Nine Months and Just Learning the BASICS

Hello Family!

Miracles have not ceased among the children of men because the mission is buying toilet paper for us now!  Missions are already crazy, so it makes me really happy when I don't have to worry about the little things.  I almost cried.

I could just end my email there because I'm so happy, but I won't because that was just a minor detail in the miracle called this last week.

As you know, transfers were coming up.  We were all speculating who was going where, who would train, etc. and I got the nicest indirect compliment.  Sister Irvin said that President had mentioned an idea to her about who would train the incoming missionaries.  He thought it would be good to split up the Sister Training Leader companionships and have Sister Irvin, Sister Allison, and Sister Sprouse all train so that "we would have three solid missionaries". I liked that plan because it would mean that I'd have a "sister" if Sister Sprouse trained again.  Then it hit me: President said Sister Sprouse trains solid missionaries, and I was trained by Sister Sprouse.  It was a happy little confidence boost.

President decided to go a different direction with the incoming missionaries, so I am still an "only child".  However, transfers were still exciting.  I had been guessing that I would get Sister Sorenson, my MTC companion.  She went down to Bella Vista Zone as a new STL (Sister Training Leader) and is training a brand new missionary, so I'm excited and overwhelmed for her.  BUT I did get a throwback to the MTC because now I get to be companions with Sister Johnson!!

We always joked in the MTC about what would happen if we were companions, but we never thought it would actually happen.  Sister Johnson screamed the most delighted scream when she realized we would be companions, and I could not have been happier.

Our first week together was jam-packed with teaching and miracles-- and lots of fun.  We got to do service for an older gentleman and picked fruit from his tree.  I kept climbing the tree to pick the fruit.

We had a lesson with our new friend Ashley.  She removed her records from the church several years ago and realized how much was missing without the Gospel of Jesus Christ in her life.  We got to know her and she just wants to be baptized so badly.  She feels like she doesn't remember much, but she does have a solid testimony of repentance.  We just have to coordinate with the Stake President when she can get baptized so we can get that going for her.

This week with Nicole, we did some more getting to know her so we can try to understand where her concern lies.  I was planning on just jumping in to trying to resolve what I thought her concern was, but Sister Johnson felt that we should ask her more questions to understand her background and testimony.  This is why we have companions.  What I thought would turn into something really complicated actually turned out to be that we just need to help her see how much our Heavenly Father loves her.  We read the Book of Mormon with her and she absolutely LOVES it.  We are going to continue to read with her and testifying of God's love for her.

A huge miracle that happened this week was we stopped by a family we've been meaning to see for a while.  They have older kids who were waiting for their dad to be able to baptize them, so we wanted to offer to just teach them in the mean time.  However, we went over earlier this week, and they set up an appointment with us and said they are wanting to get Cali and Tristin baptized by April.  We have our first lesson with them on Thursday.

We've continued teaching the missionary lessons to active members and I never thought it would be as wonderful of an experience as it has been.  I've gotten to know so many families that I otherwise would not have known, and it gives us a chance to repeatedly bring missionary work to the forefronts of their minds.  We had a lesson with the Love Family this week (and I just LOVE the Love Family).  We taught them the first lesson, which is the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  At the end, we invite each family we do this with to make a family mission plan because if this message is true, and it is, we want to make sure we are providing opportunities to share it.  I felt prompted to ask a question that Sister Miller would ask that I really liked.  I asked them, "Who have you always wanted to share the Gospel with?"  Sister Love started telling us about her brother who has lost his testimony, and her sister-in-law is so devastated that she can't even bring herself to tell her son on a mission that his dad is not going to church.  It was a tender experience, and my heart was just going out to this family.  We got to talk about it and shared some experiences, and ultimately we realized that the only thing they could do that could ever help is to love the brother because "charity never faileth".  I felt the Spirit testify so strongly of that truth. I knew that loving him wouldn't mean he'd immediately return, but I do know that the love they show will not fail in the eternal view our Heavenly Father has. In that way, "charity never faileth".

We also finished the third missionary lesson with the Kokona Family.  The third missionary lesson is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In this lesson, we talk about faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  Guys, I've been absolutely blind because I realized that this is my favorite lesson, and for the last nine months, I thought it was a drag.  Elder Nelson taught, "We need women who have a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ," and now I finally understand why.  In that lesson, we talked about how the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ is the way that leads us to Christ, who is the "Living Water", like He was teaching the woman at the well.  The Gospel of Christ is evidence of His individual love for us as shown symbolically when He raised Jarius' daughter from the dead (i.e. raising us from spiritual death), and He gives us the opportunity to become clean again and again and again through Him if we continue to rely on Him.  It is the perfect example of just how much He loves us and I didn't get it.  This is why my purpose is to invite others unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through FAITH in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, receiving the Gift of the HOLY GHOST, and ENDURING TO THE END.  This is why I am counseled to teach the Doctrine of Christ in EVERY lesson.  It's because it's the only thing that will help us understand why God wants us to change.  It's because He loves us, and like I learned with the Loves, "charity NEVER faileth".  That's why this is so central.  God wants us to try again because He loves us.  I know that is true.  I wish I could have learned that nine months ago, and I plan to remember that for not only my remaining nine months, but for the rest of my life.  I love the Gospel and I love my Savior who makes it so I can be with my Family forever! I love you all!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

We went ice skating for P-Day

Tree Climbing

MI COMPA, LA HERMANA JOHNSON!

The Lemon Dress

Hi Family Mine!

This week in the life of Sister Sabey, I told a member that I love quesadillas, so their ten year old insisted on making me a quesadilla.  Actually, he made me four. So that happened.

Transfer News: The "Two Transfer Curse" has been broken, and I am staying in Highland for a third transfer.  Sister Miller, on the other hand, is getting ready to leave her greenie area, so I will be getting a new companion on Wednesday.  We have been absolutely busy.  We've had so many teaching appointments with active families and even a few investigators that we don't have time to fit everyone in during a week.  It's awesome! I love getting to teach.

We have one, potentially two new friends.  Both were being taught by Elders, but they wanted to be taught by sisters, so we are getting to help.  Our friend that we made this week is named Nicole.  She already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, it's really just helping her make good friends in her area and that will help her see just how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ allows her to reach beyond what she ever thought could be her full potential.  We are also meeting with Ashley this upcoming week, so news to come on that.  The trick for us will be coordinating with leadership that we don't know since neither or them are actually in our area.

This week was filled with funny moments, so I'm going to talk about that.  At the old folks home this week, I was talking to a lady named Opal.  She's the one that yodels.  She is so sweet and her memory loss is extremely advanced.  It's so sad, but she's awful fun to talk to.  She asked if she could sleep at my house, so I told her she could and that we could make waffles in the morning.  Then she asked me "What's a waffle?"  Turns out, it's harder to explain what a waffle is than I thought.  Some other people there asked if one of the Elders was my brother.  I asked if he was behaving himself and they told me no.  I love the old folks home.

If I haven't told y'all, I don't particularly like praying in front of groups.  At church in one of our wards, our ward mission leader always asks whether it's my turn or Sister Miller's turn to say the prayer.  It's always Sister Millers turn.  He finally caught onto the fact that I say that, so now he's started insisting it's always my turn to pray and then laughs at me.  So this time, I thanked Heavenly Father for "these people that I put up with" and then asked Heavenly Father to "bless Brother Ethridge to have a good time watching the Super Bowl".  He said it was his favorite prayer.

I hope those stories were enjoyable.  If not, here is my favorite funny story of the week.  Sister Irvin has a lemon dress.  She got it at Goodwill for $7 at the beginning of her mission, so the entire mission knows it as "Sister Irvin's Lemon Dress".  Some of the sisters in her zone (she's in Higley zone) wanted her to wear it last Tuesday to a zone meeting, but it was dirty.  She promised to wear it on Friday.  So on Friday, she texts those sisters and asks, "Hey, did you still want me to wear the lemon dress?"  A few minutes goes by, and I guess they had tried to text Sister Irvin earlier to remember to wear it.  They texted back and said, "Oh no... We sent that to Elder Ashton."  Now, Elder Ashton is the "Fleet Coordinator" in the mission, so he is in charge of cars and bikes.  He and his wife are a senior couple, and he is stricter than strict.  To describe how he is with driving, Sister Irvin puts it, "If you are going to even think about getting behind the wheel, you had better have Jesus in your soul." And on top of that, Elder Ashton will completely sass anyone about anything.  You do not want to get on Elder Ashton's bad side.  So in the early hours of Friday morning, Elder Ashton received a text that said, "Don't forget to wear the lemon dress!! :)"

Now onto miracles:  Kyle committed to at least praying about a baptism date!  We also met a family that our bishop has been wanting us to see for ever.  They never answer the door, but we were finally able to meet them, and set up a return appointment.

One night we were having a particularly hard time finding motivation, so Sister Miller and I decided to try something that Sisters Irvin and Angeloudis had done that they said worked.  We did five push-ups with claps in between and then went out to work.  They said after they did it, they saw miracles.  Well.... it actually ended up being more like five attempted flops that left me flat on my face, but I guess the Lord wasn't judging the quality of my pushups because we still saw miracles.  We met another family that never answers, set up a return appointment, and got a phone number to confirm with them before we come.

We also have a member of our ward who I've been worrying about.  She's a recent convert and she only speaks Portuguese.  I learned that one of the Spanish sisters in the mission can speak Portuguese as well as one or two ladies in that ward, so we decided to set something up so we could get to know her a little better.  Sister Cedeño was super excited to speak Portuguese again, so we got to know her.  I found out that the member, Roberta, understands Spanish.  Now I can at least talk to her in both of us speaking broken Spanish at church.  She seems very lonely, so that was nice.

There is another member of our ward who is coming back to church and we finally got to go have a lesson with her.  We have been teaching members the Restoration lesson to get them excited about missionary work, so that's what we did with Melissa.  It was a great lesson, and her testimony is solid.  But she has a six year old daughter who was bouncing off the walls and would completely ignore Melissa when she told her daughter to stop.  It was really frustrating because I didn't know how to help and I wanted it to be a good experience.  We got through the lesson the best we could and then we got to the First Vision (Joseph Smith History 1:16-17).  President Nattress said that the Spirit always came so strongly when he would quote the First Vision. I hadn't had a super powerful experience with it, but it always invited the Spirit.  So I would continue to quote it.  That night, however, when I quoted it, the little girl actually sat down and for those twenty seconds was completely attentive.  After, she was back to goofing off, but even so, it wasn't as disruptive to the lesson.  There is power in simple declarations of truth, and I am so happy I got to witness that.

I love you so much family!  I pray for you every day.  I hope you are all doing well, and I can't wait to hear from you.  Until next week!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street

Gilbert, AZ

85234

January in Arizona

 I gave a horse a bath and then braided its tail

 My high score is 20

I GET 9 HOURS OF SLEEP NOW!

Hello Mi Familia!

I have a confession to make of something I learned about myself this week:  I have a drinking problem.  I still have this huge stash of hot chocolate, and the other sisters point out that I drink at least one cup of hot chocolate every single day (except I didn't yesterday, so ha!). So that's fun. Who'd've thought?

Big news this week: the missionary schedule has changed!  There was a missionary broadcast last week in which we received a training from Salt Lake about what we can do to better serve the people in our areas.  I'll talk about that bit later.  The New Schedule: Now instead of our schedules being rigidly this-happens-at-this-time, it's become more of a "you know you need to do x, y, and z between this time and that time, and you can pick how that gets done".  Now this is what a typical day looks like:

6:30 A.M.

• Arise

6:30 A.M.-10:00 A.M.

• Say Morning Prayers
• Exercise (30 min)
• Study (60 min)
• Plan for the Day (30 min)
• Get ready for the day 

10:00 A.M.-9:00 P.M.

• Proselyte
• Lunch (30 min)
• Companion Study (30-60 min)
• Dinner (60 min)

9:00 P.M.

• Return to place of living

9:00 P.M.-9:30 P.M.

• Get Ready for Bed

9:30 P.M.-10:30 P.M.

• Retire to bed

My favorite part is the fact that I get to go to bed at 9:30!  Someone told me a few weeks ago that they think I am an old soul . . . maybe this is why.  P-Day also has an additional two hours, so now it doesn't feel so stressful trying to get everything done.  I am really happy.  The other thing they changed is the Key Indicators, meaning those things that we report for what we've done each week.  We used to have to say how many lessons we would teach, how many of those lessons were with members present, how many people we would talk to on the street, etc. and it felt overwhelming because I wanted to make sure that I had numbers that looked good while still trying to focus on the people, but at the end of the day, I looked at quantity over quality. (Not good.)  Now we report with a focus more centered on the Doctrine of Christ (3 Nephi 11:31-41).  We do what we can to help and invite people to partake of those things that help them become more like Christ by learning more about the restored gospel, partaking of the sacrament, and preparing to be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  Because of it, I feel like I am able to focus on loving the people and be bold in sharing what I know.

Here is one example of how I've been able to change and focus more on the people.  We had a lesson with Amber and Kyle again this week.  We had a lesson about the importance of the sacrament and why we go to church. We've had a hard time helping them to do this because Kyle works Sundays and they only have one car.  But at the end of the lesson we asked them if they would at least attend sacrament meeting together each week so Amber can renew those covenants that she's made, and so Kyle can practice making those covenants that he will one day make.  They said yes, so we are excited about that.  I tried to invite him to be baptized, but he said he's not ready yet.  So I decided to say, "Dang, I already had a date picked out and everything."  He wanted to know what it was, so that makes me smile.

ALSO, Rachel has her temple recommend now!!! Sister Miller and I are so excited to go do baptisms with Alex and Rachel at the temple now.  We just have to wait for a break in their schedule, but that should be happening in the next few weeks.

I said that I'd talk about the training.  I should probably do that now.  One of the biggest roadblocks in my mission that has caused a lot of frustration for me is I kept thinking that if I could just find some super way to cleverly explain our message that everyone would just get it and that they'd all want to learn more.  Super not true, but I kept telling myself that.  At the training, Elder David A. Bednar said something that I'm pretty sure was directed at me.  He said, "[Missionary Work] is something of the heart, not the mouth".  I realized how much I try to make it the other way.  Even when I think I'm trying to be loving, I still sometimes just go back to depending on my own words, which DOES NOT WORK!  If it did, then Jesus Christ would have already converted everyone when He was on the Earth because He knew the doctrine perfectly AND loved everyone perfectly.

It's caused me to reflect a lot on a scripture that I am trying to theme my mission around (Moroni 7:45-48, emphasis added).  "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure."

A few days later, one of our bishops was teaching at church, and he was talking about how to receive answers when we have questions about the Gospel and the church.  It helped me realize another reason why I can't just smooth-talk people into the gospel.  It's essentially what we learn in 2 Nephi 28:30.  "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." Bishop gave an example of this principle with the situation of someone who is looking at pornography on a regular basis and was questioning their testimony.  He talked about how their heart is not in a place where they can feel the Holy Ghost because of how they are choosing to use their agency.  He then talked about what he would say if someone asked him about that situation.  He said, "[Is the church true?] is a great question, but you're not ready for that yet. . . The first question you must ask . . . [is this:] Is my heart clean and pure?"  We have to be ready for the most basic principles before we can learn more.  It helped me reflect on my teaching and why some people aren't ready to learn yet.  God will not give them a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon or any other gospel principle until they are ready for it by first having the faith and humility to seek to be better.  He cannot.  It would take away our agency by doing so, and He promised that He would never do that.  I think that's why the First Vision didn't happen until Joseph Smith sincerely studied and went to ask God for himself.  When Joseph was prepared to see God the Father and Jesus Christ, that is when they came.  This is why "The Restoration is not an event, but  continues to unfold" (Elder Ballard).

Elder Holland said, "For 179 years [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands."  This is because the Book of Mormon is true.  If it weren't, the honest seeker of God's knowledge would have been able to disprove it long ago. But because it is true, millions of those who ask of God having real intent have the witness that it is true because they are ready to receive it and so much more.  I love being a missionary, Family, because I get to have thoughts like this every day, and then I get to share them with you.  I love you all more than words could ever express!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Car Selfie with President and Sister Wheeler

Thank you for the package, Mommy!

You know you've hit the future when

 My Hot Chocolate Stash :)

Ain't No One Taking This Testimony

Hi Family!

This last week flew by!  So many crazy, funny, and miraculous things happened this week, so prepare for a novel by yours truly.  I got to see the Richards family this week, and it's always a blessing when I run into them.  I hope that Mum enjoyed the picture she sent.  We were going to our bishop's house when I saw them, and I notice a car following us--I didn't know who it was yet.  I was just like, "Okay, that's kind of weird," but not horribly concerned because members just really love missionaries.  Then I saw it was the Richards and it made me smile.

This week at the Old Folks home, I was talking to Opal (the yodeler).  She told me out of the blue that she has one hundred forty kids. I went to ask her more about it, and she got a super confused look on her face.  I reminded her what she had just said.  Opal got very upset with me because she does not have one hundred forty kids.  I love serving there.

Sister Miller had a birthday this week.  It was one of my favorite days as a companionship because I got to spend the day trying to make sure it was a good day for her.  The other sisters went and got her McDonald's for breakfast, and then we went to Yo Waffle for lunch.  I don't think they have Yo Waffle in Utah . . . it's like Orange Leaf or one of those other self-serve frozen yogurt places, but they also have warm waffles you can pile your frozen yogurt and toppings onto.  (Also, my waffle had it's picture taken for Yo Waffle's snapchat--it's kind of a big deal).  We had a super awesome day of teaching and working hard, and we got to finish it off by having dinner with one of our favorite members.  They were super kind and made a cake just for Sister Miller.  It was so sweet of them.

Also, here's another example of the extent of how weird missionaries are:  Sister Miller and I were biking one night, and somewhere during that, we rewrote the Phantom of the Opera so all the lyrics were about cereal.  Sister Miller came up with the genius of turning "Past the Point of No Return" into a song about milk, so it's "Past the Expiration Date".  My favorite of my creations was, "You alone can make my tummy full.... It's all gone, my bowl of cereal."  Anyways, know that we've reestablished that Sister Sabey is nuts, let me tell you about some miracles.

I was on exchanges with Sister Irvin this week.  I love exchanges from Sister Irvin because I always learn so much.  This time, I finally learned what it means to "forget yourself and go to work" like President Hinckley was counseled to do on his mission.  Sister Irvin and I were talking about it, and she said that it means that despite whatever is going on in your life, you testify of the Savior.  It completely changed what I thought it meant (I thought it was more like "even though your kidneys are hanging from your body, just tuck 'em in your skirt and keep going") to help me in the work, and because I've been able to refocus on my purpose, it lead to the Lord placing some incredible miracles in my path.

We had a lesson with Rachel.  We are going back over the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her, so we decided it would be fun to watch a video about the First Vision with her.  I love the Restoration story, and the video just brought the spirit so powerfully.  Afterwards, we were talking about the Restoration and what it means.  Every time I am absolutely astonished at how solid Rachel's testimony is.  Her faith is such an example to me.  She always talks about how she used to be one of those people who thought Mormons were scary, but as she came to understand, she felt the truthfulness of our message through the power of the Holy Ghost.  Now her testimony is unshakable.

We were also able to go with some ward members to give our friend, Kaitlin, a blessing.  The ward has totally taken her under her wing, and even though we haven't been able to teach a lot, it's the best to see how loved she feels.  She'll be moving in a couple weeks here, but already she has friends that she knows she can reach out to and has asked to be able to continue to stay in touch with (even though she's only moving down the road a little).  Also, the sisters that will serve in her new area are awesome.  I'm so excited for Kaitlin.

The next day, we got to visit Amber and Kyle.  Amber was baptized earlier in 2016 (and Sister Kranc was a missionary who taught her, by the way), and Kyle has been totally supportive the entire way.  We got to sit and talk with them about how knowing our divine identity and destiny helps us understand why we keep the commandments, including baptism.  Amber and Kyle are the best at answering questions.  They ponder and really discuss, so it's like having them bear their own testimony all along the way.  We then talked about how we eventually see Amber and Kyle being sealed in the temple.  Amber says she really wants that to happen, so we were able to talk to Kyle about his thoughts on baptism.  Another thing I like about Amber and Kyle is we can be totally straight with them and have a little fun along the way, so I told him, "Yes, we want to dunk you!" He thought that was funny.  He says he wants to get to that point, but doesn't feel ready to make that commitment with God yet.  I'm excited to keep getting to know and love them.

And speaking of baptism, that leads me to one more miracle.  We have been trying to get in touch with our friends, Jen and Robin.  Jen was baptized as a young adult, and missionaries have been getting to know Robin on and off for the last couple years.  We kept getting mixed messages from the ward of "they want you to come over" and "they need you to back off", so we were super confused on what to do because we hadn't seen them at all.  Well, we took Sister Erb with us and felt like we needed to go visit them.  We were talking to Jen and having an amazing conversation.  I felt prompted to invite her to spend more time in the temple.  Sister Miller told me after that she wanted to strangle me in that moment because she had sworn that she had told me that Jen hasn't been to the temple yet.  But I guess the Spirit knows best.  Jen admitted that she had not been to the temple yet, but that she really wanted to.  She said that she had told her husband that she wanted to go to the temple, but she did not want to go without him.  Because of that, he has been praying for the last several weeks to know if God wants him to be baptized.  Miracles.  It was absolutely incredible.  Please keep Robin in your prayers as he continues to seek for his answer.

The best and worst part of being a missionary is that because you are so close to the Spirit, you know what God needs you to do, so I have been learning a lot about overcoming pride.  It has been a painful experience, but a totally worthwhile one.  It's helping me develop a more sincere testimony.  My last story for this week is about developing testimony.  Last night, we were talking with some members and then with Sister Burden about personal conversion.  I cannot tell you how many people on my mission have told me that I need to keep my mind open and really look, and when doing so, completely dismissing my testimony.  It's hard to go out and have people attack what you know, but that doesn't change that I have had to really look to find my testimony in the first place.  It was the years of doubts and wondering and questioning, but relying on what I did know until answers came.  And because of that, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, I know that Thomas S. Monson is called of God to be a prophet in these days, and I know that because God loves us so much, he answered a little boy's prayer when he used Joseph Smith as an instrument to restore the precious truths to the earth that have blessed my life so greatly.  I know it because I have struggled to find out for myself.  And that has made all the difference in the world.  I saw a post on Twitter before I came on my mission that I think about every day.  Yes, I know all of those things I stated, but even so, "my testimony is based on one simple fact: I am happiest when I am living the Gospel".  I love you, Family!

--
Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Truth

 Arizona has a lot of state pride

 Yo Waffle with Sisters Miller, Rogers, and Scarlet

Sister Sabey is a Nut

Hi my wonderful Family!

We were able to do a lot of finding, and this week, I think I received some pretty solid revelation for how to be more effective in the work in our area, so I am pretty excited for what is coming.  We met an awesome new friend named Nick this week.  Sister Miller and I were biking around trying to figure out exactly what our ward boundaries are, when we saw someone pulling in his trashcan.  (This person was Nick.)  We started talking to him and he told us he has a friend that he asks questions to about our faith, and then he asked us this questions I've been hoping someone would ask, "What makes your church different?"  We told him about it and gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said he would read it.  Nick is awesome, so I'm excited to go back and talk to him more.

Another day we were going door to door on one street, and we met Dr. Nate.  He told us that he was going to a conference in Phoenix for a bunch of different faiths.  We talked to him for a while.  He encouraged us to continue to hold onto what we know, but he didn't care to learn more.  However, we did get to ask him if he would take a copy of the Book of Mormon to his conference to give to someone who could use the message of Jesus Christ it contains.  He was more than happy to.

We potentially have a new friend that we are teaching!  In our area, there is a family that the husband is LDS, and his wife, Mary, is a devout Catholic.  We like to go over and visit them from time to time, and they are super nice.  Mary has an incredible faith in Jesus Christ, so I love to listen to her stories, and she always lets us share a thought with her. Before we left, I told her that we haven't been actively teaching the lessons a lot--we just have the one friend we are trying to teach--and if she would let us practice teaching her so we can be better.  She thought that was a wonderful idea, so we are also very excited about that.

One night this week, we were going to dinner with a family in our area.  About ten minutes before, I all of a sudden realized something I'd forgotten about: the member we were eating with was President Wilkinson, the first counselor in the Arizona Gilbert Mission presidency.  Help.  Sister Miller and I were low-key freaking out, but it was a really fun dinner, and I've repented of making a judgement that it would be scary.

Sometimes, Sister Sabey is a nut. Here is a story. I was riding my bike one day, singing the Batman theme like a chipmunk (I was on a bike and I was bored... why not?) I thought the only person who could hear me was Sister Miller, so I was just going for it. Well, it wasn't.  We bike around a corner, and I see a little boy in his driveway.  I stop and am feeling really self-conscious, so this sweet little boy decides to help me out and finish the Batman theme for me.  Yup...

Well, this email has to be short and sweet, so more details to come next week. I love you, Family!

-- 

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street

Gilbert, AZ

85234

Poor tired Sisters

Service with my Zone--this week I learned that lemon trees have thorns.

The horsie posed long enough to take a picture.  How sweet. 

A Testifying Missionary is a Happy Missionary

Hi Family-

So update... the person in my area that said she knows my Auntie Karin was thinking of a different Karin, so bummer.  But hey, we can still bond over having roots in the same little town in Canada.

This has been a weird week.  I went on exchanges with my Sister Training Leader, Sister Irvin--she's the one that reminds me of my sister, Sarah.  It was a blast!  I learned a lot from her, and we had some fun conversations.  My favorite that I will tell y'all about happened during dinner.  We were eating with a member, and at the end we shared a message.  We asked to close with a prayer, so the little boy said the prayer for us.  He's about three years old, so he was still learning how to pray and just had to repeat what his dad said.  He's going along just fine until his dad says, "Please bless the missionaries."  Instead of repeating what he said like he had been, the little boy stops and says, "Huh?"  His dad repeats again, "Please bless the missionaries," and the little boy looks up and yelps, "I can't say that!"  His dad, a little more firmly says, "Please bless the missionaries," and the little boy cries in exasperation, "I can't say that!!!"  . . . Oh. . .  Then he continued on with the rest of the prayer just fine.

I've had a goal ever since I first got into my mission, and I finally did it!  When we were companions, Sister Sprouse was telling me how she was born into (her first area was in) the San Tan Zone.  They were trying to have more fun with OYM (open your mouth) experiences, so they had a commitment to start at least one street contacting conversation with, "What's happening, homie?"  It changes things up, and the person is usually so confused that they are more likely to not just blow us and our message off.  The other day, we rode our bikes toward someone standing in their driveway, and I remembered this, so I said, "What's happening, homie?" and the confused look on the person's face was absolutely priceless.  We began talking and I introduced us as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and said, "so we are here as representatives of Jesus Christ to share His gospel."  The guy tells us, "I know Jesus, we're buds".  Sister Miller jumps in an says, "That's awesome! Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?--" and before she can explain more about it the guy yells, "Oh no! Not that! Oh gosh, no! Anything but that guy! Please!" on and on.  Now it's our turn to be confused.  But then he continues, "that's almost as bad as that 'sacrificing your son for the good of the world' stuff!" . . .what? Didn't he just say that he was buds with Jesus? At a loss of what to respond to that, we get ready to go.  He reassures that he loves all the missionaries and offers us Starbucks.  He tell him we are good, and he jumps in "because you CAN'T!" So then we reassure him that I have all the Starbucks hot chocolate mix back home (thank you again, Potato), he tells us again how much he loves all the missionaries that he meets, and we continue on our way.  I'm still confused about what happened there.

Thankfully, the rest of the week made a lot more sense.  I went on splits with Sister Love, a sister in our ward who has a son serving a mission.  She is awesome!  She was so excited to go see what her son does all day.  I'm pretty sure there is a curse that when a member comes out with missionaries, people are even less likely to be home than when it is just the missionaries.  We tried to visit three different families, and only one answered.  The one that answered was not very happy to see us.  It broke Sister Love's heart to see the pain that family had, so after we  talked about the peace and joy that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings.  After a while, I realized that even though we were having absolutely no visible success, I still felt like I was being a good missionary.  That confused me because normally I get frustrated when no one answers.  Then I realized what Sister Love and I had been talking about the entire time: we had been taking turns sharing testimony of Jesus Christ--and I hadn't even realized it because we'd been doing it in just a casual conversational way.  It helped me see that something President Nattress would always say was true:  "A testifying missionary is a happy missionary".

We have a new investigator named Kaitlin, and the lesson we had with her was incredible.  Sister Miller hadn't seen her since before I got to this area because we could never seem to catch her at home.  Finally we did, and we set up a lesson and we took another member with us to be her friend.  Kaitlin lives with her boyfriend, and he is not about us, but he sat in during part of it and listened.  That in and of itself was a miracle.  His ten-year-old son was also participating.  Her boyfriend ended up having to leave to take his two kids over to their mom's house, and then Kaitlin just opened up to us.  It was one of those lessons where the Spirit was just guiding it every step of the way.  I really wanted to invite her to be baptized, so I did and she said yes.  She just feels like she is not deserving of it yet.  It broke my heart to hear that she honestly feels like that, but it's so exciting to see the desire to come unto Christ work within her.  We have another appointment with her this week.

It was also an exciting week for Patrick and Alex and Rachel's family.  Patrick got to bless the sacrament for the first time, and the Rachel and Alex's son, Devin, was blessed in church on Sunday.  They are all just amazing.  It was so cool to see Patrick get to use the priesthood to bless others and see his testimony growing in that, and to hear Devin's blessing of all the blessings and promises he will accomplish in his life.  It talked about Devin serving a mission, so guess what part I liked most in his blessing.

I've been watching the Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos during my lunch breaks and such, and that has been such a testimony builder of the life and mission of our Savior, and I'm so lucky to get to testify of Him.  I wanted to end this email with a poem that Sister Burden wrote.  It has also helped me realize the magnitude of this Gospel, and she dedicated it to anyone who may be thinking of leaving it all behind:

How Could You Walk Away?
by Sister Burden (Arizona Gilbert Mission)

This sounds like a break up poem
But I promise you it's not
I'm just here to show them
And remind them for what they fought

You were on the front line
You defended and knew the truth
You preached it all the time
Others fears and doubts you did smooth

Now I see you and you're cocky
Arrogant I would almost say
You say "I can't believe what I can't see"
Oh, how could you walk away?

To whom shall ye go?
Where can you find the peace?
Those beautiful truths the Savior did show
Oh listen, I beg you, oh please.

It's not just me that's begging
Over here down on my knees
Listen, dear friend to the pleading
Of the voice from Gethsemane.

Put down your weapons of war
Wipe that know-it-all smirk from your face
And remember there's something more
Than you figure is just religious craze.

HE LOVES YOU, don't you remember?
He's calling your name today
To His love, friend, please, just surrender
Please, stop walking away.

I love this gospel, and I know that it is through Jesus Christ that we can attain true joy.  Jeffery R. Holland said, "He knows the way because He is the way."  I know that's true.  I love you all, and because I love you all, the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift I could share with anyone.  I LOVE YOU!
--
Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Sister Angeloudis

Hot chocolate and quesadillas are my comfort food

January in Arizona looks like Fall

It's 2017!

Hello Family!

Happy 2017!  This year started off with something super exciting:  I met someone in one of my wards that knows my Auntie Karin.  It made me feel a little closer to home.  She said that she wanted to invite us sisters over for dinner sometime, so I'm excited for that.  It can be a vicarious family reunion.

We also had a fun party with the missionaries in our zone for New Years Eve.  We did not stay up til midnight (unless you are going by New York's time zone, then we did until 12:30), but we got to have fun with some other missionaries playing games at the church building.

We have a greenie in the house because Sister Burden is training.  We kept teasing Sister Burden Tuesday night about the possibility of her training, and I guess God has a sense of humor because that night, President Wheeler called and asked Sister Burden if she'd be willing to train.  Sister Burden will be such a good trainer.  Her greenie is named Sister Taufa, and she's from Salt Lake area.  She's visa waiting right now, and then when that comes, she'll be going to Sydney, Australia speaking Tongan.  I hope her visa takes a while to get her because this girl is on fire!  She is already such a good missionary and she's a lot of fun to have around.

I made a goal this week to each day invite someone to pray with us when we talk to them on the street.  I am happy to report that I was able to meet my goal!  It was a good experience to help me learn to be a little bolder and I plan to continue. I'm learning that the worst that could happen is that they say no, so I'm slowly pushing the bounds of my comfort zone so I can teach with more power and be the missionary the Lord needs me to be.

We had two amazing lessons with Patrick and Rachel this week.  Patrick's lesson taught me about the kind of missionary that I want to be.  Sister Miller felt prompted to ask him why he had decided to be baptized, and his answer was one that I will not soon forget.  Patrick talked about how because he knew it was true, it was the obvious thing for him to do.  The way he explained it was so sure, and it made me realize that if God is truly there and I truly believe this message that I share every day, I should be able to teach is with as much confidence as I can say that I know how to play piano or any other fact.  I know this message is true and I'm determined to teach with that conviction.

In Rachel's lesson, we had planned one thing, but the Spirit allowed us to discern what she needed, and it was completely different. Satan has been trying to hit Rachel hard and tell her that she's a "bad Mormon" if she makes a single mistake.  A member of our ward, Sister Isaac, was there and helped Rachel so much.  It made me happy to see the genuine love that she had for Rachel.  There was a very special spirit in that lesson.  Near the end of the lesson, we found out something even more powerful.  Originally the lesson was going to be the day before, but we had to reschedule.  Had it been the day before, Sister Isaac could not have come.  But she had a feeling that she needed to be there and because we had to reschedule, she could be.  It's yet another testimony that God is in the details.

We got to face some opposition this week.  We met someone that was determined to prove us wrong.  The guy was riding his bike.  We stopped and said hi and he tells us, "You stopped the wrong person".  He tells us to come over and starts asking us questions, and initially seems to be listening.  However, it quickly changed to him yelling at us, cutting us off, and trying to tell us how wrong we were.  I thought I had felt prompted to stop and talk to this guy, so I was confused at why the Spirit would have asked me to stop when this is the reaction we got.  I said a prayer, and all I got was one word: "Testify".  That's exactly what I did.  It did not make this guy any happier with us.  Eventually, we could see this was going no where, and we simply told him, "Sir, we are not here to argue, so have a nice day."  We got on our bikes to leave, and he was fuming by this point that he almost tried to physically stop us from leaving--I think he realized how ridiculous his actions were because he didn't.  Even though it didn't end the way I had hoped, I felt good because I knew I had done what I was supposed to.  

I'm loving being a missionary more and more simply because I get to proclaim the most wonderful message to everyone.  I'm so lucky to get to share this.  I know it is true and I know that as we ask God, our testimonies can be strengthened.  I love you!

-- 

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street

Gilbert, AZ
85234

Twinning is winning during Comp. Study 

Mormonads are inspired

I named him Harold