Monday, March 28, 2016

3-28-16

Face2face read 3Nephi 11 with Sister Wadsworth and Sister Jex in Butler!
 My baby and I :)
 P day in Cranberry last week :)
 $1 Taco Monday's with the Lubins :)


 
 Sister Nelson decided to put these stickers on my legs while I was writing in my journal.. Haha
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I just had to FaceTime all my comps that are going home This week Loudly crying faceLoudly crying faceLoudly crying face (forgot to get a picture with Sis Landa) so crazy!!!
 Sis Jarvis
 Mama Tbot (Sister Talbot) THIS IS JUST SO WEIRD!
HAPPY EASTER! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter, I know mine was great as I was able to focus on our Savior Jesus Christ and share my testimony of Him and all that he means to me!
Well another transfer has come and gone (and this one was a week longer!), so now we begin another transfer! I have 2 transfers left (12 weeks) which is CRAZY, but I've pretty much decided I just want to be a missionary forever :) seriously! What is better than helping people learn about Jesus Christ and his gospel everyday?!
So we have a few investigators that we are working with that have a lot of potential, Olivia, Bryan, and Vikram! Olivia: we had a lesson with her this week on Thursday (she says she's a creature of habit, so we meet every Thursday at 2:) ). This week we share a message about the Atonement with it being Easter week :) We also invited her to come to the General Woman's meeting with us, and she said YES!! She also told us that she has usually been studying with her husband which is AWESOME!! So Saturday we went to the General Woman's meeting and she was there! It was so great, and she was getting along so well with the other sisters, and the conference was amazing! Just gave me a new motivation to help the people around me and serve, and love! I'm definitely working on developing more Charity!
Bryan: This week we taught him about Following the prophet to get him ready for General conference! We invited him to watch with us next week. The next day he texted us and told us that he had read a general conference talk from last conference!
Vikram: Last week I told you about how we received a media referral and set up a time for Saturday, well we were finally able to drop that Book of Mormon off! He is so kind, he invited us right in, and we sat down and we were able to teach him the Restoration! He looked so happy the whole time we were teaching, and at the end we asked him "If you came to know that this was true, would you be baptized by someone holding this priesthood Authority (after teaching about how Joseph Smith received the priesthood)?". With no hesitation he said "Yeah I would!" Ahhhh! So awesome! He looked so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon to find out for himself if this is true!
We also got to do more service this week! The last 2 weeks we have been able to do lots of service! This week we got to Deep clean, more moving, and Goodwill (which is every Friday). We have been super tired, poor sister Nelson fell asleep in the middle of training haha. After helping someone move for a few hours on Wednesday they wanted to feed us, so they made lasagna. I love lasagna, but they gave us SOO much! So I could only eat like 1/4 of this massive piece of lasagna and then convinced the elders to finish it off. So they are just about done, and we could see that they were struggling to finish it all, and the lady says "Oh, save some room for cake!!!" Hahahaha And this is why we gain some weight as missionaries sometimes :)
Yesterday for Sunday School us and the Elders got to teach. We showed 4 of the Church's short Easter videos and bore our testimonies of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong! I am just grateful for Jesus Christ, our Savior, and for the knowledge that I have that this is not the end, there is no such thing as "The End" Because of Him. We can have so much peace and hope because HE LIVES!!! I love my Savior :)
Hey! Don't forget to watch General Conference this weekend!!! I love hearing from the prophets and apostles, their words are so inspiring and I know that if you watch with an open heart and mind, your questions will be answered! :) Have a great week!!

3-21-16

Brother Kigin and Sarah selfies.. He is our ward mission leader!
 Pictures with Cheri before she leaves! So sad she is gone! Elders Cahoon and Schofield, Brother Kigin, Cheri, Sister Nelson, and I :)
 Beautiful sunset!
Departing missionaries next week, So many of my comps leaving!!
Loudly crying face 
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This week we have been super busy! I love those weeks, I am definitely the most happy in life when I am helping others and keeping busy! There are 2 times of the year that hearts are softened most, Christmas and Easter. I am grateful for the #Hallelujah initiative, we have had so many opportunities to share that, seriously the best time of year to be a missionary! With the Bourquin family we invited them to share the video, right after we are done one of their daughters asked if we would go over to their neighbors house to share it with them, she said "I can do the talking!". One of our neighbors, Chuck, was outside when we were getting our mail, so we helped him with groceries, we shared a pass along card, he opened up to us about his love for Christ! We met Sue while getting our oil changed, we shared the #Hallelujah video with her, and gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet! We were able to talk to her for another half hour while waiting for our cars! I definitely encourage you to watch it if you haven't already :)

This week Cheri was packing up most of her house and moving back out to Idaho so we were able to help a lot with that! We are going to miss her so much! We went over just about every day this week to help out, boy were were tired and busy! Our investigators James and Nicole were living there with her, so they have now moved out of our area :( Nicole was having a rough day when we had gone over and we were able to give her comfort, and the Elders were able to give her a blessing. By the end of the night she was saying that she wants to get baptized and get to the temple! 

This week with Olivia we talked about Following the prophet. She has a lot of questions, we talked about how she can receive her own personal revelation. We invited her to read and pray about the BOM to know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. We also invited her to write down ALL of her questions so that we could help her study them out. I know that as we all come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, we can know that everything else is true, that we have a Savior, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and we can gain much knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

With Bryan we taught him the 10 commandments. We also helped him download the gospel library app. We committed him to read from the BOM daily, we have been texting to remind him, and he has been listening to it! 

Vikram was a media referral for a Book Of Mormon! The comment on the referral was "Wants a Book of Mormon ASAP!" We called and set up a time to go and He seemed so excited! Let you know how that goes next week!

Monday was pi day, we got 3 different kinds of pie! SO funny story, while driving back from district meeting on Wednesday Sister Nelson really had to go to the bathroom. She of course was the one driving and was really distracted. She also wanted to turn up the AC, then there was a stop sign. Then the TIWI told her "Aggressive driving". Hahaha. Note to self, don't drive when you really gotta go! Friday we hanged our clothes a good 5 times going back and forth between service and teaching, that day was crazy!

Well that was my week! Hope you all had a great week! Don't forget to keep yourself busy, you may be exhausted, but it's all worth it not wasting a moment of our short time here on earth! Also, always remember to turn to God and follow his will! "When the Lord commands, do it." -Joseph Smith

3-14-16

We have been doing Face 2 Face calls in our zone, studying the BOM together!
 

 A ton of Sister Smith's comps at zone conference
 Zone conference
 We got to go to the Blue and Gold banquet for the scouts, and it was Starwars theme:)
 Sister Nelson and I :)
lWow, what a week! Well to start off I just want to let you all know that the church put out a new Easter video out!!!!! GO WATCH IT at followhim.mormon.org! Please also feel free to share it with those you love, share your love for Christ with everyone! I know that for me, the main reason I am here on a mission is to share my love for our Savior with the people of PA, but we can reach even MORE as we ALL share this with our friends, families, etc... #Hallelujah 

This week on Wednesday we had Zone Conference! It was so great! We heard inspiring messages from President and Sister Johnson, the Assistants, we learned about the #Hallelujah initiative, amazing musical numbers, and testimonies of departing missionaries. So one strange thing about this zone conference, more than half of my companions gave their departing testimonies because they will be going home in the next 2 transfers (Sister Talbot, Smith, Jarvis, Landa, Palmer, plus a lot of the other sisters I was their STL at one point!) Its also crazy because I will be giving my departing testimony the next zone conference! Time sure does fly! Fastest 15 months of my life! I was also able to gain a LOT of motivation during this conference, we were able to work really hard and teach quite a few people the rest of the week! Man, I just want to take this last 3 months and work super hard, I love being a missionary, the people of Pennsylvania, and most importantly my Savior, Jesus Christ!

Thursday was one of the days we were able to teach lots of lessons! It was such a good day! We were able to meet with a Less active member that we have been trying since I got to this area (4 months)! We were finally able to meet with James and Nicole again, and she came to church on Sunday! We also saw Olivia, last time we invited her to pray before studying, well she did that and was able to connect everything that she was studying together and had some great spiritual incite to share! We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and re-invited her to be baptized, she said that she is working to know that this is true and when she knows that, she will do it! We also taught our investigator Bryan, we talked about the priesthood, he said that he wants to live by a higher standard to receive the priesthood! Those are just a few of the many great lessons we had this week! 

Friday we were Weekly planning, and it was a SUPER nice day outside, so we decided to go outside to plan. Well one of our neighbors has a big Golden Retriever who he let out to go to the bathroom.. well as most dogs do he ran up to us an wanted some love, this dog then proceeded to PEE ON ALL OF OUR STUFF! hahahahaha! SO gross! We had to wash the 3 blankets we had out there.. and ended up doing the rest of our planning inside.. 

We get fed REALLY well here in Wexford! On Saturday we have a lunch and dinner appointment. Well both of them wanted to take us out to eat, and we were STUFFED by the end of the day!

I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know he lives and loves us! I know that because of Him all things are possible! I am grateful that I can share that message with the people that I love!!! 

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Weekly email update

Me, Elder Schofield and Elder Hoyt on Pday (on Sister Nelsons iPad, seriously can't leave them unattended or you get selfies...)
 
 Love this picture and quote from Relief society yesterday.
 Trip to New York :)
 Our car ride Elder Cahoon, Sister Nelson, me, Elder Schofield
Fireside :) love these sisters!
 Apparently Lucille Ball is from Jamestown NY! We even passed the cemetery she is buried in.
 Same order as the other picture.. Wendy's :)
Us being sad Elder Hoyt is gone.

Well this week has been a weird one! I hit 15 months this week!!! Crazy! We started out last Monday with Pday, spent the day up in Cranberry with our district. After we had a lesson with our investigator Bryan! He didn't seem too interested in what we had to teach until about a month ago when we showed him Family History! Ever since then he has shown a greater desire to learn. In our lesson we talked about CPR (church, prayer, reading) and he said that he would read from the Book of Mormon everyday! So we followed up with him a few days later, and he had been reading! It's the little tender mercies :) We also found out that evening that an Elder from our ward was going home on Wednesday, so we got a new Elder in the ward, and let me tell you, they are TOTAL opposites! 
This week we got to do quite a bit of service. To quote Sister Jarvis (one of my former companions) Service softens hearts. I am pretty sure the heart that was softened the most though was mine. I have seriously just felt so much LOVE from my Heavenly Father! I'll be honest, it was a weird, kinda hard week, it is that love that truly does get me through any hard time! So we got to organize the baptismal font closets at the church, help someone move, fill up the font, Goodwill, etc.. I really do love service so much!
Our investigator Olivia is seriously just so great! This week we got to meet her family (husband and kids) and have dinner with them, such a cute family! It is so cool to see how She has opened up so much and is comfortable asking the questions she has, and has truly become a great friend! We also had a lesson with her and talked about faith. We asked how her faith has grown as we have been meeting with her, she said "Oh well I would have to say it has grown TREMENDOUSLY!" This is another thing that I LOvE about being a missionary! Having the opportunity to see so many people strengthen their faith as they come closer to Christ!
One of the people this week that we helped move was Cheri. She is seriously so great. James and Nicole our investigators are living at her house. But we were able to talk to her a few times this week, her house is a great place to just feel peace :) she was feeling really stressed though as we went over to help her move, and it was cool to see that weight be lifted as we shared a message with her! The gospel really can bring so much peace, and happiness! I had an experience with that this morning. I was really having an off morning, I really just wanted to go back to bed, but as I sat down and read my scriptures I felt so much peace, love, and happiness. I was able to feel the comforter (love that name for the Holy Ghost!)
So on Wednesday we got a call from the Assistants saying that we would have the opportunity to go to a "Why I Believe" fireside Sunday! Us and the Elders got to ride up to Jamestown, NY with the Clarksons (a really awesome senior missionary couple from London England). I had never been to New York so that was pretty cool! Looks a lot like PA. But the best part was definitely the spirit felt as I was there! Again, an amazing opportunity to sing in a missionary choir. I love the spirit that is present every time we sing! It just about brings me to tears every single time! A feeling of that Love! I love my Father in Heaven and I know that he loves me! I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ!

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

My week :)‏

Last Pday we were playing would you rather, Elder Hoyt ended up standing in this pose for 2 minutes so of course we had to take pictures
 Sister McDonald and I on Seldom Seen Rd. On exchanges :) she is so great!
 BEAUTIFUL SUNSET!
 Sister Nelson and I wish our Sheetz frozen Hot Chocolate after giving out a BOM
 They call speed bumps speed humps here.
 Weekly planning :)
 I convinced Sister Nelson to put crazyglue on her fingers :)
Another great week, can't believe it's already Monday again!

Tuesday we went on exchanges! I always love exchanges, having the opportunity for 24 hours to get to know another Sister and learn from her ways of doing missionary work. I stayed in Wexford this time with Sister McDonald, and Sister Nelson went on her very first exchange to Pitt 3 with Sister Roberts! Sister McDonald is such an awesome sister, a great example, so funny, easy to get along with, but also an amazing missionary, so good at loving everyone! It was a great exchange! 

We have been able to see James and Nicole a few times this week! I seriously just love feeling of their spirits and seeing their excitement to dedicate their lives to the Lord. Sadly they are moving up to Cranberry though, so we are gunna have to pass them over:(.

Thursday we saw our investigator Olivia. She is the sweetest lady ever! She invited us to have dinner with them next week! She has a lot of really good questions, and I am learning SO much from studying to help answer her questions.

On Saturday it was Sister Nelson's one-month mark of being a missionary! Hooray! So to celebrate we decided to go and get some frozen hot chocolate from Sheetz (an awesome gas station). With the 3-a-day challenge we hadn't given out a Book of Mormon yet that day so we decided that we would give one out at Sheetz. I didn't have a Book of Mormon in my bag so I told Sister Nelson that she got to give this one out. As she looked around the gas station she decided Who she wanted to give it to. We awkwardly stood there for about 10 minutes waiting for this lady to get done with her order, when she was done Sister Nelson went up to give her the book and she said no. So we decided to keep trying until we gave one out. We walked around the gas station for at least another 10 minutes and the book of Mormon was not given away, So We were going back out to the car and Sister Nelson was going to give it away out there, so as she was backing me I sat in the car for a couple of minutes allowing her time to go and give it to the lady at a gas pump, sadly that lady also said no. BUT I saw the guy from the car next to us coming back out to his car so I invited her to go and give it to him, she did and he took it! I learned a few great this from this experience, 1, I've got an awesome daughter, so willing to try even when it is scary!, 2. Sometimes we just have to jump out of our comfort zones, this has been something I have had to do many many many times over the course of my mission and though rejection is still hard, it has become much easier to talk to people, and share the gospel! 3. Persistence, we could have given up after the first one, but that man and his family could be eternally blesses because of that persistence! 
I gave a talk on Sunday on the Gifts of the Spirit. Gifts given by the spirit to help us and to help us help others. Probably one of the shorter talks I have given, but I was the "youth speaker" so it only had to be 5 minutes :) I will share the last little bit of my talk: Moroni 10:18 says "And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ." I know that through Christ all things are possible. I know that he lives and loves us. I know that through the power of the Holy Ghost we can receive gifts of the spirit.

Thank you all for your prayers, love and support! I love you, but more importantly our Heavenly Father loves you!!!