January 10, 2011

This weeks letter to her Mission President:
This definitely is a time of change for me personally and for our area. Last week when I e-mailed you I said that we wanted to meet the standard of excellence in 2 weeks. I have tried that before and it didn't work. Mostly because of a lack of faith on my part. This time I decided to bind the Lord. We told Him we would do everything in our power to make it possible and that we would take the best care of His children we possibly could and then mightily prayed for His miracles to make it happen. This week we met the standard of excellence in almost every area. Our numbers all doubled or tripled. The Lord placed people in our path that have been prepared for the waters of baptism. I realize more and more often that this is ALL the Lord's work and He will make it happen if we will just be obedient and show up just as we are ready to work. It has really been a blessing for this branch and the members are really starting to get excited. I have also thought a lot about my 3 goals. I have decided on

1- make prayer a meaningful and revelatory experience. Don't just say prayers to get them over with. When I receive revelation learn to recognize it and to ask for more.

2- Write down spiritual experiences and promptings. Keep a study journal and also a regular journal.

3- Learn what it means to be a daughter of God. Have self confidence that isn't based on what others say and think. Know my divine worth.

I love being a missionary so much and I learn more about myself and the gospel every day. My goals are now life long and not just for my mission. I'm realizing that this experience and the changes I make need to really become a part of who I am and not just a part of what I'm doing. I can't wait to see what the next week brings.

I e-mailed you my letter to President Hale this week and it has been full of miracles. I truly love being a missionary and seeing the Lord's hand in my life. There is no way we could have found the people that he prepared and placed in our path so quickly but when we are ready to work and be obedient he directs them to us. So cool! Yesterday M was able to be confirmed and it was so good. He was promised that in time his family would learn of the gospel and be baptized. Such a blessing to him. He desires nothing more than to please our Heavenly Father. This week we met an incredible girl named L. She told us that it all makes sense and that she just feels in her heart that it's true. She always tells us its just a really special feeling. We were able to teach the entire plan of salvation in 15 minutes and when we got done she said "it's as clear as water. I just can't wait to go to the Celestial Kingdom!" She's so cute. Her baptism is set for Feb 6th but she is so excited and ready that we'll probably be moving it up a week. She found the church from mormon.org. She was watching the movies on there and just e-mailed one of the members asking more. Then she came to church 3 times in family wards before finding the missionaries. She is so prepared. We're also working with a few other people and I love them all SO much! I can't even tell you how much I love being back in a YSA branch. I never want to attend a YSA branch but I love being a missionary in them haha. I love teaching people my own age which is funny because most missionaries hate it and avoid talking to college aged kids. I love being a missionary more and more every day and it's changed my life more than anything i've ever done. The atonement is changing me into the person my Heavenly Father knows I can be. My commitment to the gospel is 100% stronger and I see the blessing that it is in my life. yep.... i love life! I love you all Tons and tons and tons!!!!! oh and tell kyle steed i'm laughing at him for losing so bad :)

January 3, 2011

This week has been an incredible one for me personally. My whole mission I have strived to be obedient and to truly change my personal desires to fully keep the commandments after my mission and become a new person during my mission. It was always kind of an inner struggle. I was comfortable with how I was living and afraid to truly let the Lord change me. I was reflecting on the 75 day promise that originally I felt like was more of a 75 day trial for me. It just didn't seem to be going the way I thought it should. Part way through I began to make personal lifetime commitments. Some were about tv shows, tv channels, music and other things that have hindered my spiritual progression throughout my life. At the time it nearly killed me to just write them down and make them permanent but I knew it would never happen unless I started now. Since that time the atonement has truly changed me. My innermost desires are completely different. I went back to that same list I wrote a little over 2 weeks ago and they suddenly seemed SO easy to live. In my heart I truly feel committed to the gospel. I just couldn't believe it! I feel such a freedom and joy that I can't even explain. I looked at the calendar on that day and realized it was the last day of the 75 days. Prophesy definitely came to pass in my life and I couldn't be more grateful.
This one was a 75 day promise from president Hale that if we focused on preach my gospel and the white missionary handbook that in those 75 days miracles would happen and things would come to pass that we would tell our families for years to come.

This was our promise

The promise is clear: For those who embrace these teachings; these thoughts, feelings and impressions, the very fundamentals of Preach my Gospel with their whole heart and truly seek to become His representative, in the next 75 days personal experiences and opportunities will result which will forever change your lives. I witness that these experiences will fundamentally add to your firm foundation. Among them will be those that you will share with your family, your children and your children’s children often in the coming years. It can and will mean something differently perhaps for each of you. The promise is sure – I am confident that my words will be justified in direct proportion to the degree in which you desire that mighty change of heart and take action accordingly. It’s yours for the taking. Some will cease the opportunity and others remarkably still will not.

This week the work was still a little slow for us. A lot of our investigators have either left to go back to school somewhere else or aren't back from vacations. My goal is to begin meeting the standard of excellence in 2 weeks. We won't be able to meet all of them at once but if we work as hard as we can I know the Lord will bless us and will be able to trust us with more of His children.
My new companion is INCREDIBLE. She is one of the hardest working missionaries in the mission and I really wanted to serve with her. She was actually already in my apartment and we went on exchanges all the time so its been great. I learn so much from her. This week has been an incredible one for me.
best story ever- so on new years eve we were driving home through a residential neighborhood and a opossum walked into the street so I swerved and I hit it! dead on! I was so excited haha.... some things about me will never change. Then we went back to take pictures of it and our ward mission leaders mom pulls up. She was like "are you sisters ok?" we said "umm yeah we were just taking some pictures of this opossum we found here" She said "well as long as it's not one of my cats- have a good night sisters" we were laughing SO hard for hours about it. I'm just grateful my companion was excited with me too...none of my other ones would have approved.