Week 13 on the Mission Front

Hello all family!

This has been a long week! Before transfers, I was so busy packing. I was so excited to be training and all that fun jazz! Well, transfers came and now I'm with Sister Rasch in Gibsonia! Which was unexpected. Everyone thought I was going to Hudson.  The work here is slow. Most people drive, and this morning we were told that we aren't allowed to talk to people in our complex.... Well, I don't know where to find. So that's been super hard. Especially because I was trained to always be moving and here, everything is just slow. It's rather frustrating.

The ward is great! The bishop gave me a blessing yesterday, which I didn't ask for, but I needed. And they always are volunteering to feed us, even though we can't eat with members unless we have an investigator there. It's still kind to offer.

And it's been hard because my trainee is in charge of the area, but I'm the trainer, so.... Well, it's hard. But, I think there will be some changes made soon, so excited for that!

I don't know what else to say there.... I haven't been homesick :) just Temple Terrace sick. But we will get things worked out! :) change is good, even though it's hard. And I know that Heavenly Father is walking me through my trials.

I love you all! Thanks for your support!

Week 12 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

Oh, I don't even know where to begin!!! It has just been a week full of miracles! R and T were both baptized on Saturday!!! It was just amazing! I cried... It was just... R was a miracle. She was baptized in another church two months before and when we met she just fell in love with the church and the Book of Mormon (she's almost done with Mosiah and its only been three weeks). Her husband came and we were able to have a lesson with him. He'll be baptized on the 30th! As soon as he quits drinking... Small obstacle. He loved church and he loved the baptism. Both he and R were just crying through the whole service. He knows its true.

And T.... oh, T.... he's 12. And he's been coming to church for years! Less active family, but his grandparents bring him. But his dad wanted him to wait until he was 12 before he decided to be baptized. So us missionaries have been calling him daily for over 5 months, just waiting for his mom to finally get a Saturday off of work! FINALLY!!!! she did. But on Wednesday, we get a call from the grandmother, because his mom lives in another ward boundary, the bishop from the other ward wanted to postpone the baptism until he could come.... WHAT?!

DO NOT PANIC!!! He was baptized. A lot of prayers, and the Lord's help (also, his grandmother wrote the bishop an email, and probably not a very nice one...) and Tyler was baptized! It was great! He's been waiting so long for this!

Also in big news.... TRANSFER WEEK! And yes, I am being transferred... And yes, I am also training. Well, finishing training, but that's almost white washing! I'm super excited! Very sad to leave here, especially after the baptisms, but I know it'll be great no matter where I am! (Also, I may or may not have had to buy ice cream for everyone in my district.... I was so sure I wasn't going to train... bad bet I guess? Haha!)

Sister Rasch and Sister Wheeler

I'm out of time, because one of the sisters in my apartment went home today. Sad! But she finished her mission strong (really strong).

Hermana Miller

 Anyway, I love you all! Thank you so much for your love and support!

Week 11 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

It has been one of the all time craziest, roller coaster weeks of my mission!

To start off with... L was baptized!!!!!!!! Which was a miracle! On Wednesday, he was done, and didn't want to do it anymore. But then Thursday he changed his mind and tada!!!!! It was super amazing and also completely chaotic.... But great! Ever try to organize a baptism in one day? It takes so much effort!

We also did exchanges this week! Sister Bowe and Sister Kitchen both came down to our area to help build it, so we were finding for a lot of the time. Sister Bowe is amazing. I didn't get to work with Sister Kitchen, but Sister Bowe is like my twin sister! She wanted to know what I did before my mission and what I did in my free time, etc. Well, guess what! Exact same things. It was so amazing to geek out about stuff like that! She's really great! She's going home next week, so I'm going to miss her, but it was such a good day!

Sister Bowe and Sister Wheeler

Sister Kitchen and Sister Goodman

We have two baptism coming up this week as well. A twelve year old who's been ready to be baptized since April, but his mom couldn't get a weekend off to come, so finally! he'll be baptized Saturday! Yay! And Rosie who is just the coolest person you could every meet! And her husband came to church yesterday! :) Yay! He loved it and will also be joining us for FHE tonight! We couldn't be happier about that!

I think that's it for now! I love you all and I'm thankful for your love and support!

Week 10 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

Well, where to begin?! Its been a miracle week, again! We ran in to three of our former investigators and they all came to church yesterday! It was such a miracle! And two of them had dates set before they stopped meeting with us! And both want to keep meeting with us!

One's crazy though... I don't remember if I wrote about this, but remember the girl that we gave a church tour to and she wanted to be baptized and found an answer to her prayers because her father's name was Joseph? Anyway, long story. We thought she was the golden investigator. Her name's J. And she turned out to be homeless and severely bipolar. She came in to church one time and had a seizure... Well, more like convulsions... I don't know, it was kinda over dramatized. But she bore her testimony in church yesterday... which was not as bad as we thought it was going to be. But then she promptly walked of the stage and passed out... Bishop ran over and gave her a blessing and everything... Oh boy... But she brought her fiance with her and he seems somewhat normal, so we're going to try to teach him. We'll see.

We're teaching a lady named R, who is one of the happiest people I know. Every lesson she goes on and on and on about how much she loves the Book of Mormon and how excited she is to be baptized! She'll be baptized next week and we almost wanted to push it to this week, but sometimes its hard to actually get a lesson in.

And then L is getting baptized this week! Which is also a miracle because he talks a lot too! So its great that he's going to be ready!

Oh! I get to try alligator today!

Sister Wheeler and Sister Howard get ready to try alligator

And, one of the Elders in our district bought a toy snake and tried to scare another Elder, which worked. Anyway, somehow it ended up in our car and now in our apartment and we're all trying to scare each other! Its rather amusing.

And I'm pretty sure I was bit by the spider again... stupid bug. I don't know why it hates me! I'm the only one that gets bit!

That's all for now! Thank you all so much for your prayers! I could definitely feel them this week!

I love you all!

Week 9 on the Mission Front

Hiyah Family!

I hope all is going as well with you as it is with me!

It has been a wonderful week! To start, Saturday we had two baptisms! Brother C and Sister F were baptized! Yay! They were both miracles! To say the least. And the Elders had two at the same time too! Our district rocked baptism this month and we passed our zone goal! Yay!

On top of that, we passed our max lesson! We got 40 lessons this week! I can't believe it! And we had zone conference one of those days, which took up the majority of the day. It's so amazing to see the miracles we have seen! Heavenly Father is just the best! Sister Goodman and I have a lesson goal that we have to get before the next transfer in three weeks. We don't think we'll be staying together, so we have to - have to - have to reach this goal! So, hopefully, our lesson count will only be increasing! :)

There's this other woman that will be getting baptized soon, Sister D. Ah, she's just amazing! Every time we see her, she has to spend ten minutes talking about how much she loves the Book of Mormon! Its great! Its so amazing! She'll be baptized in two weeks and she's already offering to bring meals to members. Its so amazing!

We had 5 investigators at church yesterday! One of them, Sister T, we had to go by her house to wake her up. And she didn't get up! So we thought there was no way she was going to make it! And then, low and behold, she walks through those double doors! It was a miracle! And she loved it! As did Sister D, as well.

Also, I chopped my hair off. It was too hot! And I want to get it even shorter, but we'll see. Maybe in a few weeks. :)

Zone Conference was great! I got to see a bunch of missionaries that came out with me, which I loved. Oh! And President bought a big metal sword and told us that, if we were willing to commit to serving the Lord as a warrior, we should sign it. Which was apparently really creative for him. :P Hehe, it was great though! We got to take pictures of us holding the sword in warrior like posses! Haha!

I'm out of time, but I love you all! Thank you so much for your support!

Week 8 on the Mission Front

Howdy family and friends!!

I don't even know where to begin with this wonderful and blessed week! There has just been too much!

Okay, lets begin with baptisms. We have two coming up this Saturday; Randi, and Eric. Eric we met a few weeks back while finding and the first thing we said was, "Do you want to be baptized?" and he said he already was (typical) but it couldn't hurt to do it again. Well, lo and behold, he's being baptized and he's great! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he went home and got rid of all of his coffee the day of and has only touched it once since then. He has never missed a day reading either! He's just great!

Randi walked in to the church and asked to be baptized. Seriously. Last week too. She said she met with the missionaries a year ago, and decided it wasn't for her, but she hasn't been able to stop thinking about it. So she's being baptized this Saturday! And she's a miracle. A straight miracle. She's teaching me more of Christ's love and the Spirit than we are teaching her! Its amazing!

Also, our district leader has two baptisms this Saturday as well, which will make it a quadruple baptism!

And there's more to that. Our Zone goal this month was to get 12 baptisms. Our district, yes, district, already has 6. That was our goal and we still have the four this weekend! Its so amazing to see the Lord literally hastening His work!

We also surpassed our record for lessons this week! Which I didn't think was possible!

And we met a girl who was baptized a month ago and wants to be baptized again! Her date is for the middle of August. And another lady who finally committed to be baptized, but won't set a date quite yet. AND someone that Sister Goodman met before I was here called us this week and now has a baptismal date as well.

It has been crazy busy here!

The worst part of the week though; I have about four or five spider bites. At least, that's what we think they are... they're huge and a deep red. I don't know where I keep getting bit either. Possibly in bed? Ew...

Big bugs - EW!

Anyway, it has been a miraculous week! Satan is trying his hardest to combat us though. One of the dates set in our zone was in a serious car accident and is in the hospital (she was the last time I checked at least) and another one either tried to commit suicide or was poisoned. She's okay now, but... well, not great. But I also know that Heavenly Father is on our side, and He's better and stronger than Satan could ever be. We just have to have faith, trust, and a little pixie dust. :P

I love you all, and I miss you!

Week 7 on the Mission Front

Hiyah family!

Best. Week. Yet.

To start, and I'm not saying this to brag at all, because I know it's because Heavenly Father has helped us to beat our lesson record! 34 this week! I honestly am still shocked that we made it! We had to
start getting a little creative. For example: we taught a lesson whilst speed walking with two investigators. And we do phone lessons and Facebook lessons occasionally too.

It was transfers week! Which is absolutely crazy! For one, I've been out that long. For another, we got 27 new missionaries in!!! And we're getting the same amount next month! So many missionaries are training now! The APs each have a trainee!

Sister Goodman and I were able to help train the newbies on church tours, which was really amazing! The newbies are so spiritually strong, I took notes on them. But, that took more than four hours out of our day, which is a lot of finding or teaching time. But, The Lord took care of us. People are now walking up to us and asking to be baptized. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. During our training, a girl walked in to the church and told us she wants to be baptized. She used to meet with some missionaries, but stopped because she didn't feel ready and now she is. She is the coolest person every! She's from Caribbean and is making us dinner tonight.... :)

Sister Wheeler, Sister Howard, Sister Miller, Sister Goodman

Okay, crazy story for the week. We were visiting a less active/ recent convert family. The wife was baptized two years ago and the husband is less active but while in foster care, was baptized. We already knew that the father was a little bit... Well, somewhat crazy. We've visited them before and he's asked us to leave. Anyway, in the middle of our lesson, the two start bickering and then arguing and then! He threatened for a divorce and walked out and told us to call someone to get him a ride. We scurried away. As of yesterday, they're still together, but it was bad.

Okay, another crazy story. So multiple appointments had canceled on us, so we traveled back to the church to have an early dinner. While we were eating, one of the APs came in and told us there was a woman looking for us. We walk out into the lobby and there was one of our former investigators, having a seizure. One of the senior missionaries was already calling 911, but it was kinda crazy. It happens a lot to her, though. That's why she's a former investigator now because she was always in the hospital. Anyway, it was nuts.

Also, some of the senior missionaries are going home, and so the Online Elders won't be able to handle all of the work that their supposed to do. They're the ones that assign missionaries referrals and such. Anyway, each companionship now has to take four three hour shifts a week working online. Crazy, right?

We have three investigators with a baptism date in the next three weeks. And they're all solid. Yay!

Alright, final item. Yesterday, I was studying in Alma when I came upon a rather mind blowing verse. Chapter 40 verse 3, it says, "inquired diligently of God that I might know..." And then he begins
to talk about his revelation with the Resurrection and the Spirit World. If he hadn't asked, we may not have had that piece of information. Interestingly enough, I've also been reading "Our Heritage" which is about the pioneers mostly. But early on in the book, it also talks about how Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were translating the Book of Mormon when they came upon some verses about baptism. And so they asked Heavenly Father what it meant. And because they asked, they were given the priesthood and were able to baptize. If they hadn't asked, where would we be? Okay, I'm sure Heavenly Father would have had someone else ask, but my point is that so many things have been revealed because people asked! Isn't that great to think about?! Anyway, food for thought.

I love you all!