Learning in the Savior's Way

Hi Family!!!

This week was a significant week for me in my missionary growth, so I feel like my thoughts are jumbled and I pray that what I want to express is able to come though, but first I'll start with telling you about transfers.

There was a lot of anticipation leading up to transfer day because half the people in our house was going to be changing.  Now we live with Sister Utsch, Sister Weyand, and Sister Fuimaono. Sister Utsch is a Sister Training Leader with Sister Norgrant.  She just got transferred from Bella Vista Zone, so we had a special moment of BVZ nostalgia when I realized that.  She's a super awesome sister, and I'm so excited that she is an STL.  Sister Weyand and Sister Fuimaono are Spanish missionaries, so that brings a new dynamic into the house.  Sister Fuimaono is brand new to the mission field, and she and Sister Weyand just throw sass at each other all the time.  Everyone in the Highland Zone seem like awesome missionaries too, so I think it will be a great transfer.

We started out the transfer with a fun service activity.  We got to help out at a Fun Run that was being sponsored by the local hospital.  It was to raise awareness for Autism(?) and they had a little path laid out that people would run along with the bounce house obstacle courses along the way.  Each was themed as a superhero and there were lots of people who dressed up as different superheros.  I saw a lot of Batmans and the Flash-es.  Sister Johnson and I got to be the mean people who make you wait until the other person is a safe distance ahead in the obstacle course before another person goes in.  I was talking to the little kids and asking them about their costumes, and I had one little girl come up to me, poke me in the name tag and say, "Who is Sister Sabey?"  I told her it was me, so she asked if that was my superhero.  I told her it was, and it made me smile because it reminded me about the significance of my calling..

One thing I learned is that the only thing better than being the best of friends with your companion is being the best of friends with your companion in front of members.  Sister Johnson is just the realest MVP, and it's so fun as we teach to have members notice to the point of commenting that we work well together.  It's been an incredible experience to teach our missionary lessons to the members in our area, and it's having a bigger impact than I ever would have guessed.  It's probably going to sound super obvious, but it was really cool for me to experience.  Even as we have been teaching the lessons to members, it has helped me so that I am more prepared to teach our friends that are just learning about the church.

This week, we went to visit Nicole and taught her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I was nervous because I was afraid I had gotten into a habit of teaching people who already had heard this message a million times, but it was actually the opposite.  Because I knew the basic layout, it helped me be able to push beyond that so that we could address what Nicole needed to hear.  It has been so cool to see how far Nicole has come.

I also learned something cool about the message we teach as well.  During Sacrament Meeting, I was reading my Spanish Book of Mormon, and I was trying to slow down so that I was actually taking it in and not just reading for the sake of reading.  I was in Alma 42, and as I slowed down, I realized that there was some pretty profound doctrine, and I had some questions about it.  I finished the chapter and wanted to more fully understand, so I pulled out my English Book of Mormon.  Instead of just reading it, I really wanted to understand some things it was saying, so I took time to write down what it was saying, and it was an incredible experience.  In Alma 42, Alma is teaching his son about the Plan of Salvation.  Did you know that there is a reason why death and the Resurrection are part of our Father in Heaven's plan? Because I sure didn't. But guess what?  It's in the Book of Mormon. In this chapter, Alma goes through and explains why the Fall, physical death, repentance, the Atonement, law and punishment, the Resurrection, and mercy are all so key to our Heavenly Father's plan.  It was so cool!  It made me really appreciate just how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how much is in the Plan of Salvation so that we can become like Him.  I'm going to do that annoying missionary thing where I say y'all should read it:  Y'all should read it.  It's Alma 42.

I learned several important lessons all due to the fact that some of my good missionary friends were completing their missions.  On Monday, I was straight in denial, but when Sister Burden and Sister Irvin left for all the departing missionary things, it began to hit me that they were not going to be in the house with me (and I did not like idea that because I've lived with them for the last 18 weeks).  I felt really sad as we went out to proselyte, but here is the first lesson that I learned: TESTIFYING OF JESUS CHRIST ALWAYS MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER. We had lessons with members that night, and as I got to teach them, I felt my Savior's love and reassurance.  As I testified, I learned what He needed me to learn, and I felt that calming peace as I was reminded of the eternal perspective of the Plan of Salvation and that that same eternal perspective applies to missions.  By the time we got home, I felt much better and was able to enjoy my evening with them.

So now that I had one spiritual experience, I was all better, right? LOLS, NO!  The next morning, I got up to say my goodbyes to them and hug them until they were like, "Sister Sabey, you can let go now", and I found myself right back where I was the night before.  I got out my favorite talk and read it for studies (which I was surprised when I felt like I should because I didn't think I would need that talk until the end of MY mission).  God is really patient with our shortcomings because once again, I felt a comfort that I needed and I gained new thoughts as I read the talk.  In his talk (It's called "Grateful in Any Circumstances" just in case my hyperlink doesn't work), Elder Uchtdorf says, "True gratitude is an expression of hope and testimony."  I've read this talk, I don't know how many times (because like I said, it's my favorite), but that really stuck out to me and I realized that if I were really grateful for the impact my missionary friends had on me, it would be a force to move me forward and increase my testimony.  I thought about what I had learned from the departing missionaries that most changed my mission, Sister Burden, Elder Green, and Sister Irvin.  I thought of how Sister Irvin taught me what it means to "Forget yourself and go to work".  Sister Burden taught me that if I don't know what to say, just testify.  She also taught me to just love the Gospel.  Elder Green taught me about having a vision to teach repentance and baptize converts, and that it is possible for me to see the mighty change of hearts in the lives of people I teach as I stay focused on that vision.  I realized how much that would go to waste if I just sat around feeling sorry for myself, and I made a determination to really apply those things in my work.

I am realizing just how short and just how important a mission is for my life.  I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who nudged me just enough until I realized that I needed to be on a mission, and for His call to have me come to Gilbert, Arizona where I am learning lessons that change everything from the most incredible people.  I love this gospel and I am so thankful for all those who help me live it more fully.  I love each of you so much!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Reading Conference Talks with my awesome Comp.

Fun Run Service

I Love the Book of Mormon

Hi Family!

My seventh transfer has come and gone, and I am still in complete disbelief about that.  However, we got transfer news last night, and I am staying with Sister Johnson for another seven weeks!  This upcoming transfer will be seven weeks long due to MTC dates, which means I get an extra week as a missionary :)  I am super excited because I love this area a lot and Sister Johnson is so much fun to work with.

Summer is coming super fast here, and the Arizona Natives are not happy about it.  This last week has been between 95-100 degrees, and it hasn't even hit the first day of spring yet!  I am absolutely loving this weather, but I definitely have to be drinking a lot more water.

We've been working on getting teaching appointments in one of our wards to try to get to know members and get some missionary work going there.  We had a lesson with the Green Family this week, and I absolutely love them.  The Greens played a key role in introducing Patrick to the Gospel, and they are just a wonderful family.  We taught the Plan of Salvation to them, and I wasn't sure how it was going to go because they have younger kids.  Sister Johnson brought a little puzzle for the Plan of Salvation, so we used that and just had a lot of fun with it.  Their kids just loved it and I was impressed with how much they knew about the gospel.  It helped me realize how much fun it can be to teach simply and gave me greater love for the people I get to serve with.

This week was also a milestone in teaching Nicole.  We've really been struggling to help her read the Book of Mormon on her own.  Last time we tried to reset expectations and teach why we wanted her to read the Book of Mormon (I think I talked about that in my email last week), and this time, she was very proud to announce to us that she had read a couple chapters on her own!  We were beyond excited. We started reading 1 Nephi 11 with her and going over the explanation of the Tree of Life and for the first time, she began to pick out gospel principles in the scriptures on her own rather than seeing it as just a story.  It is really a testament that the Book of Mormon does change lives and hearts.  "The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit is the most powerful tool in conversion."  It is true! The more I learn about the Book of Mormon and just what the early Saints had to go through to defend their faith, the more I appreciate just how special it is that we have this book.  Please pray for Nicole as she continues in this amazing journey!  I love you all so much!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ

85234

Finally got this picture 10 months after I got here

Pi-Day!

Sister Sabey, Sister Johnson, and Sister Foster

My companion is NUTS and I LOVE HER!

Life is Just Better When You're on Your Bike

Hi Family!

This week I had a very intense situation called a Rubik's Cube.  The Highland Zone had a Family Home Afternoon where all the missionaries in the area got together at a senior couple missionaries house, had lunch, had a spiritual thought, and played some games.  Some of the Elders brought Rubik's Cubes.  I wanted to solve it, but I am not talented in that area.  I asked one of my zone leaders, Elder Geiselmayr, to "almost fix it" for me.  He did and then told me it would take four moves to fix it. Uhhhh, yeah, I was still stuck.  So every time I would try to make the right move, the elders would all tell me it wasn't right.  It took a lot of coaxing and hinting, but eventually I did get it.  I guess it was a really intense experience for everyone else too because once I got it, everyone stopped to clap and cheer.

It's getting really warm, which I am super excited about.  It makes it even better to be out working.  Sister Johnson and I went tracting again this week, and we had a pretty cool experience.  We met one guy and he was straight up not interested.  I am working on asking for referrals from everyone because there is going to be someone who knows someone else, and that someone else is just waiting for the gospel.  Normally I will ask, "Do you know anyone else in this area who could use a message about Jesus Christ? Or some service?" because the gospel is going to help them most, but for some reason, with this particular person I felt that I should ask for service primarily.  I did and this man was visibly shocked when I said that.  It was cool.  He stopped and really thought for a moment and said, "No, but I can tell that you are very nice people."  He still wasn't interested, but I believe that this interaction changed how he saw missionaries.  The Lord knows just what people need to have their hearts softened, and I'm glad I was listening to the Spirit so I could be part of that.

I got to be companions with Sister Irvin (the one that reminds me of Sarah) for a day.  She is a sister training leader or STL, so she gets to go on exchanges with some of the sisters in our mission once every six weeks to see how they are doing and to help us become better.  This time, I went into her area, and I met the most adorable two year old girl named Charlotte.  We were having dinner with Charlotte's family, and Charlotte insisted on sitting by me.  That made my day, so I sat by her and made a comment that "Wow! I get to sit by Charlotte! I'm so lucky!"  Okay, this killed me because without missing a beat, she responds, "No, I'm so lucky!"  These are the very small tender mercies that make missionary life so fun.

We have still been working with Rachel and Alex.  We took a picture Book of Mormon Stories book to them, like what Mom used to read to me when I was littler.  They have loved it, especially Rachel.  She has been reading it with her three-year-old, Devin.  They are awesome and they are seeing so many blessings, but Satan is also trying to throw distractions at them.  I love Alex and Rachel a lot, so please continue to keep them in your prayers.

I learned a super awesome lesson this week that I'll just end my email with.  Sometimes it's hard to want to go out and talk to people because it's really fun to sit on a couch and stare at nothing.  But every time I get outside, I always feel better and happier than I ever would have on the couch.  Sometimes Satan tempts us with something we really do like, but God's way will always make us happier because life is just better when you are on your bike.  Read the Book of Mormon!  It's the best!  I love you!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Sunday Lunch with the Best Companion

Highland Zone Mario Kart (in real life)

I was dressed as Toad, but I also got to be a Goomba.

 

We had no idea what we were doing, but GOD DOES

Hi Family!

I would have had a picture of me holding a lizard for you this week, but I could not catch it.  Instead, you can have this mental image.  Me noticing a lizard, and "quietly" sneaking up behind it and catching it (miracles) when I realize that I am holding to much stuff to actually pick it up.  In an attempt to readjust everything I'm holding, it runs away, so I begin to try pulling myself up on the wall to see if I can see where it went.  It was super graceful.

This week has been rad!  Sister Johnson and I are still working on finding, so we have been tracting (going door-to-door) a lot.  The only problem with tracting in this area is we will look over our ward list to make sure we don't accidentally knock on doors of people who are already LDS, and then the first door we knock on is still one that belongs to someone that is actively LDS. *sighs* but it's okay because then we keep going and we find people who do want to hear our message.  Sister Johnson and I have been trying to be more bold, and knocking on doors really helps with that because I never know who we are going to meet.

This week, we were knocking doors on a street that I had wanted to tract.  I picked this street because we had met people about two months ago that had been super nice.  They didn't straight up say that they wanted to learn more, but the Holy Ghost kept bugging me to follow up with them.  I guess the Holy Ghost actually knows a thing or two.  We knocked on this door (it was the very last door of the street) and I hear about three barking dogs.  A man opens the door and is trying to hush his dogs and put them in a different room.  Eventually he comes out and begins talking to us (still holding one of his dogs), and instantly the fear sets in.  But I knew we needed to be here, so I asked, "Are you John?" and he said yes! I reminded him who we were and that we had met, and we began talking to him.  He was very nice.  We told him a little about what we do and asked if we could share our message with him, and he said we could.  I almost lost it because it's like in the movies were someone says, "Well dang, I didn't think we'd actually get this far" because I need to work on my faith.  We decided to teach him about where the name Mormons came from and talk about the Book of Mormon.  We have a cute little visual aid to go through it.  We told him about how the people in the ancient Americas kept records, just like Prophets did for the Bible, and how they recorded of Jesus Christ's personal ministry among them shortly after His death and resurrection.   John was super awesome and was listening, and I just really appreciated that.  When we finished going through our little "schpeel", Sister Johnson asked, "What do you think of Christ coming and ministering to the people of the Americas?"  Hold onto your seats because I should have been sitting down for this. John responded, "I don't see why He wouldn't.  He loves all of us."  I was super excited because I could have sworn this only happened in made up situations.  We were able to testify and talk about feeling the Holy Ghost and help him understand that feeling.  He then made a comment how it was interesting that we had stopped by on that day specifically.  He then opened up and told us that it was the six year anniversary of him losing his best friend and that he was having a rather somber day.  He thought it was interesting that we would be bringing this happy message on that day.  Sister Johnson and I switched gears a little and started testifying of the Plan of Salvation.  I read him a scripture from Alma 40, and we talked about that a little.  We testified that we knew that this message could help him and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and a little pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation.  We asked when a good time would be to come talk to him more about what he read, and he said that he actually didn't even live here--it was his parent's house.  So guys, let's get this straight:  I happened to talk to John who doesn't even live there, and the Spirit prompted us to go back, not only on a day that was significant to him, but on a day that he just happened to be there again! God is absolutely in charge and knows what He's doing!  John mentioned that the Elders in Mesa (where he lives) had been trying to set up an appointment with him, though.  We chatted with John a little more, and he asked if we needed anything else.  We said no, and he said, "Okay, if not, I don't have anything to do today, so I'm going to go read this book." *eternally screams with joy*  Even though we don't get to teach John, I felt to blessed that I was able to be an instrument in helping him in that way.  I just pray that he does call up the Elders in Mesa and learn more about our happy message.

We had another lesson with Nicole.  At first, she was super closed off, but she's starting to seem more comfortable around us.  We read 1 Nephi 5 with her this week.  We weren't really sure what direction to go with Nicole, so we figured just continuing to read the Book of Mormon with her would be best.  In this chapter, it talks about Nephi and his brothers bringing back their scriptures (which was the first five books of the Old Testament) to their father so they could have those.  In it, it talks about their family history, and Lehi is able to recognize that he is a descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.  Literally, I had no idea where to go with this chapter, so Sister Johnson and I just started talking about Family History with her.  That's a missionary thing to talk about, right?  Yeah, we had no idea what we were doing, but again, GOD DOES! As we talked, she started opening up about hard things she has been through, and we were able to just testify of Christ's love for her.  And now we know what we can teach her that will help her understand her identity as a daughter of God.  We think it also helped her to want to read the Book of Mormon on her own more.  I am so excited for Nicole.

There is also this less active family we have been working with who I just love to death--it's the Petersons, I may have mentioned them in previous emails.  Anyway, they are working to come to church more regularly, but they are still having a hard time with it.  Sister Johnson and I were just praying on what we could teach to help her, and we eventually felt that we just needed to be bold with them.  We were scared because all of Satan's "what ifs" started popping into our heads, but we decided to go through with it.  It ended up being an incredible lesson, and even their rambunctious little six year-old listened reverently!  They were able to feel the Spirit and actually set the goal for themselves to be at church on time.  I realized something super important about why that lesson worked out when sometimes others don't.  Alma 38 says we should be "bold, but not overbearing".  One talk I really like defines overbearing as "boldness without love" and says that if we truly teach with love, "we can never be too bold".  Sometimes I still mix those up and I think I love the person, when my underlying motivation is truly that I just want to be right.  It never works when I do that because the love is not truly there.  With the Petersons, I felt it so strongly that I really did just love them and THAT is why I wanted them to be at church.  It was no longer about being right, it was about the Petersons and how much I love them.  That was a super important lesson for me to learn.

I wanted to end with our last lesson with Alex and Rachel.  I mentioned last week that I had been worried about them, and Sister Johnson and I have been really praying about what we can do.  They have such rock solid testimonies, and we just want to make sure we do everything we can to not lose them because of something dumb.  We have really been wanting them to get into the Book of Mormon more because Elder Ballard made a promise that if you read the Book of Mormon every day, you will not fall away.  You will still have questions, but you will find the answers to those questions.  Given, this is brand new for them and it is a hard habit to change.  They are not used to reading every single day from any scriptures, but we know that it will help them.  We got to have dinner with them on Sunday, and we began talking about reading the Book of Mormon.  We asked them if they had ever gone to the Book of Mormon with a question in mind.  They hadn't even thought of doing that before.  I was able to share my experience that I had had earlier on my mission when I went to the Book of Mormon with a question and found my answer in Alma 38.  It was a neat experience just to introduce them to something that I had always thought was so elementary, but they hadn't ever thought of before.  It made me really grateful for all the ways the Lord reaches out to us and all the things He wants us to learn.  I am truly grateful for these experiences.  My biggest take away from my mission so far is that having a life that is centered on Christ is the so important.  If you have a "bedrock understanding of the Doctrine of Christ", everything else will fall into place.  I only wish that everyone had the chance to know that as much as I am learning that.  I love you so much, family!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ

85234

This part of Gilbert makes me really happy--it reminds me of Canada

Highland Zone at the Gilbert Temple

Basic Art-sy picture because Comp Unity

Ducks, Dogs, Doctrine

Hi Family!

This week, I helped in saving the life of a duck. Yep, a duck.  Highland Zone got to go do service at an outdoor expo about nature and such.  I guess the point of it was trying to get kids to go outside.  Sister Johnson and I were in charge of wandering around and picking up trash/asking people at the stands if they needed water. While we were walking around, a lady came and asked us if we could get someone to come help because there was a duck who was caught on a fishing line.  We were internally freaking out because fun fact: being an adult does not mean you know the answer to everything and I am still learning that--but that also means that most people aren't going to yell at you because they don't know what is going on either. :)  But then we remembered that we had just talked to a lady at a stand that rescues and takes care of injured wildlife until it can return to the wild. Another fun fact: I think the missionary nametag is magical because it means we can ask random strangers of they have a knife or a net and they just hand one over without questioning it.  So we ran around and got the stuff and one of the people from the wildlife place was able to save the duck (it was very dramatic--I'll put a picture of how she saved it below) before the little guy drowned.

We also had to chase a dog around this week.  One day, Sister Johnson and I were contacting someone named Marilyn.  Marilyn had talked to missionaries before, so we were following up to see if we could teach her.  Well, her dog escaped while we were talking to her sister at the door and was running around, so Sister Johnson and I were running all over creation trying to catch it.  Sister Hanny, who lives in the ward we were in, was out walking with her baby when she sees us running and joins into help us catch the dog.  This dog did not want to be caught and I kept thinking of it in terms of the parable of the one lost sheep and thought, "If we are like this when God is just wanting us to come back, He must have a whole lot of patience."  Eventually, the dog stopped to do some business, and we were finally able to catch it.  I was annoyed at the dog at this point, but it ended up working out really well.  We took the dog back to Marilyn's house, and when we got there, Marilyn was outside--her sister had said that she wasn't feeling well before.  Sister Johnson, Sister Hanny, and I got to talk to Marilyn, and we started talking about the Book of Mormon.  Marilyn said that she had read it, but that bits of it kind of confused her.  Sister Hanny jumped right in and bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, so Marilyn said that she would try reading it again and invited us to come back next week!  Sister Johnson and I have really been wanting to find more friends to teach, so we are really excited.  It's still slow going, but we feel like there are some miracles coming just around the corner.

We also had Zone Conference this week.  That means about sixty missionaries all gathered together and we had a conference where the mission president and the assistants to the president did some training with us.  Since our mission is so small, our zone conference actually consisted of three different zones, so I got to see some other friends.  We've been focusing on our purpose as a missionary, and I learned a lot about being activity driven vs. being purpose driven, and it really helped me to re-evaluate what things will truly help us as we seek to invite others unto Christ.  At the end, we had a short testimony meeting, and it was such a spiritual experience.  This transfer, a lot of missionaries that I am good friends with will be finishing their missions, so it was really fun to see them get up and bear testimony.   It made me just so thankful for my mission because it gave me a small idea of the change that is happening in my life as I saw what amazing people they had become.  I'm ever so thankful that I am able to serve around such awesome elders and sisters that have helped my testimony to grow, and I am grateful to know that I still have a whole nine months of mission to keep learning and growing during.

As our mission is so focused on the Doctrine of Christ, I've been trying to study it more.  I have a Book of Mormon that I've been marking each part of the Doctrine of Christ in a different color.  Faith is marked in yellow, repentance in green, baptism in blue, the gift of the Holy Ghost in pink, and enduring to the end in orange.  In this specific Book of Mormon, I'm in 1 Nephi since I just started.  One thing I noticed is how much Nephi talks about faith.  That's just Nephi's thing--he is super faithful.  There are the other parts of the Doctrine of Christ in Nephi, but I feel like I could almost dip the entire book of Nephi in yellow and call it good.  I was thinking about that, and I realized a cool overarching theme of the Book of Mormon.  From 1 Nephi to Jacob, it's pretty safe to say that faith is the main theme.  Then as Enos begins keeping a record, he starts by praying for a remission of sin, then King Benjamin calls his people to repent, and you have the story of King Noah and those who don't repent, and eventually Alma the Younger who had a HUGE experience in repentance.  After that, Alma the Younger and others begin going to teach others and invite many souls to accept the Savior's invitation to be baptized.  That theme continues all the way through Helaman.  Then as the other Nephi and Lehi come along, you begin seeing the experiences that happen with the Gift of the Holy Ghost, including the Savior coming and giving the Holy Ghost to his disciples that He calls from the Nephites.  Finally, as more and more people become wicked, Mormon and Moroni teach us about enduring to the end.  When no one is left but them, they still "will not deny the Christ" (Moroni 1).  They continue to do what is right until they finish the work God gave them.  As I realized that, I realized that among all the intricate and complex story lines, the Book of Mormon ultimately is a story of the Doctrine of Christ.  This is just another testimony to me that it is divinely inspired and that it does contain the fullness of the Gospel.  I'm thankful for it.  I know it is true, and I am excited to continue learning all I can.  I love each of you so much and am more grateful for you than I could ever express!  Until next week!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Saving the duck

Sister Johnson and I with our duck rescuing friend

I got to hold a snake.

Top Golf on P-Day​​

Don't Crash!

Hi Family!

I totally forgot that last week was Valentine's Day because that just doesn't exist in a missionary brain, so happy belated Valentine's Day!  And I guess it's President's Day now, so it must be fun to have the day off school.  I only remember that because it's a day that the library is closed, so we had to find somewhere else to email.

I guess I forgot to tell y'all about Sister Johnson because I figured I already know her, so obviously everyone else does too.  Sister Johnson is from Maryland, and sometimes we switch places when we tell people where we are from so she gets to see how Utah missionaries are responded to, and I get to see what it is like to be from Maryland.  Pretty much everyone resonds with, "Oh! What part?  I've been to Baltimore once!"  Sister Johnson is not from Baltimore.  She's from a town called Fredrick. She went to BYU-I for five semesters before she came on her mission, and guess what?  She also has three little sisters!  She is just missing the little brother and then we'd be the same.  Sister Johnson and I have a lot of fun singing Les Miserables because we have deemed it "mission appropriate".  She sings Javert's part, and I get to be Val Jean.  We have a blast together, and she is a really hardworking missionary.  I love her a lot!

This week has been absolutely nuts.  Last Monday, one of the sisters we live with, Sister Foster, crashed her bike, flew over her handle bars, and now has a sprain in her leg.  We wanted to make sure Sister Burden, her companion, didn't have to stay inside for the whole week that Sister Foster wasn't supposed to put weight on her leg, so we've been taking turns so we all get to go out and work.  Don't worry, I used my inside time very productively because I can now play the Banjo.  Obviously, I could be better at chords, but I can play one hymn.

When Sister Johnson and I were both able to work in our area, we had a pretty exciting week.  We have been focusing on finding friends to teach.  We met Jason again.  I met Jason when I was first in this area.  He was the one that wanted proof and was very skeptical.  Don't hold your breath because we are not teaching him, but I did get to ask him how his Book of Mormon reading went.  He did read from it, but unfortunately, he's not interested in learning more right now.  It was nice to know what had happened, though.

We also had a nine-year-old boy complain that "all missionaries ever talk about is Jesus".  Sounds like a real struggle, eh?  It made me happy to know that he's met missionaries that know their purpose.

Nicole is doing well.  We are just reading the Book of Mormon with her and she absolutely loves it. It makes me so happy.  If you could pray for Rachel and Alex, though, I would really appreciate that. Well, that's all I have for this week.  I love you!

Sister Emily

1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234

Missionary Lunch between church meetings

We had a lot of rain this week

Sister Irvin's Lemon Dress

After we would knock on a door, these kids would knock on the same door to offer service.  It was the cutest.

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!