I have been behind, (duh) on keeping everyone up to date on Claire's mission. So I'll try and do an adequate summary.
She entered the MTC on August 21. She had a great companion Sister Anderson. Their time together was wonderful & too short. They travelled to Nevada on Sept 3.
She has been in her 2nd home of Nevada for 6 weeks. Time truly has sped by!!!
Her companion there is Sister H. They get along very well. I'm so happy for that. They have a great group of helpers in their ward. We have had contact with 3 individuals from the ward who have assured us Claire is fine and well. They love the missionaries and are taking good care of them. I want to share two excerpts from this weeks letters. The first paragraph is from her letter to Jeff, the second paragraph is to me (Jamille). Piece them together. It's a great story. I love missionary experiences.:
"...Then yesterday there was a sweet lady we've been meeting with as often as possible. Probably one of the most powerful women i know and her husband passed 3 years ago. Since then she's been struggling with bills and what not, but always seemed happy and just trying to push on. well yesterday I felt prompted that we need to stop by and visit right then. We had planned to visit her sometime yesterday but not till later on. I told my companion 'hey lets visit Chris' She said "we will later... after lunch". I got frustrated and before I knew it or thought, I said 'I have a prompting, we need to visit her.' Thank goodness we did cause.. she was taking apart her house and taking pictures down and stressed to the brim. We listened to her and let her vent. It was quite overwhelming but she needed to get out her feelings. This week we plan to go help her paint and clean so then we will slip in some upliftment and such :) "
"It is very true that we need to teach with the spirit for sure! I know that stories and scriptures we share without the spirit present aren't effective at all. It's hard to listen to people talk about how they don't have anyone there for them, and just don't take the opportunities to Pray! Heavenly Father is Always there for Us! I mentioned that to her and she shut it down which was hard. She said 'Well God Sees me. He sees what I'm going through why does it matter. I'm sorry to shut you down but I've tried everything he doesnt listen to me"...but.. I just kept trying to listen to her and the spirit for guidance. She was talking about how her kids don't take time to talk to her or stop by and help her with things. And then I got this big overwhelming prompting to share with her. 'Chris, I have a prompting to share this with you. God is our father. You are a mother and you want to hear from your children. you want to know what they have been up to how they are doing. Well, Chis, Heavenly Father Loves you and wants to Hear from YOU.(I pointed) He wants to know the desires of your heart and the heartaches. It's so important to Him to know," and she was quiet. She didnt have anything else to say, and then we left her with a prayer. :) It was a powerful moment and I am so grateful that you and dad have brought me up in this gospel! I am grateful you have taught me I have a Heavenly father who LOVES ME! & Cares about me and ALL is children :)"
