Sandusky East

Hello everyone!! So much has happened this week! It has been crazy! Thanks for all of the emails this week. I really needed them. First things first. Here is my new address. Please mail me letters. I love getting mail. 

246 W. Main Street #D

Norwalk, OH 44857

Last week I was transferred to Sandusky East. It's about 2 hours from Kirtland. The town that I live in/get to work in is called Norwalk. It is really small. The town mostly consists of trailer parks. There are a few houses and they are historic homes built in the 1800s. It is know for herion use so a lot of people here need the gospel. I was really nervous about leaving Kirtland. I cried on transfer day but it was ok. I hated packing. Because my new area is so far from Kirtland my new companion wasn't at transfer meeting so I had to ride with missionaries that I didn't know out to the area. I met Sister Warden and she is great. She is a visa waiter going to Brazil. We get to do language study so that is fun. She is really good at teaching and always brings the Spirit. I really like being full pros. It was a lot of stress trying to balance work in Kirtland and work in the area. I like only having to focus on the area. It is also really nice that we live in our area. We can come home for meals or be at an appointment in 2 mins.

We have a lot of investigators so our goal is to not find anymore and instead get the ones that we have to progress. We stopped by these potentials named Susanne and Fran. They are so prepared. They live in a beautiful huge home. They let us in and we were able to talk with him. Susanne is really spiritual and really likes what the church has to offer. We were able to set up a return appointment with her. They will be a really great addition to the ward- they have jobs, a car, are willing to help others. 

There is a lady here named Dana that the Sisters met last week. Dana's husband is abusive to her and the kids. Dana wants to move out and leave him but she has no where to go and no money because he doesn't allow her to work and he doesn't allow her to have a driver's license. She has gone to the police about it but since they don't have any real evidence they aren't going to do anything. It is SSSOOOOO sad!!! We stopped by her house and she ran outside and told us that her husband would be home any minute and that she would get in trouble if we were there. She said that he will be sleeping at his girlfriend's house the next night so we could come back. We went back and we had a really good talk with her. We told her that she is a daughter of God and she needs to get out. Her kids (she has 3) were crying and asking their mom for dinner and she kept crying saying that they weren't going to eat that night. We got in the car and went to Burger King and brought back a feast for them. I wish there was more that we could do. We had a family night with them. They loved it. We taught them how to pray. The 10 year old prayed and then Dana prayed. The Spirit was really strong! When we were leaving she asked us if we could take all of the Burger King trash with us so that she wouldn't get in trouble. She had to pour the kids' drinks into another cup. It was so sad. She set up a return appointment with us. I know that if she will let us help strengthen her spiritually that she will start to find peace in her life. 

When I was unpacking my things and moving in I found a drawer full of Ensign and New Era magazines. We had this idea to drop one off to all our investigator and less actives. The people that we saw LOVED it! It was such a good, inspired idea. We were able to get some good return appointments. We found this less active named Mike. He is 23. He grew up in Sugar House, Utah. Over the years he has fallen away from the church. We had a really good conversation with him and he said that he would like to work with us and maybe come back to church. We actually have his return appointment tonight. 

Sister Warden told me that the ward really struggles with missionary work. How perfect that I just came from a ward that is amazing when it comes to missionary work and has amazing ward mission leaders. I told Sister Warden what my last ward did and we decided to pitch it to the ward mission leader. He loved it and we were able to have a lot of members come out to teach with us this week. I am really grateful for the ward mission leaders in the Shaker ward that have shown me how to work well with members. This ward is going to love doing missionary work. 

I got 2 really great emails today. One from Chuck and one from Connee. Connee spoke last night at the mission president's fireside. It was in Shaker so I couldn't go but I bet she did amazing!! Chuck is also doing really well. This is a part of the email he sent me: 

i have been listening to the book of mormon before i go to sleep and I let it play all night and i restart it from where i last remember it  and i even have down loaded the conferences from april and october so when im on the flights to Vegas i can watch the conferences again and or listen to the book of mormon. i am planning on at least listening to the book of mormon and learning more about it. i am in alma right now i was in jacob 7 earlier this evening. i hope to be able to have listened to the entire thing by the the time i leave for vegas and possibly a grand total of two times by the time i get home. There is soo much to learn and know.

Isn't he awesome?

 

I cannot believe that my mission is coming to an end (kinda). I have 3 more transfers left. 2 in Sandusky and then my last one will be in Kirtland. I am doing really good. I am really happy that I am full pros. Heavenly Father really does know what he is doing.  I cannot believe that I would even doubt him. Haha! 

Well I love everyone and I hope everything is doing great! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you!!

Don't worry about me I am doing great!!

Sister Frampton

FULL PROS

Hey everyone. Once again thanks for all of the emails this week. I really needed them! I am freaking out today! President came to the Visitors' Center on Sunday and asked if he could talk with me. President never does this so I was really worried. I was worried I did something wrong. He said that there are a lot of new missionaries here in the mission. He said that he needs a missionary that is experienced and knows what they are doing to go out and help these new missionaries. He said that he knows that I can be that missionary. He asked me if I would be willing to leave the Visitors' Center for 2 transfers (3 months) and serve on the other side of the mission. WHATTT??? This has happened to Sisters in the past but this is a rare thing. I am really nervous. I love Christmas at the Visitors' Center- remember from last year all of the nativities they set up and how well they take care of us at Christmas? I told President that I was really nervous but that I would do it. FYI: This means that my mailing address will change. I don't know what it will be yet so as of now send all my things to the missions office 2070 West 11th Street Lakewood, OH 44111.

In my letter last week I totally forgot to mention 2 of the most important things. On the 2nd Connee and Chuck went to the Columbus temple and did baptisms for the dead. I was able to get on familysearch.org and find a few ancestors that needed baptisms. I gave those to them and they were baptized for them. So cool! They loved it! Then the next Sunday Chuck passed the Sacrament. He did a really great job.

Last week we went to Costco and got our flu shots. That was exciting. We also had Zone Conference. It was so great. President helped us practicing teaching really simply! It was awesome. A few Saturdays ago we met a lady named Lita. We knocked on her door and she opened it and said "No thanks" and then closed the door. We were like "Whatever" and kept on tracting about 5 doors down Lita yelled from her porch for us to come back. We were invited inside and she had a lot of questions and was ready to argue. She actually reminded us a lot of when we first met Connee. We asked her if we could come back and she said we could. We called Connee and asked her if she would come with us. The next night Connee, Cory, Chuck came with us for FHE to teach Lita. They did amazing. Lita was really defensive but by the end of the lesson she had softened, given us her number and asked us to come back. Way to go Francis family!!! So proud of them.

Also a few days ago Chuck signed up to come teaching with us. We had planned to rake random people's yards for service. We knocked on one of Chuck's neighbor's door and he said that we could rake it. He was really cool. He came out and as we raked he asked us all about the church. He was really receptive. He said that he is Catholic and has been looking for another religion. He brought out cookies for us and told us to help ourselves. So nice! He accepted a Book of Mormon and asked for a schedule of all of the things that go on at our church. He said we could come back next Saturday. I hope that Sister Ahrendsen remembers to follow up with him. He is golden. He has 5 kids and all of them are above the golden age of 8!! :)

I got a letter this week in the mail from Grandma Schaar! Thanks Grandma! I love you!

It was really hard for me to tell Chris, Connee and Chuck that I am getting transferred. Chris has school tonight so we had to do an over the phone goodbye but we are going to Connee and Chuck's tonight. It is going to be hard but the ward is really great and is already taking such great care of them. Chris sent me the nicest email today: 

Sister Frampton:
So,First I wanna thank you for being my rock.Ive known you for a longer than almost anyone in the church.Ive learned so much from you.If it wasnt for you I dont know if id be a member of the church.You made it click for me.So thank you so much!

Im sorry you have to leave,but God needs you somewhere else right now.God knows best,we both know that.You are an amazing missionary so im confident that wherever they put you,you'll come out on top.Thats your nature.Im really proud of you for your service.I have a lot of respect for you.

So because I cant email over the phone too well ill cut this short.

We'll keep in touch.Im here when ya need me.

Oh,and I promise to keep in touch with Chuck and Connie.

Ill see you in a few months,and as always I have a email address so use it 

Best wishes

Chris

Isn't he so great? He is going to be a really strong member of the church. He was able to get the Priesthood on Sunday. I am so proud of how far he has come. He is really struggling with his family right now. They are super anti. He is only a 19 year old kid so at times he feels like he is all alone. Keep him in your prayers.

I think that is really all for this week. I love you all! I will let you know what my new mailing address is. I am so excited that Mickle is now in Norway!!!!!!!! Congrats girl!!!!!!! I love you all!!

Sister Frampton

It's November!

Hello everyone! I cannot believe that it is already November. Soon it will be Thanksgiving then my birthday (Don't forget Dec. 23! I will be accepting presents on this day) then Christmas and then in no time I will be home. I told President that I am choosing not to extend and he said that was fine and that my release day will be March 20th. I hope someone is planning on coming to get me on that day. I don't know how it works when we get picked up. Do you have to buy my plane ticket or is that included in all of the mission expenses? Dad will you call the mission office and find that out?

We had an interesting week this week. On Wednesday we went and had a lesson with Cory (Connee's son and Chuck's brother). It was such a sad lesson. He told us that he thinks he has learned all he can about our church and that he has made up  his mind that he doesn't want to be a part of it or learn from us anymore. I was really sad about this. He has seen the change that is has made with his mom and brother. He knows that it is a good church. I dunno. I guess it will just take time. It is good because we are doing the new member lessons with Connee and Chuck so we will still get to see Cory and he is still going to participate in FHE with all of us. Please pray for Cory. He is really struggling right now and needs all the help that he can get.

We had a really fun Halloween. I am glad that Austin got his birthday card and all of the stickers that I sent him. It looks like he had a really fun birthday. We had lunch at the church with this couple from the ward. It was so fun. She had put together these little boxes with candy in it because she knows we can't go trick or treating. They also gave us this Halloween pumpkin card. It was a fun little Halloween party. They are really nice. They were baptized a little more then a year ago and they just recently were sealed in the Columbus temple. After that we went to a less active's house, Debbie Brown. A while back we introduced Debbie and Connee. Debbie helped out with the music for Connee's baptism. Last week Connee called Debbie to thank her and to just talk and Debbie was really touched. She surprised us with the news that she was going to come to church on Sunday!!! We were seriously so excited. We have been working for a while with her. She ended up coming on Sunday and everyone was really nice to her. She said that she is going to keep coming!!!!!!!!!! After Debbie's we had an appointment with this teenager in our ward that was baptized a few years ago. She is the only one in her family that joined the church so the missionaries really try and support her. Her name is Heaven. We went to her house and no one was home so we called her and she said that her mom was working late and she was stuck at school for another hour. We decided to just go to the High School and have a lesson with her across the street at Wendy's. This high school is in Cleveland Heights and boy did I feel a little out of place! Not only were we the only modest dressed white girls, the school was packed with security guards. You had to be buzzed in to each building and the doors had metal detectors. It was really scary. We found out that a year ago a kid came to school and shot his pregnant girlfriend because he was mad that her parents wouldn't let her see him anymore. EEkkkk! It was not Olympus High School. After that we went to Connee's house. She had ordered Chinese food for us. Chris (my recent convert) came over also. Chris has been having a really hard week.  His family is not being nice to him because he joined the church. He was planning on going home (New York) for a few days and he was really stressed about what was going to happen. Connee sat him down and gave him the best pep talk. I was so impressed. She said that right now all he needs to do is be an example for his and they will see how great the church is. I was so proud of her. We taped candy to pass along cards and helped Connee had that out to Trick or Treaters. It was a lot of fun. It was a huge rainstorm that night so hardly anyone came. We did that for about an hour and then we played some games. Oh my gosh I have never laughed so hard in my life. I love Connee and her family. She has become my second mom. I will be so sad when I get transferred. Speaking of transfers... they are next week.

On Friday Chuck came tracting with us. It was a lot of fun. He has a strong desire to inform everyone of how great the church is. It was a good motivator because sometimes as missionaries we get in a rut and have the mentality of "It's just another door to knock." Chuck really loves God and really wants other people to  listen to our message. He is constantly trying to get his friends to meet with us.

So I have a cold. Not fun as a missionary. I think the reason I have this is because on Saturday it literally rained ALL day long. I mean it didn't stop once. It is something that I am still getting used to. I didn't even know what rain was when I was in Utah. I didn't even know it was possible for it to rain days in a row without every stopping. Well it does happen. It happens in Ohio. Since currently have no investigators we ended up tracting all day, from 10:30am-5:00pm. I had all of my rain gear on, boots and a coat. It was actually kinda fun to run and splash in puddles. I might end up missing the rain when I go home. We ended up at this house that had india looking pictures all over it. We knocked on the door and this lady dressed in an Indian outfit (head scarf, long skirt) told us to come inside. We were greeted by her husband and her mom. They are all Americans but they are of the religion Hare Krishna. I immediately recognized this religion. There is a huge Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork that I have been to a few times for the festival of colors. I talked with them about that for a while and they showed us their front room. It was their temple room. It was decked out in Indian figures and paintings and inscents. The couple was really really nice and welcoming. They sat us down and asked if we were hungry or if we wanted tea to warm us up. They didn't even care that we were dripping wet and getting rain all over their couch. The lady prepared a little bowl of chips for us and we each got a Diet Coke. They asked us what we believed in and they told us all about Hare Krishna. It is a beautiful religion. One of their teaching is that the spirit and the body are different and that we need to be doing everything that we can while we are in our bodies to ensure that our spirit has a good place to go once it leaves the body. They also said that now a days so many people think they can sit and do nothing and then complain about having nothing. We were like "ya we totally believe that." They gave each of us their religious text Bhagavad-Gita and we gave them a Book of Mormon. The guy opened to a random scripture. It was Alma 60:23

23 Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.

Coincidence? I think not? They were really amazed! As were we!!! That is so cool that what they had just told us was in the Book of Mormon. They filled up this plastic bag with inscents and flowers and books for us. It was really nice of them. They said that we were always welcome to come back. They were basically these hippies dressed up like they were from India. I love them. We are going to go back and invite them to the Nativity exhibit that will be going on at the Visitors' Center. I decided that each email from now on I am going to include a saying from the Bhagavad-Gita because I think it's kinda fun. So here is today's:

"Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better then inaction. A man cannot maintain his physical body without work." Amen.

Well my time is up here at the library! I love you all so much and I miss you like crazy. Thanks for everything that you all do for me. God loves you and Kirtland is the best church site!

Sister Frampton