September Brings a Change (Emails)

September 12, 2011

Hi Everyone,

...we see most people in our area is in the mornings when they are exercising. We are right by some mountains, so it's a really pretty place to go walking/jogging/hiking/biking. So many people are the super-intense bikers that wear the spandex and have the jugs of energy juice in pockets of their shirt. We actually had to go on bikes once the last couple weeks....up and down the same hills that they do for fun. I don't understand it. Basketball....soccer....swimming...dancing....these things are fun! But biking? Your butt gets so sore. Just not my cup of tea I suppose. This morning we actually went on this mini-hike up this trail behind our neighborhood. It's one that a lot of mountain-bikers use....I still think that's nuts! That was one of the scariest experiences of my life. Anyways, the hike was nice, and it was really pretty. Also, the weather has been GREAT the last few days, which I'm sure helped. Yesterday, I think the high was mid to upper 90's....it's still crazy to me that that is nice weather for me now! But really, you can feel the difference between that and 105 and definitely 115.

We got a new investigator this week! Her name is Hilary, and she just walked into church on Sunday. It was kind of weird actually....we still aren't quite sure how or why she came, but she did, so we are happy! She has really been prepared by the Lord, and is ready to make changes in her life. She is really excited about it all, and just knows that it is good and right. Before we even met with her after we saw her at church, she had watched the Joseph Smith movie and had picked up a Book of Mormon at the library to study. We have been able to have....4 lessons with her this week. We haven't gone over a ton of material so far--she's been a little overwhelmed. She is trying to find a job so she can move out of her boyfriend's house, and she wants to stop smoking. She decided this before we ever talked to her. But she's been involved with some really bad stuff in the past, so I am happy for her to feel the cleansing power of the Atonement when she is baptized. The date is for October 22nd! We won't actually be there for that, cause she is moving at the beginning of October into an apartment that she's signed for, but we will teach her as long as we can. It's been great!

Our other 3 investigators are doing fine themselves.....the real problem are their parents! Each one is totally good to go, but their parents keep putting off the baptismal date for some reason or another. I wish that they would just allow their kids to receive the blessings of being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost! Hopefully one will get baptized on Saturday....that has been his date the whole time. Hopefully they won't postpone it again....and then he can get baptized! It will be great, and hopefully we will be able to get in touch with them soon and smooth out the details. :)

Sister Hoyt is leaving next week! She will be going home, so it's weird to know that there definitely will be a change coming for me. I find out on Saturday the transfer news. I most likely will stay in my area, and be the one that's supposed to know everybody and their situation and where they live. Eeek! 4 wards is a lot of people. Ah well, it'll be fine. I'll let ya'll know the news next week. I suppose in the meantime, don't send mail to the VC. I could possibly go full-field. I've been trying to figure out who is going to be my new companion..... We have 3 new english sisters coming to the VC- from Mongolia, Kenya, and Pakistan. Yay for diversity! :) I am excited to meet them. I met some sisters from places like that in the MTC, and they were all incredible. They had sacrificed a lot for the gospel, and really had their priorities straight. I'm sure it'll be humbling to be near them, they are going to be awesome.

I have started reading the book "Jesus the Christ" this last week....never thought that book would suck me in like it has! I have trouble putting it down sometimes.....it is just really good! It helps me understand some of the events of the life of Jesus Christ, which has been wonderful. I've read a lot about the last few days of His life this week. It reminds me of my trip to Israel. It's been really good.

Anyhow, life is going well! Hope you are all doing good too!

Ps. Saw my Fourth scorpion a couple weeks ago. Sick.
the scorpion. After this picture we realized it was alive. They are tricky little things....act so still like they are dead. Beware of them! Sick.

the crazy curtain. This is the home I live in...now I'm in the basement, it's not SO extravagant. I just think it's a little much. Haha, reminds me of the curtains in Cinderella.

September 20, 2o11

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing great and that life is good. :) Amber said it's been cooling off a little in CA, and Oma said it rained a bit in Texas, that must be nice! All those in Seattle....well, I just hope that you've gotten some extra heat from the rest of us! It's been cooler here--high 90's has never felt so nice! It's comparable to a 75 degree day in Colorado--it's been great. :)

Well, I found out who my new companion is--her name is Sister Dyer. She's from Utah as well, and will be leaving at the end of this transfer to go home. It's pretty weird and sad to send home missionaries--this will be my second 3 transfers into the mission! We are still in the same area though, and now I'm the one that has to know everybody. Its' really weird, cause after this transfer I'll most likely be training. TRAINING! Everyone....that's just a little bit intimidating. Hopefully I'll improve a ton this transfer so I don't ruin the next sister. I know this because after this transfer, there will only be 6 of us VC sisters that speak English. One will already be training somebody that flew in this morning (she's from Africa! Sweet, huh?) and so that makes 5. And there are 5 new sisters coming in (From Mongolia, Pakistan, France, and I don't know about the other 2.) Anyhow, it's pretty much the only way, cause new sisters have to start at the VC, so they won't give them to a full-field sister. This is getting too detailed, so just trust me. It's weird.

It also means I'll be in my area at least 3 more transfers. Unless they send me somewhere else to train which would be CRAZY. So anyways, this transfer will be great. :) I'm excited to learn all I can from Sister Dyer--she is an awesome missionary.

All of our investigators are kinda weird right now....the one girl that came into church? I'm pretty sure we are going to stop teaching her....but I'll let you know more next week. There's just a lot of craziness going on with her. The other 3 are progressing....step by step. I think I'm here to learn patience. We all learn and change at different paces, you know? They are all great kids though, super cute.

I totally forgot! Elder Chai (spelling?) from the Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us last Thursday--it's called a "mission tour." Him and his wife spoke to us...it was fantastic. They are from Korea, and are just such neat people. He just made you want to be better without making you feel guilty at all. I think Jesus Christ would be a teacher like that--let's you know where you can improve with love, and just makes you want to be more obedient. Elder Chai talked about being over 100% obedient--like getting up at 6:15, instead of 6:30. That's the second time I've gotten that counsel from a general authority, the other one was in the MTC, Elder Kikuchi, so I guess that means God really wants me to get up early and show him my zeal for the work! :) That's one of my goals for this transfer--to be extra obedient in everything that I do.

I'm excited for this transfer--its' like New Years or something. New companion, new start. I've been thinking of goals I want to set for myself this transfer, and I'm really looking forward to it. :)

I've been reading Jesus the Christ, by Elder Talmage, like it's a novel or something. There is so much to learn about the Savior--I can hardly get enough! I love reading about His gospel in that book and in the scriptures. It's definitely true that the more you read, the more you want to read. :)

Love you all, thanks for all the letters.

Love,

Mary

September 27, 2011

Hi everyone,

My new companion is Sister Dyer! She is from Kaysville, UT (wherever that is) and is so much fun. She has a TON of energy. She is always excited about something, which is good cause it's getting people in our area excited too. It's nice to be with somebody that is always laughing and smiling and happy. She has some great new ideas too, so hopefully the work will pick up here as well.

This week we went on a hike one morning for exercise....it really is getting so pretty here to me, and the mornings aren't so hot! They're really nice! Our house is right up on some "mountains"...more like glorified hills, but it's nice to feel like you are out in the wilderness a little bit. Sister Dyer saw her first vulture out here last week, and she about peed her pants. Haha, I guess they are kinda big, and their crooked necks are sick. We've yet to see some havalinas (I haven't seen them either)....I'm a little doubtful that they exist. You know how some people really believe in jackalopes? I'm starting to think havalinas are amongst that group. :P Apparently they are gross, hairy, super ugly pigs, with really dark brown skin. We've actually prayed a couple times to see some...haha, but we figure God wants us to enjoy ourselves and see His creations, right? :) Hopefully we'll stumble across some soon.

So, I noticed that I really need to start taking more pictures, my camera is full of boring things. But here are a few for you. There's one of me in front of the VC sign....you have to take this one!


It is kind of boring though....soon after that we were looking at the sky (we were locked out of the VC for a few minutes cause we got there when everyone else was in some meeting.) and we found an oasis. I'm pretty sure I just stood there for a good 30 seconds staring at those palm trees.

Doesn't it look like you could be on a hammock and staring at the sky and trees above. I imagined I could hear the ocean and everything....ah, it was wonderful. :) I'm going to have to go back there sometime soon. Haha The other one is of everyone that works at the VC. Sister Hoyt was going home, and so we had a group photo.


They are all such great people! I feel really lucky to serve there because then I have a ton of friends with the other missionaries, versus just seeing them once a week at district meeting. The last one is creepy, I know. But a couple got engaged! Haha, that's what sister missionaries do on a slow morning--watch the couples and other random crazies outside. But it gets slow and we get bored, so that's what they should expect really.

We've dropped a few of our people this week, and are starting to teach "member-lessons." We want them to really understand what we do so that they invite their friends to meet with us. It's going to be great, I'm really excited about it. We did our first one last night...it was surprisingly, really good.

Love you all, and pray for you often. :)

~Mary

August Mission Updates (Emails)

August 2, 2011

It's been good out here--just doing the same old thing really. We're really trying to get more people to teach, so mostly that is what we are focusing on. However, we do get to meet with recent converts and less-active members really often. There is one lady--Sister Lofgreen. She has been less-active for years, but the sister missionaries have been going over for a while to visit and help her clean her house, etc. But recently she really wants us to teach her about the gospel and help answer some of her questions. It's been great, you can see in her how ready she is to do what's right. She's realizes now what she really needs in her life-- God. She's been going through some tough things the last couple weeks with her family, and realizing that there isn't anything she can do to fix it, but that she has to just trust that God will make sure things will turn out alright. We talked about the importance of prayer and the Savior, and how having that relationship with them will help her.

We have tried to see another family recently....they are older, and he is a member, but his wife Bobby isn't. They let us in about two weeks ago, and it went really nice. They instantly let us in to talk with them, and we shared a brief message and prayer with them. She's gotten super sick though, with double-pneumonia (what is that??) and he is really worried about her (they are quite old). So, we dropped off a card with the movie The Testaments, and hope they like it and think about it. It's such a great movie about having faith in Jesus Christ. It can be hard sometimes to believe He is real and cares, but He does! We'll call them tomorrow to see how she is....praying we can stop by and talk to them soon.

Oh, I had a pretty nice experience yesterday at the Visitor Center. A man walked in and came up to me. He told me that he is dating a member of the Church, and they are wanting to get married, and he knows that she wants to be married in the temple, so how can he do that? He wanted to do it, because she wanted to. Well, I told him that he had to be a member of the Church for a year to be married in the temple, and he was like, "Okay, so what do I do?" I was like, sweet! So, I got his address and we'll be sending missionaries to his house to teach him. He had some time, so I was able to show him some of the things in the VC and teach him some of the basic beliefs of the Church and how it was started--basically the lesson of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was nice to be able to really teach somebody at the VC. I told him that it was great he wanted to do this for his fiancee, but he needed to do it for himself, to find out if it was true for himself, and that this couldn't just be to get into the temple, but a change in how he lives his life. He told me that he knew that was true, and that he would do this for himself too--he knew that he needed to look into it more. He really had an open and soft heart to everything I taught him, I think it was because he knew his fiancee believed it and trusted her. So, he listened and really considered that was I was saying could be true. He said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon (yes!) and expected an answer. He is a Christian too, it's nice when they already have that relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the whole point of the Church, so they are usually a bit more open to learning more.

So, my companion heard me talk in my sleep for the first time last night. Apparently, I was telling somebody to "just read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Just read it!" Most of my dreams lately definitely have to do with us teaching people, and planning for lessons, etc. But even in my sleep, I know the most important thing--just read the Book of Mormon! If that book is true, then everything else is too. As missionaries, we just invite people to consider that there is more, and to study it for themselves. Heavenly Father just wants us to know the truth--He will teach us what is right. Apparently there was somebody in my dream that really needed to make that step. :)

Oh my heck. So a few days ago, we tried to visit somebody we had spoken to recently. We rang the doorbell....the dog started barking, we could hear kids talking. But nobody came, so after a reasonable amount of time, we knocked. The reply? Shouted from the back of the house: "Just let me eat my turkey sandwich!" Haha, it was funny (esp cause she didn't know who we were--nobody came to the door. She just really wanted to eat that sandwich. We've been quoting that a bit lately. :)

No new scorpions this week....darn. I mean, it's nice, but it was kind of exciting too. Haha

August 8, 2011

This last week here has been a little warmer....or maybe it's just more humid. Either way, I've been stinkin' hot. There have been some people that have come into the Visitor Center, that are here on vacation. I was like, "You are here for fun? In August? In Arizona?" It boggles my mind.

We have seen some of the craziest things lately, and have been writing them down to remember them. The other day, there was this old man crossing a really busy street here in Mesa (the kind where it is 2-3 lanes wide for each direction of traffic.) He was in his electric wheelchair, and just crossed one half of the street and started cruising down the middle for a bit before he crossed the rest. Poor old man should have used the cross walk. It was bizarre. Then a mailman started to turn left, not realizing that there was a median in the middle of the road. That was so surprising! We were right behind him, and I was afraid he had fallen asleep or something. He soon figured out that the huge bump in the road was alarming and started driving straight again, to my relief. Thankfully, he kind of zoomed off after that....was it embarassment or the adrenaline rush of almost running into the palm tree, I'll never know. But, he was far from us, so I felt a bit better. Then this guy (like 25 or so) ran across the street (a busy one too, Main St.) and his pants started falling off! My companion was a bit more shocked and appalled than I was, I guess I haven't been separated from such things for as long as her, I just thought it was funny. And then, he tripped on his pants, and totally fell. Poor guy, I felt bad for him. It probably hurt, he totally fell hard, not just on his hands and knees....here's some words of wisdom: If thine pants are too big, hold them up with a belt. And that's not even all of them, there are some crazy people here. It must be the heat.

Still no scorpions...I'm afraid I've just gotten a bit paranoid. I'll think that I feel something on my feet when we are studying or planning and it'll make me jump a bit, or move my feet in a very quick and perhaps shocking manner. Sister Hoyt thinks that I'm a little nuts....but the way I see it, she's the one always wearing shoes, just in case there's something down there. So, which is of is the truly paranoid? It'll take a lot more than the chance of a scorpion to keep shoes on my feet while I'm at home.

I don't know if y'all remember that family I talked about last time...the older couple, and the wife Bobby was really sick. Well, we stopped by to see where they stand, what they expect when we come, and why we were visiting. Bart and Bobby both made it very clear that they were fine where they were, and didn't want anything else. Bart told us that he believes in the Book of Mormon, but flat-out refused to read it. Bobby told us that though she has known members of the Church her whole life, she has never wanted to learn more. It was disappointing, of course, but I actually left optimistic, I could really feel the comfort of the Holy Ghost. As a missionary for the Church, I am here to invite others to come unto Christ, and to learn more. Though they refused, it was good to be able to actually give somebody a true invitation to learn more. Finding people to talk to is a challenge in our area. People leave a lot during summers here.

I called somebody in Germany at the Visitor Center the other day! It was pretty cool--she wants to learn more about the Church, but her mother won't allow her to meet with missionaries right now. But, she's allowed to go to church, so I gave her directions to her ward and told her the bishop's name and phone number. She was excited about it! She lives in Hofheim, in Hessen. Nathan, did you ever serve there? I also have been able to call Nicaragua a few times. One of the sisters at the VC is from there, and she needed me to call for a phone number of her cousin, and wanted me to call one of her friends and invite her to meet with missionaries. She agreed to! That was great, it is so nice to find those that are truly wanting to learn more....if that's because they want to understand their friends or family better, or because they feel that they need more in their life, it's always great. :) I wish I knew Spanish, I would call all of her Nicaraguan friends....alas, very few of them speak English.

We were trained on meeting with ward council members (the leaders in the ward--like the Relief Society President, what Mom was doing this last year.) It was just what we've needed recently. So, we've been trying to find a time to meet with all of them, and inspiring them to inspire the group they are over to do missionary work. We've been planning activities with the youth and Relief Society, and doing "sharing time" in the primary (where the kids 3-11 years old go after the Sacrament Meeting.) I feel really excited--it's really going to get things rolling here.

Oh! I almost forgot, transfer news. Nothing's changed in our area. Still with the same companion, 4 wards, Visitor Center. That means I'll most likely be here for the next 3 months, because Sister Hoyt is going home after this transfer, and they usually keep one missionary in the same area, so that they know what's going on. Sister Hoyt said it'll be likely for me to stay here at least 2 more transfers. ....We'll see. That'll be over a third of my mission! Of course, there's no way to tell, but I just thought it was interesting. When you are in a place for so long, there is definitely a purpose for it, and it becomes less like God needed me in this mission, but God needed me in these wards. That's kind of cool to know that He wanted me to go on a mission to serve in this specific spot, to help these specific people. :)

Love you all so much, hope you are doing well! Write back!

August 15, 2011

Hi everyone,

They are closing early, so I've gotta go in like 2 minutes...eek! Sorry about that, we didn't realize.

This week has been a good one--went by really fast. We ended it wondering what we did--looking back just visited lots of ward council members, and our other people cancelled. Figure that's why it felt so crazy. But, hopefully it'll get the ward members fired up and get us some referrals!

How are you all doing? good I hope! Is it very hot where you are? the other day I was thinking of how nice it was outside....realized it was about 103 degrees. Haha, guess I've gotten pretty used to it.

Love you all so much! Pray for you all each day....

August 22, 2011

I called a girl in Germany the other day that said she wanted missionaries--totally realized how much I DON'T remember about that language. Even just understanding the street name and her address. Dang. So I emailed her the directions I found online and that kind of thing. Haha....but it was the best I could do!

We have been meeting with all of the ward council lately--including the HP Group Leader. I didn't realize how unusual it is for a man to be called as a high priest if he isn't getting a calling for it. .....Wonder why Dad was. He's an awesome man, though, and has always been faithful. Maybe it was so he could help Dorothy get to the temple and work closely with her and Mickee? Hmmm....but it's cool! And I'm proud. :)

The Jerusalem replica totally does remind me of our trip! It's kind of a weird thing to bring up, but I've started telling people about my trip there and what it was like. I just don't know what else to talk about with that diorama with them. It's a tricky room to utilize for me. We just got a new art exhibit--oh my heck. I love it! It is my favorite place to be assigned at the VC....the Spirit is extra strong in there. All of the artwork is centered on Jesus Christ (paintings, photography, and sculptures.) It is such an easy room to teach with, because so many people can relate to the artwork and how it makes them feel about Jesus Christ. Quite a few people that aren't members have been coming in to see it too, which is great! :)

We have still been trying to get member referrals--that's a big push in our mission. There are so many members here, we should and need to be able to use them. Also, most of my area are gated communities--so really the only way we can get work is if the members give us referrals for their friends and neighbors. We have been trying for part-member families too, though. We've received quite a few referrals this week and were able to contact 6 of them this last week! Woohoo! We have somebody with a baptismal date for September 17th, and will be starting to teach 2 new people this week that are wanting to learn more (one is a part member family that recently started coming back to church, and the other is a former investigator that contacted us! :) Yes! ) So we have people to teach and see and now we are super busy! :) Love it.

August 30, 2011

Hello everyone!

This has been a great week. We got a new investigator this week: Matthew, a boy from a part-member family. His family just started coming back to church all of a sudden, and wants us to come over and teach their 10-year old son. They are all really excited and happy for us to come each time, it's a little strange to feel SO welcomed. They are home-schooled, and when they didn't come to church, really just stuck to each other I think. So they are still a little awkward and overly-excited to have people over. Haha...But, they are a great family, and you can just see in the kids' eyes how much they just want to learn. He is going to be baptized on the 17th! Along with our other investigator, Josh. He is still doing well, though we are a little concerned about his family. They are struggling a little bit, so we are trying to focus on all of them. Josh doesn't have ANY support from his mom/stepdad, so he could really use the help from his dad/stepmom's family. But, he is always eager to learn too... Josh said he liked church so much because he likes learning. Not many eleven year old boys would say that's why they like to go to church. So, basically, they are both doing great. :)

We are still trying to find new people to teach all the time. We have a few potentials right now, it's just hard to actually get things going with that. People can be so fickle. Haha, just meaning that they don't keep appointments, or just don't answer their dang phones. Come on people! We have a message that will change their lives. It just isn't something worth putting off. We went tracting yesterday for the first time since I came (we've really just been focusing on getting member referrals as you all know). It was...hmmmm....quite hot. Haha, pretty sure I looked nasty the rest of the day. Sister Hoyt said my cheeks were nice and rosy. Pretty sure she was being extra nice. My cheeks are never nice when they are beet-red and hot. One man was busy but invited us back, named Jim Jones. He was really friendly, but I'm not sure how interested he is....a lot of people invite you back just to get rid of you. What they don't realize is that when they invite us back, we really do come. But, the way he was, I think he'll let us in to talk to him.

One of the people we have taught before is McKenna. She hasn't been baptized because her dad wants to do it, and he is not worthy or even actively trying to be. We have not even been able to meet with her since May (people are fickle, remember?) but have an appointment tomorrow. We are just going to commit her to be baptized on the 17th as well, and have her uncle do it. Her dad will hopefully agree, and allow McKenna to finally be baptized. She's been wanting it for a long time, and now that school has started we should be able to have regular appointments again. If not....I don't know. It feels wrong to drop a 13-year old girl that wants to be baptized just cause her dad is lame. But we've been trying for so long, people have to eventually just make their own decisions without us constantly reminding and prodding. Just do what you know is right. Bah!

A couple of people came in to the Visitor Center a few days ago, and I was able to give them a tour. Their names were Luiz and Chris, both just moved in for an addiction recovery program. They didn't know anything about the Church, and came in to see what the VC was. Wow, they were so prepared. After we listened to a narration as we looked at the Christus statue (just scriptures where Christ is speaking to us) I asked them how they felt as they listened. They both said that they just felt peaceful and safe. I then showed them around our art exhibit, which is GREAT. They are all local artists, and the pieces are wonderful. Anyhow, I was able to teach them pretty much the full first lesson (on how we are Heavenly Father's children, he loves us, he's called prophets, Jesus Christ is our Savior, and then about Joseph Smith and the Restoration). Chris told me that he felt really good inside, really peaceful. They asked how they could learn more, and I was all like, "I can help you with that!" Every VC missionary wants to hear those words. :) They were really open to everything I said, and will be meeting with missionaries as soon as the elders contact them. One of the men actually came in again yesterday because he wanted to learn more. That doesn't happen real often. I called the elders in their area to tell them to get on with it already and visit them...turned out they had barely gotten the referral that morning. So hopefully they will be able to contact them today or tomorrow and start teaching them. :) Ah, it just makes me so excited! They are at a really low point in their lives right now, as they are living in a halfway house, and have been addicted to something, etc. It's horrible that they are dealing with all of this, but because they are, they know that they need God in their lives, and are searching for Him. And God is reaching to them as well. :) It's been great to witness.

I love you all, and hope you are doing great!

Love,

Mary