March 2, 2015

It has definitely been cold on the hands and toes lately but today has been 27 and it feels like spring, haha! 

It has been a very different week.  On Tuesday we had a lesson with Holly about the sacrament.  She is really amazing!  She says it just makes sense to her and she did occasionally take the sacrament in her other church but never understood why they did it.  She came to church again this week! 

The member family we ran into last week came to church this week!  That was definitely not a coincidence!  I don't know if I told you the story last week but we were going to contact a referral that we haven't been able to get in contact yet and their next door neighbor was outside.  We talked to her and she is a member from Alabama but hadn't found the church here yet.  And we contacted the referral :)  We also had another referral for a woman who was southern baptist.  Her name was Vysella.  That was a very interesting lesson.  She sang us a couple songs, and had such a sweet heart but couldn't really hear us very well.  She loved to sing though!

Anyway, this week was zone conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yay!!!!!!!!!!!   I was asked to accompany the musical number and what a wonderful experience that was!  Wow!  That song was so powerful and beautiful.  We were going to do "I know that my Redeemer LIves"  but ended up doing a song called "Come ye Disconsolate."  This was my last zone conference so I was asked to bear my testimony.  I had a lot of mixed emotions.  I was very grateful that not only was I able to stand and bear my testimony but I was able to bear my testimony through music.  A couple that had joined the church this last year came and bore their testimonies.  They were so grateful for the missionaries that came and taught them and persisted.  The husband said at first he had no intention of coming back to church but he is so glad that he came and taught his wife and then he was able to realize that he needed support her in this.  He knew that "this wasn't just about him."  He thought he was letting her choose for herself by not coming to church with her until she told him that it was really hard to be an active investigator married to an inactive member. 

Saturday we had the opportunity to serve a family that had lost a mother to cancer.  Their was 10 kids and their friend Mandy, who is not a member of our church told us and the relief society president about them.  We went over and helped clean the house and clear some boxes.  They were so grateful!  I'm really seeing the importance of serving others. 

My companion's name is Sister Calderon, from Midland Texas!  She is a fantastic cook and has been trying to teach me a little, haha.  She is a wonderful companion!

I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart!  Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and the prophet of the restoration. 

I love you all!

The church is prophetically true!  

February 16th, 2015

Wow!  What a week!  Monday and Tuesday were both extremely busy trying to prepare for transfers and visiting everyone before Sister Osmond left!  We had a lesson with Holly on Tuesday morning and the whole rest of the day was booked until 9 at night but we found out that we would actually be leaving at 7 at night instead of Wednesday morning!  It was crazy!  On Wednesday morning they had a really neat special training for the trainers.  I am grateful for the opportunity to train because it is teaching me SO much!  It was such a special experience!  I was able to play the piano for it and I'm just grateful to be a missionary!  We sang called to serve and all of the new missionaries walked in and faced the trainers.  When I came down I was just wondering which one of them is going to be my new companion??  Well, my new companion is Sister Calderon from Midland, Texas!  She is so wonderful and such a great gospel teacher!  I love being her companion and truly it has been a great learning opportunity for me this week!  It hasn't been easy but I am learning so much and am grateful for Sister Calderon! 

As a mission we have an apostle, a seventy, and another General Authority coming to our mission on March 21st and we have been preparing by doing a forty day fast!  We have been

Feasting upon the words of Christ, reading the Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel everyday

Acting in obedience

Sanctifying through the sacrament

Testifying with our feet

to prepare for it!  We are so excited!  We just found out that 2 families with recent converts from exactly a year ago are preparing to be sealed on our ward temple trip day, March 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!  It is so exciting!!!!!!!!  This is a really big day for the ward here!  Ebony, a recent convert, is preparing to go to the temple for the first time along with a lot of the other recent converts and some returning less actives we have been working with!  It is such a big day and we are so excited!!!!!!!!!!!  When we started focussing our recent converts on the temple it really motivated them! 

We saw a lot of little tender mercies this week.  We invited Thaina to be baptized on a specific day and were able to see Joleen and Faith again.  We started working with a few new people and met a girl named Becky.  I have to go now but I love you all!!!  Have a great week!  I know that this church is true!  And I know that our Savior loves us SO much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Never forget that!  There is great power  in the pure love of Christ! 

February 9th, 2015

This email is going to be short!  But so much has happened in the past 2 weeks with the work!  First of all  transfers are this week and Sister Osmond is being transferred to the Madison 4th ward and I will be training a new missionary!  It has been so crazy but I have truly seen how, even in the past 2 weeks, this area has been prepared for her!  So we went to the temple on Friday it was such a beautiful experience and so nice to go with SIster Osmond before we received the transfer text the very next day and found out she was leaving.  I will miss her SO  much!!!!  But her new companion is my MTC companion,  SIster Clawson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They will be so wonderful together!   We have 4 new investigators!   Ana,  a referral from Bishop Holmes,  she speaks Romanian and has come to church for the past 2 weeks now!  Also,  Fatih and Joleen.  We helped shovel for her and then we came back and talked with her more.  Her friend came to our first little lesson with her along with one of the sisters from the ward.  She said that she was really glad that she met us.  Her friend Joleen has such a cute family!  We went to go so bye to her and her whole family was together playing board games together!  It seemed like family night.  We might have to let the Spanish elders help teach them though because they speak Spanish.  It would be really great to teach them but if it is better language wise to let the elders teach them we will refer them to the elders. 

Also,  Yu, our Japanese investigator,  came to church this week!  He said it reminded him a lot about when he was in Utah.   He has been keeping a lot of commitments!  Anyway, I have to go!  Love you!

The church is transformingly true!

January 26, 2015

I'm so grateful for the new skirts you sent for Christmas!!!!!!!!  We had a little mishap that I forget to tell you about ... So a few week ago one of the members in our ward offered to mend our skirts because of few of my skirts had gotten little rips in them.  She did and dropped them off to us on a night that happened to be garbage night.   We left the bag by the door and accidently took it out with our garbage!  So I lost a lot of good skirts unfortunately but I'm grateful I still have enough skirts to wear because of Christmas! :)

So this week we taught Yu more about the Book of Mormon and read a chapter with him.  He said even in japanese it is difficult for him to understand a lot of things but he read Enos and really liked the last verse!  We talked about "likening" or applying the scriptures to ourselves and he felt like he could really relate to Nephi.  We gave him a restoration DVD and told him he could watch it in japanese and he was very excited about that!  He really really wants to come to church and was so sad that he couldn't this week because he had to go to Milwaukee and next week he is going to Green Bay. We are really excited for him to come but it seems like something always takes him somewhere else.  He asked if he could come on wednesday,  so he could meet some of the other people from the ward.  We are excited for him to come!

Yesterday we were going to meet a less active member that we have never met before.  The apartment building was locked so we couldn't get in to knock on our door.  We felt like we should knock lightly on the window, so we did.  A woman came out.  At first we thought she was angry at us but she was actually really nice.  She was not a member of our church but said that we could say a prayer with her.  We did.  Afterward, she said "you don't know what you just did for me."  She then said that later this week she is going to have surgery.  We shared the Book of Mormon with her and she wants to learn more and come to our church.  She even knows a member from the ward, Sister Heinrich!  She called her right after we left and Sister Heinrich told us that she committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! 

Also, Joy, who speaks only Laos, came to church with her family this week!  When we go to see her we always sing a hymn to her and say a prayer with her and even though it's not the same language she always loves it!  At church I just loved how happy she was!  A couple of week ago, we had a feeling to stop by when we were in the area.  We did and when we came in we saw her grandson covered in chocolate, with chocolate smeared all over the wall and candy everywhere!  She looked a little overwhelmed!  We had just enough time to help her clean up the mess.  I'm so glad that we stopped and could help her!  It was really neat so I thought I'd share it. :)

 The church is applicably true!  

January 19, 2015

It has been  quite the week!  I'm so grateful for our family!  I've been so blessed with a wonderful family who has taught me and been an example to me of love and service and I'm so grateful for the gospel.  So I need to tell you all about the events leading up to when I found out that grandpa had passed away.  The Lord was very aware of us that day and really helped prepare me.  That morning we visited an older couple.  The husband is trying to return to church and the wife is just softening towards missionaries.  We taught them a little lesson and then they started talking about good pancakes.  I immediately thought of grandpa Prestwich's banana pancake recipe.  After that we went tracting and met a lady who let us in and we taught her the plan of salvation.  During that lesson I felt the spirit so much!  The Spirit really impressed on me the truthfulness of it.  She didn't become a new investigator but I don't doubt it gave her some peace. 

Then we went to Lakeland and taught Yu more about the Book of Mormon and the word of wisdom!  He said that he is going to try to go 20 days without drinking any coffee to start!  He told us maybe he needed to stop anyway because he had spilled coffee on his laptop and it ruined it.  He didn't come to church this week though because of some school things that he had to do.  I hope that we can  help him learn that when you make it a priority the other things work out.  He said he will come next week though. 

We then had a lesson with a recent convert named Marsha.  We had planned on starting her family history with her because she wants to go to the temple and take a family name with her for her first time.  Her internet wasn't working though so we decided to teach her the plan of salvation instead.  We were just going to teach the end but in starting I just felt like we should start at the beginning.  We did and part way through she said, "I can't believe this!"  She went on to say that she had been asked to give a short lesson on our life on earth and didn't know what to do so she had prayed that she would have help with her lesson.  Then she said, "and then you two come and teach it to me."  She said it was an answer to her prayers and a great strength to her testimony. 

After that we had an appointment but on our way they called and said they were sick with the flu. So I turned down a different street and realized it was the street of the church and remember that the relief society meeting was just starting.  We hadn't planned on going because of our appointment but we both felt like we needed to go now.  It was on the temple.  We sang "families can be together forever" and enjoyed wonderful little talks about the blessings of the temple and preparing to go.  We have a lot of recent converts who are preparing to go.  Anyway it was so beautiful and a great spiritual boost.  After that we came home to do our nightly planning and President Cutler called and said that grandpa had passed away. 

 Heavenly Father was so aware of me and really strengthened and prepared me for that!  I was reminded of the beautiful plan that Heavenly Father has for us right before and it was so comforting and I had so many opportunities to share it that day!  We also shared it with a couple who is going through cancer right now.  I'm grateful for the plan of salvation. 

Our recent converts are doing so well!  Ebony gets so excited about the Book of Mormon!  She is reading it three times a day and it is truly changing and strengthening her!  It is fun to see her enthusiasm for the gospel.  She is the only one in her family that goes to a church and they sometimes give her a hard time about it but she just says, "yes I am going to church!  I like church!"  Jared and Kathryn, also were so excited to tell us about their Book of Mormon reading this week!  It is so fun to see the fruits of the gospel!  We also had a lady come to church this week who we haven't seen for a long time!  My heart just leaped for joy when we saw her at church!  Last we saw her she didn't want us to visit her anymore but at church she said she would text us. 

I love you all so much and will be praying for grandma Prestwich and the family!  Thank you for your support and prayers!  Miracles come after the trial of your faith! 

The church is everlastingly true!  Love you!

January 12, 2015

Well, I definitely saw so many glorious blessings this week! 

On Tuesday we had zone training again that really motivated my companion and I.  Right after the meeting we quickly left for the long drive back to Sheboygan so that we could go and do what we learned about. :)  In zone training we talked about prepared people and this week we met a lot of prepared people. :)  On Thursday we met with Yu, our Japanese investigator.  It was snowing fairly hard and two of the people that were going to come with for Yu's lesson cancelled on us.  It is a little bit of a drive out to Lakeland where Yu goes to school but we decided we were going to go even with the snow.  I'm so glad we did!   We taught him about the restoration of the gospel.  He had some really great comments about how he has tried to have God more in his life and how the things he has read in the Book of Mormon seem familiar to him! He went to church sometimes as an exchange student in Utah too.  He said he wants to be baptized if he comes to know that this is true and we set a baptismal date with him!  That was really exciting!  We gave him his Japanese Book of Mormon and he was so excited!  He even asked if he could get a picture with us and his Book of Mormon :)  Wow, blessings do come after you push through the storm :) 

We also had interviews with Pres. Cutler.   I'm so grateful for President Cutler!  He gives us so much guidance and helps us to feel of God's love for us.  He asked me what I'm going to study in the Book of Mormon next.  I am going to study charity. :)  You are welcome to join me if you like, in choosing a Christlike attribute you want to work on this year and looking for it in the scriptures.  I'm really excited! 

Anyway, then we had exchanges right after interviews.   We saw many exchange miracles!  Right after dinner there was a girl next door the sisters were working with and we saw her right before she was about to leave!  Perfect timing.  We had ward correlation and only had 30 minutes after that.  We were so blessed for using all of the time we had!  During that 30 minutes we decided to go see a family that is not as active in the church and they had a friend over.  We shared a message and a Book of Mormon with the friend.  At the end of the lesson I felt strongly to ask her if she would like to learn more.  She said yes! 

Today, we found a new investigator!  Michele, at the laundromat, asked us where we worked.  We explained that we were missionaries, a little about what we did.  Then Sister Boldt, peeked out from around the corner and we said, "Hi, Sister Boldt!"  Sister Boldt works at the laundromat so Michelle knows her already.  We started telling her about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy.  She started crying and said that last night she had prayed for more scripture in her life!  Wow, she was so nice and just glowed!  Pray for her! 

The church is familiarly true!

January 12, 2015

I only have a few minutes so I'll try to be fast!  So I"ll have to tell you the story later but I met our cousin, Alexis Prestwich's best friend Dani and her husband Chris!  She said she was a bridesmaide at Alexis's wedding!  It was so cool!  This week was great!  There was so many blessings!  The work is really picking up and we have been so so busy this week!  It has been so busy that we have just been praying for the strength and energy to do it all, which is a great thing!  And we have definitely been strengthened!  We had a chapel tour and taught the restoration to a cute little family.  They are so awesome!  They really are excited to learn more!  We also have a baptismal date now with Ariana!  Lots of things are happening.  We also met with a really awesome new hispanic family, who have not been to church since they moved here to Sheboygan for a couple of years.  The grandma was really funny, she told us she would see the elders walk by and would yell from inside the house, "elders, elders! And they don't hear me."  Then she said "then there was these two freezing ladies outside my door."  Haha, that was us!  They are great, pray for them.  The baby is sick.  We have zone training again tomorrow and we are really excited!  We had a lot of great miracles this week but I don't have time to write them.  I'll try to get them in my journal so I'll remember.  I'm grateful for how much God knows and loves His children!  Love ya!

The church is gracefully true!