September 2, 2013

Well hey there!

I have so many cool things to tell you!!!! Wooot!

First of all..........we are going to start using Facebook!!!!!!!!!! We get an hour a day on it......probably going to start some time this week. Goodness, that will be so strange :D But I am excited! We are also getting iPads........and want to know something REALLLLLLY cool? Well, we get to use Skype to have members at our lessons.........and they said we could use ANY members...including our family!!!!!! And we can have lessons with ANYONE....even friends from home or wherever over the internet. When they told us about this, they said that it is one of the only unanimous votes from the brethren that there has been in a really long time, and the only comment out of President Monson's mouth was that 'it is about time' ' we just need to trust them.'  Well, we will see how this goes, we are still supposed to focus our efforts in our area, BUT, they want us to focus on the people we feel inspired to as well. Should be a really exciting week. Tomorrow we are going to have a training on it or something like that, on how to clear up our Facebook's to make them missionary like, haha (that might take a little work, haha). It should be super cool!

Also I got a super cute letter from the seelos family this last week. They are so precious, and going to Germany, exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad we have kept contact with them over the years, they are a classy family. I love them!!!

Also, I got a letter from Tausha this week too. She and Carson are in Tuscon! So close, but so far. Good times :D

And I have to tell you about 2 families. First J2 y A. We are still working with them...they are being kind of stubborn, but it just feels like they are going to soften up one day really soon. They came to church with us yesterday, and some of their family came too, it was awesome! It was their second time coming to church and they stayed all 3 hours......it was a little long for them, but they stuck it out and I think they even liked it. The members bore perfect testimonies about their conversion stories and finding out for themselves what church was true. Hermana Romano and I bore our testimonies too and A looked like she was fighting back tears. I am so thankful for the spirit! Today at 3:30 we are going to go to their house for p-day to make tostadas with them. J2 just lost his job and their fridge stopped working and all their food went bad and they don't have any money to buy more food.....basically they really haven't eaten in a few days. So we used the excuse that we want to learn to make tostadas (they are always saying how when they get some money they are going to invite us over for tostadas) and we are going to bring the food over and have dinner with them. I am super excited, they are awesome gente!

And, next ready for some drama???? haha....... A and her son A2. A lives with her sister who is a member, hma O. And she actually really wants to be baptized......but...She lives with her boyfriend, husband type person as well. They have been together for 6 years, have 1 kid and 1 one the way.....but they can't get married because he ALREADY HAS A WIFE that lives in Mexico and he can't get a divorce because the wife doesn't want too and because he is illegal and she would probably just turn him in if he tried. And the sad part is is that he and A don't really even love each other, she keeps wanting to leave him because he treats her awful, but she doesn't have a job and she thinks he wouldn't help pay for the kids if she dumped him.....confused yet? Me too. But this is how it goes with LOTS of people here. They are all married to someone in Mexico and then come up here and find a 'new family' but can't get married because they are already married to someone else and then we find them and they can't get baptized unless they live in seperate houses. Oh the life of a missionary :D haha, good good times!!!! But anyway. A and her son are so ready for baptism, we just have to help her figure this little situation out :D

But Sunday was awesome, we had 8 gators at church! It was a good feeling to see them all there :D best day ever.

And we did the funnest service project EVER this week. We gave 5 of the cuttest puppies I have ever seen in my whole life baths:D It was a pretty ruff hour, hahaa. It was so fun!!!!! and the less active lady even came to church that week.....guess we will have to keep going over to play with her puppies if that is what it is going to take :D haha.

Well, I realized something scary this week. I only have 3 transfers left. WHAT????!?!?! My, my, the time does fly. better make the best of it!

August 26, 2013

Oh hello there family dear!

Well, this week was amazing! There was one day that the temperature said 87 degrees.....it was a miracle and I LOVED it :D haha. Lots of cool things happened this week!!!!!

First of all, I have never worked harder to get people to come to church in my whole mission as I did this past week. We had fellowship to help everyone to come and we had 12 people firmly comitted to come. We were soooooo excited for sSnday! Sunday morning we went by everyone again to make sure they were up and getting ready, and they all said that they would be there. And guess how many came. I will tell ya, it starts with a z and ends with a ero. 0!!!!!! Agency is my least favorite thing, :D C and J (had the date to be baptized of the 24th and were going to get married but didn't) were supposed to have been there with their whole family...but didn't come. The G family (don't really think I have told you too much about them...) but they were supposed to come and didn't. J2 and A wre supposed to have come (J2 doesn't really want to anymore) but they didn't, and the list goes on and on. The A family has met with missionaries 126 times and we still have to beg them to read and come to church and pray and they still dont. So any way....long story short....we are dropping basically everyone. Everyone but M (the cool referral we got with family in Mesa), A, A2, a lady named S that is a friend of a member, and 12 year old V (the elders are teaching her family, but she wanted us to teach her). I have been in this area for a month and no one is making progress towards anything, especially baptism. Time for us to stop wasting the Lord's precious time and find people that are willing to act. So this week we are going to work with members and finding like crazy. We will just put our faith and trust in the Lord and have patience and hope and we will find those people that the Lord wants us to find:D I am excited, I always like challenges :D

Well last night we went to the visitor center with a lady A2 that we are teaching and her sister Hermana O and a less active member E (he is one of my favorites!....so stubborn, but still, a favorite, haha) It was awesome. We watched the Joseph Smith movie and listened to the Christus statue and walked around the temple. It was SOOOOOOO amazing. The spirit was super strong and I am sooooo grateful for the testimony that I have of the prophet Joseph Smith, it is impossible to deny spiritual experiences like that. It is all sooo true.

Also this week, we had interviews and a temple trip as a mission. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!! Family GOOOOOOOO to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week, you HAVE TOOOOOOO! There is a new something in the temple and you HAVE TOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOO! One of the coolest experiences of my whole life. I am so grateful for the plan that God has for us as a family, it is so real! Please go to the temple and think of how excited I was when I first saw it. IT IS AMAZING and best love story ever.......okay, enough said. Did I get you curious? GOOOOOO! :D

Also, another cool story to share. So, in those notes that you sent me Cristy dear, some thing that Sheri Dew said jumped out at me. Something to the effect of 'pray to know how God feels about you.' Well, let me tell you, if you pray about that you will get your answer. That whole day we saw miracle after miracle and it was the most beautiful sunset ever that evening, and there is this song that is on a CD for youth, called Shine, and the song is called, He Loves Me (it made my day). Well, if you can find it somehow you have to listen to it. It is so true, God just loves us so much and he sustains you and me in everything we do.

The only other thing going on this week is a cold. Dang things.  Had a sore throat and a fever up the wazoo (how do you even spell that, haha?), Thankfully it didn't keep me inside, Heavenly father is more poweful than some dumb cold, haha. Now I just have that crazy cough that lasts forever. haha, but it is getting better too.

Well family dear, love you all dearly!! Take care and I love and miss you and am always praying for ya.

August 19, 2013

Oh hey there familiy dear!!!!!! How is everything going?.....REALLY? Hope all is well:D

 

Things are going great over here!! We have had some nice 120 degree days this week and right now it is only 102 outside.....life is GOOD:D

Well this week was the mission tour with Elder Cardon. It was amazing. He talked a lot about helping our investigators recognize and feel the spirit by helping them pray. Sometimes one of the trickiest things to do is have the person you are teaching say the closing prayer. Well he talked about that and how we can help them actually do it. We have been trying everything he said to do and every lesson we have had since then the investigator has said a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson. It has been an awesome experience. One of my favorite things as a missionary to experience is someones first out loud prayer. They are always the most sincere heartfelt conversations I have ever heard in my life. Prayer really is real and we really can talk to the most powerful being in the universe anytime and every time we want to. It is so mind boggling how busy God must be, but how he makes time to answer every prayer and to pay attention to every thought that we have. He is pretty much the coolest ever :D

This week we got a refferal from one of the elders, someone they had contacted in the street and wanted us to go by. Well, she is superrrrr prepared to hear the gospel!!! She has family in Mesa that are members and they are always inviting her to go to church with them, but it is like 40 minutes away so she never has. She has always asked them to let her know where a closer church is and she would go....well they never helped her find one. And then the elders happen to stumble upon her and give us her contact info....coincidence??? I think not! So we had a lesson with her about the restoration and she loves it! She loves the focus of the family in the church and wants her kids to have that support that she sees her famliy get from the friendships they have in the church. She is awesome and we are so excited to work with her more :D

So dear ole J2 y A...the ones that came to church last sunday :D .....things aren't going to great. We had a lesson with them about the Book of mormon and in the middle of it J2 looked at A and told her to choose right then which church she wanted to go to--Mormon, catholic o christian. She kind of started crying because she didn't know. J2 is really confused and would rather not think about religion and A just wants to do what is best for her family. But they will come around, they are golden, they just need to realize it first. AND..the funniest thing happened. We went over to their house and they were watching a movie on TV that they really wanted to finish. Guess what it was???? Johnny Lingo, the new version. Haha. They are mormon and they dont even know it yet :D And another little side note....last week when we stopped by in the morning to help them come to church, J2 was about to get ready to mow a lawn for a neighbor. Well, we promised him that the Lord would provide a way to find more work if he made time right then to come to church......and you know what happened??? When he got home he had 5 more lawns to mow. The Lord always blesses us when we keep the commandments, especailly the sabbath day holy. There is a really cool scripture that I found, mosiah 2:22-24. 22 And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has ^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his ^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he doth ^arequire that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately ^bbless you; and therefore he hath paid you.
 

How simple life really is. All that is required of us is to keep the commandments. To love unconditionally, to share the gospel, to go to church, and He promises us that we will "prosper in the land." And I absolutely love how it says that he doth immediately bless you. It really is true. He immediately blesses us when we do what we are suppose to. How cool is that????? Well, we pointed that out to J2, that he got more lawns to mow because of the immediate blessings the Lord saw fit to send him because he came to church. The church is just sooooooooooooo TRUE!

Well I love you all lotttttssssssss! Miss you dearly and remember how special you are :D hehe. Have a great week and we will talk to ya later! Love you!

August 12, 2013

I do not even have words to describe the thoughts that were in my head as I opened that package!!!! First I was like, oh thats cute, George of the Jungle. Then I was like, oh look, a man with out a shirt....nice....then I was like......I am a missionary! I can't think that! And then I saw what that was all about a I about died laughing. Bwhhwhwhwhwhahahahahahahahaa! Oh my goodness. That one was really good:D hahaha. Thanks a billion :D I loved it and all the laughs that came with it (and there were lots of laughs :D)

Well family dear. Thanks for the package and emails and all your love. I sure do love and miss ya to pieces! Hope you are all having a great time and that you LOVED church yesterday! Because I sure did! Story time!

So the C and J that were on date for the 24th to be baptized and married have been avoiding us lately.....we are not sure if it is intentional or just really coincidental that we haven't been able to catch them at home. But anywary, we stopped by their home in the morning before church to help them come and the daughter said she was in the shower and would tell her about church......well she didn't end up coming meaning that they fell off date because she didn't come to church (LAME!!!!) BUT, there is another family we found this week. Missionaries had talked to A on the street one time and had written her address and put a sticky note on the wall....we don't know how long ago that was. But we decided to go by and introduce ourselves (that was actually last week, but whatever) This family is amazing!!!! J2 and A are some of my new favorite investigators :D J2 is catholic and A is christian and they each go to seperate churches. As we were talking with them one day J2 just told us how he felt. Religion has always been a sore spot for their family because they each go to different churches and then we come along and invite them to another church. In the middle of that conversation he remembered a few years ago, one of his really good friends was LDS and was always inviting him to come to church. He never went with him and then the friend passed away and he felt really guilty for not going. Well that memory softened his heart and they committed to come to church with us on Sunday :D So we went to kindly (maybe a little forcefully, haha) remind them about church Sunday. We got there and J2 was getting ready to cut grass and A was in the middle of washing dishes. We promised them that if they came to church Heavenly Father would REALLY bless them this week in ways that He couldn't if they didn't come....and J2 really has a lot of faith. He was just like, if you promise me that, we will come. So, he went and hopped in the shower, Hermana R and I sat on their couch eating cake for breakfast (haha yum) and A helped her kiddos get ready. Church starts at 12:00 and you know how I HATE being late to things, haha....well it was 12:00 when we left their house. We didn't make it in enough time to get to take the sacrament (we snuck in for another sacrament meeting :D) but they absoluetly loved church!! And it was soooo worth being late to! Walking into church with a whole family was soo worth it. And it was perfect! The Saturday before 2 families in the ward were sealed as families in the temple and the families were speaking and sharing their thoughts about their experience. When one of the little girls was saying how she was sooooo happy she gets to live with her family forever, the Spirit was really touching J and A. It was awesome. They are definitely some of the prepared people we have been praying to find :D Oh happy day!!!!! And the members of this ward are so great! It has been amazing to see how good they are at fellowshipping! On Sunday, 13 investigators were at church and each one of them I am pretty sure had at least 5 members come and greet them. Yeah for member missionary work!

Sorry, that was kind of a long story. haha. But I have a funny story for you now :D One of the funniest things I have experienced as a missionary. so there is this guy, M, he is a heavy drinker.........I mean a lot. And he wants to quit soooo bad, and his family wants him to quit too. Well we went over to his house yesterday and he was completely drunk. The last time we met with him he was sober and it was such a great spirit filled lesson...but we didn't have time to really help him with the alcohol problem. We had wanted to take all of his alcohol away (have I ever told you that that is one of my favorite things to do as a missionary ??? So fun and Great when people really want to give something up so they hand it all to you...and then you are like, what am I suppose to do with it??haha any way, so that was the plan this time--let him really know we want to help him quit drinking so he can feel the spirit and understand our message. So, we were standing at the door and we told him to go get a trash bag. And he is the most obedient drunk I have ever met in my life, haha. He comes back and we tell him to got put all of the beer that he has in the bag and bring it back. He just turns around and waddles away not even thinking twice about what we told him to do. hermana and I were about dying of laughter as he was walking away. He was just being so funny, poor guy. Well, turns out he dind't have any more, he had already drank it all (I believed him because he was really drunk). He comes outside and sits on the ground and just starts talking. Turns out alcohol is a truth serum. he starts talking about Jose Smith and about how he wants to know why he was important and just rambling on and on....kind of what I am doing right now....but I am not drunk....Promise :D We asked if we could sing a song and then we said a prayer with him and he just started crying and praying and it was the saddest most heartfelt prayer I have ever heard in my whole life. I felt so bad for him!!!! He said that he tried to call us first before he drank, but he couldn't find our number.......I felt so bad for that guy. Well, have no fear. he will stop tomando and then he will understand what the gospel is and then he will want to be baptized!!! that's the master plan :D

Oh this week was just full of precious memories. we chopped raw pork in to tiny tiny pieces for 2 hours to help a member who was cooking dinner for one of the 70 who was coming to visit (we went to that fireside last night by the way and I got to see lots of members from Mesa!! It was soooooo fun to see them all and get to hear him speak!) Also, Hermana R and I have been laughing way to hard. haha. we are just having so much fun together and working hard along the way. This is what a mission should be like :D

Well, Elder Cardon from the 70 is coming to tour our mission this week. I am super excited because I really loved his talk from conference, if I remember it is called something like "The Savior Wants to Forgive' or something like that dealing with repentance. He is doing a fireside Tuesday night so we can bring investigators and then on Thursday we have an all day meeting with him. So I am excited for all that this week has in store :D wooT!

I love you all and hope you have another great week!!!!!

 

MUAH!

August 5, 2013

Well hey there family!!!!!!

 

Well, first things first. I am serving in Phoenix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When the mission split in the middle of last transfer Tempe mission picked up 2 zones from the Phoenix mission....and I am serving there now. It is where I wanted to go :D wish granted. The address is (contact Cristy if you would like the address). We are just serving in 1 ward and we share it with 2 sets of elders and it is called Cielito....it is called 'little heaven,' how cute is that? My companion is Hermana R, she has been out for 4 months. She was born in Mexico, but has lived in Idaho most of her life. She speaks english and spanish perfectly....my first native companion!!!! I have been learning lots of spanish from her. AND, she is one of my favorite comps EVER! We have seen TONS of miracles this week, it has been amazing. The only sad thing is that she doesn't have a bike so probably wont be doing much of that for a little bit :( I feel SOOOOO lucky to be her companion. I have been learning so much! I have especially been learning more about prayer from her. I had a testimony of prayer before, but it is even stronger now. She prays literally everytime she gets up, every time before we exercise, at the beginning and end of every hour of study, before we leave, before we get out of the car (every time during the day), at the beginning and end of every lesson, with members, and before we contact anyone and at the end of every day. She has taught me the importance and necessity of praying as a missionary at literally every moment we can. And you know what? We have seen miracles because of it. People have let us in that they have not had luck with before, people with 8 page teaching records (I am not kidding, 8 PAGE teaching records!) accepted baptism and are going to get married, we are finding the COOLEST people on the street that have potential, and we are having fun working hard. Well, I am so very thankful for the opportunity that we have to give thanks for His help in this His work, and for the opportunity we have to ask for help when we need it. But seriously, Sister R might just be the first sister A.P.! watch out elders ;D

 

Lets see what else.....

Well, miracle number 1. There is this family, la familia A, they have been taught for a really long time (longest teaching record I have ever seen!). Well, they are so ready for baptism...and they accepted a date!!!! For august 24th! Looks like we are going to be having another wedding! woot! Hopefully things will work out, they didnt come to church yesterday......so we will see how serious they are. But they are golden if they will just follow through.

 

Miracle number 2. I didn't get killed by an oversized chiuahua this week. Hahaha. We were contacting a potential investigator and had an awesome lesson with her about the family......after the lesson was over we each gave her a hug and this over protective dog comes charging at us. Granted he is about the size of Paco...a little bigger. but I have never met a more angry dog in my life. We hurried and got outside hoping she would have grabbed that little twit....but she didn't! He came and grabbed the end of my skirt and started to pull with all his might....thankfully I held on. The lady was just like, "Dont move." Are you kidding me, your dog is about to bite my leg off and you want me not to move? haha, well she went inside to get a broom or something and while she was gone I gave that dog a really hard wack with a Book of Mormon (who knew, multi purpose :D) and he backed off. But shoot, killer dog on the loose, watch out. We will probably have a lesson outside next time we go over. haha.

 

Miracle 3 (there are more, but there is no more time:D). So every morning we do role plays. One of us pretends to be the investgator and the other one teaches them, to help prepare us for the day. Well, I was pretending to be waxing a car, wax on wax off type stuff. Hma R taught me about the plan of salvation and it was awesome. We didn't think any thing else of it. But would you believe that while we were driving I saw this guy that I wanted to talk to. So we drove a little and parked the car and walked back. When we got to his house.....he was waxing his car, and we started to teach him about the plan of salvation (we didn't put 2 and 2 together yet). We had an awesome lesson with him while we helped him and he wants us to come back. So fast forward to yesterday during personal study and I was reading about service and it hit me. Our role play for that day really was inspired because the SAME exact thing happened that day and we found an awesome guy to teach because of it. Coincidence...I think not. I am now an even bigger fan of role plays, hahaha.

 

Other than that, transfer meeting was awesome! The whole mission was there and the 41 new missionaries! Craziness! And next transfer there are like 33 coming in. Basically the whole mission are newbies. It is soooo sweet! The day after that we had to drive our car back to the mission home to get this annoying thing called tiwi fixed (it tells you when you are speeding and when you hit a bump in the road and when you take a turn faster than 15 mph....I am not a fan, ahaha). Any way. I got to drive in the big city and it was freaky!!! I am used to little dirt roads in the middle of the desert and there i was on a free way in the midst of skyscrapers. Craziness. haha.

 

Well. I love you all!! Hope all is well and remember how much I love you! MUAH!!!!!!!!!!! Have a good week!!

July 29, 2013

Well hello there family dear! This is going to be a shorter letter, sorry. But time is just going SOOO fast today! 

 

I am getting transferred! Only 4 weeks in Casa Grande and I am off. I think I am going to Tempe or Phoenix, we will have to see on Wednesday :D

 

This week was great! We got to teach M again (it makes every week better!) and see lots of miracles and we got to meet some really cool people! Other than that, I am doing all better, I am not getting sent home, and I have prayed the most heartfelt prayers of my life this week. haha. It has been a bit exhausting but all is well now. WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

I am excited to get transferred, but super bumbbed because M is getting baptized on the 11th and I want to be here! Hopefully they will let me come back :D A ver. 

 

This morning we went to Ihop to eat breakfast as a district to say bye to Sister P. it was super fun and we all laughed super hard. This district has the best elders in it, it has been a great 4 weeks :D Well, one door closes and another one opens :D

 

I love you all and will let you know where I go to! Take care and remember I love ya!!!!

July 22, 2013

Well hello there!!!!!

 

This week was crazy cool!!!! Had a REAL dust storm and a REAL monsoon this week. It was quite the adventure! And we have a gazillion miracles!

 

Well first things first! Do you remember me telling you about M? She is my favorite person here in Casa Grande! We had a lesson with her and she is going to be baptized on AUGUST 11 (perfect way to be celebrating your birthday sister dear!). She is so neat. She is literally is one of those people that can put a smile on your face with in the first second you are talking with her, and she is humble about it. She reminds me a lot of you mother dear! She came to church and absolutely loved it and has tons of friends already :D

We also found someone else really cool! His name is B and he is super open to the gospel. He has pretty much hit rock bottom in his life and his marriage and is looking for a way back up. Well, he wants to be baptized on August 3rd. We were teaching him about baptism and he asked us if he could be baptized. Cool story. We are trying to work with his wife too.....she is not quite so open, but she will get there!

And C! She is the one that went and got married so she could be baptized. Well, she was on date for the 27th, but she moved it to the 17th of august. Which is lame because she is totally ready for baptism now. She has had all the lessons and has a testimony and comes to church every sunday. Well, hopefully Limburg and I are still here next transfer!!! These people are great!

 

Okay okay. Well. We had zone conference this past week. Talk about amazing. We talked all day about sustaining. Us sustaining our leaders, God, the prophet, and the way that God sustains us and how we can sustain ourselves. It was the BEST zone conference ever! It really was neat to hear and how we can sustain ourselves and how God sustains us. I have never thought about it like that before. God sustains us by the little miracles that happen everyday. It was so neat! I love President Toone, he is so inspired and loving!

Elder G from Jacksonville goes home this week! So you should keep an eye open for him and say hey (it could happen).

 

Well the dust storm was sweet and the monsoon was even cooler!!!! I don't think that pictures will do it justice, but that will have to do. 

 

I love you all so very much and remember how special you are to me!!!!!! LOVE YOU!