The Church is True in Rhinelander Too!

The church is true in Rhinelander too!... my mom informed me of that!haha

GREETINGS FROM RHINELANDER!

I just wrote you all a novel email on Saturday… I am not sure if I am up for another… but I need to be. SO here it goes!

Brittany informed me these emails are too long. This is the last long email ... sister Bishop is applying to school so I have had some extra time. I have just had a lot to say/ catch up on!

This has been a week of adventures… Here and there and EVerYwHEre!

Here are the happenings of this CrAzY week:

Sunday the 17th:

I know I talked about this day in my last email, but I forgot to mention that after church we started the rounds of saying goodbye. I don’t really enjoy that, but the members would be so mad if we didn’t stop by, plus I really wanted to take a picture with them! We had dinner at the Costabiles and brother Costabile stuck around for the lesson afterward! It was AmAzing. She has been a member for 19 years and he’s just stubborn! Everyone is convinced that he’ll be the next bishop as soon as he’s baptized! He is Italian and made us the BEST lasagna ever. He invited all the Racine missionaries, so there were 7 of us: a small army and there were still leftovers! Elder Smith taught the lesson. He is such a good teacher. I learn a lot from him. We then went with elder stribling and elder zobell to say bye to the hancock’s and to the furners. I love both of those families SO much. It feels like elder stribling and I have always served here, did I have other areas of my mission? =) They didn’t like saying bye to us either. I love the Hancock’s, they’re young and from utah out here for his job. She just told us she is 6 mos pregnant… you can’t even tell! They’re kids Rowen and Ruby are adorable. And the Furner’s are AmAzing too. I am going to miss Mary Furner… she is about my age and I just love her! The sisters need to take her out on splits more. Good people.

Monday the 18th:

Preparation Day! It was Martin Luther King Jr Day so we couldn’t email… everything was CLOSED. Which, was kind of annoying, but kind of nice because it was my last pday in racine so it made it so I had a lot more time! At about noon we went to Denny’s with the elders. I should have been packing all that morning… but I had no desire, so I just did other random things that I had been needing to do! After lunch, I had breakfast!, we went to the Racine zoo. I had never been there all my time in Racine, except once at Halloween and it was so dang cold by the time we were done passing out candy I was so ready to be out of there. Today it was pretty warm, lots of snow on the ground, but not too unbearable! We were the only ones there, the elders volunteer there so we got in free… otherwise I think we would have had to pay a dollar. That zoo used to be the only free zoo in the country. ANYways, we saw the monkeys and the lion and the tiger and the BEAR! The tiger and Canadian lynx were totally playing with the elders! … Like they would run back and forth and so would the lynx or the tiger.. .they would come up to the fence and growl and stuff. Hiliarous. We were there forever! Then we went bowling. That was fun too. After bowling we got custard at culvers to end our pday. We visited the Farley’s and then went to the Davis’ for FHE at 7 with the elders. I love the old and the young davis’! [although they’d prefer I say SENIOR davis’, but whatever! Haha] We took pictures and said goodbye, I gave the lesson on charity. Then we all went to the Hansen’s to say goodbye and take pics. The Hansen’s are like my family. I sure will miss them.

TODAY, JANUARY 18th was STEPH’S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH! I THOUGHT OF YOU ALL DAY. I HAD IT WRITTEN IN MY PLANNER!

Tuesday the 19th:

MY LAST DAY IN RACINE! L we had district meeting, we were late, because we went to wal-mart so I could get a pic cd made of elder smiths pics. He’s the district leader so I called him and told him we’d be late and he was SO PATIENT! All he said was “drive safe!” I love people like that when I am frantic and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. He recommitted us to memorize the First Vision in Spanish, because none of us did it… it was a crazy week! So we all recommitted. . . sister Johnson made some comment about how I wouldn’t have to do it and he said, “No it’s still your commitment too!” I was already planning on doing it anyways, so now that’s just more motivation! After district meeting the elders did a tie trade, because that’s what elders do to get a little variety in the 2 years that they sport white shirts and ties. At the end elder stribling gave sister Johnson and I each a sweet wool tie with an argyle print on it… I am going to make mine into a headband I think … I am excited about that. It was fun to see them all trade and barter and stuff. We all went to McDonald’s for lunch and then sister Johnson and I visited Pam Umhoffer… her name before her divorce was Pamela Black… weird huh? She is from England, she converted there, and has been away from the church for quite some time. She knows sister gambles and they decided to come back to church together. We had a great visit. I taught her from Mosiah 18 about her baptismal covenants. She says she really misses church, the spirit, the people. She is excited to come back. We ended our visit with Hot cocoa and cookies, kinda like tea and crumpets! She collects English china, she even had some Royal Albert mom! She’s only lived in the states for a handful of years, her accent is to die for. I love her!

We then had a meeting with Bishop Crowther. He is such a great man. He thanked elder stribling and I for being such good missionaries. He thanked us for teaching to ward how to work with the missionaries and for working together so well ourselves. He saw that it made a great difference in the progression of our investigators and the less active families we worked with! I am so happy he saw that! That was one of our goals: to work well together and to teach the ward. IT HAPPENED! He told us the new missionaries had a lot to live up to, it was nice to hear. It’s been a really REALLY good 7.5 months. He picked our brains about a few other things just to be sure he had the right info. It kinda stunk, we would talk about things and I would start to write something down we needed to do, then I’d realize I AM LEAVING TOMORROW… so I just started making a to do sticky note for sister Johnson! She laughed at me. Elder stribling just put his notebook away, he said he was doing the same thing! We said goodbye to Heidi Higginbottom at 5, Aaron is SO cute and wants to be baptized SO badly! His mom was at church for the first time last Sunday in 7.5 months. I almost fell over! As she begins to come back, Aaron will be at church, and then he can be baptized. He’s 10 and he’s so ready. He is one of the first people I taught here in Racine. We then went to the Abbott’s, Raygan’s, Marka’s the Aquino’s [we said bye to Vicki, remember she is the one that thought I was a mute my first time EVER being in racine. She was my first Spanish investigator!] and to Fani’s work to say bye to her… it was exhausting, but good. I almost cried at every stop, but managed to hold it together! WE ended our night at the calderwoods. I love that family. They are so good to me. We had dinner and dessert and we talked and took pictures. We also got transfer calls. I still had one tiny ray of hope that maybe sister duhaceck was wrong and I wasn’t going to Rhinelander, but Smith got the call and he just looked at me and said “Banished.” HA he later told me that when elder hatch was about to tell him where I was going he took a big deep breath and then said it! AH! I am really going to Rhinelander. I wrote all the elders I was leaving a little note to say thanks, and to my surprise elder smith wrote all of us one too! It was nice of him, he’s a thoughtful kid. The calderwood’s got a crack up out of my new destination. At least president calderwood did, sister calderwood was worried about me. I assured her I would be ok and that Rhinelander couldn’t be SIBERIA! We had to stop at Kenosha’s apt to get some pics from sister birch, and then I was off. She gave me a little present, a hat too, it was nice of her.

I then got home about 10 and STARTED PACKING. I finally got to bed at one. Whew! It all fit, without vaccume bags! It was amazing. I gave a lot to goodwill. I figure, with only 12 weeks left, I can let some old, worn things go that I had been holding on to for those “just in case” times! Sister Johnson spent her time putting all the info from my gps into her gps… that took forever. But we laughed and talked the whole time. I sure am going to miss her. I love her like a sister!

Wednesday the 20th:

We woke up, showered and drove to Milwaukee. We got to the church and nobody was there so we hung outside and talked to the elders. Little j was pretty nervous, SHE’LL DO GREAT! President Barrett drove up and got out and said, “That looks like a perfect coat for up north!” I said, “You mean a perfect coat for the middle of nowhere? Why are you sending me to the middle of nowhere president? Why?” He said, “that’s not the middle of nowhere! That’s the FAR OUTSKIRTS OF NOWHERE!” ugh! Haha he would comfort me that way! Elder Villanueva and Elder Carter were giving me a hard time too… punks. I walked in to the church and later on I sat next to president barrett on the pew…He asked if I was excited and I told him I was TRYING to be.. he laughed and then started telling me all the good things about that place… so I was a bit more excited. I was still having a hard time though.

Sisters Warner, Pluim and I left little J and we went to the library to email and burn cds of pics and music. Then I went around visiting people with them. We had KOPP’S for lunch, my fav, and then they took me to the mission home to be sister barrett’s companion! It was so fun! I just love her! Elder Astle and Elder Valentine were there because they were going home Friday so I talked and cleaned the kitchen with them. Then we ordered pizza and sister barrett and I went and picked it up. We had to stop and get her favorite crab dip at sendick’s too! President always makes fun of the way her and I just talk and talk, but I love it. She’s as CLOSE as I can get to talking to my mom! We had dinner and during the middle of dinner she noticed elder valentine’s suit coat was ripped. She went to get sewing stuff [you can tell I am not a sewer!] to fix it so his mom wouldn’t worry about him when he got off the plane and then she just brought this whole tub out and plopped it on the coffee table and came back and kept eating. When I finished I was just sitting there and she pointed to the box and said, “That’s my sewing box, will you organize it? I was going to wait ‘til you came back right before you went home, but we’re not doing anything else right now!” I was so excited. I love stuff like that. She sat in the recliner and talked to me and I organized… I first had to make a huge mess, but then it got better! I got to see all the ties she’s cut off of elders they’re last day in the almost 3 years they’ve served here as mission president, she’s making a quilt out of them! Every time president saw me at the mission home he’d laugh and say “banishment” or “exile!” ha. Mean! Elder Perry is coming to the mission and the only two zones not invited are mine!, the Wausau zone, and the green bay zone because we’re too far away… I was whining about that and he looked at elder bratt and said, “I bet you’ll take good notes for her, won’t you?” HA I just said, “All you people in white shirts and ties are the SAME!” punks. At one point he was about to walk in the family room and sister barrett was telling him to come sit down and he said, “I don’t know if I can, is sister black going to mock me for sending her north?” haha we all laughed. It was so good to talk with all of them: especially elder astle, elder valentine and elder chapman. Elder astle has just been around my whole mission, he loves gb like I do. Elder Valentine has had so many problems on his mission, he has borderline autism, but is now medication free! Elder jolley trained him. He is so amazing for being able to do the work amidst his health issues. I admire him. Elder chapman was there my first 6months in greenbay. He plays the piano so AMAZING. I love to hear him play waterfall. He played it for me last zone conference. I used to make him play it everytime I saw him in gb. He told president and sister barrett how I was a nazi on cleaning day! … About how I threw away his “favorite chair” in their apt… mind you it only had 3 of it’s 4 legs and they had 2 other good chairs. It was propped up on phone books. I remember carrying it to the dumpter and him following behind me trying to talk me out of it. HILARIOUS. Boys. We were all laughing SO HARD! We then started talking about how earlier in that day elder mcclung picked up my tub and in the process of setting it down in the church RIPPED HIS PANTS [it had all my books in it, English and Spanish! It was HEAVY!] . Poor guy. I felt so bad. His finger was bleeding, he couldn’t go to the bathroom because we were all there and he had a big hole! Then president barrett started telling us a story of how he did the same thing in a home depot and had to staple his pants together and make sister barrett follow closely behind to cover him. Oh it was hilarious. I was crying. I couldn’t breathe. I love those two.

This night I stayed with sister warner and sister pluim at the Kozlosky’s. The sister are moving out on Thursday. Sad, but it’s time to let someone else in the ward have them. It’s fun that both sister warner and I have lived there… they love us. We made hand puppets on the wall with a flashlight like old times… and laughed A LOT! I am dang good at hand puppets… I have been my whole mission.

ALSO.. today rocky went to the MTC… he flew out this morning! HE is going to do great! I am so jealous he is just STARTING!!!! Woo-hoo! It goes so fast!

Thursday the 21st:

TRANSFER DAY. I was late to transfer point… every elder and their mom called to see where I was! J Then We went from Milwaukee to Oshkosh to Appleton to Green Bay to Wausau to Rhinelander… It was a LONG day. But fun. IT was my first time ever riding the transfer van… or “FUN BUS”. In Green Bay I had to get on the “special bus” that takes people to Wausau. It was fun, I sat by elder abe who is going to Wausau to be my zone leader. He wasn’t too pumped to come either… But elder carter, one of the assistants kept giving me the HARDEST time about how he served in the UP and how he’d love to come to RHINELANDER yadda yadda. I joked around but told him I was excited because the Lord must need me here! He didn’t believe me, told me I was mad [he knows this because I remind him of his cousin? Funny.] and that I would learn to like it! I love elder carter, he was very positive and upbeat, and it’s true. If elders like him and elder stribling can go to the up and love it… I can love it in Rhinelander. But… what can people expect… this is what I’ve heard about Rhinelander:

*It’s banishment or exile [from every elder… and one time P. Barrett!]

*I may or may not be eaten by wolves!

*It’s the home of the HODAGS… look it up! [it’s ugly!] Sister Barrett asked that I take a pic of one and send it to her…. I can’t wait to mail her that postcard!

Elder Perry is coming to speak to our mission and my zone and GB aren’t invited … I am still working on that one… I want to go!

Elder Villanueva, the other assistant told me that when he sees me Wednesday at zone conference I need to tell him 5 good things about this place… I agreed I’d do that. I kept telling him I am coming her to be a loner and he said, “I am pretty sure you’ll have a companion, I am pretty sure you’ll have the companionship of the Holy Ghost and I’m pretty sure there will be people for you to teach!” UGH. He is so right! He was good. He assured me I’d be fine and that I would live. Love that kid.

I got here to Rhinelander and met Sister Bishop! We served together in May in a trio in Adams. I love her! This is her last transfer! She is from Brigham City, a great missionary. Her dad is Rob Bishop, a Congressman for Utah… it’s fun to here her side of things. I think I am going to like Rhinelander… even if it’s just because of her!

I sent an email to president barrett telling him I know I was being dramatic, but that I am excited to be here and I know it was through revelation I was sent here.

HERE IS MY EMAIL…

I didn't get a chance to email this week, the libraries were all closed monday for MLK day so we stopped by the library on our way to some appts so I could let my family know I am alive...

However, I wanted to send you a short email too. After the past couple of days of me being dramatic I just want you to know that I am happy to be here in Rhinelander. I know that this mission, this work, is accomplished by means of revelation. While I love to tease and joke around, I don't mean to mock that fact in any way. Please know that!

I want you to know that I will work just as hard here as in any other area I have served in. I will find the reason the Lord has sent me to the "far outskirts of NOWHERE" for the last two transfers of my mission!

Also, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve in Racine/Kenosha. I vividly remember my first interview with you as I entered the mission. I told you if you ever had a need I would LOVE to speak spanish. . . I never dreamed it would happen. I am grateful my Heavenly Father knows me so well. I am grateful I was able to teach in spanish for 7.5 months that was a great blessing. I learned many lessons through that experience and truly learned to love that branch.

I had a very similar experience in the Racine ward. So much is happening there, I was so sad to leave. I suppose that's the best way to leave an area, but it was hard. It made all our work and struggle worth it when Bishop Crowther thanked elder stribling and I for helping the ward understand how to work with misisonaries and for working so well together ourselves as missionaries the past 7.5 months. He said that made a great difference in helping meet the needs in the ward and of investigators. That place will always be sacred to me.

I love being a missionary president! I know I say that a lot ... but it's true. I am so grateful to be here in this mission and to be able to learn from you, I am constantly learning something from you.

Love, hermana black

THIS WAS HIS REPLY:

Thanks for helping take care of the wonderful members in Rhinelander. I love them! And you will too. I have many sweet memories of that area, including late one night driving far north of Antigo through the woods to find my way to the YW Camp. I was glad I went even though it put me late into Stevens Point some time after midnight.

Terrific Bishop Lindner! Tremendous Stake President Pleshek.

Please take care of those wonderful Saints!

And baptize Tony!

………………………………………………………………………………

……………....

I love him! He’s the best.

Friday the 22nd:

Friday we unpacked, we live in an apartment! I love it! Then we went out to Crandon, about 45 minutes away with the relief society president and a ward missionary to do some visits, It was really good. The ward here is amazing. They are so involved.

Saturday the 23rd:

We emailed… finally! And then we did transfer planning ALL the day long. To end the night we had Chinese food with sister Kazmarski. . . no msg = no headache… I was so happy! I never eat it because I always get worried. But I was fine!

Amy called me tonight. I love amy brown. She is the reason I went to GB… perhaps for my whole mission. She told me lots of good news. First off that she was coming to visit me. It’s her fault I am in Rhinelander, you know! She called when I was still in Racine and said she had to come down to Milwaukee for something so while she was so close she would be coming to visit. I was ecstatic, but then remembered transfers were coming up. She assured me that if I went to Madison she’d come visit because she goes there a lot for events/ concerts etc. If I went to Appleton I’d constantly see her because that is the branch she attends now, and she said there was NO WAY they’d exile me to Rhinelander. Welp… there you go. Amy’s fault. However, she did amend that saying that if I so happened to come to Rhinelander she’d still come see me… she’s so diplomatic. Good thing!

She is coming to visit SOON! Yeah. Jeremiah James got the Melchezidek Priesthood, and is elders quorum President. She is getting her Patriarchal Blessing! The institute in Green Bay has 18 non-members attending now! She now goes to Osh Kosh institute because GB is more like the “beginners” institute. This year they’re studying the Book of Mormon. SO COOL! SO AMAZING… it all started just a year ago, at least this fire did! They won best booth at orgsmorg at UWGB and they anticipate to win BEST NEW ORG this year. AmAZing! I love hearing news like that!

Sunday the 24th:

We went to church… it was cancelled after sacrament mtg. The weather was bad and people have to travel really far to get home. Such devotion. They even cancelled the talks. However, sister bishop and I were asked to bear our testimonies. Bishop called us to the stand, met me then gave me the mic. Kinda cute. The spirit was really strong. I had just met brian before the meeting started. He is a YSA with a baptismal date for February 13th. He just glowed. I couldn’t help but talk right to him… I got the best feeling. I am so excited to teach him! I met many others in the ward. We then went to Bishop Lindners for dinner and stayed for some time. The roads were really bad and the snow fell heavily all morning. The night before we had freezing rain so it made for a day we needed to stay indoors. We finally went home after a great visit with bishop. President Barrett loves that man. I do too. He is such an excited Bishop, he loves the work. We finished transfer planning that night. We’ve set really good goals for this transfer! FAITH is our motto! Faith the size of a basketball! [e.hatch] to BAPTIZE THE WORLD [e.stribling] I think sister bishop thinks I am a bit crazy sometimes when I say we are going to invite 420 nonmembers to hear our message this next 6 weeks. But she loves me, so she goes with it. It will happen I tell her!

To end the night I got the BEST PHONE CALL EVER from sister Johnson. My little J! She is so cute and is doing such a great job training. She is learning a lot. She’s called me almost every day since we parted to ask me questions. I love it. I love her. She told me that on Sunday morning all the branch missionaries (all 6 of them) had a meeting with the branch president, president calderwood, and his counselors. He said during the middle of the meeting he looked at sister mazariegos, the new sister, and said, “You’ve got big shoes to fill. Everyone in this branch really loved sister black.” It was sweet to hear he said that… I felt bad for sister M though… goodness.. no pressure eh? Sister Johnson and I laughed about that. I love President Calderwood. I miss his leadership.

She also told me lots of good news… daysi got a calling! RS chorister… One day as we left an appt at Kathleen Oakley’s I had a VERY strong impression to stop at her neighbors…they were Spanish speaking… but we couldn’t because we HAD to go. I reminded little j to go back. They did! They are new investigators along with MANY OTHERS on that street. AMAZING. Heidi Higginbottom, miss “I don’t want to be a hypocrite” was at church AGAIN … aaron’s baptism in on! SO many good things happening there.

After I talked to her I thought about why I was sent to Racine. Little J reminded me when she got there we had about 20 active investigators we were teaching, she was so impressed by that… when I got there we only had 3. three people. It was SLOW. We changed a lot in the 3 months before little j came. But I didn’t baptize but two people while I was there… Cheryl Johnson and Zachary Cruz-Taylor. That’s not too many in seven and a half months.

So WHY did I go there? WELL.. baptisms aren’t everything as we know. Daysi and Lupita were both less-active in the branch. I got to teach them in SPANISH, they got it. They understood and applied the principles and lived them! They are BOTH prepared to go to the temple in 2 weeks because we worked with them. I was able to meet Tiffany Baumstark! She read NieNie’s blog too! That was not a coincidence. I know she will accept the gospel, I love teaching her and right before I left I asked if we could teach her whole family in her home.. she consented and was excited! I was able to teach Cheryl and Zachary. TWO AmAzing experiences. I saw their lives change. I met Raygan Taylor. I saw her physically [and spiritually] change from visit to visit. From moment to moment even as we read scriptures together. What a good mom she is. She was someone as well that I just know I was supposed to meet. I know someday VERY soon her husband will be baptized and they will be sealed in the temple. The list goes on and on! I know the Lord knows us and puts us where we can touch the hearts of those we serve, but also where they can touch ours. I learned and grew just as much if not MORE than all those whom I served. I love my calling!

The answer of WHY did I go there is simple… It is found in the many letters I sent while serving there. It is found in my well-worn scriptures and PMG. It is obvious as I wrote the paragraph above. It was inspired. That is why I went there...

And that is why I am here in Rhinelander. There is no coincidence about it! No irony. It is not a sick joke. It is inspired. Just like I wrote to President Barrett, this work runs on inspiration, so I will embrace Rhinelander! I am excited to do so.

I love you all! You're in my thoughts and prayers! WRITE ROCKY!

Love, Sister Pamella Jo Black

ps. there is one thing I will definitely miss up here in the "NORTHWOODS". That is the hustle and bustle of the racine area and all those missionaries I served around! Do you know what a hard time those elders gave me? [These elders remind me of rocky, that is why i love them so much.] I can't believe I am writing it... but I will miss it. I was serving in the heart of the mission around so many missionaries. I loved that; there is such a good spirit. I have to write down a few of my memories or I will forget them...

They called me the abominable snowman, or the snowmonster in my long white coat. I thought they were going to DIE laughing when they saw me wear my mini white coat. They called it the mini snowmonster! I remember when we were at the Aquinos with elder trauntvein and elder smith. Fani was giving Luis a hard time for not eating but he seemed so nervous to take a bite. Finally he just said, "I'm sorry trauntvein, I have to do it!" He looked so distressed and took a bite. Trauntvein just looked at him and said, "Just say your own prayer" so matter of factly. So he knelt down on the kitchen floor and said his own praying leaning against trauntvein's leg. It was so cute! what an example he was to that little boy. I loved being a fly on the wall for that little interaction.

I will miss going to the Cabrales. I loved going there. The last time we were there sister Cabrales answered the door and said [in spa of course], "I asked Anapaula who was at the door and she said 'PETRIE'". We all laughed, she could see us coming thru the window. Elder Petrie had been transferred, but she thought all missionaries were named petrie. she loved him. They would tell us the funniest stories about the elders constantly being at their home, they said they were going to adopt them! Woo hoo for daily contact!

I will miss elder smith always wanting to sing hymn number 210, "buscar con fe" or "search with faith". It doesn't exist... but he would switch around saying it in english or spanish and it would get sister johnson EVERY TIME!

One time Elder Bratt and Elder Johnson, who were then serving together in Oak Creek, we called it "Oak Creep", told me they named their car "PAM" in my honor because it whined a lot. They thought they were really clever.

I will miss teasing the elders with the phrase, "donde esta la sacerdocia" and finding post its all over our car at random parts of the day that said, "donde esta el sacerdocio". I will miss teasing them that they might have the keys to the priesthood and the church building... but i have the keys to the library! :) I will miss finding FREE signs all over our car. everytime they passed us and saw us at an appt they'd leave one [that stems from the time i left the car running, remember that?].

I will miss teaching english. I remember the time Jaime told me in English, "I am your father." I started laughing [made me think of star wars!]... his english wasn't the best. I then realized what he meant as he explained it this way, "When you married you have new father. He is your father" He even drew me a pic on the board. Ha you can imagine i was floored! I told him you work together, he couldn't wrap his little mind around that. he said that's not how it is in El Salvador. SO we sought elder petries opinion and of course to be funny, he sided with the "father" menality and laughed. punks. that became our joke with jaime. hilarious.

I will never forget elder smiths and elder trauntveins faith as we prayed and fasted for the nevarros. they are spiritual giants and were great examples to me. that was a sweet experience.

Elders still get a kick out of my cynicism: All sister do is CRY, ask for BLESSINGS, and TALK about their FEELINGS! ya right. Being a sister missionary is the best! I love it!