs and investigators. SO, persevere when things are rough, because they will get better! 

We do a lot of role-playing here, soooo we made Juan Pedro! He's pretty quiet, but he's a great investigator 

Juan Pedro

We were caught in a crazy hail/rain/thunderstorm last Friday, and we contacted an atheist who was set on "deconverting" us...luckily, other elders from another area were also there, and so I shifted my focus to getting to know them! One of them (Elder R. sp?) is also a visa waiter! He's from Sandpoint and is in the EXACT same boat as I am! We got to speak Portuguese for all of about 2 1/2 minutes,  but it was definitely a highlight of my week. I miss that language so stinkin' much. It's crazy.

We had a dinner appointment with a PM family. She is a member and has a bunch of little kids. One of them kept sticking a car down his underpants and then pulling it back out, and then putting it in his mom's face. It was gross, but really funny! haha! Kids.....

Side note: there are a LOT of home schoolers here. it's pretty cool because once I tell them I was home schooled, there's and instant connection. It's awesome.

OH, a HUGE thank you to the packages and letters recieved this week! I've been out of stamps, but I promise that I have/will write back. They are VERY much appreciated!!!!!

Okay, I'm about out of time, but I really really love you all, and I AM happy here, despite the challenges. 

Sister Colvin

Questions that we have for the missionaries: Taylor's answers are in blue.
 
1. How are you surviving the HEAT WAVE? The news says it is pretty bad! It's not that bad--we have a car with AC, and I have a wardrobe for Rio! It gets up to 100, but there's usually a consistent breeze.
2. Taylor, are you walking, biking, or driving? Driving and walking! It's a pretty nice combination, though I am always in the backseat and I tend to get carsick....also, Sister Horan is kind of a scary driver... 
6. Taylor, have you had problems keeping weight off? Nope! Portion control is the key. I also make sure to either a) not have dessert at a member's house, or b) have a very small piece. It's kind of a touchy subject, I just try to keep my mouth shut.
7. HOW’S the toe? And the feet? Good! No big problems this week.
8. I am curious as to whether or not the packing list and method actually worked for you? YES. It worked VERY well. I haven't used the list very much, other than to figure out which heavy stuff to put where. But the cubes are AWESOME, and I keep all of my garments in those bags, which makes my drawers very organized and neat.
9. Do you get to listen to music? Only between 6:30-8am and 10-10:30pm, and then on P-days. It's rough.
10. Do you get to read church magazines?  Do you want me to sent you some? We sure do! The mission actually gives everyone a copy of the Ensign, which is a huge blessing.
11. Is there anything that you forgot that you wished that you had? Nope, other than maybe a seat cushion because these chairs are KILLING my butt. I've been sitting on my pillow on the chair for my FOUR hours of study a day.
12. How do you send emails when the library is closed on federal holidays? You don't! Hence, emailing today!
13. Are Sundays extra tiring on your mission? (Levi’s question) Yes and no. I don't think it's as busy as it was in the MTC, but we have correlation meeting for an hour, then church, then talking or teaching at the church afterwards, visiting a less active, dinner, and then visiting an investigator or less-active. It's busy, but it's really nice to listen to someone other than your companions talk for three hours, and it's nice to be reminded that there are many members that love you!
14. How are you getting along with your companions? ...............mostly really well
16. How does the whole meal thing go for you, do you fix breakfast for yourselves/companions? How many nights a week do you get meals from members?  We now get to feed the missionaries every night in the Spokane mission! We get about $50 a week for our needs, which is plenty for groceries when you're just getting breakfast/lunch. Everyone makes their own meals, and then we have dinner appointments every night. I feel a little needy as the members are feeding us so often, but it is a really good chance to build that relationship of trust, so that they feel comfortable letting you teach their friends.
17. What has been the most surprisingly easy thing for you to adjust to on your mission? Just jumping right in and teaching. I'm really well prepared. I haven't ever felt awkward or uncomfortable knocking on doors or striking up a conversation about the gospel.
18. What has been the most surprisingly hard thing for you to adjust to? TRAINING.
19. What are some of your unique mission rules? (another Levi question) You have to have someone outside of the car in order to back it up. No eating in the car. You can't do laundry any other time than p-day, even if you have a washer and dryer in your house....
20. Do you get to read any blogs online on your pday? Have you seen your own blogs? I read mine today! That's about all I have time for....
Great questions!!! Keep them coming!
 
Sister Colvin


PS PICTURES:

 This is the "City of Presidents" and so there are these super cool bronze statues all over downtown. We got to take some pictures with them yesterday,  and my goal is to get all of the presidents before I leave! (Also, we stopped into the president tour/guide/museum place, and I got to impress the old guy there with my knowledge of presidents! We also contacted him, and he LOVES the MoTab (like, he listens to "love at home" when he's having a bad day.) We gave him a mormon.org <http://mormon.org>  card, and encouraged him to check it out. There was also an older man visiting from London to be a cowboy for a few weeks, so he and I got along great! He was also very curious about church, and I gave him a temple card and encouraged him to go to Mormon church to learn more. Missionary opportunities everywhere! Also, people LOVE talking to us for a LONG time. I think it's something about being a missionary--we really do have a different spirit, and people recognize that and want to talk to you about it. 

This buck was lucky Freckles wasn't around!

Mighty huntress Freckles in Spokane.

-we were startled by this visitor outside of our window during personal study! I caught myself yelling, "Freckles get the deer".

 

-Just typical roads here...another day of tracting....

Becky Smith sent me a care package...she is the nicest mother-in-law-of-my-sister ever! It made my day, my week, my entire month!

    
-birthday with John B...we LOVE this family. They have a daughter (Hannah) who left 2-3 weeks ago for her mission to Denmark. They are an AWESOME missionary member family, and we've already taught 2 of their family friends. MISSIONARIES LIVE FOR PEOPLE LIKE THIS. Brother B is awesome and hilarious.  
 

Mummified by bug spray

Bug spray caste  of the spider

         We've had quite the spider epidemic lately.....the one that's white is that way because my companions were too wussy to slay it, so they sprayed the crap out of it....which I then got to clean up. We then did a sweep of the apartment, and I got to slay like 15 spiders. Grossss. 

 Art Alley in Rapid City, looks sketchy but isn't.