Timberrrrr...

January 26, 2015
This week has been a good one. I can't believe it is another week down. It is going way too fast. I think that is what happens when you love your mission and you love your companion and when you are obedient. I seriously have no clue what I would have done without going on a mission. I have learned more in the last few months as a missionary than I did in all of my school years. You learn so much about yourself and the world, life lessons, and you learn so much about the gospel. I don't think it can get much better than this!

This week we met a guy named E. He is a little out there. We thought he was an investigator but it turned out that he is a convert of about 10 years and has been less active for 2 years. He is crazy. He is like the Kevin (from CBC- timberrrrrrr) of Washington. He has seen God and he told us some poetry and yeah.  We are also teaching a part member family and they have great potential. I love teaching (even though I don't know everything yet). We are just teaching people all over the place but no specific progressing investigators. We do have one lady, A, who is on date for February 14th. She is doing really well and we just went over the baptismal questions with her! She answered them really well. When we came to her home her dad was there. They haven't had a relationship in years. When we showed up he asked if we were Mormons and said "Oh, you believe in Joseph Smith."  We were like yeah... and he said, "Oh good me too!"  Neither of them had any clue that they were both investigating the church. We asked if he was a member and he said no but that he was going to be! It was awesome. Hahaha - they had no clue that they were both talking to missionaries.

This week we got to do some service. We worked at the Bishop Storehouse which is always fun with our whole district. Then on Saturday we went up into a forest and made a trail. It was hard, hard work but it was so much fun. I told everyone that if I starting rolling down the hill just yell, “timber!” and warn everyone at the bottom. I'll be okay. I didn't die or anything so that's good but I destroyed my Davis High running shoes (that's pretty close to dying). They aren't perfect but they work now that I washed them. I was a little bitter at first when they were covered in mud but then I realized who cares? Shoes are meant to be dirty. Well, some shoes. haha

Yesterday we had a missionary fireside where we met with all the ward missionaries, a family, and some bishopric members and we taught a lesson to them and we just got them more excited about missionary work. 

We had ward conference last week and it was really spiritually uplifting. They talked a lot about how life isn't a giant checklist. Missionary work isn't a giant check list. But it is all about where you are headed and who you become. God gave us agency and expects us to use it. Everyone has a different pathway but we can all make it back to Heavenly Father and live with Him again. It's okay to make mistakes. Use the atonement, make things right, change, and move on.  I used to think that repenting was only for these huge sins. But really it isn't about that at all. The atonement is there so we can become better. Every night I account with the Lord and I say the things that I could have done better and then the next day I work hard to do those things just a little bit better (not perfect). And then slowly you progress and progress and you become who you are supposed to be. Life isn't about doing this, doing that, but doing those things to become who you are. I know that the atonement is real and it is available for us to use and to better ourselves. Christ suffered for me.  For us. It is there for our advantage. I love being a missionary. I love sharing my testimony. And I just love loving people. I love you all. 

Have a great week!

xoxo
#holdtotherodda

Love, Sister Rodda

Seahawk's Fan? Who are you?

January 21, 2015


Welp, what a week. I always feel like I have so much to say on a day to day basis but then I get here and have no idea what to say. But first thing is first - I am doing great. I love it out here. Nothing extremely spectacular happened this week but it was the first week where I noticed how much I need to be out here. Like what the heck would I do with my life if I didn't come on a mission.  I know that I am supposed to be out serving. Nothing this week was amazing or over the top incredible but we had a lot of lessons and it is true that the more you bare your testimony, the stronger it becomes. It is the best feeling when you are feeling the spirit and you can just share what you believe with someone else. Missionary work is WORK. But it is so exciting and I have a lot more to learn but I'm getting there. It's amazing to just see changes in yourself. 

Biggest change this week: went to the mall and to 5 separate stores and did not buy a single thing. Are you proud or what? This mission stuff is the real deal. It doesn't matter the "costliness of your apparel" -Jacob 2:13 -but it matters what is imprinted on your heart. Now my Toms addiction is still an on-going concern but I'm sure this mission thing will help that eventually.


I love being a missionary and I am sad that time is flying. Why can't it just slow down. I am going to be done before I know it and I just want to be a missionary forever. I also love Sister Wawro. At zone conference this week all the departing missionaries bore their testimonies and Sister Wawro did such a great job. She isn't a crier and it has  been my goal since I got here to see her cry and GUESS WHAT? It happened. I can die happy. Like I said we had a zone conference this week (which was totally amazing, duh) and Sister Bonham did an obedience game. Every one stood up and she would say a phrase and if you didn't do it then you had to sit down. Most of them were big things like, "did you have companionship study in the last 24 hours?" and "have you taken vitamin D every day (that is a mission rule because there isn't sun here)? and some were, "have you flossed last night or today?" there was a bunch of questions and Sister Wawro and I both won! Out of everyone there, multiple zones, we won! And we didn't lie! It was awesome. 

I feel like so much has happened and I don't have a lot of time to email this week because you only get an hour on non p-days.

Embarrassing story of the week: I was calling some less actives to see if they were still interested and I had to leave a message for one. It was great until the end when I closed "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" Moral of the story: you can never pray too much as a missionary.

I have to go but I love you all.

PS: WHY IS THE SKY BLUE AND THE GRASS GREEN?  BECAUSE GOD IS A SEAHAWKS FAN.


Super Bowl instructions

The Seattle Seahawks won their game against the Green Bay Packers, so the Seahawks will be playing in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots on February 1. The game will begin at 3:30 p.m. our time. Missionaries will all need to be in their apartments by 5:00 p.m. to avoid the crazies—if the Seahawks win, the local folk will be deliriously happy and possibly drunk; if the Seahawks lose, they may be bitter and angry—and possibly drunk. This would be a good evening for weekly planning. Remember that Seahawks Offensive Coordinator (coach) Darrell Bevell is an active Church member, married in the temple, and a returned missionary who served in Ohio in 1990 and 1991. He was an outstanding college quarterback at University of Wisconsin and helped beat UCLA in the Rose Bowl in 1993. Practice using those facts to transition sports conversations to gospel conversations.

6 Weeks in Washington!

January 12, 2015
6 Weeks in Washington!


AH! First transfer down. I seriously can't believe it! The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. Guys, a transfer is 6 weeks. Can you believe it?! I can't, obviously. We haven't gotten word of who is being transferred yet but I won't be transferred and I'm 98% she won't be either. That'd be sad. I would cry. I love Sister Wawro and we are BFFs to the max. We literally burn more calories laughing everyday then I did in all my years of soccer combined. Maybe not, but it feels like it. I have learned so much in these 6 weeks. Our personal study is my favorite part of everyday. I love studying the gospel and I love learning. Sometimes there is a lot to take in and to remember and to say but you have to forget all that stuff and just rely on the spirit to tell you what to say and do. I love being a missionary. I love my mission. I love EVERYTHING. 

This week has been AMAZING! Prayers, fasting (except for fruit snacks because my blood sugar has problems sometimes when I don't have anything), scripture study, working hard, being obedient... it all pays off. It's true that the Lord is in all things and has his hand in all things. We got two new investigators this week. One is a 30 year old guy named T. He is awesome. He didn't want to say the closing prayers but we got him to! And it was awesome! He had never prayed out loud before. And the second one, her name is A.  She is a single mom of two girls. We started teaching the restoration and all we said was, "God is our loving Heavenly Father." and she started crying.  We didn't get much further in the restoration but that was exactly what she needed to hear. we just kept bearing our testimony and she is awesome! 

I don't really know what else happened this week. I feel like I always have so much to tell but then I start writing and I really have nothing to talk about. I had the most awkward contact this week. We were out riding our bikes and a lady walked by.
ME: hey, how are you?!
LADY: good
ME: GOOD! how are ya?
hahahaha like what? I started crying I was laughing so hard (this has been happening a lot lately) and it was so embarrassing.

Nothing else is really new... I just love life. I kinda wish I had a terrible companion so that way it could only go uphill but I got the bestestest companion EVERRRR. 

Welp, I hope you all have a great week. Ya'll are awesome. Go Seahawks. 
xoxoxoxox
Sister Rodda


January 5, 2015 - A NEW YEAR

As I am reading Sister Rodda's letters each week, I am often laughing, crying, or even planning how I can best help her while she is in Washington.  Comments, explanations, questions, and possibly eye rolling are also happening.  So, please excuse me when I just can't stand it anymore and have to add my 2-cents worth.  It just may happen!

Be sure to read this week's "Lesson Learned" in the tab at the top of the page.  At the bottom of this (long) post will give the story behind the words.

Here are the happenings of the week:
Man oh man, what a week. Lots of cool things happened this week. On Monday we were supposed to go to our mission leaders house for dinner but they had to go somewhere so they just gave us cash and told us to go out. Long story short, we ended up at Olive Garden :) and a nice young couple paid for our food. You have to understand something. This is Washington, not Utah, people here aren't like that. But we talked to a whole bunch of missionaries trying to figure out who this couple was.  The guy is a recent convert and the wife isn't a member but they paid for all our food! It was awesome!

We met a cat lady. By cat lady I mean 11+ cats. There were some on the roof. We asked her if these were all her cats and she said, "well duh, cats don't leave ya like a man will!" hahahhahaha she was dead serious.

We also had exchanges this week... uh, yeah, I wasn't all that thrilled. In fact I dreaded it like a lot, but it ended up fine. I tried to make pancakes for dinner (of course the one night a member doesn't feed us is the day I am on exchanges in our house with no food and the sister training leader I was with can't cook either) It was a hot mess. But if you add extra syrup on anything it is bound to taste better. We also got a little lost and went on a 5 mile hike. This is why they shouldn't leave the new baby missionary in their area. But we got good exercise and we also talked to lots of people. I guess you can say everything happens for a reason.  (serious mom guilt!!)

Sister Wawro and I are on a no sugar (actually less sugar. We can still have dark chocolate and gummy bears) diet. It works out okay because we get fed every night. It is just routine for us. When people have the missionaries over it is a big deal to them, so we get fed 5 course meals every night. It's a good and bad thing. I don't go hungry but you have to eat a lot. We exercise everyday so that is good and we try to ride our bikes when it isn't raining... which is never. It pours. All day. Every day. I have to take vitamin D to keep us happy and not depressed. It isn't like Utah where it is sunny and rainy. It is rainy, dark, and sad. But I love it! We also had interviews this week. It went really, really well. President Bonham is definitely called of God. He is an incredible person. We ended up finding a new investigator. It was awesome!!! Now we have someone to teach.

If you send a package try to send it through the mail (USPS) not ups or FedEx.  If we aren't there when they drop by we have to get permission to go pick it up and it can be kind of a pain. But if not, we can totally work it out and it is fine!



PS: I wanted to be a rock. ;) and I had a hot pink cast during Savior of the World.  I mentioned to her in a letter that our stake was doing Savior of the World - like our old stake did several years ago.  I told her we had been laughing at her because we remembered that she had told the leaders she just wanted to be a tree.  I'm glad she clarified that we were wrong about it being a tree.  Heaven forbid she'd be a tree that at least moves/sways in the wind.  Leave it to her to offer to be the most immobile object possible.  And no, those are not really parts in the program.  Unfortunately her broken ankle gave her the perfect excuse to bow out gracefully of the performance.

In addition to the letter above, she wrote the following to me.  I couldn't resist sharing with y'all (since she has added "y'all" to her vocabulary - I figured I might as well say it too!) 

Dogs here aren't the same. I don't really like dogs other than Coco and Daisy. Here is a funny story I forgot to tell last week. So it was the day we were forced to ride bikes for the car fast. We showed up to a less active/ part member family home. They have this dog who is ferocious. It is a little bigger than Daisy but is crazy. They have a shock collar for it and it lives in their garage and their garage is always open. So never talking to them before, we pray and Sister Wawro prays that the dog won't attack us. I laughed because it is the size of Daisy. So we run to the door. The dog didn't do anything but bark. Nobody answers the door so we turn around and start walking back to our bikes. Then the dog starts chasing me and it bites my freakin calf. Lucky it didn't get my skin it just ripped a small hole in my tights. So duh - it scared me and I screamed a bit.  Then the son comes out... probably early 20s and he apologizes for his dog. He tells us his family isn't interested and blah blah blah  We say thanks anyways and said that they can call us whenever they need. Then he look at me does a gun shaped thing with his fingers and says, "RIDE SAFE!" I'm like what the heck? Then I feel my head... I still have my helmet on and my safety vest and everything. It was straight out of a movie. It is like the part when the nerdy girl finally gets the courage to talk to the hottest guy in school and then completely embarrasses herself. Yep, that was me. Thank goodness I am not on a mission to impress anyone other than God. And no, he wasn't cute.