Missionary Megan

they are so tired they are sleeping with thier eyes open!" -little boy about the talking pictures at the end of the tour!

2011-02-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

So i forgot one thing to tell you last week. Last week Saturday, I was serving in the Battalion when a whole group of ladies comes up in skirts so automatically i think that htey are members but then a group of men come as well. I began to talk to them and realized that they are a whole group from another church about 30 people. So we ended up spliting them up.. al the woman went in one tour and all the men in the other. It ws a really neat. Testifying of the Book of Mormon to a whole group of people and we went through and it was SO SO SO neat because at the end about 8 of them wanted to recieve their own book of mormons and learn more about Jose Smith. Something that was so neat to me.. was that they asked me how much we get paid or if the church pays for everything while we are here and i told them that we pay... so they asked if i payed and i said well my parents... that really was a surprise to these men. That i would come here with my own money or that of my family. I reallythink that is what opened them up. Now they are going to recieve the Book of Mormon.. It was so neat for me!

We worked a lot with less actives and the recent converts in our area... And I just realized how much i LOVE these people! they mean so much to me. They have made such a change in my life... i hope i've helped them at least as much as they have helped me! We met a sweet lady this week. She is a member and wants to share the gospel with her care taker, so we are going to go back this week and teach them.but my testimony grew so much of visiting and home teaching. She was telling us about how the phone would not ring for a month, with no visitors until her home and visiting teachers came. She said they have lifted her spirits and helped her so much. She can't leave her home often because she has an apputated leg and is int he top floor... So she only goes out to the doctors but she said the Gospel and those that come visit her give her so much peace and strenght. I never realized what a difference it makes but because of these visits she wants to share the gospel with her friend. How cool!

There is another lady we are working with who was baptised but has never been active and is now active in a baptist church and it is so interesting to me becasue they beleive that God, Jesus Christ and the HOly Ghost are all one thing, but it's so clear to me that they are not. Everytime we visit with her we talk about this is the only church where you can go anywher in the world and its the same... if that isn't a clue enought i don't konw what is! but i'm very greatful that we have the knowledge of the Godhead and how they are separate because it helps me to clearlyknow who i am and my relationship with my Fatehr in Heaven, God, adn with my brotehr Jesus Christ. What a great knowledge we came to have as Joseph Smith recieved the first vision.

We had zone conference this week. It was so good, and mom i can sympathize with you becuase the same thing happened to me, in zone conference President Donaldson asked all of us who are heading home soon to bear our testimonies of what this time has meant to us... and it still makes me so nervous to be in frontof people, well just people my own age... get me in front of old people or young ones and i'm great but people my atge... yickes! but I really ...dunno i can't even describe all that this time has meant for me... it meean everything for me... i love it...e ven when it's hard and i cry i stilllove it...

Then Sunday was the Mission Presidents Fireside in Spanish... that is a fireside we have each month where there is chior of missionaries... we sing good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... then recent converts give their testimonies and it's just amazing everytime.. This one was especially special becaue Karina, who is a recent convert that is doing SO SO SO good, spoke. She is amazing. And iw as so neat ot see tht although it's all her but that she is doing so good and that i could be a part of it! it was special for me.

Then yesterday was a day of love and miracles...well sunday Sister Smith and i had a nice dinner togetehr we made stuffed shells and it was great. but i've been thinking a lot of miracles and how they happen and it's all aobutfaith. Our areas been struggling and i'm worried becaue i dont want to leave a dead area... So i've been praying for miracles... and yesterday we had some! We were able to add a new investegator a girl who has had a date before and is amazing. were very excited... oh and i forgot to tel you that all our apts cancelled yesterday... but we got to add this new investegators then we went looking for a family we started teaching a while back but because of their crazy scheduales we couldn't meet with them for a long time and we got to see them... then they even fed us dinner...octopus...yummm... and lots of shrimp... they are fromthe philapines... but it was a miracle... we also went o see another person i ahve been working with fora while and found out she is doing really bad.... it's really hard for me bcaue i love her so much and she has made some choices that really are making her live in a sort of hell and i hate it.. she wouldnt even come to the door and talk to us but her boyfriend who looked miserable as well, told us how crappy she's doing. it literally breaks my heart.She was doing so good but because of not being careful and reading everyday and praying everyday adn not coming to church she let her guard down and went backt o ding things that arekeeping her away and in essence putting her in satan's trap. She is someone i love so much and it makes me so so sad to know that's happening. it's hard when i loose people i love so much.. especially when i feel like ihave no control and cant help them. aaaahhh my heart breaks for them... but we did see so many miracles yesterday... Sister Smith and i are going to kill it the next two weeks and have TONZ of miracles... if it's Gods will... but i love you all.. i love being a missionary... i love this work.... love

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SISTER STORY

An army travels on it's stomach. -Napoleon

2011-02-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

So i realize my letter last week was lame so i'm trying to make it up to you and write about the last twoweeks. I even brought my journal so i could write a killer letter! Time is going by really quickly and it's scaring me. I just have so much to do and it's hard for me to realize that sometimes i can't do it all. I Just need to pray and really know what god wants me to do with the time i have left. But that's the way it goes.

So we had the mission tour last week. I told you a little about how he spoke about faith... or maybe he didn't but that's why i got out of it because that is what i needed but he also talked about our families. He talked about how, the way we speak about our missions can make a huge difference to our siblings and friends that may be able to serve missions. It made me cry becasue i hope that i have conveyed to him that missions are hard, but they are worth every tear, every frustration, every investegator that won't progress, and every time someone tells you not to come anymore... because in the end those people who do accept christ... no matter how many they are...those people are worth it. IT's worth it... even if not one single person is baptised because of serving a mission... i have learned more and it has SAVED me... i have learned more about the savior and his love forhis childrean and for me more than anything. It is worth it. but elder evans talked about that. and i hope the things ihave said have helped taylor to make that choice adn will help the twins make the choice. and help my family make the choice to live the gospel each day. i thought it was neat that that was something that he spoke about. I really enjoyed the meeting. I did feel like there are things that i must change. there are always thing i can improve on. As we went through the conference.... he kept doing something that was awesome for me... in church and as people we tend to think in we... like when we comment in church... we say something like, "well as members of the church we have the responsibility to share the gospel." elder evans taught me something becasue whenever one of us made a commment and said "we" he asked us to change it to "I" and this was great because it makes us internalize it... like instead "well as a member of the church I have the responsibility to share the gospel." I dont know it really helped me to apply the things we talked about and think of lving the gospel more in terms of what I can do and not what we can do because i can only change how I live the gospel. He also talked about our responsibility with the people we teach... that it's not just about when were her but i have a respponsibility with these people forever! so i gotta make sure i keep track of them! So that's what ill do!!!!!

We've been talking a lot, my companion and i, about how not a single one of us is exempt from the temptations of the devil. I sometiems find myself asking... how did this happen... these returned missionaries are now less active and not even friendly to us!!!!!! that will NEVER be me!!!!!!!! i will always be active!!!!! never never never... but then my companion says dont get to cocky the devil will always tempt us.... every single day and it happens when we think... oh ill always be active.... but it starts with little things. not reading the scriptures. not going to church. not praying. saying no to callings. i've realized that i always have to be careful about what I do. I must always be putting the LOrd First in my life. ANd i bet your all thinking okay sister story you say that know your a missioanry and do the missionary thing all the time that's all you have to think about, when life hits and you go back to the stress it's not that easy... well i know your right... so im scared but i'm going to do all i can to make that first in my life. first scripture study and prayer and then the rest of life. and please family and friends dont let a day go by without pulling out the scriptures to let God tell you that he loves you and pray to tell him you need his help the worlds to scary not to. satan will tempt us everyday so we must take every oppertunity to deflect those blows... anyway thats something thats been on my mind lately!

Then last week we saw Henry... who is someone who was baptized a while back but he told me something I just LOVED LOVED LOVE!!! he said, " El saber no ocupa espacio." which pretty much means knowledge doesnt up space. He went on to explain that although with computers and ipods and stuff like that when we put stuff in there is a limit of stuff we can put in. But with our knowledge and brain there is not a time when our brain says okay that's enough no more space... but we can always learn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so cool... he told me i need to constantley excersise my brain. He's an awsome guy and so cute... he always calls us his daughters and it means so much to me... i mean thats a great compliment... but he really is amazing and i love him. But i thought this was good advice ill share with you.

Then Sherman Fleek came... He is a military guy... gave us some more good advice i want to share with you... He told us.
"Remember who you are.... and Remember where your supposed to be!" This is more than just remember who you are and where your supposed to be but matters for even the little things... on monday night you should be with your family as a family... on sunday you should be at church.... and if your a boy and the right age you should be on a mission... even things like in the morning first thing you should be on your knees...l loved this becasue it's true... I always need to remember that i need to be where God wants me to be! It's good advice... sorry that i have so much advice to give you it's just all the things that i've learned lately.

OH ps have you checked out mormon.org yet... because you all still need profiles.. and maybe as you check it out you could watch one of the new videos of a mormon... his name might be familiar to you... rob morris... yup rob has a profile and he got a fancy video... but that just shows you all... MAKE A PROFILE.. but really his video is really cool...

I took the sweetest tour this last week. with a family and they areally touched my heart. they have 3 little ones and we went through the whole tour and i found out that the little 6 year old boy has cancer! But this family really taught me a lot about love... and enduring through their trials... they were just having fun and loveing life although they were going trhough some really hard things.. we can all make it thtrough our trials too!

Well i think i gave you all the advice i have.... life is good. i'm trying to work hard and give it all i've got.. im tired but i LOVE LOVE LOVE IT> i know this is gods work and he makes miracles happen because he loves his kids. Obedience brings blessings! and makes us SO happy becasue we know we are doing Gods will. This is the true kingdom of God on earth and i'm so greatful i have it in my life! I love you all so much and pray for eachof you!

love,

SISTER STORY

FAITH!

2011-02-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

This has been a very packed but GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On wednesday i was able to do an exchange with Sister Nielsen one of my previous companions and it was really fun! Not that i don't see her because she lives next door but it was still fun to see her! We taught Mia again and are still working with her... She's got a long way to go but she can make it. She's a really sweet girl with a good heart! i love her! Friday we had a mission conference... with ELder David Evans of the seventy. It was really good and i learned a lot! One of the things that stuck out to me was as he was talking, he talked about missionaries that served before the mtc, and before telephones... and he said, "all they had was their faith!" and that worked... Faith is so powerful that we can make miracles happen! thast is all we need! When we have that sort of faith we have trust in the lord and his will.. i wonder sometimes if i have that sort of faith.... then i read a talke by elder Dallin H. Oaks, "Faith in the Lord is trust in the Lord. We cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete truest in the Lords will and int he Lords timing.... When we have that kind of faith and trust in the lord we have true security and serenity in our lives." Faith seems to be a theme for me right now expecially that trust in Gods will and if i have faith it'll all work out. It really has been a worry for me. Especially comeing home so soon ihave felt an anxiety and worry about the future but i had an interview with my mission president and asked him to give me a blessing. IT was such a sweet experience for me. I trust my mission president and love him. And the blessing promised me that the next part of my life will be better than the time before. Which i can't imagine becasue i have LOVED my mission here so much and have been happier here than ever before which i dont understand because i've been away from all of you. But he promised me peace. I know that promiswe was from the lord.. As i work hard and serve with all my might i will have peace here and even after. It all comes down to faith in God's plan and will for me.

I dont know what else to say. It's been a really good week and i have so much to say but not enought time maybe i'll write a hand written letter mom can read to you all.... becasue it was also mormon battalion day here in old town and it was SO fun!!!!!!!!!!! we got to be in a parade and meet sherman fleek... he's a great military guy... tthe battalion was really really busy but it was fun. I also got to go to a baptism for carlos.. he was a guy we found and the other sisters taught it was really neat! man ii love being a missioanry! it's the best even though sometimes it's hard! man.

but i will say i love you all so much! this churhc is true and boys... prepare to serve missions it's the BEST TIME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the experiences are unlike anything else. tay i'm so excited that you went to the temple GO EVERY WEEK!!!!! i'll join you when i come home! okay! just leave salt lake and manti for when i'm there okay! i'll write more latter okay!
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SISTER STORY

There will ALWAYS be more blessings than burdens

2011-01-25T19:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

I love you! Just thought i would start it off on a good note... I never know what to write to you... i've never been much of a writer.. my companion makes fun of me because my letters to people are very short.. she writes good and long ones. but oh well. i'm much better at telling stories and talking as you all know. but oh well. It has been a good week.. a bit challenging but good. So transfers came and went and i stayed here in chula vista with sister smith and we've got 5 weeks to KILL IT and BAPTISE BAPTISE BAPTISE. i've been thinking lots of what i really want to happen and what my goals are for this last part of my mission. and i wanna work so hard. There is a girl especially we are working with. Mia. I just LOVE HER. She's eighteen. I can tell she's been through a lot and it's been a long road we've had. At first she had a big wall up and wasn't very open with us but we've come a long way with her and now things are really going well with her. She has a date to be baptised on Febuary 6th. We've got a long way to go but she's ready for this change in her life.. She's really looking for belonging and wants to have identity. What better identity than that we are children of god with divine inheritance and divine worth. She's great, even thought sometimes i wanna shake her. I imagine being a missionary with our investigators is a lot like having children... you try so hard to help them and love them no matter what but sometimes you just wanna shake em.. but instead you try and have patience and listen... aaahhh. it's good though. Other than that we've had kind of a slow week. Nobody wants to set up appointments with us and when we just drop in on people they dont want to let us in. So we are just doing our best to work with the members and go find those that are ready for the gospel. I'm really trying to go back to basics and study that. The christlike attributes. Trying to become more christlike... sometimes it's hard cuz i got the natural man inme. but things are really good. I'm just focusing on really working hard and staying focused on the work! but i do have a few good stories for you!

So we had a ward blitz this week... that means all the missionaries in our stake(it's different than utah in one stake there are about 30 missionaries or more) and members go and visit some of the less active members of the ward to see if we can come back and teach them the lessons. Really it's to see who's open to visits and whos not and if people have moved or you just see where they are at. The ward i'm serving in has 900 members but only aoubt 300 of them are active. So we are always trying to find a way to find the less active members. So sister smith and i were able to go together becasue we arrived a little late.... so we went to the first man's house... he came out and said, "i'm not a part of that church." and slammed the door in our faces... so a little discouraged we hung our heads down and walked away... but determined to complete our task we drove faithfully to the next house... we couldn't find the address so we parked a little away and chiperly strolled up the street(mind you it's about 7 o clock at night and very dark) as we strolled we come uppon a very dark, overgrown house. Sure enought it's the house we are supposed to go into... Theere was a tree completely tipped over.. the roots stickign straight up into then night sky... There was not a single light shining anywhere... as we approached the house we see the overgrown weeds and bushes seeming like they were overtaking the house. We pull the gate open and slowely crept up... it was hard because we were not sure where the door even was... so as we continue to look we see creatures moving around, although we were unsure exactly what they were... then.. all the sudden... bam.... someone jumped out and .... really there wasn't anyone home and nothing happened... i may have exgarrated just a little bit... we didnt' even go all the way to the door... but needless to say we were too scared to go knock on the door.. so we entered the gate and got to scared and left. We failed our mission. but it was a really scary house...

We got to see this week another family we just started working with and i just LOVE them. They are so sweet. There is the mom and dad and they have a daughter and son.. we may be a little scarry to the son. when we came by on saturday.. they couldn't seem to find him. So his sister went looking... she finally came back in and told us that her brother was hidding... which was weird becasue he is 14... so his mom goes outside(his hidding place) and finally pulls him inside to listen to us... it turns out when we got their he ran and hid becasue he was scared to say the prayer... Hes a really shy kid... but he finally came back in.. you know i dont think i've ever had as many people hid from me as on my mission. hehehe

but things really are going well.I'm so luck to be able to serve here. especially to be a missioanry and have the gospel in my life... so many people are so lost and without direction of the gospel. and i've just come to be so grateful. I'm jjst really happy.. this week a lot of the sisters have said to me... you know sister story.. you never seem to be upset or angry or even frustrated... you are just always so chipper and happy.... nothing gets you down... first i'm not saying im never frustrated or upset but i have realized how much i truelly have to be grateful for.. i have the knowledge of the true gospel and no matter what happens in life... i know it will be okay as i do my part ot live that gospel. its liek the phrase... there is no use crying over spilt milk. life's good... we don't need to get frustrated over things that dont matter.. so lives good! i"M SOSOSOSOOSSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO HAPPY! and this is a quote i found from president monson... "Remember that you are entitled to our fathers blessing in this work. He did not call you to your priviliged post to walk alone, without guidance, trusting to luck. On the contrary, He knows your skill, he realizes your devotion and he will convert your suppsed inadequacies to recognized strengths."

a few more quotes of the week

"the Holy Ghost communicates with the Spirit through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings, through impressions and promptings. It is not always easy to describe inspiration. The scriptrues teach us that we may feel the words of spriitual communication more than hear them and see with spiritual rather than mortal eyes." President Packer

"In a world that wonders and speculates and drifts, we can be certain who our father is, who we are, and what our destinay is if we follow the path that has been marked for us. We can walk ourpasth day to day with comfort, hope and direction despite the challenges and obstacles we meet along the way. The most significant sign of your progress on this journey is not so much your location on the path of movement but rather the direction in which you are moving." Elder Holland

Family I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE TRUE CHURCH. read the scriptures everyday, pray everyday, go to churhc and live the commandments and you8 will be HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE

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SISTER STORY

2011-01-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

Family,

It has been a wonderful and very busy week but GREAT! We got to serve at the temple this week.. When we serve at the temple we just sit outside under an umbrella and talk to people who are not members or who are but come with kids. We show them pictures and teach them a little bit about the church. It is a really fun experience! Wednesday while we were there. There was an awesome man and his daughter come... they wer from mexico and it still amazes me that i can have a conversation with people in spanish... i mean my spanish is very far from good but i can mostly understand and mostly speak... so it's neat bt that is not the neatest part with them... It was really neat to see as we talked and testified of the eternal truths of the gospel how much they made sense for him. Everything we talked about struck with him... he told us that all these things made sense and were easy to understand... We testified of the gospel and the power and peace we have to face lives challenges. He didn't refer himself but i learned a really neat lesson... something our mission president always says but really hit me wednesday... These people were all member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Premortal days... they all knew the plan.. these are eternal truths that they knew and understand aand chose to come. We are just helping them to recognize these truths.. It was really neat... We had a lot of people like that at the temple this week peopple who were so nice and open and genuine but didn't want us to send them anything or representatives... They said they'd look it up online.. that always scares me because there is so much CRAP online.. but we always send them to www.mormon.org so that they can get the right information and feel peace as they find that!!! It's such a powerful tool. I was reading the thing in the ensign this month.. there is an insert about mormon.org and one of the apostles... now i cant remember which one talked about how as mormons we always go to the town square to preach the gospel... go to where people are... then he said well now the townsquare is the internet so we are going there to preach... i though that was so cool.

We also did some splits with the members of another ward to talk about their ward mission plan... honestly before my mission i had NO IDEA what that was... So we talked to a family and we were talking about sharing the gospel and he said that they were reallly active in sharing the gospel with others... that last christmas(2 christmases ago) they invited a friend to an activity... well i was thinking about it and that would be the same as saying i'm active at church i went 1 year ago. um probably not. i've been thinking of ways that i can be actively doing missioanry work... beacause that is a comandment and the profet asks us too do that... i'm still struggling to see what i can do.. but i realized it starts with praying to recognize oppertunities to share the gospel.. i've come up with the plan that i will buy www.mormon.org cards and cary them around iwth me in my purse and pray to recognize and know who i can share those with... this is just a part of my plan for when i'm at home.. I know i dont' want to be someone who thinks sharing the gospel is inviting someone to something once a year.. this is a constant thing. I am so blessed to have this gospel in my life... think of all the blessings we have with the gospel... now think of not having all those.... that is where our friends and neighbors are.. they dont have them.. i want to share it with them.. family i know you live in utah but i promise if you pray ot recognize the oppertunities around you to share th blesssings of the gospel. And then do all you can to share it.. heavenly father will bless you with oppertunities to help his children! but i'll get off the soap box now...

Saturday was a GREAT Day too... we served in the Battalion and guess who came in? David F. Evans(of the Seventy) Sister Smith and I were able to take him through the tour... it was really fun... the general authorities are just regular people i realized but they do have a special spirit about them. It was really fun to be able to take him through.. then later in the day we met the Prophets brother and cousins... weird right well cool! Then i took another tour and was just in a good mood adn everything went really smoothly. You know with these tours some go really well and others are juust blah.. it depends on me and my attitude and the attitude of those that are there... well this one was one of the good ones. it was really neat though... we finished and one lady came and told me thatthe 3 people with her were non members and they just LOVED it. They had a great experience then she just genuinely thanked me for serving and for helping her friends. that ment a lot to me... i realized just how luck i am to be serving a mission and especially here in san diego... where it was 80 degrees yesterday.... hope your not all freezing...hehe... :) but i love it... i love every moment... even the ones that aren't so good becasue i'm growing and learning!!!! it's awesome!!! this is a great work that we can all be involved in as we ask to be. I love it. I'm so greateful for the desicion i made ot be here and all the support i recieve from you!!!!! i love you

love
Sister Story...

and some quotes from the talk of the week.....

THE BEST IS YET TO BE Elder Holland

Such people know that they should have thier primary residence in Zion, but they still hope to keep a summer cottage in Babylon.

Her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. (about lots wife)

As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, i plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned form and not lived in... and when we have learned what we need to learn and have brough wtih us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remmber that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessing and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives.

She doubted the Lords ability to give her something better.(lots wife)

to miss the here and now and tommorrow becasue we are so trapped in the there and then and yesterday of some of the sins of lots wife.

Bright and beautiful midlife moment when we had been able to rise above his past and truelly see who he was and what he could become.

Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve. It that faith? YES! Is that hope? YES! Is that charity? YES! Above all, it is charity. the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don't keep going back with your little shovel to dig it up, wave it around and then throw it at someone.

Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that christ truelly is the high preist of good things to come.

2011-01-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

We got to attend the temple today and i'm amazed at how wonderful the temple is!!!! i just LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it... it really just is amazing... how every time you go can be different.. someone gave me some really good advice... so of course you all get to hear it.... he told me that each time you go the temple to write down on a card before you go in a question.. something you want help with ore something and then when you are done write the answer... he told us he does this and finds his answers... i thought that was great and i can testify of that because last time i went i learned about how i need ot "enjoy the journey" as elder wirthin would say... and this time i learned that i need to develop my relationship with Heavenly Father more... but when we seek... heavenly father answers. it's pretty neat... this temple here is just AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love love love it. i could walk on air after i get out....

This past week has seemed to go by so fast... most missionaries don't say this... but we have lots of investigators.... the problem is that they are not progressing.. i worry because i think it is something i have done... so we are going to try and change somethings... get the members more involved... and get these amazing people to be able to have the effects of the atonement in their lives. We are struggling with them doing anything to change their lives... it's like change is hard or somethings.... i m just joking it is hard!!!!! so we are really working on that... I love this area though we are really blessed with good members... good investigators.... every things good... we have the best of all possible situations.. so we are just doing our best... i feel a little stuck at a plateau... but i'm going to try and keep building upwards... i feel like i should know more and be better and have grown more in the time i've been here.. i guess it's hard for us to see our own potential... but i do feel that way... like i should be so much better than i am... but i really am trying to stay 100 percent focused which is also very difficult for me right now... so please pray for me.. well i know you already do so please don't stop doing that. okay family i love you all so much... you are the best... you'd be even better if you'd create mormon.org profiles.... but i really admire you all. i know this is the true gospel... love sister story

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SISTER STORY

This is an importatn matter to consider at the start of the new year

2011-01-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

Family,

It's 2011.... what the crazy! i can't even imagine how fast the time went by. I remember when last year started and i thought... this will be the only FULL calender year i will serve as a full time single sister I'm my whole life... how cool. It was kind of scary and intimidating knowing that. and even looking back i hope that i have done all that i needed to do. I know I'm always too hard on myself but i really do worry that i helped enough people and those that God wanted me to help this year. but i couldn't help but think of those that I've taught last year that have had HUGE turn around in their life last year. People like Karina, and Henry, and The woody family, the zacharko family, They are all doing pretty good. Making huge changes in their lives. I'm grateful i got to be a part of it! Missionary work is just too great!

So we had a good new years.... we served at the Mormon battalion.... of course had a little devotional thing... i actually didn't get to see it though because 2 really cute families came in for a tour... but I've been thinking a lot about5 the new year and my goals and what i want to accomplish and i9t's kinda scary for me. I have no idea what is going to come and it's really scary for me. I've been getting nervous that i am really doing enough here... and I'm afraid i haven't. So I've been a little discouraged about it all. scariness.... the fear that I'm not living up to my potential is something that i thi8nk about but i read a talk today that really helped me. I've been worried about living in the past or thinking too much about the future... and i read this talk, "the Best is Yet to Be" by Elder Holland. He has a way of telling things like it is and not giving us fluff... a quote that was AWESOME WAS, "As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, i plead with you to not dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, how every good those yesterdays may have been. The past is too be learned from and not lived in... and wen we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessing and truths and events that will yet be efficacious(anybody know what that means?? i don't???) in our lives." I loved that because I need to remember that although this has been A GREAT year and I have learned to much and grown so much... I'm sure I've learned more and grown more than anything I've done for someone else... i wish that was different and i could say the opposite. but i'm grateful.

Last week we had SO MUCH fun on prepartation day we went to coronado... oh my goodness... it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! i'm so lucky to be here! We went and walked around... we also went shopping... Grandma Story got me the cutest dress(with the money she sent!!!) I got it at a banana republic outlet... a so cute outfit!!!! oh my goodness i'm cute! but it was a really fun day. There was a quote i found on tuesday i wanted to share with you too.... "IS there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might RISE ABOVE them, responsibility that we might ACHIEVE, work to HARDEN our muscles, sorrows to TRY our soulds? Are we not exposed to temptaions to TEST our STRENGTH, sickness that we might LEARN PATIENCE, death that we might me IMPORTALIZED and GLORIFIED?" -Spencer W. Kimball

We had a pretty slow week. IT has been really hard to meet with people. They are so busy from the Holidays and tired or sick that we haven't been able to meet with alot of people. But we are working on it. We have been trying to find people to teach. Our mission has a goal of 100 baptisms this month... So we are going to work as hard as we can, be obedient, and have faith that miracles will happen... and we have seen some miracles in our ward... we have some potential investegators that are referalls from the ward, which are the BEST kind. WE are excited for what's happening. Did i tell you our ward now has 3 sets of missionaries. IT's a huge ward and so we have 3 sets of missioanraries in one english ward... that's a lot of missioanries. We we are excited about what's happening! Good things! Please keep praying for me!

and a few more quotes from the talk from Elder Holland

"God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as he does about where you are and, with his help, where you are willing to go."

"Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that christ truly is the high priest of good things to come." Good things are coming!

One more story for you... So there is a replica of the Courthouse the battallion built that is in old towne. It i our responsibility to clean it! New years day was the first time that me and my companion have done that... So they give us a key and tell us to go down... we do get to wear.. SWEET BONNETS TOO!!! yeah.... so the other sisters who have been down there come with us... we get down there and it's not open and i guess usually it is.. so we go to the back door and use our key to unlock it... well we get it unlocked and "BBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP!!" the alarm goes off.... sister missioanries breaking and entering... hahaha... we had a key... but the only problem is that we didn't have the code to turn the alarm off... So the other sister RUN back tothe battalion to try and figure out what to do, while all the while we are in Old Towne san diego with the alarm wailing away. So we decide to play it cool and go about doing our cleaning and opening the building... one man even came and said, "i thought somebody was robbing a bank..." hahahaha. So we just do our thing and the sisters finally came back and turned it off... it turned out the code was on the keys we were holding in our hands... hahaha... lame... Then later the security guys come by asking us all kinds of questions telling us next time we need to call and let dispatch to come and help us... it was funny. then we had SO many pictures taken of us... from people from all over... so dont be surprised if you see my face on some website for another country.. ahahaha. those are our adventures for the week. we almost got arrested!

Things are good. I"m happy! looking forward to the good stories i'll have for the miracles that will happen this next week. I love you all a lot!

-- Love
SISTER STORY

All but a prophetic few must go about God’s work

2010-12-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

Okay just because I just talked to you doesn't mean you should not email me! :) things have been going really well. The rest of Christmas was wonderful! After i got done talking to you we went to the battalion for breakfast. It was really good! the couples there spoiled us sisters. It was so sweet. We got new name tags... but the best part of the name tags was that they said,

Hermana Story

Mormon Battalion Historic Site

The Church of

Jesus Christ

of Latter Day Saints.

Okay so that might not seem so cool to you but the whole Mormon battalion historic site part really made my day!!!! All of us sisters were very excited about it! So I'm pretty cool now. then they made us such cute bags with Mormon Battalion on it! so many treats. And sister Stutz made us a recipe book. they just spoiled us. i felt so spoiled this christmas. It was really nice though. We went around and wrote a nice thing about each person there. It was great. Then we went and saw some of the people in our area. Most of people we got to see were less active or recent converts. IT was very nice though. We talked to them about the real meaning of christmas and read the Living christ with some of them. It was neat to spend christmas sharing the real meaning of christmas with them. The living christ is such a powerful testimony of the savior. Then one of them... the woody family made us a pie and pozole to take home for christmas.... and let me tell you pazole is like my FAVORITE Mexican soup. i just love it! and it was so good. and the pie... it was key lime with graham cracker crust and that was so good.okay im going a little too in detail with food... that doesn't really matter... sorry about that... it was very kind of them. Them we went to the hollands house for dinner witht he other missionaries in our ward. it was WONDERFUL!! those holland know how to cook. it was really good food! and really great company. then we sang some hymns. they also gave us a gift and it was so nice. Everyone was just so nice! So it was a really good day.

But i was thinking about you all and tay i thought of one more advice i have for you... for learning chech before you go to the mtc... you can go onto the old lds. org and watch conference talks in that language... that will get you used to what is sounds like and help you with your accent ALOT!!! so do it.... but really i was thinking about all you all and i thought of two talks i've been readying that i think you all will love!!!! so i wanted to give them to you all... will you read them.. they are so powerful and have really helped me recently!!!!!!!!

The Inconvenient Messiah

By Jeffrey R. Holland
President of Brigham Young University

Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Inconvenient Messiah,” Ensign, Feb 1984, 68

From a talk given at a BYU Devotional, 2 February 1982

I wish to speak this morning of the demands of discipline and discipleship, of the responsibilities we have to face when we choose to follow Jesus Christ. In the Savior’s life and in ours, Satan counters such discipline with temptations of an easier way, with an offer of “convenient Christianity.” It is a temptation Jesus resisted, and so must we. Life was very inconvenient for him, and, unless I miss my guess, it will often be so for you and for me when we take upon us his name.

Frankly, I would prefer to speak with you individually about such temptations. I would be thrilled if there were a way to have that kind of personal moment with you. Because that doesn’t seem possible, let me generalize as best I can and let you make some application in your life the best you can.

Probably the most easily recognizable kind of evil is that which simply rebels openly against heaven, as Satan rebelled before the world was—willful, wanton opposition to God. From Cain through Caligula down to today’s domestic and international hostilities, Satan has attempted to lure children of promise into violent, destructive rejection of the gospel and its teachings. These are harsh sins which the world has known only too well.

But there is another, more subtle tactic used by the Primeval Turncoat which is not so violent, not so vengeful, and at first glance not so vicious. But, ah—there’s the rub. Because Christ and his disciples—Satan’s most important and necessary targets—would never seem to be attracted by flagrant, raging wrongdoing, this second approach becomes all the more sinister. It comes in the siren’s song of convenience. It says to every would-be Christian—Enjoy! Surely fluttering somewhere over the highway to hell is the local chamber-of-horrors banner reading, “Welcome to the ethics of ease.”

“Then Jesus was led up of the Spirit, into the wilderness, to be with God.

“And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, and had communed with God, he was afterwards an hungered, and was left to be tempted of the devil.

“And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

“But Jesus answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

“Then Jesus was taken up into the holy city, and the Spirit setteth him on the pinnacle of the temple.

“Then the devil came unto him and said, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

“Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

“And again, Jesus was in the Spirit, and it taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.

“And the devil came unto him again, and said, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

“Then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him.” (JST, Matt. 4:1–10.)

One new convert to Christianity wrote of this moment: “Christ withdrew alone to the desert to fast and pray in preparation for a dialogue with the Devil. Such a dialogue was inescapable; every virtue has to be cleared with the Devil, as every vice is torn with anguish out of God’s heart.” (Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969, p. 8.)

Because I believe such dialogues are entertained day after day, hour after hour—even among the Latter-day Saints—and because for us, like Christ, these temptations are far more tantalizing in their nature than the more hostile versions pursued by barbarians, let me comment briefly on them.

“If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”

Whatever else Satan may do, he will certainly appeal to our appetites. Far better to play on natural, acknowledged needs than struggle to plant in us artificial ones. Here Jesus experiences the real and very understandable hunger for food by which he must sustain his mortal life. We would not deny anyone this relief, certainly we would not deny the Son of Man. Israel had its manna in the wilderness. This is Israel’s God. He has fasted for forty days and forty nights. Why not eat? He seems ready to break his fast, or surely must soon. Why not simply turn the stones to bread and eat?

The temptation is not in the eating. He has eaten before, he will soon eat again, he must eat for the rest of his mortal life. The temptation, at least the part I wish to focus on, is to do it this way, to get his bread—his physical satisfaction, relief for his human appetite—the easy way, by abuse of power and without a willingness to wait for the right time and the right way. It is the temptation to be the convenient Messiah. Why do things the hard way? Why walk to the shop—or bakery? Why travel all the way home? Why deny yourself satisfaction when with ever such a slight compromise you might enjoy this much-needed nourishment? But Christ will not ask selfishly for unearned bread. He will postpone gratification, indefinitely if necessary, rather than appease appetite—even ravenous appetite—with what is not his.

Sexual expression is also a high and holy physical gratification we were designed and created to enjoy. It is as natural as it is appealing. It is given of God to make us like God. But it is not ours without price. Not instantly. Not conveniently. Not with cozy corruption of eternal powers. It is to be earned, over time, and with discipline. It, like every good thing, is God’s right to bestow, not Satan’s. When faced with that inherent appetite, a disciple of Christ must be willing to say, “Yes, but not this way.” In time, with love, after marriage. The right and proper and sanctified physical relationship of a man and a woman is as much a part—indeed more a part—of God’s plan for us than is the eating of our daily bread. But there is no convenient Messiah. Salvation comes only through discipline and sacrifice. Listen to the historians who wrote this after a lifetime of studying the story of civilization:

“No one man, however brilliant or well-informed, can come in one lifetime to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society, for these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history. A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group.” (Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968, pp. 35–36.)

And we have purposes the Durants never dreamed of, “promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep.” (Robert Frost, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.”) I plead with you not to yield to what one has called the “glandular stench” of our times.

In your hours of temptation and vulnerability I ask you not to turn bread into stone with that fire that has gone unbanked and uncooled. Those loaves will be millstones—bogus bread—weighted with heartache and despair and pain. Care more. It is too easy today with the movies you can see and the magazines you can read. It is all tragically, painfully, cunningly convenient. In our time the only restraint left is self-restraint. I ask you to say of this highest, most intimate, most sacred physical expression, “Yes, but not this way.” I ask you to be inconvenienced until you’ve earned the right and paid the divine price to know the body and the soul of the one you love. Excuse me for speaking boldly, but this must be said. Perhaps another time we can say even more.

“If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down” from the pinnacle of this temple.

Satan knew this holy structure was the center of religious life for Israel’s people. It was the edifice to which the promised Messiah must come. Many were even at that moment coming and going from their worship, many who through their traditions and disbelief would never accept Jesus as their Redeemer. The temptation to Jesus could be paraphrased this way: “Why not cast yourself down in a dramatic way and then when the angels bear you up, as the scriptures say they must, legions will follow you and believe? They need you. You need them—to save their souls. These are covenant people. How better to help them see than to cast yourself off this holy temple unharmed and unafraid. The Messiah has indeed come.”

The temptation here is even more subtle than the first. It is a temptation of the spirit, of a private hunger more real than the need for bread. Would God save him? Would he? Is Jesus to have divine companionship in this awesome ministry he now begins? He knows that among the children of men only suffering, denunciation, betrayal, and rejection lie ahead. But what about heaven? How alone does a Messiah have to be? Perhaps before venturing forth he ought to get final reassurance. And shouldn’t Satan be silenced with his insidious “If—If—If”? Why not get spiritual confirmation, obtain a loyal congregation, and answer this Imp who heckles—all with one appeal to God’s power? Right now. The easy way. Off the temple spire.

But Jesus refuses the temptation of the spirit. Denial and restraint are also part of divine preparation. He will gain followers and he will receive reassurance. But not this way. Neither the converts nor the comfort he will so richly deserve has been earned yet. His ministry has hardly begun. The rewards will come by and by. But even the Son of God must wait. The Redeemer who would never bestow cheap grace on others was not likely to ask for any himself.

And so I ask you to be patient in things of the Spirit. Perhaps your life has been different from mine, but I doubt it. I have had to struggle to know my standing before God. As a teenager I found it hard to pray and harder to fast. My mission was not easy. I struggled as a student only to find that I had to struggle afterwards, too. In this present assignment I have wept and ached for guidance. It seems no worthy accomplishment has ever come easily for me, but I’m living long enough to be grateful for that.

It is ordained that we come to know our worth as a child of god without something as dramatic as a leap from the pinnacle of the temple. All but a prophetic few must go about God’s work in very quiet, very unspectacular ways. And as you labor to know him, and to know that he knows you; as you invest your time—and inconvenience—in quiet, unassuming service, you will indeed find that “his angels [have] charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up.” (Matt. 4:6.) It may not come quickly. It probably won’t come quickly, but there is purpose in the time it takes. Cherish your spiritual burdens because God will converse with you through them and will use you to do his work if you carry them well.

Do you recognize this struggle? The date is July 14, 1943:

“No peace had yet come, though I had prayed for it almost unceasingly. … I turned toward the hills. I had no objective. I wanted only to be alone. I had begun a fast. …

“My weakness overcame me again. Hot tears came flooding down my cheeks as I made no effort to mop them up. I was accusing myself, and condemning myself and upbraiding myself. I was praying aloud for special blessings from the Lord. I was telling Him that I had not asked for this position, that I was incapable of doing the work, that I was imperfect and weak and human, that I was unworthy of so noble a calling, though I had tried hard and my heart had been right. I knew that I must have been at least partly responsible for offenses and misunderstandings which a few people fancied they had suffered at my hands. I realized that I had been petty and small many times. I did not spare myself. A thousand things passed through my mind. Was I called by revelation? …

“If I could only have the assurance that my call had been inspired most of my other worries would be dissipated. … I knew that I must have His acceptance before I could go on. I stumbled up the hill and onto the mountain, as the way became rough. I faltered some as the way became steep. No paths were there to follow; I climbed on and on. Never had I prayed before as I now prayed. What I wanted and felt I must have was an assurance that I was acceptable to the Lord. I told Him that I neither wanted nor was worthy of a vision or appearance of angels or any special manifestation. I wanted only the calm peaceful assurance that my offering was accepted. Never before had I been tortured as I was now being tortured. And the assurance did not come. …

“I mentally beat myself and chastised myself and accused myself. As the sun came up and moved in the sky I moved with it, lying in the sun, and still I received no relief. I sat up on the cliff and strange thoughts came to me: all this anguish and suffering could be ended so easily from this high cliff and then came to my mind the temptations of the Master when he was tempted to cast Himself down—then I was ashamed for having placed myself in a comparable position and trying to be dramatic. … I was filled with remorse because I had permitted myself to place myself … in a position comparable, in a small degree, to the position the Saviour found Himself in when He was tempted, and … I felt I had cheapened the experiences of the Lord, having compared mine with His. Again I challenged myself and told myself that I was only trying to be dramatic and sorry for myself.

“… I lay on the cool earth. The thought came that I might take cold, but what did it matter now. There was one great desire, to get a testimony of my calling, to know that it was not human and inspired by ulterior motives, kindly as they might be. How I prayed! how I suffered! How I wept! How I struggled!” (Edward L. Kimball and Andrew E. Kimball, Jr., Spencer W. Kimball, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, Inc., 1977, pp. 192–95.)

Now at this very hour, thirty-eight years and a mountain of tumors and troubles later, this sweet and Godly man clings to life not because that life has been convenient, but because he feels there might be one more mountain to climb, one more obstacle of body or spirit that needs to be overcome. The spiritual odyssey of Andrew Kimball’s son has been anything but easy. And maybe that of your father’s son or your mother’s daughter will require patience and perseverance too.

So if your prayers don’t always seem answered, take heart. One greater than you or President Kimball cried, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. … My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46.) If sometimes the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived.

Now, in some frustration, Satan moves right to the point. If he cannot tempt physically and cannot tempt spiritually, he will simply make an outright proposition. From a high mountain where they might overlook the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, Satan says, “All these things will I give thee, if thou will fall down and worship me.”

Satan makes up for lack of subtlety here with the grandeur of his offer. Never mind that these kingdoms are not ultimately his to give. He simply asks of the great Jehovah, God of Heaven and Earth, “What is your price? Cheap bread you resist. Tawdry Messianic drama you resist, but no man can resist this world’s wealth. Name your price. Satan is proceeding under his first article of faithlessness—the unequivocal belief that you can buy anything in this world for money.

Jesus will one day rule the world. He will govern every principality and power in it. He will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But not this way. Indeed, to arrive at the point at all he has to follow a most inconvenient course. Nothing so simple as worshipping Satan or for that matter nothing so simple as worshipping God. At least not in the way some of us think worshipping is simple. His arrival at the throne of grace is to lead through travail and sorrow and sacrifice. Some seven centuries earlier Isaiah had prophesied of him:

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and … openeth not his mouth.” (Isa. 53:3, 5, 7.)

Should earning our place in the kingdom of God be so difficult as that? Surely there is an easier way. Can’t we buy our way in? Every man and every woman does have a price, don’t they? Can’t you buy anything in this world for money? Sometimes we wonder.

I offer one sobering fact about our lives together. BYU is not here to help you make money. Any university in this land can do that. We hope your education brings income sufficient for your needs, but we have no mission at all if we are simply turning you out into the best current job market, whatever and wherever that may be.

BYU has been established to extend to you the very glory of God, his intelligence, his light and his truth. And that light and truth, by scriptural promise, is to forsake the evil one, your tempter. No, not everyone does have a price. Some things can’t be purchased. Money and fame and earthly glory is not our eternal standard. Indeed these can, if we are not careful, lead to eternal torment. Emerson said once, “Things are in the saddle, And ride mankind.” (Selected Writings of Emerson, New York: The Modern Library, 1950, p. 770.) Well, we refuse to be ridden.

As much as this Church and you and I as individuals need the wherewithal to feed and clothe ourselves and further the work of the kingdom, we do not need to sell our souls to get it. And here again, we are tempted to think there is an easy way, a fast buck, that in the world’s goods and the glories of men’s kingdoms, we may ride through reaping, as the very convenient Messiah. But why do we think it, when it was never so for him? What do we do with a stable for birthplace and a borrowed tomb at his death? And in his lifetime? Not one single mention of earthly possessions. “The foxes have holes, and the birds … have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matt. 8:20.)

Forgive me if I go on. Recently I was working with President Elliot Cameron on the BYU—Hawaii Campus, only to open the Sunday edition of the Honolulu Advertiser to read this headline: “Mormon Utah Called A Test Market For Scams.” May I quote a few lines.

“Utah’s large Mormon population has become a prime target for con artists and swindlers who annually gyp the state’s residents out of hundreds of millions of dollars. …

“Federal prosecutors say the state has gained a national reputation as ‘test market for scams.’ ‘If it works here, they take it on the road. …’

“ ‘It has happened time and time again. … It’s very easy for people to bridge the gap from unbelievability to believability if church affiliation is used.’ …

“The investor lists were drawn up on genealogy sheets used by church members to trace their ancestry. … Mormon leaders denounced the scheme in a stinging editorial which asked, ‘Why do people take chances like this? Why do people gamble?’ One answer. ‘Their greed gland gets stuck. … [I]n this culture, financial success is often equated with righteousness.’ ” (Peter Gillins, Sunday Star Bulletin and Advertiser, Honolulu, Jan. 10, 1982.)

Note this from Elder Marvin J. Ashton in our last general conference:

“In today’s marketplace—yes, in your own neighborhood, town, and cities—scheming, deceiving promoters are making available to gullible purchasers all kinds of enticing offers. We are sorry to report thousands within our ranks are being duped by the glib tongues of those who offer and solicit in whispers. ‘Once in a lifetime opportunities’ and ‘Just for you’ approaches. …” (Ensign, Nov. 1981, p. 90.)

We can get our share of the earth’s bounties but not this way.

Speaking to this very issue several years ago, Professor Hugh Nibley said:

“Why should we labor this unpleasant point? Because the Book of Mormon labors it, for our special benefit. Wealth is a jealous master who will not be served halfheartedly and will suffer no rival—not even God. … ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon.’ (Matt. 6:24.) In return for unquestioning obedience wealth promises security, power, position, and honors, in fact anything in this world. Above all, the Nephites like the Romans saw in it a mark of superiority and would do anything to get hold of it, for to them ‘money answereth all things.’ (Eccl. 10:19.) … ‘Ye do always remember your riches,’ cried Samuel, ‘… unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions and murders, and all manner of iniquities.’ (Hel. 13:22.) Along with this, of course, everyone dresses in the height of fashion, the main point being always that the proper clothes are expensive—the expression ‘costly apparel’ occurs 14 times in the Book of Mormon. The more important wealth is, the less important it is how one gets it.” (Hugh W. Nibley, Since Cumorah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1967, p. 393.)

As with appropriate, necessary income, so too with studies at school or any other honest endeavor. To the king who wondered if there weren’t an easier way to learn, Euclid said, “Your Highness, there is no royal road to geometry”—nor any other aspect of Godly knowledge. Plan right now to work hard and earn your achievements. Postpone your gratification so you don’t have to postpone your graduation. You may feel school will never end and that your bills will never get paid. It will and they will. To work hard, and to try earnestly, and to deserve good things to happen is worth the effort and worth the wait. And they will happen, often sooner than you think. But it won’t be easy, and it won’t be convenient. An easy education is a contradiction in terms.

May I close with a story of inconvenience, now well known to you. Some time ago Air Florida’s Flight 90 to Tampa, a Boeing 737 with seventy-four passengers aboard, began rolling down the runway at Washington’s National Airport. Nothing seemed very different about this; hundreds of planes leave that airport every day. But you all know what happened next. The plane slammed into the 14th Street Bridge, smashed five cars and a truck, and then skidded into the ice-clogged river. To quote one source: “For a moment, there was silence, and then pandemonium. Commuters watched helplessly as the plane quickly sank. … A few passengers bobbed to the surface; some clung numbly to pieces of debris while others screamed desperately for help. Scattered across the ice were pieces of green upholstery, twisted chunks of metal, luggage, a tennis racquet, a child’s shoe.

“Within minutes, sirens began to wail as fire trucks, ambulances and police cars rushed to the scene. A U.S. Park Police helicopter hovered overhead to pluck survivors out of the water. Six were clinging to the plane’s tail. Dangling a life preserver ring to them, the chopper began ferrying them to shore. One woman had injured her right arm, so [the] Pilot lowered the [craft] until its skids touched the water; his partner … scooped her up in his arms. Then [a young woman] grabbed the preserver, but as she was being helped out of the … river by [a] Fellow Passenger, … she lost her grip. … A clerk for the Congressional Budget Office who was watching from the shore, plunged into the water and dragged her to land. But the most notable act of heroism was performed by one of the passengers, a balding man in his early 50s. Each time the ring was lowered, he grabbed it and passed it along to a comrade; when the helicopter finally returned to pick him up, he had disappeared beneath the ice.” (James Kelly, Time, 25 January 1982, pp. 16–17.)

I quote from an essay entitled simply “The Man in the Water”: “His selflessness [is] one reason the story held national attention; his anonymity another. The fact the he [has gone] unidentified invests him with a universal character. For a while he was Everyman, and thus proof (as if one needed it) that no man is ordinary.

“Still, he could never have imagined such a capacity in himself. Only minutes before his character was tested, he was sitting in the ordinary plane among the ordinary passengers, dutifully listening to the stewardess telling him to fasten his seat belt and saying something about the ‘no smoking sign.’ So our man relaxed with the others, some of whom would owe their lives to him. Perhaps he started to read, or to doze, or to regret some harsh remark made in the office that morning. Then suddenly he knew that the trip would not be ordinary. Like every other person on that flight, he was desperate to live, which makes his final act so stunning.

“For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand over the rope and ring to others. He had to know it, no matter how gradual the effect of the cold. In his judgment he had no choice. When the helicopter took off with what was to be the last survivor, he watched everything in the world move away from him, and he deliberately let it [go].

“The odd thing is that we do not … really believe that the man in the water lost his fight. … He could not, [like Nature], make ice storms, or freeze the water until it froze the blood. But he could hand life over to a stranger, and that is a power of nature too. The man in the water pitted himself against an implacable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with charity; and he [won].” (Roger Rosenblatt, Time, 25 January 1982, p. 86.)

In this world we are all, you and I, the man or the woman in the water. We often must, like this man and Hamlet, “take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them.” (Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1, lines 63–64.) And sometimes the cost is very high. It was for Christ, it was for Joseph Smith, it was for this lone man who counted the cost there in the Potomac—and paid it. It is not easy to go without—without physical gratifications, or spiritual assurances, or material possessions—but sometimes we must since there is no guarantee of convenience written into our Christian covenant. We must work hard and do right, and sometime our chance will come. And when we’ve tried, really tried, and waited for what seemed never to be ours, then the angels may come and minister unto us. (See Matt. 4:11.) For that ministration in your life I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Consecrate Thy Performance

Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Neal A. Maxwell, “Consecrate Thy Performance,” Liahona, Jul 2002, 39–42

In pondering and pursuing consecration, understandably we tremble inwardly at what may be required. Yet the Lord has said consolingly, “My grace is sufficient for you” (D&C 17:8).

These remarks are addressed to the imperfect but still striving in the household of faith. As always, my immediate audience is myself.

We tend to think of consecration only as yielding up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God. Heart, soul, and mind were the encompassing words of Christ in describing the first commandment, which is constantly, not periodically, operative (see Matt. 22:37). If kept, then our performances will, in turn, be fully consecrated for the lasting welfare of our souls (see 2 Ne. 32:9).

Such totality involves the submissive converging of feelings, thoughts, words, and deeds, the very opposite of estrangement: “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:13).

Many ignore consecration because it seems too abstract or too daunting. The conscientious among us, however, experience divine discontent because of progression mixed with procrastination. Hence, loving counsel is given with the confirmation of this direction, encouragement to continue the journey, and consolation as we experience individually the inherent degrees of difficulty.

Spiritual submissiveness is not accomplished in an instant, but by the incremental improvements and by the successive use of stepping-stones. Stepping-stones are meant to be taken one at a time anyway. Eventually our wills can be “swallowed up in the will of the Father” as we are “willing to submit … even as a child doth submit to his father” (see Mosiah 15:7; Mosiah 3:19). Otherwise, though striving, we will continue to feel the world’s prop wash and be partially diverted.

Illustrations involving economic consecration are relevant. When Ananias and Sapphira sold their possessions, they “kept back part of the price” (see Acts 5:1–11). So many of us cling tenaciously to a particular “part,” even treating our obsessions like possessions. Thus, whatever else we may have already given, the last portion is the hardest to yield. Granted, partial surrender is still commendable, but it resembles, more than faintly, the excuse, “I gave at the office” (see James 1:7–8).

We may, for instance, have a specific set of skills which we mistakenly come to think we somehow own. If we continue to cling to those more than to God, we are flinching in the face of the consecrating first commandment. Since God lends us “breath … from one moment to another,” hyperventilating over these distractions is not recommended! (Mosiah 2:21).

A stumbling block appears when we serve God generously with time and checkbooks but still withhold portions of our inner selves, signifying that we are not yet fully His!

Some have difficulty when particular tasks enter their sunset phase. John the Baptist is a model, however, saying of Jesus’ growing flock, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Mistakenly regarding our present assignments as the only indicator of how much God loves us only adds to our reluctance to let go. Brothers and sisters, our individual worth is already divinely established as “great”; it does not fluctuate like the stock market.

Other stepping-stones remain unused because, like the rich, righteous young man, we are not yet willing to confront what we yet lack (see Mark 10:21). A residue of selfishness is thereby exposed.

Shrinking occurs in so many ways. The terrestrial kingdom, for example, will include the “honorable,” clearly not bearers of false witness. Yet they were still “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus” (D&C 76:75, 79). The best way to valiantly testify of Jesus is to become steadily more like Him, and it is that consecration that carves out the emulative character (see 3 Ne. 27:27).

In meeting these recited challenges, spiritual submissiveness is fortunately and helpfully adroit—sometimes helping us to “let go” of things, even mortal life, other times to “hold fast,” and still other times to use the next stepping-stone (see 1 Ne. 8:30).

But if we lack proportion, the next few yards can seem so formidable. Though aware of how God blessed ancient Israel to escape from mighty Pharaoh and his hosts, myopic Laman and Lemuel still lacked faith in God to help them with a mere local Laban.

We can also be deflected if we are too anxious to please those who are ascendant in our professional and avocational niches. Pleasing “other gods” instead of the real God still violates the first commandment (Ex. 20:3).

We sometimes even defend our idiosyncrasies, as if these protrusions somehow constituted our individuality. In a way, discipleship is a “contact sport,” as the Prophet Joseph testified:

“I am like a huge, rough stone … and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force. … Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 304).

Since knees often bend long before minds, holding back this “part” deprives God’s work of some of mankind’s very best intellects. Far better to be meek like Moses, who learned things he “never had supposed” (Moses 1:10). Yet, sadly, brothers and sisters, in the subtle interplay of agency and identity, there is so much hesitation. The surrender of the mind is actually a victory, because it then introduces us to God’s stretching and “higher” ways! (see Isa. 55:9).

Ironically, inordinate attention, even to good things, can diminish our devotion to God. For instance, one can be too caught up in sports and the forms of body worship we see among us. One can reverence nature and yet neglect nature’s God. One can have an exclusionary regard for good music and similarly with a worthy profession. In such circumstances, the “weightier matters” are often omitted (Matt. 23:23; see also 1 Cor. 2:16). Only the Highest One can fully guide us as to the highest good which you and I can do.

On the two great commandments, Jesus declared emphatically, everything else hangs, not vice versa (see Matt. 22:40). The first commandment is not suspended just because of our vigorous pursuit of a lesser good, for we do not worship a lesser god.

Before enjoying the harvests of righteous efforts, let us therefore first acknowledge God’s hand. Otherwise, the rationalizations appear, and they include, “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth” (Deut. 8:17). Or, we “vaunt” ourselves, as ancient Israel would have done (except for Gideon’s deliberately small army), by boasting that “mine own hand hath saved me” (Judg. 7:2). Touting our own “hand” makes it doubly hard to confess God’s hand in all things (see Alma 14:11; D&C 59:21).

At a place called Meribah, one of the greatest ever, Moses, was fatigued by people clamoring for water. Momentarily, Moses “spake unadvisedly,” saying, “Must we fetch you water?” (Ps. 106:33; Num. 20:10; see also Deut. 4:21). The Lord mentored remarkable Moses through the pronoun problem and further magnified him. We would do well to be as meek as Moses (see Num. 12:3).

Jesus never, never, never lost His focus! Though He went about doing so very much good, He always knew that the Atonement awaited, pleading with perspective, “Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27; see also John 5:30; John 6:38).

As you and I develop additional love, patience, and meekness, the more we have to give God and humanity. Moreover, no one else is placed exactly as we are in our opportune human orbits.

Granted, the stepping-stones take us into new territory which we may be very reluctant to explore. Hence, the successful users of the stepping-stones are powerful motivators for the rest of us. We usually pay more attention to those we quietly admire. The hungry prodigal son remembered the menus in his home, but he was also drawn by other memories, declaring, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18).

In striving for ultimate submission, our wills constitute all we really have to give God anyway. The usual gifts and their derivatives we give to Him could be stamped justifiably “Return to Sender,” with a capital S. Even when God receives this one gift in return, the fully faithful will receive “all that [He] hath” (D&C 84:38). What an exchange rate!

Meanwhile, certain realities remain: God has given us our lives, our agency, our talents, and our opportunities; He has given us our possessions; He has given us our appointed mortal spans complete with the needed breaths (see D&C 64:32). Guided by such perspective, we will avoid serious errors of proportion. Some of these are far less amusing than would be hearing a double quartet and mistaking it for the Tabernacle Choir!

No wonder President Hinckley has stressed our being a covenant people, emphasizing the covenants of the sacrament, tithing, and the temple, citing sacrifice as the “very essence of the Atonement” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 147).

Breathtaking submissiveness was achieved by the Savior as He faced the anguish and agonies of the Atonement and “would that [He] might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink” (D&C 19:18). On our small, imperfect scale, we face tests and wish that these would somehow be taken away.

Consider this: What of Jesus’ ministry if He had performed additional miracles but without the transcending miracle of Gethsemane and Calvary? His other miracles brought blessed extensions of life and lessened suffering—for some. But how could these miracles possibly compare with the greatest miracle of the universal Resurrection? (see 1 Cor. 15:22). The multiplying of the loaves and fishes fed a hungry multitude. Even so, recipients were soon hungry again, while those who partake of the Bread of Life will never hunger again (see John 6:51, 58).

In pondering and pursuing consecration, understandably we tremble inwardly at what may be required. Yet the Lord has said consolingly, “My grace is sufficient for you” (D&C 17:8). Do we really believe Him? He has also promised to make weak things strong (see Ether 12:27). Are we really willing to submit to that process? Yet if we desire fulness, we cannot hold back part!

Having our wills increasingly swallowed up by the will of the Father actually means an enhanced individuality, stretched and more capable of receiving “all that [God] hath” (D&C 84:38). Besides, how could we be entrusted with His “all” until our wills are much more like His? Nor could His “all” be fully appreciated by the partially committed.

Frankly, it is our prospective selves we betray by holding back whatever the “part.” No need therefore to ask, “Lord, is it I?” (Matt. 26:22). Rather, let us inquire about our individual stumbling blocks, “Lord, is it this?” We may have known the answer for a long time and may need resolve more than His response.

The greatest happiness in God’s generous plan is finally reserved for those who are willing to stretch and to pay the costs of journeying to His regal realm. Brothers and sisters, “come, let us anew [this] journey pursue” (“Come, Let Us Anew,” Hymns, no. 217).

In the name of the Lord of the outstretched arm (see D&C 103:17; D&C 136:22), even Jesus Christ, amen.

So because I don't have much to say this week i thought you might like these talks i just LOVE THEM! they have really helped me a lot. so family... i love you a lot!

I forgot to ask you if you had created a profile??????

okay well i love you ALL A LOT!

Love, Sister Story

no coincidences

2010-12-15T08:29:00.000-08:00

So last Tuesday night we were able to spend on the temple grounds. They now have all the lights up and It is beautiful.. I mean it's no temple square but it's awesome! And it's amazing how many people are drawn to the temple! I served on the grounds a lot this week and had AMAZING experiences. The temple is such a place of peace... I LOVE IT!!!!! that and who just thought that serving a mission i would get to just sit on temple grounds... not me... boy am i lucky!!!

ps i'm SO EXCITED TO HEAR WHERE TAYLOR GOES... or you can just send the video... i dunno.... i do love surprises but i'm just so curious... whatever you want to do... but i do have a guess... i have this idea that he will go to Santiago Chile OESTE(WEST) because it would be SWEET if he went where sister christensens brother is and then her brother trained tay and i trained her... wouldn't that just be rocking! my second guess in San DIEGO CALIFORNIA!!!!!!! That would be so cool... so those are my guesses!!! but i think you should call cuz i could be tomorrow!! and i dont want to wait allt he way until tuesday!!! that's so long... but if you want to surprises me do that... aaaaaahhhh i'm so excited for him i dont even know what to say..sjdklfjwioefjwoisdlkfjsiorjweojsldkjfosdjofsidje....... i just love it!

well back to what i was saying... the temple is amazing and so many people have been brought their lately! Thursday Sister Thornley and i were there because we were on exchanges. So there was this lady that was a temple worker that i had met at the battalion and then had seen her on a few occations at the temple and she was sweet enought to get us some ice cream and as she was leaving the temple met this lady and began to talk with her. The lady was not a member of the church and the lady that served in the temple took her int eh waiting room and put on Joy to the World. So the lady started to watch and of couse they came and found us so that we could talk to her after it was over... So we went and watched it with her and then we talked with her. It was so neat becasue the lady LOVED the video and wanted her own copy. She then told of a dream she had where she saw christ and he was teachign her and it was the same picture ont eh front of a pamplet the lady who served int he temple had given her. We had a great talk with her and she told us there was no coincidences and that she had taken the wrong turn and come to the temple for a reason! There is so coincidences!! I am sure of that... This lady was sent to the temple. The longer i am here the more i realized that there are no coincidences. The lady that i had met before was at the temple the same time i was because that is the way god planned it!!!

The same thing happened two days before. Tuesday night Sister Christensen and I were seving on the Grounds and as we went inside the waiting room we saw a man we had met probably 3 months ago outside the temple and he told us about how he was working to go inside he was preparing. We talked with him and helped him find what he was looking for and he bought a preach my gospel... then tuesday we saw him and he has just done a session he had made it inside! How neat! heavenly father put us both there again to strenghten our testinonies! i could go on an on about how everything is planned an when we follow the Spirit God really is involved in the small details of our lives. I have been reminded of that a lot this week as i've served on the temple grounds! and have LOVED IT!!!!

So transfers were on Wednesday and I got a new COMPanion! She is my eleventh companion. I just can't have a companion for very long. It was actually hard for me. I have come to love SIster Christensen so much. She is an amazing example to me and i am so grateful to have been her companion. The people realy loved her. She was always finding nice things to do for them. I have been thinking alot bout how i have learned SO SO SOSOSO much from my companions. they have taught me so much about how to be better. I have grown so much from learning from all eleven of them. So it's always hard to see them go. And i really enjoyed being companions with sister christensen.... but now i am companions with Sister Smith! She is awesome! She is from Texas! She has already finished school and cooks really well and is fun to be around. We are going to see miracles. i am excited to be her companion and learn a lot from her! She is really relaxed and easy going to we make a pretty good team!

Then Saturday we had a miracle! One of our investigators that has really struggled came to the stake choir concert that was beautiful. It was a neat experience but half way through she says, "i can't wait til i get baptized!!!!" last we'd talk she was unsure about baptism. But she has been praying and has felt it helping her in her life! And then after that is the first thing they mention to us. "i want to get baptized!" it was really neat. Music can bring the spirit really strong! it was neat!

So we cant get through a email without a quote. I have been reading the "inconvenient messiah" by elder holland(look it up and read it it's awesome!) this week. And it has really helped me to see that although we have the blessings of the gospel that makes life better, we still can not get complacent in our Christianity. This is one part i loved, " To work hard, and to try earnestly, and to deserve good things to happen is worth the effort and worth the wait. and they will happen often sooner than you think but it won't be easy and it won't be convenient." Sometimes living the gospel is not convenient. It's not convenient to have callings to find time to study the scriptures, so serve others, to wake up early to go to church. these things are not convenient but these things bring happiness and peace! this is what lives about! and i LOVE IT! i love you all!!!!!!! i know this is God's work! I'm grateful to be a part of it! Jesus Christ didn't take the convenient route and neither should we. He loves us so much!

Love Sister Story

2010-12-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

alrighty! so one of the last lessons we taught was about prohpets--so we dressed justin up as noah, joseph smith and the prophet. cute! he ate it up.

the bap was great. more pics to come. love!

"... with power far beyond our own."

2010-12-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

It's been an amazing week!!! Really good! Always with the daily struggles and trials of missionary work but overall amazing with lots of miracles. I have really learned to appreciate the small miracles in my life and the lives of those around me! I am enjoying the Christmas season surrounded by other missionaries especially the ones i serve with in the Mormon battalion. I am so lucky to serve here and would not be ANYWHERE else! It's different than last year because now we are in the battalion and are so blessed to serve with amazing people. i feel like this is my little family. It also makes transfers alright because we all know that we will all see each other still. I am loving it. It brings it's own challenges as well but they are well worth it!

So i don't remember exactly which day but one of the days we had a miracle. We have been working with this family. It is a part member family and they are AWESOME, but do have a lot of struggles. the dad is a member but has been less active for a long time now, served a mission and has a STRONG testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel but made some choices that took him away from it. The mom is not a member and has met with missionaries for years like 7 of them. they have a 10 year old son. We have been working with them since i got here in July and have really struggled to help them. The son was not so excited about meeting with us... he always would get a little mad when we come because in his words, " I JUST LOVE PLAYING... I'M ADDICTED TO PLAYING!!!!!!!!" he just loves to play outside and didn't like us interrupting that. but last Sunday or Saturday we talked with them and invited him to be baptised and he said YES! and so we invited them for Saturday the 4th... well guess what HE WAS BAPTISED! We helped prepare him... he knew everything because we have been teaching him for months but his grandpa was in town for thanksgiving so everything worked perfect.... I just love this kid. One of the lessons we had we were talking about prophets and he has a really short attention span... so we came up with a great idea of how to help him... dressing him up like the different prophets and he LOVE IT. he kept posing for our pictures and is such a ham... kinda like me! i love him! Sometimes i get so frustrated with him but i love him. Even at his interview the elder was interviewing him,who is a pretty big guy and could be intimidating, was just talking to him trying to not make him comfortable.... This kid doesn't waste time and just said to the elder.... "will you just ask me the questions already?" Then he was baptised and swam out of the font a little. He's a cutie. it was a miracle that everything worked out. We are still working on his mom, but i think this was a really good step for her too!

Then another group of miracles... The Sisters that serve in the Spanish branch live in our area and met a lady who had just moved in and is less active. they started to talk to her and she wanted a blessing so the elders went and gave her a blessing... And her friend was there and the elders also gave her a blessing... They both felt the spirit SO STRONG. So that was like a week ago and we haven't been able see her... aaaahhh... So we've been trying to stay in contact with them... but haven't been able to teach them... She seems so ready but then guess what.... SHE CAME TO CHURCH! someone we haven't even taught and she came to church and as we got ready to sit down on the side backish... she said, "i think i want to be up front in the middle so i can see!" yeah... she is awesome. We still haven't been able to add her but are excited. We are definitely being blessed!

I've been reading the Ensign a lot lately because it's AMAZING! and found a lot of things that have just inspired me... One thing in particular reminded me of the boys... Taylor, Colton, and Jake... And of myself... i was reading the talk by president eyring and he was talking about the calls we receive to serve and help other even as young men. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think of what to say as we see someone new in class at church or even at school but feel like we should talk to them...

president eyring made it really simple and said, "To the deacon who receives the call to go to his quorum member, I will make three promises. First, as you pray for help, the Spirit will calm your fears. Second, you will be surprised that you know what to say when you get to his home and during the walk with him back to church. What you sam may seemed jumbled to you. But you will feel the words were given to you at the moment you needed them. And third, you will feel the approval of of Lord, who call you you through your president, whatever the outcome. I cannot promise what success will come since every person is free to choose how he or she responds to a servant of God. But the deacon you speak to for the Lord with remember you cam to him."

I guess this really applies to each of us in our calls and i can promise that is how i feel sometimes as i try to contact people on the streets or tell them of the miracles of the Mormon battalion, or teach and testify inviting them to baptism, i get jumbled up and wonder if i really did any good. but this helped me to realize that i have a promise from a prophet of god, therefore from God. I can do this... We can each do this. We each have callings given to us from God to help his children and as we are on his errand we will have the promise of the spirit to guide us. We must stay worthy and do all we can to have that spirit remain with us so we can be mouthpieces for the the Lord to help his children. I have really thought about how much we can do as members to help others. It's amazing! Please family don't go through doing your callings alone... use the help that God has given us. Pray for the Spirit to guide you and accompany you as you do His work. that is something i have really come to learn... if i try to do the work without Heavenly Father that is exactly what i'm doing... just trying...but when i put imp and pray for him to help me... miracles happen and it's easier! This is an amazing work we are involved in... we can't forget that... not just me as a missionary but all for you in your calings!

Family i love you. Im so grateful for your support as i serve here. It means everything to me. I know that this is Gods kingdom on earth. LIVING THE GOSPEL MAKES US HAPPY!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! love sister story

THANKSGIVING

2010-12-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

"too often i have failed to express gratitude for the faith and goodness of such people in my life."

2010-12-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a good week. I forgot to bring my planner with me today and so i don't remember day by day what happened but i will try. We've been trying to work with members of the ward to create mormon.org profiles. Dad this might be a great place to start for your calling. Make a profile and encourage members of the ward too do that as well. This is a great way to share the gospel. We have been so blessed with the Gospel and great blessings of testimony building experiences that we can share with our own profiles and if we will just make profiles and then when were talking to non members or even less active members invite them to check it out! This is a great way to start. And dad I've been thinking a lot about what you can do but start with preach my gospel. Start studying that with the scriptures a little each day and you will receive revelation about what you can do. Start with chapter 1 the Purpose.... you'll find direction there!! you'll do wonderful!!!!!! www.mormon.org is such a neat site!! PLEASE USE it... I've been thinking a lot about although i'm from orem utah i can still share the gospel!!!! there are still people who need it in orem utah! so go and find them... talk to those who aren't members or who are struggling in their testimony's. Tell em your a Mormon and find opportunities to tell them of the blessing you have in your life through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I promise as you pray to recognize the opportunities to share the gospel that you are having and just don't know it... you will see miracles and feel the fire of the gospel in your lives! Pray to recognize and have those experiences! they will come!!!!!! you will know! I have a great ward to serve in here in san diego and am blessed to be able to serve among people who really want to share this with other! i love this gospel and the peace it brings me and i NEVER want to stop sharing it with others! It's such a blessing!

Thursday was thanksgiving and SUCH A GREAT DAY!! i was a little worried about being homesick but i had such a blessing this year. That morning i served in the Mormon battalion. We had a Mormon battalion thanksgiving!! i even was wearing a pioneer dress like the first thanksgiving!!! hahahaha. i loved it! I even made shrimp cocktail... have no money now but whatever!. but it reminded me of home. All the senior couples cooked and us sister too, just a bit, and we had a great thanksgiving. there was even fudge!!!!! boy was i happy! All the food didn't matter but it was neat because i really did feel like i was home! with all these sisters and couples that mean so much to me. They are my family here. It felt comfortable! i loved it. im so lucky to serve in the Mormon battalion where i can have a family! Then we were able to go and visit and be with people that i have really come to love and teach them about the peace and gratitude of the gospel! There are so many people we are working with that sometimes i just want to SHAKE and tell them to just get it!!!! WILL YOU GET IT ALREADY THIS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY IF ONLY YOU WILL READ INT HE BOOK OF MORMON, PRAY, COME TO CHURCH AND FOLLOW THE COMMANDMENTS... THIS IS SIMPLE! GET IT ALREADY!!!!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!! but then i realized there were plenty of times when i didnt quite get it either! but i really do love them. I'm grateful for them! I had a really neat experience... we had plans to visit a lady but as we drove i felt impressed to visit another lady... so i asked my companion and we both felt good about changing our plans and visiting this other lady. It was so neat we got there and she was all alone. Her kids were gone and i'm sure she was kinda lonely. I really felt as we were there that that is where God wanted us to be. It was really neat to spend the day the way Heavenly Father would have wanted us to do and to be trying to think about others and not ourselves. It was a blessing!

I have been thinking about how i want to be more grateful all the time and not just that one day. and how important it is to be cheerful even amidst the trials of life! Hard things will ALWAYS happen but as we cling to the gospel then it will be alright! So i want to tell you all that i am grateful for you! "I have struggled to find an adequate way to tell you how loved of God you are and how grateful we on this stand are for you. I am trying to be voice for the very angels of heaven in thanking you for every good thing you have ever done, for every kind word you have ever said, for every sacrifice you have ever made in extending to someone-to anyone- the beauty and blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ..... To you, Mom and Dad,(and brothers and sisters) and families and faithful people everywhere, I THANK YOU for sacrificing for your children(ME), for wanting so much the give them the happiest life you could provide." Elder Holland I THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! This has been the best thing ever... one of the most amazing things i have come to learn about is the importance of the Book of Mormon... please dont let your book of mormons go unread like i did for too long sometimes.... pick em up... every single day even if it's just a little bit... i promise it will change everything if you do.I have seen a huge change in my life and how i look at life!. i love you all so much and look up to all the wonderful people in my life. i love you! love SISTER STORY

"Let us Simplify our lives a little." -Pres Uchtdorf

2010-11-23T08:28:00.000-08:00

So it's been quite a week as usual. Last Tuesday all my dreams came too... okay maybe not all of them, but i found out that there is an old spaghetti factory here in san Diego and i WAS SO EXCITED!!! so my awesome companion said we could go, She too loves the spinach tortellini with Alfredo sauce! So we went there and it was fun. It's always weird to do things that i would do at home here. but it was fun and i LOVED my dinner! So that was pretty fuN! The week has been full of adventures as always. We are trying to find more people to teach and help those that we are teaching to really progress towards baptism.

The longer i'm here the more grateful i feel for the blessings that i have! I have really been grateful for my family, yes all of you! As a missionary i have had the unique opportunity to not only visit families in their homes but to have families visit here in the Mormon Battalion Historic Site! I have seen all types of families and it has made me so aware of how aware Heavenly Father is of us. We have the families that we are supposed to have. I am in the Family is the VERY BEST For me! I'm so lucky to have grown up in a family that was and is founded upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember family home evenings where we had a lesson and truth is that i dont remember a single lesson we had in FHE(sorry mom and dad) but i do remember spending time together i especially remember the games played together... the sock game... up-jink-kins:down-jink-kins(which i have shown to a family for FHE and they LOVED IT).... penny penny who has the penny.... i even remember a time where we played horse race and dad, mom and ben and garret maybe werr the horses and i got to ride on the backs as we raced around the bar from the kitchen into the living room.this was probably really dangerous but really fun and a memory i still have...those memories are continually building with playing hide and go seek in the dark.... and 7 peaks with the tube being lost in the slide... these are the things that i remember about spending time together and loving each other no matter what problems there is. Even through the hard times i remember there was always love and patience(sometimes more than others) I'm so grateful for you! You make it so when i go into a families house and i know they are struggling i can promise them without ANY doubt in my mind that as long as they do their very best and try to build their families on the Gospel of Jesus Christ that it WILL be okay! They can get through their hard times. Their teenage kids will be okay as they read the scriptures with them, listen to them, pray with them, and take them to church... it will be okay! As long as they take those opportunity to teach their children... I know it because i've had it! I was thinking just hte other day about how i always knew i had someone to turn to... my parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins... i'm pretty lucky! And i even because of that i have learned about the LOVe heavenly father has for me Here more than anywhere because now i can't call the long lists of people i can turn to when i struggle but i have come to learn of the love that Heavenly Father has for me and that he is so aware of each of us. especially by having a definite plan for each of us starting even before we came here. Sorry this whole paragraph is very cheesy but i'm cheesy so that's okay. President Uchtdorf said, "there is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity that we sometimes do not appreciate in our thirst for intricate solutions." There is beauty and clarity in just spending time together. So take time this week to just be with each other and spend time talking and playing and having fun!

I'm going to do the same with my little family here. Don't worry mom I'll be fine this thanksgiving we are going to have a Battalion thanksgiving feast! The first thanksgiving... i will be in my pioneer dress! There will be homemade fudge even.... mom i'm sure it wont be anything like yours so if you feel the need to send me some i wouldn't mind!!! :) but i'm a little worried we have appointments to visit some less active members on thanksgiving and i'm worried they will all make us eat there..... aaahhhh.... so i hope i can do it... and i hope on friday i'll still be able to fit in my cloths! it'll be really fun i'm sure! I've been really thankful this week ToO! there is just so much to be thankful for... the gospel, family, the scriptures, our pioneer heritage, life, everythign!!!!!

Yesterday int eh battalion i had a really neat experience. I am continually working on spanish although I have been struggling to improve, but i'm not giving up! Any how a couple. that is SO cute came in from Chile, well the husband is going to stanford but they wanted the tour in spanish. So i did my very best although i still dont feel im able to adequately express myself and the thoughts that come into my mind. We went though and i felt so inspired to testify to them of the blessings of eternal familys so i did that and at the end of the tour invited them to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon and they just shrugged it off... so i was a little sad but just kept talking to them until we got out to the gold panning area and there was a family out there... the husband heard us speaking and jumped it(all return missionaries LOVE using their spanish so they get really excited to speak with people) But it was wonderful... i had just spent the time talking of the blessings of families. Then the wife came up and she had actually served her mission in chile... so it was PERFECT! this couple and family talked for a minute and the family had like 4 children and this little couple was expecting their first. It was just so neat to see how heavenly father put everything together for this couple to have an amazing experience! Then i asked again, not wanting to give up, if they would like a copy and this time they said yes and that they were very interested in receiving a copy! i was so happy! This little family without knowing played a huge part in helping this family receive the gospel! That was the first of the day and so the rest of the day i just felt different and it was neat. I felt heavenly father guiding the tours i was giving to really suit the needs of the people coming. I'm not perfect and i make a lot of mistakes but im grateful that heavenly father is still able to use me to do his work! It's pretty neat! I LVOE IT!

I'm really learning that sometimes you just gotta slow down and focus on those things that matter most, be patient for Heavenly Fathers timing but do all you can!!!!!! "Brothers and Sisters, diligently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the world. That is why 'we talk fo Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ,.. that we may know to what source we may look for a remission of our sins.' In the complexity, confusion, and rush of modern living, this is the 'more excellent way.' " President Uchtdorf!

I LOVE all of you and am GRATEFUL FOR YOU! Have a great week!!!

Love Sister Megan Story

"You must make your decisions purposefully."

2010-11-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

So the weeks been SO GOOD. well always... i mean always with struggles but always with a plethora of blessings... i'm pretty lucky! Wednesday started the week off amazingly with ZONE CONFERENCE. I learned so much... at the end of the day i was SO EXHAUSTED!!!! We talked about humility. "Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless or of little value. We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less of ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowmen." -Pres. Deiter F. Uchtdorf

I'm still working on that humility thing. I have learned that i am prideful in a different way than others. I am prideful in that i think less of myself sometimes and even more than that compare my works and myself with others. it's no good because when we compare someone is always on bottom. We just gotta worry about ourselves. So i'm working on it... we also talked about members sharing the gospel... When members share the gospel and are the ones to talk to their friends it works so much better. People can change and are so strong when they gave that friend... The people that i have taught that really get it quickly and are amazing are all found by members who share the Gospel with their friends. You all can be so good at doing this. You have such strong testimonies of the gospel and can show that although your busy and have crazy lives. This is a blessing to you... how many of you have mormon.org profiles? Will you create profiles??? This is Gods' work and when we do it we are happy! We talked about as well how a lot of people believe we are saved by grace which is true but they don't think they need to DO anything which is wrong! I learned that the things that the way they spoke in the bible is different than the way we speak now and things mean different things but anyhow. IT all goes back to helping others come unto Christ! though faith and repentance.. we have to change to live the way he wants us to, in order to be happy and come unto him! "those who understand their purpose will understand that the world has not access to atoning grace and salvation but through them and the church they represent." Elder Christofferson. Heavenly Father loves us and wants us ALL to have that grace! that's it!

Wednesday we got to teach Henry(who just got baptised) again... we even had birthday cake for his birthday, tres leches... no me gusta!! but it was wonderful they even sang us a Chilean song.. it was wonderful then!!!!!!......

Henry Got the Holy Ghost on Sunday! it was awesome. Afterwards he said that as he received the holy Ghost he felt his heart beating faster and faster!!! he really gets it!!!!! AAAHHH THIS IS THE LIFE!

There is so much wickedness and i'm so happy to have the light of the Gospel in my life... but the best thing is even when good people are hurt they still have amazing attitudes are are strong! even more that the gospel is for everybody and will make everyone happy and is what makes the scary wicked world okay! i just love it and am very very very grateful for it in my life!

I don't have much to say but that i really just love doing this! it's hard and i cry sometimes because i know how important this is and i feel so inadequate. But i know that my weaknesses have become strengths, it's just then i find more weaknesses. hahaha. but i've been called to do this and so the way will be provided. God does not want us to fail and WONT let us fail if we have faith and do ALL we can. i love it.. This is the TRUE GOSPEL! WE ARE LOVED! MORE THAN WE KNOW and I LOVE ALL YOU!!!! SO MUCH Love SISTER STORY!!!!

"Aim High for you are capable of eternal blessings."-President Monson

2010-11-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

This has been a crazy amazing WEEK!!!! ups and downs and all arounds. So like I told you about last week. Henry decided to get Baptized! So we had to teach him and prepare him a lot. So we did our very best to teach him, but he'd been taught everything. So we really were just helping him to continue on. We are also trying to help our investigators continue to progress. We are teaching a lot of families and it actually makes me feel so Lucky and blessed. These families have a lot of problems and are just struggling. There is so many hard things in the world but always good things too.

In the battalion i took the cutest little girl on a tour... She was probably 2-3 and her sister was 5. They were the cutest girl and we are in one of the rooms and here is our conversation in the middle of the tour....

Girl: Hey i have a secret.... you wanna hear???

Me: well, sure...

Girl: IM WEARING A PULL UP!!! (huge smile)... YOU WANNA SEE???

Me: um... well... ahhh... umm.... thats...(in my mind... i'm pretty sure that would be a horrible idea but she was so excited... what do i say... ahhh awkward)

Girls Mom: maybe you should just tell everyone what's on it... that's a better idea

Me:(in my mind. .... oh good!)

Girl: okay... Sleeping Beauty... and A MOON!

Me: wow that's awesome!

It was pretty funny. I'm so glad i get to serve here. i still get to be around cute families and it makes me happy. She was just the cutest thing. The battalion actually has had over 100,000 visitors. It's pretty neat. We are staying busy even though it's not summer. I was a little worried about it slowing down but nope! :)

So then Sunday HENRY WAS BAPTIZED! it was such a beautiful service! The spirit was really strong... we got to the church at 4 to get everything set up and Henry and the Petersons were already there! That is someone who is truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He really gets it! So we get everything set up and everything just went so smoothly. There was like 10-12 missionaries there. It's kinda a long story... he was taught by lots of missionaries one time. but the spirit was so strong. He gave his testimony at the end and it was just so pure. He talked about how grateful he is to have found the Lord and been baptized on his birthday! The thing he said that stuck out to me was..."i am very very very happy!" that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ does makes us VERY VERY VERY HAPPY! So i'm very grateful! It was a blessing for me to be able to work with him and I learned so much!!! then after the baptism we had some cupcakes for them... for his birthday! What a great day!

So i read a talk by President Monson and LOVED IT so guess what you get to hear my favorite parts.

"Prayer is surely a passport to spiritual power...Life was never meant to be all smiles and happiness. There will come teaching times to each of you when you will witness the love of your mer, the strength of your father, and the inspiration of God...Study with purpose, both in church and school... You must make your decisions purposefully... Something seemed to lift me beyond myself and my own abilities. I felt the inspiration of my Heavenly Father's LOVE.... Procrastination is truly a their of time... Move against temporary trials or stoppages which impede your progress... Remember that once you have experienced excellence, you will never again be content with mediocrity."

Everyone sounds to be doing so well. I'm so glad to hear that. I pray for you all the time and try not to think of you when i'm not praying but that's how i think it should be. i LOVED THE VIDEOS!!!! thanks for all your prayers, love and support! it means everything for me.

LOVE SISTER STORY!

2010-11-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

These are some photos i have! :) of our Halloween party... in case you can't find me I"m the missionary. So i just wanted to tell you that i LOVE YOU. I'm so grateful for my family the longer i'm here the more i see families that are messed up and i'm so grateful for the people in my life! For the examples that you all are to me! I'm blessed! you all mean so much to me!

We can't be perfect but we can be PERFECTLY HAPPY!

2010-11-02T13:07:00.001-07:00

So it has been a really busy but amazing week! I have felt strengthened A LOT!!! which is awesome. It was a packed full week of crazy amazingness. Wednesday was transfers! But I STAYED again. this is like my 4th transfer here in a row and 5th all together and i stayed with a companion for another one too! 3 transfers! WOW. So no matter what Sister Christensen will be my companion longer than anybody else. How funny that i go on a mission and the person i'm with the most.. is someone that i knew before. I'm so grateful to stay here. The ward i serve in is the BEST! i wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I felt like there was more left for us to do here! People keep telling us we're a good team. i'd have to agree! But i am a little worried. Sister Christensen is concerned about learning Spanish b/c we serve in an English ward but we go where the lord calls right! :) but I have learned a lot this week about Faith, repentance, baptism, the holy Ghost and endureing to the end. This is what it's ALL about. these simple basics of the gospel!

Wednesday i had this impression that we should call a recent convert just to see how she was and if she needed anything. So the next day we had gone through our day in the moring and then at the temple kinda near the end of the day i thought... oh no we need to call her... but i was worried that she would have already left the office which is the only number we can call her at with our cell phones! but anyway i called her. followed the prompting and had a good converstion with her just told her we loved her and hung up. Thinking nothing of it until sunday when we saw her. SHE IS AWESOME. but told us about how on thursday she was having a horrible day. Everything seemed to go wrong and she was in her office crying and said a prayer asking for help and the moment she ended we called her and that is what she needed. This was so neat because like i said i've been struggling to know if i am following the spirit and doing what God wants me to. but i just am consitantly trying my best and when i make a mistake(that happens a lot) i try to fix it! but following that small prompting to call her was an answer to her prayer. It's neat to be able to be a tool in the lords hand even with my weaknesses and imperfection... if i just have faith i can do it I CAN! but the neat thing is that we all can if we just folllow those little promptings we recieve to call someone or writ them a note or give em a hug.

Then i thought it was AWESOME i saw uncle neal! So cool. He musta followed a prompting to come see me. A fimiliar face. I actually was shocked and didn't quite know what to do. He probably thought i was so awkward because i really had no idea what to do! but it was really good. It was an answer to my prayers. I am always learning here that God is aware of each of us every little thing. he knows! he knows everything about us and what we need an what we are going through. it's awesome! SO THANKS UNCLE NEAL!

Then Saturday and Sunday were SO GOOD! Stake Conference! IT WAS amazing. the speakers did an amazing job. i dont know it was just awesome then SO MANY Miracles happened! AAAHHHH awesomenes. Well SUnday we had a Halloween party at the Mormon Battalion. It was perfect for me. We had hot dogs... dont worry family i really like meat now. ... the things that change as you are a misionary! but we did a little talent show... i serve with such talented people... skits, songs, piano, singing, poems! It was perfect for me it reminded me of home. not in a bad way but a good way like i felt like i was home here. It's a weird thing but i can't imagine myself not being here now. i have ups and downs but this is my family number 2. I know Heavenly Father put me here partly because he knew i'd need that feel of HOME! and i have it... AWESOME NESS!!!!

Then the biggest mirracle and now i dont have time to tell you all about it!!!! but sunday we went and taught Henry. he is the sweetest man from Chile. His sister and brother in lawe are members. We taguth him sunday and had a good lesson then monday went over and they taught us to make EMPANADAS!!! YEAH! and we had ice cream. Then we taught him and invited him to be baptised... he said maybe when he knew it was true but we testified to him that faith is acting when we might not know everything. but in the end he didn't commite but promised to read and pray. but really sister christensen and i make a pretty good team. She is more upfront and bold but i think i can read people well it just works. but we did all we could but felt good about it but then we were SO late from taking to long teaching him that we were late picking up other sisters and then getting back to the battalion. Then i found out car keys were missing gess who had then last.... ME. so i lost a 13o dollar key and nobody could drive a car which left 4 sisters stuck with out a car walking. i was feelling pretty crappy.... so all that worked out they found the keys in the garbage and i had put them where they were supposed to be but something had happened. ... but then best of all.... Henry called at 9 and told us he wants to be baptised THIS SUNDAY cuz it's his birthday and he wants to be borna gain on his birthday! YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! he had spent the night reading the book of mormon and knows he need to get baptised this week! So now this week we will be preparing for his baptsime. Please pray for him to be able to do this and be protected! This is God's work and nothing can frustrate it. It's all about Faith and acting on that to repent and change ourlifes. if we do this all will be well. I'm not perfect i make mistakes but i know that that's okay. As long as i continue to try and change and become better that's okay! that all god asks of me and the people we teach. It's simple. and i LOVE IT! Miracles are happing all around us and mom your right we can't be perfect but we can be perfectly happy when we live the gospel of JEsus Christ! He loves us and wants us to follow him. I LOVE IT! I Really do love this work even though it's hard sometimes. i wouldnt want to be ANYWHERE else right now! i love you all an pray for you ALL THE TIME! with much love, SISTER STORY.

2010-11-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

So I just learned how to open these on my computer. Here are some pictures that Megan has sent through her missionanother photo. this is a girl that i worked with in my first area. she stopped by to see me at the mormon battalion this week. shes awesome! She's 17 found the gospel and her parents dont want anything to do with it but she goes to church and if so faithful. wants to go to provo for school. i just love this girl.Then i thought it was AWESOME i saw uncle neal! So cool. He musta followed a prompting to come see me. A fimiliar face. I actually was shocked and didn't quite know what to do. He probably thought i was so awkward because i really had no idea what to do! but it was really good. It was an answer to my prayers. I am always learning here that God is aware of each of us every little thing. he knows! he knows everything about us and what we need an what we are going through. it's awesome! SO THANKS UNCLE NEAL!

Me and kim!!!!!!! SO CUTE!!!!!!THis is me and mi primera hija!!!!!!!!!! MY NEW COMPANION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST LOVE HER! she is the sweetest thing. This is her second transfer and she is just a hard worker. She is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love her! The greenies are COMING!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! hahahahaha

2010-10-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

So it has been an insane week. just crazy. I've struggled this week. But i realized how we all have ups and downs and it has helped me to be more patient with our investigators. I just wanted them to GET it and do all that we ask because we just want them to be happy and feel it and i have really struggled to feel the spirit like i normally do. Lately. but anyway I don't know how to tell you all the things that have happened this week... so I'll start at the beginning. I have really struggled to feel like i am becoming and being a tool in God's hand to share the gospel.I've just felt down. but you know me I've tried to hide it, which i do pretty well. But it started to make a struggle between my companion because she could tell i was down and upset and then it would make her think i was upset and I'd think she was upset and so it was just crazy! So it's been one of those weeks. I've struggled to really feel like i know who i am. This is a weird thought because I've never struggled with that but being here i have changed so much and i am a representative of Jesus Christ and I am struggling to find the balance of ME and being a missionary and where it all goes. anyway I'm not making any sense but overall the point of the story(pun) is i've learned a lot this week.

I've been reading in mosiah(trying to finish the bom one more time at least) but i have loved reading about these awesome missionaries and their strength but what i LOVED the most is that as Alma is ordaining them he tells them to only preach the things that he had taught. only faith repentance and baptism. SO The doctrine of Christ and it's so neat to see that that is EXACTLY the what i preach as a missionary. The doctrine of Christ. That is the most important thing it so share that. I have realized this week really that that is EVERYTHING for each of us. I was on exchanges with another sister who said to me... "if people could only understand we are not here to be perfect... we are here to grow our faith, repent and participate in saving ordinances." we dont have to be perfect." and that is what i've really been struggling with. i have felt such a strong desire to become perfect and i am SO far from it!!! SO FAR... and when she said that i was like yea if people could just get it!! and i was thinking of all our investigators that think that they need to be perfect. but i didn't quite get it still for me. So i continued on in my week... still frustrated and not feeling like i could follow the spirit.

Then we had devotional with all the Mormon battalion sisters like we always do and the sisters shared this scripture... 3 Nephi: 24 Therefore, hold up your ^alight that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the ^blight which ye shall hold up that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed. And i felt even more frustrated because i felt i had no light to hold up but still aaaahhhh i was so frustrated because i kept doing everything i could i kept studying my guts out trying so hard to help the people in our area, help all those we are working with, but i felt i couldn't. but still just keep praying and working to try and get it.

My mission had some things filmed here right when i got here. They are the new preach my gospel videos. all the missions are watching them and matt will watch em when he gets in the mtc. Those are of my mission and actually the area i work in now. So to get to the point they were doing some follow up filming this weekend. one of the girls went and got sealed in the temple. :) yyeah! but they asked me to do soem follow up with Sister Voyles. So we taught this lady and were filmed on sunday. It was really hard for me becasue i have felt so down and unable to serve heavenly father in a way that he wants me to and then they filmed us teaching. It actually went really well and she now has a date to be baptised! yeah!!!! but i just felt so frustrated becasue i want to be an amazing missionary and i want to be all that God wants me to be but have felt unable to do so. So this was just another stress. And i've felt guilty becasue i've wanted to think about others but felt like i couldn't even think straight... but then this is the point of the whole long story.

Yesterday in comp study... we always share a little of what we share and i apologized to my companion and then she said all she had to share were 3 scriptures that were for me about how much God loves me and wants me to be happy. She asked what was up and i just cry3ed... i'm not telling you this to make you worried cuz it's all good. My companion chastised me for being down and helped me to really feel the spirit! She helped me to see that i am feeling the spirit it is just differently that usual. She helped me to see things differently.... I had been so worried about being a PERFECT missionary. but she read this to me... "Matthew 5: 48 ^aBe ye therefore ^bperfect, even as your ^cFather which is in heaven is ^dperfect. with the footnotes...

GR complete, finished, fully developed.

D&C 67: 13.

13 Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, ^acontinue in patience until ye are ^bperfected."

And helped me to see that beingperfect doesn't mean perfect now or ever in this life but to become fully developed and complete and i can get there! but i learned so much becuase of this. and i'm still working through it but i realized some things that i will never forget.

This life isn't a time to be perfect we are doing all we can to strengthen our faith and repent and take hold of the ordinances so that one day we can return to God and become perfect with him. I don't have to be perfect now. I'm never going to be the perfect missionary. and i can be ME and a Disciple of Christ too!!!! i can do both! but i realized how all the things people said and the scriptures i studied and that others studied were all for me! Heavenly Father is so concerned with me and my progression and making sure that even when i personally couldn't feel his love because of my own pride and selfishness he did ALL he could to help others answer my questions that i had only gone to him with. The sister i went on exchanges with didn't know i was struggling with trying to be perfect even my companion didn't know all that was on my mind, but God knew. he knew all of it everything. And he gave me my answers in so many different ways through so many different people. I know God is aware of each of us and our personal trials and will keep working with us if we do all we can to understand. We will still struggle but he will help us get it and he will guide others to help us too!!! I do not doubt that Heavenly Father is in eachof our lives more than we know. He loves us. This has helped me have so much more patience with those we are working with. It's amazing! well that is my week this was probably a confusing email. but it's my thoughts! i love you guys and this gospel. IT's TRUE! love you love SISTER STORY

"Humility directs or attention and love towards others and to Heavenly Father's purposes."

2010-10-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

So it was another good week. Really busy and a little stressful. but i guess that is good! We had a zone blitz for our area. Which means all the missionaries for the zone came and visited less active people in our ward to help us try and get the work moving faster. It was awesome and amazing things happened! I also went on exchanges this week so was not in my area but was with some other sisters which was fun. it was like a sleepover. I'm a little worried transfers are next week and i don't want to leave i wanna stay here but i kinda feel like I'm leaving. We'll see what happens. I'll go where I'm called and love it. But i don't have much to say... sorry. it was a good week. I always feel that i learn so much but i sit down to tell you about it and blank... sorry.

Yesterday i read the talk given by Elder Uchtdorf in Priesthood session about pride. and it was AWESOME. I didn't think i was too prideful but i guess i am... he said, "Every mortal has at least a casual if not intimate relationship with the sin of pride. No one has avoided it; few overcome it." That just hit me... oh man.... I've been struggling a little bit lately with comparing myself with other missionaries. Especially my companion. I don't know why maybe because we are so different in a lot of ways and i have felt frustrated because i feel like she has some qualities that i need and feel frustrated that at this point in my mission still don't have and I think she struggles to see my good qualities and that she can learn somethings from me. I don't know if that made sense but then i read this talk. and it really helped me... he said, "at it's core, pride is a sin of comparison...Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless or of little value. We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with and attitude of serving God and our fellowman... The moment we stop obsessing with ourselves and lose ourselves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die." So I realized i am prideful but i just need to stop worrying about what others think of me and if I'm measuring up to others standards and start worrying more about what God thinks of me and how if i just worry about that it will work out and i will become who God wants me to be. It's okay if we have different strengths and weaknesses that is why we are companions b/c with both we will help those around us. I dunno. This was super good for me! Those apostles... they really are inspired!

Then last night we had a neat experience. We are trying to work more with members... to help them feel comfortable sharing the gospel with their friends. especially with Mormon.org and we went to a member's house and they were so awesome and just thanked us for serving and said we bring a special spirit into their home. they especially thanked us for serving because he told us that as priesthood holders boys have the responsibility to serve missions but that as sisters we don't have that. Which is something my mission president mentioned as well. But they just told us how much that meant to them that we are still here and trying as hard as we can to share this and help others. It was just neat how they were so grateful for that. I still don't think i quite comprehend how grateful people are for us. Probably because i feel i am learning so much and am BLESSED a thousand times over by serving the lord! but it was neat.

well i love you all. i know this is the truth... i also wanted to ask again if you've made profiles. I think my mission pres told us that the breathing's goal is to have every member have a profile by the end of the year! Make one and let me know when you do so i can look it up!!!!! do it!!!!! make the time!!! i love you. love SISTER STORY

I'm Sister Megan Ruth Story and i'm a missionary, a daughter, a sister and IM A MORMON!!!!

2010-10-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been a really good week... To update you on last week. The girl we met last Monday we had an appointment on Wednesday and a friend of hers was there. So we ended up being able to teach her and her friend! So we added both of them as investigators and had an amazing lesson with them about the Restoration of the Gospel. Sometimes it's easy for us as members who know this our whole lives to realize what a blessing the knowledge of the gospel is. It is priceless to have this knowledge. This was such a powerful experience and both the girls really got it. Sometimes we teach people and they say all the right things but you know it's not touching their heart and then sometimes you have experiences and know that they really get it and they realize that it does mean EVERYTHING! but just everything with these girls and this week has shown me that God is involved in EVERY single parts of our lives if we just let him. With finding this girl. We had been having a feeling to visit this lady who is less active and so we kept going but no body was there ever. So one day last week we had that training which also meant exchanges... and i left the area... so we did them and one of the things that the sisters we did exchanges do are knock the two doors next to the people we were going to visit that are not home so they did that and that is how they found christian. So heavenly father did all that he could to put us at that less active's house and especially with the other sisters who knock on the neighbors door and that is how we found this girl and then the day before we went over to her house on Wednesday her friend was praying and praying to know what to do and get direction and the next day she meets us. I am just amazed at how Heavenly Father will make everything possible and get everyone exactly where they need to be! it was awesome!!!! WAHOO!!!!!

That same night we went and saw another investigator family that we are working with. it is a husband that is less active and his wife and son are not baptized but he's coming back and we are working on the family. He was so nice. He has been less active for about 20 years but he was telling us how as he watched conference he realized how old the apostles and the prophet are and he told us how he remembered them so much younger. but he continued to testify to us of how much he missed out by not being active and how he felt for the last 20 years he wasn't progressing. but it really touched me because he exhorted us to never be less active and to always to the important things like reading the scriptures praying and going to church because it keeps you progressing... it's funny i thought i was here to help people but i find myself being the one who is helped over and over again. His testimony meant a lot to me and really strengthened me!

Yesterday again i saw how awesome Heavenly Father is to get people exactly where they need to be for him to bless their lives. As a missionary every night we plan for the next day ans so Sunday night we plan and i always feel so responsible as we plan because this time is so important and sacred that i want to be where God wants me to be so Monday i didn't feel so confident in where to go but we made plans and started to follow them. and our first appointment canceled... boo...so we went to our backup and he wasn't there but then all the sudden we realized that across the street were a part member family we had tried to visit and nobody was EVER home! and SOMEONE WAS THERE!!!! and so we walked over and talked to a guy who is not a member but interested in meeting with us and talked to him and set up an appointment... then we started back and saw a lady and thought hey we need to talk to her so we did. and she was the mom of the family who recently moved in and we had visited them the day before but she wasn't home... so we randomly met her walking on the street then we go back and first person we wanted to talk to was now outside... heavenly father made all that happen in perfect timing for us to talk to those 3 people. It really helps me to know that even those there are million and millions of people in the world God really is concerned with the one. This is about each and ever soul and we are all individually important to our Heavenly Father. I have seen this week not only Heavenly Father caring about each and ever single person we teach but me too. with all my talents and all my thousands of weaknesses. He loves me and will help me with anything!
Then Sister Voyles was a sister in the filming for the district 2 that was filmed in my mission and was able to go visit some of the people that were filmed and got an impression to go see some of the people who were filmed and they told her that they would be home Monday night. So we made arrangements for me to go with her. So last night we went and they weren't there. BUMMER. but then i got the impression to go visit one of the families that they had worked with that were struggling a little. Maybe because of our crazy schedule we had never been able to see them together the whole family. But we went and got there and the whole house was DARK... ahh i was so sad so we decided to call...(she is one of those people who never answer the phone!) but she answered!! YAAE!!! and the whole family was there and we had a GREAT lesson with them! it was amazing! the spirit was there and we were able to help them. Again it shows Heavenly Father knows way better than we do. he knew what was going to happen and what needed to happen! and I'm immensely grateful.

Just think of all the blessings and joy we have because of knowing that God loves each and everyone of us as individuals and his children. He knows us, our weaknesses and strengths, our joys and sorrows, our struggles and successes and loves us. How awesome is it that we know that. We know that God has a plan for us and our family's and we know what to do to have those blessings in our lives. Think of all we'd be without, without the gospel... really just think about it for a minute.... where would you be without the Gospel of Jesus Christ.... that is where tonz of people are!!!! That is why we have the responsibility to share it.

President Howard W. Hunter (1994–1995)

“Surely taking the gospel to every kindred, tongue, and people is the single greatest

responsibility we have in mortality. . . . We have been privileged to be born in these last days,

as opposed to some earlier dispensation, to help take the gospel to all the earth” (“Walls of the

Mind,”
Ensign, Sept. 1990, 10).

“What does the Atonement have to do with missionary work? Any time we experience

the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we cannot help but have a concern for the

welfare of others. . . . A great indicator of one’s personal conversion is the desire to share

the gospel with others.”

We are so blessed and with that blessing we have a responsibility and i know you are all SO BUSY!!!!!! and you dont have tons of time but there is something you can do. the new Mormon.org is AMAZING!!!!! and the coolest thing is that you all can create profiles and do missionary work by doing that! then when you talk to someone who's not a member invite them to go to that and look up your profile... so my loving family... WILL YOU CREATE PROFILES AT MORMON.ORG... do it for family night.... you have 10 minutes... i know you will be blessed and if you pray for opportunities your testimonies can bless others. Heavenly Father will see that you are trying and will help you with the struggles and trials that you are having in your life! I know that he loves each of you individually! This is his gospel and he wants us to be happy. I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support! i know that this Gospel is True and makes me SO HAPPY!!! AAAHHH IT'S AWESOME! love, sister STORY!

Good, but hard week.

2010-10-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've learned a ton this week as always but I've really learned that i need to have joy in this work.I've been letting myself get so stressed out and not enjoying it the way that i need to. So i have been trying harder to still stay focused and be the missionary that i need to be but enjoy it too. "adam feel that men may be and men are that they might have JOY!" I am also trying to have more humility but still struggle to know how. but i'm trying alway trying. i had a member once say to me when i was struggling with Spanish.... "just keep swimming swimming swimming" like on finding nemo.... and somehow that has stuck with me. when i get frustrated i just think... just keep swimming! hehehe. it's silly but it true. Endure to the end!

But i LOVED conference.It was hard for me to focus because i got sick and have had a head cold all weekend i am just now getting over it! but that's alright. I loved Elder Holland. especially when he talked about his parents and his gratitude to them for him being able to serve a mission. that is how i feel. I feel so grateful to be here but i can never quite explain how grateful. It really means EVERYTHING TO ME and has changed how i think about EVERYTHING! aaahhh... its just so awesome!!!!! oh my goodness and it's started to rain here which i love... not so good when I'm sick but i still love it! and Thursday i saw a FULL rainbow!!!! it was AWESOME. It was like a perfect rainbow I was SO SOSOSOS excited. I felt so happy about it! man the sky here is SO pretty. The clouds and sun rises and sets are awesome. any who back to conference. i loved President Uchtdorfs talk as well about simplifying... he quoted divinci and said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." I loved that because i keep trying to complicate everything but realized that i need to simplify... it's about faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost and enduring to the end. that is the gospel and it's simply and wonderful and that's what I'm here to teach people. But anyhow sorry I'm so everywhere this week. I'm still trying to get my head on from being sick. anyway here's some of my favorite quotes from conference.

"Returning to the Lord isn't easy but it's worth it." "Come out into the Light." "all mankind may be saved." Elder Hales

"Awake, arouse, work, plant, excersize." Richard Eadgley

"Sometimes things go wrong even when we do our very best." Elder Gong of the seventy

"We stand apart from the world." "Prayed and prayed and prayed." "Will we understand everything? OF COURSE NOT." "Push our spiritual roots deep." Elder Anderson

"Faith... changes life to a symphony of joy." Character is not built in trail but is merely when we use it." We become what we want to by by consistently being who we want to become and consistently becoming whe we want to be." "Be grateful that sometimes god lets you struggle for a long time!" "you get what you pay for" "1.faith, 2. repentance, 3. Obedience, 4. Sacrifice, these fortify our character." Elder Scott

"Our agency is more powerful than the will of the devil." "wickedness never was happiness." "you can if you will overcome every temptation." "Regardless of the opposition we are determined to stay on course" "angels will guide you." "forgive." "we can forgive ourselves." President Packer

"The holy Ghost is the greatest gift they can have." Elder Jensen of the seventy

But those are some of my ah ha moments as i watched conference but if they are not all exact forgive me because i was on dayquil/nyquil a lot this weekend. So it might have been my imagination. but i just LOVED conference. it is awesome!

then yesterday was a great day. we met a new investigator she is about 19 and really ready for the gospel. We are really excited for her and are working to help the other people we have to be baptized soon. This is really is fun being a missionary. I am grateful that i can serve. I know that this is the lords kingdom on the earth. Joseph smith was a prophet and Heavenly Father Loves us. He wants us to be happy. That's why we have the Book of Mormon so that we can read it and know for ourselves that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and each one of us. I'm so happy that we have a living prophet on the earth and i know thomas s monson is a prophet and speaks for god. I love you ALL. LOve sister story!

Good week coming up!

2010-09-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

It has definitely been an up and down week. The weeks always go by so fast and i am surprised when it is Tuesday again and i get to email you all. but i'm excited to hear how everything is going. it makes me cry to hear that tay ordained the boys! I love those three so much. They are just such wonderful guys and i'm so glad they are my brothers! they are all going to make really great missionaries one day! They are good examples to me especially of love, they all loved me so much even if that means pinching and teasing and beating me up i know they really do love me so im so proud of them and love them. it makes me sad to miss those things but i hope i'm being a good example for them. I'm glad everyone is doing so well. I love you all tons and tons!

Well not too much has happened this week well lots but nothing we did have an investigator drop us. We had set a baptismal date on Wednesday and on Friday she called us and told us never to talk to her again. She read something online about polygamy and got really upset. We tried to talk to her but she wouldn't really budge. it was hard for both me and my companion. Especially because we really love this lady and know she felt the spirit but realized that she was looking for a way to bail out. She's not ready now but one day will remember how she felt and try again. This week was like that. There were a lot of hard things that happened but i have realized that they are all part of Gods plan and a way he was answering our prayers. We had prayed for heavenly father to help us know who was really ready to make a change and accept the gospel and then she called us and told us she wasn't. Those things are still hard but i really do see that Heavenly Father is answering our prayers and helping us all the time! He never leaves us alone!

I am so excited for this week. TODAY WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE! wahoo. it was so wonderful. it's amazing the spirit that is there. i have been so worried about not focusing on the work and losing the fire for the work. i mean i dont have tonz of time left and i wanna make it all count so i took that to the temple with me and i received a lot of peace and comfort in the temple. I learned what i needed to to be the missionary i want to be. I am so grateful for the temple and the peace that is felt there. It's such a blessing that we have in Utah to live by like 15 temples within like 2 hours... what... awesomeness....Then we went to California Pizza Kitchen with like 15 of the sister and it was so fun... and they had some weird program and they paid for 120 dollars of the 200 dollar check so it was just like 8 dollars for each of us with tip. they told us they were so impressed with us because we were just such an easy large group and that they made some mistakes but we were like whatever it's no big deal. They just really were so impressed and i was thinking about what a big difference that was for them. They now will have good memories of Mormon missionaries. It's amazing how just being kind and being examples of Jesus Christ can change things. It's neat that we can all do that missionary or no missionary just by our examples.

Then we just got to the library and about 10 minutes after we get here i looked over and a lady had looked up mormon.org... what... i never realized...well maybe a little how much people really do notice us as missionaries. We were here 10 minutes when she was curious and looked up mormon.org. that's pretty cool. but then i looked over and she got embarrassed and switched to a screen but how cool.

So i am SO EXCITED FOR THIS WEEK!!! AYAAHAHAHAHAHALMLJFSO(WEIRJ<FJSURo... i just even know what to say because i'm so excited and that came out of my fingers.hahaha. So today we went to the temple... Thursday and Friday we have training with president Donaldson which is always awesome!!!!!! then conference my mind is going to be blown!! i can't even describe but you all better be prepared for a nice long email next week of all my new things learned and missionary excitement! I am sure i'm going to learn so much about how to help save peoples souls and that is just amazing! well i gotta go.. we are short on time but i love you all somuch! i KNOW KNOW KNOW KNOW that this church is true and that it brings more paz than anything else! i love you again so much! thank you for your love and support! love SISTER STORY! your favorite missionary ever! (just in case you forgot!)

2010-09-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

So the week started with Transfers.... NO NEW COMPANION!!!!! what? NO NEW AREA!!!!! what? Yes you heard it. I finally stayed in the same area with the same companion. I'm pretty excited! None of the sister in the battalion got transferred. So it was pretty boring. I dont know if i've told you but in my mission everyone else gets the call tues morning so they have preparation day to pack and wednesday they leave but as battalion sisters the suspense is a little more intense because we never get called. We find out at transfer meeting. Sometimes it's frustrating and hard but there are definitely good things about it. You cant have lots of rumors or waste time saying tonz of goodbyes. but this transfer we all stayed the same. Then my companion and i got to take all the new missionaries through the battalion. it was a really neat experience because there is something about new missionaries. they are just so excited about doing the lords work and it's easier to lose that excitement then to keep it but it really helped me to put things into perspective that this is SO important and we need to be excited about it. Eager to do Gods work. It was cool too because the battalion was a lot like missionaries they put all their trust in the Lord to leave everything that they knew and loved. So it was neat to testify of that. Especially with my companion who is just hear and understands a lot how the new missionaries feel and me who has been out a while and could help them to see that miracles will happen on thier missions if they are faithful. so that was a good day.

Then the next day was my year mark. It was weird to think i have been out a whole year but also a neat thing. It's weird though i thought by the time i got to this point i would think i knew everything about being a missionary and be all you know like know everything but no. i still feel just as inadequate as i did when i got here...So i guess i was seriously mistaken but i did take some time to think about all that i have done in the last year and realized that Heavenly Father has blessed me SO MUCH! i can't even adequately express it but i will try... a year ago today......i didn't know spanish or know i would be working to learn it.... now i'm still not perfect but i can actually have a conversation and teach the gospel in spanish. and people know what i'm saying. this has been a tremendous blessing to me. and it has been a struggle and is still a struggle for me but it was a way that Heavenly Father humbled me. and i have been able to work with AMAZING people because of it! .... i didn't know any of the amazing sisters that i learn from each and everyday and help me when i struggle....i didn't know how to teach the gospel. i mean i still don't but i'm working on it.... i didn'et even understand what missionary work was about.... i didn't understand the basic principles of the gospel and how faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost and endure to the end are the first principles and if we just do these five things then we will be okay and we will make it... My knowledge of the gospel has improved SO MUCH!... my testimony has boomed!!!!!!.... and even more than all that i have come to know my savior so much more than ever before in my life... i have realized what really is important and what is not... i wish i could express how much serving for the past year has ment to me but i can't. but it has meant everything it has changed who i am and who i will be forever. This was the best decision i have ever made and even when it's hard i do not regret being here. This has been the hardest and best year EVER!!!! and i'm looking forward to the next 6 months of it!

So we have had some great experiences in the last little while we are teaching a lady who is AMAZING!!! she has 2 dogs and 2 cats.... oh yes you all know how much i LOVE That! It is not my favorite place. but as a missionary i have learned to deal with being in places with animals that shed and are stinky and gross. Dont worry i still hate them. and i will NEVER have pets in my house.... my kids will just be out of luck! yuck. but this lady is the SWEETEST thing. She has ms so can't get around very well so as we teach her we always help her with things. The most recent things we help do is to give all her pets thier medicines...yuck.. luckily sister christensen is AWESOME and will do most of the work. We also sometimes help wand get dressed which is awkward but we will do anything to help.... let me tell you there are somethings i never thought i'd do on my mission that i have done. We also set two people up on a date this week. One of the familys we are teaching's grandpa came into town and one of the first things he said to us was, "i'm here looking for a companion... i'm lonely!" So we did all that we could to get him some numbers after a few failed attempts with women in the ward. We got a winner a sister in another ward that agreed to meet with grandpa... yes we thought it would be love.. he called her and left her a message on the phone saying, "hello, i am really really really looking for a companion. so i'll talk to you later." they met at the mormon battalion and after talking for a good 2 hours... alass... nothing... just ! We did our best but apparently missionaries do not make the best match makers. The elders that gave us the number said they probably couldn't say they were proud of what they did but i can... i'm proud of my attempts to help people find love!

Then sunday we had miracles. Well i guess it started saturday night. Our district has this thing when occasionally if needed we all pray together for one of our investigators and Saturday our district prayed for a family we are working with. They are a less active part member family and i have been so worried they haven't been to church for a while but are so AMAZING! We have been praying and praying for them. So their grandpa gets to church early and we ask, "so are they coming" and to our greatest disappointment he tells us no that they just couldnt get here. We were both heart broken...then half way through the meeting they come walking iN!!!!! they made it. they came to church!!!!! I'm sure it was the prayers of our district praying for us and God blessing us and that little family and everyone really enjoyed church and had a good time! I was SO happy. It was such a blessing!!!

So as you can see things are just rollin along here. sounds like things are also just going there... I CAN"T BELIEVE THE TWINS ARE GONNA BE 16!! ahh.. That is so crazy! they are old i am old. It sounds like they are staying busy and having fun which is good! I'm SO UNBELIEVABLY excited for taylor to put in his papers and serve a mission. IT's just the greatest! Sounds like everyone is doing good. i love hearing about all of you and what's going on in your lives. i feel so far away sometimes. but i love you all so much! i'm grateful for your examples and love. I am grateful for your supoort and love. I know this is true! This gospel is it and it's awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE, SISTER STORY

karina's baptism pics!

2010-09-15T08:15:00.001-07:00

Ponder deeply and diligenly in the scriptures and in the words of the Prophets

2010-09-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

So this week went awesome again!!!! What can i say this is great! The most exciting things was that Karina got baptized. One of the girls we were working with got baptized! Saturday with the ward LUAU after we had the baptism. The spirit was amazingly strong. It was really neat! She has been really prepared for the gospel in her life! 4 months ago she didn't know anything about the church and now she is a member. A member of our ward told her about it. It was really cool. For the past 2 or 3 months she's been coming to church. the activities even. About 3 months ago i was sitting there thinking when it dawned on me that she could not be a member. I think the first time she came to church was the week before i came back to the chula second ward. So everyone already knew her and i just didn't even know that she wasn't a member but then i think the spirit taught me that she wasn't. So my companion and i started asking around to find out. Then we went and talked to her and gave her our number and told her to call us and we could teach her more. She called us the very next day telling us that she wanted to get baptized! it was awesome! We taught her and two weeks later she was baptized! If you ever have anyone tell you that people are not searching and prepared for the truth of the gospel tell em. "YOUR WRONG!" but really it was a neat experience for me. Especially because just a week probably earlier i was telling sister christensen that miracles happen when we have faith and that there are people prepared for the Gospel and the Truth we just have to have the faith that God will and can help us find them. She was a tish doubtful. I think i told her on a day that not a single person opened the door for us. hehe hehe but then a little while later just what i promised her could happen did happen. It really showed me and strengthened my testimony that this Gospel is true and people will be led to it if they are sincere and open. And even more to add to that... this week i read a scripture that said something to the effect(of course i forgot which scripture) that God will prove our words true... and this is what he did. Oh man this is true! but the actually service was AWESOME! she came about 45 minutes early. It's always a great sign when they show up really early and are excited. So it gave us plenty of time to take photos and get everything ready! It was perfect too. in the church baptismal font... There was a beautiful dress. We tried to get camilla to wear it the week before but she didn't want to but Karina saw it and like me and sister Christensen LOVED it so she promised to try it on and if it fit she would wear it. IT FIT! miracles happen. It was perfect! i LOVED it! So she came. The service went really well. Two women in the ward sang a pretty hymn and the spirit just overflowed the room! it's amazing how the spirit is so strong as God's children come to him in baptism! Sorry i sound so cheesy but it really is the coolest experience and i try to explain it and describe it but i've never been good at expressing all the joy and peacefulness that's inside in writing or speaking for that matter. That's why i smile a lot cuz that's the only way i really can express it.

but i'm enjoying my time here so much. I still struggle. It's funny. There is a quote i might have told you about it last week but its, "always pleased but never satisfied." that's how i felt we had an amazing baptism but i'm not done. I'm ready to continue. We are now looking for more investigators. we have lots of people to teach but they are not really ready to change their lives so we are trying to find those who are ready to change! We are doing all we can. Sister Christensen and i are a good team... she is really organized and in a hurry... which is good cuz i'm a mess and never seem to know about time and stuff. but we are doing well, just trying to find more people and teach the way God wants us too! but i'm learning a lot. Today i got chastised because i've been asking and asking Heavenly Father about what i should do and how to help this area and i read the first of ether where Heavenly Father just tells him. that he should figure it out and then come to me and tell me what i can do to help you. That was my answer. i've been here a year now and i know more or less how to do this work. I just gotta have faith and go and do it and ask Heavenly Father for the help i need. So that's my plan. I also found this AWESOME QUOTE, "Ponder deeply and diligently in the scriptures and in the words of the Prophets. Persist in prayer for the Holy Ghost to reveal to you the nature of God the Father and His Beloved Son. Plead that the Spirit will show you what the Lord wants you to do. Plan to do it. Promise him to obey. Act with determination until you have done what he asked. And then pray to give thanks to the opportunity to serve and know what you might do next." President Henry B. Eyring So i'm working on it!

It sounds like everything there is SO good! i'm SO happy about that. I was a little concerned that i didn't hear from you all last week. but i'm glad things are good. the boys all seem to be doing SO GOOD! i'm so proud of all of you. especially those boys! I love you three boys lots. You make me so proud. i am seeing more and more how much the Lord really did send amazing youth. There are some scary things in the world but you guys are doing so good. Yell loud at the football games for me. Clap even louder at the play. and give tay a big hug for becoming an elder! Good luck with all. I'm praying for all you all.

PS MOM and GARRET... did you know Kelsey Park(peggy's daughter and bryan's sister is coming to serve here!) WHAT AWESOME HUH! She's good friends with my comp and this week it actually clicked who that was. so the three of us from orem are going to tear it up out here. You should call her mom or brother or her and tell them that she'll be taken care of and she is coming to the best mission ever!!!!!!!! Mom help peggy feel better to know she really will be safe and happy and it'll be awesome! So that's neat!

Last of all. I went to La Jolla Cove today... ITS a Gorgeous view of the ocean with seals. It was really peaceful. I just LOVE being outside! it's so pretty here. No matter where i go it's just awesome. i look out and see that there is no way that there is no God. Somebody had to create this beauty. I dont understand when people don't believe there is a God because i look out at the ocean and see how there is a God and he loves us so much to make us such a great place to live! think about what else!!!!! WOW! it was hard though cuz i just wanted to run to the beach and jump in the water. Dont worry i help myself back, with help from my comp. but you better believe that we are all gonna get back here one day to play in the water! hahahaha. but then i saw this sweet sign. "We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give." -winston churchill What a great place we live in. I'm so lucky. well i love you all so much. hope all is well. i pray for you all the time. ! Les amo!

love SISTER STORY

2010-09-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

So i had my companion send this too me so i wanted to send it to you!
...

Ahhh it was a PERFECT baptism. Seriously, it went SO well! The spirit was incredible strong and there were FIVE investigators there! so many people came to support the Zacharkos and it seriously just went perfect. :)

and afterward they took us to baskin robbins! Ma, we got pink bubble gum in memory of YOU!!

(and ps the last picture is just random. last night we got a bunch of referrals and sweet sister stutz, the senior missionary, had us make a toast. it was so cute! I love these sisters here!)

"It is more important to help someone else succeed than it is to focus on your own success-it will help you unders

2010-09-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

That is how i have felt this week. It has been a struggle but i love it and it's worth it. We have had struggles and successes. We are always grateful but never satisfied because there are always more people needing this message. So Tuesday we met with our investigator that told us she wants to get baptized and continued to teach her and she is so prepared. She might postpone her baptism so that her family can come. She is already being missionary and trying to share this message with those around her. She's amazing. It really does help me to see that these are truths that we all knew before we came her to earth and now we are just re-remembering them. I'm grateful that i was always taught these truths and even more than that, that i recognized the truth. She is doing great and we have another appointment with her tonight. We will find out if her baptism is this Saturday or later. Then we went to see Amor-i love her. She is the sweetest lady.(tay your friends are supposed to watch online videos for the mtc they are from my mission and the sisters are in the area that i serve in. watch them with your friends so you can see. it's awesome. amor is one of the families they focus on) But i love amor. It's amazing what strength the gospel brings to peoples lives and how they can really feel the difference!

Then Saturday was GREAT. The 12 year old girl we've been working with got baptized. Everything went perfectly. The service was awesome. The family got there early along with our investigator and her friends in the ward. So everyone we stressed about were the first ones there. We went and took some pictures i will send some home to you. So the service started and lots of people came(which is always a stress for us because we want people to support and love these people) A girl in our ward gave a talk and the spirit was so strong. She testified of something so neat especially for the 12 year old and the investigators that came. She said that although we don't know everything when we are baptized we know enough. we know enough to keep the commandments, and follow Jesus Christ. She also testified of the facts that if we just read in the scriptures, pray, and go to church. We will be alright and we can continually strengthen our testimonies. IT was perfect and brought the spirit really strong. It was a pure and real testimony and really helped our investigator and the 12 year old to feel the spirit. Then the young woman in the ward sang "i like to look for rainbows"(MY FAVORITE) and the spirit was so strong. Im sorry i keep saying that and you weren't there it's just like words but i just want to tell you all about it because it was amazing! Then her dad who has been less active baptized her. It was so neat to see this dad perform such a sacred special ordinance for his daughter. That is what it's all about. Then we watched two Mormon messages "restoration by elder perry" and "God's words never cease by elder Holland" and really felt the spirit. We had been praying for our investigator and the investigator of Sister Bowman and Sister Thornley for then to come and feel the spirit. It is neat how Heavenly Father answered our prayers. The first one we showed really touched our investigator and the other touched the sisters investigator. This whole baptism i felt prompted by the Spirit so much in what to do and who to do what. The Spirit was so strong and it really helped me to see that God will direct his work. Down to the little details of the Mormon messages to show while they change. This is God's work and he wants to help his children. he will make it all possible if we just do ALL we can. It was an amazing experience. I know that God was proud of my and my companion for helping him bring his children a little closer to him and doing it the way he wanted us too. It was great. then they took us out for ice cream and i got pink bubblegum... it was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i loved it.

So it was a great Week. Ups and downs cuz the next day none of our investigators came to church boo. but we had a really good lesson with the investigator that came to the baptism. She's awesome. We taught her a lot and hard things for her but she is so open to the message and wants to change. It's great how people really are ready to accept the gospel and change! :) Then last night i met the Bishops(Giles) nephew. it was SWEET! they cam to the battalion. It's the place to bee. the bees knees. cat's meow. the place...... i love it her. i love being a missionary. Some days are hard but i'm always learning to be better and always frowning and that has been amazing. i wouldn't trade it for the world.

So i read this today and wanted to send it to you...
" Ponder deeply and diligently in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. Persist in prayer for the Holy Ghost to reveal to you the nature of God the Father and His Beloved Son. Plead that the Spirit will show you what the Lord wants you to do. Plan to do it. Promise Him to obey. Act with determination until you have done what He asked. And then pray to give thanks for the opportunity to serve and to know what you might do next." President Henry B. Eyring
I loved this and it really helps me to see what i can do to be a better servent and serve the Lord the way he wants me to. it's a good plan. Those apostles they are pretty smart and inspired!

Pues, quiero decirles que se que el evangelio de JesuCristo puede bendecir nuestras vidas. El es nuestro redentor y el quiere ayudarnos durante nuestros tiempos de pruebas. El es siempre alla, solo necesitamos poner nuestra fe en el y despues ya podemos ver los milagros. He visto mucho milagros en mi tiempo aqui en las vidas de otros y en mi vida tambien. Estoy agradacida por el tiempo que puedo servir Dios y su hijos. Este es la iglesia verdadera. No tengo dudas de esto. Les Amo MUCHO! con mucho amor, HERMANA STORY

Good week!

2010-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

We have found some new investigators and had some miracles happen. I really do love this work. sometimes it's hard, and i'm ALWAYS tired but i just am so grateful i can be here learning so much! i love it.

So i told you about the girl who called us and told us she wanted to be baptized. She is amazing. So prepared. She has been working with a member of the ward and he has answered any questions that she has had. This has really prepared her to be open to it. The lesson was in a members home, which is great. So is just really prepared and open. It's amazing how open people really are. but it was a really neat experience. she even brought brownies! YES! She is getting ready to be baptized.

Then the 12 year old we have been working with is getting ready to be baptized this Saturday. She is awesome. She has the best analogies for the gospel as well. we taught her about the word of wisdom and she was so awesome. Me and sister Christensen LOVE her analogies because they are so inspired. We were talking about the word of wisdom and she was like,"well let me see if i can put this in an analogy... it's like if we were something and we'd need a filter. you only let the good things in and the other things stay out. Then you're always clean. So the word of wisdom is like a filter to keep the bad out." She is such a deep thinker and is really doing well. We are so excited for her. So please keep praying for her.

So Friday we had so many miracles! AHH IT WAS AWESOME! so we had talked to a girl that was 14 and set an appointment. and immediately thought of this girl in our ward to help her. So we called this girl in the ward to come with us. She said she could. So we were so excited these two would be perfect. But then Friday night we got out of an appointment late and were worried if we would have time to go pick up the girl in our ward. So i almost called and canceled but then the spirit chastised me. So we went ahead. It took us a 1/2 and hour to go pick up the girl in our ward so we were an hour late. So i was so worried. but then we got there and it was PERFECT! We invited the aunt of the girl to join us. So us, the girl in our ward, the girl we are teaching, and her aunt all sat down to talk about the book of Mormon. The two girls got along perfectly! We explained the book of Mormon and they were SO excited about it. They said they would read it. We had been fasting that day to help us with another investigator but as we had this lesson i could feel the spirit helping us and teaching us all. It was really neat. Everything went great and they committed to read in the book of mormon! So we left and as we drove the girl in the ward home she told us that she had had a babysitting job and wasn't going to come with us but then felt she should. She has also been feeling like she should be more involved in missionary work. Im so grateful that i didn't call and cancel on her after she had canceled babysitting for us. The other two lessons we had that night canceled so it was okay that we were so late. and we have been fasting for the other lady we were going to teach that night. Sorry this story is so all over the place but i just wanted to share with you my testimony of this experience. Especially of the power of fasting. I know that because of our fasting Heavenly Father led and guided us through the spirit to do what HE wanted us to do. I had other plans and my own ideas but as we listened to the spirit we were able to do what he wanted us to do. i am so grateful for the blessing and opportunity we have to fast and pray to be led and guided by the spirit in all that we do. Because we did that we were able to help strengthen the faith of ourselves, the girl in our ward, and the family we are teaching. Heavenly Father really does bless us when we try and do all we can and he will show us and let us be a part of his plan that is always better than our own! it's awesome!

But i'm grateful for you all. On Sunday the topic was on families and whenever it is i get all emotional... how embarrassing but i just am so lucky to have all you and i love you all SO MUCH! i hope all is well with you guys. keep me updated it sounds like your all busy.

With much love, SISTER STORY!

YAY!!!!!!!!!! FOR BOSTON!

2010-08-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for the videos!!!!! REALLY! it's a tad frustrating because i can't hear them because i'm in the LIbrary this week. We have to take turns emailing at the Mormon Battalion

becasue there are so many sisters now but thats okay because it gives me something to look forward too next week! so thank you. HE IS SO HANDSOME! really. i'm so amazed at what cute kids we have in our family. What a blessing we have to know that we can be with our families forever

Heavenly father blessed us a TONZ this week. I have really been worried and praying for answers this week. i'm getting to my year mark and I've just been worried that I'm not doing enough to really help the people here and find people who are truly ready to accept the gospel. I've just been worried that i'm inadequate and i want to work and serve here with all my heart and mind and soul until the second i get on that plane. I've been stressed about it. i dont wanna get trunky. So i've been praying and asking for help to know and i know i've been receiving answers and miracles.

The beginning of the week has started off slow. We did all that we could to end the week with a bang. So we set up and made plans which didnt all work out the way we wanted them too but good things have happened better than the plans we made. It's interesting (so i always talk about the mormon battalion in my letters but hey i talk about it half my day almost everyday so gimme a break huh) but with that trip they took they had plans and goals and tried to figure things out and do what they could to make it happen but in the end things did not go the way they had planned. it has been the same for us this week. we have planed but SO many other things happened that weren't our plans but were better!!!!!

We met with a family that we had started working with the week before and they are GREAT! and found out there were 3 more people in the house that we could teach and they sat with us for the lesson. So that family is doing awesome and a family from our ward came and really testified and helped this other family feel more comfortable which was fantastic!

Then the next day we met with our investigator that is 12 years old and we knew we needed someone for the ward to come with us so we tried so hard to get someone and all the people didn't really work then we thought of a girl in the ward who just graduated so we brought her. We taught the family the plan of salvation which was just what they needed and then the young woman from the ward bore such an awesome strong testimony of how important it is to be baptized so we can have the holy ghost especially for high school. This touched the little 12 year olds heart. and she committed to be baptized on the 4th of September!! YAHOO!!!! then the best part... right after she committed and decided the spirit was SO powerful. really strong and i know she felt the spirit telling her this is right! She came to church this sunday and is doing awesome but please pray for her. there is a lot of opposition when it comes to doing the right. It's so neat to see people making the decision to follow jesus christ. i have seen miracles and all of this has been happening as i really have struggled to know what more i can do to serve with all my heart. i know heavenly father is blessing me.

Then Sunday at church we met this girl. She's been coming to church for 9 weeks and i finally I REALIZED that maybe she wasn't a member. So i asked her an she's not... to make the story short yesterday she called and said that she wanted to get BAPTIZED!!!! what. so we are going to teach her! It's amazing how things work. i think that heavenly father waited until she was ready for us to realize that she was not a member because i just thought she was a member because she already came and everyone knew her. but somehow i just felt like she wasn't. this was definatley God working in our lives. please pray for her.

I know that God has plans for us, which aren't always the same as ours but they are BETTER by like 12 times! i know God loves us and wants us to be happy. i love you all so much i love being a missionary. SISTER STORY

tender mercies!

2010-08-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

So it has been an up and down week as always but i have defiantly been able to feel the love that God has for me. i had one of those tender mercies last night! So our schedule changes every week with the Mormon Battalion and is a bit crazy. But last night i was here and just happened to be the only one available for this group of people to give them a tour. So i start... and do my thing and in one room one of the girls says, "hey i know your dad... i know ron story!" and it kinda overwhelmed me to hear that. She and her brothers go to ATEC. Kim and Bobby. They said that they had asked to find me but by chance, (well not really cuz i know it was Heavenly Father knowing that i needed that), i gave them that tour. I was ment to go with them. The spirit was really strong and i did feel a comfort in knowing i was with someone who knew my dad. i was feeling a bit homesick. She was so cute and we even took a picture together to send to you. She was really excited! it was a tender mercy and really helped me to see that my Heavenly Father is aware of me in every circumstance that i may be in. So that was really neat for me. This family was so loving and grateful and it helped em to see my blessings and how lucky i am.

Good things this week... the especially good thing was that we added 5 new investigators. We have really been working hard to add new investigators and find people. this is a goal i've had for a long time to add 5 new investigators in one week and it finally happened. There are so many people out their waiting we just gotta find em! Things have been going really well with a few of the people we are teaching and struggling with others. i guess that is the way life goes. The girl we are teaching that her dad is a member and mom is not. We had a really powerful lesson with her on wednesday, but haven't been able to see her since. We are really trying to help her understand that she doesn't need to know everything to be baptized but just needs to do all she can to repent and have a desire(which is is doing) She is 12 so doesn't think she knows enough, but she has the sweetest heart! She is the CUTEST GIRL. she had the cutest little sister that has a little lisp and just loves to talk. they are complete opposite but great to help each other. ijust love em. Then our other investigator that is doing really good and has a date to be baptised on the sept. 11. She has been gone visiting her kids this week but she's just amazing and we actually started to teach her boyfriend too. so that is really good too.

We also had zone conference this week. Zone conferences are always amazing. I was just sitting there and thinking that this is SO COOL! like really so cool that we are a bunch of 20-27 year old kids who could be doing SO MANY other things but instead we are paying(and our families ) for us to be here talking about how to help others learn of Christ. We have 8 hour meeting solely about what we can to to help other feel more peace and joy with their families and in their lives. That is so neat to me and that alone helps strengthen my testimony that this is the true church. We talked a lot about the commandments, tithing, word of wisdom, chastity. I learned that all of these commandments are there to help us understand who we were before we came her, what God wants us to become while were here, and where we are going and what our eternal destiny is. It's so neat... God gives us these commandments to help us keep sacred these great bodies he has given us. i learned so much. This isn't about Heavenly Father wanting us to be unhappy and sacrifice but helping us become better and more like him. The spirit was so strong. I always love the part of lunch time at zone conference, not becasue of the food, but we always sing a song to the ladies who cook for us. and we sang "teach me to walk in the light." and i love that song and felt the spirit so strongly as we sang this, all of us who are trying to be better at walking in the light and helping others to do so as well. so it was pretty neat, pretty darn cool.

Yesterday we had another tender mercy of the lord too. We had met this lady walking on the street the other day and just talked to her. She was SO SWEET. She couldnt remember her address so gave us between a few addresses like 2 different ones. i was nervous cuz i thought that she was not telling us the truth. yesterday all of our appointments feel through so i was kinda bummed when i felt an impression to go try and find this woman... so we followed the impression. as we did miracles happened... we went and only have like 5 minutes until we had to leave so we could get to the battalion on time. so we went to this one and really just right to the right door and she was there! with her daughter and we were able to set up an appointment fo this week! yes. I was SO EXCITED. "when the spirit prompts, do it."-Joseph Smith(i think) so that ws great.

Then last night. We had a little party for the people who are having birthdays this week. three, Elder Stutz, Sister Thulin, and Sister De La Cruz. it was so funny. We do these things occasionally and they make me laugh so hard. i laugh my butt off. the senior couples here just say the funniest things and i love it. I think sometimes i forget that i can have fun. i just get so worried about who we are teaching. but it was really funny. i loved it. anyhow. that is all the news from this week. if i think of anything else probably i'll not tell you because by next tuesday other crazy things will have happened.

I love you all so much! this church is true and i'm glad to be a missionary! WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! peace

Sister STORY

Another week... another companion! :)

2010-08-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

So as you guessed i have a new companion. I actually stayed in my area though which is AMAZING!!!! i am really excited. I love this ward and i feel like i can finally help build up an area! So i am still in chula vista 2nd ward. It is an amazing ward. I have a new companion. A greenie. She is amazing. She is actually from Orem as well. Who'd a guessed the only two sisters from Orem and we are companions. I actually knew her in high school. She danced with Natalie and went to Orem high and we had met a few times. So it's crazy! We were way excited! Sister Tawnie Christensen. It's fun when people ask so where are you from and we answer together orem. She was in the mtc for 10 weeks. but her Spanish is wicked good. she really wants to be obedient and be a good missionary so it's great. I am trying my best to be a good trainer and help her as much as i can. The first transfer is really hard! well at least it was for me. So i'm trying as hard as i can to help her. She's solid though and is a great missionary. We are pretty similar and so we get a long pretty well. There are 5 new sisters in the Battalion. All Spanish. So it is really fun. I love when new missionaries come because they are always so excited to work and be good missionaries and learn. Lots of missionaries get stuck and think they know everything. Well i think as people we do that. So i always pray for humility and the lord defiantly Humbles me. So our week has gone really well. I have really felt heavenly father helping me and giving me the strength that i need. I never realized how hard it was to stay in an area. You feel such a sense of responsibility for the people and for your new companion. But i'm doing all i can. And that's enough.

So Things with our investigators are doing really well. We had an investigator a few weeks back that we lost. We couldn't get a hold of her and we were SO SAD! so for 3 weeks nothing. Then the first night with Sister Christensen we were about done it was about 8:15 and we have to be home by 9 if we are not in an appointment so we were debating what to do if we should go home and make some calls or what... We prayed and i felt strongly that we needed to go see this lady. So we drove over and SHE WAS HOME!!!!!!!!!!! we were so excited! The second we walked in the door she told us she had gossip for her about her life and went on to tell us what had happened and why she disappeared! It was a legit reason and she was really struggling but excited to see us again! i was SO HAPPY! We have been teaching her and miracles have happened. She now has a baptismal date for Sept 11(so pray for her) She came to church on SUNDAY! YAY! and her boyfriend has even agreed to met with us. it was so neat because at the church she realized that this was the church her sister(who was a member) was married in and her sister is now passed away but she feels that her sister is kinda guiding her to the gospel. I know that Heavenly Father is making things happen in her life because he wants her to find and have to chance to have the truth in her life! It's been a really neat things. I was so excited! It's sometimes so hard to see the struggles that people have in their lives and how they deal with them with out the atonement and knowing how much God loves them. It's so hard when we invite people to learn more and they don't' want it. but i know that is why i gotta try and talk to whoever i can! There is also another family that is doing so well. They are a part member family that is AMAZING! They are doing all they can to come back and their 2 daughters who are not members are amazing! It's amazing to see the light come back to people as well. They feel such a great joy. Oh man this work is great. it's hard and sometimes i cry but it worth it all! AHH I JUST LOVE IT!

Things at the battalion are also going awesome! The more i study about this battalion the more amazed i become to see the struggles they went through and the amazing things that happened. God really blessed them because of their faithfulness. We were in a meeting this morning with our mission president and he talked about how dedicated each of this battalion members were to the gospel and put EVERYTHING up to their father in heaven, they really did put everything out their. It was hard and they lost a lot but the things they gained out number by like a thousand the bad things. We were talking about how as we as members if each one of us was willing to give up everything to the kingdom of god like these battalion members did then imagine the ways the lord could bless us. If we only let him fight our battles for us. We can win. if we try to fight them we will lose. So as i've been sharing the message i have been touched so much. I have really felt how much heavenly father loves his kids. Yesterday morning a woman came in with her son. They are members and are about to make some big pretty difficult changes in thier lives. When we started to talk to them i just felt such a love for them. We came to find out that one of the members of the battalion was her ancestors. As we went through i think we all came to see how her ancestors and herself were not so different they were both starting on a trek that would be unfamiliar and scary but they both relied on God through these struggles. The spirit was so strong as me and my companion testified of how we can(each one of us) make a change in the world. Especially for those to come after us. These men of the battalion didn't think that 150 years later there would be a site where their posterity would go and hear and be inspired to continue on in the midst of trials. They had no idea this would happen but they did what God asked and look. Now Everyday hundreds of people learn. I just really realized what i can be leaving for others, especially my posterity, to have. Am i going to leave a great legacy, where my kids and grandkids and great grandkids will know that i knew that Jesus Christ was my Savior and that Heavenly father loves me! Will they know that i would do anything my Heavenly Father asked me to. i hope so. I want to live so that when i'm dead people will know these things. Sorry for the little soap box for a minute. I've just been thinking a lot about that lately! I just wanna make a change in the world.

Everything else has been great! i have really enjoyed this week.Training makes me really look at myself and see if i am being the missionary God wants me to be and I've been trying to make some changes! It's been good. It sounds like everything there is going. It's weird to think i've been gone to long and there are so many new different things happening! CRAZY! Kya will be 4! AAAAHHH crazy! Eli and Boston(maybe) i gotta even met them. and all the other babies. you know you all could send some poor sister missionary pictures if you'd like! :) I'm glad everything went good with Randi and her baby. I just wanted to tell all of you that i really am so GRATEFUL. i can't even describe my gratitude for my family. I'm sitting here crying actually because i love you all so much. ALL OF YOU! I'm so blessed to have people that love and support me. You are all such amazing examples for me and i want to be like you!

Pictures!

2010-08-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

This week... how fun

2010-08-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

So everything is Good. We have had a bit of a rough week with our investigators but seem to be figuring out out how to help people in the Mormon Battalion. We have really had some neat experiences here at the Mormon Battalion. Just yesterday my companion started talking to a man from Brazil and he wanted to take the tour so i went too of course. In the Battalion we have permission to not be with our companion all of the time if it is busy but me and Sister Nielsen like to do them together anyway because the spirit is lots stronger with two. Anyway. Another family ended up joining us for the tour as well. The crazy thing was that The Grandpa of the Family had served his mission in the same town that this guy was... to further it... they both had the same first name. We continued on in the tour and this member was very open with the man from Brazil but i loved it so much. the member was testifying the whole time of the gospel and the peace it brought to his live. We went through the tour and the man ended up wanting to receive some more information. They continued to talk and even got each others information. it is crazy because sometimes as people we think we know better about what people need and get frustrated when things don't go the way i want. I sometimes tend to do that in the Mormon battalion, but the longer I've served here the more i have realized that Heavenly Father is in charge and he knows what he's doing. He no only sends people here to the site but sends them in groups. Sends members to be examples and share their testimonies through he way the act. Last Saturday i did a tour with a group of scouts. There was probably 15 young men their and then a little family came in where the mom was a member but the dad and his daughter were not. At first i was frustrated because i just thought oh man. i'm not going to be able to help this family have a good experience because of these young men because they would be rowdy and crazy. (sorry tay, colton and jake dont worry i learned my lesson) But i knew i just needed to do the best i could. So we went through and started and the young men were actually amazing the whole time. They testified and included this little 7 year old as they dressed up as soldiers and all that. The entire experience was perfect. I realized that Heavenly Father had made it happen that way because he uses the members of the church to be examples and help those who don't have the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It also made me realized the kind of example i need to be. As a missionary i represent Jesus Christ and am i really representing my Savior in all that i do and say? I really hope i am. I hope that people can feel the love i have for them. but even after my mission i don't want to forget that i really am an example and people will see and watch what i do and if they can see the light of the Savior through me then I'm doing something right and if not I'll just have to change. anyhow. i know that God is in charge and he is putting people together and doing things his way and it always works better than my way.

Things in Chula Vista are good. We are working with a lot of part member family. The kids in these families are not baptized and we are really working to help them progress. Two of them were supposed to be baptized this week but didn't because of some problem with their dad. I was really sad. there are just such good people in the world and especially here in San Diego but they just are struggling. I am doing my best to help them. and hope that i can continue to become a better missionary so tha i can help them. i feel like i'm at a plateau with Spanish and missionary work but i know that with the Lord's help i can snap out of it and become better. There is the cutest little girl that we are teaching her family and she reminds me of me. She is 6 and told me she wants to learn to sew(how solid is that!) so i brought some stuff over and helped her sew a little something. She talks a million miles a minute and just loves to go go go go. her name is Morgan and i love her. She really does remind me of myself. I have picked up this habit of making hair things for myself. I have made 2 really cute things. I just thought i'd let you all know that i haven't lost my crafty side yet! i even have a sewing machine, which turns out is not a good thing to tell the elders or they give you jobs. yuck. :) no i love serving them. I just really am enjoying my time. it goes by so fast and has lots of ups and downs but i know that this is where i need to be. I feel the spirit so strongly as i am able to testify of Jesus Christ and the difference he can make in the lives of others.

I read the talk by President. Deiter F. Uchtdorf today from the Young Woman Broadcast and I LOVED IT!!!!!! so here is one of my FAVORITE PARTS!

"The process hadn’t been easy—there were moments of suffering and despair—but finally my happiness was full, and it still is, even more so.

My dear young people, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every hero has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.

There are those among you who, although young, have already suffered a full measure of grief and sorrow. My heart is filled with compassion and love for you. How dear you are to the Church. How beloved you are of your Heavenly Father. Though it may seem that you are alone, angels attend you. Though you may feel that no one can understand the depth of your despair, our Savior, Jesus Christ, understands. He suffered more than we can possibly imagine, and He did it for us; He did it for you. You are not alone...Enduring adversity is not the only thing you must do to experience a happy life. Let me repeat: how you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own “happily ever after.”"

I do know that my Savior is there for me no matter what is going on around me and what i'm going through. He loves me and wants me to be happy! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's is his church on the earth. I love serving my Heavenly Father. even though sometimes it's hard. i love you all SO SO MUCH!

love sister story... ps transfers are tomarrow and we get 5 new sister in the Mobat! YAHOO! i'm excited!

Good week.

2010-07-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

It has been a really good. There was a lot of people at church on Sunday which makes missionaries really happy! One of our investigators that is 12 came with her parents and sister who haven't been in a really long time. So it was really good. I really neat things. I am especially happy when people who are less active come back and bring their family. That is what families are about. And in Sacrament the topic was on temples which really brought the spirit! it was really neat. We have had some really neat experiences.

Especially in the Mormon Battalion. One day we were just taking a tour and we got so frustrated because we realized we had been taking a tour and not teaching people. As missionaries we need to teach and focus on people not on teaching them lessons and we were just giving a regular tour the same one everyday. So the next one we decided to do differently and forget what we always say but really listen to the people that came in. So as we did this things CHANGED! There was a lady and her 3 kids they were So cute. we thought that they might be members of the church but as we started to really talk to them and focus on what they were interested in and what they wanted to learn and actually got into a really neat conversation about how to pray and what the basic principles of the gospel are. Then at the end of the tour we gave them the cards to request more information and every one of them the mom and her three kids ranging from age 6 to 11 wrote that they wanted to learn more and enjoyed learning about god in the tour. Then we found out they live in one of my old areas. Sisters from the Battalion have an appointment with them this thursday and i'm so EXCITED!!!! yay! The spirit really taught me how important it is to focus on the individual. It's like that quote by President Monson, " Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved!" I love that quote and im working on being better at that! :)

Ps. this is a random side note but pretty neat. So my companion Sister Nielsen said that her brother(he writes her back...) said that ben and him did serve together in Honduras. How crazy cool is that. I am shocked at how much heavenly father really does know and put together every detail of our lives. My first companion her dad served in the same mission as dad at the same time as well. Heavenly Father puts things together in a crazy way. but i love it. Me and her get along really well and are kinda scared for transfers. We hope we can stay together but we know that it's all in heavenly fathers hands and he knows better than we do.

Well i don't have much else to say but things are good. im loving life... mom and dad i have a quote for you... i reminded me of you two and all my siblings and gma you too. "it is impossible to overestimate the influence of parent who understand the hears of their children... The greatest influence does not come from an interview with the bishop or some other leader but from the regular, warm, friendly, caring, interaction with parents." Elder Robert D. Hales. I'm so grateful to have so many people in my life that love me and have a great influence on me just by Loving me! I LOVE YOU ALL LOTS AN LOTS AND LOTS AND HAVE SOME GREAT PICS ON THE WAY KAY!!! :)

I know this church is true! i'm greateful for the blessing to know the truth and be able to follow my savior JEsusChrist everyday and become a little better each day cuz man i sure am not perfect... or close.. but im working on it! :)

love sister Story!

Another Week, Another cucaracha! AY!

2010-07-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well first story yes we had a giant cucaracha(cockroach!) It was late at night like 10:25(yes that is late at night for me.) and i was cutting my pajama pants off because it is just too hot in our apartment for pants. When all of a sudden a HUGE cockroach runs past. so of course i yell for my companion and she does not come... She got so scared that she jumped on top of the counter and wouldn't move. but this cockroach was moving around plenty. So i started throwing things at it. and i even hit it. you all must have taught me something. so i thought it was dead and went to pick it up and it ran! it wasn't i had to smash it again. I eventually got it and we sucked it up with the vacuum. It was scary so now i get kinda scared at night that a cockroach is going to eat me. but it is kinda fun because occasionally i can yell cockroach convincingly enough that i scare Sister Nielsen adn that is pretty fun!

So the week has been pretty good. Last Tuesday we went and saw one of our investigators. She is so amazing. She has such a strong spirit! She really has a desire to do what is right. We talked to her and taught her and She has a baptismal date! We haven't been able to see her very much so we are starting to worry but i know that she will make it. She has the desire and the faith! Then one of the kids we are teaching got confirmed on Wednesday. it was a struggle to get it but him and his dad really want to follow jesus christ and want to do what is right. He was so excited to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and it made me realize how lucky we are to have this gift from our Father in Heaven! We have also seen miracles with this little family we have been working with they had a lot of struggles in the past but things are really changing. It has really helped me to see how important it is to read in the scriptures and pray every single day. And to go to church. This can change everything! This has changed this little family and it's still a process but i can see a little change in them each time we see them! this is amazing! Then Thursday was a bit of a struggle for me. I just really was so upset because there are so many people and i can not help all of them and this is really hard for me, but then at the same time i realize how hard i need to work to find those that really do want to change and are ready and excited about this. there are SO many people out there. So the weekend went GREAT! Sunday was great. The kids of a recent convert in our ward came to church and they have a baptismal date! WE are so excited for them. They are solid! There are so many amazing people out there. we just have to work hard to find them and help them. so that's what i'm working on. and doing it the lords way is so important. today we had the opportunity to go to the temple. What a blessing! I just kept thinking how important it is to do things Heavenly Fathers way. Although this is usually hard it really is what is best for us! We will receive so many blessings and it will work out just the way it should if we do it his way and not our way.

So this week i have been reading in the ensign and studying the conference talks and they are so good. I have read a lot about the atonement this week and these are some things that i have LOVED!!!! SO SOSOSOSOSOSO GOOD!

"We live in a noisy, contentious world, where it is possible to be viewing or listening to information, music, or even pure nonsense virtually every waking hour. If we want to have the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we must find time to slow down, ponder, pray, and live so we are worthy to receive and act upon His promptings. We will avoid major mistakes if we heed His warnings. It is our privilege as members to receive light and knowledge from Him even to the perfect day...We don’t fully comprehend the Atonement, but we can spend our lives trying to be more loving and kind, regardless of the adversity we face...How we relate and interact with each other is a measure of our willingness to follow Jesus Christ." -Quentin L. Cook

I loved this so much because I have struggled lately to really love those that i am in contact with. When i read this i realized that Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of love and mercy so i need to try harder to have that mercy and love for others and i can be perfect at that with his help as long as im relying on the Savior. Well i just want to tell you all that i LOVE being a missionary. This was the best decision that I have ever made. Even though it has been some of the hardest times, i have never felt such great joy and peace and i will never be the same as i was before i came her. I know that my father in heaven loves me and all of you. He wants our happiness and as long as we are obedient we will be happy. I know that Joseph Smith restored the priesthood to the earth again and that he was a prophet of God. and that Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet! I know that the Book fo Mormon is the word of God. I love you All TONZ! Les quierro MUCHO! love, HERMANA STORY

This is GREAT!

2010-07-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Things are going good. It is fun to be back in my old area. There are some miracles happening as well. We are really working to do things differently. Sometimes it's easy to get stuck in a rut as missionaries and visit the people who have been visited forever but arent changing. So we are really searching to find those people who are really ready to change. We have had miracles doing this.

My testimony of the atonement has really grown this week. I have learned so much. Through the Book of Mormon especially. I have been reading it in a few different places actually. I have started to read it in spanish again. My regular one. and another one where our mission president asked us to highlight the gospel of jesus christ in the book of mormon. But this morning i was reading in Preach my gospel. and was reading the section in Book of Mormon chapter of PMG and i read the part about how the book of mormon is the keystone of our religion and testifies Of Jesus Christ. I realized something so simple but really neat. That is why the book of mormon is the keystone of our religion because it testifies of Jesus Christ and he is the center of it all. I love where Joseph Smith says that the book of mormon will help a man get closer to God than anything else. I know that is true i have felt it as i have read and really studied the Book of Mormon. Especially on the mission. I have never spent so much time reading the scriptures and although i have frustrating things and troubles i have never been happier. I feel the spirit so strongly all of the time. I love it. i feel so blessed. I invite each one of you to spend more time reading and studying the Book Of Mormon. I know that if you do. all other things you are worried about will seem easier and you will feel Our Heavenly Father helping you get through those struggles. So that is what i have learned this week. i love you all so much. I hope that everything is going well for you. i pray for. i want you all to know that i do know that this is the true church. I know we have a Savior, Jesus Christ who loves us even more than we can imagine. I know that if we live HIS gospel then we will be happy and we will be able to live as families forever! i love being a missionary even though sometimes its hard, it's worth it!!! i love you all. Love Sister Story

ps cool experience just barely.... i got letters today and one of them was from heidi and i walked back to my apartment and LOST IT! i was so depressed. i was really looking forward to reading it. I really almost started crying because letters just mean so much to me. then just like 2 seconds ago sister evans came in and said, "Sister Story i found a letter for you outside on the sidewalk." Heavenly Father really is aware of each of us and loves us so much. He is involved in every little detail of our lives. even letters from home! :)

"From that experience, I learned that patience was far more than simply waiting for something to happen—patience required actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results didn’t appear instantly or without effort.

There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!" -Deiter F. Uchtdorf

Another Great Week

2010-07-07T08:27:00.001-07:00

So not a ton has happened this week... but for the most part everything is good. We have really been working to switch things up in our ward. Trying to find new people who are really ready to progress and be baptized. Instead of on the people who are not progressing. So we are really working on finding new people to teach. That is a missionaries life for you. We have had some really neat experiences though. We have been working with Eric still. He is a ten year old that got baptized the day i got here. We have had some struggles but i have learned so much. I think i have really learned a lot about the Atonement this week. Our mission president gave us the assignment to go through and read the book of mormon and highlight the gospel of jesus christ.The first principles and ordinances of the gospel. So i am going through and highlighting faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. This has taught me so much about the atonement already. I really see that these things are the basics. This is what is the most important thing. Then this morning i was reading the ensign, "oh my goodness" so good. Elder Richard G. Scotts talk. There are few quotes i couldnt help but share!

"Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His Atonement made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven."

This is So cool. He loves us so much that we can not even understand or express it in words, but I really have felt that love this week. I know there is always more i could feel and understand about the atonement. But on saturday night me and sister nielsen were really frustrated and haveing a really hard time. So i knew that i needed help. So i just prayed. so hard. to have him help me. And i really felt that. I knew that he loved me and wanted to bless and help me. I could feel that he can take away my sins and my mistakes if only i let him. It was a great blessing! I know Jesus Christ and God love me so much. I was thinking about how God had to have so much faith in Jesus Christ. God loves each one of us and loved us enough to have faith that Christ could complete the atonement in order for each one of us to return to live with him. I am So grateful for that. I really do know that Christ lives and loves all of us.

Fourth of July was pretty uneventful. My companion actually got sick and was throwing up so we spent the night at home. i did watch a group of Scout doing the Haka(from my apartment window), which was sweet, and then heard the fireworks! so it was great. I had a lot of time to make calls and set up a really good week for us, which i'm WAY excited about! We are going to see miracles. I know that there are so many people ready to find the truth. I actually had a really neat experience with that as well. About a week ago in the Battalion i was sitting there and answered the phone. This man was on the phone and actually wanted to know about the gospel not the mormon battalion, which was GREAT for me. We had an amazing conversation where i found out that he is searching for the truth. I tried to get his information but his didnt want to give it so me. So i gave him my number and told him to call me. It has been about a week and today he called back! i got to talk to him again and he really is ready to find the truth. We talked and i was able to teach him more about the gospel and make some plans and hopefully very soon he will be able to met the missionaries and be taught! It just really reaffirmed to me that there are people out there that are prepared and ready to receive the truth. The restored gospel. This is a great work i am doing. I try everyday to become better than the day before. Sometimes it is a real struggle but i know with faith anything is possible.

Then today i made the biggest mistake EVER!!! i decided to cut my hair!!!!! So i was trying to grow it out but got so sick of it! so today me and my companion( I LOVE HER by the way) she is so fun and great! decided to go to great clips(bad idea) so we go and i tell her how i want it and she tells me that it would look ugly.... aaahhh.... but she just starts cutting. i tell her i want bangs she tells me it would be ugly. but cuts away. needless to say my hair is really bad but whatever. it'll grow and who am i trying to impress. nobody! hahaha. whatever.

Anyhow. i love you all so much. hope that everything is good. love sister story

Back in CHULA VISTA!!!!!

2010-06-30T11:56:00.000-07:00

So this has been a GREAT week. I mean every week has it's troubles but i love it just the same. I am learning so much i feel like my head might explode. yikes that would be messy. hahaha just kidding! it's not going to explode. but i did get a new companion but i got to go back into an area i had been in before! I am back in the English ward in Chula Vista. I got a new companion. Sister Nielsen. She is from Utah as well. She is from Holiday. She has only been out one transfer and is a spanish missionary as well. We both really want to learn Spanish and get better so we are helping each other which is cool. We have put Spanish words all over our apartment. and we try to speak spanish as much as possible! She is so amazing. We get a long really well. We are both kinda layed back but want to work hard and be obedient which is really cool. We have already had some pretty cool experiences together. Except the fact that we keep getting lost! hahaha. It's hard. I am so grateful to be serving with her. i think am getting all these companions because they are all teaching me so much. i do have a lot to learn! She is so willing to serve not only others but me she is always asking what she can do to help me and making me breakfast while im getting ready or something. I have been very blessed already. She is so willing to serve too. She is still learning(me too) but we are going to work as hard as we can to serve and see miracles. I am so excited to continue to serve with her! I just LOVE her!

We started off by having a baptism the first day i was back. it was really neat because he is someone i had taught before. It was neat to see that he had finally decided and was ready to enter into the covenant of baptism. His name is Eric and he is 11. He is really shy and quiet but wants to do the right thing. I really love him. An hope that we can continue to help him. I am really grateful for the elders too because we were running really late because we kept getting lost and they were so nice to help us and get the church ready for the baptism.

I am serving in the Battalion Again which is so fun. I forgot how strong the spirit is here. We had zone conference and our mission president said a little bit about how sometimes we take the Holy Ghost and this gift, we have to have him as our constant companion when we are worthy, for granted. That's how i was with the Mormon battalion. i took for granted the spirit that was here and the strong experiences we are able to have here. But then i had an AMAZING experience. I was here and got a phone call. This person asked if we allowed non members to come to our services. I talked to him and told him of course we allow anyone to our services. We continued to talk and he explained to me that he was looking for a church. This is exactly what every missionary in the world wants... someone to call them and tell them they are looking for a church to go to... arent i so LUCKY! but really this was a great blessing for me. We ended up talking for a bout 30 minutes. I was able to teach him about the restoration of the gospel. We talked about what a blessing we have to have the Book Of Mormon and living day prophets to teach us the gospel of Jesus Christ and to guide us. Even though he was somewhere else and i was here i could feel that the spirit was testifying of the truths of the gospel to him. I know that when i share the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the spirit will testify and help others to feel of the truth as well. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and direction and guidance it gives me b/c i still get scared sometimes to speak but then when i do i feel the words just coming. it was super neat! THis is just the coolest. being a missionary is the BEST!!!!! i just love it!

THen we also had the sweetest experience. Me and sister neilson took a spanish tour through at the battalion. and it was so sweet. they were the sweetest family(i just said sweetest like 12 times sorry) Although my spanish isn't perfect of even close and neither is sister nielsens, we were able to touch then and help them. They are members of the church but they really felt the spirit and i could feel the love that we had for them and they had for us and even the love that our Father in Heaven has for all of us. It was a really neat experience.

Well i guess that is about it. i love you all so much! love SISTER STORY

Alma 39:

17 And now I will ease your mind somewhat on this subject. Behold, you marvel why these things should be known so long beforehand. Behold, I say unto you, is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be at the time of his coming?

18 Is it not as necessary that the plan of redemption should be ^amade known unto this people as well as unto their children?

19 Is it not as easy at this time for the Lord to ^asend his angel to declare these glad tidings unto us as unto our children, or as after the time of his coming?

I love this scripture prob one of my favorites this week. because i am so grateful for the tools we have like the Book of Mormon and living day prophets. and God loves us as much now as he did when the bible and book of mormon were written.

Good Week.

2010-06-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

So it has been a really good week. I have loved it here. And i actually can speak spanish which is cool. i think i just needed to actually be here to see that i can have full conversations with people, understand what they are saying(for the most part) and i can teach the gospel. I mean kinda. The spirit really does the teaching but i can help. I have loved having Sister Muir as a companion. We are a lot a like. I think because she has 4 brothers and i have had 5 brothers. So we both are just really relaxed but want to work hard. It has been really fun. i am really sad to say i got the call and im being transferred again.... :) i dont know if i will ever stay in one place for too long but that is okay because i am doing everything i can and just hope and pray that something I've said to people in each area sticks and more than anything i pray that they know how much i loved them and that i would do anything to help them. I am really trying to help others feel the saviors love for them through me. I am called as a representative of the Savior and hope that they can feel that love. I hope that i am making a difference. Today when we were studying Me and Hermana Muir were talking about the Christlike attributes. I am always looking for ways to be better because i see how imperfect that i am. and i was thinking about the great missionaries in my mission that i get to work with and the different qualities they have that i want... then i realized something... i dont need to be like them... the only person i need to follow and try to become like is the Savior! he is our example in everything and the more we learn to become like him the better people we will become and the more people will really feel the love he has for them and want to change. So that is what i am working on become like our Savior! It's hard and sometimes i get frustrated because im so far from perfect but i'm still trying and that is what matters. i realized that i just have to act and work to become like him all of the Christlike attributes, come with action. I was reading a talk this morning about Patience you all know i have NONE of that(im trying to learn) but he said, "Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing ot act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. it means staying with something and doing all that we can-working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when desires of our hearts ar delayed. Patience is not simply enduring, it's enduring well." -Deiter F. Uchtdorf. I thought that was so great because with missionary work i need patience, but that doesn't mean i can sit in my apartments and hang out and expect people to change and be baptized but doing everything i can to help these people and then having faith and patience that God will take care of the rest.

So we have had patience this week and things went pretty well. We are teaching this girl named Pricill and her mom Rosa. They need the gospel so much and we were praying and praying for something and we remembered that girls camp was somehting and Pricilla needed to go to girls camp so we did all we could to get her there and SHE WENT!!!! and we even got to go!!!! yeaH!!! i love girls camp! Well we just went for like 2 hours to tech a class on individual worth but i loved it all the same! SO we were so excited and it really helped pricilla to want to come to church and that was something that was really holding them back we are hoping now that things continue to go well and her mom will see the difference that the gospel can bring to her daughter and her family! I don't remember if i got you about the Vegas either they are so great and we really had some break through with them too. We found our that they haven't prayed about the church so find out if it's true or not and that is why they are struggling to act. So we invited them to pray specifically to know what the truth is. So everything here is going pretty well. i am sad to have to leave but i'm going somewhere else that i am supposed to be! :)

I am so excited for the boys to be able to go to trek! I LOVED TREK!!!!!!!!! and i have a greater appreciation and testimony of all that those early pioneer people did after serving in the battalion. Trek was(both times) some of the experiences that really helped strengthen my testimony grow and helped me to really see how much Jesus Christ loves each and everyone of us! It is a really neat experience. Boys: i know that if you do pray and ask to have experiences there that will strengthen your testimonies then you will have amazing experiences. have a good attitude and HAVE FUN!!!!!!!! this life is not to be endured but enjoyed. "Adam fell that man may be, and men are that they might have joy." Nephi(somewhere) but im so excited if i weren't here that is where i would want to be!!!!

Well that is about all i have to say... ps mom tell Margie that was the BEST package ever. sososososo funny. i laughed forever!.... but i love you all so much. im grateful to have a family that really understands how important it is to live the gospel of jesus christ and helps me. thank you. please pray for me to love my new area and companion and that we will have success. i love you all. i know that this is the gospel of jesus christ on the earth and it has been restored through a prophet!

love hermana story, LES QUIERRO MUCHO!(i love you all lots)

Ire y hare lo que el Senor ha mandado, porque se que el nunca da mandamientos a lot

2010-06-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Family.

This has been another crazy week on the mission! So Monday things started out really good. We met with Jordana. She is so excited about her baptism and everything. We were kinda bummed because we found out that she is leaving for 3 months to travel and go back to Venezuela to get her papers all worked out so she can stay here. But she was so exited because on morman. org you can create a profile and share your story and why you are a member of the church with others. it's actually really cool. i think all of you should go on and create one. I mean i know we are not "converts" but we have all been converted to the gospel of jesus christ and it's an opportunity to share the gospel. So you should all go to mormon.org and create a profile for yourself. and encourage those you know to do the same. I send people to that site all the time and i know that your testimonies could be the thing to spark someones interest in the gospel and the peace it brings to our lives.There are so many ways to share te gospel and maybe that profile can be one of them, "the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people."(Alma 24:27) But Jordana was way excited to make one which makes me so happy. I really worry about those that are baptized. They really need support to stay converted and remember how important it is especially when they are the only ones they know. She has her boyfriends family which is good!

The rest of the week went good. We have really been trying to get to know the members around here. There are so many young couples and we don't really know our ward very well. Especially since i just got here. So that is what we've been doing. We actually got quite a few appointments with members to start working with them to do missionary work! So we were really excited. Then on Friday we were planning for the week and eating lunch when we get a call from president...this is never good. :( but i answer and he started asking me how my Spanish was... and told me that i was being transferred the next morning. Yup... another companion and another area!!! crazy right my companions can't even deal with me for a full transfer anymore. no not really. There was a sister that got sick and had to go home. So president decided i would be transferred. I am in a SPANISH AREA AGAIN!!!!! i was really nervous. but excited too. i am not serving in the battalion right now either. It is really weird. it might just be for the next two weeks or more. i don't really know we will see. i was really scared to leave my area again. you grow to love people so much and then leaving is really hard. but i know that the lord has a plan and i will do whatever he wants me to do!

I realized something else as well this week. I think this is something i knew but am learning more and more the longer i am here. I know that there are people that are prepared for me especially to teach and be a part of their conversion. The same day that i got transferred and left la jolla was the same day jordana left for 3 months. I am sure that i was supposed to teach her and be a part of helping her find the gospel. I know that she was prepared for me and sister thornley to find! We found her our first week together taught her and then i left. I am so grateful that we can be a part of these amazing things. I know there is something i'm supposed to do here too.

I am back in CHULA VISTA. I was here with Sister Johnson and Zaldivar but in an English ward and now am in Spanish. I actually live in the same apartment too. weird huh.... i was thinking and i always go to the same zone 2 but in another language weird right. but it's good. im so excited to be here. i forgot how hard it is to understand when people speak Spanish. but i am pretty confident even though I make mistakes im not scared to talk like i used to be. i know that that is how i learn. i have a hard time understanding but i know it will come. I might only be here for 2 weeks but i'll just have to do all i can to serve for those two weeks. It's a great place to be. I forgot how much i LOVE mexican food too. oh man..... last night we had pazole... it is the BEST! i was so excited! So there are lots of good things. i ws pretty nervious but it has been good. Sister Muir is my companion. She actually came out with me and got switched spanish the same time i did. So it's fun to be together. We are having fun. I think she's a little relieved too because she doesn't have to take care of anyone anymore. cuz i'm doing just great!

I am loving studying the book of Mormon. Right now i am in Alma... oh my There are amazing missionaries!!!!!! aaaaahhhh. i just love it. Today i read about ammon in chapter 26 and i love it because ammon is so grateful for the blessings that the lord has given him. He relies on the lord in EVERYTHING he does. He knows that times can be hard and he will have trials but with God he can do anything!!!! lik in verse 12 he says, "12 Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboast of my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. "

How powerful that he knows that he can do many miracles with the lord but that it's not really with his strength but that the lord gives him strength. Then in verse 27 he says

"27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to ^aturn back, behold, the Lord ^bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with ^cpatience thine ^dafflictions, and I will give unto you success.

28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God. "

So i've learned that although sometimes missionary work is hard and we are going to struggle if i rely on God and Jesus Christ then i will be able to do anything!!! i can do whatever he asks of me. He will comfort us in our afflictions!!!! I am sure of this. I was really scared to switch areas, but have relied on my Father in Heaven and have been so blessed and have LOVED IT!!! So i will end with verse 37

"36 Now if this is ^aboasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a ^bbranch of the tree of Israel, and has been ^clost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, ^dwanderers in a strange land.

37 Now my brethren, we see that God is ^amindful of every ^bpeople, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen. "

ILOVE YOU ALL SOMUCH. LOVE HERMANA STORY LES QUIERO MUCHO!

She did it!!!! :) Jordana Got Baptised!

2010-06-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

Miracles Happen all the time. Jordana was baptized on Friday. It was really cool. We taught and found her and she was baptized within 2 weeks. It was a miracle from Heavenly Father! We were so blessed to be a part of it all. We had to teach her pretty much everyday to be able to help her to understand everything she needed to and really be prepared to make the covenants with her heavenly father! But she was so prepared. Every time we met she had read something different and really understood what she needed to. Sunday in Gospel Principles we taught about Agency. The lesson went really good. I always get nervous teaching, still. but there were some really inspired things that people said and i never thought about before. one of them was about how we were so excited to come here. We were talking about why we were excited. Then one of them said, "well maybe because we knew God our father and saw his body and really understood how important and wonderful it was." i just thought that that was very neat. There is so much that we can learn from others if we are only willing to open our minds to it! it's neat but anyway that was a bit of a tangent. Jordana was so worried about being behind that after she went home and online read the first 3 lessons before Agency so that she could be caught up. She really had no problem with anything that we taught, which is such a blessing, because most of the time there are hang ups with things. She was truly prepared. It's interesting how Satan works against things that will be hard for us. We were talking to Jordana on the day of her interview and she told us about how she almost didn't come because she was just having a hard day. nothing was going right. So what she'd normally do and what she wanted to do was lock herself in her room and not come out.(sound familiar, that's how i handle things too.not as a missionary though) but it's interesting how satan worked on her. he knew that he could get her testimony but that having a bad day is something really hard for her. but she made it!

Then it came the day of the baptism That is when all the trouble started. We served at the battalion in the morning and then after called Jordana and realized we had made the programs wrong by spelling her name wrong but that was alright. We could fix that. we would have just enough time to get the keys too the font and get to the church to fill it and get everything ready. Normally the ward mission leader does that but right now we don't have one, and the one filling in for us has been in the hospital so it fell to us. So we finished this and then got ready to leave when we realized, we didn't have keys. So we called the sisters that we share cars with and realized that they had the car in their area 40 minutes away. So we kind of panicked. It turned out that by chance we had no car. which meant no way to get to the baptism. i was so stressed!!!! we pulled some strings and made things happened and got to the baptism at about 5:20 when it started at 6. We ran a little behind but with helped everything worked out. It was interesting though because we were so frustrated and that was how satan wanted us. but everything still worked out, because when your on the lords side it does just work out. I've been reading in Alma lately where Alma and Amulek are preaching and first their people are killed by fire, then they are inprisioned. It was really hard on them, but in the end the Lord delivered them. God isn't always gonna just make things work perfectly, we might have to struggle. But we will win in the end if we stay faithful.

The baptism was amazing. Jordana even wrote her testimony out so she could share it after the baptism. She talked about how missionaries had approached her a few times before(we didn't know this) but she said she was never ready. But how she really was ready for the gospel and has been taking the little steps towards god, but this was one large step. The spirit was very strong and i know that she knows that this is true. She is truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. and What's amazing is that her brother and boyfriend came. yay!!!! This confirmed to me again that there are people prepared EVERYWHERE!! even more than that two that there are people prepared for me to teach especially. I've had 3 experiences, all in different areas, all speaking different languages where things like this have happened. the 2nd week of being in a new area a person who is ready to accept the gospel is found and ready to be baptised during that transfer this almost never happens. I know that it is heavenly father sending the people, that he has prepared for me to teach, to me. I know that there are people prepared for all of you to share the gospel with as well. even if it is just by your example or love. you are sharing the gospel of jesus christ and there are people that need that, that you are there to help. I've been so blessed to have had the opportunity to met so many amazing people. It really keeps me going because sometimes it's hard for me to be away from all of you. but i know that this is where i need to be. God needs me to help in his work. and i'm so grateful for the things i'm learning everyday! it's GREAT! i love it! but i hope that everything is going good. i love hearing about what everyone is doing. Trek will be amazing for the boys, i remember those were some of the worst and best experiences for me when i was in high school. I am growing to love the pioneers more and more as i learn about the mormon battaliion. I found this in conference a quote i loved.

"As we stood on Parley Street reflecting upon their desperate conditions, my eyes were drawn to a series of wooden signs nailed to fence posts upon which were etched quotes from the diaries of these suffering Saints. As we read each quote, to our amazement what we found in their words was not desperation and discouragement but confidence and commitment and even joy. They were filled with hope, the hope that is reflected by this quote from the diary of Sarah DeArmon Rich, February 1846: “To start out on such a journey in the winter . . . would seem like walking into the jaws of death but we had faith . . . [and] we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had come.”¹

These early Saints were indeed homeless, but they were not hopeless. Their hearts were broken, but their spirits were strong. They had learned a profound and important lesson. They had learned that hope, with its attendant blessings of peace and joy, does not depend upon circumstance. They had discovered that the true source of hope is faith—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His infinite Atonement, the one sure foundation upon which to build our lives." Elder Wilford W. Andersen They really understood the plan of salvation and what it really meant. but i'm grateful for all of you alnd love you so much. i would love pictures of you!!!

love sister story

just another week of Miracles... man i'm loving this

2010-06-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

So i told you about Jordana last week and it's good news for this week with her. She is so prepared for the gospel.We have been teaching her and she came to church and we committed her to be baptized. She is going to be baptized on FRIDAYWe are so excited. it is faster than normal. Me and Sister Thornley had decided on the 13th of June at first but then suddenly right before her appointment both of us said, "hey we should commit her to the 6th." so we did and she said yes! and she is getting baptized on friday. It's amazing how when people are ready they are just ready! She is so humble and open to the whisperings of the spirit. that is really all you need to be, or order to be baptized. Open and ready to accept the atonement in your life. Open to changing who you are. I have learned a lot lately to look at people how they can become, and as their potential rather than looking at who they are or even who they used to be. I've realized that i wouldn't want someone judging me based on who i used to be but would rather people see what i can became. So we are so excited for Jordana. Please pray for her. With great blessings and openness to the gospel come lots of temptation from Satan! so please keep her in your prayers.

Things at the Mormon Battalion are good too!!!! I talked to a lot of great people this week. Yesterday i took this HUGE group! like 40 people which is hard because you can't get very personal and i knew that their was a family from Egypt in the tour that weren't members but the rest of them were. So i was way stressed. but i did the very best i could to love and really share the gospel with everyone in the tour, i mean everyone could use a pick me up of the gospel right. So afterwords i get done and talk with them. And they(the family from Egypt) really enjoyed the tour. The thing that i think made the biggest difference for them was nothing i said but the spirit and the families that were LDS and were there as well. There was a grandma in the group and the whole family kept helping her all along the way and the families really loved each other and you could see the love and feel the love they had for each other and for these pioneers. This family ended up wanting more information about the gospel. I know that it was because of the examples of these families. They really were disciples of Christ. I'm so grateful for them and the difference they were able to make in the life of this family. So you all need to remember that people are watching you and can feel the love you have for each other and the savior in all you do. we are examples of Jesus Christ and show our love for him through our actions. it's pretty neat. You all are amazing example of this! but this really touched me. and ps... this was one of the FUNNEST TOURS EVER... the tour goes in 4 different rooms and as we go into the 3rd one this little boy who was like 2 or 3 says, "HEY THISTHER, THITH PLATHE ITH AWETHOME!" it was so cute! i love when i get to take people around that have kids. it makes me feel at home.

So things have been really good this week. Still had our struggles but we are doing our best. We are always learning, i feel like everyday i learn how to be a better missionary. but we get to be together as sisters a lot too which is really fun... last night we even had a fireside in the room at the mobat that is like a campfire! IT's SWEET! we had smores and everything, with nutella(thought of patrick), marshmallow creme and gram crackers. they were so good! it was neat to hear all the stories from the other sisters of the Mormon battalion. it's easy to get frustrated and feel like we aren't making a difference!

i'm glad everyone is doing good. weird to hear that tay and pat are graduated, congrats!! love you two!!!! your the best! but hope everything is good. i love you all and know that i'm doing the work of the Lord and i wouldn't want to be anywhere else. love SISTER STORY

another week... more miracles

2010-05-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

So This has been a really interesting week filled with tonz of miracles and some hard times, but the miracles always overshadow the hard times. So I'm in this new area... which was pretty hard on me this time. You all know that i'm kinda a homebody. Change is good but it was hard for me because i've been constantly changing for the last 9 months. I've felt like nowhere was home when that's all i really want. but i've learned that Heavenly Father has different plans for us than we have for ourselves. His plans are always better for us, than our own. So i decided early on in my mission to make the best of wherever i was, who i was with, and what ward i served in. This has been the hardest time so far. I got in the area with a Baptism... SWEET!... then we had no investigators. Zero. So i was very frustrated. I kept trying to tell heavenly father that he didn't know what he was doing that i was the worst person at finding people. Then he showed me otherwise. :) I'm grateful for the opportunity i have to learn and grow everyday, even when it's hard. So we started the week just knowing that we needed to find investigators... so we prayed a lot!!! And we've started to do everything we've can to get to know the members because sister thornley has only been in this area one transfer and doesn't know very many of the members either. So that is where we are starting getting to know the members and trying to find the people that have been taught in this area before and pretty much anyone that has their name in the area book. We do this all week. which was very frustrating because we didn't find much success with anything. But we just kept working hard and doing all we could to find people to teach. It was frustrating but we loved it because at the very end of the week we saw miracles.... :) Saturday we had a meeting with all the Sisters at the Mormon Battalion. i dont know why but i had a super hard time. the meeting started and i just started crying. i've just felt so overwhelmed lately. i have cried and cried and cried. i have just felt like there is so much that i need to know and study and i have no time to be able to do it all with Spanish, Mormon battalion, missionary stuff, scriptures and there isn't enough time and then i dont know how to get an area kick started adn really get missionary work going... so i was so frustrated then we had this weird meeting that was really neat in most ways and weird in some and it all overwhelmed me so i just cried i might dry up before i get home from crying so much. :) but i've learned that prayer and faith are the keys and so i've tried to be better at both and have seen miracles....

The first one was Jordana. We were walking back from trying to see a referral. when we see this lady with two dogs(which you all know me, dogs are a no! but EVERYONE has them. yuck) good thing my companion loves dogs and we go to talk to this lady. We start talking to her and she says, "Hey aren't you from the temple? I've been wondering and i know there are like lessons i can take to learn more about your church. i want to take those lessons." We found out she has friends who are LDS and have taken her to church before and she even has a book of Mormon. We are going to teach her for the first time tonight and are SO excited! We learned that if we do all we can do to do the work that Heavenly Father wants us to do, then we will be blessed. There are so many people out their that are prepared and ready to learn about the gospel and even searching to find the truth that we have we just have to share it with others. Sometimes i wonder why i was such a chicken back before my mission. i mean i've always known this is true why be so scared to share it! Silly me. anyway

Miracle number two. We were at church on Sunday and the meeting was over. I was talking to the lady who had taught the lesson in relief society. I'm amazed by people because she is a single lady who served a mission and is so faithful and was asked to teach the lesson on motherhood.i can't imagine what a struggle that may have been for her to talk about motherhood when that was something she was never able to experience on this earth. It just shows the testimony she had. She is truly willing to do anything that the lord wants her to do. It was a great example to me. but then after someone yells, "Sisters get over her." so we go and there are Brenda and Rue. They are a couple from China but have lived in Germany where they became Christians and now live in San Diego. They told us about how they have been looking for a christian church to attend and that they wanted to come to services and learn more. We were able to teach them and even give them book of Mormons and teach and testify of the strength of the book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Jesus Christ. I love testifying and teaching about the book of Mormon. I have come to love the book of Mormon so much since i've come on a mission! but anyway. There we are working all week to find investigators with no success and then Heavenly Father sends us 3 people who are SO prepared to learn about the gospel. What miracles!!!!!

I'm so excited that i can be a part of these miracles. As hard as it is sometimes and as frustrating as it can be. i am so grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Lord on the earth adn it is true! i LOVE IT! and i LOVE ALL OF YOU! thank you so much for all your support and love it means everything to me. on those rough days i think of you all and know you love me and are praying for me( you better all be :) ) and know that i can do it. I pray for all of you all the time. thank you for all the cards and things for my birthday it was Great! i love hearing about what all of you are doing in your lives. i may not comment on a lot of them but know that i LOVE hearing about it. i love you. love sister story!

Great Week... you guessed right... new area... new comp

2010-05-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

So it has been very eventful week. Tuesday was p-day and we found out that we no longer get to know if we are being transferred until right at transfers. So like i was guessing i got transferred. I am in a new area again. I am now in La Jolla. The temple is actually in my area. It is beautiful!! It's a small area. We are the only set of missionaries in the ward which is a little strange for me but great! I am now companions with SISTER THORNLEY! she was in my district in the MTC! She is SO CUTE!!!!! I love her a lot! She really wants to serve and loves being a missionary! So La Jolla is the most expensive area in our mission. it is very different that any area i've been in yet but i am already loving it. We had a baptism my first Sunday. Yunseon was baptized. She is So sweet. She is here from Korea to learn English for about a year. She has a nine year old son. She is so open and humble and willing to learn even though it is hard for her to understand English. You can tell she has a testimony and knows that this is the true gospel. While she was here she happened to find the gospel as well. Coincidence i think not! She actually had gone to the temple grounds because it's right next to her apartment and the sisters started teaching her! She was definitely prepared and her baptism was beautiful. We even sang.. me and sister Thornley. The spirit was really strong and i'm excited to serve here. Then sister Wolfgramm(she is tongan and reminds me of shay!) she made a feast. the ward in ward council said it's like a luai just short of the big... i didnt believe them, but they were right!!!! YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was great. We dont really have any other investigators so we are really starting from scratch and are really excited this is a great ward and we really want to get the members involved in missionary work. So that is what we are going to do. I was a tad worried because i've felt like i keep moving so fast that i'm not able to really help areas but i really think that i am i just dont get to see what happens and that's okay. i have faith that one day i will know about the wonderful things that happen and i think the moving around really helps me to be a great support for the other sisters in the battalion cuz i've been companions with half of them... well a third. The new sisters came and i made them cute little welcome bags(i remember how scary it was to come) i've really gotten a long well with both of them. Sister MOrtensen and Sister Johnson(both former companions) are training them. I am loving serving with all these amazing sisters in the mormon battalion.

I had a really amazing experience, and i can't remember if i told you last week about it. hopefully not cuz your hearing it a gain. i was at the Mormon battalion when a girl came in. my companion was busy so i decided to take her on a tour alone(we are allowed to do that in the battalion as long as it's busy) but we go in the room and i feel the spirit SO strong! I start talking to her and find out that she has recently become a christian but that her parents were very against it. (now that i'm tell you i think i already told you but maybe not aaahhh i dont know) The spirit was super strong and i knew i needed to tell her that god loved her and give her a book of Mormon before she left, which is something we dont usually do. We developed a great relationship and the spirit was so strong as we went around the tour and the site. At the end of the tour she told me that she knew that she needed to be baptized but she didnt know where. So i told her i could help her. I got her information and the missionaries are going to see her. I got her the book of Mormon and she said she would go read it right then! the spirit was very strong and i know she was led here to talk to me. God has a plan for each of us and loved us so much!

MY BIRTHDAY!- it was really good. I made myself one of my famous ice cream cakes(i made them for my roommates at snow) it was SUPER GOOD! First we went to see the Herreras and they sang me happy birthday. they are a family in my new area and they speak Spanish!!!(very few people in my area speak Spanish but pres said i would be going back Spanish some day) but they do so it gives me a chance to practice. Then we came back to serve int he battalion and everyone was waiting to surprise me and and sing happy birthday too me... i brought my cake and the sisters inhaled it. they were all so sweet. lots of them wrote me nice cards. The thulins brought me balloons and flowers. the stuttz cookies, and the evans treat and a nice card. my mission president and his wife even sang happy birthday to me over the phone. It was a great day! i took like 3 Spanish tours that day. got 4 referrals :) and one of the Spanish tours sang happy birthday to me(the elders told them it was my bday) So it was a great day. Then today i got all the Stuff from you all!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!! i felt so loved. i am so lucky to have people that love and care about me. it is such a blessing.

I have felt really grateful this week for the great blessing i have in my life i am so blessed to have people that love and care about me and take such great care of me. I'm grateful for the knowledge we have to me members of this great gospel where we know that we can live with our families forever and know what we need to do to take part of that great blessing! i got to attend the temple today and go to be a part of some sealings work. The knowledge we have is such a blessing! i'm so grateful for the temple and the work we do there. This is the gospel of jesus christ and gods kingdom on the earth... well sorry i dont have any great funny stories maybe next week. i love you all. love SISTER STORY!!

Another Great week as a missionary!!!!!

2010-05-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

So it was amazing to talk to you on mothers day. i loved it and i am glad that things are going good with everyone. I'm glad this time i got to talk to David and Patrick. Too bad Ben was gone but Australia what an experience. you'll have to write me and tell me about it. and you can write me with the advice you have for me as a missionary too. i'm always looking to improve. GO TAYLOR AND PATRICK. that was my cheer for the boys at their game today! It was great to hear how everyone was doing and what was going on with the family! I especially loved hearing the little girls they are just little angels. I'm glad they haven't forgotten me. I was very concerned about that!

The rest of my mothers day went very good! Sister Sherman got to talk to her family and i forgot a story about her i was going to tell you all. i thought it would be really funny! :) She is such a firecracker! it's funny for me to watch because i can be a firecracker but have learned to relax a lot with things that don't matter. So Wednesday we were serving at the temple! :) I LOVE serving there. we get to look at the temple and be in that special place all day. but background fro the story. we park in reserved parking usually on the right but sister sherman likes the left side reserved. I figure they are both reserved, does it really matter which one we are in. (i have learned to pick my battles with companions. some things are worth fighting and some things not) so we stayed parked there well about 4 hours later a man(this man i know is the temple president but my lovely companion doesn't know it. hahaha) and he says, "You know you really shouldn't park there." to which my companion replies, " AND WHY NOT?" he then proceeds to tell her, "well i'm the temple president and these spots are reserved for the temple presidency!" he seemed a little past annoyed at this point. She she then says, "well i just didnt know which spot. because there are four" or something like that. so he just says, "well these four are for the temple presidency." and then he walked into the temple. it was quite amusing for me. i loved it. anyhow.

So mothers day we went to find people to teach so we visited a lady named Cheryle. She had just had a baby about a month ago but we had never been able to see her since we met her 2 months ago. She had always been busy or something. but we finally got to talk to her. She has 4 kids the oldest is 19 and is autistic. But she is really great. We haven't' seen her since but we are very excited but i forgot to tell you what a softy i've become. Pretty much every sacrament meeting someone says something to make me cry. i'm really concerned that by the time i'm done serving a mission i'll be all dried up because i'll have lost all my water from crying so much. so in church on Sunday the little kids got up to sing and i just started up. i was just so excited to talk to you all and i just am so luck to have such wonderful women and mothers in my life. you are all(well the women i'm writing to) such great examples of mothers and friends and great people that i thought of that and just started bawling how embarrassing. hahaha. oh well. it's pretty bad though when i was still in Spanish, one Sunday i spent the entire meeting crying someone asked me if i was sick and told me sudafed is really good. hahaha. funny

So i forgot to tell you a few others things too. So did i tell you i live in the same apartment complex with all the Mormon battalion sisters. it is SO FUN. we've started something so sweet. We do exercising every other morning together. Sister Poulsen does like tie bo sorts of stuff with us. We call it the MOBAT WORK OUT. it is so funny. We do like punching and kicking and yoga stuff too. it's gotten to be quite a party at 6:30 every morning. even the elders have started to try and take pictures(which yes is creepy) because they want blackmail. but i love it! it's so fun. so i sent you some picts we took of that. :) we have a lot of fun with all these sisters. last week we even did relays i got a little too into it but whatever it was fun. i'm just a tad competitive. hahaha.

but yesterday was a really great day. I have been really wondering lately what more i could do to be a better missionary and how i could better help people. So i was reading in Preach my gospel about it. and there is a section called being a successful missionary. how perfect right. so i looked at it and one of the bullets talked about how you will feel the spirit and know the spirit is working through you and guiding you. Yesterday we had a neat experience with that. All of our appointments had fallen through, and we had some back ups and things we were planning to do but didn't quite know what the lord wanted us to do. So Sister Sherman gave us the idea to pray. novel idea right. so we decided to. She prayed and then asked what inspiration i felt. So i said, Bishop, Sister Ramirez(who is in the Spanish ward, to see if she had a friend we could teach), and Sister Ballow(Who neither of us had ever met). So she said she felt the bishop too. so he was first. we went and visited him and just asked what we could do to help. Then we went to Sister Ramirez. That is what's nice about my area now. i was in the same area before but just the Spanish side before and now English. Sister Ramirez is the sweetest lady. Such a great missionary. So we talked to her(well i did cuz my companion couldn't)but she walked over right then and got an appointment to teach her friend. :) We were two out of three. So we go to sister Ballow. That was really neat. She testified and really opened up to us that she doesn't feel comfortable in the ward but opened up to us and the spirit was very strong. These may not seem like wonderful miraculous experiences but for me they were. Everything went so smoothly because we were following what the spirit guided us to do. It really helped me to see i am a good missionary and the spirit is guiding me and directing me. It was really neat.

i've felt so lucky lately. To have the gospel and the guidance it gives us each and everyday in this crazy world is a great blessing to me. i've felt so blessed. i watched that new Mormon Message-my new life if you get some time watch it. it is so powerful. it reminded me of my amazing friend Heidi. She is such a great example of enduring to the end and a really great example of a disciple of Christ through her actions. there are so many things in this world to tear us down and make us feel bad, but then i think about all the things we have as members of the church that bring us up and give us encouragement and help. this Mormon message helped me to see that. so watch it! its very artistic and cute too. but i love you all. i know that this is the true church that Joseph smith translated the book of Mormon and restored the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. the book of Mormon is the word of god and will bless us and give us the answers to any of life's questions. i'm grateful for the trust got has in me to be able to be a representative of Jesus Christ! LOVE,

SISTER STORY

Everything is Great!

2010-05-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

This week has been really good. Gladys Knight came and that was really fun! It was such a neat experience. She came and sang with her choir and just talked about how being baptized has changed her life and invited others to listen to the missionaries. It is so neat to be there when others have those amazing experiences. They sang a song called Tomorrow i think. and that was really inspiring especially being a missionary. We can not wait til tomorrow to talk to people we need to talk to them today!! i just really loved it. its hard to explain the experiences that we have as missionaries because they are so fantastic. There was one neat experience that i had this week(well i've had lots but this one i will share) there was a boy and girl that came into the battalion and i gave them a tour and talked to them. I found out that he had served a mission and she was about to be baptized the next day. They were both so excited. So after they wanted to watch something so i took them into a theater. and i was debating with what to show them. Something short. then together me and her boyfriend decided on two and we watched them. The one was an excerpt from the talk of an apostle talking about how we may not know everything but, we do know enough. The film really helped her and touched her because i found out that her mom doesnt think she was ready to make that step but through that film she received that confirmation that she knew enough to be baptized. it was a really neat experience. there was also someone else who really touched me. there was a lady and her family. they were members. and as she was leaving she said, "Thank you so much for serving the lord." it really touched me! those are just a few of my experiences everything else will wait for a few days. ... i LOVE YOU. LOVE sister story

ps. i dont know exactly but around 6 your time. i hope that that will work. okay love you. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM AND GMA

LIFE

2010-04-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

HELLO!!!!!

Everything is going REALLY WELL!!!! We haven't had any baptisms or amazing things happen this week, but i can see the work in our area getting a little better a little at a time. Missionary Work is amazing! We have 3 investagators who have been investegators way too long and we have really been focusing on trying to help them to progress and find the Joy they could trhough the gospel. We have been working with Talissa, Vernette and Olga. Talissa is about 20 and has the cutest little girl named Lily. It's amazing how the Lord gives us exactly what they need. For some reason i felt like i should share the story of the Strippling Warrior and how they didn't die but everysingle one of them was injured. So in life we dont always have things easy but God will always help us and we will not perish. This is what i learned but we shared this story with her and that isn't what touched her heart but the faith of their mothers!!! She saw something different becasue she is at a different place in life than me but heavenly father still gave me that inpiration to help her! IT was really neat. She was like i want that sort of faith for me and for Lily to have later too. It was a really great visit! Then we are teaching Vernette. She is 84 and GREAT!!! She has flowers and pink ALL over her house. her bathroom looks like the lady on Harry Potter(the high inquisitor lady can remember her name ) but it's great. i will try and send a pic soon! but she is the SWEETEST lady ever. She is so stuck in her ways though. She is so scared of baptism. We are trying to astonish her and really help her have an overwhelmingly spiritual experience but we dont know how yet... so if you got any ideas!!!! Then there is Olga. She has the cutest 3 kids. tehy are SO SO CUTE. She is an amzing mom and just wants to do what is right. She loves the book of Mormon but has trouble having the desire to go to church. So we are really trying to get people from the ward involved. so they can be friends and she will be more comfortable. We also found a family this week. Their names are Edgar and Gloria and they have 4 soso cute kids! they are really great and also have a strong desire to learn more about Jesus Christ. They just barely became christains so they are very willing to learn. we are really excited to get to teach them! So that is what I've been up to this week What have all you been up to

WE ALSO HAD LOTS OF BIRTHDAY FUN! It was Sister Shermans Birthday on Saturday! It was a GREAT DAY! It was the day we met edgar and gloria. Her mom sent cupcakes to the battalion and i had an AMAZING coconut cupcake. it was great. then we went and saw a lot of our investegators and had really amazing blessings and the spirit was in all of the visits! I kept telling sister sherman thanks cuz Heavenly Father was giving her LOTS of GREAT birthday presents! So it was great and one of the less active girls KB who is SO sweet made her a great yummy cake. Then we even had a PARTY at the Mormon Battalion. It was kinda for Sister Sherman. There was a senior couple who left today a senior couple who arrived this week and then her birthday so we had a little party! It was very fun. At first i couldnt enjoy it cauze i felt so bad becasue we hadn't even had dinner yet. it's her birthday and i hadn't even fed my companion. everyone needs a good meal on her bday! but then she told me to suck it up and stop feeling bad we could do a birthday dinner on monday. So then i had fun.

We ate

We listened to the Mobat Soundtrack

Played Have you Ever????? And it was So funny. We were playing with EVERYONE. and someone said, " have you ever farted in a lesson" so all these people got up and found a new chair(of course i wasnt one of them.... okay i was) and then Elder Thulin(one of the senior couples) said, "THAT does NOT leave THIS room" it was hilarious. Itwas a really fun time.

So that is my week. It was great. I'm really excited for the work and LOVE being a missioanry. i have my hard days but good times outway the bad and i am LEARnig SO MUCH! i love youall! i send lots of hugs i am a litte obsessed with thest things this ones my favorite! but the monkey is sweet too. my pday is switching to tuesday next week. and i know this the the gospel of jesus christ on the earth. LOVE YOU ALL! love SISTER STORY!

I dont have much news this week... Gladys Knight is coming....i learn SO much...singles cruises... :)

2010-04-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

So i dont have a lot to say this week. My companion and I Sister Sherman have been working really hard to try and invite people to Gladys Knight... It has been really fun.. sometimes people are a little hesitant to talk to us but when we mention Gladys Knight and free tickets all the sudden we are IT! :) Gladys Knight has a choir The Saints Unified Voices choir and she goes around doing firesides where she sings with her choir and talks about how she met the missionaries and became a member of th e church. She normally doesn't go to the west coast but because the missionary department and done so much in our mission they wanted to do one out here. We are so excited. IT has been really fun to invited people and get them all excited about this. its an amazing opportunity as missionaries to share the gospel. That is really what we've been focusing on this week. It has been really fun...and scary for me. I do not like knocking doors and our mission president teaches us better ways to do missionary work but he gave us the council to do it with this event and it scares the CRAP out of me. I dont know why but i get so nervous but i am getting better and better able to do it. It's fun when people answer the door and are like "Lo siento no puedo hablar ingles.(sorry i can't speak english)" to try and get us to leave and i can say, "oh esta bien, puedo hablar espanol. Somos las Misionaras de la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. Tenemos una mensaje de jesucristo. Queremos compartirlo con usted." I tell them that's okay i can speak spanish and we have a message about jesus christ. So i'm improving on lots of different things but lots of work to do still. but my companion is really good at door knocking so it's great.

This week i've been studying a lot on obedience because i'm trying to be obedient and study an attribute of Christ each week and this week was obedience. I learned so much!!!! I realized that obedience is directly linked to faith. As we have faith we will have a stronger desire to be obedient and as we are obedient our faith is strengthened. i always thought obedience was just about following rules but really it is about making what we want the same as what heavenly father wants for us. It is hard. but i've really learned that being obedient is showing heavenly father that we trust that he knows better than us and that he won't give us any commandments that are not the best for us. I just thought that was so neat. I am looking at being obedient to the commandments in a whole new way that all the commandments are so god can bles me and who doesnt want blessings from god. i loved reading the story of Army of Helaman. they obeyed with exactness, in Alma 57:12 it says, " they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them" they had the faith and obeyed and then they all were injured but nobody died. I love that because. it doesnt say that nobody had to suffer... it said nobody perished. i loved that because sometimes it is hard and we struggle but we will not perish. that is something i learned this week and LOVED! I'm amazed at how much i learn each week and just LOVE it. It's so fun to strengthen our own testimonies and then share that with others. There are so many great people we are teaching right now. They really have a strong desire to learn and to know what they need to do. It's so wonderful to be able to share the truth with them. This is the true church and can bring so much joy and peace through the atonement if we let it. That is what everything is about the Atonement of jesus christ everything else is a way we can access that atonement! :) its neat!

Well this week we were serving on the temple grounds and just happened to be there when the LDS singles cruise was docking. So TONZ of lds singles(0f all ages) came and visited the temple. it was so fun. I loved talking to all of them and having great conversations about the blessings of the gospel. we were talking to one girl. Brown Sugar. and she really inspired me. She was talking about how people think that as members of the church we have so many rules and regulations when really we are so free because of those. She told us about how before she was living the gospel she thought she was so free and then when she really started to live the gospel she realized that the gospel and follow Jesus Christ really is what brings freedom and happiness. It's really neat to see how the atonement is such a personal thing and how it is for each of us individually but for all of us! i Just LOVE IT. well i will stop typing now... my email seems very serious... so i will tell you some funny things cuz dont worry i'm still funny.

The other day we were teaching Chris who is like 25, and we were getting done and we were just asking him if he had any questions and he was like so is there anything else you cant do... so i was like ya, "we cant eat ice cream" he was so confused and really believed me... i gues it was kinda apostate but funny. dont worry i informed him that was a joke and we can eat ice cream. :)

Another day than the other day... it was really late and we were leaving Vernettes house(which is full of flowers and cats and pink) I LOVE THAT HOUSE! and vernette always has a treat for us. She is 84. but anyway we were way tired and leaving and about ready to head back to our apartment. my companion opens the glass door and starts walking right into the screen door. it was REAL funny. she like hit the screen and bounced back. it was so funny. good times. well i love you all a lot. i'm greateful for your love and support. love sister story

Ps Mom GUESS WHAT!!!!! everynight at nine o clock THERE ARE FIREWORKS!!!!! i get to see fireworks everyother night!!!!! whenever i serve at the battalion b/c you can see them from here!!! its the greattest. how many missionaries get to see fireworks like everynight on their mission!!!! WOHOO!!!!!

Miracles

2010-04-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

So this has been an AMAZING week! We had zone conference where i learned SO MUCH! My mission president and his wife are so wonderful and are teaching me so much everyday. I feel so blessed to serve with them here. And all the sisters. We had Zone Conference Tuesday and Pres. and Sister Donaldson taught us, and the spirit of course. We talked about how this is the Lords work and how we need to do it his way. It is so true that without the Spirit nobody can learn anything. We can talk to people until we are blue in the face but until we teach with the spirit we will never be able to get what we are saying to peoples hearts! :) Then after that meeting the two next days we had follow up zone conferences with just our zone leaders and zone and i was hit by the craziness of missions. here we are a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds talking about salvation and how we can help others receive salvation. I mean that doesn't happen. Except for with this Gospel because it is the truth! this is the true kingdom of God on the earth. I thought that was so neat because all of us care so much about helping others receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and we discussed and talked for 2 hours each day about how we can better do that. It was an amazing spirit that i was able to feel and it was so neat to be a part of it. It's amazing because the people we talk to don't understand how important this is but i do and that is why i have a desire share it because i know it is SO important! This is Salvation! Then we have a meeting with all the Mormon Battalion Sisters and i am so impressed with each one of them and if you put all of us together in one person we would be like UNSTOPPABLE!!! then i realized oh wait heavenly father already has put us all together in this battalion!!!!! what!!!!!!! He must know way better than i do. but really. we had an amazing meeting. the sisters are so strong and ALL of them have the strongest desire to learn and become better and love each other. It's a great thing to be a part of.

Mark was Baptized!!!!! I think i told you a little about Mark and I was overwhelmed this week with how perfectly things went. He did everything he needed to do because Mark has such a strong faith in Jesus Christ and was willing to do anything he needed to, to change and be baptized. So he did it! On Saturday, with all his brothers and sisters there. he was baptized. it was the most people i have ever seen at a baptism on my mission. There were so many people. His brother and sister spoke and gave wonderful talks and the spirit was very strong. then the same people sang the same song that was sung at his parents baptism and he was able to be baptized by his father. it was a great experience to watch and see these ward members who have been praying for Mark to accept the gospel for years to be a part and see him be baptized. Then on sunday(my first one in the ward, its a good way to get the trust of members by having a baptism your first week. ;) ) it was fast and testimony meeting, where many of the people bore testimony of baptism and testified to the spirit that was there on Saturday. The testimonies that really touched me though were the ones by 3 young boys in our ward. the first was Sean, who is 10, who had been baptized about a month earlier who's dad inst a member, he said, "I went to a wonderful baptism last night and it was a great experience. It reminded me of my baptism on Feb 20th, and i know that this church is true and i'm grateful for the missionaries that helped me get baptized." Then Sam who also is SO cute about 11 years old went up and said, " i just love when everyone is speaking about baptism and i am so grateful i was able to be baptized and be forgiven of my sins, i know this church is true." then there was one other boy that talked about remember his baptism and how important that was for him. I was bawling like a baby the whole time. I just never realized how much we do need to be like little children. these 3 boys probably understand the gospel more than anyone. although they have no huge sin, they recognize the holy ghost and the effects of the atonement just as much as anyone else. they understood how important baptism is and was to them. they bore simple amazing testimonies of the gospel and did it because they felt that and wanted to share. i just loved it SO SO SO MUCH! So this has been a great week. besides the fact that my companion clogged the toilet... yup and our plunger didn't work... good thing we live in an apartment complex with all the other sisters. :) anyhow. I love being a missionary. I have learned so much about the gospel. This is the restored gospel on the earth and Jesus Christ lives. God's hand is in every aspect of our lives! I love you all so much and pray for you a lot. love Sister Story!