Week 5

Week 5

Wow!! Its already p-day! It feels like I just emailed, and also that I have been here for longer than just a week and a halfish.

This week was.... wow.

Monday night we had a lesson with Nathan again and... We committed him to be baptised on Dec 21st!! He is excited to take this leap of faith.
It definitely has been a week of miracles!

We started teaching a mom and her son, and they are so sweet.

We also got to serve in the soup kitchen and the food pantry, so that was awesome! It was funny because they put us in charge of the coffee at both places... 

My favorite thing from this week was when we passed a super old cemetery (during the day of course) and I wanted to go look at the old graves. I got some really good ones.
Two times this week we got yelled at... so that's cool... but it was all good because we tried to have a good attitude! 

We saw so many more miracles this week though! We were able to pray with a lady who was searching for her daughter, and the spirit was so strong.

There was a less active who is very excited to have us over for dinner!! Yay!!!!
We also took a drive to a members home and the trees were soooo beautiful!!! I'll attach pictures.

Last miracle I will share is from our time walking around and street contacting. There was a lady named Morgan walking her dog, and we stopped and shared a scripture from Moroni with her about faith. She said it was exactly what she needed and she wanted a Book of Mormon!! Yay!!

Yeah this week has been cold and rainy some days and beautiful other days, but the rain here is really nice. It very calming and peaceful.
I am excited for this next week and the miracles we will see.

My spiritual thought for this week is about scripture study.

I was reading 2 nephi 32:3 and it talks about feasting on the words of Christ, and they will tell you all things that you must do. I love that because scripture study, along with praying in faith, can help us be stronger and bear the challenges we have in this life. I encourage all of you to read D&C 122 about the Prophet Joseph in Liberty Jail. Remember that these things we go through are to give us experience and be for our good.

I love you all!!!

Also, I held a catapillar...

Week 4 Welcome to New York, it's been waiting for me :)

Hey everyone!!! This one is going to be a little long just because it's my first one in New York.... sorry not sorry.

Wow... I'm in New York... I think I say that about 10 times a day... lol
So since last Saturday.... I have packed up my stuff, said goodbyes to the good old MTC and Utah... and made my way eastward to New York.
It's been quite a week (and then some...)

On Tuesday morning, we got up super early to head to the airport. It was sad riding front runner past south Jordan... but it's all good because I love flying and airplanes, and I was headed to New York, so I was excited.

Saying goodbye to Sister Tolman

A highlight from traveling to the airpoet was a man headed to work on the train, he helped us missionaries get to our bags to the airport and onto the different trains we had to ride. The best thing though was that he gave the man sitting next to him a pass along card and was telling him to go see temple square when he gets a chance. It was an amazing example of a member missionary.






After a long two flights, lots of pretty pictures, passing a chick fila in the Detroit airportwe made it to Syracuse where my mission president and his family were waiting to pick us up. They are so cute!

We then headed to downtown Syracuse to do a little bit of street contacting, scary! But it was alright, we met a nice lady who asked us how we are different from other churches.
Then we had some genuine New York pizza and that was yummy, a little chewy, but soooo good after MTC food lol.

We stayed at the mission home that night and it is a gorgeous home.
The next day we got up and had some training, but then we headed to the church building to meet our trainers!!!!!!

Before telling who was with who, President Vest had each of the trainers stand up and say what they thought the most important thing in missionary work is....
My trainer got up and said.... Trust in the Lord!!!! Soooo as many of you know, that was my main theme from conference.... so as soon as she said that, I knew she was my trainer.
Her name is Sister Geddes, she is from Gilbert Arizona, and she has been out for 6 months. She is so sweet and hilarious!

Example, we(she) drive a Toyota Tacoma, a truck... it's hilarious when she is driving because she hates it, Haha. But in her defense, New York roads are crazy and have no organization whatsoever. It's very frustrating. I have no idea which way is north or south. But it's okay because its gorgeous here in New York, the colors are beautiful.



Anyways, we are in Saratoga Springs, New York, it's a little north of Albany. We are doing some adjusting because the elders had half of the ward before but now they made it one area so we acquired all of their area and people. Its crazy! But we are busy, which is always good.

Person we are teaching:
Nathan: he is so cool! He has been taught for while but tonight we are going to invite him to be baptised!! He knows it's true, but he is really busy so going to church isn't a priority, but he'll get there.

That's the only lesson we had the last few days because we are a sorting everything out with the areabook.

Tracting is interesting, the First two days I was very motivated and excited, but as it has gotten colder and darker and we have tracted in darker neighborhood's (fun fact: most streets don't have street lights and most houses don't have their porch lights on) it's been hard to be excited to knock on someones door when it's really dark...

It's also way out of my comfort zone, so it's a little bit nerve racking. Also, if a missionary comes to your door and wants to tell you about Jesus, let them give you a little message, give them something to snack on, and tell them that you appreciate what they are doing. They might be brand new and are so nervous, or they might be having a bad day. My point is, be nice to everyone, you never know who might be having a bad day. Smile at people, compliment them. It means a lot.

On Thursdays we volunteer at the cutest place, its called the free store and people can get vouchers from the community center and shop there for free, there are all kinds of people and we have met some awesome people.

It's a little bit of an adjustment to being on a mission, but it hasn't been too bad. Sister Geddes helps me a lot. She is a really good listener and she likes to ask questions to make you think. She has worked me though a few things already just by asking me questions. I am really blessed to have an amazing trainer who will help me become the best missionary I can be. It's going to be hard and uncomfortable, but I know that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. 

I am learning to trust in him and know that he knows exactly what I am going through, and he can perfectly help me with anything I am going through, I just need to turn to him and he will be right by my side.

I know that I am where I am supposed to be and I know that my Heavenly Father knows me and is very aware of me. I know that this gospel is true and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that it contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet and I know he did see God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in the flesh. Not too far from where I am now, in Palmyra, New York. I love my Savior, and I am so grateful for his Atoneing sacrifice for me so that I can return to live with my Father in Heaven again.

If you haven't had a chance to, check out churchofjesuschrist.org and watch conference to hear the words of the living prophets and apostles.
I love you all!!! Thank you for the support.

My new address is 

82 Crescent St, Apt 33E 

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Please send me letters and packages, I would love to hear from you!!

Talk to you next week!

There are so many gorgeous old churches here.

Funny church sign we saw.

My Duck!

Week 3

Hey everyone!

I hope you all got a chance to watch conference! It was amazing!!!!!!!!! I love hearing the word of God through living a prophet and apostles. I love President Nelson, he is truly the prophet of God.

I encourage you to go back and watch conference on churchofjesuschrist.org if you didn't get the chance to watch it. And if you did, reread the talks and I promise you will gain more revelation than what you received the first time!

For the sunday devotional we had musical numbers from performers in the MTC. The spirit was so strong, I love music and the spirit it brings.

The tuesday devotional was Sister Jean B Bingham, and that was absolutely amazing! She has so many great insights about overcoming obstacles. Have faith, keep an eternal perspective, and be willing to do hard things. But most importantly have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will help you with whatever obstacle you are going through because he has been there, he knows exactly what you are going through and he wants to help you, all you have to do is reach out to him.

I have grown so close to my district and I am so sad to leave them in a few days! they have become some of my closest friends.

Oh yeah! I fly to New York on tuesday, time has been going so fast, but also, sooooo slow. Its true what people say, on a mission, days feel like years and weeks feel like minutes.

We were able to teach someone about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the spirit was so powerful.

I am so grateful for the opportunity i have to serve a mission and I know that, not only are there people being prepared for me specifically and I am serving for them. I know I am supposed to change and grow from the experiences I am having, so I can rely on my Savior Jesus Christ.

Read Proverbs 3:5-6

I love you all!! thank you so much for your support!

My mission address for Letters is

PO Box 517 Liverpool NY 13088 United States

and for Packages is

 4889 Bear Road Liverpool NY 13088 United States.

Please send me letters! I have gotten a few and I love them!

I will talk to you all in about a week and 2 days from NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sisters next to us wrote notes for us, put them around our room then took pictures on our phone. It was cute!! 

I saw TJ!!! 

Letters! Thanks guys! 

Selfie!

Week 2

Wow this week has flown by, It seems like yesterday was Monday.

This week had so many ups and a few downs.

Sunday was crazy, there are so many meetings and I was absolutely dead by the end of it. but during the Sunday night devotional, they announced a change in the MTC Sunday schedule so next week (after conference) is going to be sooo much better, we will actually have free time to study. They also talked about what we should be doing during this free time. The speaker mentioned that we should be doing things that focus on the Savior and bring us closer to him.

My challenge for you all is to choose one thing that we really enjoy doing on the Sabbath that isn't bringing you to the Savior and switch it for something that brings you closer to him.

After the devotional we watched Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. It was a talk from an MTC meeting, and it was especially for missionaries. It was amazing. I have so many notes from it, but the whole message was that the character of Christ is turning outwards to others, when we would want to turn inwards, like during hard times. He promised us, we would have great blessings if we strive to become like Christ and look outside ourselves and serve others.

We also had a Tuesday night devotional from Elder Choi from the seventy. that was awesome! he showed us some clips from the new Lion King! That was the highlight, haha. But what he was talking about was that we are the chosen spirits from Heavenly fathers army, chosen to come forth in these the last days, to battle Satan's army. It was really cool because just as Abraham, we are the noble and great ones. He also said, "NO means new opportunity"

We had some really awesome classes this week. One in particular I will always remember. Sister Skousen had us partner up with someone who is not our companion. Elder Bremer, going to Jacksonville, Florida, and I were partners. She gave us 5 questions to ask each other and to practice listening:

What matters most to you?

What do you cherish?

What do you fear?

What do you want most?

What do you feel is missing?

I know these were supposed to help us practice listening to investigators, but it was a really amazing experience. I was able to get to know Elder Bremer as he talked openly and deeply about these questions. As I was answering these questions, it made me look inside myself and really think deeply about them. I learned a lot about myself. I challenge you all to ask these questions to yourself and write down your answers. Sister Tolman and I also asked each other these questions and it made our bond as companions even stronger. I plan on asking these questions to every one of my companions.

I also got my travel plans!! But I leave the MTC at 4 AM Its okay though, haha. 

Please send me packages, letters, and emails! I would love to hear from you all!!

Talk to you next week!

I love you all

Mtc cat, sister mittens

 Gorgeous colors in the mountains

 Almost my whole district

Sister Thacker & Elder Westwood (Cousin)