10-28-13 Alligators/Crocodiles?

Joni Putnam

Today at 12:39 PM

Thank you so so so much for all of the letters I received in the mail this week! Wow! That was an amazing surprise. I enjoyed it very very much. Tell all of your school kids thanks as well. I don't have much time this week because we have to go home and pack because we are leaving to Virginia for Sister's Conference. It should be really good! I'm really excited (: So Halloween.. we don't have candy and I guess around 280 kids come to our door.. so we will most likely go to the trunk or treat with the branch/ward. Saturday night we helped Sister Downey ( The relief society president) with the ghost walk that she and the community were putting together in bath. She was very stressed because she is relief society president, ward missionary, visiting teacher, helping in the community, her friend just past away and now she is planning the whole funeral, it was her sons birthday and so she was cleaning the house and getting ready for that, her husband just found out that his cancer has come back and is all up and down his spine and in his skull and in his liver, she was doing the ghost walk and also Back to Bethlehem pageant, and the list goes on and on. So we decided to go and help her with that. It was fun but we didn't help much because she just ran around the whole time and wouldn't tell us what we could do to help.. 

I also found out from President Baker that I will not be able to play the part as Mary in Back to Bethlehem because I have to wear my name tag at all times and in all places because I am a missionary for 18 months and that is what I need to be doing. I couldn't have agreed with him more. Sister Currie is still on for her baptism date! Loretta and Tabby we are probably going to be dropping since they are not progressing at all! They won't commit to anything which is hard for us because when we teach them lessons they are super excited and want to be baptized and want to go to the temple but then they don't come to church. And.. well we think they are doing drugs.. so we are going to be dropping them this week. 

President Deaver-our branch president- wanted us to go eat at his house. He lives in Kinston and we had interviews in Kinston so we ate at his house that night. Holy Cow.. He had us eat and eat and eat and eat.. I felt soooo sick! Then he brought out apple pie that his wife made. (A huge slice!) and then brought out cheesecake. Ya'll know I love cheesecake right? Well I couldn't even finish it I felt sooo sick! Anyways, the members here like to feed us.. and I think i'm gaining weight.. but don't worry I won't come home fat (;

We got 3 new investigators this week! We had a headquarter referral to go see this lady that lives really close to us. Her name is Angela Gibbs. We went and saw her. She was on mormon.org and wanted a bible so we gave her a Bible and a Book of Mormon and she was so excited! She told us that she will always want to talk about Jesus Christ. We went back that Saturday and her neighbor was there with her daughter and her niece. Angela's son and husband were also there but were just home and didn't join the lesson. They were so excited but then they got confused when we talked about prophets and how we have a prophet today. They were confused saying that their pastor is a prophet and so.. we have a lot of work to do with them.. anyways.. they are great. They shout Hallelujah! And yell the whole lesson because they are so excited about Jesus. haha When we say prayers they hold hands while kneeling and when we say the prayer they say "Thank you Jesus" the whole time. haha we have a lot to teach them but It will come. Let's just say that lesson was crazy with them because they were all talking and asking questions the whole time. The daughter ended up getting on the internet during the lesson and looking up Thomas S. Monson. hahaha she said people are saying, your a bad religion or opposing what you are saying. We had to remind her that every religion can be talked about badly and you have to go to the main source. So we told her to go to Mormon.org and Lds.org. Angela's son wants to be at the next lesson! I hope its not just for us sisters! haha

Anyways, we must look at the main source for direction and our answers to questions. That main source is our Heavenly Father! Angela was saying.. "I need to talk to my pastor about this Joseph Smith guy." We encouraged her not to do that and to just read the B.O.M and pray about it. Go to the main source for our answers. (:

Some talks that I really want ya'll to read are "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson and "The 4 Titles" by President Uchtdorf. I am working on not being prideful and being patient and meek and humble and kind and loving. Too many goals? Nahh.. haha  One thing that I loved about "Beware of Pride" is that it says that Satan fell because of pride! Pride is the center of contention. Wow... Pride is a sin! Really.. read the talk! go to Lds.org and search it. It is on there (:

We saw a crocodile.. or alligator.. I dont know the difference.. it was in the water behind our house swimming.. unless it was a log.. no I'm pretty sure is was an alligator/crocodile. 

It sounds like ya'll are doing great!  By the way.. SEND PICTURES! KEEP WRITING ME LETTERS.. i love the support and encouragement (: I got letters from Grandpa and Becky and also Aunt Jenni. That was fun (:  Keep reading and praying and going to church. Do the little steps that will be big in the end. Remember that God has a plan for us and to lean on him for everything! I love this gospel. I love Jesus Christ. I love sharing this gospel and I love meeting all these wonderful people out here. Keep doing good things. Choose the Right! Hold to the Iron Rod! 

I love you all!

Love Sister Putnam

P.S.  There are mosquitoes and squirrels all over. Big bugs and spiders as well. We or should I say I killed 2 huge cockroaches in our house.. gross. It's not cold yet.. and we won't see snow.. but it should start raining soon.. The leaves in the trees are barely starting to change.. hopefully colors will come soon! 

 

Sister Putnam's letter 10-21-13

How are you all doing!? The work out here is still going. Only Sister Stratford and I live in the house.. yeah its big but we like it haha. We have a room that is just empty that we work out in in the mornings and we have a big kitchen and a study room and our room. So it's nice.  The train tracks are right behind our house and we hear the train every morning while we are studying but I am starting to get used to it. Thank you all for your prayers and the love that i feel through out my day.

Our exchanges were with the Sister Training Leaders. It went pretty well except that I pretty much talked to everyone the whole time while the other sister didn't really say much.. but she was really nice. haha It was nice to have someone else to be with for a day even though I love Sister Stratford. Sister Stratford and I have learned so much about each other. We laugh and tell funny stories because we are so much alike.  We are great together. I have a strong testimony so during the lessons we both try and teach but sometimes i just bare my testimony and she teaches and answers more of the doctrine and hard things that I don't know yet. We have united. It is so fun! I feel like we are really great friends.

So we had 2 baptism dates for Nov 9. But Loretta didn't come to church so now she doesn't have a date. Sister Currie is still on for Nov 9. We just have to stay in contact with her because she (83 years old) forgets things a lot and will drink her wine or coffee because she forgets. We know that she knows that these things are true. She didn't come to church yesterday because she wanted to go to her church to say goodbye to her minister and her friends. We totally understood that.. well kind of haha. She is really excited mostly about being with her family forever. She doesn't have any family around here and she never had any children. She knows what is true but has a hard time being committed to it. 

Yesterday in church I gave my first talk. I talked about the atonement and how it changed my life and how once I had a strong testimony I grew a desire to share it with others. I told the ward that we have that wonderful opportunity to teach others about the gospel. They will see in us a light and wonder how we got it and they will have that desire to get it. We need to share the gospel with them and they only way we can do that is if we use the atonement so that we can have the spirit to be with us. How wonderful the gospel is! After my talk we went to sunday school and Brother Baldwin (our ward missionary president) told me and the rest of the class that he has heard multiple missionaries speak on missionary work but none of their talks were as effective as mine because I bore my strong testimony and I had the spirit with me. He told me that I had everyone's attention. After me the branch high counsel guy spoke. Brother Baldwin told us that he gave a great talk but it wasn't as effective because he didn't speak with the spirit. People were falling asleep and didn't care about what he had to say. It made me feel really good to get such a compliment! I know that the spirit can direct my words when I study and have a plan. And then the spirit may change what I have to say. I had my notes with me when I gave my talk... but I didn't use them! It was so cool! 

Sister Stratford and I have talked about many things and as we study together I learn new insights and I am able to gain a stronger testimony than before. We have talked about sharing your testimony and how when you share it, you tell people what you KNOW to be true. Not what you are thankful for. A testimony is about the truth of the doctrine of Christ. We told stories and laughed about what some people say. We just all need to be taught and learn what a testimony really is. 

We met with Loretta and her daughter Tabby last night. Loretta was busy running all over the house trying to fix her hot water thing. So we tried to teach Tabby. She is 15 years old. We showed her the picture of the SLC Temple and she thought it was so beautiful. We told her how she can go in there too. But first she has to come to church with her mom. haha. Anyways. we also showed Loretta. She knows these things are true.. there is just something bigger holding her back and she wont open up to us.. Loretta's ex boyfriend was there and his name is Santos or something like that. He is Hispanic. He doesn't speak English very well so i told him i don't speak very well in Spanish. But I told him the one sentence I do know in Spanish that Brad taught me. "Why are you a fat pig?" They laughed and laughed. I hope i said it the right way in Spanish haha. We are going to try and get him to be an investigator even though he says he's catholic. 

Sister Stratford and I were also discussing how the atonement is a beautiful wonderful thing. When people tell us they have talked to the bishop or they can't take the sacrament or they can't go on a mission, or they can't enter into the temple for a certain amount of time... we should be excited for them because they are trying to change! They are working hard and doing what they know they need to do to have the spirit be with the. We should help them get to where they want to be instead of looking at what they did wrong and how they made a wrong choice. They are trying and that is all God asks of us! Repenting is a wonderful positive thing! I know this church is true and I love sharing the gospel with people here in the Virginia Chesapeake Mission. I love you all so much!

I hope to hear from you all next week! I love you all so much (:

Keep Sister Currie in your prayers (: I know she can do it!

thanks for the love and support

-Sister Putnam

Sister Putnam & Sister Stratford Picking Cotton in North Carolina

 Oct 14 at 1:16 PM

Oct. 14, 2013

Sister Stratford and I picking cotton. No mom they come right off but they have burrs in them.. maybe I will send some home for ya'll! (: I am trying to pick up the southern accent.. yeah its not coming along yet. maybe when i get home (:  Oh btw.. the members here are getting us furniture and stuff for our house. The elders helped us move along with 2 ward members. It was super nice! (: I love this church! I love this gospel! We are so blessed, do not forget it! Have faith, work hard, be positive and do the little things in life to build your foundation! Helaman 5:12 (:

Sister Stratford

                              Sister Joni Putnam picking cotton in North Carolina on P Day!  :)

Letter Oct 14, 2013 WE MOVED!

Joni Putnam

Oct 14 at 12:44 PM

new address: 716 East Main Street

                     Washington, NC

                         27889

We MOVED! We now live right in Washington NC. We live right on the water and have a huge house for the 2 of us. We cleaned and moved all day Saturday. We now live in town and can save several miles. We eat at members homes for dinner a lot and it is always usually good. I have now had fish sticks and shrimp. It wasn't too bad. 

We have like 70 people in our branch.. so yeah we are def. working with the members. it is rough. Thank you for the advice though because i do need to remember my purpose. People out here get their feelings hurt by everything..and people in the ward hurt their feelings so they don't come back to church. we have to remind them why they come to church haha.

funny story, One investigator we have named Sister Currie, she is 83 and we asked her to come to church. we set up a ride for her and she missed it and then she came to church after sacrament and told us that she knocked all her neighbors doors to get a ride to church she was so determined. Members don't even do that! We need to be determined to go to church and determined to see miracles and have faith in the Lord! Do all we can do and don't stop! (: She is so funny. 

We have plenty of people to see but not so many investigators.. our investigators are slacking.. and we are trying to drop some and clean out our pool of investigators.

Thank you all so much for writing me! Thank you for the advice and everything I really do need it just as much as you all do!

Remember that God doesn't count sins, he measures your heart. Also that even when we sin if we are trying to do what is right that we will be further to Christ than we will be to Satan.

Tomorrow we have exchanges with the Missionary Training Sisters.. It will be stressful but I know that I can do it even though I don't know people or the area well yet. It will be okay. Sister Stratford and I are going to start the 40 day fast where you write on a list everything that is poking or taking away from the spirit and then in the morning pray for strength to overcome these things and then work on them all day and then at night pray and tell God how you did and what you need extra help with. This is going to be good because we need help out here on our missions. God is the only person who can help us. We need the spirit with us every second and by having the spirit with us we must act in such a way every second.

Mom, I don't think I need anything else. We are going grocery shopping today. I did call and get my card figured out. Thank you! yeah so maybe just send like more allergy pills so i dont have to buy them.. or if it costs to much to send i can buy them.. i take an allergy pill every morning and night. so yeah haha 

Will you please keep praying for me? I need all the prayers i can get as days are sometimes hard. also tell everyone to send me letters and packages since i haven't gotten anything since i have been out in the field! I would really appreciate letters since i can only email once a week. thanks for your love and support! (:

Love Sister Putnam

Sister Joni Putnam's 1st letter from North Carolina! (Yes, this is part of the Virginia Chesapeake Mission!)

Oct 7 at 1:11 PM

So I got to Norfolk (pronounced Norfik) on Wednesday. We went to the church and had some meetings and interviews with the nurse and President Baker and his wife. We then stayed at a hotel that night. The next morning we went back to a different church for Zone Conference and I met my trainer/companion. Her name is Sister Stratford. She is 22 and is from California. I'm her 3rd baby (trainee). We live with a member named Sister Yonalie. She is a sweet lady, but we have no room.. It is two rooms and two baths.. but she has a dog.. and I'm allergic as you all know. I have been taking allergy pills every morning and night though so I haven't broken out in hives yet.  We live by the water right now. It is so pretty out here and I love it. I learn so much everyday still. haha I still fall asleep during studies or for general conference since I am not used to the time change still. But I only fell asleep for one speaker during conference so I don't feel too guilty. Conference was amazing! The church talk was super good. And I loved Uchtdorf and Holland. 

Here in my mission it is more country land and there are bugs everywhere! Huge spiders! and you are outside at night for literally two minutes and you get eaten alive by bugs! We drive around since everyone lives far away from each other. I feel like I really relate to people here though. We have about 10 investigators but only like 4 are good and dedicated. I gave away 2 Books of Mormon the other day! I just love sharing the gospel so much (: They have cotton fields and tobacco fields here as well. We went to Brother Baldwin’s Quarter Deck shop out by the water to get free ice cream and there was a drunk guy there. He came over and started talking to us and Sister Stratford wouldn't say anything so I talked to him the whole time. He was telling me that he is giving up (swearing the whole time, bad bad words and then was like sorry) and then saying that his wife took everything and his kids left him. So I told him to go talk to Heavenly Father about everything he just told me, that God wants to hear from him. He told me heck with that that he tried and God doesn't answer him.  I told him to keep trying and it's not in his time, it's in Gods time. Then he said that we are all good people and we don't really have trials and we were called to do what we do because we are good righteous people. I told him that we had to work for it though. We all have to work for it. We aren't just handed things. He pointed at me and said, "Ya know, Thank you. You really made me think for a bit."  I touch people here, Sister Stratford tells me. 

Some days are really stressful but I do need to remember to keep going forward with faith. Thanks Skyler for reminding me to hit my knees hard every day. We say a lot of prayers every day and they seem to not matter as much as my first prayers. I need to remember to say each prayer with a sincere heart. 

Thanks Logan for telling me that it will be hard but not to be discouraged. You all have great impact on me. Thank you for the love and support you all give me. 

So it's hurricane season. Don't freak out Mom haha. I haven't seen or heard of one yet to come. There is also a little rumor going around that people have seen crocodiles! Good thing we can't go swimming anyway. Since its P-Day Sister Stratford and I are going to go pick a cotton ball from the cotton fields because I told her that’s what I wanted to do. She laughed at me, of course.

I feel like I am starting to get an accent. They say “idear” instead of idea and “ya’ll”, “ya know what I’m sayin”, “baby”, and they talk really fast and mumble their words together. haha   Anyways..

General conference was amazing! Please remember to go to church and attend ALL 3 hours of church! Remember not to procrastinate repentance! Dress modestly. Remember that just because it is okay in the world does not mean it is okay with God. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Remember that! Everyone here lives with their boyfriend and calls him their husband. DO NOT LET THAT BE ACCEPTABLE EVER! PLEASE! I love sharing the gospel here and seeing people change. It hasn't happened a lot but I know I can make a difference. 

Thanks for everyone’s love and support! I feel so thankful and appreciate all you do!

Sister Putnam

114 B Goose Creek Drive 

Washington, North Carolina 

27889

                                                 President & Sister Baker with Sister Putnam

                                                        Sister Putnam & Sister Stratford

Photos from the MTC

These are photos Joni (Sister Putnam) sent us taken at the MTC in Provo, UT. Sept. 3013.

                                        Sister Putnam with her MTC Companion Sister Hansen.

                                                Sister Putnam with her District in the MTC.    
 

                                                    Sister Putnam at the MTC.....7:30 AM!  :)