August 25, 2014

What a week!  We have been really excited and focusing on the counsel given to us from Elder Martino of the seventy last week and have been working hard with a lot of the less actives in the area and with Bonnie!  Bonnie is doing wonderful!  She is so optimistic and gave up coffee and tea this week when we taught her the word of wisdom.  She now offers us chocolate milk and cranberry juice instead :)  She still has a really hard time coming to church because of her health so continue to pray for her.  She has to come to church for the next couple weeks to make her baptismal date and she is so ready for it she just has to make it to church. 

We got the transfer text and my companion and I are both staying in Fond du Lac! :)  I'm excited for another transfer here!  We have a lot of great work to do.  Some things I was really excited about this week was a visit we had to a less active family named the Zedans. We had never met them before and felt like we should so we decided to stop by.  Sister Zedan answered the door and let us in.  She was a convert to the church and has a desire to come back to church but she just has a few things holding her back.  We are super excited to start working with her and her family!  We also had an awesome visit with Sister Zabinski who has a strong testimony of the gospel but was really hurt by a friend in the branch and is having a hard time overcoming that.  Sister Reigle and Sister Schrauth, two members of the branch came with us and it was such an inspired visit!  Lori, a former investigator also just happened to be there.  Sister Zabinski agreed to come to church the second week of September!  We are really trying to make this a combined effort, working with the branch council to find those that are ready to receive the gospel. 

We saw a lot of miracles this week!  One of the greatest ones I think was just seeing how the Lord has a way of turning people's hearts.

We were in crazy rain storm this week where it was "raining cats and dogs" so bad you couldn't see anything.  I'm so grateful for prayer and that we were protected through the storm!  The rain reminded me of a scripture I read today in Moses 7 about the truth going forth in a flood!  And it will if we keep diligently sharing it! :D

The church is awesomely true! Love you all!

August 18, 2014

What an awesome week!  And I'm even more excited for this next week! On Wednesday we had mission tour where Elder Martino of the seventy and his wife came and spoke to us and it is just what we needed!  It really motivated us and opened our eyes to somethings that we need to be doing more in our missionary work and our finding efforts.  There was a powerful spirit there and I'm so grateful for the blessing it was to be there an receive more guidance for our area.  A sister that just got home from her mission but who hadn't gotten set apart also came and spoke to us and told us that in her mission they had one set of missionaries for just teaching less actives and another set of missionaries for teaching investigators in an area because there was so many less actives and  she said that the missionaries that baptized the most were always the ones working with the less actives!  I thought that was very interesting but I can understand why it is that way.  It stuck out to me that the some of the greatest missionary work that is done is within families.  That we want to help join families together so that they can be together forever.
 Which reminds me, I was able to hear from Sister Ostler this week and John Sowa, Treasa's husband got baptized up in Marquette this week!!!!!!  What joy it is to see what a missionary Treasa is for her family!  She knows it is true and just desires to share it with all of her loved ones!  After John's baptism, Sister Ostler told me that he told his sister that she is next, haha.  Their family is truly being blessed by the gospel! 

Anyway, Elder Martino told the story of Alma and Amulek and how Amulek became a powerful missionary and asked us to focus on bringing the right members with us as we help our ward or branch with the part member families etc.  He also showed us a better way to ask for referrals.  It was so good to see Sister Brandley and Ostler there too!!!!!!!!  I will have to send you pictures soon but I forgot my camera today. 

Also, we saw a lot of wonderful miracles with Bonnie!  We set a baptismal date with Bonnie this week for September 20th!  She has such a sincere desire and also she came to church this week for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She is the sweetest lady and 84 years old so it was always hard because she would say, I want to but I can't.  I'm grateful that she was blessed to be able to come this week and that she enjoyed it and was able to stay for all 3 hours.  The chapel tour helped a lot.  We also finally got in with Jony this week and a part member family, the Brotzmans.

Well, love you all!  The church is eternally true!

August 1, 2014

So earlier this week we met with Donna.  We usually have our lessons with Donna at a member's house that lives next door to her.  We were a little concerned about having Donna's parents open to her being taught by the missionaries.  Donna always avoids it when we talk about meeting at her house.  So my brilliant companion had the idea to ask if we could go over and see her dog.  Ofcourse Donna said yes!  Everyone loves their pets here!  We got it and were able to meet her dad as well!  That was awesome! 

Also, that day we had a great district meeting and talked about baptismal invites and baptismal dates.  We have been working really hard with our investigators to have a baptismal date.  We have one right now.  But we have definitely seen how important baptismal dates are.  After that we were walking to our car and we saw a man out in his yard.  We starting talking to him about the Book of Mormon.  He had a lot of questions and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and we gave him a passage to read.  He was really neat and seemed sincerely interested.  I hope we hear from him again. 

I don't have time to tell all that happened this week but one of my favorite nights was having dinner with the Valdez family!  The Valdez family is a part member family that the elders are teaching but they only speak Spanish.  All of the elders investigators speak spanish and they don't so a member has to come and translate.  It was the same with our dinner appointment with them.  They fed us, and fed us, and fed us!!!!!!!!  Spaghetti with sour cream and cheese, and tortillas, chicken, hot, hot salsa, etc.  It was really good!  I was really touched by the sincerity and kindness of these people!  I  don' think I can describe to you the spirit that was felt when hey told about their experiences and love and dedication to certain aspects of the gospel.  They are coming to church now even though they don't understand the language.  It is hard but I admire their faith so much!  They would give anything for those around them!

We had a chapel tour with Corey, and to make a long sad story short.  He says that he can't accept  that we don't believe in the trinity, so he is not investigating anymore.  It broke our hearts but I believe that if he continues to read the Book of Mormon that he will be able to someday have a change of heart and have the desire to be baptized again.  It planted a seed.

Bonnie is awesome! But has a hard time coming to church.  I will have to send you a fun picture of her and Donna next week.  Kelly, our recent convert is doing great!  It makes me so happy to see the light in her continue to grow!  She shared a beautiful testimony of service at church in class. 

 The church is continually true!

August 4, 2014

What a crazy week it has been!  Missions are the best!  I think this area might get Spanish missionaries soon.  We had a Spanish family come to church this week and the elders have a lot of Spanish investigators who want to be baptized.  They are so nice!  We get to have dinner with them this week. 

Well, so I told you about the experience we had on Monday running into the man that works at Wal-mart that told us he was reading the Book of Mormon.  Well, his name is Corey and we got an appointment with him and taught him the restoration this week!  I was on exchanges in West Bend with Sister Eden so I missed it!  But it sounded amazing!  He really wants to come closer to Christ and feels like God is leading him here.  Yesterday we called to follow up on his Book of Mormon and he called us back and right away started telling us about his reading.  He is in 1 Nephi 12 and really wants to come to church next week!  We are doing a chapel tour with him this Wednesday!  Pray for him!  He is amazing and it was a  huge miracle to that he found us!

On exchanges I was able to be with Sister Eden!  It was really fun to be able to go out with her in West Bend.  We taught a girl named Leann and a lot of other people as well.  It is so neat to see how certain people are just placed in your path.  We also were very blessed to have a member offer to drive us to the exchange point.  We really couldn't have done it without her! 

Also, on Tuesday we had a lesson with Carolyn and taught her the restoration and she said that if she comes to know that it is true she will be baptized!  She really wanted to come to church this week but couldn't because she had to watch all her grandchildren.  Hopefully we will be able to help her come this week! 

On Thursday, I biked for the first time in a skirt!  It took a little getting used to and my companion and I were a little sore but we did it! We biked to our appointment with Virginia and she was really sweet.  Just before we left it had rained really hard and hailed!  So Virginia was nervous for us and before we left she said a really sweet prayer for us to travel safely.  In our lesson we talked to her about baptism again and she said a very bold and confident yes that she would be if she came to know it was true.  So we were feeling excited about her but then in our next appointment she wouldn't set a baptismal date with us.  Keep her in your prayers too.  Our next lesson with her we are meeting with her at the church and we are having a chapel tour with Corey.  Wednesday is going to be very packed! 

 I also received exciting news this week from Marquette that one of the girls we were teaching there, Hannah, just got baptized!  She is amazing!  I actually sent her an email last week.  Well, I am so grateful for the gospel and for the little miracles we see everyday! 

The church is pricelessly true! 

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!