The temple open house is now over :( I have loved being able to work
at the temple. I love watching everyone come in and out with a smile
on their face. I don't know how I got so blessed to serve in this
mission at this exact time!
This is going to be a long email, just so everyone is aware haha
You can probably tell from my subject line what is happening with transfers..
Oh so there are deers everywhere here. On the side of the road, in
people's lawn, in our driveways. It's so crazy!!
On Saturday (9/3) I hit my 7 month mark!! So crazy. We had a dinner
appointment on Friday night and they asked how long we have been out
and I told them "7 months as of tomorrow" and they said "you are
almost half way done" um no, don't say that!! 😂😶 I'm never coming
home. Jk
It was super crazy busy at the temple on Saturday. Sister Nielson and
I were in the video room and it was tour after tour after tour!! One
of the recent converts here in West Chester came with the elders
quorum president and they happened to come to our room! There were
protestors outside and one of the ushers told us to mention that what
they are handing out is not from our church. This week the ushers
(tour guides) have been mentioning that so that is good. They have had
some of the elders guiding the tours this week. I bet they loved that.
After the tours, we were all waiting in the break room for our cars
and the assistants came in and Elder Weisler looked at me and said
"Sister Gronning, you are not allowed to drive!" Haha, it's going to
become the mission joke now 😂 we all walked to the broad and noble
parking lot and got our cars and headed home!
Sunday (9/4) was fast and testimony meeting. There was a ton of people
who came. Ryan and Cassidy came! It was the first time I have met
Cassidy. She is a recent convert and we have had a hard time getting a
hold of her. It was a big shock to see her there. Everyone was
excited. Great testimonies were shared. Our Sunday school lesson was
on faith. In relief society we talked about the temple. Afterwards, we
had a lesson with Bensen and Parker. They are so cute. We talked about
families are together forever and family history. Afterwards, the
Spanish elders were having a baptism and one of the members asked
Sister Nielson if she could play the piano and she said yes! We got to
go to a Spanish baptism! Probably my last one too.. haha. The mom
spoke all Spanish and the kids spoke English and Spanish. When the
elders were talking about baptism, one of them would talk in English
and the other one would translate it into Spanish. The other speaker
just spoke in Spanish so I had no idea what he was saying haha. Also,
we sang the songs in Spanish. I just sat there haha. After the
baptism, Sister Nielson asked the elders for a blessing. After that we
visited a less active member and she talked to us forever.
Monday (9/5) we were at the temple. We were in the video room. Not
sure if anything exciting happened that day..
Tuesday (9/6) we had a lesson set up with Jesse but when we got there,
he cancelled. We then went to visit Sister St. Germain. She was home
but said she was busy at the moment. We went to the temple and were in
the video room all day again. We can quote some parts in the video
because we have seen it so many times haha. Sometimes the room would
be full so we step outside in the hall and wait till the video is
over. Nothing too exciting happens in the video rooms. There was this
one time, I think it was Tuesday, when we were standing out in the
hall by the door and there is a part in the video where this young
awkward couple is talking about marriage and the wife is like patting
the husbands belly and everyone started laughing. People usually don't
laugh or they just chuckle, but this time the 1st couple of rows, the
people were laughing so hard. It was hilarious.
Wednesday (9/7) we visited Sister Polito, a less active. We showed her
a Mormon message called "A Shower of Heavenly Blessings" she talked to
us for a long time. I think people in the east coast just like to
talk.. Haha. She mentioned to us about family history and we told her
we would love to come help her with it. We went to reading terminal
again and got Amish donuts 😍 I got two. Peanut butter chocolate and
Oreo creme. Soooo good. At the temple we were in the video room first
and then went to the roof top for like almost 2 hours.. And then went
back to the video room.
Thursday (9/8) Thursday morning we had a sister zone training. We
talked about extending commitments and dress and grooming guidelines.
At the end, the goldens and the sisters going home bore their
testimonies. I cried haha. We sang our mission song and I was like
full on crying!! And then we took a picture after that.. I was like oh
great 😂😭 at the temple we were in the reception room for most of the
day and then the video room for like an hour or two. A guy in the
reception room came up to me and asked me what he needed to do to get
baptized and how he could get missionaries to come over to his house!!
Up on the rooftop we were talking to 4 catholic priests who are going
to seminary or whatever. They had a lot of questions haha. It has been
so hot and humid here. The humidity makes my fingers fat. Somebody
told me that when I go back to the dry heat I'm going to get bloody
noses a lot.. Gross. And when I tell people I am from Vegas they
always say "oh then you are used to the heat" and I'm just like um no,
this is way different! 😂😂 I met a returned missionary who just got
back from the Las Vegas Nevada mission! And the lady he was withprobably his mom) is in the Newark 3rd Ward (my first area) how crazy
is that! I didn't even get his name, sadly! He knows somebody I know
from Henderson haha. Small world.
Friday (9/9) it was supposed to be our pday but instead we switched it
to Saturday (I just emailed my family that day btw). We went to the
temple with a less active, Sister St. Germain. It was really fun and
so good to see the inside of the temple again. We were driving back
from the temple and I was dying of thirst and I really wanted ice
water so my lovely companion went to the McDonald's drive thru and
asked for a cup of ice water 😂 it was the funniest thing ever. And so
worth it. I will attach a selfie with my water at the end of this
email! We ate dinner at the woods. He's a member of the bishopric. Him
and his wife both served missions. He served in California and she
served in Switzerland. We ate a big salad with beans, corn, chicken,
peppers, and cafe rio dressing!! And some cheese quesadillas with it
as well. Soooo good. We gave them a Book of Mormon to give to one of
their friends. We had a lesson with Jesse and talked about heavenly
fathers blessings. We talked about the tree of life and holding on to
the iron rod. He said he was going to go to stake conference but he
didn't 😒
Saturday (9/10) was our pday. We had correlation with our ward mission
leader and the elders in the morning. Our ward mission leader brought
us donuts 😋 I ate two... shh. At correlation, Elder McLaughlin said
that the three other sisters were leaving and I was going to be the
only one who stayed.. Um I don't think so Elder. I didn't even know
what to say to him when he said that 😂 after that we cleaned our car,
went grocery shopping, slept. We ate dinner at saladworks, which is
super good. We went to the Saturday night session of stake conference.
A lady in our ward spoke about her conversion story and she and her
husband are going to be the first couple to be sealed in the
Philadelphia temple!! How cool is that?!? Then we came home and we
were all freaking out and stressing about transfer calls because the
sister training leaders said they were going to call us and they never
did!!
Sunday (9/11) it was stake conference for the Valley Forge Stake. It
was really good. There was a ton of people there. Mostly all of the
talks were about the temple, which I am perfectly okay with! We talked
to some other sisters that were there and they haven't heard about
transfers either! We asked Sister Blake, who is a Sister Training
Leader and she had no idea either! So of course we were all freaking
out haha. Our STLs ended up calling us at around 5 and told us that
Sister Nielson, Sister Van Arsdale, and Sister Kelsey were all staying
and Sister Gronning is LEAVING! (ha, Elder McLaughlin) I have no idea
where I am heading but where ever it is, that is where the lord needs
me! My dad said I am very good with change, while being on my
mission, I do not handle change very well 😂 we don't know if Sister
Nielson is getting a new companion or if they will just be in a trio
until the 20th, when the real transfers are. There are some sisters
getting transferred tomorrow and some on the 20th. It's funny that the
last mid transfer was on my brothers birthday and now this mid
transfer is on my dads birthday haha! (Happy Birthday Dad!!) I hate
packing but I have to do it! Haha. Today I plan on packing and
sleeping! Sunday night we went to contact a potential named Michelle
and we stopped to talk to this lady in the apartment complex and her
name is Wanda. The conversation led to Sister Nielson asking her to be
baptized on October 23rd and she said ya and just needs to learn more!
We said of course and she invited us to come back tonight!! I am
excited to see how the lesson goes!
We are going to be have a mission wide zone conference and a member
from the quorum of the seventh is coming to our mission! We have also
been invited to watch the broadcast of the cultural celebration and
the dedication of the temple!
This is a long email and hopefully I remembered everything!
Send letters and packages to 721 Paxon Hollow Rd. Ste B. Broomall, PA
19008 for right now because I don't know my new address.
Love you all!!
Sister Gronning
