Monday, August 26, 2013

Hello!!!! How's it going?

This week was a bit slow but it was good! Always good when you're doing the Lord's work! Plus it has been raining the past few days, hallelujah!!

Monday and Tuesday nothing too exciting happened. We were supposed to have a leadership training with the Area 70, President Center, and all the other stake leaders but it was postponed for 2 more weeks. We went out that night to Colorado City and visited The Cook family, we have been trying to work with but didn't get anywhere. The mom is the one more interested I think and she wasn't there. The kids told us she went to the "Beer store" hahaha so we will see.. They used to be apart of the Centennial Park church, which we got to find more about the next day. We had gotten a referral from a lady in one of our wards for her daughter who is apart of the Centennial Park church. So I might have mentioned Centennial Park before, I didn't know much but we just considered it a modern Polygamist church cause that's all we had really heard. But we went and contacted this lady Wednesday who is a member of this church and she told us aalllll about it. So the church is really called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: The Work. It's a lot like the FLDS church but they dress more normal and actually finish building their houses! Haha! And people can join in to this church, unlike the FLDS where you have to be born into the church. It's all weird to me.. And The Work church is planning on building a temple right there pretty much on the highway. It is all just interesting.

After we spent some time out there in the Boondocks we went back in to town- Kanab. Haha I know, funny that we consider Kanab the town! We had a few referrals we needed to contact there. So we go to this home and no answer and so as we were are leaving and trying to close their gate one of their dogs runs out. So as I am trying to lock the gate Sister Roth runs after the dog, and she couldn't catch up so she takes her purse off and tried to lasso the dog!!!!! Hahaha it was the funniest thing ever! But it worked! We are turning real hick out here! After contacting for a bit we headed out to Fredonia for a New Beginnings. We spoke at it. It was interesting to be back at one of those. It was good though because there were 2 girls there that attend Young Womens but aren't members! So we are going to go see them when we head out to Fredonia next :)

Thursday we had our weekly DTM up in Hurricane. So we had to role play of course and the Elders we role played with decided to "be" their investigator who believes Jesus is an elephant... People out here are not normal I swear! But it always makes life interesting, so it's good. Sister Roth and I decided to match that day and both wear polka dots and then a few of the elders had polka dot ties so we had to take pictures of course. And then guess where we went!? Taco Bell! First time my whole mission haha! When I first came down here to Kanab I asked Sister Roth if there was a Taco Bell and of course the closest is in Hurricane, an hour and a half drive. Sad day.. After that Sister Roth and I knew we would get a long because of our love for Taco Bell haha. In my last area we didn't have a car so we never ate out. Anyways, we went there after DTM and it was glorious! So worth the 4 months being without it haha. Then on our drive home we stopped to get gas in the middle of no where! Literally! And of course I see someone I know! Brett Overson, my old boss was there!!!! What are the chances of that!? So crazy! It was good, we got to talk for a few minutes.

This weekend was Western Legends, to honor all the old western movies filmed here in Kanab. So we spent part of Friday and Saturday down there contacting. It was good, we got to talk with lots of people. Unfortunately a lot aren't in our area. But Friday the mayor, who is in one of our wards brought a non-member couple down to the Family History Center so we got to teach them about Family History and get them all set up. I wish I had your intelligence on Family history mom! But I am working on it. It was really neat because the guy asked lots of questions and seemed pretty interested and we showed him mormon.org and showed him how he could send missionaries out to his home in California. It was so good!!!!!!

Yesterday we taught a Sunday School class and Young Women's. It is good because we are getting really involved with the members and able to build relationships and trust with the members. I love the members here they are so great. We have rides and dinners almost every night and love to be involved with us and missionary work.

We got a new investigator this week! Casey, he is 12 and his mom has been less active but is coming back to church. It has been kinda difficult with him because nothing stays. It's like in 1 ear and out the other but it's just a work in progress.. We are seeing him again tonight so hopefully it'll be better.

Ok now the best part. The Robinson's came to church on Sunday.They had been out of town and super busy so we didn't see them for a week but we were able to go by Saturday and see them and make sure they were coming to church. We had another lesson last night with them, it was so good! They are on date for September 14th so pray that it'll go through!!

Anyways, I think that is all from this week. Love you all and hope you're doing well!

Mission President Center and Sister Center

On our way to Cane Beds we ran into a bird and it got stuck in our front bumper!!!

Another Road kill

 Connor, a boy we have been working with!

 

 Cute dog

I got a "Junction" shirt :)

 This is our home 2 nights a week, in Cane Beds 

AT THE WESTERN LEGENDS PARADE IN KANAB

 

TACO BELL

First time at Taco Bell for both of us since on mish.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Hellloooo!

Kaibab is great and I am getting to know the area more and more everyday. It's pretty tough considering how huge it is!

So last Monday was my first Pday where I actually went and did something touristy! YAY! We went to a place called Best Friends it is a no-kill animal sanctuary. I know dad would have loved it ;) We went on a "Bunny tour" pretty much just looked at bunny's for a half an hour and then we went to their pet cemetery that they have there. It was fun to just look around at all the pet names people come up with. I will have to send you pictures of it later!

This week we tracted quite a bit and tried to contact all the potential and former investigators that our area book has. No luck on new investigators so far.. But we did contact a lady named Betty. Sister Roth had found her a week before I got out here. So we went to go visit her. She is a HOOT! Seriously so funny. She is from Vegas but I thought she was from the south when I first met her. She is in her 80s and not doind so well so she wants to "walk a closer walk to God". That's what she told us, but she isn't sure how she feels about going to church every Sunday. But she does LOVE Mormons. Her neighbors across the street are serving a couples mission right now but get home in 2 weeks so hopefully that will help her out! We talked about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy and asked her to read the introduction. We tried to set up another time to come back and she wouldn't but said we can come back any time so we will see.

That night we went to a restaurant here in Kanab, one of the 5 they have haha. It was pretty good but Sister Roth and I felt so sick afterwards but luckily we had to drive out to Colorado City which is like a 45 minute drive so we could kinda rest then. We went and visited the Chatwin family when we got there and felt better when we were there. They used to be a part of the FLDS church but now apart of Winston's Group. It's a polygamist religion based out of Canada. They are interested in our church but the dad has 2 wives.. so obviously that can't happen. He has 34 kids between both wives. I'll attach a picture of a wall with all their kids pictures on it! It's crazy! Sister Roth and her trainer put their pictures on the wall too. So funny!

So that night we stayed in Cane Beds and the next day was my birthday! Thank you for the card and brownies mom :) We started out the morning picking weeds for a Greek lady named Leanna! (We seem to pick a lot of weeds out here haha) Leanna is a non member but was actually married to a member. She is Greek Orthodox so pretty set in her ways but she loves Mormons too and really appreciated our help. So she fed us dinner Friday night... Not so sure Greek is my favorite kind of food. Another reason why I got called to Utah.. I can't handle foreign food haha! After Leanna's we went back to Colorado City to visit the Barlows. They weren't home but were across the street and told us to go there. So in Colorado City if you are apart of the FLDS church you have to have a ZION sign over every door, and so this house had one. We were nervous but knocked on it anyway. Luckily it was the right one. The man who lives here had 22 wives and 100 children all living there at one point! Insane right? But now he just has 2 wives and I think 10 children that live there. Anyways, I guess that is the Barlows uncle. We weren't able to have a spiritual discussion because their kids were running around everywhere. But hopefully we can make contact with the Barlows again. They have gone to our church an few times and like it but they don't think they need to be baptized because they already were.. Just the wrong church! Ugh.. so we will see :)

Thursday we had our weekly District Meeting up on Hurricane. President and Sister Center were there and so they asked if they could drive Sister Roth and I back to Kanab! An hour and a half drive! It was so awesome. We were able to show them our area (well most of it) and then they took us out to lunch. It was so neat to spend all that time with them just one on one! They are so great, I love them! They also told us that on September 7th we are having a whole mission conference in Salina! That has never happened in this mission before. Aaanndd one of the 12 apostles will be there. There will be 2 buses full of missionaries driving up there. And because we are so down south us and the other 4 Kanab sisters will drive up to St George the night before and have a sleep over with Sister Center!!! I am so excited! I can not wait to see who will be speaking to us.. Apparently it's a surprise!

Last week we went to a nursing home and got to talk to the residents there. We played a game of Yahtzee with Jim and Jan. Jim is 97 and so smart.. still so lively!!!! He used to live in Oakland, CA and said he loved looking at the Temple there. He is out of town for a month now but we are hoping we will be able to meet with him again when he gets back.

Yesterday, we gave a talk in one of our Fredonia wards. I think the Lord is really making me learn to love talking in church because we are talking again in 2 weeks in another ward. I guess that's the life of a missionary.
I love this life though. The people here in the Kaibab stake are so great. So humble! I love working with the people here.
Well hope all is well! Talk to ya soon! ;) Love you all!

 

 This is "The Zion" sign I was talking about that all the Polygamist have above their door.

Sister Donovan, Sister Raby, Sister Roth, and I at "Best Friends" for our bunny tour.

 

Polka Dots DML

SUMMER'S BIRTHDAY

 

Monday August 12, 2013

Hello!! This week has been crazy but good! We left from St George Tuesday morning, had to say my goodbyes to Sister Sporl and all the other sisters in St George. I was so nervous to be full proselyting and out in the middle of no where but I love it. So I was told a lie.. We are not 3 hours from St George but about 1.5! So Sister Roth and I had a long drive to get to know each other. Again I was nervous, but I love her! We have a lot in common and get along really well. She is from Moses Lake, Washington. She is a convert of about 20 months. Super awesome! She is super outgoing and bold with people so I am excited because I know I can learn a lot from her!

Well the Kaibab area is amazing!! So we actually live in Kanab 5 nights and Cane Beds the other 2. Our area is Kanab, Kaibab, Moccasin, Jacobs Lake, Fredonia, Hilldale, Centennial park, Cane Beds, and Colorado City. It is HUGE! Which is why we have 2 houses we stay in. Every week we have to travel an hour to Hurricane for our District Meetings, and that is when we can go to Walmart to grocery shop.

So my first night out here last week we decided to go tracting. No answer, no answer, not interested, was a member once.. The usual. We come upon another house where it was similar. An inactive who didn't want to talk. We walk away and then he calls us back. He decided he wanted to talk. Well little did we know he did NOT want to talk about religion but instead BEAVERS! Hahaha he loves beavers and is convinced that beavers is our only hope. That beavers are the ones to save the world. God and man should not be controlling the earth but beavers. Hahaha it was a great first night in Fredonia. People are crazy out here but I love it.

We have 3 investigators right now. The Robinson sisters from 10-15 years old. They're parents are less active but wanting to come back and the girls are wanting to get baptized. They are great and hopefully will be able to progress more towards baptism soon.

We have been visiting a lot of less actives because that's pretty much what everyone is here I swear. So the work on non members is slow right now but we are having confidence we will find more to teach soon! We do a lot of service out here, which I love! A lot of nonmembers or less actives won't listen but when we do service for them their perspectives change so we keep praying and waiting on a few of those we do service for!

We thought we found a golden boy at the park last week. We talked to him and his friend (who is a member) for about 20 minutes. They are 14. We exchanged numbers and decided to call his parents later to see if we could meet with them. Well we got the phone call first.. His mom left a message and was furious that we would talk to someone under age. We called back to apologize but there was no room to talk. So there went that "golden" boy haha.  

Then Friday night we drove out to Cane beds and stayed the night there. We did some tracting there a little in the morning and then headed out to Colorado City! Yess the part you have all been waiting for! Well we first went and got lunch and went to go eat it at a park. Little did we know the Polygs were throwing a party there. Luckily every single person Sister Roth knows in Colorado City was there so we joined them :) There is 1 x-polygamist family (Don and Carol) that we are working with that was there, which was perfect because we were going to go visit them after lunch! It is so funny to take a step back and think sometimes... Who knew this would be life right now! I love it! As Sister Roth and I were talking to Carol a polygamist man came up and asked "If Utah legalizes polygamy do you think your church will practice polygamy?" We told them we weren't sure but if God commanded that then I guess so... They didn't like that answer.. Haha whoops. Interesting people those polygamists are!

Yesterday we went to 2 of our wards. It was great! One of the less active boys Conner, we have been working with came for the first time in a long time so it was good!!!!! Got him to go to Sunday school even!

Anyways, that is my first week in Kaibab in a nut shell! Pray that we will find more to teach! 

LOVE YOU ALL!

 

Monday August 5, 2013

Hello, How's it going? It is still so crazy that you and dad are in the MTC right now! It is so insane that we are both on missions! Your dream come true.. Haha I just never thought it would happen. But I could not be more glad with our decisions to serve! :) You and dad will love it. Although, it'll be hard. You will be so blessed and happy!

So nothing too exciting happened this week.. I can't even remember. Oh we did run into a Jehovah Witness this week. That was interesting! She let us in to her home right away and then just tried to bible bash... All we could do was testify. She would always interrupt though so it was hard. But an experience I'll never forget. 

Oh so transfer calls were on Saturday!!!! This whole past week I just felt super stressed.. I think my body knew there was a big change going to happen. I would be praying and "I can do hard things" kept coming out. Whhhaaatttt!? Why was I saying this? I guess the Lord was preparing me for something unexpected. Everyone, including me, thought I would stay in my area. Well We got to the Visitors Center Saturday morning and everyone one by one would get their calls form the assistants. I swear I was the last sister! #stressin Soooo I am going to Kaibab! You know where that is? Me neither. But I know it's in the middle of the desert and 3 hours from St George! It's kinda near Kanab. My area is super huge that we have 2 apartments that we switch off at. My area goes into Arizona including Colorado City AKA Polygamist Town. And we DO teach there! Insane right!? I am super excited! Still in shock... but it'll be cool. Definitely different!

Anyways, well I don't have much else. I'm sure I will have  ton to tell next week tough!

Hope all goes well in the MTC this week mom and dad! Love ya!

 

Zone Leaders

 

 

ERICKA

This is Ericka. She is preparing to go on a mission so she likes to go out with the missionaries.