FAITH PRECEDES A MIRACLE

Oh hey :) Sister A is starting to rub off on me. She literally says that to everyone.  You just can't help but kind of morph to your companion. I can see how being on a mission can help with marriage. If you can handle someone you didn't choose to be  with, and be with them for 24/7 for at LEAST 6 weeks, then you can handle someone  you DID choose. You aren't even with your spouse that much because they have to work! In the words of one of my past Sister Training Leaders, "If you are thinking of getting married, go on a mission, because once you get married, there are NO TRANSFERS COMING!" haha I loved her. She was hilarious.

 

Anyway this week has been good. We have been doing FHE with a less active family for a few weeks now. They own a car wash so they said we could wash our car for free. Well, we went to wash our car and they let us in for free and stuff and then they left. Well it is the kind that you just drive into and you park and then the machine works around you. So we are sitting there enjoying ourselves and then after we get all soaped up and scrubbed, the machine just stops. So we wait. and wait. and wait some more....uhhh why is it not rinsing our car!? The dryers turn on...uhhhh. There is a huge line behind us right? So we have no idea what to do. We called the family and asked if it is supposed to rinse the car. They said yes so they had to come down and fix the machine as we awkwardly sat there with dried soap on our car. haha! Apparently a worker had changed the settings and turned the rinse off or something. So it rewashed our car and rinsed us the second time :) So that was kind of funny. Good thing we had their number though or I don't know what we would have done!

 

We had a zone meeting this week and learned about how to better work with members. Our whole mission is going to be rolling out a uniform family mission plan. Our ward already has a family mission plan, but the problem is that most people don't do it or don't know HOW to do it. So since this is uniform and structured and actually makes you write it down and update it month by month, it should help our ward a lot. We probably won't see any immediate blessings or referrals, but it should help in the long run.

 

We had a good lesson this week with a lady we have taught before.  The lesson was really good and the spirit was way strong and Sis A and I both felt prompted to put her on date for the end of June.

She had said that she had prayed about Joseph Smith and she accepts him as a prophet. She also said she felt a shift in her prayers and she feels like somehow, a window of heaven was cracked open, and God really was listening! WOO! So I asked her to be baptized and then tried to put her on date for June 28th. Her response, "Are you serious? No. No. There is NO way I can be ready by then." :( boooo. So we asked her to come to church this week with us since she has blown us off for the past two weeks. She said no. WHAT? She told us she would go last week so we were frustrated. Her excuse then.."It's too hot." We explained that the church building has AC and we would pick her up with the AC on in the car and she would be outside for a total of one minute probably. But she insisted on not coming. So it is super frustrating because she is a "golden investigator"

and is super excited about what she learns. But she won't come to church!!!!!! She is kind of a recluse though so we think she is scared. Luckily, we took Sister S to meet her the first time we met her also, so Sister S thinks she can get her to come next week because she has been working on her a little too so she knows someone and won't be so scared. So hopefully that works out! She also won't let us come more than once a week. So that is annoying. But I think she will come around over time.

 

We arranged for another investigator to speak to the young women this week about midwifery for mutual. We are trying to get her involved so she will want to learn more about the church. She lets us come over and talk about God (she is Baptist and has a strong belief in God) but she doesn't want us to teach her the lessons. So the Young Women are preparing  for camp so only the fourth years could listen and only three of them were there. Luckily we posted on the relief society facebook page to have other people come listen so we had a few women show up, plus the young women leaders that weren't busy came and listened as well. It went really well! But once our friend was finished she just said, "Ok, thanks for your time!" Then she picked up her purse and walked out. Sis A and I jumped up and chased after her. haha it was so awkward, the women just sat there not knowing what to do. So we chased her down, told her thanks, and then told her we wanted to give her a tour of the church. So she let us do that, but she was sure anxious to get out of there! haha. We invited her to church and she flat out said no. :( BUT, a few days later we took her a little thank you card and a little lotion and took a member with us. We were really bold and upfront and told her we want to start teaching her the lessons. She said no. Then Sis A bore her testimony on the Book of Mormon and asked her to read it. She was a little hesitant. So the member then told her that since she already has a strong relationship with Christ, that she might as well just read it and pray about it. So it went super well and she committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it :) Woo!

 

So a funny story: Sis A was boiling some eggs for breakfast yesterday...well she forgot about them for 45 minutes. YES,45 minutes. So I went in to make my breakfast smoothie and one of the other sisters said something was burning. I look over and there is no water in the eggs and they are turning black. So I grab the pot to take it off the burner and it was stuck! As I'm trying to take it off, the eggs explode! It burst all over and nailed me right in the lip. It felt like I was shot by a hot air soft gun from 2 feet away. It totally burned me and left a little welt/blister on my lip. Sis A came walking in, "Oh ya can you take my eggs off?" to see egg all over the place and the pan stuck to the stove. Ya she is pretty forgetful and there is NEVER a dull moment. haha.

 

Throughout the week we had tried SO hard to get people to church with us this week. No one would come. It is really getting down to the wire to finding someone to teach so we can reach our goal of at least one baptism this transfer. So Sis A and I decided to exercise our faith. We were at church that morning for a meeting and we were just waiting for church to start. We started calling a few more people and invited anyone we could think of that we hadn't already invited. We even re invited a few people. Nothing...so, we went out on the grass, knelt down, and told Heavenly Father that we had done all we could to get someone to church that day and to please bring someone to US. We KNEW someone was going to come. So we went and greeted people at the doors and handed out the programs like we always do, and who walks through the door? A guy who dropped us a while ago and then contacted us on Facebook so we reached out, and he ended up cursing us over Facebook and telling us he didn't want to be Mormon. So when he walked in I was super shocked. No one else came to church. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and he doesn't always answer our prayers in the way that we want, but he answers our prayers. Wow! Anyway, said this guy said he was sick and thought if he came to church that he would feel better. He said he didn't feel better so we got a few men to give him a blessing. It was a really cool blessing and basically told him he needed to do what he knew was right deep down. He left after that and didn't really talk to us much after, so we will see what happens with him!

 

So it has definitely been a good week. It hasn't turned out how we wanted it too much of the time, but it has still been good. HOT, but good :) It is usually at least 108 everyday lately. It is going to be one of the hottest summers they have had in a while they are guessing. Anyway I definitely could not be doing this if I didn't know this is the true church of God. I would not ride around for hours on end in 108 degree weather, in a skirt, if this wasn't what God wanted me to do. I'm so grateful for my testimony and how it has been strengthened and I hope I can help others strengthen their testimony as well :) Have a good week and enjoy your beautiful weather up there. ;)

100 +

Hello again! It feels like it has been forever since I last emailed. It could be that things are a little slow, yet still crazy, around here. We don't have many people who we are actively teaching at the moment, so we don't have very many appointments. We have some people that we hope to start actively teaching soon though!

 

We have been going over to a less active family for FHE every Monday so that has been fun. This last week, we played a Book of Mormon matching game that we made. They had to match the Book of Mormon person to the action or story they were in. It was fun and they didn't know much about it so it was really good. They are all teenagers, so it has hard to find things that will get them interested and engaged, yet still not treat them like babies. They are fun though :)

 

We went on splits for the first time! It is the first time in my whole mission that I have done splits. We have some young women who are ward missionaries so we are able to split up with them and divide and conquer! However, the ward missionary and I didn't have much success that night. We finally had people answer the doors, but we weren't able to get into any of them. However, we saw a skunk!!! We were walking up to a door in a gated community and a skunk came waddling across the yard. I stopped dead in my tracks and asked the young woman with me if it was a skunk. She was convinced it was merely a cat, but it was definitely a skunk! She was trying to find her flashlight on her phone to see for sure if it was a skunk but she didn't get it out in time before it left. So I asked the guy when he opened his door if he had a cat and if they get skunks around there. It was definitely a skunk and I was trying to joke about how we had just seen one and we didn't know for sure, but he was not amused and just shut the door after saying not to come back. DENIED. haha but of course I had to tell this young woman all about my skunk story. (That came up during a dinner once too and the family sure got a good laugh out of that one.) She said she LOVES a good story and that was definitely a good story. haha.

 

We also have been skyping a guy in Brazil and one in Washington. The guy in Washington is working towards baptism and is a work in progress. He likes to be sarcastic with us and make us think he doesn't really care or doesn't believe it, but then he always says the best prayers at the end and you can tell that he really does love the gospel and he believes what we have taught him. Our new friend in Brazil is awesome. His missionaries in Brazil haven't contacted him yet, so hopefully they do soon. We still talk to him in Portuguese when he doesn't understand. I asked him to be baptized in Portuguese the other day :) That was fun. I'm not sure he quite understood what it meant to be baptized though. So that will come in the future! It is really cool to be able to teach people everywhere!

 

We taught the old woman we have visited with a REAL lesson finally! She usually just talks so much and she can barely hear, but we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her that Christ came to the Americas. Her reply, "OH! I didn't know that! Do other people know this!?" She was in shock. Unfortunately, here eye sight isn't very good and she can't read the tiny Books of Mormon and the big text Books of Mormon are on back order :( So hopefully we can get her one soon.

 

We also taught the man that we street contacted a while ago. We taught him the Restoration. He is a crack up. He is from Iran and he says he loves Jesus and believes what we taught him. When we street contacted him, we asked if we could help him with his yard work and apparently that really touched him. He said we entered right into his heart just as if we were his own daughters. haha adorable. He said he loves that we go around at our age talking about Jesus and when he thinks of Jesus, he thinks of us. He said because of this, he has us in his phone as Jesus. He wanted us to call him so he could show us. So we called and it pops up on his screen, "JUSES." Sister Ardmore and I got a good laugh out of that one. He was awesome, but I'm not sure he understood as much as he made us think he did!

 

We finished helping the our friends move this week. We helped the mother finish packing the small, random things while the guys put everything in the moving truck. We were planning on helping them the next day, but we had other things to do, so the mom told us she would be fine and not to come at all and they could handle it. We were later riding around that day and passed their house. We decided to ask if they for sure didn't need help. The mom was so grateful and said she didn't know if we were inspired or prompted, but that she had regretted telling us no and she was so grateful we still came. I'm so sad they moved from our ward because they were awesome.

 

So I think I forgot to mention this, but it's been over 100 degrees this week. Ya no big deal, we just don't have any teaching appointments, we bike in the 108 degree weather for hours on end! haha. It really has been SO hot and we are just soaked through. It is quite disgusting.

 

 

Remember the young woman that was going to do a "mini" mission with us? Well, she did her "mini" mission with us this weekend. It was literally one of the worst days in the mission. By worst I don't mean emotionally, but we literally called EVERYONE in our area book and knocked on tons of doors, and we could not find one person to teach! NOT ONE!!!! I felt so bad that she didn't get any teaching opportunities! We literally rode in the 108 degree weather for 3 hours straight. There was a breeze, so that was nice, but it is not a cold breeze! It feels like that blast of hot air you feel when you open the oven. It's like that on your face, the WHOLE time. Poor girl, she is never going to want to go on a mission now! haha but it was fun to have her with us! We loved it.

 

We did have a fun little dinner this week with an older, single woman. She didn't want to cook, so she took us to Olive Garden! That was super fun because I saw some people from my old ward/area! They are a young married couple and she had just found out she was pregnant a little before I left. She was so cute and showing now. Adorable. I didn't have time to talk them, but I did give her a quick hug. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm literally probably 10 or 15 miles just South of my last area.

 

Anyway it has been a pretty sparse week, but we were able to do some good things! We had our first scorpion at our house this week! Sister A was luckily prepared with her blacklight flashlight and was walking to the front door to go inside and open the garage for me to park in. She came running back really quick and said there was a scorpion right in front of our door! So we used a ton of bug spray on it to stun it, but it didn't do anything so then we (aka Sister A) just smashed it to bits. So there were pieces of glowing scorpion all over our porch ;) We are so glad that we found it outside though because scorpions can fit into the tiniest cracks to get inside!

 

Anyway I have learned a lot this week and have been able to have some really good studies. I absolutely love personal study. It is so amazing how much you can learn from the scriptures and the prophets. Especially when you are studying with specific people or questions in mind! I love being a missionary and being here in Arizona. (even if I'm getting roasted alive). It is all worth it :D

 

 



HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

Happy Memorial Day! This week since it is a holiday and the library is closed, we actually get to email from a members home! Kinda weird. And I forgot my little paper that reminds me of everything we did this week, so bear with me. The days just blend together so I have to write down
everything that happens to me :)

This week was good but pretty slow in terms of teaching people. After our baptism, things literally just died. We have a few people that we have taught here and there, but we aren't actively teaching anyone. So we don't have much to do right now, but the work will push on!

Last Monday we sacrificed some of our P-day to meet with an older lady that will hopefully become a new investigator. The Elders before us taught her son (who is 40 but still lives with his mother) but he has fallen away and we haven't even met him. So the fellow shipper for her son has been trying to work with him and in consequence has gotten to know the mother. So he wants us to focus on her. So we have been trying to get in with them all transfer and Brother B finally got an appointment set up and it was on Monday. But we know how hard it is to get in with them so we just sacrificed some time and went anyway. It went super good and she definitely felt the spirit.  Brother B told her he wants us to teach her and as we teach her hopefully it will help her son too as she learns more. She doesn't want to go behind her son's back and he wants nothing to do with the church so we are trying to figure out what to do there. Her son is super controlling apparently. Brother B talked to the son and he told him not to call anymore and so we ended up going to her house a few days later and telling her to call Brother B since he can't call her. We were in a  hurry to get to a meeting but I think she was super flattered and touched that we took the time to stop by and see how she was doing even
though we were in a hurry.

We also finally got into a less actives home that we have tried to get into all transfer! Sister K is like 70 years old and is raising 5grandchildren, all teenagers. So she has it rough, plus her husband is  super sick too. So she has cancelled on us many times and we had never met her but we finally got in on Monday night! She made us some super yummy Mexican food (she isn't Mexican though) and then we had family home evening afterward. It went really well and we are going back tonight as well. They are super sweet and they came to church for sacrament this last week so that was good!

Our newsest convert is doing super good. We teach him along with the ward missionaries. We
teach him once a week and so do the ward missionaries. So that is really good and it is really helping him I believe. He was getting super overwhelmed because he feels like he needs to know EVERYTHING right now and he doesn't want to let anyone down. He was reading all over the place and would read for like 3 hours straight everyday. So, we taught him how to better study instead of just read and how to make it sink in and make more sense. He is doing much better now and starting to understand more I think.

Tuesday we had our last district meeting for the transfer. Sister A and I were the only ones who didn't get affected by transfers! Every other companionship got split up. We had a little party and had strawberry short cake. I think that is like a thing down here, especially in the summer. We
have it multiple times a week I swear. Good thing I like it! :)

Wednesday was a busy day. The whole mission was invited to transfers again. President proposed a plan that was created by a committee of missionaries. Our mission kind of goes in waves. We do super good one month and baptize a ton of people, but then the next month is pretty dry and we have to build up and then the month after that we do good again. So they are trying to get rid of the roller coaster effect. So we all gathered together to hear this plan. They decided that we will have a mission fast to have each companionship baptize at least one person this transfer. That is a pretty big goal and it will double our baptisms that we normally get. Since it is transfer based, it should get rid of the roller coaster. The catch is that we aren't fasting for ourselves. We are each given a specific companionship to fast for and we are supposed to pray for them this whole transfer to help them find someone to baptize. It isn't about the numbers, but it is a  step to help us reach the standard of excellence the Lord has set for this mission which is to baptize weekly. So we had our fast this week and we didn't focus on ourselves, but focused on others and how to best help them have success. So that was really cool.

It was so good to see everyone again too. That is always fun. So as you know, Sister W and I got along super well and we had a lot of fun together. We sometimes would sing high school musical and funny stuff like that. So we had one particular song that we always sang from the third movie and we had an inside joke about it. So I was chillen in the parking lot helping people unload their stuff when I just hear this song, "right now I can hardly breathe," and it took me a second to register but I
realized that it was being sung to me, so I look up and Sister W is standing there singing to me and waiting for me to finish." haha of course I did and then she ran and hugged me. It's just like in the movies ;) haha! Ok it sounds lame on paper, but it was actually really funny. :) We also got some new sisters in our house. Sister A and I were doing training hour when there was a knock on the door. Some sisters just walked in and said they now lived there too. So there are now six sisters living in our home. It is crazy. There is not enough refrigerator space and not enough bathrooms, but it will be fine I guess. Luckily Sister A and I had the small room so we get our own room whereas the other sisters who had the master room had to fit four beds in there. But we aren't complaining! We have running water, plumbing, etc. So we are super lucky compared to others!

This week did have another miracle while we were at weekly planning though. A woman was visiting her mom. She has been investigating the church for a year and would be baptized, but it would cause marital issues. While she was visiting she wanted to take her mom to church, but unfortunately she was flying out before church. So she called around and found the Bishop in the area who then called us! So we made an appointment with them for the next day. So for the past two weeks we have received referrals during weekly planning! Also, planning can be kind of a struggle sometimes and it is definitely something I have had to work on throughout my whole mission. We are supposed to have every hour of everyday filled by the end of weekly planning which is super hard for me to do. But this week, we had a super good planning and we were able to get everything done! It was definitely a personal success!

Anyway so we were able to see another woman the next day and we took Sister S with us. This lady doesn't have too many friends and she has some chronic back pain so she stays in a lot. She loved that we came over and she seemed super excited about church when we told her about it. She couldn't come this week but she plans on coming next week. We are also going to go visit her on Tuesday and teach her! So maybe she is our next golden investigator :) She did say that she has been wanting to go back to church but she didn't know where to go and needed to do her research. Bingo :) She has some issues that we will definitely have to get over though! But the Lord can help with anything :)

Our other referrals are doing well too. We haven't been able to teach themyet because they are pretty stressed about getting all moved in, but they are meeting quite a few people in the ward and are just really impressed by how nice everyone is. They actually joined us for dinner at one of their
neighbor's houses this week so we got to watch them interact and it was super good. They fit right in! So we are excited to start teaching them hopefully. We were actually supposed to help them unpack a little this week but a training meeting came up that we didn't know about right when we were
supposed to be helping them.The training was for Sister A. Whenever you finish  your first or second half training you go to a meeting for the whole mission for anyone who falls in that category. It was really good to have some simple refreshers and stuff since I wasn't every really trained by someone with much experience.

Also we had dinner with a family this week and the dad reminded me of dad! He had a sense of humor just like dad. They had a daughter who is just graduating this week and she kept rolling her eyes and what her dad said she never laughed at what he said...it reminded me of how I look at dad!
haha I always wonder why people think he is so funny, but now I guess I know why. I thought he was funny and later I realized he is like dad...sooooo I guess know I understand why people like dad and I just never knew why ;) haha love you dad.

We had a fun little dinner this week with our convert and the mission leaders. They took us out to outback steakhouse! Yum. It was super good and we had a lot of fun. We think he is just the cutest.
But that is about all I have for this week. We definitely had some good stuff happen and we are excited to see all the miracles that this transfer will bring!

I hope everyone has a good week! I know the church is true and this is definitely the Lord's work :)

Moving Company

I can't believe another week has passed already. The time slips away so quickly. This week has been another good one. We don't have any investigators we are actively teaching since our last baptism, so this week we focused on finding new investigators. We had been struggling with street contacts for a while. I go in cycles, I do really well for a while, and then for some reason I get a little timid. But geez, what the heck am I worried about!? I've got Christ's name on my chest, I can be bold just like he was! So we worked on that a lot this week and it paid off!

 

This week we had some cool experiences. Our recent convert taught the boys at mutual this week about being a police officer in Chicago. He has seen some crazy things so the boys were just in awe and so excited. He was so excited to teach them. He brought some supplies and some hand cuffs of course, so the boys had fun with that. He is doing super good and is just taking everything in so well. He is a little overwhelmed by how much information he still needs to learn, but he knows more than he thinks he does. He actually received the Aaronic Priesthood this week and was ordained a Priest! He was so excited about that. He is already just so involved in the ward and he just fits right in. He said he feels that he is at home so that is amazing.

 

We did some service this week too! I have done more service in the six weeks I have been in this area, than on my whole mission! It has been great :) We have some awesome members who are unfortunately moving to Utah. So we went one afternoon and helped them pack! We are going back this week as well to do the finishing touches. We were just the moving company this week because we had another opportunity to help people move as well. We got a call while we were at weekly planning this week and a member in the neighboring stake said that he had a family for us. He had taken them through the Gilbert Temple Open House and they were moving into our stake. So he told us they were moving the next day and he had asked if he could have the missionaries come help them move. They accepted the offer and he set out to find out who their missionaries would be. He was a little disappointed when he found out we were sisters...haha. So we wanted to give this new family a good support system and really impress them. Our ward had yet another Eagle Scout service project going on at the same time, so we had to work hard to find people to come help us. We stopped by people’s homes to invite them and we also called a ton of people and the Elder’s Quorum President sent out an email. So we were able to recruit a family to bring another truck and trailer and we also got our zone leaders and district leaders to come and then 2 other ward members came for some time as well. It was super good and the family was way impressed by all the help. The boys got big stuff and took it to the other house and Sister A and I stayed and helped the mom pack. They have 4 kids and the oldest will be turning 8 on June 1st. Jack pot! ;) haha but it went really well and we will probably be going back this week to help finish up or to help unpack. So hopefully we will have a new investigator soon!

 

We had dinner at our Bishop's house again this week. He seriously has the cutest family. He has a silly sense of humor and is always flirting with his wife too. It's cute. They have a cute tradition that I liked. Every year on New Year’s Day, they find a quote that stood out to them and something that they needed to work on that year. So one year they did a quote on scripture study and made a goal as a family to have scripture study as a family every day and they could only have 5 misses the whole year. If they did that, they would go to Disneyland! They reached their goal and had a great time. But I just loved the idea and tradition. They always paint a sign with the quote and hang it in their house and then make a new one each year and hang the rest in different places in their home! Too cute.

We also were able to visit this week with a man we have been to previously. We took him a Book of Mormon and showed him a little video. He said he wants to go to the Visitor’s center to watch the Joseph Smith movie when his wife gets home and also feed us dinner. He hopefully is coming around. He wasn't able to come to church this week so hopefully he comes next week.

 

We had a super cool experience of teaching a man I found on Facebook over Skype this week. He is from Brazil! He only knew a little English so when he didn't understand what we were saying, we typed a phrase into Google Translate and tried to sound out the Portuguese. It worked well! He said he would be open to having missionaries come to his house so we sent a referral and he also wanted 2 Book of Mormons, one in English and one in Portuguese. We also gave him the address to the closest church. It went super well and it is amazing that we can use the technology for something so good :)

 

So like I said before, we have focused on street contacting. We were able to talk to quite a few people and 4 people said we could come back and share a message sometime! So we were excited to see that in just a few days we were able to improve and find some new potential investigators.

 

This weekend our ward had a ward temple night and then a pot luck dinner afterward so we were able to go to that and just get to know some of the ward members better while we stuffed our faces. :) It was super good and very fun to talk to everyone. I don't think I've ever been so popular.
EVERYONE and their dog wanted to talk to us. But that is a good thing :)

 

We also had a super good Mission President Devotional this weekend that we took our new convert to. He enjoyed it and he was also able to meet President T. Some of the people who spoke gave their conversion story and one of the ladies had a super hard life. It makes me realize how lucky I have been. I really have had it easy.

It was a great week and it ended with transfer calls last night. We didn't get them until 11:30 so we waited up for the call, but it turns out I'm staying with my current companion here so that is exciting! I think things are about to pick up pretty soon. :)

Miracle Baptism

SO this last week has been really, really great! We had a miracle happen. We had an appointment with an investigator to go to the visitor’s center to watch the Joseph Smith movie on Monday night. So we were meeting at a member’s house to all ride together. The second we got out of the car, our investigator told us he had good news. He told us he had prayed and got an answer that he needed to be baptized. WHAT!? wahoo! We are telling him how awesome that is and then he finishes his sentence..."this sunday." My jaw dropped. We have only taught this man two lessons. We still had a lot to teach him and if he wasn't living the commandments, he would have to get special permission to be baptized. He goes on to tell us that if we were able to make this work that we would be miracle workers. He prayed and knew he needed to be baptized and he thinks his mother had something to do with it. So, he wanted to be baptized on Mother’s day because that is the day she passed away. So on the way to the movie we went through all the baptismal interview questions and taught him what he needed to know. We came to the Word of Wisdom and told him we don't drink coffee. He didn't ask why, he just said, "Well, I have been doing that but I won't anymore. Done." He just accepted it right off the bat and said that he had thrown cigarettes out 16 years prior and never smoked again. So he has some strong will power and said coffee won't be a big deal. Normally the investigators have to be living the commandments for at least 10 days prior to the baptism. So that is why we had to get special permission, he had been drinking coffee every day. However, he didn't know about the Word of Wisdom yet, so it was in ignorance.

 

So we watched the Joseph Smith movie and it was incredible, as always. I sobbed like a baby, as always. And the spirit was super strong, as always. It was really powerful and our investigator  loved it.

 

We called President T to get permission and he approved for our friend to be baptized as long as the Bishop was ok with it. The Ward Mission Leader hadn't met our investigator yet because he had been out of town so he also wanted to have a lesson with him to hear his testimony and to make sure this was going to be an ok thing and he wasn't going to fall away. So the next day we had a lesson with them and we taught in more depth about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He accepted both and said he didn't miss his coffee at all that morning. He is so prepared! We also gave him all the pamphlets so he could read them to see if he had questions. He takes them with him everywhere and reads them all the time, as well as the gospel principles book and the Book of Mormon. How cute, right. The lesson went super well and the WML gave his go ahead and helped us start planning the baptism!

 

We also met with the less active that was going to let us teach her the lessons. When we got there she sat us down and told us she didn't want to do that anymore. She said we shouldn't have to teach her anything. She should just be able to read the scriptures and pray that God will help her understand them and she doesn't need our help. So that was a huge bummer. I think she is too stubborn to change her ways and she is comfortable where she is. That is super sad to see, but we told her we would stop in and still check on her every once in a while.

 

Another guy also dropped us this week. We went to check on him and he said he didn't want to make changes either. He doesn't think it is fair that we have to live certain standards in order to live with our Heavenly Father again. So he said he realized he was doing this for the wrong reasons and he just wanted the Elders to be his friend, so we told him that we would be here if he ever changed his mind. So that was unfortunate, but it was definitely needed. Hopefully he finds his way someday.

 

We had our investigator get his baptism interview on Wednesday night. While we were at the church waiting for him, a young man was skateboarding in the park. So, one of the YW leaders invited him in to join for mutual. So he came in and we gave him a tour of the church and taught him about the sacrament and who we are and such. Then our investigator came out of his interview and started talking to him and they really bonded. We had to leave to another lesson but apparently those two stayed and talked for another half hour after we left! So even though our friend wasn’t a member yet, he was already teaching others! Amazing.

 

We also went on exchanges this week. I stayed in our area and Sister S joined me. Nothing to crazy happened but it was fun to learn from her and to have a change up for a while. You need those every once in a while. It was good!

 

So we taught the skateboarding boy later in the week and he accepted the message of the Restoration instantly and accepted the invitation to be baptized if he finds out this is true. He is an 18 boy that is about to graduate and as we finished the lesson, the YSA stake was setting up to have a dance that night. So we introduced him to some people there and he stayed for the dance! So that was really good. He won't be ours because he is in the YSA and also not in our area, so we need to transfer him to his missionaries.

 

 

Saturday we had our friend’s baptism! It was really good. He was so excited. Not too many people were there because not everyone has met him and also they didn't get a chance to announce it in church since he decided on Monday. So there was also a scheduling problem. Another ward showed up at the same time we were supposed to have our baptism. They didn't go through the building coordinator to schedule the baptism and we did. But they had a tantrum. So we got everything set up for them and then we went into a different room and did our whole program before the ordinance and then just went in the room when they were done to do the baptism. It didn't make me too happy, but as long as he got baptized then I guess that is all that matters. Just sad the way people act sometimes! But we were Christ like and made sure it all worked out for them and gave them the room and such.

 

We also visited the old woman again. This time, her two grandsons were there and they sat and talked to us about being missionaries and more about Mormons and such. So we asked them if they would come to church and the boys were kind of excited and said it would be nice to see what it is like. So hopefully that works out! They couldn't this week because they were going to see their mom, but maybe next week! We are going to go by this week and teach them a little bit more. They said they like to be open minded. I love those kinds of people :) So maybe they will pan out well!

 

I also got to skype which was the best. I really love that. It is so good to be able to explain things in person and catch up with the family. Everyone is getting so big! As am I, only not the way I want. I'm getting fatter instead of taller :(

 

Anyway we had a great Mother’s Day. Our friend got confirmed and he was just beaming. He is so happy and he said he loves everything about this church. We then had dinner at a member’s home. They have two daughters on missions so they were excited and overly nice to us ;) We had CAFE RIO....YUM. I ate sooo much and they gave us TONS of leftovers. Lucky us :) They then took us scorpion hunting in their backyard. Scorpions glow under a black light. So we used black light flashlights to find them. I found two and Sis A found one. Then Brother C would catch them with pliers and light them on fire! You can hear the air hiss out them as they burn. It's super crazy. Those buggers better never sting me! Sister A is so scared and paranoid about them. haha so we are going to buy us a black light flashlight so we can hunt for them where we live.

 

This week was really good and we had such an awesome miracle take place. The Lord truly blesses us to allow us to be part of such a great and amazing work. It is my favorite. He could do this by himself, but instead he lets us be changed by this as well. I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. Happy Mother’s Day to all the great mothers out there! :)

 

 

Let the Spirit Guide

This week has been a good one! We have been all over the place and pretty busy, so that is always good!
We met with a former investigator this week who has come to church many, many times, but still has a lot of hold ups. He is Catholic, and he was about to be baptized and he talked to his Priest about his choice and his Priest told him that converting would be a mortal sin. So basically he thought that he would go to hell and never be able to be forgiven if he was baptized. SO this man is utterly confused and scared out of his mind. However he has been receiving answers one after the other. He is an old man and has a roommate. He must rent rooms out of his house or something. So they just recently baptized his old roommate who then moved to New Jersey. So he has a new roommate now, a woman. She is probably in her 40’s or 50’s. She was doing some work on her computer and we didn't think she was listening. So we were talking about the spirit and how after you are baptized you get the gift and you can feel that good feeling all the time. She jumped right in and said, "Can you really feel the spirit all the time?" So we started to talk to her and she is interested in learning more! She has been around Mormons all her life but had some weird misunderstandings. She is out of town for the week but wants to meet with us when she gets back! So that turned out to be really good. Plus the members that came with us took us out for ice cream after so we could "evaluate." :) So that was fun. Plus we really did evaluate, but over ice cream! haha.

Also we are borrowing a member’s guitar because Sister A plays and she has been teaching me chords on P-day. So I am slowly learning to play "I Need Thee Every Hour" on the guitar! Fun stuff.

We had a really, really good zone meeting the other day. President Toone went to a seminar with 21 other mission presidents and Elder Bednar spoke to them for four days. So he came back and told us just a small portion of what he was told. We will be trained on the rest of it next transfer. It was really intense and the spirit was so strong the whole time. It really made me think about what I want in my future life and why I'm here now and stuff.

This week we also finally had a lesson with the lady we have tried to catch up with before. So we took a young women with us who is about to turn in her mission papers. We did a super good job of following the spirit to know what she needed to be taught. She doesn't have a belief in God. She isn't sure if he is there or not. So we were able to teach her how God is our Father and we can pray to him. Then we also taught her of the Book of Mormon and how it can help you gain a testimony of Christ, because it is another witness. She was really nice and open to what we had to say. She is really busy though, so that stinks. But she said the prayer at the end and it was really good! We also got her the Book of Mormon on tape because she falls asleep every time she tries to read. So we are really excited for her to read it and gain that testimony! It will be good to start with someone who doesn't really have misconceptions and is genuinely questioning if God is really there. It was really good!

So we also had a lovely experience earlier that day. We went to go visit a less active couple. They are older. So we knocked on the door and this old man answers the door...with no pants on. His shirt was literally just long enough and I was praying he wouldn't move for fear that he would flash us! I was just staring straight into his eyes. He says, "Oh no! Sister Missionaries! And I'm not wearing very long pants! But I am wearing some!" (as he lifts his shirt to show us) Turns out he was wearing a speedo. But my poor eyes! He is an old wrinkly man in a speedo! Not the prettiest sight to see. BUT a good story for future ;)

We also stopped by the old lady we met the other day. MAN can she TALK! She would not stop! She talked tons about her family so we showed her a picture of the temple and I tried to tell her about eternal families and she said, "Well ANYWAY.." and just kept talking. We were there forever and she made us late for all our other appointments because I kept trying to say we had to go and she never responded, she just kept on chattering away! I even tried to get up and she just got up too and showed us a ton of pictures and stuff. Ridiculous. We came to the conclusion that my tone of voice must have been below her hearing range from where I was sitting again. Seriously, every time I talked she just kept talking! She did show us a Bible that is passed own in her family though and it was from 1860's or something like that. It was really cool.

We also asked one of our investigators to be baptized! He said he is pretty sure that is the direction he is headed. He said he doesn't doubt it will happen, but he just doesn't know when. So that is exciting! We had a young woman come with us and she used to be Catholic just like him. She has been baptized for just over a year and she is planning on serving a mission. So we also just got approved that she can come be a little missionary with us for 2 days! She will go home to sleep, but other than that she will do the whole schedule with us. The Bishop thinks she needs to see what a mission really is so we are excited to talk to her about that. Anyway this man also said he feels like has found home and he feels so comfortable around us. He is such a sweet guy. We love him.

Also, here is a cool story to go along with our lesson with this same man. We weren't sure whether to teach the Plan of Salvation, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We decided to go with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have that prepared and if it was supposed to go the other direction, the spirit would tell us. So we got there and he said some things that made me feel we should teach the Plan of Salvation. So I said a little prayer in my head and said, "Heavenly Father, I don't want to go off our planned lesson unless this really is the direction we need to go! Help me know if the Plan of Salvation is correct because I feel it is. So I'm going to reach into my backpack and whichever pamphlet I pull out, we are going to teach." So, I reached into my backpack and what do you know, I pulled out the Plan of Salvation pamphlet! Meanwhile, Sister A was thinking the same thing so when she saw me pull out the pamphlet for it, it confirmed to her that I was also getting that prompting. So we both had answers in different ways. Prayer works and God will help you as long as you are doing your part. So that was awesome.

We have also been teaching Sis. A's friend on skype. So he was having issues and he has a lot of things he has to fix before he can be baptized. He was still skeptical of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and he loves the Bible. So we were talking about the Book of Mormon and we were just going to read with him. Well somehow Sister A mentioned that it talks about "sheep being of a different fold" that Christ would visit. (meaning the people in the America's...aka the Book of Mormon). He perked up so she found the scripture and read it to him. He immediately says, "Ok that's it, you got me. I'm converted. I'm Mormon now." WHAAAAT? We were so shocked. Sis A: "wait, seriously?" Friend: "Ya, seriously.' I nudged Sister A and told her to ask him to be baptized. Sis A: "Well, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" After a few second pause...Friend: "Ya, ya I will." WOO! It was insane! The spirit was definitely strong and he said he just instantly felt happy and peaceful when he said he would be baptized. He said it was something he had never felt before. Man, I can't believe that's all it took. He told us we should have started with that info right off the bat and he would have converted right away. He is so funny though because he now calls himself Mormon and he thought he was going to get baptized the next day. However, he does have a LOT to work on. But he called his missionaries while we were still on skype and told them he wanted to be baptized. So that was awesome! Amazing things happen using this technology! :)

We also did another service project this week. It was long and hot. It was a huge ward activity and there were three eagle scout projects going on all at the Veterans Oasis Park. The one Sis. A and I helped on was spreading huge piles of mulch around all the cactus and plants to help keep weeds from growing and to help keep the plants cooler. Let me tell you, I will never, ever complain about hoeing beets again. It was stinkin HOT. Like 98-100 degrees at 8 in the morning! We worked from 8 to noon. STINKING HOT! But it was really good and we had a little breakfast in the middle with muffins and fruit and such so that was fun.

We also taught another man this week. We taught him the Restoration. He had done his own research this week about the church and basically knew more history about it than an actual member does. So he is kinda Muslim but also has a few different beliefs from that as well. So he believes in a Savior but that Christ was only a prophet on the Earth. So we taught him more about that and he said the prayer at the end and it was really sincere and fervent. He has a 7 month old baby and he wants the best for his family. So I think he will figure things out! He is super nice and way smart. He came to church this week again too so we are excited about that. Seriously, the only way to do missionary work is through members! So that is a huge focus for us right now. Helping the members know how they can find and invite people for us to teach. 

Lastly, we talked to a mom last night. She is struggling to know what to do for her son and is trying to make him not so dependent, which is what we are trying to do too. So we talked to her about the church and she said she just started a study at a different church and wants to finish that, but that she had a Book of Mormon that she would also read. She was really sweet and she said she knew we were there for her and she would text us with questions and she just needed prayers. What a sweet lady who is struggling to know how to raise her troubled son. So I think she will eventually come around as well!

So we had lots of good experiences this week and a whole lot of letting the spirit direct us. It really does too. It is sometimes hard to know if it is the spirit, but I'm getting better on acting on those thoughts which then help me recognize that it really is the spirit. It's like learning a new language, but I think I'm getting here. I love being a missionary and I know this is God's work! It has to be or this would NEVER work. The church is true!

Service Project...mulching the cactus and plants.

365 Days

So last P day I realized that in exactly one year from that day, I will be on an airplane coming home...NOOO! It is so crazy to think that I only have 365 days left… and now even less than that! How sad is that! I mean I'm excited to see all of you, but I want to be a missionary forever! I love it, even though it's extremely hard sometimes.

Anyway, this week has been pretty good. We are starting to get quite a few potentials and we are going to be doing a lot of less active work here pretty quick.

We have done some fun things this last week. Last P day we played basketball with the Elders. That was super fun but kinda awkward. It was uncomfortable to have to watch every move you made so you didn't bump into one of the Elders. One of the Elders ran into me and I felt so awkward. Haha, I didn't really want to become such an odd missionary that is so awkward when I get home, but I guess it's happening!

We also got to do a service project for the first time on my whole mission! I haven't worn jeans in 6 months! 6 MONTHS!!! I had to squeeze into those suckers! Then it made me question why I EVER thought jeans were comfortable. But as I continued to wear them, they weren't so bad. We helped one of the kids in the ward for his Eagle Scout Project. We planted new flowers into pots downtown. It was a really fun way to get to know more members and to help out. Plus it was the most PERFECT day for it too! It was overcast and breezy and felt awesome. Everybody keeps telling us to savor it because it is getting HOT. We also have another service project this week so that also will be fun :)

This week we met with an old woman. She is inactive and has been for a long time. We have visited her before and this week we were able to uncover some of her concerns. It was super cool. We went completely by the spirit and we were able to ask inspired questions like crazy to be able to uncover those concerns. Turns out, she just joined the church because her husband did and she thought it would make him a better person because he was physically abusive. So she never really had a testimony. Because of that, she only liked the social things, but also got offended easily or just never saw the importance of church. She also loves the bible and had so many questions for us but wanted back up from the Bible. It turns out her other concern had to do with marriage because she is divorced. She thought she was going to have to be a servant to married people in heaven or something. So we were able to help her understand that she will have a chance to be married and we showed her about the Plan of Salvation in the Bible. She told us she wanted evidence from the Bible, and we were able to answer all her questions from it. She was stumped and said we gave her stuff to think about. She agreed to let us teach her the lessons over and we were going to treat her just like an investigator and help her gain that testimony, step by step. I love her so much! She is adorable. So we are excited to help her come back to church and really gain that conversion.

We also taught an active family with a less active son. The lesson went super good and we talked about the Restoration. We asked the son how the scriptures have helped him in his life and he kinda bore his testimony about them! It was really cool. Hopefully he will continue to make progress. We asked them each to read from the Book of Mormon everyday and they all committed to do so. So we will see!

We also taught the mother I talked about before about the Restoration and it went really well too! She was really open and her husband took the kids in the other room so she could really focus. She said she is open to things and has never had the lessons before so she was excited to learn and was curious. However, we took a Book of Mormon to her the next day and she was a lot more closed off. So we aren't sure if something is going on in the home and the inactive husband doesn't want her to learn? But he is always so nice to us and HE is the one that initially let us in the home. So we are trying to figure out what her concerns are.

Also we have some ward missionaries in the ward who are just ON FIRE. They are an older couple but they rock. They are the ones that have a friend we are going to teach. SO we taught their friend this last week and the lesson was FABULOUS. He says he wants to take things slow, but he is really, really, progressing. He agreed with everything we said in the Restoration. The ward missionaries had already given him a Book of Mormon and he said when he read about Joseph Smith in the beginning, he knew right then that he it had to be true and he was a prophet because no one could just make that stuff up. YAY! He also came to the service project. He loves to help and he is going to speak to the youth about being a police officer. He is a retired police officer from Chicago and he was also a fireman for a while. So he is really excited about that. He also came to church and LOVED it.

The ward mission leaders also have another neighbor who they asked if we could practice the lessons on them. The wife said no, but the husband said yes. And they wanted to feed us lunch. So we had lunch on Saturday and they made some fancy stuff and used fancy plates. It was super nice! Then we practiced on the husband with one of our lessons. He loves God and Christ, but he has had the lessons before and just thinks he is right. So maybe someday, his heart will be softened and that seed that we cultivated, will grow :)

Also our assistant ward mission leader here was in PEC with us and had the impression to invite his friend to church so he did. He also loved it and agreed to meet with us this week! Yes! So we will see how that turns out!

We finally made contact with a few people from the area book. We have knocked on everyday door in the area book multiple times and some people were finally home! So we were able to make appointments with them as well. That is exciting!So we have a few people that we have found this week that we are hoping to be able to make new investigators here pretty soon! The Lord really does bless us.

So I said earlier we were finally able to make contact with people we had been trying to for a while. So the Lord really guided us there because we weren't planning on going to this specific person at the time. We were trying to go to another person but the spirit literally blocked our memories. I knew where we were going but was thinking that they lived in a different neighborhood. So we are riding along and when we got close to a different neighborhood, I finally realize that we had gone the wrong way. I was a little frustrated and though "what was I thinking! I know where they live!" So since we were in the other neighborhood, we decided to knock on a few doors that we also knock on almost everyday. So we knocked, and they were FINALLY home! They were one of the people that set up a return appointment with us! YAY! I truly believe that that was the spirit. We have gone so many times and they are never home.

So my testimony is definitely growing. I know that if we will just listen to the promptings we receive, even if we think it is just us or aren't sure if they are promptings, the only way to know for sure, is to act on them. Then we will be able to recognize those promptings better. I love being a missionary and helping people come closer to Christ. I know this church is true and this is God's work...or else I would have messed it up a long time ago! :)