Merry Christmas

We have been really blessed with referrals lately!  Sister Osmond wrote on our board "ye receive not because ye ask not."  Apply this to referrals and it is really neat.  We have been praying and the Lord has been answering our prayers.  A really neat referral we received was during our District training meeting.  During our meeting our phone started to ring and it was a number we didn't recognize so we answered it.  My first day here in Sheboygan we went to a playgroup that a member family in the ward arranged and invited a lot of friends.  So we made sure to introduce ourselves to everyone and also we helped prepare for this big pasta dinner they were doing and introduced ourselves to Julie and left our number with her.  Julie was the one that called us!  She called and told us she was just telling everyone about us and that she had a friend, Rene, that really needed help with her house, getting it in order to put up for sale.  So we went over there and helped her clean and told her about the Book of Mormon.  She said she wasn't very religious but that she would read it!  Yay!  Then we also got referrals from the Spanish elders, our zone leaders, and Bro. Jacobs!  Miracles are happening in Sheboygan!

Another really cool Christmas miracle was that I got to see Sister Brandley my trainer this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :D  It was such a good evening!   She is going home but her parents came to pick her up so they were visiting all the areas she served in!  So she came to Sheboygan and had dinner at Marsha's house.  Marsha is a really awesome recent convert!  When we walked in I was looking around the room for Sister Brandley but didn't see her, then she jumped out from behind the curtains and gave me a big hug!  It was the best and I could just see her light glowing!  It reminded me of Alma 17:2-3.  

Well, Sunday was a beautiful baptism for Ashton, a little girl in the ward!  Sunday was a really great day!  Valerie came to church for the 3rd week in a row!  And Thaina and her brother Bruno came to church too!  Bruno came from Dubei!  This morning we had a lesson with Sister Olmedo.  We watched the "He is the gift" video with her and I really just felt so much joy and gratitude for the Savior!   Christ is the reason for the season!  Thanks mom and dad, for always teaching us that!  I'm so very grateful to finish reading the Book of Mormon this week as a gift to the Savior!  I know that it is true!  He is the gift!  

December 16th, 2014

What a crazy week it has been!  It has felt like a roller coaster this week!  So many exciting things are happening here and we are working hard!  I'm grateful for the strength and renewal that Sundays bring as well as reading the Book of Mormon!  Yesterday we didn't' get our studies done in the morning because of church so we didn't read the Book of Mormon until evening and I could definitely tell the difference! 

We met with Thaina again this week. Our meeting with Thaina was really neat!  We taught her about prayer because she was writing a paper on it for one of her classes and really wanted us to teach her more.  I learned a lot from her as well!  Thaina is a very optimistic and happy person!  At the end we talked to her about praying to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  When I shared with her how I came to know the Book of Mormon was true, I felt an overwhelming feeling again that it was true!  She told us about her brother and how her brother said very strongly that he knew that it was true and how she knows her brother is telling the truth.  We invited her to pray about the Book of Mormon and also talked to her about baptism.  She said she doesn't want one foot here and one foot there, she wants both feet in it if she is going to be baptized.  But when we asked her what her concerns were about baptism or what is holding her back she thought about it and said, "nothing really."  Thaina and her brother are planning on coming to church next week!  Her brother is flying in from India.

Also, we met with Valerie again and taught her the Plan of Salvation, or part of it.  It was a huge miracle that she came to church again this week!  And this time with all of her kids and a cousin!  It was a little chaotic, and her kids kept crying.  Church can be difficult with little kids, but I hope she wasn't overwhelmed and was able to feel the Spirit while she was there.  She said what she did get to listen to she liked. 

The cookie exchange and nativity story for Relief Society was super successful!  Sister Boldt invited our investigator, Linda, and brought her.  We made cookies at a Mexican bakery where one of the members works.  Her name is Rosa.  She has not come to church for awhile but her son is preparing to go on a mission.  Well, we made cookies there with her and she came with us to the cookie exchange!  It was really fun!  Okay dad, you are going to say I told you so but, I wish I would have known a little Spanish so I could communicate better with her and her family. :)  Luckily my companion does.   Also, we knocked on the door of this lady that lives next to the church building and invited her to the cookie exchange and she came!  It was super exciting!  Afterwards she wanted to donate money but we wouldn't accept it.  She seemed kind of embarrassed.  I hope we get to see her again! 

Nicole told us this week she doesn't think this is for her and doesn't want to meet with us anymore.  I wish we could have helped her resolve her concerns, or find out what they were more.  It was very sudden.  But on the bright side, her daughter is a member and is still going to have that example and influence in her life!  I'm so grateful for the gospel and for Book of Mormon!  We read in 3 Nephi this morning, chapters 11-20 and it was fantastic!  What a treasure the Book of Mormon is!  "And he did smile upon them again."  3 Nephi 19:30 :)

Well, I love you!  The church is dazzlingly true!

Sister Prestwich

P.S. Share the gift!

December 9th, 2014

Wow!  It has been such a crazy and great week!  So winter so far has been nothing like Marquette.  The temperature has been staying pretty much in the 30's. 

A lot happened this week but I will try to give you all the highlights. 

On Tuesday we had a very unique lesson with a lady named Joy.  She is a less active member of the church and the Elders told us we should go and see her.  The thing is she only speaks Laotian so we could not communicate with her.  She invited us in and gave us some sticky rice and invited us to sit down.  We sang "I am a child of God" to her and I will never forget that experience.  It just really touched my heart that the spirit really is the most important thing in our lessons.  She didn't understand what the words were, maybe she knew the song.  I don't know but I do know that the spirit touched our hearts and that was a good and familiar thing to her.  The rest of the visit we just pointed to her pictures of her family and she told us their names.  We introduced our names and offered to do her dishes, haha.  It was so exciting to me when we walked into the chapel on Sunday and we saw her and her husband sitting on the chairs and she smiled brightly at us.  It just warmed my heart! 

We also had a neat District meeting where a new convert spoke to us on hope.  We have been trying out these new surveys as a door approach.  We haven't used it a ton yet but are continueing to try it out.  We have also been getting a lot of referrals lately.  One of the memers from Fond du Lac has a sister that lives in Sheboygan so we went and visited with her.  It was so fun and she wants to have lunch with us sometime! 

On Wednesday we made cookies with Sister Boldt and took them to our investigator, Linda, who lives across the street.  It was so good for Linda and Sister Boldt to meet eachother and now LInda has another friend in the ward! 

We had our first lesson with our new investigator family, Valerie and Alex and their kids.  Alex wasn't home but we taught Valerie the restoration and Ebony, a new convert, came with us to help teach and share her testimony.  Ebony was the perfect friend for Valerie!  She could really relate to her and I know that needed to happen that way.  Valerie came to church on Sunday with her two little girls, Adrianna, and Annalise.  They are 1 and 2 years old so sacrament meeting was rough but she stayed all 3 hours and enjoyed it!  We have a giving tree, and she offered to help out and also bring a dish for the potluck Sunday in two weeks!  I loved this past fast Sunday!  I'm grateful for fast and testimony meetings.  I didn't bear my testimony in sacrament meeting but I want you all to know that I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for His great love for us!  He loves you and me and all of us!  I'm so grateful for the blessing to give this time to serve Him and others.  I am in no way near perfect but I'm grateful that our Heavenly Father wants to help our weaknesses become strengths through relying on Him.  This was a really neat week and I'm grateful that the Lord watches over us.  It is so neat to see not only His hand in my life but His hand in lives of those we work with and meet everyday.  I love you all! 

Really quick I have to tell James about Thaina and Yu!  I met our investigators Thaina and Yu for the first time this week!  They are so wonderful!  Thaina is from Brazil.  Her brother is a member and she really looks up to him and her mom is not but she wants to send missionaries to meet her mom.  We taught them the plan of Salvation this week.  Yu is her friend and he is from Japan! :D  He said he lived in Utah for awhile as an exchange student so he gets excited to meet anyone from Utah!  We ordered a japanese Book of Mormon for him.  He was excited to here that you served in Japan, James!  James do you have anything I should know for our japanese investigator?  Can you teach me a cool phrase I can say to him?  Well, I have to go now!  Love you!  The church is limitlessly true! 

December 1, 2014

It has been such a wonderful and awesome week!  We are working hard here and I am enjoying it so much!  I love the new "He is the gift" pass-along cards that we have to share with everyone!  If you haven't watched it yet make sure you do!  It is so good!  

It is so neat how you can have one thing planned and even when all your plans and appointments fall through the Lord puts people in your path or leads us to so many amazing people!  On Friday, all of our appointments fell through so we started going to visit some other people we had thought of.  The potential we went to go visit wasn't home but we had a feeling we should try the house next door.  So we did and we talked about Christ with the "He is the gift" Christmas cards and introduced the Book of Mormon.  The girl we met gladly accepted both and said we could come back next week.  Then we were going to leave but we felt we should try this one house across the street so we did and neat conversation with the girl there as well.  We kept trying "ones" that we felt we should and almost everyone that accepted the pass-along cards also accepted a Book of Mormon!  It truly was a miracle!  We also met a guy named Steffeno who is a famous chef in town!  It was really funny because I didn't know anything about him yet but my companion when he opened the door kept saying, "so you're the Steffeno!"  It was cool, haha. 

Well, we were able to meet with Nicole this week and also our other investigators, Eric, Linda, and Arianna.  We extended baptismal dates with Eric and LInda this week.  They didn't quite accept the date but they said they would be baptized if they came to know that it is true.  Pray for them.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I love it!  I love all of you!  Time is short today!  Have an awesome week! The church is seriously So true!

Cupstoration

Here is a link to a darling video of Sarah doing the Cupstoration song. It is amazing!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9ypqUlXbKYXX2ZRRUJ6Z01hVlE/edit

(Here is a teaser of what it looks like, but you have to use the link to actually watch it.)_

November 24, 2014

Wow, what a week!  We have been truly blessed so so much!  I  am just blown away at the many doors or opportunities that have been opened to us just in the last couple of days!  It really has been so amazing!  I love the Sheboygan ward!  The people are wonderful and my companion is so so wonderful!  We are very similar in many ways!  

Some of the people we are working with are Nicole, Emily, Linda and Eric, and Arrianna.  We invited Nicole to be baptized on December 20th this week and she is really excited for baptism!  Her daughter is a recent convert and has a really cool conversion story that I was able to ask her about.  

We have been getting referrals right and left it seems!  We got one from the Oak Creek sisters, which happens to be one of my old companions, Sister Ormsby!  Also, in Fond du Lac, one of the members has a sister that lives in Sheboygan so we are looking forward to meeting her and the members are very open in sharing the with us the people they have been working with.  

We had a neat experience trying this new survey thing too, tracting this week.  As we learn how to use more and helps us know what people are searching for and what their needs are. While we were doing that we met a really sweet 90 year old lady raking her leaves.  We came up to her and asked if we could help her.  At first she said no but we persisted and were happy and she softened and let us help.  By the end she was so grateful and later called the number we left her.  She must have thought it was a number to our leaders because she left the sweetest voicemail!  Afterward we both agreed that doing service just "infuses our souls with light."  

well, I have to get going but Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  I am grateful so so much for all of you and to be on a mission!!!!!!!  The church is brilliantly true!

November 17, 2014

Well, it is certainly getting chilly here!  There was a storm like last week or the beginning of this week that just missed us but we still got some snow and the temperature is dropping.  Funny enough, even though I'm not excited for the cold, the first snow is always really exciting!  It was fun, not fun to drive in though.  And it makes everything look really beautiful. 

It's transfers this week, and I'm getting transferred to Sheboygan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It has been a great 3 transfers with Sister Cosgrove and I am going to miss her a lot and all of the wonderful people here that I've been blessed to be able to work with!  I am staying in the same zone though so I will still get to see her!  My trainer, Sister Brandley, was the one that opened Sheboygan after she trained me, and I've heard that it has really picked up there!  My companion is going to be Sister Osmond.  I have already met her and she is super nice! 

It was definitely a good last week in Fond du Lac.  We met with Nicky, a referral from our bishop.  She needed help moving so we moved her in and unpacked her kitchen for her.  This week we went back and asked her if she was interested in learning more about our church.  She said yes!!!!!!  Not only did she say yes but she also said that she didn't have a church to go to and was looking for one!!!  She is so awesome!!!!!!!!!  I'm glad I can stay in contact with Sister Cosgrove to find out what happens from there. 

We also had another member give us another referral, a girl, he wanted us to go to lunch with.  So we called her and set up the appointment.  We also asked her if she would like to learn more and she also said yes!!!  It was so exciting! 

We had the ward talent show this week!!!  Angel and her whole family, who are not members, came!!!!!!  That was a huge step for them!  Sister Cosgrove and I taught the restoration through singing and building the restoration tower while doing the cup song.  We have been singing it as our opening song in companionship study for a while now.  We actually got it down pretty fast.  It was so fun!  We have been using it to teach the restoration.  It is fun and entertaining and helps people to feel the spirit!  :D  It was so fun and we didn't mess up, haha.
We performed it in our lesson to Cora this week too.  It was such an awesome lesson!  The whole family came in and absolutely loved it!  At the end they begged us to do it again!  The 2 year old was clapping so fast and so hard, you could barely see her hands.  There was a very special spirit about the whole family being gathered around in harmony with each other all focussed on the lesson, and talking about Jesus Christ.  The dad, has never came in for any of our lesson but he came in and I know that he noticed what that did for his family. He said that to us, and even offered to say the closing prayer.  What a miracle!  I hope he continues to see how it brings his family together.

Everyone was so nice to me this weekend!  They found out I was getting transferred and one of the families that we ate with, the Whittun family, made me a cake that said on it "we will miss you Sister Prestwich."  It was so sweet!!!!  I just love all of the people here!

Well, gotta go!  love you!  The church is superly true!