July 28, 2014

What an exciting week it has been!  We had a lot of crazy things happen but it is amazing to see the Lord's hand in the details!

Monday, we ran into two former investigators!  One of them came to an activity we had this week and let us come meet with her!  Her situation is a little bit complicated but I hope she recognized that this will help her through the trials she is going through. 

We have a couple new investigators that we are working with now, wahoo!  One of them is named Carolyn and it was so neat because during the lesson at the end she told us that she was going to read the Book of Mormon, come to church, and pray to know if it is true through the Holy Ghost before we even invited her to, haha.  In our lessons with her we always start out by singing a hymn and it is such a neat thing to be able to feel the Spirit come into the room and to see her face as we do sing.  She loves it and says she kind of already knows because of the good she has seen from what we do.   I also loved seeing her excitement when we brought a member with us, she really liked that.  She loves the bible and is very strict with it and at first it was hard to teach her but it is neat to see her softening.  It will still be a long journey ahead but we are excited for her.  We taught her grandchildren to sing "I am a Child of God"  with them as well.

Our other new investigator is Tonya.  We were contacting a house where a potential investigator was and found out that, the potential investigator moved and Tonya had just moved in. But she told us that she had investigated the church about ten years ago and was now just barely searching for a church to go to!  We set a return appointment and taught her the Restoration and it went really well!  

We have still been working with Bonnie and Virginia but having a hard time getting them to church.  Bonnie is so sweet and really wants to go but has health problems that prevent her from coming.  We will be continually praying for her!  We had a super neat district meeting on chapel tours this week and I'm excited to try that out and see if it will help motivate some of our investigators to come to church. 

Other highlights of the week include, getting stuck at a member's house.  The car would not start!  I guess, the car's security system was armed and we couldn't disarm it so we couldn't start the car.  Finally at night we just had the member's take us home.  We planned a full day of walking to all of our appointments.  It was actually a tender mercy because we didn't have hardly any miles left this month.  It was a wake up call.  The next day we got a call from a member that fixed it for us but we still walked all that day to save miles.  It was just what we needed to be guided to walk that day.  We also now have bikes, haha.  We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, one of my favorite things that happened this week was yesterday.  So that girl named Nicole that we volunteer with at the hospital, works with a member of the branch named Emily.  Emily is preparing to go on a mission too and has talked to Nicole a little bit about it.  Well, yesterday Nicole came to dinner at Emily's house and we were able to share a message with her, play a few songs and give her a Book of Mormon!  It was such a neat experience!  She told us that she is Roman Catholic but received the Book of Mormon with joy!  I can't even begin to describe the joy that  I felt as we gave her that Book of Mormon.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and it changes lives!  I'm so grateful to be a missionary.

The church IS life-changingly true!  Love you!

July 21, 2014

What a crazy week it has been!  But also one of many miracles!

The beginning of the week we were rushing to visit all of our investigators, before Sister Ormsby left on Wednesday. 

It was crazy but we did it. Sister Ormsby went to Milwaukee and is in a trio now!  She will do wonderful things there and I will miss her!  My new companion is Sister Cosgrove!  She is from Orem, Utah and we have had a lot of adventures and fun together this week!  Her companion is now serving in Marquette with Sister Ostler!  It is neat to see the connections!

We had a lesson with Donna at Sister Fesutel's home and it was wonderful.  It really does make a world of difference to have a missionary lesson in a member's home.  Sister Feustel truly shows her love and concern for Donna and knows her so well so she can help her understand things the things that we discuss with her.  It also helps that Sister Feustel is also a convert and knows what it is like to be a young investigator.  It has been difficult to get her to church lately though.  Donna used to come every week and now her mom has started this brunch on Sundays exactly the same time as church so Donna has not been able to come.  So that is sad but we hope that she still continues to want to meet with us.  Donna loves learning Spanish and my companion went to church in a spanish branch so she learned how to say the prayer in spanish there.  Sister Cosgrove said the prayer in Spanish at the end of the lesson for Donna and Donna absolutely loved it!  Donna is trying to teach me a little as well.

On Fridays, we volunteer at the hospital with a girl named Nicole.  She absolutely love playing the piano!  We sometimes get to play together at the hospital.  Anyway, she has had some question about the church as well and it has been neat to have an opportunity to talk about the church while we volunteer.  To our surprise on Friday evening some members took us out to eat at the Eden Grill and that is where Nicole works and also another member of the branch named Emily.  Emily is waiting for her mission call.  Well, she was super excited that we were there and at the end she said "see you next Friday or maybe sooner!"  That made us excited but we will see what happens.  At another lesson with the Lennop family, grandma Charlotte was there and she is a former investigator.  We invited her to church and she was thinking about.  She wants to try to quit smoking.  I think her heart is softening. 

We had a lot of other things happen this week too, like a great lesson with Bonnie.  She says she is starting to understand it better now.  We have a problem with getting our investigators to church though because a lot of the are older and it is hard for them to get out of the house.

I just love the branch here!  Sister Reigel, Sister Schrauth, Bro. and Sister Schmidt, all sacrifice so much for the gospel!  They always ask what days can we come out with you.  Well, we are continually praying for miracles and for a baptism in each area by October General Conference.  Some areas have already seen baptisms so far that haven't had them in over a year.  So miracles are happening.  Sister Cosgrove and I decided to study diligence this week in our studies together and then today we got an email from Pres. Cutler about mission tour in August and we were asked to study diligence, haha.  It is amazing how things like that happen!

One more miracle!  We met the guy that works at Wal-mart again today and he said he has been reading the Book of Mormon and really likes what it teaches about Christ!   We met him a couple of weeks again and told him to read it and said he would.  It is neat to see that he is and that he is thinking about calling the missionaries (us). 

Well, the church is miraculously true! love you!

July 14, 2014

Yep, this week is transfers and.......... my companion, Sister Ormsby, is getting transferred.  I am sad she is leaving, I have definitely learned a lot from her, and she is such a good missionary!  She is getting transferred to the Parkway area in Milwaukee and she will be in a trio.  I know she is going to do great there, and I'm sure my new companion will be great too!

Well, we taught Virginia the Word of Wisdom this week.  She has been doing really well at reading the Book of Mormon pretty regularly now.  I hope she gets to the point where she is reading 10 minutes everyday!  We found out that she drinks a tablespoon of coffee everyday.  I thought that was kind of silly.  She used to drink a lot of coffee and then she cut down everything but that 1 tablespoon, haha.  I hope she can make the decision to quit altogether.  I think from our lesson she will try it out this week.  

We had an amazing lesson with Sister Brummond this week!  She is a less active member of the branch.  Our branch mission leader came with us to the last lesson and told her that the branch needs her and that she should come back.  It was a very bold lesson and so was a lesson this week but she is sincerely thinking about coming  back.  It is hard though.  She has a testimony of the gospel, she loves it and misses it but has had some things in her life that she is just having a hard time overcoming.  I am praying for her.  Although we didn't have any investigators at church this week we did have two less active members come, Sister Hily, and Sister Basty!  The members make such a big difference in that.  

Also, we got a new investigator this week.  His name is George and he used to be next door neighbors with the Warren's.  Bro.  and Sis.  Warren came with us and we talked to him a little bit about the Book of Mormon.  Last we heard he has been reading!  He has 2 kids, a little girl and a  boy.   Bro. and Sis. Warren are branch missionaries and are just so great!  The branch is truly wonderful here.

We also had zone training this week and our mission president has asked us each to pray daily for a baptism in each area of the mission between July and October General conference!  Some of the areas have not had baptisms for over a year but it is so exciting to be a part of this great work, where miracles truly do happen everyday! Well, I have to go now but I love you all and hope that this week goes well! :D  The church is breathtakingly true!

July 7, 2014

Last Thursday we had interviews with President Cutler, and my companion and I got permission to go to the Chicago temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D  What a joyous experience it was!!!  But in order to go to the temple we had to move our P-day to Thursday, or the day we were going.  So instead of having p-day on Monday we had a regular proselyting day and we went out to find new investigators!  The first part of the day was pretty hard and my companion had a few discouraging moments but we said a prayer to help us find someone who needed us that day and the Lord did bless us.  In fact, right after our prayer we visited with Kathy, who has been really struggling physically and we were able to say a prayer with her.  Then we went to go contact a referral in an apartment building.  The referral didn't answer the door but as we were walking out we met a lady with a parrot on her shoulder.  We started talking with her and she said, "while I have you two ladies here, how about doing a bible study."  It was so neat because in our planning, Sister Ormsby and I had talked about starting up a scripture study class to help us find but hadn't done it yet.  She told us that she just wants to learn more about the bible right now but perhaps that will be a good way to start teaching her.  Her name is Lydia.

We also got a new investigator, Bonnie.  She is so sweet!  She is an elderly lady, who loves learning about God.  She was Lutheran and then got kicked out of her church so she joined the Baptist church and now isn't currently going to church.  She loves little children, and taught early elementary education for a long time.  She told us that she misses them.  Bonnie has such a desire to serve and to give!  She tried to give us money but we said we can't, so she offered us refreshments, haha.  She is a little concerned with baptism because she has already baptized  twice and thinks that it would just be silly to be baptized again.  We taught her about the importance of being baptized by proper authority and committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  We were able to meet with her 3 times this week and her reading is going well. 

Anyway, we had a lot of little miracles this week but one of the greatest was that we were able to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D  It was such an amazing experience and one that I will not forget!  I was able to feel the love of those that were with me as well as the love of those I could not see.  What a special place the temple is!  Sister Schrauth, a woman in the branch took us, and also the youth in the branch came.   I will have to send you pictures. 

Well, I am out of time. Love you!  The church is simply true!

June 23, 2014

I can't believe it has already been a week!  The time sure does fly by and I want to use every minute of it to share the gospel!  It is amazing to see how Heavenly Father places people in our paths who have been prepared before.  Just barely we were at Walmart doing our grocery shopping for the week and the elderly man at the check told us that he had ordered a Book of Mormon once after seeing something on TV.  He said that he wants to pick it up and start reading it again.  We were able to give him our number and our simple witness of it.  He seemed touched, hopefully we will be able to see him some time again. 

We have been doing a lot of finding activities lately to expand our teaching pool.  We have 3 new converts we are working with but not a whole lot of investigators right now.  The change in working with new converts from the first presidency will help us so much! Baptism is supposed to be the handing off point of new converts from the missionaries to the members.  Sister Ormsby and I had really felt lately that we needed to be having more contact with the recent converts than we (the home teachers are supposed to teach the new member lessons) and the announcement seemed to be an answer to our prayers. 

Also, Virginia just got back from her trip out west to visit her two sons, who are both lds.  She said she was able to talk a lot about religion with them so maybe that will soften her heart a little more.  She has been visiting with missionaries for awhile now but says she hasn't received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true yet.  I'm excited that she is back though and that we can start teaching her again!

We are truly seeing the Lord's hand in our finding here even though we don't really have any new progressing investigators yet.  Sometimes we will get a feeling to try a certain door and that is the door we are able to get a lesson with.  Our new district leader this transfer has made a lot of really good changes. I know that it will help so much as we keep our commitments and do our part!  Well, love you and hope you have a great week!  The church is awesomely true!  The branch youth just got back from youth conference at Nauvoo.  It was so neat to be able to hear of their testimonies during sacrament yesterday.  I'm grateful for my testimony of the Savior and of this gospel.  I know that it is true and that we have a loving Heavenly Father who sent Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Redeemer!  What a joyful message this is to declare!  I know it is true and it brings peace and happiness! :)

June 9, 2014

What a wonderful week!  This past weekend was Stake Conference weekend here and so we went up to Neenah.  All of the missionaries were asked to sing in the choir, which I enjoyed thoroughly!  I love the power and Spirit that the hymns bring into our meetings!  Elder Rhodes of the seventy spoke.  On Sunday he talked a lot about prayer and explained it as it is defined in the Bible dictionary.  He said that we can measure our conversion through our prayers.  I also really enjoyed Sister Cutler's talk on being a missionary and strengthening our testimonies as well, through studying the Book of Mormon. 

Our investigator Kelly has changed so much through her study of the Book of Mormon.  At our lesson with her the other day she showed us some of her favorite scriptures that she had read this weekend and it was just neat to see her excitement about the scriptures.  We are so excited for her baptism this weekend! :D  She has come so far and is truly changing.  You can see the light in her eyes.  In the beginning she was hesitant to set a baptismal date with us. Now she is really determined to enter into this covenant. 

Well, this week we met again with Skip, the one who told us that the prophet showed him around temple square when he was there, and he also told us that he has met with missionaries before.  It seems every time we talk with him we get a new surprise.  Well, he wants to start meeting with us! Yay!  He has a really bad back injury and is mostly paralyzed because of a fall he had but he is really nice, liked the things that the missionaries taught him, and talks a lot about moving to Utah, haha. 

Anyway, this weekend was also what they call here, walleye weekend.  It is a huge fishing tournament where they have sports, music, shops, kind of like a big fair.  We heard a lot about that but didn't get to go ourselves.  We have a pretty full week ahead of us and a lot of appointments, so that is nice.  It is exciting to see our teaching pool slowly growing.  We are a little concerned for the Enciso family though.  They are strongly Catholic but are interested in the Book of Mormon.  The mother has been struggling a lot lately though.  I sure do love their family though!  They are such a kind and fun family. 

Well, I love you all!!!  The church is gloriously true! :D

June 2, 2014

What a week!  The whole week was a little unusual because everything was moved up a day.  So our p-day was Tuesday, District meeting was Wednesday, and then the next day was weekly planning so the week went by pretty fast.  Well, transfers are this week and...

my companion and I are both staying!  Yay!  I love Fond du Lac and am so excited that my companion and I are here together again for another transfer.  Kelly is really progressing toward her baptismal date on June 14th.  She has come to church almost every week that I have been here and this week she was even on time!  She is now reading in Jacob in the Book of Mormon and I can just see her excitement for baptism every time we talk about it with her.  A funny thing with transfers though, Elder Williams, is one of the Fond du Lac elders and he has been here ever since November and was sure that he would be leaving this transfer.  On Saturday when we got the transfer text his name was not on it.  We were all very surprised but later we found out the assistants just forgot to put his name on the list and he is being transferred.  Also, one of the sisters in our district is being transferred so we will have two new missionaries in our district.

We are also starting to work with a woman named Carolyn and a man named Dave.  Dave has been taught by missionaries before so we will see how it goes. 

Don't have much time today but I will just say I am so grateful for the blessings of the atonement in our lives.  I have so much to learn about still but I do know that the Lord cares a lot about each of us individually.  We called a potential investigator named Karen this week and scheduled an appointment for her on Saturday.  On Friday we felt we should call to confirm the appointment since we had a member coming with us.  When we called we found out that Karen's brother had passed away unexpectedly the day before.  She told us she wouldn't be home for the appointment but that she would like it if we would go see her parents who would be at her house.  When we came for the appointment, Karen was there and we were able to share a few scriptures with her and our testimonies of the Savior.  I know that the Lord knows our situations and cares about each one of us so much!  He knows what we go through and answers our prayers for help. 

The gospel provides so much peace and comfort.

Well, the church is timelessly true!  Love you!