(Editor's note: we told Maggie that we posted her picture on the church bulletin board.)
LOL mom!!!!!! hahahahah
Did you use that huge 8X10 picture??? That was wayyy tooo big!! If you put ANY pictures up of me on the bulletin board at church, you HAVE to put something by it encouraging member-missionary work. I think that our ward NEEDS a lot more work on that!!!! I will be launching efforts towards that as soon as I step off the plane! I don't think that as members of the church, that we realize how incredibly important, influential and beneficial member-missionary work truly is!!! People will become socially converted LONGGGGG before they become spiritually converted!!! And besides, we as missionaries, will never be able to find, teach, or convert ANYONE with out vast amounts of help from the members. The Lord is hastening his work, and that doesn't just mean for missionaries. It means for members as well. If you never said hello to a new face at church before. Do it. If you never had an investigator over to your house. Do it. If you've never had the missionaries over for dinner. Do it. If you've never gone out with the missionaries before. Do it. If you have never given the missionaries a referral or introduced them to any of your friends before. Do it!!!! That's what hastening the work really means!!! It means doing things that you have NEVER done before!!!
Mom, the church has just launched a new video that they have been playing in times square all Black Friday long. Yes, the church bought ad minutes in times square just to share this video with as many people as possible! It is called "He is the Gift" it is on Mormon.org, it is on lds.org, it is even on youtube!!!! I invite the Carnahans, as a family, to share this video with as many people as you possibly can this month!!!! It is a two minute Christmas video, it has no crazy doctrine in it. The only doctrine it holds is the doctrine that Jesus Loves us and that God loves us. As missionaries, we are required to show this video to 10 people a day, for the entire month of December!!!!! That is pretty dang difficult without any ipads!!!! But guess what??? You all have computers, phones, ipads. You have sooooo much more access to this video and you all need to be using that privilege, by sharing this video!!! It needs to be big. Share it in your offices. Show it to friends!!! Seriously. YOU NEED TO BE SHARING THIS VIDEO!!!!!!!! Share it on facebook! idc. Share the video.
By the way, mom, the socks were purple. :] Love you!
Share the video.
Amen
Maggie :]
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Joy's brother sang!
Here is Joy and her brother who came to the baptism. He even sang at it! It was.... VERY interesting!! but he had a wonderful voice and marvelous piano skills. It was just a very... typical, passionate, Baptist sounding song!!! Everyone adored him and Joy and just embraced them both! And her brother and her brother's female friend that came, agreed to meet with the missionaries up in
Dayton where they live and even took home a Book of Mormon!!!!! They loved the baptism so much!!!!
The very best picture of the whole night!!! Joy and her brother, and the Mormon missionaries who changed her life! :P
Dayton where they live and even took home a Book of Mormon!!!!! They loved the baptism so much!!!!
The very best picture of the whole night!!! Joy and her brother, and the Mormon missionaries who changed her life! :P
Oh, what Joy!
Joy was soooooo nervous, she called Sister King and me about every hour, sometimes even twice an hour for about 34 hours before her baptism!! I felt really bad for her, but I understood. She lives alone, and she was sitting in her quiet house alone and satan was really working on her. She didn't have anyone for any kind of comfort or moral support. So I didn't mind her calling us so much. She needed us during that time. She really did. So sister King and I bought her some flowers from Kroger, cleaned out an old spaghetti sauce jar, and,then I found a white tule ribbon on some Christmas decorations in the closet and tied it around and made it so pretty. It was to remind her of the first time she got baptized when she was 12 into the Baptist,church. She told us that she had a big lace bow in her hair. So I thought it worked perfectly!! Also, we bought a white flower for her jumpsuit to "pretty it up" because she wanted to wear a dress for her baptism and she didn't like the jumpsuit she thought it was ugly so we bought the flower to put on it to make it prettier :P
Joy got baptized!!!!!! It has been such a long time coming!! This has
been the epitome of my mission so far. The crowning event. The most
glorious moment. It was unexplainable and undeniable! Absolutely the
greatest thing that's ever happened to me!!!
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Only 100% unity towards obedience brings 100% success toward eternal life
So, Sister King and I were the only companionship in our entire zone that stayed the same!!! We don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing... But we have decided to commit to 6 baptisms in Centerville this month. Me and sister King. We have REALLY committed. The bishopric told us that our investigator attendance at church has more than doubled in the last 4-6 weeks than it has EVER been in the last 3 years!!!! We don't understand what we are doing differently. But, it must be something...
Sister King told me that Centerville didn't wake up until I got here. Our teaching pool has just BOOMED. But I told her that it wasn't me. It's because all the sister companionships that have been here in the past have not gotten along very well. When Sister King got to Centerville, she was with a sister who was on her last transfer, and who was trunky and just plain tired. So once I got here, there were finally two missionaries with the same amount of enthusiasm and dedication for the work, and therefore, most able to work in unity. So it wasn't just me. It was both of us. I love Sister King. And people can tell, even our investigators can tell how well we work together and the unity that we share. It's refreshing for them.
One of our investigators was showing us these videos of her performing her belly dancing, and Sister King was like "oh I could never do that" and I started joking with her when the lady went into the other room, I was like "oh please, you would be like the best in the class, you would be the one in the middle that everyone else would dance around. No you would be the one that they would carry in on their shoulders, like Nefertiti or Cleopatra" and sister King started laughing so hard!!! and the investigator heard us and walked in and told us how awesome we were. She has never seen missionaries get along as well as we have and she has been through A LOT of missionaries. Like 4 years of them at least! or something like that. She's never going to join anytime soon. But, she loved the fact that Sister King and I laughed and joked like that, that she decided to bring all 3 of her sons to trunk or treat the very next week!!!!!! She even texted us like the day after transfers and asked if we had stayed!!!!! It's awesome. She has never texted us before!
Uchtdorf gave a talk about missionaries once and the missionary in the story that he told said to his companion "there are two reasons that companionships are not successful, one is because they are both trying to do the wrong thing, or because only one of the companions is trying to do the right thing, and the other is not." He was alluding to the fact that missionaries have to be in one hundred percent unity in order to find 100 percent success. It's the truth. That's why I told sister King that
we are being so successful. Centerville finally has two missionaries that are both trying to do the right thing together. There are a thousand more miracles that happened in Centerville this week that I will send in the mail!
Maggie :]
Only 100% unity towards obedience brings 100% success towards eternal life.
Sister King told me that Centerville didn't wake up until I got here. Our teaching pool has just BOOMED. But I told her that it wasn't me. It's because all the sister companionships that have been here in the past have not gotten along very well. When Sister King got to Centerville, she was with a sister who was on her last transfer, and who was trunky and just plain tired. So once I got here, there were finally two missionaries with the same amount of enthusiasm and dedication for the work, and therefore, most able to work in unity. So it wasn't just me. It was both of us. I love Sister King. And people can tell, even our investigators can tell how well we work together and the unity that we share. It's refreshing for them.
One of our investigators was showing us these videos of her performing her belly dancing, and Sister King was like "oh I could never do that" and I started joking with her when the lady went into the other room, I was like "oh please, you would be like the best in the class, you would be the one in the middle that everyone else would dance around. No you would be the one that they would carry in on their shoulders, like Nefertiti or Cleopatra" and sister King started laughing so hard!!! and the investigator heard us and walked in and told us how awesome we were. She has never seen missionaries get along as well as we have and she has been through A LOT of missionaries. Like 4 years of them at least! or something like that. She's never going to join anytime soon. But, she loved the fact that Sister King and I laughed and joked like that, that she decided to bring all 3 of her sons to trunk or treat the very next week!!!!!! She even texted us like the day after transfers and asked if we had stayed!!!!! It's awesome. She has never texted us before!
Uchtdorf gave a talk about missionaries once and the missionary in the story that he told said to his companion "there are two reasons that companionships are not successful, one is because they are both trying to do the wrong thing, or because only one of the companions is trying to do the right thing, and the other is not." He was alluding to the fact that missionaries have to be in one hundred percent unity in order to find 100 percent success. It's the truth. That's why I told sister King that
we are being so successful. Centerville finally has two missionaries that are both trying to do the right thing together. There are a thousand more miracles that happened in Centerville this week that I will send in the mail!
Maggie :]
Only 100% unity towards obedience brings 100% success towards eternal life.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Still practicing to be a farm girl
I thought you would enjoy the goats :]. I got to clip the goat's hooves!!! One step closer to farmgirl :D
AMEN!!!! a new nick-name - Disneyland!
So this has been the greatest week ever! It started out with the awesome zone meeting on Wednesday, where they announced new music rules! It is no loner just LDS.org. It's now all MOTAB and Lower Lights! Which is insane because just before I left, I burned a bunch of Lower Lights that I had found on itunes! REVELATION!!!! So Sister K and I have been jammin' out to my CDs all week now :] I'm seriously so gratful that I felt so prompted to bring them! It was seriously the best day of my life. I've been missing Hymns. The only music from LDS.org is like EFY songs :( They're the most annoying songs ever!
Then Thursday was interviews with president. I was literally SO excited for that! I wrote down a million things on a piece of paper, so I could remember all the things to touch on. Like, "How do you have faith like the ancients?" and deep stuff like that. Interviews were INSANe though! We had to go to the church and sit out in the hall for 6 hours with the most immature elders that ever walked the earth. Seriously, they were more immature than the Elders from the MtC. Especially this one . . .He corrupts our zone! He sits on other elder's laps and he hugs them and hold hand with them, because he thinks it's so funny! It's creepy! And, he tells immature jokes and of course I laugh, because laughing at immature jokes is like my weakness. And, I tell him not to say that stuff, but he just does it more. He and I have been banned from role-playing together because he always role plays someone silly. So anyways, he was there and it was like a zoo!Whenever he gets with the other elders he just turns them into clowns! So, when I went into my interview, I ratted him out to the president. :] I was like - this kid corrupts our zone!
President just laughs at everything I say. Sis. K said that he called me "Disneyland" in her interview because I just have so much excitement and enthusiasm. Because whenever Sis. K and I are saying personal prayers and she finishes first, then I wait a few seconds after I've finished, then I jump up and scream, "AMEN!!!!" She jumps EVERYTIME!!! hahahahaha. So, in my interview, I did that to president and told him about what I do to Sis K, and he just laughed so hard his face turned red and he laughed for like 5 minutes straight! hahahaha
Maggie never misses an opportunity to dress up or .... Fairtale costumes
I tried to carve the salt lake temple into our pumpkin. it was too intricate and time consuming!! We didn't have small enough knives for it. But you should have seen the stencil I made.. it was a little too legit!!!
Here are some Halloween pictures!!! This lady had a Glinda dress that I wanted to wear for Halloween sooooooooo badly!!!!! But, instead I dressed up like an angel. The last picture is sister king and me and the Cass's at trunk or treat! We had something like 5-7 investigators that came that night!!! Even the elders were pretty impressed
with us!! Zone leaders and president's assistants ask us every week how we get so many investigators to church each week and to other church activities. We don't even kno
w how we do it!!!
with us!! Zone leaders and president's assistants ask us every week how we get so many investigators to church each week and to other church activities. We don't even kno
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Cat in a hat
Here is my favorite investigator J. I have talked about her in my letters before... anyways, she bought this hat for her cat to make it look like it's wearing a rastafari beanie and has little braids coming
out of it and she just thought it was the FUNNIEST thing!!!!!
haahhahah I LOVE Joy! I have a story about her so stay tuned it's coming soon!
out of it and she just thought it was the FUNNIEST thing!!!!!
haahhahah I LOVE Joy! I have a story about her so stay tuned it's coming soon!
It was like manna from Heaven
Sister King and I were supposed to get paid on Monday last week for groceries because it was only like the 30th of the month, but we didn't. And I decided to spend my green card (personal debit card) on stupid stuff at Walgreens that morning. :( So, we got to Korger and bought a few things like laundry detergent and food from the deli to eat for lunch that day. I felt really bad for wasting my money previously that morning, because I could have used it to help us buy a few more necessities. So Sister King suggested we just use one of our lunch breaks during the week to head over to Korger and do our grocery shopping. (We were going to get paid on Wednesday), but I felt like it was my fault that we didn't have any food, because I spent my emergency money from home on personal things, rather than saving it for an actual emergency like this, so I decide that we should just embrace the results of our actions and go the week without any food.
We literally had nothing. No milk, eggs, bread, pasta, meat or any fruits! Sister King had bought like 3 cucumbers, that's pretty much all we had!
Besides, were are not really supposed to do any shopping during the week, so I told Sister K that we most certainly were NOT going to go shopping for food that week. We would just have to hand this one to the Lord. Because good things happen when you are obedient, but MIRACLES happen when you are strictly obedient. And, Centerville really needed a miracle.
This is probably the hardest area in the ENTIRE mission. It needs all the miracles it can get! So, we stepped into the week on nothing but faith in God to keep us alive. And, miracles happened!
So Wednesday, the elders invited all the sisters in the zone to Cousin Vinny's after district meeting. So that was one day taken car of. Then that night, the members who had signed up to feed us, cancelled. But, the mom still dropped food by our apartment. When she showed up, it was like manna from heaven! She had a whole bag of fruits and just a bunch of groceries she had picked up from Korger like chips, salsa, salad, a whole jug of minute Maid and frozen taquitos to heat up!
Seriously! That's when I knew Heavenly Father was watching out for Centerville. The thing is, the fact that she cancelled was a miracle, because then she wouldn't have gone and bought a ton of food for us. Like I doubt she even knew our circumstance, we didn't tell anyone that we didn't have food that week. Only Heavenly Father knew. That's the best thing that happened this week.
We literally had nothing. No milk, eggs, bread, pasta, meat or any fruits! Sister King had bought like 3 cucumbers, that's pretty much all we had!
Besides, were are not really supposed to do any shopping during the week, so I told Sister K that we most certainly were NOT going to go shopping for food that week. We would just have to hand this one to the Lord. Because good things happen when you are obedient, but MIRACLES happen when you are strictly obedient. And, Centerville really needed a miracle.
This is probably the hardest area in the ENTIRE mission. It needs all the miracles it can get! So, we stepped into the week on nothing but faith in God to keep us alive. And, miracles happened!
So Wednesday, the elders invited all the sisters in the zone to Cousin Vinny's after district meeting. So that was one day taken car of. Then that night, the members who had signed up to feed us, cancelled. But, the mom still dropped food by our apartment. When she showed up, it was like manna from heaven! She had a whole bag of fruits and just a bunch of groceries she had picked up from Korger like chips, salsa, salad, a whole jug of minute Maid and frozen taquitos to heat up!
Seriously! That's when I knew Heavenly Father was watching out for Centerville. The thing is, the fact that she cancelled was a miracle, because then she wouldn't have gone and bought a ton of food for us. Like I doubt she even knew our circumstance, we didn't tell anyone that we didn't have food that week. Only Heavenly Father knew. That's the best thing that happened this week.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
God makes weak things strong
Sister King and I decided we needed to kick things up a notch, so we started a fast to help us find investigators. First thing on the first morning of our fast we knocked on a door.
This lady was a referral from her next door neighbor who had been a previous investigator, but had become uninterested. So, anyways, the lady answers the door, we tell her who we are and that we have come to offer a message about Jesus Christ. She is offended at first, as most everyone here is, because everyone in Centerville is so devout and pious in their own religions. Right as she is shutting the door, we give her a card with our number on it, just in case she is ever in need of service.
She sees the picture of the temple on the back and gets really excited because she had been to Temple Square before. So she gets to talkin' to us for a minute, then she offers us some water. Of course we decline. But then, she offers us some cupcakes, and I swear the moment that word entered my ears, like my entire brain just went blank and I completely forgot about everything else in that moment, like perhaps even the fact that we were fasting that morning!!! Like, I swear it was complete impulse, so I just said, "..yes, of course!" and accepted the cupcake offer. When the lady turned to go get the cupcakes, Sis. K looked at me all frenzied like '..dude, sister, WE'RE FASTING, remember?!'
OMGoodness. Most embarrassing thing ever! Just the word 'cupcake' and my mind goes completely blank, and I forgot that we were fasting!
So we followed her into the house and asked her if we could just wrap them up to go. We kept talking to her a little more, and the whole time I was praying that she wouldn't notice we weren't eating the cupcakes for fear that she was poisoning us! She wasn't. We wrapped them up and drove straight home and stuck them in the freezer!
WOW! When they say that Satan knows your weaknesses, THEY WEREN'T KIDDING! Cupcakes are a weakness of mine, but if Satan thought that he was going to try and get us to break our fast early that day, he surely had another thing coming!
Not bad results: Satan didn't stop us fasting, and we end up with cupcakes in the freezer!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Go Cincinnati Reds!
Last week the entire mission went to a Cincinnati Reds game. Some pictures from the game.
This is Sister King, President Porter's wife and me!
This is Sister King, President Porter's wife and me!
This is my best friend from the MTC, Sister Elmer!!!
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Fairy tale kisses . . .not
I get bored on my mission from not kissing boys so much anymore... so
I kiss a lot of animals out here now! ;P Needless to say, that frog
didn't even turn into a stupid prince!! >:[ grrrrrrr hahahah but I've
gotten pretty good at catching frogs now :]
I kiss a lot of animals out here now! ;P Needless to say, that frog
didn't even turn into a stupid prince!! >:[ grrrrrrr hahahah but I've
gotten pretty good at catching frogs now :]
Monday, September 22, 2014
We are spoiled!
So our investigator J. who lives right across the street from us
got Sister King and me matching Swarovski crystal bracelets!!!!!!!!
She spoils us :P (please post picture on blog, I guess I am going to
have to specify from now on which pictures go on the blog. A.K.A ALL
OF THEM!)
got Sister King and me matching Swarovski crystal bracelets!!!!!!!!
She spoils us :P (please post picture on blog, I guess I am going to
have to specify from now on which pictures go on the blog. A.K.A ALL
OF THEM!)
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Helping out on the farm
Here are some pictures from last week, we helped the lady in our ward clean out the goat pens, then loaded it up on her lawn mower and took it into the forest to dump it! :]
\
I found a kitten in the barn! :] so these people in our ward own this
farm and the house and the barn were both built almost 200 years
ago!!!!! It's the COOLEST place everrrrrr.
farm and the house and the barn were both built almost 200 years
ago!!!!! It's the COOLEST place everrrrrr.
\Friday, September 12, 2014
The raccoon story . . .
So it was really late one night and dark. Sis. King and I were walking home, and all of a sudden we see this raccoon just laying in someone's front yard! And I just freaked out because I've never seen a raccoon before! And Sis K said, "oh don't get too close it might be rabid!" But, it wasn't doing anything, it was just laying down and so she was thinking maybe it was sick or something. Cuz, they don't usually just chill like that. So, I whipped out my camera and so did Sis. K and we started taking pictures of it, but it was so dark we couldn't see the screens on our cameras and the flash was on and stuff, so we kept getting really bad pictures. We just kept snapping away. Then a man came out and asked us why were were taking pictures of his house!!! Oh my gosh, it was the most embarrassing thing ever!! We said, "No, sorry, there's a raccoon in your yard and we're not from here so we've never really seen one this close before! Sorry!" and then we ran away down the sidewalk super embarrassed and just laughing.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Sleeping Beauty
It's been raining for the past 4 days! People make fun of me because I carry my umbrella EVERYWHERE!! They say it's just a little rain! I tell them "I'm from Phoenix, ain't no body got time to get wet!" But on Sunday, it was just pouring and pouring all morning long. We got a flash flood warning on our phone. That was a little scary. I even did my hair that morning for church, I walk outside and in .07 seconds - Flattened!! :(
But, the night before it had been thundering and lightening outside so hard, the walls were shaking and the windows were rattling, and the lightning outside would flash so bright, our entire room would light up! Sis. K is terrified of thunder storms, so she wasn't asleep. But I was, and it was like 3 a.m. and she said that I sat straight up in bed. I scared her so badly and told her I was scared and started talking to her and stuff, then laid back down and went back to snoring! Lolololol Which I do not remember doing any of this at all! So maybe I'm a sleep talker! Also, I sleep a lot here. I'm usually conked out by around 9:02 p.m. Lololo The minute we walk in the door, I swear no matter how hard I try to stay awake! And, I get made fun of so hardcore for it too because apparently the zone leaders/district leaders/Centerville Elders will usually call every night some time between 9:45 & 10:15 and I am NEVER AWAKE!! I didn't even know they called us at night time until they started making fun of me for it at zone meeting! :[ Even Sis K has joined in the fun a little, like the other day, we were driving in the car and I was blinking, (may or may not have been a longer blink than usual) and she started this thing where she yells out this quick, loud "Wake-up!!" whenever she sees my eyes closed. Lolololo But seriously, I fall asleep all the time and it may be becoming a problem. Sis. K suggested maybe I have mono or narcolepsy, or something. A member thought maybe it's because I'm so iron deficient. But that can't be right because I take my iron every day! Anyways, I need to figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time.
I got y'all's letters!!! which is EXACTLY what I needed! Also, I can not believe that Bishop Darnell got released !!!! I swear I cried a little bit reading that. HE WAS THE BESTEST BISHOP TO EVER WALK THIS PLANET! I'm so very grateful that he was able to be there for my farewell. That was the greatest. Also, I was reading Chase's email that mom sent. He is a really good writer, I'm sorry that I don't write too many spiritual things down anymore, I mean we really do see miracles here almost daily.
(to be continued)
But, the night before it had been thundering and lightening outside so hard, the walls were shaking and the windows were rattling, and the lightning outside would flash so bright, our entire room would light up! Sis. K is terrified of thunder storms, so she wasn't asleep. But I was, and it was like 3 a.m. and she said that I sat straight up in bed. I scared her so badly and told her I was scared and started talking to her and stuff, then laid back down and went back to snoring! Lolololol Which I do not remember doing any of this at all! So maybe I'm a sleep talker! Also, I sleep a lot here. I'm usually conked out by around 9:02 p.m. Lololo The minute we walk in the door, I swear no matter how hard I try to stay awake! And, I get made fun of so hardcore for it too because apparently the zone leaders/district leaders/Centerville Elders will usually call every night some time between 9:45 & 10:15 and I am NEVER AWAKE!! I didn't even know they called us at night time until they started making fun of me for it at zone meeting! :[ Even Sis K has joined in the fun a little, like the other day, we were driving in the car and I was blinking, (may or may not have been a longer blink than usual) and she started this thing where she yells out this quick, loud "Wake-up!!" whenever she sees my eyes closed. Lolololo But seriously, I fall asleep all the time and it may be becoming a problem. Sis. K suggested maybe I have mono or narcolepsy, or something. A member thought maybe it's because I'm so iron deficient. But that can't be right because I take my iron every day! Anyways, I need to figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time.
I got y'all's letters!!! which is EXACTLY what I needed! Also, I can not believe that Bishop Darnell got released !!!! I swear I cried a little bit reading that. HE WAS THE BESTEST BISHOP TO EVER WALK THIS PLANET! I'm so very grateful that he was able to be there for my farewell. That was the greatest. Also, I was reading Chase's email that mom sent. He is a really good writer, I'm sorry that I don't write too many spiritual things down anymore, I mean we really do see miracles here almost daily.
(to be continued)
Monday, September 8, 2014
A few pictures
We went to the historically famous Greaters Ice Cream parlor!! Apparently Centerville has some of the oldest buildings and structures in all of Dayton Ohio!!! (someone told us that, it may not be true...) but anyways, I thought mom might enjoy these. she can rest assured that I am staying cultured and educated down here!! :P
I look like a weird pioneer girl or something holding my skirt out like "pleased ta meet ya!" lolololol. but seriously I look stupid here.
Downtown Centerville. cutest little place ever.
wildlife
The geese have flown south for the winter.An old lady we were talking to the other day heard them honking, she got scared she was like what was that?? and my companion was like oh just some geese and the old lady was like "they back again??" lolololololololol My companion said yup, they've been here for a couple weeks now!It looked like pride and predjudice!!!There was early morning fog outside in our backyard couple mornings ago
First Baptism!
MY FIRST BAPTISM was this week!!!!
So, they always say there is a lot of opposition that happens just before a miracle, and well they're right! It's kind of a crazy story.
So, there are these three boys who were all half Samoan, (I'm not sure what the other half is) and their mom is a member who just recently, within the past 2 years, has come back to church and has been bringing her sons and they have been taught by the missionaries. However, their dad was very much against all of this and said no to baptism for a very long time. But, he just recently let up on it and said "whatever" to the boys and allowed them to be baptized on August 30th - the day after the youngest of the three turned 8! And then I arrived in Centerville. . . . So Sis K and I planned the whole baptism and went to the church the morning of August 30th to set up and get ready. About 30 minutes to 10 a.m. when the baptism was going to start, we get a call from the boys' mom. Their car would not start, and they were going to need a ride! So, we freaked out. We were like, oh Satan, you poop! Such a mean dude, thinking he was going to stop this baptism. So we started calling members frantically, because we couldn't drive them! They were all under the age of 18!
We couldn't get a hold of any members, and we were getting a little more frantic at this point. Then we remembered that we had seen a lady cleaning the church when we arrived. So we ran down the hall, quickly told her our dilemma and asked if we could have her drive us down to pick these boys up. She said she could, but then that almost didn't happen cuz she had about 4 kids with her and the Elders were there. She couldn't leave them at the church with only the Elders. But then, on old guy got there. So we ran out to her mini-van and took out all the car seats and piled them up, jumped in, and off we went to rescue the boys so they could come get baptized! When we got there, there were 3 boys to get baptized, their half brother all the way from Hawaii (who came to baptize them) and their cousin. So he had 5 big Polynesian boys that we needed to get into a car with only 4 open seats. But, we made it work. It was like clown-car status. Sis. K sat on the floor and I sat on her lap! So we hauled all those big boys to the church for their baptism, which was amazing! There are about 280 people in the ward (that actively come to church) and I swear about 150 people came to the baptism! The chapel was definitely full, I wished I could have taken a picture! But only mental pictures are appropriate in the chapel of course :] But, we couldn't even fit everyone that came, into the room with the font to watch the actual baptisms! It was wonderful, the ward is so awesome!
So, they always say there is a lot of opposition that happens just before a miracle, and well they're right! It's kind of a crazy story.
So, there are these three boys who were all half Samoan, (I'm not sure what the other half is) and their mom is a member who just recently, within the past 2 years, has come back to church and has been bringing her sons and they have been taught by the missionaries. However, their dad was very much against all of this and said no to baptism for a very long time. But, he just recently let up on it and said "whatever" to the boys and allowed them to be baptized on August 30th - the day after the youngest of the three turned 8! And then I arrived in Centerville. . . . So Sis K and I planned the whole baptism and went to the church the morning of August 30th to set up and get ready. About 30 minutes to 10 a.m. when the baptism was going to start, we get a call from the boys' mom. Their car would not start, and they were going to need a ride! So, we freaked out. We were like, oh Satan, you poop! Such a mean dude, thinking he was going to stop this baptism. So we started calling members frantically, because we couldn't drive them! They were all under the age of 18!
We couldn't get a hold of any members, and we were getting a little more frantic at this point. Then we remembered that we had seen a lady cleaning the church when we arrived. So we ran down the hall, quickly told her our dilemma and asked if we could have her drive us down to pick these boys up. She said she could, but then that almost didn't happen cuz she had about 4 kids with her and the Elders were there. She couldn't leave them at the church with only the Elders. But then, on old guy got there. So we ran out to her mini-van and took out all the car seats and piled them up, jumped in, and off we went to rescue the boys so they could come get baptized! When we got there, there were 3 boys to get baptized, their half brother all the way from Hawaii (who came to baptize them) and their cousin. So he had 5 big Polynesian boys that we needed to get into a car with only 4 open seats. But, we made it work. It was like clown-car status. Sis. K sat on the floor and I sat on her lap! So we hauled all those big boys to the church for their baptism, which was amazing! There are about 280 people in the ward (that actively come to church) and I swear about 150 people came to the baptism! The chapel was definitely full, I wished I could have taken a picture! But only mental pictures are appropriate in the chapel of course :] But, we couldn't even fit everyone that came, into the room with the font to watch the actual baptisms! It was wonderful, the ward is so awesome!
Hannah's Treasure Chest
This week was great. We went with the training leaders and I had fun with them. This week has also been a week of dining out with the members. We went out to eat three times! There was one adorable little lady who took us out. She's the most memorable so far! Seriously, she is just a hoot. Sis. K and I just held in laughing THE WHOLE TIME! She's just this little 4 foot tall lady with a personality that is about 10 feet tall! Think, "Edna Mode" from the Incredibles!! lololol. She was soooooo funny! Her husband has dementia or something, but Sis K and I think it is rubbing off. She is just a riot! So that was fun.
The next day, we went to a place called "Hannah's Treasure Chest" which is a place that collects donations of clothes and toys for little kids. We go there about once a week for 2-3 hours and volunteer. They invited us to a luncheon, and to help them get ready for this huge garage sale they were going to have. They were going to sell all o their over-stock that they didn't have any room for. So, we invited the Elders because they needed community service and they didn't know about Hannah's . They arrived before us and were eating lunch in the corner when we got there. When we sat down next to them, one of the Elders leaned over and said "so this is like a charity group for old ladies, right?" and I looked around, THEY WERE THE ONLY MALES IN THE WHOLE PLACE!!!! Lololol! It was the funniest thing! The Elders were so awkward, but all the old ladies were obsessed with them. And they kept complimenting them on how buff they were and everything. It was just the funniest thing ever! The old ladies loved them. Also, if you go on Facebook and search maybe there will be pictures of me and Sis K. I love Hannah's. (Editor's note, Sis. K and Sis C are not on the site yet.)
But, here are a few pictures:
The next day, we went to a place called "Hannah's Treasure Chest" which is a place that collects donations of clothes and toys for little kids. We go there about once a week for 2-3 hours and volunteer. They invited us to a luncheon, and to help them get ready for this huge garage sale they were going to have. They were going to sell all o their over-stock that they didn't have any room for. So, we invited the Elders because they needed community service and they didn't know about Hannah's . They arrived before us and were eating lunch in the corner when we got there. When we sat down next to them, one of the Elders leaned over and said "so this is like a charity group for old ladies, right?" and I looked around, THEY WERE THE ONLY MALES IN THE WHOLE PLACE!!!! Lololol! It was the funniest thing! The Elders were so awkward, but all the old ladies were obsessed with them. And they kept complimenting them on how buff they were and everything. It was just the funniest thing ever! The old ladies loved them. Also, if you go on Facebook and search maybe there will be pictures of me and Sis K. I love Hannah's. (Editor's note, Sis. K and Sis C are not on the site yet.)
But, here are a few pictures:
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Celebrity of God
Here's the best picture taken in my ENTIRE mission. Me and the President! Seriously, this man is freaking awesome! At zone conference he came in the room and everyone stood up, it was like celebrity was going to be in presence. Yeah, this guy!!!! Celebrity of God! I love him so much, he's the best! Don't mind Elder Callister in the background trying to photo bomb. But nothing could ruin such a phenomenal picture! I hope this picture sums up my whole mission!
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite
There was a bed bug scare earlier this week. Apparently bed bugs are extremely rampant in Ohio, and so the district handed out permethrin to everyone to spray for bed bugs. We were doing some service work in one apartment where we were a bit concerned. Sure enough, she had bed bugs, and we had to help her make her bed. As soon as we got back to our apartment, we stripped down and threw our clothes straight into the dryer! Sis. K took the permethrin and sprayed our entire apartment! She just soaked it down. It smells EXACTLY like the stuff that our pest control at home sprays in our house in Phoenix, so I didn't think anything of it. A couple days later, on Sunday, we were talking to the elders from Centerville, apparently you are supposed to dilute it in water, so we might get permethrin poisoning!!! :(
Sis. K gets bitten by soooooo many different bugs all the time, I think I've only gotten bitten by one mosquito the entire time I've been here!
On another note - someone was handing out iris bulbs at church and I grabbed a whole bag of them because our apartment looks like a desolate barren desert from outside, it reminds me too much of home, so I thought planting some plants would be nice. I had to haul around a whole jungle on Sunday and Sis. K made fun of me so much! She said the landlady might not let us plant stuff, so I said then I'll just tear them out of the ground, then . . . So, I'm planting random stuff at our apartment this week!
Two pet peeves - NO ONE can say my last name. Hmph. The other is that whenever anyone asks where I'm from and they say 'oh where in Phoenix?' or 'What part?" it's sooooo annoying to have to explain that Phoenix really is it's own city. So, I'm going to just start making up random names and just claim they are places in Phoenix. So I need some good desert names to tell people, such as Sunville, Firebird, Prickley Pear, AZ lololololo 'Cuz no one seems to understand that there is a part of Arizona that is actually called just plain Phoenix.
Sis. K gets bitten by soooooo many different bugs all the time, I think I've only gotten bitten by one mosquito the entire time I've been here!
On another note - someone was handing out iris bulbs at church and I grabbed a whole bag of them because our apartment looks like a desolate barren desert from outside, it reminds me too much of home, so I thought planting some plants would be nice. I had to haul around a whole jungle on Sunday and Sis. K made fun of me so much! She said the landlady might not let us plant stuff, so I said then I'll just tear them out of the ground, then . . . So, I'm planting random stuff at our apartment this week!
Two pet peeves - NO ONE can say my last name. Hmph. The other is that whenever anyone asks where I'm from and they say 'oh where in Phoenix?' or 'What part?" it's sooooo annoying to have to explain that Phoenix really is it's own city. So, I'm going to just start making up random names and just claim they are places in Phoenix. So I need some good desert names to tell people, such as Sunville, Firebird, Prickley Pear, AZ lololololo 'Cuz no one seems to understand that there is a part of Arizona that is actually called just plain Phoenix.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Our first miracle!
We had our first miracle today!!
It was a very unfortunate series of events that while they were taking place, seemed like the worst things ever, but after the day was over, and we could see everything in perspective, we realized that they were all the best things that could have happened! So first, we were on a 24-hour district fast which made everything a little rougher as my companion and I were hungrier, weaker and more on edge. (You know how I get when I don't eat . . . Yeah, it's not a pretty sight . . . not a good deal)
We put our smiles on when a member came and picked us up to go out teaching with us. We ended up knocking on a door of a former potential investigator and the member who came with us bore her testimony like crazy and I think he felt the Spirit and then freaked out a little so he asked us not to come back. :( So the member drove us back to our apartment and dropped us off, and right as she drove away, we realized my companion had left her purse in the car with the keys to our apartment and our car, and our cell phone!
Here is where the adventures begin! ... We weren't sure what to do because we had no one's number with us and no way to get anywhere unless we used our feet. So, I guess we can walk to people's houses. I mean, after that amazing lesson earlier, something had to go wrong. There is no joy without sorrow. We still have our legs and our feet, Satan hasn't quite claimed those yet . . . So, we walked, and walked, and walked . . . AND . . . walked! (Anyone hearing the tune to Pioneer Children?) We knocked on doors. No one was home. We walked for two hours that day. Maybe three. We walked so long I got some mad blisters on my feet from the supposedly comfortable walking shoes! And my scalp sunburned some more. We were still fasting and we were getting more on edge. It was ALMOST a rough day. :0 (Dare I even write that?!?!?!) Finally, we were able to find someone who would let us use their phone and we called the member who said she would meet us at Kroger in 30 minutes, which meant . . . MORE WALKING!! I swear, the Lord must have just been having a kick out of watching us walk for miles and miles on empty stomachs. So we went to Kroger's and broke our fast on hour early, (we made it 23 hours!) because we were so dehydrated, (I had my purse with money) and bought some gatorades and waited for the member.
So guess who comes to drop our stuff off?! Her 17-year old son!!! >:( Which means that he couldn't drive us home, so we had to walk ALL THE WAY back to our apartment!!!
We drove to our dinner appointment which was moved back and then decided to take cookies to another lady. We drove up to her house and guess what? . . . She wasn't even home!!! We left them on her doorstep thinking that almost everything had gone wrong that day and were on our way back to the car when I spotted 3 dogs playing 2 doors down.
In the blink of an eye, I decided to go see the dogs. Because even if it had been an almost, borderline rough day, petting a few dogs would be an awesome thing! Just one good thing to happen in the day.
We approached and asked to pet their dogs. The woman was very nice and open to us doing so, the man was a little stand-off-ish. We talked to the lady about the dogs then my companion started right in about who we were and what we were doing. She's really good at that, I'm still a little show. The lady seemed like she might be more receptive and open to talking about church things than the man. But guess what!?! He became more interesting and joining and listing when he started to hear what were tall about! Turns out, he's really religious and had incredibly high standards (although at our first glance, we may not have judged him so), and he had a ton of respect for us and for God! He was eating all of it up! All the gospel doctrines we kind of threw out there, he totally agreed on and everything! First stranger/potential investigator I've ever had who has been that interested and respectful! And he's coming to church on Sunday and he texted us, he wants to discuss God with us more! I swear we stood out there on his driveway talking to those two for almost two and a half hours!
But here's the miracle . . .we were going to go over to the house 2 doors down from his earlier that day to drop off a birthday treat for his neighbor bur we were never able to because we had no keys and no car! So pretty much the Lord just needed us to do something all long until that night because he knew we needed to talk to that guy and he wasn't going to be there if we had gone earlier!! How crazy is the Lord?! He truly knows everything! And he knew the only way to keep us from going over there too early was to make sure we forgot our keys and our phone and everything else! I just really felt that. That sly big guy in the sky! ;P Besides we needed a hard, humbling experience like that. What a great, wonderful day!
Hope all is going well for you all in Phoenix!
It was a very unfortunate series of events that while they were taking place, seemed like the worst things ever, but after the day was over, and we could see everything in perspective, we realized that they were all the best things that could have happened! So first, we were on a 24-hour district fast which made everything a little rougher as my companion and I were hungrier, weaker and more on edge. (You know how I get when I don't eat . . . Yeah, it's not a pretty sight . . . not a good deal)
We put our smiles on when a member came and picked us up to go out teaching with us. We ended up knocking on a door of a former potential investigator and the member who came with us bore her testimony like crazy and I think he felt the Spirit and then freaked out a little so he asked us not to come back. :( So the member drove us back to our apartment and dropped us off, and right as she drove away, we realized my companion had left her purse in the car with the keys to our apartment and our car, and our cell phone!
Here is where the adventures begin! ... We weren't sure what to do because we had no one's number with us and no way to get anywhere unless we used our feet. So, I guess we can walk to people's houses. I mean, after that amazing lesson earlier, something had to go wrong. There is no joy without sorrow. We still have our legs and our feet, Satan hasn't quite claimed those yet . . . So, we walked, and walked, and walked . . . AND . . . walked! (Anyone hearing the tune to Pioneer Children?) We knocked on doors. No one was home. We walked for two hours that day. Maybe three. We walked so long I got some mad blisters on my feet from the supposedly comfortable walking shoes! And my scalp sunburned some more. We were still fasting and we were getting more on edge. It was ALMOST a rough day. :0 (Dare I even write that?!?!?!) Finally, we were able to find someone who would let us use their phone and we called the member who said she would meet us at Kroger in 30 minutes, which meant . . . MORE WALKING!! I swear, the Lord must have just been having a kick out of watching us walk for miles and miles on empty stomachs. So we went to Kroger's and broke our fast on hour early, (we made it 23 hours!) because we were so dehydrated, (I had my purse with money) and bought some gatorades and waited for the member.
So guess who comes to drop our stuff off?! Her 17-year old son!!! >:( Which means that he couldn't drive us home, so we had to walk ALL THE WAY back to our apartment!!!
We drove to our dinner appointment which was moved back and then decided to take cookies to another lady. We drove up to her house and guess what? . . . She wasn't even home!!! We left them on her doorstep thinking that almost everything had gone wrong that day and were on our way back to the car when I spotted 3 dogs playing 2 doors down.
In the blink of an eye, I decided to go see the dogs. Because even if it had been an almost, borderline rough day, petting a few dogs would be an awesome thing! Just one good thing to happen in the day.
We approached and asked to pet their dogs. The woman was very nice and open to us doing so, the man was a little stand-off-ish. We talked to the lady about the dogs then my companion started right in about who we were and what we were doing. She's really good at that, I'm still a little show. The lady seemed like she might be more receptive and open to talking about church things than the man. But guess what!?! He became more interesting and joining and listing when he started to hear what were tall about! Turns out, he's really religious and had incredibly high standards (although at our first glance, we may not have judged him so), and he had a ton of respect for us and for God! He was eating all of it up! All the gospel doctrines we kind of threw out there, he totally agreed on and everything! First stranger/potential investigator I've ever had who has been that interested and respectful! And he's coming to church on Sunday and he texted us, he wants to discuss God with us more! I swear we stood out there on his driveway talking to those two for almost two and a half hours!
But here's the miracle . . .we were going to go over to the house 2 doors down from his earlier that day to drop off a birthday treat for his neighbor bur we were never able to because we had no keys and no car! So pretty much the Lord just needed us to do something all long until that night because he knew we needed to talk to that guy and he wasn't going to be there if we had gone earlier!! How crazy is the Lord?! He truly knows everything! And he knew the only way to keep us from going over there too early was to make sure we forgot our keys and our phone and everything else! I just really felt that. That sly big guy in the sky! ;P Besides we needed a hard, humbling experience like that. What a great, wonderful day!
Hope all is going well for you all in Phoenix!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Sometimes it feels like a three-ring circus
Oh my goodness mom! You would not BELIEVE the day I've had!
So, my companion and I went walking today. We walk a lot. And, I swear my head was starting to sunburn so I grabbed that wonderful umbrella Grammy bought me and we headed out. I felt silly carrying it outside on a sunny day, people were looking at me weird, but whatever. I'm here for the Lord, not for me, so I don't care what people think. We were on our way to dinner when we see Orville W, my favorite old man in the whole world, across the street. So we crossed to go talk to him. He was at the bus stop with a young man who lives with him. After the kid got on the city bus, we stood there for about an hour at the bus stop just talking. He is really smart as he's a retired lawyer so he reminds me of an older Mr. S.! (A former high school teacher). He talks a lot. Anyways, I just love him. So after a while at the bus stop, he invited us to have lemonade at his house which was down the block a little ways. He lives in a little apartment community full of older people I think.
So we agreed, and walked down to sit on his porch. I think my companion and I were under the impression that he had lemonade already, but while we were sitting on his porch waiting, I could see through his screen door, he was in there squeezing lemons and making the lemonade right then! It was the sweetest thing ever! I can't even explain it, it was so funny! So, he brought out the lemonade and some peanut butter cookies that he had apparently previously made. We sat on his porch and drank lemonade and ate peanut butter cookies for a while and just talked some more. Except, OW does about 89% of the talking most of the time. :) He needs it.
So, my companion mentioned "oh my goodness, this lemonade tasted like a sno cone!" and then she proceeded to ask OW how he made it. He said, "fresh lemons and pina colada!" And then my heart sank and my tummy did a flip because guess what I was instantly remembered?! That guy in the YSA ward who told me not to drink the iced tea here because people like to put moonshine in it! So, I jumped up and said, "Pina Colada??" and then OW said "ya, its just flavoring syrup, its non-alcoholic but it's used to flavor alcoholic drinks." hahahah Just imagine! "Member gets sister missionaries drunk!" That thought popped into my head and and then i didn't know how to explain to my companion or OW why I was laughing so hard.
Then, here is where the story gets interesting . . . . . .
All of a sudden we hear someone's voice. It sounds like they are calling someone. We look behind us and we see this little old lady, barefoot and pants-less, in a power chair, oxygen tubes in her nose, holding her shirt over legs best she can, coming up the walk, yellling "Maxie! Maxie!" It was a little scary at first not going to lie . . . then when she reaches us, she asks if we have seen a little dog, its name is Maxie. We say no, so she starts to speed on down the path . . .. yelling "and my nurse locked me out again!" So seeing that she is pants-less, locked outside and lost her dog, I jump up. Okay, we need to help this lady and get her back inside!!
OW speaks up, "well, I have a screw driver, we can go break in. . .?" So that's what we do! We walk her back to her apartment and try to break her in.
However, right when we made it over to her abode, someone pulled up in a car, who must have been the nurse, because the naked lady in the power chair starts screeching at her and throwing things at her from her porch. Anything she could reach out and grab from where she was sitting was hurled at the poor lady getting out of the car. I swear mom, I felt like I had just found myself right in the middle of a three-ring circus!!! It was humorous, yet a little scary at the same time. My companion, O, and I started backing away from the scene very slowly. . . It was so AWKWARD! Then my companion suggested we pray with the old lady to help her find her dog and get her back in her apartment. But, as soon as the little old lady dropped the F-bomb, my companion got super scared and ran in the opposite direction - back to O's house. I wanted to stay and help, but I guess that it did get to a point where the spirit was going to be nowhere in sight! So, we all went back to Orville's porch to regroup.
Then, about 2 minutes later, down the sidewalk came a more calm, collected half-naked lady in a power chair. She came to apologize and to thank us for trying to help. Mostly for our immediate willingness to help, I guess. Also, she informed us that Maxie had been in the apartment the ENTIRE time!!! Which, I had to hold back bursting out laughing, because that's totally something I would do! Be frantically looking for my dog, when he's actually been inside my house the entire time! So then we offered to pray with her, after introducing ourselves as missionaries and OW even said the prayer! It was just so perfect I loved it, and the lady was so happy that we cared enough to pray for her that she just cried.
Oh how the Spirit can turn a three-ring circus into a serene canoe on a lake of tranquility. Cuz, I knew that how we were feeling after that prayer.
So, my companion and I went walking today. We walk a lot. And, I swear my head was starting to sunburn so I grabbed that wonderful umbrella Grammy bought me and we headed out. I felt silly carrying it outside on a sunny day, people were looking at me weird, but whatever. I'm here for the Lord, not for me, so I don't care what people think. We were on our way to dinner when we see Orville W, my favorite old man in the whole world, across the street. So we crossed to go talk to him. He was at the bus stop with a young man who lives with him. After the kid got on the city bus, we stood there for about an hour at the bus stop just talking. He is really smart as he's a retired lawyer so he reminds me of an older Mr. S.! (A former high school teacher). He talks a lot. Anyways, I just love him. So after a while at the bus stop, he invited us to have lemonade at his house which was down the block a little ways. He lives in a little apartment community full of older people I think.
So we agreed, and walked down to sit on his porch. I think my companion and I were under the impression that he had lemonade already, but while we were sitting on his porch waiting, I could see through his screen door, he was in there squeezing lemons and making the lemonade right then! It was the sweetest thing ever! I can't even explain it, it was so funny! So, he brought out the lemonade and some peanut butter cookies that he had apparently previously made. We sat on his porch and drank lemonade and ate peanut butter cookies for a while and just talked some more. Except, OW does about 89% of the talking most of the time. :) He needs it.
So, my companion mentioned "oh my goodness, this lemonade tasted like a sno cone!" and then she proceeded to ask OW how he made it. He said, "fresh lemons and pina colada!" And then my heart sank and my tummy did a flip because guess what I was instantly remembered?! That guy in the YSA ward who told me not to drink the iced tea here because people like to put moonshine in it! So, I jumped up and said, "Pina Colada??" and then OW said "ya, its just flavoring syrup, its non-alcoholic but it's used to flavor alcoholic drinks." hahahah Just imagine! "Member gets sister missionaries drunk!" That thought popped into my head and and then i didn't know how to explain to my companion or OW why I was laughing so hard.
Then, here is where the story gets interesting . . . . . .
All of a sudden we hear someone's voice. It sounds like they are calling someone. We look behind us and we see this little old lady, barefoot and pants-less, in a power chair, oxygen tubes in her nose, holding her shirt over legs best she can, coming up the walk, yellling "Maxie! Maxie!" It was a little scary at first not going to lie . . . then when she reaches us, she asks if we have seen a little dog, its name is Maxie. We say no, so she starts to speed on down the path . . .. yelling "and my nurse locked me out again!" So seeing that she is pants-less, locked outside and lost her dog, I jump up. Okay, we need to help this lady and get her back inside!!
OW speaks up, "well, I have a screw driver, we can go break in. . .?" So that's what we do! We walk her back to her apartment and try to break her in.
However, right when we made it over to her abode, someone pulled up in a car, who must have been the nurse, because the naked lady in the power chair starts screeching at her and throwing things at her from her porch. Anything she could reach out and grab from where she was sitting was hurled at the poor lady getting out of the car. I swear mom, I felt like I had just found myself right in the middle of a three-ring circus!!! It was humorous, yet a little scary at the same time. My companion, O, and I started backing away from the scene very slowly. . . It was so AWKWARD! Then my companion suggested we pray with the old lady to help her find her dog and get her back in her apartment. But, as soon as the little old lady dropped the F-bomb, my companion got super scared and ran in the opposite direction - back to O's house. I wanted to stay and help, but I guess that it did get to a point where the spirit was going to be nowhere in sight! So, we all went back to Orville's porch to regroup.
Then, about 2 minutes later, down the sidewalk came a more calm, collected half-naked lady in a power chair. She came to apologize and to thank us for trying to help. Mostly for our immediate willingness to help, I guess. Also, she informed us that Maxie had been in the apartment the ENTIRE time!!! Which, I had to hold back bursting out laughing, because that's totally something I would do! Be frantically looking for my dog, when he's actually been inside my house the entire time! So then we offered to pray with her, after introducing ourselves as missionaries and OW even said the prayer! It was just so perfect I loved it, and the lady was so happy that we cared enough to pray for her that she just cried.
Oh how the Spirit can turn a three-ring circus into a serene canoe on a lake of tranquility. Cuz, I knew that how we were feeling after that prayer.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Grateful for post offices
Speaking of golden!!! We met a golden investigator at the post office today where I embarrassed the socks off my C. I was trying to figure out how to send a letter, and the guy working there thought it was pretty entertaining and amusing, and my C told the guy behind the counter that I was "new here" and he said "to the world???!" Hahahaha so I bought some Harry Potter stamps, and he was trying to sell me pre-stamped envelopes and I wanted to put my H.P. Stamps over the pre-stamped ones and my C was trying to tell me not to do so, as it would be a waste of money! And he was just standing there laughing at the whole thing, so he finally just sold me some blank envelopes. But anyway . . . As we were walking out, we ran into this guy who asked about our name tags and we told him and asked if he was interested in learning more and he said, "yes, how much do you charge?" We told him it was free! We just come to your house and invite you to come unto Christ and he was excited!!! Only problem is. . . He lives out of our area. :( but, that's okay. We needed to be at that post office at that minute because everyone in our zone was at the park in the next town and we were running late as we needed to stop to mail a package. So, The Lord knew that the missionaries in that area were playing frisbee at the park at that moment, and we could snag that investigator for them. For that I am seriously grateful!
This and that
P.S. So, I wrote the other letter earlier today before we went to check emails at the library. I had another panic attack because I didn't get all my emails replied to, and I didn't finish writing them all either. So, I paid to get the long ones printed so I could take them home and answer them in letter. It's been a pretty fun P-day. We went shopping at Kroger's for groceries. The mission gives us credit cards with $75 loaded every two weeks. But, mine had a lot more as I was reimbursed for my luggage fee at the airport. I was literally like a kid in the candy shop! I had so much money, and there was sooooooo much food!!! And you know how impulsive I get at the grocery store. . . . Especially when I am hungry!! I was throwing stuff in my cart right and left. My poor companion! Because to answer your questions, my companion is Sis. K, from Utah and she is the healthiest, sportiest girl ever. She cooks every meal and I do the dishes. But, she makes me eat a lot of vegetables! So don't worry mom, she makes me eat healthfully. While she was at the store buying fruits and vegetables, I was buying chocolate cupcakes for the freezer, juice, sponge bob Mac and cheese, fruity pebbles and kraft singles. (Editor's note: her mother did not teach her to eat like this) She was buying penne pasta and vegetables to make spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, fresh meat from the deli . . . She said I was like her child :D
President Porter is awesome! He texted us this morning and said what a great week we had! My C. (Companion) was sooooo excited because president has never texted before, so she thinks we may recognized tonight for the leadership conference call. But it doesn't matter to me. I'm just here to serve The Lord, not to get recognized for stuff like that.
I can't drive. Only senior companions drive which is fine with me. I hate the humidity, it makes me feel sweaty and swampy, always! Sister Porter is a little crazy with the camera . . She is OBSESSED with pictures!!! (Editors note: her parents are thrilled to catch glimpses of the missionaries on the
mission Facebook page! We hope Sister Porter keeps snapping away!!)
I haven't been bitten by any bugs yet, but every time we go outside my C. gets bitten by something! There are TONS of squirrels here. I LOVE them! They are the cutest things ever!!! I'm not sure what Ohio smells like yet, but not like Arizona. I love my companion, she is the best! It took her a while to get used to my jokes/sarcasm but now that she gets it, we laugh ALL THE. TIME! You just have to
learn I never take anything seriously and that I speak exactly what I'm thinking so I can come off pretty blunt, and that no one should take me too seriously, and then we are golden. . . .
( to be continued)
President Porter is awesome! He texted us this morning and said what a great week we had! My C. (Companion) was sooooo excited because president has never texted before, so she thinks we may recognized tonight for the leadership conference call. But it doesn't matter to me. I'm just here to serve The Lord, not to get recognized for stuff like that.
I can't drive. Only senior companions drive which is fine with me. I hate the humidity, it makes me feel sweaty and swampy, always! Sister Porter is a little crazy with the camera . . She is OBSESSED with pictures!!! (Editors note: her parents are thrilled to catch glimpses of the missionaries on the
mission Facebook page! We hope Sister Porter keeps snapping away!!)
I haven't been bitten by any bugs yet, but every time we go outside my C. gets bitten by something! There are TONS of squirrels here. I LOVE them! They are the cutest things ever!!! I'm not sure what Ohio smells like yet, but not like Arizona. I love my companion, she is the best! It took her a while to get used to my jokes/sarcasm but now that she gets it, we laugh ALL THE. TIME! You just have to
learn I never take anything seriously and that I speak exactly what I'm thinking so I can come off pretty blunt, and that no one should take me too seriously, and then we are golden. . . .
( to be continued)
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Remember to always live after the manner of Happiness!
There are some cool people in my ward. Sis. I. reminds me of my roommate at SUU. She is hilarious, I love her. She fed me my first dinner at a member's house ever! I shared my mission scripture with her and she absolutely loved it to death. She gave me a little handout she had made for the young women in the ward with a quote by Elder Uchtdorf that talked about our happily ever after. It's my new mission theme. He just talked about how between our birth and our happily ever after, there are trials and temptations that we must first overcome. So true!
There is a family in our ward where the mom is a member and the father is not. They have 4 sons, one of which is a member and now the sister missionaries are helping the other 3 sons get baptized. The father is against it, but the ward and mission have been fasting and praying daily for them, so I think their baptism will happen at the end of the month. My first baptism!!!!! Even though I've done none of the work for it at all because I just got here...hehe But still, it's exciting!
The brothers remind me of DJ because they are hilarious beyond belief and they make fun of their mom so much, but like lovingly, like DJ and I do, so it's really nice.
Oh! There is this old guy in our ward, guess what his name is?! Orville Wright!!!! CRAZY! But, he is so sweet. He lives pretty close so we walk to his house a lot and talk to him. He talks soooooooo much. He really needs someone to just talk to. So, I like going over there and talking to him. There are a lot of older people in our ward who just talk to us for hours. It's so sad because when people talk that much, it's like you can just feel the dire loneliness in their lives, and that all they need is someone to talk to. It's just extremely sad to realize their loneliness. I hope you will continue to talk to those around you who may just need to talk.
Also, I hope you all are helping the missionaries in Phoenix ! Every time there is a ward gathering where a lot of members will be, our plans ALWAYS get cancelled or investigators are not home. I think The Lord is trying to tell us that we need to be working and getting to know the members first before we start teaching, because the members may be the only way to further the progression and work of the church in this area right now. So, I hope you are doing the same in Phoenix!
I love you all so very much! Remember to always live after the manner of Happiness!
There is a family in our ward where the mom is a member and the father is not. They have 4 sons, one of which is a member and now the sister missionaries are helping the other 3 sons get baptized. The father is against it, but the ward and mission have been fasting and praying daily for them, so I think their baptism will happen at the end of the month. My first baptism!!!!! Even though I've done none of the work for it at all because I just got here...hehe But still, it's exciting!
The brothers remind me of DJ because they are hilarious beyond belief and they make fun of their mom so much, but like lovingly, like DJ and I do, so it's really nice.
Oh! There is this old guy in our ward, guess what his name is?! Orville Wright!!!! CRAZY! But, he is so sweet. He lives pretty close so we walk to his house a lot and talk to him. He talks soooooooo much. He really needs someone to just talk to. So, I like going over there and talking to him. There are a lot of older people in our ward who just talk to us for hours. It's so sad because when people talk that much, it's like you can just feel the dire loneliness in their lives, and that all they need is someone to talk to. It's just extremely sad to realize their loneliness. I hope you will continue to talk to those around you who may just need to talk.
Also, I hope you all are helping the missionaries in Phoenix ! Every time there is a ward gathering where a lot of members will be, our plans ALWAYS get cancelled or investigators are not home. I think The Lord is trying to tell us that we need to be working and getting to know the members first before we start teaching, because the members may be the only way to further the progression and work of the church in this area right now. So, I hope you are doing the same in Phoenix!
I love you all so very much! Remember to always live after the manner of Happiness!
Can you tell I'm from the desert?
Our apartment is HUGE! It's more of a mini condo actually. And, there is an acre of grass behind us. Just a big plot of green, green grassy field that doesn't belong to anyone specific. So, we go out there at night sometimes before 9 and try to catch FIREFLIES! Guys, there are fireflies here! They are absolutely the coolest things EVER!!!!! There are two kinds, ones that glow yellow-green and ones that glow yellow-orange. I made a firefly catcher, but I could only catch one. I was going to take a picture of him to send, but he wouldn't light up in the jar . . :( They light up when you blow on them, but he refused to ignite in the jar, so I let him go.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
I feel happy
I love my companion.
I think I help keep her positive. Like one day, she was really stressed cuz no one was home that day and an investigator dropped us when we showed up to their house. They said they weren't interested any longer. So, as we were walking a neighborhood later, I started saying "happy!" To everyone we passed, just as I had done in the MTC. That made her laugh so much. She loved it, and people were kind of confused, but a good confused I think . . . . More of "this is strange, why is this nice stranger waving at me and yelling 'happy' at me?" But, I could tell that it was making her day, and brighting everyone's spirits and I loved it. It was a fabulous day because we spread happiness and laughter to people that day. So now, whenever she tries to tell people that we've had a rough day or something, I yell (playfully) "today's not a rough day!!! Today was a fantastic day!!! I'm just too excited to even be on my mission, to even care if we don't teach anyone anything specific that day. We smiled at people, and that was good because maybe they felt the spirit through our smiles. I always pray that they do. But seriously, this is the Lord's work, there are no bad days here!
God grants us every single day of our mission, and even our lives, so no day can be bad, or rough, because every single day is a gift from God! And, I'm too happy and excited to be on my mission at all, to even let her say that any days are bad! :P
We have a companionship motto - "Don't feel nervous, feel the spirit!" Because one morning when we were leaving to start our day, my companion said, "I feel nervous. . ." So, I whizzed right around and yelled (playfully) "don't feel nervous, feel the spirit!" So now it is our motto. And, sometimes I joke with her whenever she says "I feel. . .", no matter what mood, I always say, "don't feel-----, feel the spirit.. . Even if she says I feel happy . . . Hahahaha
I think I help keep her positive. Like one day, she was really stressed cuz no one was home that day and an investigator dropped us when we showed up to their house. They said they weren't interested any longer. So, as we were walking a neighborhood later, I started saying "happy!" To everyone we passed, just as I had done in the MTC. That made her laugh so much. She loved it, and people were kind of confused, but a good confused I think . . . . More of "this is strange, why is this nice stranger waving at me and yelling 'happy' at me?" But, I could tell that it was making her day, and brighting everyone's spirits and I loved it. It was a fabulous day because we spread happiness and laughter to people that day. So now, whenever she tries to tell people that we've had a rough day or something, I yell (playfully) "today's not a rough day!!! Today was a fantastic day!!! I'm just too excited to even be on my mission, to even care if we don't teach anyone anything specific that day. We smiled at people, and that was good because maybe they felt the spirit through our smiles. I always pray that they do. But seriously, this is the Lord's work, there are no bad days here!
God grants us every single day of our mission, and even our lives, so no day can be bad, or rough, because every single day is a gift from God! And, I'm too happy and excited to be on my mission at all, to even let her say that any days are bad! :P
We have a companionship motto - "Don't feel nervous, feel the spirit!" Because one morning when we were leaving to start our day, my companion said, "I feel nervous. . ." So, I whizzed right around and yelled (playfully) "don't feel nervous, feel the spirit!" So now it is our motto. And, sometimes I joke with her whenever she says "I feel. . .", no matter what mood, I always say, "don't feel-----, feel the spirit.. . Even if she says I feel happy . . . Hahahaha
Slam!
. . . The fairy tale continues. . . .
On my very first day out, my companion and I were looking for a potential investigator when we realized that his address didn't exit. So, we pulled up to a house, and it was my first day, I was just wayyyyyyy too super excited to start telling people about the gospel, so I mentioned, "oh, this house is big and pretty, let's just go knock on the door!" A so we did. The lady who answered asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses, and my companion told her we were Mormons and then she got SUPER angry and said, oh, even worse!" And started yelling at us that we were a cult, and Jesus Christ is savior, and then slammed the door, all before either of us could say another word. We were just stunned! So, I learned my lesson REAL fast. We're just going to stick to houses that we know, and people on the street we meet. I guess my companion must have known that I needed to learn from an experience like that - and why we don't tract here much . . LOL. I'll never forget that horrific experience.
Meeting people on the street is not too difficult. Everyone in Centerville owns either a cat or dog, so half the people here are always out walking their dogs. Except, neither of us have much confidence, so we are not very good at contacting or approaching people on the street . . I mean I feel like we have said some pretty awkward things to strangers this past week . . . I need help thinking up some good ways to approach people and start talking about the gospel. Cuz I'm scared the my companion and I are so awkward when we talk to people that we scare them away.
We have a car but limited miles, so we walk a lot. But, walking is fun because I pet every single dog we pass (which is every 25 feet). And, I pick and blow all the dandelions we see (which is every 10 feet). Ohio has a lot of dandelions and I'm going to blow them all away!
On my very first day out, my companion and I were looking for a potential investigator when we realized that his address didn't exit. So, we pulled up to a house, and it was my first day, I was just wayyyyyyy too super excited to start telling people about the gospel, so I mentioned, "oh, this house is big and pretty, let's just go knock on the door!" A so we did. The lady who answered asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses, and my companion told her we were Mormons and then she got SUPER angry and said, oh, even worse!" And started yelling at us that we were a cult, and Jesus Christ is savior, and then slammed the door, all before either of us could say another word. We were just stunned! So, I learned my lesson REAL fast. We're just going to stick to houses that we know, and people on the street we meet. I guess my companion must have known that I needed to learn from an experience like that - and why we don't tract here much . . LOL. I'll never forget that horrific experience.
Meeting people on the street is not too difficult. Everyone in Centerville owns either a cat or dog, so half the people here are always out walking their dogs. Except, neither of us have much confidence, so we are not very good at contacting or approaching people on the street . . I mean I feel like we have said some pretty awkward things to strangers this past week . . . I need help thinking up some good ways to approach people and start talking about the gospel. Cuz I'm scared the my companion and I are so awkward when we talk to people that we scare them away.
We have a car but limited miles, so we walk a lot. But, walking is fun because I pet every single dog we pass (which is every 25 feet). And, I pick and blow all the dandelions we see (which is every 10 feet). Ohio has a lot of dandelions and I'm going to blow them all away!
Utopia
I hope you haven't forgotten me yet! My P-days are Mondays, and, well, I spent my last P-day riding on an airplane and spending the night at the mission president's huge, luxurious 3-story home before I was shipped off to . . . Centerville, Ohio! (Just outside of Dayton.) And, I just LOVE it here!
This little place is seriously like the little old All-American town, like it's so perfect it looks like a movie set. There is soooooo much grass and so many trees! I feel like I'm in a rain forest! And, everyone here just lives in the cutest little 2-story houses with porches and shutters. Seriously, it's like this place embodies what people imagine the American dream looks like. If utopia were real, it would look like Centerville, Ohio. Except not, because our area is very small. We share the town with 2 elders, so our area is really only half the town, and my companion told me that the sisters cover, the more upscale part of town, while the elders area covers more of the town that isn't quite as upscale . . .
I love it here. The ward has 200 active members! I swear it is humongous! A little overwhelming. . . . cuz I'm used to the nice 27 member singles ward :P haha. But, I love my area because no one has yards. It's all just one big continual front yard/back yard that everyone shares, and I love how no one has any fences or walls or defined yards or anything, it makes it feel sooooo much like a community. Everyone united together on one turf. It is extremely beautiful here. But, the people on the other hand . . . They are a totally different story . . . (To be continued)
This little place is seriously like the little old All-American town, like it's so perfect it looks like a movie set. There is soooooo much grass and so many trees! I feel like I'm in a rain forest! And, everyone here just lives in the cutest little 2-story houses with porches and shutters. Seriously, it's like this place embodies what people imagine the American dream looks like. If utopia were real, it would look like Centerville, Ohio. Except not, because our area is very small. We share the town with 2 elders, so our area is really only half the town, and my companion told me that the sisters cover, the more upscale part of town, while the elders area covers more of the town that isn't quite as upscale . . .
I love it here. The ward has 200 active members! I swear it is humongous! A little overwhelming. . . . cuz I'm used to the nice 27 member singles ward :P haha. But, I love my area because no one has yards. It's all just one big continual front yard/back yard that everyone shares, and I love how no one has any fences or walls or defined yards or anything, it makes it feel sooooo much like a community. Everyone united together on one turf. It is extremely beautiful here. But, the people on the other hand . . . They are a totally different story . . . (To be continued)
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Pictures from Provo to Cincinnati
In the MTC with the district
In front of the Provo Temple
Arrived in Cincinnati, with President and Sister Porter
This backyard is certainly bigger and greener than Phoenix!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Stories from the MTC
We went to a devotional a couple nights ago
(this is a funny story) and the speaker kept showing us clips from the movie,
"The Other Side of Heaven." I kept thinking why is he showing us this?
I don’t get it. Turns out, after the devotional, one sister told me that the
speaker was the guy who the movie was about!!!!! It was soooooooo embarrassing,
I can’t believe I didn’t make that connection!! hahahahaha. But he was a really
great speaker. He told us ways that we could bear our testimonies. Through
prayer, words, writing, song, deeds, actions (and then I added my own: through
laughter) :]
As it
turns out, I was feeling like a failure missionary with one of the investigators
that we were teaching. Every time we went in to visit her, we just messed
around and joked and laughed the whole time and then maybe expressed one or two
scriptures or spiritual thoughts. But, when we visited her again, she was
telling us that she is losing the ability in her legs, and she has rheumatoid
arthritis in her hands so she is really depressed and doesn’t have enough
energy to do a lot of things anymore. (Especially since she is a phenomenal
singer and guitar player and she always performs for us her spiritual songs
from her religion on the guitar whenever we go.) So anyways, she told us that
the previous time when we had been in there just laughing and joking all night
long, that she hasn’t laughed that hard or that long in so long and that it gave
her enough energy to organize her whole office and then walk to her car. And,
she was crying because she hasn’t had that much energy in so long!!! So, I
decided that you can also bear your testimony through laughter. :] and then I also
realized that we weren’t just messing around and being unproductive as
missionaries but we were giving her what she needed. So that made me happy. :]
Cuz i was feeling like a flop of a missionary for messing around so much when
we were supposed to be teaching...
On
Wednesdays, new missionaries arrive at the MTC. The sisters and I were walking
out of the cafeteria and saw a group of new missionaries and I meant to yell
out to them “welcome!” but when I opened my mouth, the word “happy!” came out
instead, it was so embarrassing! I was just like – What?? So for the rest of
the day, whenever we saw any new missionaries, I just yelled out “happy!” to
them and it was so much fun watching all the different reactions - a lot of
confused ones. So now it is an inside joke in our district to just yell out “Happy!”
On a
sad day for our district, one of the members or our group needed to go home.
But, I think it was a great miracle that she was here at the MTC for a while
with us. She and I got super close and I just love her. I think there was a
reason she needed to be here with us for a week, but an even greater reason
that she needed to be home. It’s been a really spiritual experience realizing
how God works with timing and everything. There is just such a greater,
intricate plan that God has for every one of us and it’s almost inconceivable the
ways that he has everything work. It was just the most special thing, the
Elders in our district came together and gave her a blessing and I just love
our district so much. I love how incredibly close-knit and tight and strong we
have become!. And, the Elders are just the sweetest, most amazing sons of God
that I have ever met! They are so immature, but they can just come together and
create this incredibly powerful, spiritual experiences.
Friday, August 1, 2014
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