MONDAY NOVEMBER 25TH 2013

Hellooo family and friends! How's it going?? Things are great here in Kaibab! Just continuing to blossom :)
First off, Tobi is doing great!!!! She is still set on date for December 14th and is just soo ready!! We had 3 lessons with her this week and popped in a few other times as well. She is just so eager to keep learning more and she just accepts everything so quickly. It just shows that time is everything! She started meeting with missionaries over a year ago ya know? Even when I first got here in August she was not ready. But she is now. Oh my goodness, I never knew I could love someone so quickly. But she is one of my favorite people ever. So hilarious, caring, and talented. The picture I attached of the rock was painted by her! Isn't that so cute!!?? She made Sister Hollander and I both one. LOVE her! I better be here for her baptism. Transfers are on the 10th so I'm praying I will stay here or I will be so soo sad. But I guess our Heavenly Father does know best. Just have to remember that. Haha

We met with Jim and Sue again this week. Actually 3 times! They have only been wanting to meet once a week but it just happened we saw them 3 times :) We taught the rest of the Restoration and we thought it went pretty well. They are both reading from the Book of Mormon and praying together as well as individually! She texted us the day after though and asked if we could come over! (Panic attack) So we did and she gave us little pumpkin muffins she forgot to give us the night before! She also told us that she didn't want us to get our hopes up or think we are failing because they aren't ready or willing to come to church yet. But no of course we know some things take time. They are so prepared they just don't know it!! Then we went back last night because we forgot to give them the Restoration DVD to watch. Which was alright because it was an excuse to see them between appointments anyway. They has some questions too of how to get more into the Book of Mormon. It ended up being a really good discussion. Random embarrassing story: Jim came right at the end of when we were teaching the Restoration and so I told him "Pam can catch you up on what we have talked about so far." And everyone looked at me and said "Who's Pam?" Oh my gosh, we were all dying. I don't even know 1 single Pam out there in this world! Ever since then they all give me crap for it. But it's good. Now we have an inside joke, which I think has brought us closer. Weird I know. I'm so embarrassing oh my gosh. Hahaha!

Pearl, Korrina, and Joe cancelled this week and we kind of get the feeling that we may need to drop them. So sad. They are going to be out of town this whole week too so we will see..

We did get another new investigator though! We visited them last week but only the wife, Ashley was home and their 4 girls. We set up a few times to meet with them but keep cancelling but we were finally able to visit with them! She is a member but not active and he is not a member and actually grew up in Colorado City. If you knew his last name you would have caught that because there is only like 5 last names out there. Haha! But anyways, he has met with missionaries before but stopped about 1 year ago. He said he is ready now though and so we are so excited to start teaching their family!!

So this week we had an exchange. It was so weird being away from Sister Hollander for 24 hours. It was also so weird to leave Kaibab. I went to the Washington Fields area with Sister Davila. (I attached a picture of us too) It was good but also hard to adjust to new people and a new area. Reason #2 why I don't want to leave Kaibab. It is my home now! But I know I will have to some day.. Just hopefully not to soon. But the exchange was good and I learned a lot from Sister D. She has been out over a year now and so she is very bold with people. It was good to be with her for a day but I'm glad to back here in Kaibab.

During our District Training Meeting we had interviews with President and Sister Center. I was so nervous, I don't even know why. But they were great. I love them both so much. President always intimidates me but when we talk one on one it is so good. We talked a lot about the area and the work that is going on here. Sister Hollander and I have been wanting our area to be split because it is just so huge but I don't think that is going to happen. He says there is way more missionaries going home this transfer than is coming in so they may have to even close some areas. Scary! But I know we are safe. Oh exciting random news: We are getting a brand new jeep this weekend! The mission is getting 3 of them and we get one because of all our dirt and muddy roads! Haha so stoked for that! Which also means we have to drive in to St George to exchange cars! Yay civilization! ;)


Yesterday we talked in Fredonia 2nd ward on missionary work of course! It went pretty good I think (hope). There was a guy visiting from Mesa and turned out he lives like 1 mile away from us. Small world! He asked if there was anything that I needed him to take home so I gave him a few things. Such a tender mercy because I have been accumulating a lot of things on my mission already! Haha!

Well I better get going but I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!!  Love you all!

"What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"

 Sister Davila in Washington Fields

MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013

This week was absolutely amazing!!! It has been filled with so many tender mercies and miracles from the Lord!

Ok so last Monday before we came to email we went and stopped by Tobi's because we needed to give her the handkerchiefs so she could wash them before we painted them with her, and she was doing great! But when we went back later that day she was having such a hard time and thinking about postponing the baptism! Ahh the adversary. But the next day she was back on and then decided to push it forward to Dec 7th so Sister Hollander and I would for sure be here but now it's back to the 14th.. But either way we are all so excited for her. She is great! I love her so much! She told me that no matter how my mission goes that I accomplished my mission with her. Because she has met with so many missionaries and had experiences with the church for 40 years now and she is finally getting it. I just feel so blessed beyond belief this week!

We also got 2 new investigators and both super solid!!!!! And one of them is my first in Colorado City!!! So stoked for that. Her name is Tonya. It is actually our ward mission leaders cousin. She just moved to Colorado City from the colonies in Mexico with just 7 of her children. She went to Stake Conference last week and church this week with Brother Stubbs (Ward mission leader, her cousin). We had a great lesson with her this past week too. I guess she had some concerns with prayer. She knows that Heavenly Father answers our prayers but she just hasn't felt like shes gotten answers recently. So we talked about the spirit and how to recognize it more. At the end we asked her to pray and she asked if Sister Hollander would say it. Then after Brother Stubbs asked if we could all go around and say a prayer. Sounds kinda weird but it was the most amazing thing ever. By the time it got to Tonya we were all in tears I think. The spirit was so strong! It took her a while to realize that that was the spirit she was feeling but she eventually did. We gave her some great commitments for how to study prayer and recognizing the spirit in the Book of Mormon more thoroughly and we will be seeing her again tomorrow! Well I guess I won't because I am going on an exchange tonight til tomorrow night and I will be in Washington City, right by St George. But Sister Hollander and Sister Larsen will be going to see her :)

Our other new investigator is Sue. Bishop Jackson called us last week and said that this couple he has been working with for 2 years is finally ready to listen to us! The husband, Jim, is actually a member but been pretty inactive since he was a teenager and doesn't know a whole lot about the church. So we met with them on Thursday. It is so amazing how the Lord really has been preparing people for us and of course with the help of great members!!! Jim already started to read the Book of Mormon so hopefully we will get Sue on that track as well.

We met with Korrina and Joe this week out in Moccasin. Because Pearl wasn't there we didn't do the lesson we had planned and did a little neat Church Pray Read object lesson with them. The parents, Aaron and Katie, actually sat in and participated and we really got to know them more and gain their trust as well. Things have felt kinda slow with them but we have great faith they will all start to progress more!

Also the picture I attached is from Bonnie and Georges wedding reception this week. They are some LAs we have been working with. So excited to join them in the temple in August!!! :)

Well I'm running out of time but that pretty much sums this week up. It has been such a week of miracles though. I think so much has been because of prayers. I don't think I have ever prayed more or more sincerely in my life!!! Rely on the Lord. He is there to help!

Love you all. Have a great week :)

 

 

 

 

Monday Nov 11, 2013

Ok this week has been sooo great!!! It's seemed super long, but that's okay with me! :)

 

So Monday Sister Waiane got her new companion, Sister Chinen. So we are back to normal structure with just Sister Hollander and I in just our area. Although, I miss Sister Waiane so much!!! She was such a great example of positivity and trusting in the Lord. Sister Chinen and I served in the Visitors Center 1 transfer before I came out here to Kanab and we got really close so I am excited. They are a great companionship. We drive to Hurricane every week and are going to lunch together today so we see them often :)

Tuesday we went to Donna and Dicks and helped clean part of their home again. Things are slow with them and not much gospel discussion but that's alright. Just building that friendship and their trust in us is huge.

We went and saw Charlotte and Marvin out in Colorado City that evening, it had probably been about a month since we had gone and seen them but we have been so busy, it's crazy. But it was really good. The week before General Conference we invited them to watch it but they didn't :( So when we went over this week we brought them the Conference Ensign and they were so excited!!! They get the 'Friend' for their grandkids and read it all the time. They said they would read the Ensign as well so we will see. I just love them. They are the sweetest people ever!

Wednesday we went out with the Lounsburys in Colorado City and Cane Beds. LOVE them!! They served a mission in New York about 5 years ago and just have that missionary spirit still. We met a few really good potentials out there! Yay! That evening back in Kanab we finally got to go see the Buntings. He has been pretty much less-active his whole life but has been coming a lot lately so we are going to start teaching him :)

Thursday we volunteered at the Care N Share in Fredonia again. It is so fun, I love it. I don't know if I explained much about it last time we volunteered there. But we help put food boxes together for struggling families and girls from a 'troubled girls home' comes and volunteers so we get to interact with them. They think we are so cool! Haha One of them even said she wanted to be a missionary, yet knows nothing about the church. Not sure if we can teach any of them, because of their circumstances but we shall see.

 

We also volunteered at the Beehive Nursing Home this week. They had us play games with them again. And we played Skip-bo! It was fun! I haven't played that game in so long but I remember being little and playing that all the time when the missionaries would come over. So crazy to think now I'm the missionary.

 

We saw Pearl Korrina, and Joe twice this week. They are so great! We taught the Restoration and then had a trivia game over what we taught and they knew it all!!!!! We were so proud. But Korrina was the only one that came to church :( Those stinkers! But we're working on it..

We saw Tobi like 4 times this week and she is doing so great! Ah I love her so much!!!!! We taught about the Plan of Salvation and more of what has gotten her to where she is today. She has such a strong testimony and I am just so excited for her and the decision she has finally made after 2 years to be baptized! Well even longer I guess. She has had lots of experiences with us mormons. The missionaries first knocked on her day 18 years ago. Timing is everything though. This gospel is for everyone but it just depends on the Lord's timing! That is the key.

 

We had Stake Conference this weekend and it was AMAZING! I loved it. It was a broadcast and Richard G Scott and Dallin H Oaks talked. They were so perfect for Tobi and she realized that too! She kept saying it was just for her. It was a lot about hastening the work but also tied in with the importance of women and having that unity in a marriage and ah just so many great things. I left my notes in the car though so that's all the details you get haha Oh and guess who gave the prayers? Sister Holland and I! Ahhh ya scary. But it was good. The stake President also had us come up and introduce us to the whole stake.

 

I just love serving here in Kaibab. The members are so great and are really getting more involved! Things have bene picking up so much. We actually had more non-member lessons this week than less-actives and that like never happens!!!!! The Lord is preparing people all around us, we just need the help from members to show us where they are. ;) So look around. Find someone to befriend and to serve.

 

Love you all! have a great week!

Thought dad would like this picture! They are HUGE!!!!!

MONDAY NOV 4TH 2013

Ok this has been Crazy, and felt so long, but great!!!!!!!! Oh and freeeezing! No Mesa weather here

.

So Tuesday was a great day! We got 4 new investigators that day!!!!! One is Tobi, whom I spoke about a little last week. We met with her twice this week and set her on date for December 14th! Yay!!! Except that is the week after transfers :( So we are trying to move her up. She is so ready and doesn't need that much time. She could totally be baptized this weekend!!!! She has been going to church pretty much every Sunday for a year and she has such a powerful testimony. I am so excited to be working with her :)

That evening we went out to Moccasin and that's where we got the next 3 new investigators. Pearl, Korina, and Joe. They were taught be sisters about a year ago and set on date but they're parents wanted them to have more time to really get to know the church more and they're parents I think are coming around now. We are meeting with them again tomorrow so let's hope all does well.

As for Levi, we had to drop him because we haven't heard back in 2 weeks. Ah he was so golden.. I don't know what happened! So sad.. but I guess he is just not ready right now.

Running out of time so here is some quick updates:

Skye ended up going out of town so we didn't meet with him at the Family History Center last week. This week though. Fingers crossed!

Sommer and Bruce also cancelled and still haven't come to church so we might have to drop them. But that breaks my heart!!!!! And she has my skirt and I don't know how to ask for it back. I feel like I am breaking up with someone! No bueno.

Halloween was fun.. or just relaxing really! We had to be home by 6 so we got to relax all night. So nice!

I have been in a trio since Friday morning. A sister in the mission somewhere went home so there was an emergency exchange and the other sister in Kanab, Sister Donovan, got transferred to replace where she was. So Sister Waiane has been with us and will get her new companion this afternoon. It has been so fun though! Sister Waiane is from Vanautu (Mom- She is the one we met in February at the VC) She is super great always! She is THE MOST positive and focused missionary and person anyone will ever meet. It has been great to have her in our companionship and we going to miss her. Although I am excited for our area to be back to normal because we have been doing our stake and her area. Crazy!

Anyways, we better get going. But I love you all. Have a good week!

 

Monday October 29, 2013

Today marks the start of my 5th transfer! INSANE! Sister Hollander and I are staying together here in Kaibab :) I am excited and blessed to be here.

As you know it seems like work has been slow this transfer but somehow we have been super busy this past week and this week will be too. Not necessarily teaching appointments with non-members but just planting seeds! We have been able to do lots of service recently and I LOVE it. I am here to serve everyone and so we love it when people actually allow is to.

We got a referral from Dave (LA/PM Family) for his neighbors across the street for Donna and Dick also a LA/PM Family situation. So we went over there this week and it was funny.. When we opened the door she said "Are you Jehovah Witness!?" Of course we said "no" and said who we were and she said "Good, come in. Come in." We actually got that a few times this week. It looks like we have some competitors but they aren't too liked here. Haha. Anyways, so Dick is the member but not active and his wife Donna is not a member. We chatted with them for a good while and they agreed to have us come back to help her clean and organize her home. Score!

We also met with Skye this past week. Before when we had met with him it was hard to get anywhere because he has a lot of questions and our fellowshipper would just answer them all, but none were necessarily doctrine. Well this week we decided to jsut go by ourselves and it was perfect! He has read 1 and 2 Nephi already and so we talked about the end of 2 Nephi, on some scriptures he didn't understand. And we got him to pray!!! Yay! It was a little different though.. This is how he started out.. "Oh dear wonderful, beautiful universe!" Hahaha ya he still hasn't gained that testimony on God yet but we are working on it. We are going down to the Family History Center with him this week and we are all super excited for that!

Ok so I don't if I have told you about Tobi but she started meeting with missionaries a little over a year ago. Her husband got baptized a few months before than too. Ok she goes to church every Sunday and reads from the Book of Mormon all the time and she loves President Monson! Golden right? Well she could just never make up her mind and has kept putting it off. So we have just let her have her own time to sit and think about it. She is Greek Orthodox which I think is a lot of why she has held off for so long because it's more of a family tradition to be Greek Orthodox. Well one of her friends Sister Bowman texted us last week and said "Tobi has been inspired she needs to become a mormon!" WHAT!? Yaaa so we are going to start meeting with her tomorrow! I am so so stoked! She is a fireball too, let me tell ya. Seriously funniest lady I have ever met. I love her and am so excited that she has finally realized what she needs to do.

We also met with Sommer and Bruce again this week. Another one of those LA/ PM families. We taught them the Plan of Salvation. I think it went well for the most part. Bruce actually opened up and had lots of questions. He usually just sits back and let's Sommer talk but he talked more this time. It was so great. But they didn't come to church yesterday!!!!! Such a bummer. They are still wanting to bless their baby though and she turns one the beginning of December and they want to before she turns 1. So we will see with them.

Ok Damion (Conner and Joshs friend) We haven't been able to get a hold of him this week! :( But last night we went to go drop something off at a members.. It was so last minute. We kept putting of dropping this card off at her house and so I was finally was like we have to go right now and lo and behold Connor, Damion, and Josh were outside at the house across the street. Inspired? Ah I love how smart God is. So we were able to talk to all 3 of them for a while. We weren't able to set up an appointment with Damion though :( But we will keep trying. It was so good that we were able to see Josh too because have just felt so bad since we dropped him because we was upset. But he just wasn't progressing! So we were able to talk and break the ice again. So great!

We also haven't been able to get ahold of Levi at all this week either :( Which is weird.. I swear he was so golden! Stupid adversary. But we are going to track him down this week!

We also were able to get a few referrals this week so hopefully those will turn in to investigators as well! Some sound pretty golden too. Now if we could just get a hold of them! Haha

All in all though this week has been great! I read a talk entitled "The Fourth Missionary" It is amazing!!!! Everyone should read it. Missionary or not. It is a talk that is easily applicable to everyday life and how we look at things. We need to have a vision and positive attitude and we can conquer all with God on our side.

"If you surrender, If the Lord wins, you win also. If you win, if your will prevails, you and the Lord both lose. The only way to win is to lose. Lose yourself in the Lord's work, and you will win beyond your wildest imaginations."

Love you all and hope you have a great Halloween and week!

Julianna and I :)

Monday October 21, 2013

 St George East Zone

Sister Sordes and I

 The Taite family :)

Telephone Booth (you would think I'm in England huh mom)

HUGE squash at Charlettes home :)

 

Ok first off, my 6 month mark is this week!!!!!!! INSANE! Like I seriously don't know where the time has gone. I remember when I first came out everyone said the time flies but I thought they were all lying to me haha but they weren't!

This week was pretty good. We had Zone Conference this week which was amazing and so good to see my Visitors Center Sisters again! A lot of Zone Conference was on.... Working with members! Who would've guessed it, right!? It was really good though and I think just what we needed. I have been frustrated with our ward mission leaders but I think we need to step up our part and help them to be more involved. So we are meeting with each of them this week separately so hopefully things will be better and progress more in every way.

We met with Levi again this week! Unfortunately only once because he's been sick and had job interviews and such.. We finished the first lesson with him this week though and I think it went really great. Everything made sense to him and he understood it all. And we got him to pray!!! Our first lesson with him he wouldn't. He said he would pray more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon so we will see tonight. He said he is sitll interested in getting baptized but just isn't totally positive.. he has a hard time believing there is just 1 true church. So we are working on that..

We also had our last lesson with the Robinson girls this week. Super sad but now the ward is taking over the recent convert lessons. We also had dinner with them and it was sister Hollanders first time having tacos! Can you believe that? Haha she loved them though, and of course you know I did too. Although I don't know if they beat dads Watusi taco fest! ;)

We had to drop Josh this week :( He just wasn't progressing in any way. He wouldn't read from the Book of Mormon and we even tried reading it with him but no luck.. We had a couple with us that night too and they just did not get a long with Josh so it didn't really end on a good note. Which is so sad because Josh really has such a love for Christ and a great relationship but he is just not ready or open at this time.

So last week we were contacting in-actives and met Dave and Marcie. Dave is the in-active and Marcie is a catholic. The first time it was just Marcie and she was kinda busy but we set up a time to come back! Wahoo! So then when we went back Dave was there and not Marcie so we couldn't go inside but we chatted for probably 30 minutes on his porch. He says he has a desire to come back to church and eventually be sealed to his wife! Double wahoo! He really wants us to meet with them so we are calling him today to set up a new time when we can catch them both.

So funny story.. About 2 weeks ago we were at The Junction eating and this older man starts making small talk with us and we found out he was less-active then after lunch we went to find Greg (our other LA guy we've been working with) where he works and this guy was there!!! And he was like "Are you two following me?" Than last Pday we were eating at a different restaurant and he was there too and said the same thing!!! So we figured out where he lived and went to visit him this week. His name is Brother Hamblin and he is just the sweetest man. We talked to him for a while on his doorstep but couldn't go in because he is a "bachelor" and lives alone. He is great though. He loves family history and volunteers there every week but just has a hard time going to church. Well yesterday at Stake Coordination we found out that he was at church yesterday! I was sooo happy! If only all people were that easy!

Anyways, that is pretty much all for now! Hope you all have a great week!

MONDAY OCT 14TH 2013

Got to see The Nashville Tribute Band :)

 

Ok this week has been AMAZING!

We had 2 administrators from the MTC come and stay with us for 2 days! I guess they go out once a year with missionaries and see what they can do to better train people in the MTC for the field. It was great to have them, we learned soooo much from them! They are so bold! Like I thought I was bold.. Nope not even close compared to them. But they are so lovingly bold. They also had such great faith. One of them was with us when we did our Weekly Planning Friday and encouraged us to have faith in finding new investigators like a lot! And guess what!? We were able to get 3 new investigators in 2 days! They are way more solid than the 2 we even have now too! So we are way excited!

One of them is Levi who I have talked about before. He just moved back to Kanab. We met with him Saturday for the first lesson and invited him to be baptized and he said YES! He just doesn't know when yet because apparently he might be moving again :/ We are seeing him again tonight though so hopefully we can put him on date today!!!!

Bruce was able to become an investigator too. His wife is Sommer, a less active, who I know I have talked about a little bit. They want to start meeting with us more so we are way excited! When we saw her last week she said she didn't have a skirt for church so she would go when she got one and she was saying she loved maxi skirts! Well the whole week I kept having these thoughts that I should just give her my maxi skirt because I can't wear it on the mission anyway and I thought nooo that's weird. I don't know what she would say... Well we stopped by Saturday to see if they were coming and she said she didn't have a dress or skirt yet. Well perfect I just so happened to have my maxi skirt in the trunk! She was sooo excited and said they would be there! Sad story- they didn't end up coming because she worked grave yard and their little girl couldn't sleep but they promise they will be there next week and we have an appointment before than too so we will see!!!! Pray for them por favor!

K 3rd new investigator is Damian. We met up with Josh and he was with Connor (our LA boy we are working with) and Damian (non-member!!!) Well turns out Damian is more open and interested than Josh and we are going to start meeting with him too!!!!!

We had a stake party on Saturday out in Moccasin and it seemed like so many people were coming up to us saying they want us to meet with their neighbors, co-workers, etc.. Miracles I tell ya! I had been getting so frustrated with the lack of referrals here and BAM we got like 4 or 5 that night! And for families too! Sooo excited! Ahhhh the Lord is working miracles. We just have to have that faith that He can!!!!!

Random things: We were finally able to get some service projects! We helped clean out an apartment and let me tell you it was a mess! It blows my mind sometimes the homes we go in to. Then we also helped a less active, recent convert organize her scrapbook room!

The Nashville Tribute Band had a fireside/ concert last night for out stake and it was amazing! They called us up on stage to sing with them! Probably not their smartest move haha but it was so fun!

Anyways, I gotta go.. running out of time! I love you all! Keep sweet, and keep the faith!

 

Another jump shot

Bathroom shot in the church haha

 

 Moccasin church building