I'm a Jedi

Hi Beloved Family!

Important Business: Next week, P-Day will be on Wednesday, June 7 because we have Elder Pearsen, a member of the Seventy coming to speak at one of our Zone Conferences--which will be on either Monday or Tuesday, hence the need to change the date.  So do not worry if you don't hear from me next Monday--that is a good thing.  Just pray that I will have enough laundry to make it to Wednesday.

Next important matter of business, shout out to Potato (Katie) for graduating from high school!  I was bummed that I could not be at your graduation just waiting for the 2 seconds of joy when I got to hear your name among the 45 minutes of hearing other people's names.  Have fun officially adulting! (And if you ever want to consider missioning, you know where to reach me ;). )

We got to go to the temple again this week.  It was really exciting because they had told us that we were only able to go once every quarter.  We had just gone last transfer, so when they said that we could go this transfer, why question it?  As always it was an amazing experience and it prepared me for something cool that I learned a few days later about the Fall of Adam and Eve.

I also got to go on exchanges again with Sister Butler in the San Tan Zone while Sister Sprouse came to Queen Creek with Sister Rogers.  Sister Butler is amazing, and we had a lot of fun.

I've also gained my own Star Wars nickname from the son of a recent-convert.  Before my mission, Tanner made me promise him that I would be a Jedi on my mission--side note, that was inspired for him to say because whenever I forget why I am on a mission, having that image of the promise I made my little brother inspires me every time.  So now to add to that, like I was saying, I have my own Star Wars name.  Robin (the recent convert)'s son LOVES Star Wars.  And Legos.  He has a room full of every Star Wars lego set you could imagine.   He was very proud to show us his Star Wars legos, and made some comment about "Sister Jar Jar".  We asked who Sister Jar Jar is, and he told us it was another missionary who had served here named Sister Holbrook.  I asked why she was called Sister Jar Jar.  He said it's because she'd literally touch his legos and something would break.  That made me laugh.  So now it was my turn to get a Star Wars nickname.  He asked who my favorite Star Wars character is, and I told him Rey.  Now I have officially been dubbed Sister Rey.

Sister Rogers and I have started up teaching the members the missionary discussions again, and I love it so much!  Seriously, everything is just better when you get to teach and testify, and knowing that it will help the members to do missionary work makes it even better.  So far we have really good responses from the members.  Although tears are not the only indication that someone might be feeling the Spirit testify to them, we are pretty excited that so far the Spirit has been so strong at every lesson that someone has cried.  But again, that's not the only indication of feeling the Spirit (prime example, me).  One thing that Sister Rogers is helping me become better at is testifying throughout teaching the lesson--not just at the end.  Sometimes we will be teaching a lesson that is going so-so, but every time we get to the point about the Savior's Earthly Ministry and Atonement, when we take time to testify of Him, the Spirit in the room changes and turns the complete lesson around.  Every single time.  It's so cool!

Just to finish up real quick, remember how I love the Doctrine of Christ? Like I might have a low-key obsession with it?  Well . . . I LEARNED A THING!  In Sunday School, we were learning about the three degrees of glory (more information in the link: https://www.lds.org/topics/kingdoms-of-glory?lang=eng).  They were talking about the attributes of people that would be comfortable in each kingdom by reading about it in Doctrine and Covenants 76. I was sitting there looking at the verses and underlining each thing it said relating to the conversation, and I realized that literally it comes down to applying the Doctrine of Jesus Christ.  The more we rely on Jesus Christ and His Atonement, the more we really allow His teaching to become part of our character, the more we accept the promises and blessings our Heavenly Father has given us, we will be prepared to stand before our Savior after this life and have Eternal Life.  It's ALL about the Doctrine of Christ!  Well, hope your summer vacation has started out great, Family!  If you ever feel the need to spend some time in 120 degree weather, you know where to come.  I love you!

Sister Emily
(aka Sister Rey)

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Sister Butler, Sister Sprouse, Sister Sabey, and Sister Rogers

We almost "broke" the fence. Tender Mercy: We didn't.

Gilbert, AZ Temple

Lid of the Pickle Jar Open

Hi Family!

There was an email that just came through blank.  Sorry about that.  The computer decided to be spazzy when I was sending another email.

It's been an exciting week down here in Queen Creek, AZ.  It all started last Monday, and we could tell it was going to be a good week because Satan was throwing everything he had to try to get us to not work.  We had stopped to check the mail, and my kick stand on my bike decided to give out.  So my bike fell over, and I'm just thinking, "No big deal," but fun joke: it was a big deal.  It messed up my breaks so the back wheel could not roll.
 
Without my bike we wouldn't be able to do much of anything, so the only solution was to take my bike to a member who could fix it.  But that was still a little way down the road, and I had a bike with a stationary back tire.  So what did we do, Family?  We carried the bike.  That was quite the adventure because here we are, two 5'3'' girls stubbornly trying to carry my bike and failing miserably.  After dropping it on my foot once or twice and many weird looks from onlookers, we finally make it to the member's home.  ANNNDDD... they weren't home.  But thankfully we have technology, so we could text them and they said they'd be back around 8.  Okay, we could just walk until then.  But wait.  Remember how I dropped my bike on my foot?  Now it was bleeding all over the place and I was just praying I wouldn't need stitches.  (Don't worry, Mom.  It looked a lot better once I cleaned it off and I did not need stitches.)  So now we went over to Bishop Potter's home to get a band-aid for my foot that may or may not need stitches.
 
By the time I'm all cleaned up, it's about 8, so we head back across the street so we could get my bike fixed.  We thought it was just the breaks.  It wasn't.  I had a bent rim too.  So now my bike had to go to another member's home for them to look at it (and I'm just grateful that I have members to help me in the first place), and long story summed up, we walked home and had only my bandaged foot to show for our attempt to go be missionaries.  On the bright side, the amazing members were able to fix up my bike and change my break pads, so it is working great.

So that was the start of our week. And now that Satan had given away how great of a week it would be, we were ready to go out and work.  We've been asking for referrals from everyone and now have some wonderful people who said they would be interested in hearing more about our message.  I also got another opportunity to speak Spanish this week.  I love the first time I get to do a Spanish OYM with a new companion because they are left just going, "How did that actually just happen?" (gift of tongues... that's how it happened.)  The lady I was talking to was very nice, but not interested.  But here's the thing.  My companion thinks I'm just good at talking in Spanish and being persistent, when really, I got to know the lady, she'd try to end the conversation, but I only really picked up on a word here and there of what she was saying (enough to know what she was generally saying, but I couldn't have relayed it word for word), so she'd try to end the conversation, and I would just be like, "I don't know how to respond to that, so I'll just keep talking about the Gospel!"  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

But that was just a small fun thing, and barely scratched the surface of all the miracles that happened.  First one, we had a dinner appointment with a less active family in our area (that's miracle number one because we never get to eat with less active families).  Then, (and take notes here) they invited a non-member friend to come have dinner with us too! What??  It was crazy!  The friend is named Nauhel, and he lives just across the street from this family.  He came with his friend Kaitlyn right as we were getting ready to share a message, so we just invited them, and they listened.  Our message was about prayer, and it went really well.  Then Kaitlyn and Nauhel start asking us questions about our missions.  We talked with them for a good while, and they both accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon.  If nothing else, it was really nice to have an opportunity to get to talk with people not of our faith in a comfortable environment so they could see that missionaries are actually real people.  Then just to add a bonus miracle, Kaitlyn said she had moved and was now attending what she thought was an LDS church, and asked about that.  We told her she can just talk to the bishop, and he would be able to help her.

We also had a really incredible lesson with the Bishop's family in the ward we are white-washing.  We decided to teach the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because I love teaching it.  The Spirit was really strong as we taught, and the bishop's wife was all teary-eyed because of the sweet spirit, and it just went really well.  We had invited them to do a Family Mission Plan, and they were super motivated to do missionary work, and at the end they asked, "Is there anything we can do for you Sisters?" and I say, "Can we borrow a roll of toilet paper?"  I don't think anyone was expecting that--myself included.  But we were almost out, so now we have some more toilet paper.  Miracles.

But the adversity still came, and Sister Rogers was really sad as a friend she had grown to love said she did not want to take the lessons anymore.  Her friend, Julia, said she loved the church, but because her husband was so against it, she needed to stop for now.  We were very sad about Julia, but we knew Satan couldn't distract us because we had an even bigger miracle ahead: a baptism.  Sister Rogers and Sister Conrad (Sister Roger's last companion) had been teaching a boy named Fuzzy.  (His name is actually Andreas, but Fuzzy is his nickname.) Fuzzy has a really cool story.  He is a senior in high school, and he had been dating our bishop's daughter, Autumn.  One day, Fuzzy and Autumn were doing homework together, and Autumn invited him to an activity.  He said he didn't want to go, but last minute changed his mind.  He went to the activity and had a really fun time, came to church with Autumn, and eventually he decided he wanted to take the missionary lessons.  I came to the area just in time to get to teach him the final lesson before he was baptized, and he had such an amazing understanding of everything he had been taught.  It was evident in the way that he answered questions that he was not just doing this for Autumn.  Fuzzy had felt the Spirit and knew that this is what he wanted in his life.

His baptismal service was incredible.  Almost his entire class was there.  I'm guessing there were probably 150 people in attendance.  There were so many that we had to move into the chapel for everything except the baptismal ordinance. He was confirmed the next day, and he was just beaming.  It was adorable--like when a little kid gets baptized.  Fuzzy's friends had said that over the process of him learning about the church, he seemed different--happier.  Now that Fuzzy has made this promise with his Heavenly Father, I am so excited to get to know him better as we get to teach him the new member lessons.  I'm also just in awe of Autumn and how amazing she is.  I don't think it ever crossed her mind when she was inviting him to an activity that this is where it would lead, but it is such an incredible blessing to have been part of this experience, even though it was for such a short time.

I'll just finish up with something I learned this week.  I have been reading through the October 2016 General Conference Ensign and continue reading el Libro de Mormón.  I was reading a talk about prayer, and it made a comment about the windows of heaven being opened.  Immediately, I just got an image of my mind of Heavenly Father with a pickle jar, which sounds weird, but hear me out.  When Heavenly Father gives us blessings, it's not like He hit the pickle jar with a knife so it can be opened and it's just kind of there.  It's not even like He mostly unscrewed the lid and some of the juice leaks out.  When Heavenly Father blesses us, it's like the lid is completely off the pickle jar and He has turned the bottle upside-down.  And as I was reading in 3 Nefi, I saw a really cool example of that.

I'm at the part where the Savior has been born, and the Nephites are getting really good at their talent of becoming wicked really fast.  There are a small number of righteous Nephites, and the land is infested with Gadianton robbers who have nothing better to do but cause mayhem.  Giddianhi, the current leader of the robbers sends a letter to the leader of the Nephites threatening them that either they can surrender to them, or they will just come wipe out the Nephites. This is how the Nephites react:

"Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni (the leader of the Nephite army): Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands. But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands."

This must have seemed so backwards to the Nephites.  Why should they wait until they are attacking in their own home?  Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to keep the battle away from our families?  But they went along with it.  The story continues: "And it came to pass that in the latter end of the eighteenth year those armies of robbers had prepared for battle, and began to come down and to sally forth from the hills, and out of the mountains, and the wilderness, and their strongholds, and their secret places, and began to take possession of the lands, both which were in the land south and which were in the land north, and began to take possession of all the lands which had been deserted by the Nephites, and the cities which had been left desolate."

I got to that part and it was like an action movie in my head and I was freaking out a little.  That would be terrifying.  Here they all are in one group in the middle of the land while the robbers are taking over all of their homes.  But because they trusted the Lord, the very next verse we find out why they were instructed to do this: "But behold, there were no wild beasts nor game in those lands which had been deserted by the Nephites, and there was no game for the robbers save it were in the wilderness.  And the robbers could not exist save it were in the wilderness, for the want of food; for the Nephites had left their lands desolate, and had gathered their flocks and their herds and all their substance, and they were in one body.  Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food."

I don't know about anyone else, but I did not see that coming.  Plot twist.  But it really showed me that the Lord does bless us as we follow His counsel.  Even though it didn't make sense, it was exactly what needed to happen so the Nephites could protect their families.   I have a testimony of that.  God cares about us.  And as much as we want others to have the happiness that comes with the fullness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father wants them to have that even more.  He is ready to bless us with the lid off the pickle jar.  I love being a missionary where I get to learn these things.  And Family, I love you!
 
Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

This was probably the most sane way I tried to carry my bike

Painting Curbs

Fuzzy

One Year!

Hi Family!

I have been on my mission for a whole year, and now I'm back South in the Queen Creek Zone!  I'm companions with Sister Mary Rogers from Syracuse, UT.  We have a lot of similar quirks, so it has been a lot of fun.  I'm excited for this transfer.  We cover four wards now, including one that we are "white-washing" (that means that we are both brand new to the area--last transfer, the ward had elders), so I have a lot that I need to learn.  We are still a biking area for the most part, but we do have a car that we can use for meetings and times that it's too far to bike.  And on top of everything, my trainer, Sister Sprouse, is one of my Sister Training Leaders for this transfer.  It seems like it will be a great transfer and area.

I will absolutely miss Highland Zone, though.  My last few days there were wonderful.  I have come to love those people so much!  I got to have one more lesson with Nicole, and I cannot tell you how much I am going to miss teaching her.  This last time, we read from the Book of Mormon with her.  First off, it was great because we had only asked Nicole to read one chapter between visits, and this time she had read two.  We were reading 1 Nephi 21, which is the first chapter that Nephi quotes Isaiah.  I was worried because I don't know Isaiah very well (or at all), and now we were suddenly in a lesson where I would have to explain it.  It turned into a really cool experience, though because we had to go slowly, and I discovered that as we went verse by verse, it made a lot of sense.  As I run into Isaiah chapters from here on out, I want to use a little bit of patience and go verse by verse, because it has some powerful testimonies of the Savior.

But now that I am in Queen Creek, Sister Rogers and I just want to work hard.  We are excited.  I'm also beyond excited to learn from Sister Rogers because she is so bold.  My very first full day in the area, we went to the house of a guy named Brandon. He had met missionaries before and had said they could come back.  We went to ask if we could teach him, and I was completely taken aback when he actually said yes, we could share a message.  My response in this situation would be share a scripture and then get out because clearly if people say that they would like to have a message, they don't really mean it (or so Satan tries to tell me).  But not Sister Rogers.  Brandon came outside and she went right into the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We seem to teach really well together already.  As we taught, Brandon was completely attentive, and the Spirit was just there testifying.  It was so clear that Brandon noticed too.  He said he'd think about what we'd said, but he wouldn't commit to praying about it right there.  Hopefully he will act, so that he can know.

Sum up, I have have an incredibly bold companion.  But one thing she said that she wanted to work on in this area was reestablishing expectations with members and helping them to do missionary work.  As soon as she said that, I had a moment of completely understanding why I was here because that is exactly what Sister Johnson and I had been working on doing in Highland.  I am so excited to work with Sister Rogers, to learn from her boldness, and to help her with all the things Heavenly Father taught me to do in my last area.  I know we are going to see miracles this transfer.

Another tender mercy about being with Sister Rogers is that she served in the same area as I did in Desert Ridge, and she told me something that had happened there that I didn't know about.  There was a lady named Diane in one of my wards in Desert Ridge that we had both helped teach.  Diane had taken the missionary discussions when she was younger, but didn't end up getting baptized because her dad had told her that "the Mormons didn't want her" to cover up something else he had been doing.  She carried that lie with her for almost her entire life, but she'd let missionaries come over now and then.  After I had left Desert Ridge, a rumor went around the mission that Diane had started taking the missionary lessons again.  And eventually, I found out that Diane was getting baptized. But Diane was getting older and because of her heath, her baptism was postponed.  And that is all I heard . . . until I came to Queen Creek.  Sister Rogers told me that Diane's health got worse until she had to live in a hospital bed in her own home.  She got weaker and weaker until her daughters were to the point of planning her funeral--Diane couldn't even open her eyes and was minutes away from passing.  Her daughters were talking about Diane getting baptized, and they said something about just doing baptisms for the dead.  At that moment, Diane's eyes shot wide open, and she said no, she wanted to be baptized before she died and demanded a member of the mission presidency, President Lowder, to come right now.  He did, and when he got there, she told him, "I want you to baptize me."  He tried to remind her of her weak condition, but Diane would not be dissuaded.  Quickly, they set up a baptismal service for that very night.  Diane was still so weak that they had to bring her hospital bed to the church, and it took four Elders to carry her into the font.  President Lowder took her frail body in his arms, and just as she wanted, she was baptized.  A few weeks later, Diane passed away, but she had done the one thing she really wanted to do before she died.  She had been baptized.

I feel so privileged that I had the opportunity to get to meet Diane.  God is truly aware of all of His children, and I am so blessed to be in the Greatest Mission in the World.  I am so happy to be here, and I am so glad I was able to talk to you, my wonderful family, yesterday and share with you all the things I'm learning.  I miss you dearly, and I love you more than I can say.  

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Nicole

Me and Sister Rogers

One Year!

Perks of Being an AGM (Arizona Gilbert MISSIONARY!)

Hi Family!

Fun facts about the Arizona Gilbert Mission:  This last Saturday, our mission had twelve baptisms, and half of the people in our mission who get baptized are self-referred to the missionaries.

I don't have much time at all this week, so I'll be brief.  Transfers are coming up, and I am leaving Highland Zone.  It's hard to believe that after being here for the last 25 weeks--that's a week longer than Desert Ridge and Bella Vista combined!  It's been a wonderful experience serving here, and I couldn't be more grateful for the time I had.  It was a really good week to have be my last week because I really got to realize how much I love the people I serve and how much I love my calling.  It was stake conference, and my stake has 38 missionaries currently serving from that stake.  They made a video presentation of all the missionaries, where they are serving, and a quote from one of their emails home.  It was super powerful, and I realized, yet again, just how powerful this work is because of the Person who is leading it.  I got beyond excited whenever I would see a missionary serving from one of the wards I cover and just feeling so much love for those families and for the work I get to do every day.  I am definitely going to miss Highland Zone more than words can say.

We had a fun perk of being a missionary in Gilbert happen this week.  Sometimes our dinner appointments with members have to cancel on us, and folks, let me tell you, we are just spoiled in this mission.  Usually they will just give us $20, and tell us to go eat somewhere fun.  This week, that happened, and Sister Johnson and I went to a place called Tia Rosa's.  It has authentic Mexican food, which makes for a very happy Sister Sabey.  But turns out once we got our menus that we didn't really have enough, so we told the waiter that we'd probably have to go somewhere else.  He stops us and goes, "Woah, woah, woah, you have to tell me these things before you run off on me!"  We explained our dilemma again.  Dennis (that's his name), stops and thinks for a second, and asks, "Do you trust me?"  Nervously, I say yes, but I figure yes is a good answer because it's Gilbert--what's the worst that could happen?  And GUESS WHAT?  It actually was a good decision.  Seriously, Dennis is a saint.  He ordered our dinner for us and got us huge cherry sodas, a chimichanga to share, and then dessert. And all he asked for was our $20.  It was beyond kind of him.   Turns out he's a Mormon in a different area, so it was just a really fun thing to have happen

I got to go on exchanges with a sister named Sister Butler.  She began her mission at the same time as Sister Sprouse.  It was a Saturday, so most of the day was Sister Butler going with me to visit bishops and ward mission leaders to talk about the week.  She told me that one thing she noticed was that I am good at building up an area, and one of my ward mission leaders, Brother Ethridge, made a similar comment.  It felt really good to know that I have learned something important that I can take to future areas to continue to teach repentance and baptized converts..

One thing that Sister Butler really liked about what we've done in this area is the lessons with the member families.  I've loved them too, and it has helped me get to know a lot of families I otherwise would not have gotten to know.  We had a lesson with the Wilkinsons this week, and we were teaching the Plan of Salvation.  I always have the hardest time teaching that, especially the final judgement (for more information on the Plan of Salvation, please visit https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation).  But this week, during the lesson, I received an incredible insight that completely changed my view on the Final Judgement.  One thing about the Wilkinsons is that President Wilkinson is one of President Wheeler's councilors, so we talk all about missionary things in that home.  One of the things the President and Sister Wilkinson do as part of that calling is attending the dinner for newly arriving missionaries and the departing missionaries.  I felt prompted to ask President about his experience with the departing dinner when we got to the Final Judgement. (Side Note: I know nothing about the departing dinner as I have never been)  He talked about how they have a testimony meeting there and they all made a comment about how the missionaries knew they weren't perfect missionaries, but they had learned to rely on Jesus Christ and how central His role is to everything we do.  They know that even though they had lots of short-comings, because of Jesus Christ, they were a successful missionary.  I realized that is probably exactly what the Final Judgement will be like.  I will get to stand before God and I will know full well that I had a lot of things I could have done a lot better, but the thing that my Heavenly Father will care about most is my relationship with Jesus Christ.  Because of Him, we can all be successful and more.  I was blown away by that realization of just how loving our Heavenly Father is.  I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ.  He is the one we look to and follow.  I love my Savior more than words could possibly describe, and I can't wait to take this knowledge to my next area.  I love you!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

I made a cake shaped like a fish--ft. Photobombing Elder Partridge

Dennis (and two sister missionaries who unexpectedly had him throw his arms around them)

The difference between a used planner and a new planner

The Wilkinsons (and also me)

I Can Testify That What My Companion Said Is True--She is Weird

Hi Family!

I've been super excited to email you just because I cannot believe how many miracles I have seen the last few weeks.  I love serving in this area so much!  I have an amazing companion (and my title of this email pretty much sums up our entire relationship) and the people here are wonderful.  Transfer calls are coming this Sunday, so if you want to pray for something, let's go for #keepSisterSabeyinHighland2017.  I think Heavenly Father might accept hashtags in prayers. . .

Nicole has still been adding to her ever growing list of questions, but I think it is good that she asks because once she has a testimony of something, it is there forever. We've been talking a lot about the commandments with her, and this last week, we were trying to figure out who would be good to bring with us.  She has a really good friend named Sister Bailey that lives in her ward.  Sister Bailey has come to a lot of lessons, and we were debating on whether or not to ask her to come to this one.  I kept feeling like we needed to invite her, and just based on what we were talking about, it didn't make much sense why we needed to specifically invite Sister Bailey, but we went with it.  Once again, I got a very clear reminder that God knows a heck of a lot more than I do because Sister Bailey was exactly who we needed.  Experiences she has had made her the perfect person to have share her testimony with Nicole.  Nicole also came to a baptismal service for someone the Elders had been teaching, so that was absolutely incredible.

We also got to go to the temple this week because Alex and Rachel got to go do baptisms for the dead.  I was sitting there the entire time just so happy because I was in the temple and Alex and Rachel were there with me.  That is a wonderful feeling.

Sometimes when Sister Johnson and I go from our house to our area we see a girl named Ruby.  She works near where we live and she always goes on a walk during her break.  We stop and talk to her when we see her, so we have a pretty good friendship going on.  I didn't think much of it, but earlier this week we got a text from Elders serving in Queen Creek.  They had knocked on Ruby's door, Ruby told them about how much she loves talking to Sister Johnson and I, and she said the Elders are welcome back whenever they'd like!  I think things like that happen all the time, but it was so cool to actually get to find out and know that Sister Johnson and I were able to help in that.  That was definitely a miracle.

Sister Johnson and I made a new friend this week!  We had stopped by a family that is friends with a lot of Mormons in the area.  Their name is the Alverez Family.  Sister Miller had made a comment when she was here that the family was NOT interested in learning more, but the Alverez family said we could come back and share a message.  So when we went for the appointment, I was terrified because all I could hear was Sister Miller saying, "They are NOT interested!"  I convinced myself that there was no way I could bring up the gospel, and as much as I sat on their couch and thought about it, I was too scared.  So we continued chatting and I just prayed that Sister Johnson would be braver than I.  She was, and guess what  happened? Miracles.  We taught Mrs. Alverez about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she said she would be interested in learning more and agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  I had built up my courage by that point, so I extended a baptismal invitation and she is open to it.  It was another one of those "Sister Sabey, you don't need to be scared" moments that I want to remember forever.

And, Family, I am at the point in my email where I would think, "Okay, that's a lot of miracles, that's probably it, right?" BUT NO!  Heavenly Father is just really really good.  Sister Johnson and I were in the apartment complex that we cover this week, and it was at the very end of the day when we were unlocking our bikes to go home.  We saw a girl walking her dog, so we said hi to her.  Usually people say hi and keep walking, but she didn't.  We found out that her name is Alicia.  She was very nice and seemed fairly familiar with missionaries, so I was sitting there in my head thinking, "Member? Not member. No, member. No, wait, not member. Member?" and I couldn't decide!  Then, almost in passing she says, "Oh, I'm not baptized yet." She had been taking the lessons and was just about ready to get baptized in a different part of Gilbert, but she had been working through a few things before she was ready.  So now we were able to talk to her and she's still working on one or two things but she said that we are welcome by and that she is working on being ready to be baptized.  Wow.  Miracles.  That night on district call (our district leader is supposed to call every companionship in his district each night to ask how their day was and make sure we are doing good), I was telling Elder Hurst that story, and one of the sisters I live with came in and went, "Wait, is this a real story??"  I didn't think it was possible to see so many miracles, but I am just really glad I have been so blessed to be a part of them.

I just want to finish up with a story that Bishop Nabrotsky told Sister Johnson and I this week.  Someone told us to ask him what calling he had before he was called to be the bishop.  He was the Primary Chorister. <insert giggles from the peanut gallery>  I figured he was just going to tell us and then try to brush it off and change the subject, but no, it turned into a really cool story that taught me a HUGE lesson.  Bishop started talking about how when he was called as Primary Chorister, it was super overwhelming for him.  He had no idea how he was supposed to be a primary chorister.  And as he was telling us this, I was sitting there like, "He's a bishop and he was freaking out over being a primary chorister? Seriously?"  But then he started talking about how that calling taught him to truly rely on the Lord and reiterated that the Lord doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.  He concluded saying how grateful he was for the experience of being a primary chorister and how it helped prepare him for his call as a bishop.  I learned two really important things from this.  First, every calling in the church is important and serves a purpose--there are no "unimportant" callings.  Second, The Lord really is in the details and will prepare us if we are willing to follow where He leads.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ because I know that He is actively aware of us and loves us.  He is helping us, and I can't wait to see what else I get to learn from Him.  I love you!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Try the gray stuff, it's delicious! (I have an obsession with gray frosting now)

At the Temple with Alex, Rachel, and Brother Ethridge

Sister Johnson's sister's interpretation of how I catch scorpions