God loves me, even when I'm a brat.

This week was amazing! I realized I was being somewhat ridiculous these past 2 weeks. I was so frustrated because we didn't have anyone to teach (no one really explains very well what missionary work is really like) and Sister Hanninen and I are SUPER obedient like really obedient and the sisters we live with are great but a little less obedient and they were finding people to teach and reaching their goals and needless to say I was a little more than frustrated. I wanted to find people to teach I wanted to baptize someone and feel like I was doing something purposeful here! I was feeling like I was due for some blessings because I hadn't experienced (or so I thought) many miracles and we were entitled to those miracles. ( I am so selfish sometimes) Then I realized something, I was being like Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon and I thought to myself at the begining of this week, "No wonder God isn't helping us (even though he has been this whole time) I am being prideful and I am complaining like my life is hard when compared to others it is so easy so so so so so so so so so so easy." So I opened up my scriptures and was immensly humbled in Alma 14 it talks about how people were being burned to death because of thier belief in God and my biggest struggle is not having someone open the door and getting a little sunburnt--big deal I am still alive and I get fed dinner every night. So this week I put asied my thoguhts of what I felt should be happening and put my trust in God and said, "Sorry I have been a brat, please forgive me, I love you and this week I am all yours--even if I have to stand outside all day everyday and we don't find one person to teach I am all yours and I will do whatever you want me to do." and this week we found 3 new investigators! We went to go meet some new memebers of the ward and they didn't answer so we were walking and we saw these two guys (a father about 60 and his son about 30) Paul and Levi. We started talking to them and quickly realized they had a strong faith in Chirst and asked them if we could come back and talk to them more about increasing thier faith in Christ. We went back Saturday and talked with Levi and are going back again tonight. We will have to take things slow with Levi he got hit by a drunk driver when he was about 16 and has brain damage but he is really nice and we are so excited to get to know him more. Then we met Michell. We went to go contact a referral and they weren't home so we saw 2 houses across the street whose garage doors were open and I thought lets go knock those doors and we did. First house Not interested. Second house a guy opens the door and says, " we are about to sit down to dinner and we are really busy" we asked if we could come back and he said he wasn't interested. So we start to go to our car and I get this feeling like to just knock on one more door so we stop going to our car and start walking towards another house and as we are walking Michelle (the wife of the dinner guy) comes out of her house and flags us down. She asked how long our message was and if we could come back another time to talk with her about it. So we went back last night and talked with her and we are going back in like 2 weeks (they have family coming into town and no one wants the missionaries around their family haha) Then last night we were leaving our ward mission leaders house and I saw this lady walking her dog and thought, " we should go talk to her" but we were going to be late so I ignored the prompting and kept walking and then I got this thought, "no really go talk to her" So I tell my comp we need to go talk to her and I turn around and kind of have to chase this lady down but she was awesome! She is a recovering alcoholic and her name is Linda we got her number and are going to meet with her sometime this week to talk about faith in Christ. Alma 26:12

 

Sorry my email last week was lame! I didn't feel like anything cool or big had happened but I know there were so many miracles I was just being selfish and couldn't recognize the amazing things taking place. But I am so happy to be here I love my mission! You should all get on hasteningthework.lds.org (did I tell you that last week?) It is great get on. Miss you all love you all! Pray hard to find a family or someone who you can help grow closer to Christ get to know the missionaries in your ward or stake and help them find people to teach

Another Week Gone-- Crazy!

This week was good, but nothing exciting happened. I literally could stop right there and that would basically sum up my week. But I guess I can try to make this a little longer....

We had president interviews this week, which was a much needed boost because it is so easy to get discouraged. He told me that he knows my comp and I are doing all we can and to keep working hard and that the Lord trusts us and so does he. He is an awesome guy I am so blessed to have him and his wife as mission "parents" I guess you could say.

We tracted for like 4 hourst in 105 degree heat this Friday and it was so hot but it was a really good day we felt good about our efforts and we know we tried our best to find those people searching for the gospel--but no one was interested. We knocked on a door and no one answered and so we started going to the next house and decided to stop and take a picture in between houses and so we are taking a picture and this lady carrying a baby comes out of the house we just knocked on and she asks "Did you put this card in my door?" (we put a pass along card in the door) so we said "Yes" and keep in mind I am still taking a picture of my companion and I so were doind one of those awkward are we both in the frame shots and this lady is yelling at us. So we say yes and she throws the card at us and starts telling us how she woke up her baby and we are really rude and then continues to mumble complaints as she walks into her house. But after that we meet the nicest Atheist man who told us he respected what we did. I did see a lot of tender mercies from God this week. We met with Jenny and she is an awesome lady. We are going to try to see her again today. I am really starting to love being a missionary, I love my comp and I am getting some pretty great tan lines. Sorry this is boring and short. Hopefully next week I have something exciting to tell you.

Oh wait! The sisters we live with were teaching this guy and he was arrested for attempted murder to one of his tenants! Crazy people out here but it is great. We also saw a car accident in the walmart parking lot today and some old people got in a fight over it. The sisters we live with serve in a sketchy area though my comp and I serve in the rich part of town so nothing bad really happens there. But I love you all have a great week!

Missionaries (or at least this one) are far from perfect

This week went by so fast, and yet so slow. We have been staying busy and in an effort to help my companion and I develop some courage and show God we have a little bit of faith we made a rule that we can't go home until we talk to 10 random people on the street. It seems pretty easy but sometimes its not. For example, if we see someone on the other side fo the street we will cross it so we can tlak to them and as soon as we are on their side walking towards them they will cross to the other side so they don't have to talk with us. Or they put head phones in and look down and away from you so you know they don't want anything to do with us and then when we say "hello" their eyes get wide with fear as if we might throw a Book of Mormon at their heads or make them read it. But it has really helped my companion and I become more bold and less fearful.

We were at one of our less actives house this week, Sister Rowland who I have come to love! Everytime we go to her house it is an adventure because you never know what she is going to say, have us do, or feed us (this week she feed me some expired yogurt but if that is the worst thing I eat on my mission I am okay with that) She asked us to make her bed because her arthritis was acting up. So we start making her bed and she corrects us the whole time we are doing it and then we start putting the blankets on and there is something brown and lumpy in the bed like the consistancy of poop and I am feeling a little uneasy and my comp says "uh what is that" and Sister Rowland says oh that is my chocolate haha she just left it in her bed while she slept and it melted into the blanket. After Sister Rowlands we go to Shirley's and she is an 88 year old investigator who is adorable and we knock on the door and she opens it and says, "You caught me in my undies!" She wasn't wearing any pants haha and she didn't put any on the whole time we were there and we took a member with us and I am sure she was wondering who this crazy lady without pants was but it was pretty funny. So to the missionaries aren't perfect part, We had a very last minute lesson come up this week from the elders in the singles ward, long story short, we went to a members home where one of the sons had a non-member friend come over for dinner and they invited the missionaries. It was super last minute though so we were like 30 minutes late and not prepared. So we eat dinner while everyone else watches us eat dinner because we are late and they already ate so that is awkward and then after everyone eats we go into the living room and the sons start downloading music and playing music on their computer and the mom has to remind them we are there and to turn the music off. We try to bring up some gospel conversation but we keep getting shut down on all sides and then the non-member is falling asleep. So we left because we didn't feel like we were really fulfilling out purpose there and I wasn't feeling like a lesson was a good idea so we leave. The next morning we get a text from the mom of that family that basically says why didn't you share a lesson last night? And I have been feeling guilty ever since! But I have come to learn missionaries aren't perfect. We should have shared a lesson and I am just an idiot and left but it was a learning experience for me that is for sure. It is frustrating being imperfect though because I just want to be an awesome missionary right no right this second and help people come unto Christ left and right but I guess I will have to be patient with myself and I hope God is being patient with me because I am far from where I want to be. Last night was a great end to our week though. We got to bottle tomatoes with April and Audrey and it was so fun! I really love them a lot and I always feel so much better after having seen them. Sometimes I know these people are here to help me instead of me helping them, and that is April.

 

By the way we got 2 new investigators this week! We are teaching one of them tonight and I hope and pray it goes well and the spirit is strong. Camille by the way is no longer taking the discussions for sure, we were never able to meet with her again because they ran into some family issues and told us it would be better for us if we didn't get involved. By the way get on hasteningthework.lds.org if you haven't already and look at the videos on there. It is an awesome tool in learning how to be a member missionary. Seriously nothing happens in missionary work, or close to nothing, if the members and the missionaries aren't united in bringing people to Christ. Find someone for the missionaries to teach. Set a date for yourself to find someone and pray to make it happen. Also don't let living in Utah be an excuse not everyone is mormon so I know you can find someone there. Love you all!!! Miss you tons!

Missionary work is a giant cup of disappointment.... but I love it!

Hello!

 

This week was really.... different I guess, a lot of ups and downs personally but I have never loved missionary work more than I do right now. This week we got to do some service. We painted one of the members homes a yellow color that I didn't like but I miss painting so it was a lot of fun! I love home improvement projects and it was really great to do something. We also got to clean!!!! Those of you who know me know I love cleaning and it was AMAZING to just clean for like 2 hours. One of our less actives, who is my favorite person in Rocklin, has the autistic daughter Audrey, who I love, but her room was an absolute nightmare! Like I found a piece of meat under the bed that looked like it had been there since maybe she was born and she is 9 so it was a project. But I love cleaning and helping April so it was really fun to clean with them and to help Audrey see what her floor looks like. I love service because I can immediately see the result of me helping them, even though sharing the gospel is the best service I could ever render, I love service projects. (I feel like that didn't make sense but I am not rewriting what I said) On to more spiritual things....

 

We had a lesson this week with SheVeeta and it went really well. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true and if she finds out it is true that she would be baptized... now the kind of disappointing part, she is 19 so she goes to the singles ward so we don't get to teach her anymore we had to hand her off to the Elders, but its okay because they are awesome and she is still learning about the gospel. I just kind of really wish I got to teach her some more. Also, when I first got her we saw a man, Basillo, who worked for the city mowing a lawn and I felt like we needed to talk with him, so my trainer and I pulled over and shared a short message about the gospel and left. Well we saw him again this week and I thought to myself, "BASILLO we gotta get him baptized" so naturally we pulled over again. We parked the car and we started walking to his truck, he was putting his yard working tools away and then he got into his truck and turned the truck on. So of course my companion and I started to walk faster towards him, luckily we got to the driverside window before he pulled away and we stood there and waived and him until he rolled down the window (awkward maybe but it was neccessary) I asked if he remembered us and he said he kind of did and I briefly described our first visit together and then I asked him, "Basillo, I know your family is so important to you, and I know you love them a lot, right?" and he said, "yes" so then I testified like a boss (well I spoke but the Holy Ghost testified because I can't do anything without the help of Christ) and I said, "Basillo I know that by reading the Book of Mormon you can have a greater relationship with your family....." and then I said more but I can't remember because it wasn't really me it was God. But it was awesome! He took the Book of Mormon and our phone number and we have been looking for him at all of the parks hoping that by divine intervention we get to talk with him again. We also got a new investigator this week!!! This is rare so I was just elated to finally have someone to teach. Her name is Kristina and she was a referral from one of the members of our ward. Kristina is about 40 and has 2 little boys. She is so prepared to hear and accept the gospel. She is looking for more in her life and she really wants to be able to develop faith and know where she is going after this. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read the introduction and 1 Nephi 1 and we are going to teach her on Wednesday. We are also meeting with Camille on Wednesday, she said she would meet with us one last time. She has had some humbling experiences this past week so I am really really really hoping and praying that everything will work out. She is so great and she just needs the gospel of Christ in her life. Everyone does but she really does. Okay last story, while tracting (this happened like 4 times on the same block by the way) we would knock on a door and wait for like a minute and no one would come so we would put a card in the door and walk away then as we are walking away we hear a door open, we turn around and someone is at the door we just knocked on bending down to pick up the card we left, the look up at us and immediately retreat back inside the house. I love being that crazy Jesus girl that people don't look in the eye or just avoid all together because they might catch the disease of the light of Christ or something. Oh well I hope lots of people catch it and soon! I know my ward is really starting to be missionary minded and I really think that we will be seeing success in this area soon.

 

This week I really developed a love for my mission because I worked hard. Really hard and it was awesome. We didn't have much success but I felt so much love from God for walking in the heat all day long on Friday and Saturday that I couldn't help but be happy. I love being a missionary and I am so happy I am on a mission. I was reading in D&C 76:5-13 and Joseph Smith drops a bomb in there about how he gained knowledge of life before this life, how cool is that!? He saw what it was like before we were here on the Earth. I really want to experience that and learn for myself what kind of a person I was and what kind of a person I can become. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that I love it says, "Freely you have received and our Heavenly Father will expect you freely to share with his other sons and daughters these glorious truths. We will attain our exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom only on the condition that we share with our Father's other children the blessing sof the Gospel of JEsus Christ and observe the commandments that will enrich our lives ehre and hereafter." Preston Nibley so go share the gospel :) Love you all! Keep praying and doing God's will. Also if you can go on a mission! Seriously there is nothing better than sharing the gospel with those people who are searching for more. There is nothing better than gaining a knowledge of eternal families and knowing that there is something after this life where we will get to be with the people we love. Something kind of funny this lady said about being atheist this week was, "I would rather spend my whole life believing in Christ and get to Heaven and see that there isn't an afterlife, than spend my whole life denying Christ and God and get to Heaven and think 'O CRAP they do exsist'" haha that was really funny, or at least it made me laugh. Love you all! Have a good week.

Fasting Works!

Who would have thought that fasting really works!? I really wanted my greenie to have a good first day so I fasted that we would be able to find people who are read to hear the gospel and that I would be able to have charity towards her. So while we were tracting we found 3 potential new investigators!!! That NEVER happnes, literally we are lucky if someone tells us to have a great day and they respect what we are doing but 3 people were interested. One of them being a guy named Rick. I sent a picture of his garage a few weeks ago, he is a HUGE giants fan and his garage is black and orange. He was outside and we talked with him for a little bit and he took a Book of Mormon. Then next person was Melanie, she is hardcore Catholic but she has Mormon friends and said we could come back and share a message with her. And then we found Emma and she is really great, she is a young girl and she is possibly going to a mormon college but she also took a Book of Mormon and told us to come back next weekend because she is going out of town. It was awesome!!!! But I feel like God likes to keep my ego in check because after we found a lot of people all of our investigators cancelled their appointments and one girl, Camille, text us and said, "This whole moremen (that is how she spelt it) isn't working out for me, I am not ready to make the change" luckily we are going to meet with her again this week sometime to hopefully get her interested in the Gospel again because she said she was on a "church high" and she is just coming down. It was so frustrating!!!! But we taught the Priesthood and Relief Society yesterday and it was awesome! We talked about member missionary work and the spirit was so strong! It was awesome because we barley had to talk at all and the member mostly just told each other they needed to get it together and do work. Then one of the members who is probably my favorite came up and patted me on the back and told me it was a great lesson. I think he is my favorite because he reminds me of my dad and I just wanted a hug from him aka my dad so bad!!! I miss you dad and mom I miss you too but I get hugs from women all the time so its not as bad. I was feeling really discouraged though that all of our investigators were cancelling and so I was just praying to know what I was doing wrong and I came to John 15 and it was all about how Jesus was persecutaed and I am not better than him so I am going to get rejected and its not my fault. People have agency and they can choose to accept our message or not. It is my job to put it out there and let the spirit testify to them and then if they don't accept the message of course I should be sad but never disappointed with myself or question my abilities as a missionary as long as I am doing ALL that I can to share the gospel. Sorry this is written really fast and it is a giant run on sentance but I am in a hurry. I love you all!!!! I miss you tons. Oh wait yeah my new companion haha she is from Finland and she is awesome! Her name is Sister Hanninen and she is really down to Earth and quiet which is nice in the mornings when I am grumpy (I am still not a morning person) and I just want to be quiet. But I like her a lot. Once again goodbye love you all!!! Have a great week. Read John 15