Hello from Kent! I've been transferred to the Rootstown West area (pronounced Ruh-ts-town :) ), which covers mainly the city of Kent and outlying areas. We serve in the Rootstown ward, which is where Sister Palmer served for 7.5 months before coming to Chardon with me! We actually got to come down here once for a baptism (someone she had been working with while she was here), so I got to see the church building and meet a few of the members. Not a coincidence. :)
We also serve in the East Hills YSA Branch, which meets in Tallmadge--just west of Kent. I'm so grateful that I already have experience serving in the YSA branch in Bowling Green--I know that it prepared me to serve here! The members of the branch are awesome here. A few of them are here from Provo for summer internships. :) There's also a girl named Kim--the twin sister of a girl named Katie that I went to EFY with a million years ago! The world is so small. :)
My new companion is Sister Christensen, from Bountiful. :) She is awesome. We are serving as Sister Training Leaders for the Youngstown Zone, and also some of the full proselyting sisters in the Akron Zone (right next to us)! Awesome. We already have 6 exchanges planned for this transfer, and Mission Leadership Council is tomorrow. We're so excited. :)
Kent is great. it's home of Kent State University, which I don't know anything about--but the campus looks nice! :) I've already met some wonderful members here, including the Ramirez family, who fed us dinner yesterday, and Anna, a recent convert from China! She is here studying English at Kent State, and her family is coming to visit from China next week--she is amazing, has a powerful testimony, and is excited to share the gospel with her family. Yay!
Transfer meeting was Wednesday...and I think it was the toughest one yet for me! I've known missionaries going home before, but there were so, so many going home this time that I have come to know, respect, and love. Sister Christian went home--my first companion to leave! I love her so very much, and will miss her greatly, along with many others. I am so grateful, though, for their powerful testimonies and wonderful examples to me over the past 9 months.
Oh! And guess who else is serving in the Rootstown Ward? Sister Esplin! There are two other areas that cover the ward--Rootstown and Rootstown North. They're mainly in the city of Ravenna, which is right next to Kent--so we don't see them every day, but we do see them often! Sister Esplin is awesome, just like Pat. AND we even figured out that she went to the 195th ward last year! Small, small world. :)
We're teaching a student named LaMar, and we just met a guy named Bryan and a lady named Lindsey ( yay!) last week. Hopefully we will be able to start teaching them soon--they are both so prepared! When we offered Bryan a Book of Mormon, he really wanted one, and was sitting outside reading it when we drove by later. Lindsey told us that she is always open to new things, and thought that the idea of a prophet on the earth was really great. We'll see how things go. :)
I was studying about the Holy Ghost and faith this morning, and something occurred to me: Ether 12:6, which teaches us that we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith, is perfectly applicable to recognizing and following the Spirit. Sometimes we question whether it's the spirit or not. I've taught so many people who struggle with that--especially with recognizing answers to prayers. It would be so much easier if we received answers in concrete form, spelled out for us. But that's not how faith works, and that's not how the Spirit works either. Nephi himself wrote that when he returned to get he plates from Laban, he was "led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I would do". We have to act on promptings to do good, whether we're sure they're the Spirit or not--and only then can we receive a witness. Maybe that only makes sense to me, but it's something for you to think about. Don't doubt the Lord--He always wants to help us!
I'm about out of time--I love you all so much! Please tell Coach and everyone else hello for me and give them my love. You're all so wonderful! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Wygant
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