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!

July 15, 2013

Well hello family!!!!

 

First of all....THANKYOU for the package and the letters and all of the fun suprises in the boxes! The letters and fruit and pecans and EVERYTHING was PERFECT! You guys are the best!!!!

 

And there are lots of little things to tell ya about!

 

This week was sweet! Saturday we did some hard core service! There is a less active family that has been completely shut off to the church that has been letting the missionaries come over. So we went and they are doing tons of work. They just had 2 big trucks of gravel dumped in their yard and so we shoveled that level and helped them put tile and grout on their back porch. I am just learning all sorts of things and finding muscles that I didn't even know I had. Ha. We started at 6 in the morning because that is the only time to work in Arizona.

 

We went to the temple as well this week. Amazing as always! That is one blessing from not being down in Yuma, they dont have a temple close to them down there. The member we went with took us out to eat afterwards and the owners of the little sandwich shop were members too so they gave us all free cookies...they were amazing!

 

One of the counselors in the branch presidency is an eye doctor and asked us if we wanted to get some free contacts (yes please!!!). The four of us don't know our perscriptions so he used my glasses to find it.. The first thing he said was "Oh Wow." Haha, he was a little bit astonished about how blind I was. It was super funny (you probably had to be there). Well, it was no suprise but he didn't have any contacts in my perscription, so the other sisters got some and now I have an updated perscription that I can get new glasses when I get home. Brother S is the best!

 

Also this week, we biked 30 miles in 1 day. haha. It was lots of fun and really hot. But we saw awesome miracles happen and it made it all worth it. It is really nice, because Sister Limburg is tall too and she likes to bike fast. All of my other comps (bless their hearts) just didn't have the power to bike fast. So now we are biking maniacs! It is fun:D

 

Also, last Monday we went bowling as a district! It was Elder Jergensmyer's birthday (side note... can you imagine spanish people trying to pronounce his name? haha, when he served with Elder Niederhouser is was ESPECIALLY funny. J is 6'9'' and N is 6'4 and they both have ridiculous names....those poor hispanics didn't have a chance. Bwhahaa). Well anyway....It was awesome and I suprised myself...I wasnt' half bad a bowling! woohoo!

 

Well on a sad note, our dear friend H wants to wait to be baptized. His wife found out and she was super angry. He wants to divorce her (so sad!! they made it through basically their whole life together!) But he wants to wait to sell the house so they can divide their things. He said probably baptism in October. Dang. It is a crazy rule, that the spouse has to give permission for the other one to be baptized, but the gosple is all about families and not about being the reason a family breaks up. We will see how it all works out. 

 

But we do have one of our other investigators on date. C (the one that just got married so she could be baptized). She is going to be baptized on the 27th and her son in going to baptize her. PRECIOUS!!!!!!!! 

 

Is was just such a crazy cool week. Last night we ran out of plans and people to go by. So we went to another apartment complex and found some awesomely prepared people to teach!!! We found 2 new investgators in 45 minutes. Being a missionary is the best. 

 

Well. I love you all and hope all is well. Sorry to hear that some of your missionaries are leaving. That is always super sad. BUT, I bet the next ones will need ya just as much :D

 

I love you all!!!!

July 8, 2013

Well hello again!!!

 

Sounds like you have been getting quite the rain storms! Thats good....better than fires everywhere! We have been getting some REALLY cool storms too. A few haboobs (you are right cristy...that is a REALLY strange word, haha) and some SWEET lightening storms. I love Arizona, it was the most lightening I have ever seem in my life pretty much, so purdy.

 

So Casa Grande. Lets see. There is a lot of desert in our area, and some really big lizards that can run really fast when they are scared. haha. Our area is really big, and we cover half of a Spanish branch and an English ward. When I got here a week ago (time flies!) we didn't have any investigators, they had just dropped them all because none of them were progressing. Well, we are now teaching 7, WOOOHOOO! And we have one person date for the 27th of July. His name is H and he is SOOOO cool. 

 

So H has been investigating the church for 5 years. His brother and sister in law are members in the Spanish branch and have taught him a lot over the years. He would have been baptized a long time ago, but his wife is really anti. He has his own quad, watches the BYU channel and comes to church when he can. It is to the point that all he wants to do is be baptized and it doesn't matter what his wife tells them...which presents a little problem because he can't be baptized unless she gives permission. She goes to an Apostolic church that he opened a while back and does not want any thing to do with the 'mormons.' Well, their marriage is already really rocky and not at a good place. He says he won't tell her until a few days before his baptism, and we keep telling him to ask her now. Haha. Lots of prayers and fasting for this lady to be okay with it and that her heart can be softened. H is one of my favorite people ever! He is just a precious 80 yr old man:D

 

Second person I want to tell you about....C. Her 3 kids are baptized and are active, she was not baptized because F and her are not married and didn't want to get married (they both had really bad first marriages). Well, we went to visit her on Friday. She is so sweet!!!!!!! The first thing she told us is that she is going to Las Vegas to get married on Saturday so that she can be baptized. Needless to say we have been a little excited :D

 

The next person in M. She investigated the church 2 or 3 years ago and works in an office with members of the church. We rang to door bell and she comes out and she is the happiest friendliest most bubbly person I have ever met! She opened right up and said that she was wondering why missionaries haven't stopped by in a year or so. Well, she told us that she is ready for the next step. That she wants to be baptized. She didn't accept a date but she is ready and has sincere desires!!!!

 

There are just so many cool prepared people here!!!!!!!!

 

So the move to Casa Grande is probably one of the best things that has happened to me. I didn't want to go and I was putting up a fight with Heavenly Father about it, it didn't feel right and I didn't feel okay about leaving Somerton to come here! Well....stupid me. There are some of my favorite missionaries serving here right now. Elder M, one of my FAVORITES from the MTC is the zone leader, Elder M2 (he was my district leader in Yuma.....he is awesome) and Elder V that I also served with in Yuma is here too. When we had weekly planning on Friday Elder M asked if I wanted a blessing (he can read my mind I guess :D). It was the one of the coolest blessings ever! It took away all of my doubt about being here. He said that God had a work for me to specifically do here in Casa Grande and it was not just by chance that I was sent here. He said that the missionaries in this zone need me to be here and that they all have a lot of love for me. Gave me some counsel about working and trusting in my companions more (with Hermana B I had been lacking in that a lot). Anyway, ever since then it has been nothing but peace of mind that I need to be HERE! Heavenly Father is SO COOL! I am so grateful for the peace that priesthood blessings can give. 

 

We live in a house with another companionship. My comps name is Sister L.  She is tall too, so it is really fun! And she is so loving and kind. This week has literally been full of miracles and I am soooooo grateful to be here and be her companion. She was in the MTC with Hermana B, so she has been out for 4 months. She really didn't want Sister W to leave, so it has been kind of hard to break the ice with her for a little bit there, but I just started telling her some of those korny jokes I send to you every once in a while and we became best friends in no time. Haha. 

 

The new mission president and his wife are soooooo cool! He is 7 feet tall! It was really cool, he started talking to about being tall and it was super funny. It will be a great 6 months. A year already came and went.......super crazy!!!

 

The 4th of July we went to our spanish branch party. It was ridiculous!!! The person who organized it had us sing 5 patriotic songs in english before anyone did any thing....all of the Mexicans just stood there because they cant sing in english. It was super funny :D But we were in by 6:30 and made a fun dinner and watched the testaments. Good good times:D Didn't get to see any fireworks though.....did you guys do anything?

 

Well, I love you all and hope you remember how special you are too me!!!!!!! thanks for you emails and I love you dearly!

July 1, 2013

Okay okay.  First things first.  New address is (sorry - if you want to write a letter, please contact Cristy).   Right after we are done emailing here in Yuma a member is picking me up to take me to my new home, haha:D

Second of all, worst thing ever to have to say bye to the people here in Somerton so soon!!!!!!! This is my favorite place ever and we are all coming back to visit :D hehe  But we made so many fun memories with the people here, and I have lots of fun pictures!

Third of all, I am fine.  PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!  I have been a little tired after everything, but really, I am just fine.  This whole experience has been REALLY strange.  All I can say is that I am grateful for the power of priesthood blessings, the power to heal, and the comfort that being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ brings:D  It was a little freaky to wake up in a hospital with nothing but a sheet on and not having any idea what just happened, haha (I promise I am laughing as I am writing this :D)  But all is well.  They told me to drink lots of water and to stay off of the bike for a bit.  

So after Sister Bryant called President about the whole thing, he called our zone leaders and they showed up at the house (have I ever told you how much I love this house????! haha)  And, yeah, I don't know anything that happened, but I remember feeling like I was getting a blessing, peace and comfort that only the spirit can bring.  It actually turned out to be a really cool missionary experience after everything was good.  We were talking to the nurses and doctors and they were all so curious about what we do as missionaries and about the crazy cool foot tan that I had.  Haha.  Good good times.  

So, I have no idea if you will believe me, haha, but honestly, I am good to go and I feel fine.  No need to freak out, and no need for me to come home early (WOOHHOOOO!) So happy day. 

So at the beginning of this week (a few hours before all heck broke loose, haha) we had a lesson with A and she accepted a baptismal date!!!!!!!! I feel like she is one of the people that I was sent here to help.  She is going to be baptized and then she is going to get married to Hmo P ( the member guy she is dating) and they are going to live such happy lives!!!!! They are the coolest ever!!!!!!!

Also, had a lesson with F.  So last week, we extended for him to try to read the whole Book of Mormon.  He said he would if we prayed for him to find a job and by the end of the week he said he really wanted God to give him a job.  It was almost like he was testing God to see if it would work (committing to read the Book of Mormon and in return getting a job).  Well, F told us that after 3 hours of reading on Monday, the first day of his challenge, he got a phone call from one of the jobs he applied at.  They hired him on the spot and on Wednesday he started working.  Maybe he was just testing God, but F learned for himself that if we read the Book of Mormon and keep the commandments of God, we are going to receive blessings!!!!!!!!! His faith was strengthened so much and he still didn't accept baptism, but he is so gosh darn close :D I will miss him a lot, I have grown so much while trying to help him!!!!  

Okay, well, I promise things are good.  I love you alllllll so much! I hope things are just peachy for you all down there and HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 wooohoo.  We have to be inside by 7:00 so we will have a little missionary party :D  But just know that I love you and you are in my prayers tambien.   

June 24, 2013

This week went by sooo fast.  The transfer meeting was so great! We all drove up to Tempe and said good bye to all of our missionary friends that are going to other missions (Sister Lemon and Sister Anderson are going to the Gilbert mission....sad day!) We all took pictures, and had a good ole time.  We had to leave at 3:30 to get there on time, so we are all still trying to play catch up :D

 

Well, lets see, cool story time!  Had a lesson with F this week.  We read out of Preach My Gospel with him about how all doubts and questions can be traced back to if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It hit him really hard.  He has tons of really good questions, but he is caught up in the knowledge aspect of it instead of being concerned about the testimony aspect of it.  So..... we invited him to read ALL of the Book of Mormon this week :D haha.  He is in Alma, but he said he wanted to start at the beginning again.  So before the end of the month, he will have read the whole thing completely. (he doesn't have work or school so he has time :D) If he does it for the right reasons, there is no reason he would not want these blessings in his life after he is through with it :D

 

Another really cool thing! We were biking and we passed a lady, felt like we should go back, so we did. We talked to her and her daughter and they were not interested at all.  But as soon as they found out we were Mormon they told us to go visit a lady 4 doors down, named A.  Well we went to visit her.  She comes outside and starts crying and says "how did you know where to find me?" Well, turns out she is Mormon and she had no idea there was a church down here.  We found her an hour before a church activity and we hurried and found her a ride and she came.  She was so amazed that there were missionaries on her door step :D It was sweet :D 

 

So we had a dinner at the church on Saturday to celebrate Fathers Day (better late than never :D). It was a miracle, there were more people from Somerton there than from San Luis.  WOOHHOOOOO.  It was cool to see all of those families we have been working with there....now they just all need to come to church :D Little by little. 

 

Well, we found lots of cool people to teach this week, I am excited!

 

Also, the broadcast was awesome!!!! Well, what we heard of it.  We watched it with the Spanish branch and there was a lot of technical difficulties, we probably ended up hearing only about half of it, but the half we heard was awesome!!!!! I loved the story by President Monson at the end about the branch president looking up names in the phone book.  haha.  Pretty sure we are going to try to start doing that in Somerton.  Haha.  It was amazing. 

June 17, 2013

Found out that Hermana B and I are staying here in Somerton for this next transfer.  I am excited, I really wanted to stay :D  There is just so much work to do here in this town it is crazy.  Most people are so closed off to acting on anything we teach, but there are the less actives here that make it all worth EVERYTHING!  The goal for Somerton is to get its own branch so we are trying to activate and then find people through less actives. 

 

This week we met the C2 family, they were baptized in 1995, sealed as a family in the temple, and then he started drinking 6 years later and she stopped going to church because the members started to ask where he was and she didn't want to tell them he was drunk, so she stopped going to.  But they still have strong testimonies about everything.  We walked in and they started talking about their sister missionaries when they were baptized.  One was really tall and the other was really short.  They couldn't help but laugh at Sister B and I :D We broke the ice right off the bat and I absolutely love this family :D They will come back to church. 

 

The next family is the B's.  They were baptized 4 years ago.  She has to work every Sunday at Sears in Yuma, and he had an accident at work about 5 months ago and is still having problems with his legs and has to wear shorts all the time because he is wearing those big medical boots on each leg. He says he doesn't come because he doesn't want to wear shorts to church, I think it is just an excuse, but we will see, haha.  We have been reading Alma 32 with them and just getting them excited to read the Book of Mormon again.  They are so nice to us and I love them!!!!!!!

 

So Hermano B has a sister(this whole branch is related somehow :D)  She and her husband are less active too.  He is super stubborn about it and really doesn't want to come, but she really does but is sick a lot.  We have been going over to their house teaching their grandson named D this week.  His mom is a member and inactive (surprise) and the dad is pretty much anti.  Well, it has been soooo fun! It is the coolest thing to teach kids because they are so accepting of everything and have so much faith!  Well we went over to their house last night and they were all so happy to see us.  All of their family was there for Father's day and so we got to meet them all.  They are so special people!  

 

Well, lets see..... this week we didn't find G.  We talked to him on the phone though.  He is reading and loving it, his family was going camping so we will try to find him next week :D  But we have been teaching a guy named F ever since we got here (I don't know if I have talked about him before). He loves learning and loves coming to church and has the COOLEST insights in the scriptures.  But he is really caught up on Joseph Smith and the priesthood being restored.  The Elders before we got here explained it like 5 times.  We have been trying to have patience with him and it finally paid off a little.  He finally prayed specifically about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  He is really trying to get his answer (although he really has received an answer like a billion times already).  Hopefully he figures this all out so he wants to be baptized!!!

 

This last week we had a pot luck in Somerton, the first activity Somerton has had in like 15 years because they are normally in San Luiz.  Well, like 50 -60 people came and it was amazing! All of our less actives came and brought non members, it was the best night!

 

Oh, another family that I want to tell you about.  The S family.  She and her daughter were baptized about 5 years ago, she loved the thought of being sealed in the temple, so that's why she was baptized.  She soon found out that she could not be sealed to her kids without having a husband too....she was offended and hurt and didn't want to be sealed to any of the father of her children so she stopped coming.  Well, at first there was a big wall up, now we are all the best of friends.  The other night we didn't have a dinner so we showed up at Sister S's house with the stuff to make french toast and potatoes.  We all cooked together and watched The Testaments.  She also just quit her job yesterday at the prison as a guard, she had been doing it for 13 years and it had taken a big toll on her and she realized that it wasn't worth it anymore.  Well, she has some stories about some people she met there that are funny funny funny.  It was a precious moment with them.  She has 3 kids, one is older and is a member, the others are 10 and 11 and we are trying to teach them :D

 

Well, tomorrow we are reading the Book of Mormon for 9 hours ( I am not kidding) I am really excited.  We have been reading the BOM as a mission and in 3 weeks we are already in Alma 47.  It has been amazing to read it and learn from the faith that these awesome missionaries had! It is great.  Then Wednesday we are all going up to Tempe to say good bye to President Howes and to split the mission.  It is going to be a good and bitter sweet week:D 

 

And I forgot to tell you about the new house!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is SOOOO BIG AND PRETTY! It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and is so elegant.  For this past week Sister Bryant and I have been having a ball! haha.  We think there will be more moving in so we will enjoy it while it lasts :D But, it is a nice house!

 

Okay, well sorry that was super not organized and that I rambled a lot :D It has been fantastic though.  I love you all and hope things are well.  LOVE YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 10, 2013

Well hello there! Sorry this is a little later than normal, but today has been really busy!!!

 

So first of all, one of our members found a house for us to live in, in Somerton (that cuts out of 20 miles of driving = YEAH!) The mission has been looking at it and they offically signed the contract.  It is SUPER nice, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and pretty pretty pretty....and across the street from A, one of our investigators.  Well, transfers are coming up so they weren't even going to move us in until they saw if we were going to stay down here.   BUT, 3 days ago my bike broke.  I was just riding down the road and a few of the spokes broke and the rim is all bent (but I didn't die!).  So I am going to send my bike up to Tempe with some members to the bike shop and they are going to fix it. (for FREE! name that movie cristy :D)  So anyway, long story short, because we don't really have miles, and because I have no bike, they are going to let us move into the house on Wednesday (even if it is just for a week and a half) But I am super excited to live in Somerton!

 

So we found one of the people that we were teaching, G.  He is the one that just invited us in to his house and totally felt the spirit. He works in Phenoix during the week so we can only find him on weekends.  Well, we had a lesson with him on Friday and one on Saturday. We taught the restauracion about Jesus Christ and Prophets and Joseph Smith and President Monson.  When we told him that there is a prophet on the earth today he almost started crying! He asked if we had a picture of him and Sister B had a picture glued to her planner, He got his camera and started taking pictures of him! It was so precious! At the end of the lesson we really wanted him to pray....but he wouldn't do it.  So, better than nothing, I helped him and he repeated what I said (the time after he prayed on his own...YES!).  But in the prayer I said, "Help G to know that these things are true"...when it was his turn to repeat what I said, he said....."I already know that these things are true." It was so funny.  He is awesome.  Hopefully I will remember to send a picture of him :D  He is so READY! we just need to get his family on board.

 

Well, tomorrow we are having an activity here in Somerton (they usually have ward activities down in San Luis beacuse that es where the capilla is).  Well our goal for dear ole Somerton is to have its own branch one day.  So we are trying to reactivate members and find those prepared people to teach! It is super exciting to be working here in this area right now.

 

Hmmmm...what else.  We had exchanges (well not really).  One of the Sisters from Tempe came down with us for a day.  It was so fun.  Her name is Sister Thompson, we were actually both in the MTC together.  It was nice to hear that we are doing things right.  As a trainer I have really been trying to let Hermana B make the decisions and let her think something through before I help her.  And sometimes she gets a little frustrated with me for not giving her the answers right off the bat.  But Sister T said that is exactly what I need to be doing.  It was really nice to have her here to help Hermana B understand how things work better, that I am not just making these things up.  It was really good :D

 

Well, I have to get going. P-day is officially over in 4 minutes. Love you all.  Thank you SOOOOO much for the package with letters and supplies and goodies in it!  I love you all so much! We don't know the address of our knew house quite yet, there is no mail box in front, so we think it is going to be a P.O. box.  So I will let you know as soon as I find out.  Transfers are on the 19th so I hope we are going to be staying.  If there is already mail on the way, some elders are moving back in to the other apartment, so we can get the mail from them.  LOVE YOU!!!!!! SO much!!!

June 3, 2013

Well another fun week out here:D We have been biking lots and loving the 110 degree weather.  It actually is not that bad, well yet :D hahaha. 

 

We met a new family this week! The C's. Brother C is a member of the church, very less active.  He and his wife, R, got married 2 years ago and he loves her so much! He keeps telling her about how families can be together forever if they are sealed in the temple.  Well, she got really curious about it and now we are teaching her.  We taught the restoration about how through the restoration, the priesthood power to be sealed has been restored.  It was one of the most spiritually powerful lessons ever.  It was AMAZING!!!!!  Have I ever told you how cool it is to be a missionary?!  Well, it is the BEST thing ever!

 

So lets see, in the branch in San Luis there are 5 missionaries serving their missions (which is so cool!)  There are 2 sisters that are preparing to go as well, D and J.  They are so fun and they have been coming on splits and asking questions and we have been having so much fun with them! Well there are also like 7 other guys that should be going on missions, but for whatever reason they don't want to.  Well the branch president has been trying to help the people preparing and the ones that don't want to go.  Last week and this week there was a fireside at the chapel about missionary work.  We heard testimonies from us missionaries, from return missionaries, from parents of missionaries, and it was POWERFUL! Well there is this one guy named JM.  The first time I saw him I thought, he is going to be a great missionary.  I soon came to find out that he wanted nothing to do with serving a mission, he just didn't feel like it was for him.  Well the elders in San Luis have been working with him like crazy, they are best friends.  He was there last night at the fireside, and after it was over, president asked if anyone else wanted to share their testimonies.  JM raised his hand and told Elder Murphy to go up with him.  He started talking about how he was looking through some papers and certificates that he had and how before he thought they meant so much.  He was looking at them and realized that they meant nothing.  He started crying and said that he was not going to put off a mission any longer.  He was going to finish his papers this month and go.  There was not a dry eye in the room.  Presidente Ginez was crying, JM's parents were crying, all the missionaries were crying.  It was SOOOOO COOL! It was so neat to see how the branch came together and it made such a BIG difference.  It was the coolest thing ever.  Happy day!

 

Well, basically all of the families we found last week don't really have any interest (sad day).  But there is a girl named A that wants to be baptized but she has to work on Sundays! She works at Albertson's as  a florist.  Well, hopefully she can get her schedule worked out and that her boss will let her. 

 

Other than that, we are just having a blast here in Somerton.  It is lots different than my other areas, it is a lot harder to find people interested to teach.  They all are Catholic and don't really want to change.  Well, we know that there are prepared people here, we just need to keep bearing testimony and find them!

May 28, 2013

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOO Family dear!!!

Suprise! Yesterday the library was closed and we couldn't find any members in Yuma to email at. (well basically we don't have any members in Yuma and we didn't have an extra 20 miles to drive to Somerton and back), so we just finished district meeting and we are writing from the church house in San Luis. Better late than never :D

Sounds like you are just having so many cool moments with the missionaries.  I KNOW they love being with you guys.  They are really the luckiest missionaries in the world, hope they realize that :D  It put a smile on my face knowing that they were washing their cars there, haha....it beats using a water pitcher from the kitchen :D hahaha.

This week has been amazing! I wrote letters to you guys yesterday that probably has the main highlights in it.  But here is goes again :D

So this week, Hermana B told me that she wanted to go home.  We talked for 2 hours and it didn't really help her any.  She called Presidente Howes and he basically told her in a very nice way to stop thinking about yourself and go to work.  I am trying to find the balance between working like a maniac (we all know how I get sometimes) and catering to her needs.   We had interviews last week and President said, "don't you dare change, Sister Crawford." So I am trying to keep working hard, but at the same time be aware of her and do the things that I need to do to serve her as well.  It has been a good learning experience.  True story.  But things are good :D

Also this week we have found basically a new family to teach every day! We are now teaching 5 families and they all have 3 - 5 kids and lots of potential :D happy day.  the gospel really does bless families :D

We basically went to Mexico this week.  I can't wait to come back and actually go there! haha.  We went to a town that is in our area called Gadsden for the first time on Sunday, and it is a border town.  We knocked doors for a bit and found a lady that knows and works with a member and she is so prepared to learn more! I do think that it is really cool that the boarder is like 10 feet away from her house! haha, it is the simple things in life. 

Also this week has been full of lots of food.  Wow.  Presidente Ginez in the branch on Sunday promised the members that if they would feed the missionaries there would always be food in their house.  Well, since then we have eaten a 5 course meal (SOOOO much food!, and SOOOO good :) and had phone calls inviting us over and shoot.  I am going to need to do more biking.  But I am so grateful for the members here.  There is this one family the L's.  The mom is coming back to the church and they have 6 kids under the age of 7.  Haha, and they are the cutest family EVER! We did an FHE last night with them and had the best evening EVER! They are going to be sealed in the Temple one of these days and that will be so COOL!

And the speakers didn't show up to church on Sunday.  Guess what that means? Yep! Sisters get to speak.  That was a BIG suprise.  haha.  I talked about the Book Of Mormon and took up more time than I thought I would. Hermana B I thought was going to pass out, but she did good too :D It was pretty fun and definitely taught me the importance of relying on the spirit in everything!

Thank you for the special letters you all sent me this week, I love you all and miss you muchisimo!  Stay sweet and enjoy your week!!!!

May 20, 2013

Well, first full week of Somerton is done! Haha, it was so awesome!

Serving down here in the Yuma zone is a lot different than serving in the valley (aka Mesa, Tempe, Queen Creek....) basically everyone here is Hispanic (yes!) and instead of teaching a lot of formal lessons in peoples houses, we teach a lot of more informal lessons on the street, which is super duper cool. This week was a record for lessons taught for me on my mission, 30! woohoo. Found 12 investigators....well some of them already told us they didn't want us to come by anymore, but when one door closes another one opens (true story).  I have had some really memorable things happen this week too! 

While we were biking we stopped to talk to this guy named V.  He asked me what part of Mexico I was from!!!!! haha.  That says too things....1. he was probably not in his right mind and 2. he thinks I have a Mexican accent, which I will take as a compliment :D

At one of the dinners we had with a member, and don't get me wrong, I was so grateful, BUT...for dessert she gave us chocolate pie.  Yum right ????? negative.  It had mold all over it!!! I took one bite and I almost died (should have noticed the mold before, haha) I just kindly said I was full and asked if I could take it home.  She was not offended by it (thank goodness) and got me a to go plate.  haha.

Also we learned that we will be moving to Somerton either the last week in May or the first week in June...just to give you all a heads up. It will be exciting to live in Somerton and not to have to spend so much in the car.....that means we can talk to more people! :D  I will give ya the knew address as soon as I can :D

The trickiest thing about serving here is that everyone goes to Mexico on the weekends, meaning it will be harder to get our investigators there (but of course not impossible).  Well the first thing is that we have to find interested people to teach, haha.  Basicamente every one is Catholic and not interested in learning too much.  The funniest rejection I have heard is that someone didn't want a Book of Mormon because they didn't want to confuse themselves, ha. Little do they know that they are a little confused right now and the Libro will help with that, haha. It was really cool though. On Sunday there was a record of people at church, 132! woohoo.  If that keeps up who knows, maybe the Spanish branch will be a ward :D but sometimes they say there is only like 15 people there.......we will have to wait and see! 

We are working with a guy named F.  He is an investigator in the English ward and he is so awesome.  He has been investigating the church for about 3 months.  He is SOOO prepared.  He has read the book of 1 Nephi and he is so good at really applying the scriptures to himself. He was telling us about how he was reading about Nephi wanting to see the dream that Lehi saw and how the angel said, "What desirest thou." He said that he felt like the Lord was asking him that very question.  It was neat to hear that because he hasn't prayed about if the  Book of Mormon is true or if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and hopefully with that discovery he will really see that our prayers can't be answered if we don't actually pray and ask a question.  Well, F is a very wise person, because really, that is the question that Heavenly Father is asking us all the time.  What desirest thou.  He can only help and answer if we are humble enough to ask him in our time of need.   

I love and miss ya! Hope all is well and that you are enjoying each and every day!!!!!! MUAH!

May 13, 2013

OH HEY HEY! It was so cool to talk to all of you yesterday!!!! loved it! Best thing EVER! and I only teared up a few times, haha. 

We will be staying in this apartment in Yuma until the mission finds a place in Somerton( probably 3 weeks or so they said....we will see).  There were elders that lived in the apartment a little while ago so they already had stuff there.  

So, yep. We are here living in Yuma, serving in Somerton and the branch is in San Luis (you should look at a map!) I can't remember who I told what on the phone yesterday, but when we had Spanish training and all the Spanish missionaries went to Yuma, My companion and I came to San Luis for that night....and ever since then I wanted to serve here.   Wish granted!  The branch is SOOO excited.  the branch president could not be any happier.   We serve in Somerton and 4 elders serve in San Luis itself, so 6 missionaries in total.  Party!  The elders told us to be at the church at 8:00, 30  minutes early yesterday before we had correlation.   We got there and they were cooking us breakfast to welcome us to San Luis, haha. They made us pancakes (with peanut butter and syrup!) omelets and hash browns and a smoothie.  I think they are excited to have sisters serving here too, haha.  It was so nice of them. 

Well, as I told ya, there are only like 3 or 4 active families that live here, and we have visited all of them and a few of the less active families too.  And it is so interesting, the less active families are giving us referrals (a lot!) It is neat to see how everyone here still has desires to do the work.   So we are getting ready to teach lots of people!!!  We also cover a small part of the English ward here, so all the people in Somerton we get to teach.  A town of our very own :D

This is all so exciting, and I don't know what I did to gain presidents trust so much that he would let me train, whitewash, open an area, and be in the San Luis branch all at the same time, but I am STOKED! I have never been so full of energy ( that will come in handy when we are biking around in 120 degree weather!) and excited to do the work.  
Bring it on.  Assignment accepted and full speed ahead :D

I love you all and remember how MUCH I LOVE AND MISS YA!!!!!!!!!!!.    Take care :D

May 6, 2013

We are back on our bikes! I texted Sister Howes last week and told her I was good to go.  The AP's came over on Saturday to pick it up.  So my birthday was the first day back on bikes.  It really was the best day ever.  We got to talk to 62 people on the street that day.  The only sad thing is that Sister B hates riding bikes, all she seems to do for now is complain about it.  But hopefully it will get easier for her and she will come to like it.  SO FUN!

 

M had his baptismal interview yesterday and he is all set for baptism next Sunday (after I talk to ya!!!!!!) happy day!!!! This week has been full of amazing opportunities.  We had the most number of lessons this week than I have had in any other week on my mission, yeah for meeting goals!

 

Well, we didn't get transfer calls last night...they moved it to today (which is really strange).  I have a feeling I will be staying, so we will have to see what happens tonight when they tell us.  I have no idea.  There are 4 more Spanish sisters coming in and there are not enough Spanish sisters that are not being trained to train them all (pretty sure that is a good problem to have). Also they are calling sister trainers, meaning the sisters get to go on exchanges!  That will be fun!

 

So, do you remember me talking about J2? I met him down in Queen Creek and went back for his baptism a few weeks ago? Well, cool story.  His whole family is taking the lessons now.  His mom is being baptized on the 18th, the dad is still working towards it, and WE are teaching his sister K! She is in the singles ward for ASU campus that meets in Tempe.   The assistants cover that ward....but she may or may not have put the moves on one of the elders, so now we get to teach her.  Kind of an awkward situation, BUT  it is so not a coincidence that we are teaching her! This family is SO cool.  Happy day.  We are trying to help her stop smoking and really just be converted to the Gospel and find her own testimony.  She is so cool :D We love teaching her!

 

One thing that I have really learned this week is about enduring to the end.  We have been sharing this scripture with pretty much everyone lately. Enos 1:27

                     

 And I soon go to the place of rest, which is with my Redeemer;; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me; Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my father. amen.

 

When we think about the bigger picture of life and the things that are going to take place in the next life based on our actions here, doing those things that we are asked become a bit easier.  Going to church on Sunday becomes something we want to do.  Reading the scriptures becomes our favorite moment of the day.  Keeping the commandments is something that we strive to do at all times.  Because when we truly internalize that Jesus Christ really is our Lord and Redeemer, we want to keep all of His commandments and make him happy.  We are trying to help reactivate a lot of less actives and it is so sad to see when some of them have known the truth and have turned away from it and have stopped doing the little things. But most of the time, the little things are what matter the most.

 

April 29, 2013

It was lovely to hear from you all, love you so much :D Transfers are happening on the 8th, so I will still be in Mesa for sure on my birthday.....which is really weird because it doesn't seem to even matter to me.  We have so many cool things happening right now!

 

Well, first of all.  We went to Queen Creek for E and M's baptism.  It was amazing, I have pictures that I will have to send you.  M was ready for baptism from the beginning, but she wanted to wait for E.  I am so happy that E took the time to find out for himself that these things are true.  He was so happy when he was baptized.  M was going to be baptized in a chair, but she decided against it. There were 4 priesthood holders in the water with her to help her down and back up, and they had to do it twice...oops.  It was so beautiful and amazing....pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the building.  It was so cool to see everyone from the Queen Creek ward again.  Such a good day. 

 

Well, this week started off with 1 person on date for baptism.....we now have 6. WOOHOO! We were teaching English class on Tuesday night and the Bishop asked us to come to his office after.  We went in and there was a family in there!  They had just moved here from the Mesa mission where the missionaries were teaching them for 4 months.  It is L and K A and their 2 kiddos d (14) and k2 (4).  We have met with them a lot this week.  The parents are getting baptized on May 11th, and D really doesn't want to.  It is so interesting to me that the parents want to be baptized, but the 14 year old boy keeps saying he has already been baptized and doesn't want to be baptized again.  Well, we are still working with him :D He will come around.  They are so great.  They came to church on Sunday (miracle) and were giving comments in Sunday school about how they feel the spirit and want to learn more. They are nothing other than golden. 

 

We also had a lesson with J (the less active) and M, E and M's daughter E2.  E wants to be baptized and has so much faith.  M is super hesitant about it,  but accepted with date along with her daughter E2.  They all accepted a date of May 18th to be baptized. 

 

We also had to move M's baptism back to May 12 because we were not able to have a lesson with him this past week, but we were able to yesterday.  He is so cool.  He is in his 40's and he wants to be baptized for all the right reasons, and because he wants to be an example to his brothers about taking action in their lives and doing good things. He is on fire!

 

We are planning an activity on Thursday for all of our investigators and the elders' investigators to come and meet the ward leaders and to watch The Testaments at the church.  It is going to be great! So we are doing a lot of inviting, hopefully people will actually come and it will be a success :D

 

Well, other than that it has been a pretty normal week in the mission.  Training is going good and Hermana B is speaking more and more Spanish (woohoo!) We have seen lots of miracles this week with trying to reach our goals.  Every week we have a goal for each companionship in the mission to talk to 140 people about the gospel on the street.  For the past few weeks we have been getting around 130 or 120, but not 140.  Well, this week we have a goal to be super diligent and to reach it to show Heavenly Father how grateful we are for all of these miracles.  Well it came down to Sunday and we needed to talk to 27 more people.  We had a pretty long dinner and we didn't know how we were going to have enough time to "oym" (open your mouth) and go to the lessons we had set.  Well, we just got out of a lesson with the A family and it was 8:55 and we needed to talk to 14 more people before we were home by 9:00 (well, we may have been a little late, but we are allowed to be out until 9:30 if it is because of a lesson).  Anyway, the miracle of it is, is that while walking back to our car we found exactly 14 more people to talk to about the gospel.  MIRACLE! and we reached the goal of 140.  It is really amazing how much God really does help us reach our goals when it is something we are really striving to reach.  So neat!  

 

We also get to go back to biking now! I don't know it they are going to take the car away, but I can officially ride my bike again, the elbow is all good to go.  I am SUPER excited.  Bring on the heat:D

Okay, well I love you all.  Hope you remember how much you are loved and missed :D   LOVE YOU!!!!!!

April 22, 2013

Well another week has come and gone....craziness!

 

This week we had zone conference, it was soooooo good.  President talked a lot about being consecrated missionaries and our purpose.  The only not so good part about it was that our district has been passing the stomach flu around, and it was my turn to get it. The night before I was up all night, but there was no not going to zone conference, haha.  By the time zone conference was over at 3:00 Sister B wasn't feeling so good either and I had a fever of 103.  Well, needless to say, we came home and slept the rest of that day. You know you are sick on a mission when the only thing you want to do is go out to work, but your body just wont let you, haha.   But everyone is all better now, so HAPPY DAY!

 

There is a family in the ward we go and visit about once a week or so, the Z family.  They are so kind to us and always feed us (sometimes against our will, haha).  Well, I love them dearly.  We were are their house this past week and Hermana Z said she had the same exact skirt that I was wearing.  Well, we may or may not have planned to wear the same outfit on sunday. Haha, it was so funny! We walked into church together and everyone laughed (at us or with us I don't really know, haha).  Happy day!

 

Well the area in dear ole Mesa is still doing good.  M is still on date and we are still working with him, so happy day! AND I have the biggest miracle to tell you!!!!!! Remember me telling you about J, the inactive man we found, and his girlfriend M and dad E that we were teaching about 2 or 3 weeks ago? Well, they were on date for baptism, and then they fell off the face of the earth. Stopped answering our calls and wouldn't answer the door.  Well, we were at church and ward council had just finished with 30 minutes to spare.  We decided to try to go by their apartment again.    And J was there AND he answered the door, even better.  He let us in and said he was coming to church and M was getting ready to come too.  WE were SOOOOOO happy! Well, they came, and J loved every minute of it.  He was baptized 6 yrs ago in a different ward and was even the ward mission leader, then he moved and stopped coming.  But yesterday he FINALLY came.  Probably one of the happiest days of my life!  Hopefully M liked it too.  We have an appointment set up to meet with them again, happy day:D la familia D is back!

 

Yesterday was a mission president fireside, and E and M from Queen Creek came.  It was so cool to see them, they were crying and I may or may not have been crying too, haha.  They are getting baptized on Saturday at 10:00 in the new stake building that was just dedicated, they will be the first to be baptized there.  We are trying our best to be able to go, hope it works out and we can :D  We took a picture with M and F,  and E and M with all of us.  Tender moments :D

 

We have still been working on finding, 'nothing happens in missionary work unless you have someone to teach' is a very true story.  We were contacting a few potential investigators and found a guy named D.  He said he always wanted to learn about our church.  Shared a few scriptures and he committed to be baptized after he has studied and knows for himself.  He came to the mission president fireside last night too.  Yeah for D! (such a good name, don't ya think?)

 

We also have been helping the elders out with the English ward that we use to have.  There is the guy named L that we were working with when we have the ward, and the elders can't seem to meet with him.  He is trying to quit smoking so he can be baptized on May 4th (hehe).  We have been meeting with him and put him on date.  We were having a lesson with him outside standing by the stairs and this guy was walking up the stairs, we said hi, but nothing else.  3 minutes later he came back down and said he saw the pamphlet I was holding that said the Gospel of Jesus Christ and wanted to know more about our church.  He was Hindu, but just recently became Christian and moved here last week and was trying to find a church to go to.  COINCIDENCE? no way.  I am so grateful that he came back to talk to us, and we felt awful that we didn't talk to him more when he was walking by the first time.  BUT it all worked out and the elders are going to go by and teach him.  Pretty sure he will be baptized in 10 days.  He is so cool!!!!!!

 

Well, I am definitely grateful for the spirit and for the help that it offers us every day if we let it.  I love you and miss you all so much.