January 27, 2014

There is a lot of big news for this week!  My companion, Sister Brandley, and both of the elders in our ward, Elder Crandal and Elder Baldwin, are getting transferred!  They are splitting the zones and putting in zone leaders here in Marquette so the UP is going to be its own zone now!  My new companion is going to be Sister Ostler!!!  We had a feeling big things were coming to Marquette! Maybe that explains the opposition that this area has seen in the past couple of weeks.  I'm sad to say good by to Sister Brandley but we are all very excited for the new things that this week will bring!  My companion is reopening the Sheboygan area and is also training again!  I know it will be quite the adventure for her and I will be praying for her. :)

I don't have much time but I will try to fit in as much as I can. 

On Monday we had dinner with a recent convert, Kim, out in Gwinn.  She fed us homemade sushi and rice balls with egg drop soup!  It was delicious!  A less-active member of the ward they invited came as well and we taught them the Plan of Salvation.  

On Tuesday we met with a wonderful potential family.  The father teaches religion at the university here and was very kind to us.  They pray and read the scriptures as a family already but the mom doesn't see the need for the Book of Mormon.  They said we can come back though and stop in for dinner anytime!

One of my favorite lessons this week was with a girl named Hannah on Wednesday.  My companion and I were introduced to grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which are surprisingly really good!)  and we came up with a fun way to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ using grilled PB&J sandwiches!  It was really great!  I think it also really helped her realize why she needs to read on her own to know for herself that it is true (you can't know if a grilled PB&J sandwich is good just by hearing about it you have to taste it for yourself).  We stopped by on Friday and she had done the reading we assigned her!!!  

We also volunteered at a cross country ski race serving soup this week!  During the race there was a really bad white out but it was super exciting!!!  All of the racers came in with pure white faces from the snow!  Sister Brandley and I had fun running in the storm to our truck as well, haha.  The weather is always exciting up here :)  That day we also got stuck for the first time, in the silliest place too!  We were blessed to get out quickly though.  

It is so exciting to see the progress that the less actives we are working with are making!  One of them is an older couple.  The husband had gotten baptized for his wife and didn't really participate in our lessons when we first went to see them but now you can truly see the change in his countenance over the last couple of weeks!  Tears come to his eyes when we talk about the gospel and he is now reading the Book of Mormon.  He is happy and wants to start taking the temple preparation classes so they can be sealed in the temple!  There are also two other less active families that have come to church twice now!  Now we just need to get our investigators coming too! :)  

Love you all!  The church is brightly true!

Sister Prestwich :)

January 20, 2014

On Monday we had to take my companion into the walk in clinic and had called a member to take us there.  We felt we should ask Sister Blotter.  While we were there we ran into a former investigator that just happened to be there and the only members of the church they are friends with are the Blotters so it was perfect!  We really saw a lot of tender mercies that day!  A referral we had met with called us and said that she had read the chapters we had assigned her in the Book of Mormon and that she felt she was understanding it and wanted to tell us more about it and about baptism!  She lives far away but we plan to see her this Friday.

 This was a very exciting week because our mission president was coming to interview us and also one of our investigators, Aaron.  Aaron is doing so well!  He comes to church every Sunday and reads the Book of Mormon every night with his wife.  He is truly making so many good changes in his life and desires to feel true forgiveness.  He passed the interview!  We are so happy for him and his desire to be baptized.  He still has a long process ahead of him but is taking the steps and starting the process to be baptized.  He came to church yesterday in a new white shirt, I know that's a little thing but with everything he is doing you can just see his desire to make good changes in his life and be good.  Our mission president gave him a priesthood blessing as well.  What an incredible experience that was.  I will never forget it.  That was Aaron's first priesthood blessing. 

We have still been working with the Stocker family and they are taking longer but they still desire to be baptized, they just take baby steps.  We watched the CES fireside with them and they came to a primary activity and to church on Sunday, so they are making progress.  

On Thursday Sister Brandley and I stopped by a former investigator.  It just so happened that she had been thinking about us that day too!  It was my first time meeting her but the other sisters had taught her a little during the summer.  They are a wonderful family!  We walked in and she was cooking dinner and listening to piano guys!  She said it was the only music that she and her husband could agree on, haha.  Anyway we have a return appointment with her tomorrow. 

It has been a hard week but also we have seen so many tender mercies this week!  All the missionaries here are saying that something really good must be coming because we have seen a lot of opposition.  We have great hopes for the future though! I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart!  I love you all soooooooooooo much!  The church is faithfully true!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 13, 2014

I don't have a lot of time today.   What a week!  it was zone training this week and I went on exchanges with the sister training leaders.  I was with Sister Newton in Greenbay, Wisconsin for a day.  It was a blast!  We had a super cool experience with finding a family.  God is definitely preparing people to hear our message.  That morning I went on my first winter jog. :)  Surprisingly, I got really hot and wished I hadn't put on so many layers, haha.  It was fun though! 

We also had our first media referral this week.  We met with her and she wants to come to church and for us to teach her more. 

Also, today was really neat.  We met someone here at the library just barely who said they felt like they were definitely guided to us today and we taught them a lesson and meeting with them again tomorrow.  They said they haven't come to this library for a year and can't even use the computers but felt like they should today.  My favorite part was when they said '"Why hasn't anyone ever told me this before?" 

I know that the Lord is in this work and I am seeing it more than ever before!  He is in the details of our lives and He is definitely shaping us.  I know that everything we experience and our trials help us to grow even if we don't know how the Lord is shaping us.  The coolest part is that somehow it also fits together perfectly with those around us. My companion and I need prayers this week!  I have a feeling that this week my companion and I will be given many opportunities to grow more than ever before. 

 I love you

-Sister Prestwich

January 6, 2014

 The last couple of days have been pretty exciting up here!  We received a message from our mission president the other day that said we are not allowed to tract or street contact for the next couple of days because the high is supposed to be -10 degrees Fahrenheit  and with the wind chill, between -40 and -55!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We can still go to appointments but we just have to limit the time that we are outside so we don't get frostbite.  

I hope everyone had a Happy New Years!  For New Years Eve we volunteer at the museum from 5:30 to 7:30.  They were having a little party for the kids there, and we helped by passing out noise makers and....looking for the lost snake. :0  One of the snakes there got out of its cage during the new years eve celebration so our job was to look for it and make sure the word didn't get out that there was a loose snake.  We certainly succeeded at keeping people from finding out and there was no panic but we never did find the snake, in fact, it is still missing... 

On Thursday we went out to Gwinn to see our investigators out there.  We usually only get to go there once a week because of miles but we went twice this week.  While we were out there we had a prompting to go visit a former investigator's house, Melissa, who had moved a couple of weeks ago.  We saw that there was a car there and knocked on the door.  She was there!  Just a little background about her:  we taught Melissa the restoration and she was wonderful and even took notes on the reading we gave to her!  We had not taught her about the word of wisdom yet and heard about from a friend that you couldn't drink coffee or smoke and didn't like that.  We never got to talk to her at all about the word of wisdom because the last time we heard from her she had moved to downstate Michigan.  Now that you have the story I'll continue.  She was home and invited us in!  She apologized for the brief good bye she had given us during our last phone call and explained the hardships that she had been through in the past couple of weeks.  She also told us that she and her husband had decided that for their new years resolution they would quit smoking and she already had a plan for it!!!!!!!  She has so many good desires and we are SO excited to be teaching her again!  The Lord works miracles everyday!

Also, I tried deer meat here for the first time. :)  We met at a less actives house for dinner and they had a delicious looking chili with tons of meat in it.  The meat was deer meat that they had ground themselves.  At first it was fine but I had gotten a HUGE bowl of it and it the meat made the whole soup taste very strongly of deer meat.  I tried not to think about it and ate the WHOLE thing but it was a bit challenging, haha.   I also tried corn beef with cabbage this week which was absolutely deicious!  Also, a Compton favorite is grilled cheese dipped in hot chocolate.

The ward did a sock hop on Friday and we almost got an appointment with a nonmember there.  They said they'd love to meet with us though so we are going to set it up with the ward members they are friends with.  

Saturday was wonderful!  Our investigator is starting to read the Book of Mormon consistently on their own!  His wife is a member but he is not and he has been taught by the missionaries off and on since 2006!  During this lesson my companion and I set up our lesson differently than usual.  I really felt like that we were able to help him through the guidance of the spirit resolve some of the concerns he had and we found out that after all of these years none of the missionaries ever taught him how to pray!  We taught him how to pray and committed him to praying to know if what he was reading is true.  He expressed to us that he was understanding it more than ever before.  His whole countenance changed during this lesson!  We are excited for him!  Later that evening we stopped by another part member family, with a similar situation.  The wife is a member and the husband is not.  He is making so much progress though! The church is miraculously true!!

December 30, 2013

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas!!!  This week was truly amazing!  The Lord is working so many miracles among us!!!!  After much prayer our mission reached 300 baptisms, our goal for this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We have great reason to rejoice and give thanks to the Lord for all those that have been touched by this glorious gospel!  This week was wonderful! 

On Monday we went caroling again at the hospital with a group of ward members and a potential investigator.  Sister Brandley and I took turns playing the piano and singing, which we both enjoyed a lot!!  I also tried my first brat and pasty this week.  They were delicious!

Christmas was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After volunteering at a community dinner for Christmas and meeting a potential investigator there, we went to dinner at an investigator's house.  It was a little gift to Sister Brandley and I that two of our other investigators also dropped by why we were there!  We were able to share a message with them and here about an experience one of them had with prayer.  The family we have been working with took a little road trip.  Unfortunately, their heater was not working and they all were really cold and sick.  They decided to say a prayer.  The heater still blew out cold air but they could feel warm air in the car surrounding them.  It is amazing to see their faith growing.  We had a lesson on the sacrament and the importance of church attendance.  They have not been at church for several weeks now because they have car troubles and there aren't very many members where they live that can take their whole family.   We arranged a ride for them with a member.  On Sunday morning the weather was bad and so the member let us know that she wasn't coming to church.  The family had expressed in our lesson their desire to come to church because the difference they saw it had on their week.  I was praying for them in my heart and about a quarter of the way into Sacrament meeting they walked in!!!  I'm so grateful that they were able to make it safely there!  They are starting to progress again! 

Also, I had the opportunity to play the organ in Sacrament meeting!  To my great relief, it went well :)

I'm grateful that I learned to play and that I was able to help out the ward here. 

I'm still staying warm and so grateful for all of our many blessings!!!!  The Savior's love is manifest to us in so many ways!  I hope you have a wonderful New Year's day!!!!!!!!!! Stay warm! ;)

Love you all so much!

December 23rd, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful time of year to spread the joy of the gospel!   Christ is truly the light and life of the world and can bring peace to all those who diligently seek Him!  I am so grateful for the gift that He is to us this Christmas and for the opportunity to "declare glad tidings or great joy" even as the angels did at Christ's birth!  He is truly the reason for the season and can bring true joy to our lives!  We  are one baptism away from a goal for baptisms this year as a mission!  We are praying really hard for baptisms this week!! 
What a crazy week it has been!  On Monday our truck started acting really funny! I won't describe it just because of time but it was a blessing that we made it back to the Rayhorn's home before it wouldn't even start anymore.  We are so blessed to live with members!  I don't know how we would've taken care of the situation without them!  Well, they figured out the problem, it was a computer problem and now the truck is working great!  The truck is such a blessing for us and we are very grateful that it is working normally again!  I know the Lord is keeping us safe from the cold.  It has been warmer this week, in the 20's all week but still I have been so surprised that I haven't had any trouble at all staying warm.  The Lord is truly watching over us!

We have done a lot of caroling this week and are going again today at the hospital!  We went last week and I accompanied on the piano in the lobby.  I have had lots of chances to play the piano with our volunteering and service that we do and I love it!   I played at the Children's Museum as well!  I was a little concerned that I wouldn't play well at the hospital because I don't get to practice that often but I seemed to play better than I normally do and was able to sight read all the songs I was asked to play just fine.

Something really neat happened last night.  After dinner with the bishop, Sister Brandley and I decided to go visit a former investigators home who had stopped investigating because they talked to a preacher from another church about it.  We had stopped by before but she was never home.  When we got there, she opened the door for us before we even knocked and after we started talking with her she said she had something to show us.  She brought out a really old tattered looking Book of Mormon.  She opened the front cover and asked us to read it.  It was given to her great grandmother named, Alma, by some mormon missionaries in 1919!!!  She thought it was a great treasure and we talked about Jesus Christ's love for us.  We have a return appointment with her next week!!!  Well, I have to go now,  The church is sooooooooooooooooooooo  gloriously true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 16, 2013

What a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It seems to fly by so fast!!!!!!!!!  On Monday we taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation to one of our investigators who cannot have a baptismal date until next month, but he is so amazing!  We talked about God's plan for us and about the gift of agency.  He really valued that.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying.  He said that he thought he wouldn't really like reading the Book of Mormon because he thought it would be hard to understand because it was hard for him to understand the Bible, but he is now in 1 Nephi 15 and likes reading it because it gives him a peaceful feeling.  My favorite part of the lesson was when we asked him if he had any questions and he said, "when can you come back?"  He has been reading everyday and coming to church every week!  He and his wife have been through SO much but they just keep moving forward with faith! 

We had 6 weeks training this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was a long drive to where the training was so we stayed the night half way with some other sisters in Manitowoc.  Then the next morning they drove us the rest of the way.  At the training I had a joyous reunion with my MTC companion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D  It was so exciting to be able to see her and how she is growing!!!!!!!!!! What an amazing example she is to me!  President Cutler and Sister Cutler are so wonderful and care for us  and the people we are teaching so much!  We did a lot of role playing! 

Then we stayed the night with the sister training leaders in Green Bay, who were going on exchanges with the other Green Bay sisters, the same night!

Friday was the ward Christmas party!  We encouraged all the ward members to invited their friends, and follow the bishops invitation in bringing someone to the Christmas party.  We ended up having 30 nonmembers/less actives come!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had a feeling before we left that I should bring my Christmas music with.  While we were there one of the sisters in the ward asked if I would play some background music while everyone was eating so I brought my piano music and got to play for awhile!  It was very nice!!!!  One of the families in the ward, the Comptons, acted out the 12 days of Christmas, and it was so funny!!  Also, the Primary acted out the nativity, and then they had a whole bunch of other musical numbers.  The  elders, Sister Brandley, and I sang "Come thou Font of Every Blessing"  while one of the recent converts accompanied us on the guitar.  It was beautiful and the Spirit was so strong.  We were so busy introducing ourselves to the friends that the wards members brought that we didn't even sit down to eat until we were home!  It was wonderful!  We are meeting with one of the non-members that was there tomorrow. 

Unfortunately, we did not get to meet with the Stockers this week because they were working overtime and weren't home.  Cherie is still sick too, so we are keeping her in our prayers.  We dropped off a little care package on her door step though. 

On Sunday my companion and I did 2 musical numbers in sacrament meeting.  I accompanied Sister Brandley while she sang a song her uncle had wrote, "Savior and Son" and then we sang "Mary's Lullabye"  with the young women.  I'm so grateful for music and for the spirit that it brings into our hearts.  I'm grateful for this Christmas season where we get to celebrate the Savior's birth and life.  What a joyful message we have to proclaim!  Merry Christmas!

Love you all so so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The church is truly resplendesently true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!