letter sixty.seven 07.07.14 celebrating religious freedom

Well this week was kind of a blur. It's been so good. I LOVE Sister W! She is so awesome. I miss Sister K, of course, and we had an amazing transfer together, but it has been clear to me that Sister W and I are supposed to be together for this transfer. It's been good to be with someone that I was in the MTC with because it's very clear the growth we both have made. We haven't even served near each other for our whole missions and it's been good to see the change in both of us. We've had some similar experiences on our missions and it's been wonderful reflecting on the things we have both learned on our missions. We have such similar views on missionary work. It makes it great because nothing stands in the way of us just doing the work. We love each other, we work the same way, and we're both so keen to work hard. We both want to go home running. We've set some great goals for this transfer together. Things that will not only help our area grow, but us, as missionaries, grow to our fullest capacities. We also teach really well together. It flows so nicely. And we both just love each other so there is none of the negative comparison that can happen in companionships sometimes. It's so good. This is going to be a great transfer.

We've had some really spiritual experiences in lessons. We have made it a goal to make sure that all our lessons are taught completely by the Spirit and we saw the fruits of that this week. The Spirit has taught some powerful lessons through us this week. I've felt the Spirit very strongly. I love that. We've worked with a lot of less-actives this week and we made some amazing progress with them because the Spirit guided the lessons and the questions we asked that opened them up. It was beautiful.

On Thursday we were teaching the young woman about missionary work. Youth can be a hard bunch. We were showing videos and trying to make it really interesting but they were VERY unresponsive. Not that that's incredibly unusual for youth, but it can still be frustrating, but as we were teaching I felt the Spirit so strongly. I know the ones that had their hearts open did as well. There was one point where I felt impressed to testify of the love that you feel in missionary work. Sarah and Tayla were there and I felt an over powering love for them. I recognized that the love I feel for them and for so many people that I'm currently working with and that I have in the past is what makes this service such a pleasure. It's what makes it easier to keep going hard, because you love them and desire their salvation. I love it! It's really all about love. I have felt that time and time again on my mission, but it never ceases to overwhelm me. As mum would say, "I feel so overwhelmed!"

We also tried to celebrate Independence Day. The Bishop's family (who are American) invited us over for a little celebration and we knew we needed to share a message, like we would at any dinner. So that morning as we contemplated what we would share, I pondered what our independence really meant to me. I remembered that it is so much more than freedom, but it's the whole reason that the restoration could come about. It's the reason that Joseph Smith was in a position to have so many different religions around him and to be able to be God's instrument in restoring the fullness of His gospel to the earth. What a blessing for the world! Not just America. I am so grateful for the religious freedom that came about because of so many people that fought and gave their lives for it and the many people that continue to do so. 

 

happy fourth!

We also have had a bit of a weird week. There has been a lot of things that have come up that have thrown off our plans and made it hard to get all that we wanted to done.

 

after finding Sister W's wallet.

On Saturday we taught some less-actives a powerful lesson on repentance and change. We talked about choosing right now to change, not just waiting for a new day, or a new week, or a new month, or a new year. We can decide right now to change and do better. 

Later that night, we were struggling to find an investigator. We had been struggling with it all week. We were doing all the right things, but it kind of felt like we were doing it on autopilot. We only had a little bit left of the night and I thought that maybe we should pray, but then Satan tempted me with the same thing I had just taught our less-actives about. I kept thinking, "oh we'll just start fresh tomorrow." "We only have an hour left." Then I remembered what we had said to them. You can do it NOW. You don't have to wait for a new day to start fresh. So we pulled over and knelt down in the car and prayed for Heavenly Father's help to do what we can never do it on our own. We pleaded for His guidance as we did all we could to find a new investigator. We were directed to some people that became good potentials. And finally, we were led to a new investigator. It was such a blessing. God is so good to us. I don't know why I ever try to do it without Him. It's such a temptation to do missionary work on autopilot, especially when you're tired. But that's just Satan's trap trying to pacify us. Lull us into a false sense of security. But I'm so grateful that God cared enough about me to help me remember to ask Him for help. He gave a gentle and beautiful reminder that ended up changing the rest of the evening. 

I love this work. I love this ward. I love this area, and I love my companion. I am so happy to be a full time servant of the Lord with His name on my nametag. It brings me so much joy. I hope you're all trying to do the same. I understand it's so hard when you're not full time, but it's you all who make the work possible and fruitful for the full time missionaries. I love you and I'm so thankful for your love and support. 

letter.sixty.six 06.30.14 the beginning of the end

I honestly cannot believe that the transfer is already over. This has been the fastest six weeks of my life. It's been an amazing transfer here in Kalgoorlie with Sister K. It's been like a dream, I have loved it so much. 

The highlight of the week was without a question the baptism on Sunday. It was so beautiful. I loved it so much. Everything went so well. The talks were perfect and the Spirit was so strong. The girls were so ready. I love baptisms. I am always reminded at baptisms how much this isn't me at all. This is all because of God's goodness and kindness in letting me participate in someone coming to really know Him and make this first covenant. It is truly a blessing from God. It actually is a bit frustrating to me when try to tell us that it's because we're so good as missionaries or because of us somehow. It's not at all. I have been good and worked hard my whole mission and it's moments like these that come because God blesses us to be apart of this miracle, not because we're such good missionaries. I am so thankful for that knowledge. It sometimes feels like many members and missionaries just don't understand that concept. 

Honestly, there have been some trying moments for me this week. There have been times when I've been pushed to the edge of my limits, by different situations, but I have been blessed to remember that God is with me. I feel Him near.

Something I struggled with this week is not being able to feel things as strongly. I am a passionate person. I like to feel things deeply. I used to cry all the time when I felt the Spirit back home, but sometimes on my mission I find that I don't cry and I kind of associate that with not feeling the Spirit very strongly. I know that's not true, but it's confusing for me at times. Especially when my companion cries a lot. I know a lot of it was because it was her last week, but still sometimes I just want to feel something more than blah. It's something I'm still struggling to not let it get to me. I know that God will guide me though. I know that He is with me, even if I don't feel all of the dramatic feelings that I normally do. I am thankful for His understanding nature and His guiding hand. 

Things don't always go according to plan, but when we love God and all of His children He helps us through, as we focus on that. I have felt Him helping me as I pray for patience. Not that there has been anything massive, but I think Satan was trying to ruin this last week of the transfer, but I just refused to let him. It ended up being a wonderful week, full of beautiful lessons and discussions with some awesome people whom I love very much. 

God is so good to me. I am excited to continue to give it my all this last six weeks. I love Kalgoorlie and it couldn't be a more perfect place to end my mission. I love the people, I love the ward, I love the work and I love the town. It's a great place to be. 

I feel so blessed to be a missionary with all of the experiences that come with it. I love being able to wear a badge over my heart and to teach people about the truth. I think being a missionary is one of the best things I have ever done for my personal progression. I am excited to see the kind of progress that Heavenly Father has in store for me in this last transfer. I know the progress won't end there, but rather, set me up for continuous progression throughout the rest of my future. I love that about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can change! We can continue to change. None of us is stuck. We have, through the Atonement, the power to reach greater heights than we would ever be able to on our own. 

I love this gospel. I love the eternal truths that it teaches. I love the process of striving everyday to become better and better. I am so thankful that we always have the opportunity to repent and to try to master our weaknesses. 

I love you all. I am so thankful for you love and support. I know I say that every week but I really am. More than you'll ever know. 

Much love,

letter.sixty.five 06.23.14 where does the time go?!

I'm pretty sure this was the fastest week in the history of time. I honestly feel like it was yesterday I was writing you. It has been a really good week. It started off a bit slow because I was still really sick at the beginning of the week. But Heavenly Father really blessed me to get through the lessons and things that we needed to. I prayed very fervently that I would be healed and the next morning I felt soo much better. I feel so blessed.

must be pretty good chicken...

I think one of my favorite experiences this week was going on splits for rescue visits. This is the first time I have gone on splits on my mission. We've tried to organize it probably a million times, but this time it actually happened and it was soo good! I was with Sister S and it was beautiful. I love her so much. We get along like peas in a pod. There are some people that you meet in life that you have an instant connection with. She is one of those people for me. We had a great time together. We had some beautiful experiences in some of the less active young woman's homes. She also really helped me feel uplifted as well in our conversation. She is a returned missionary with a beautiful young family and she is just radiating with testimony and love. I love her so much.

treats they made and took to people.

We've also had amazing lessons with the girls who are getting baptized. Oh my goodness I love them so much. They really soak in all the things that we teach them. They're preparing for baptism this weekend and it's going to be so good. They are really changing their lives. They have come so far from where they were when we first met them. I can see their testimonies growing. They are like our little sisters we love them so much. 

One of the lessons a member from the young woman's presidency took us up there (cause it's far and uses up all our k's.) But it was so good to have her at the lesson. She bore a beautiful testimony and helped them feel of the love from the young woman's. It was awesome. I also loved the conversation we had on the way up and down. Man! I just can't get over how much I love the members here. I love chatting with them about their experiences in the gospel and the missionary work they are doing. A lot of the members who came with us this week haven't come to lessons ever before and it was so awesome to see them come and enjoy it. Missionary work is the best. 

There were some rough patches of this week as well. There were some times that Satan really tried to get us down, but we didn't let him. We pushed through and kept going. I had some powerful studies this week as well that helped me to be able to have more spiritual stamina to overcome those things. I am so thankful for the scriptures. They were my strength and comfort in the times when it was tough. It all turned out well in the end.

We also got a ride down with members to another remote part of our area to visit some less actives and it went so well. The girl is YSA and we were with YSA and they all were the perfect fellowship. It was amazing. 

Ah. I love this. I love being a missionary. I love sharing the gospel with others. I love the spirit that we get to feel so strongly as we teach, well really as the Spirit teaches. I'm in love with missionary work. I really felt that this week. I love it! I love it! I LOVE IT! 

I love you all. I hope you make it a great week!

letter sixty.four 06.16.14 "Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me."

It feels like I just wrote yesterday. I cannot believe how fast the time is going. It's a bit scary actually. But at least the time going by fast means that the work is good and that my companion and I are getting along. I love her so much. Sister K and I will be sisters forever. She is awesome. She is soo bold. Like crazy bold sometimes, but it's good. 

We had some great teaching opportunities this week. We have amazing investigators. We're working with almost all young woman age girls and it is so good. It's the perfect age to learn about and accept the gospel into your life. They have an amazing young woman's program here as well, which makes it even better. I love working with them. One of my favorite lessons this week was with the “netball girls” (they are sisters). They are so good. We talked with them about the Book of Mormon and the power it can have in their lives. It was powerful. We also invited them to be baptised and they said yes! They're so excited for it. It's amazing to see two girls so prepared. Also the young women are fellowshipping them like crazy. It's so good. And our investigators are fellowshipping each other as well. It's so good. 

One of the experiences I loved was when we went to an investigator’s home and she looked down. We were chatting about life and she opened up about some really hard things that were happening. She said she wasn't sure if she could handle all of this religion and everything else. I wasn't sure what to say, but I knew that the wrong thing to do was to turn from God. I felt God's love for her so strongly. I felt like I might cry. I just hugged her and she just cried. Then the Spirit led us to share Matthew 11 and to tell her to give her burden to the Lord and that He would provide for her. It was beautiful. We also had a lesson with her family in a member's home and it was amazing! They were the perfect fellowshipers in helping them all feel loved and encouraged. It was so good. I love this ward. 

We also had a lesson with this young less-active couple. They are in a hard spot and I really wasn't sure how to confront the situation. So I tried to really listen with love and with the Spirit. As I did I felt a deep love wash over me for them. God knows them and feels the pain that they have gone through because of their wrong choices and He wants them back. I felt the words and things to say come to my heart and my mind. I know it wasn't me at all. God knows them perfectly and He knows what to say to them. I am just so thankful that I got to be a small part of that and feel that love for them.

Then on Sunday I was sick, I still am. It's nothing too bad, but my body is just worn out. I didn't have strength. I felt like I was going to pass out through all of church and it was taking every ounce of my energy to greet and talk with people, which normally comes very naturally and easily to me. I felt exhausted. I also started having a little bit of down feeling. I started thinking that the ward probably just loves Sister K because she's so fun and I just felt so not fun that day. 

But then we went to a baptism for a child in the ward and we were sitting by our investigators. I was on the outside edge and still feeling a bit off. Then these adorable girls from the ward came up and sat by me. This one little girl who's eight snuggled up to me and just started playing with my hair and my hand. I instantly felt so loved. I knew that God sent those beautiful little girls to tell me that He loves me and is watching out for me. It was just what I needed.

Then a woman came up to tell us how much she loves us both and how much the ward loves us and is happy with the work we are doing. It was another way of Heavenly Father telling me, "I love you." I really do know that my Heavenly Father loves me. I am so thankful for the love that I feel so consistently on my mission and really throughout my whole life. I truly am "encircled about eternally in the arms of His love."

I love you all!

letter sixty.three 06.09.14 learning to love

I think this clearly demonstrates our relationship....we love each other a whole bunch.

The district at the one and only museum in Kalgoorlie.

Another amazing week here in Kalgoorlie! I seriously can't get over how happy I am to be here. I love everything about it! We were blessed to have a lot of people to teach this week. We were able to find 9 new investigators and with the 10 we found last week, it really helps keep our teaching pool flowing nicely. I love it. I think it was a huge blessing, especially since we set up soo many member present lessons, but heaps of them fell through. We were still able to get a good amount but we had potential for heaps. 

 

With the "netball girls" after our lesson, I love them!

I think some of my favorite lessons were with the “netball girls”. We taught them in between and after their netball games. So it wasn't the ideal setting, but they still received them well. They are really grasping what we're teaching, even though it's so different for them. We invited them to pray daily and they've been following through perfectly. They are golden! This week we should be setting a very firm baptismal date with them! They're so good! And the members are awesome too with helping us, since they live so far away and we have limited k's. 

Saturday was an amazing day. It was full on! But it was so good. That's the way I like it. We had appointments all day and a lot of them fell through but we had good back up plans with former investigators to follow up with and through that we found a lot of new investigators. It was such a blessing. God is good. 

Church was great. We had four investigators there and a few less actives as well, which was so rewarding. It's just so nice to be sitting at church with people who are progressing in the gospel. It's perfect. You never have to think about you, it's just all focused on them. I love that about a mission. You don't have time to think about yourself. It's the best. 

There was one hard part of Sunday though. We had our missionary coordination meeting and it was going well we even had the Bishop and a member of the bishopric there, but one of the Elders started saying things that I think just put them off. I know he meant well, but it just felt to me like it may have seemed a bit judgmental and condescending. It also feels like sometimes, that our missionary work is a competition to him, like he has to beat us or something. I was tempted to get out of there after the meeting ended and give him a piece of my mind about how I felt he’d handled the meeting and for being competitive, but I prayed a lot instead. I knew that more important than anything was acting out of love rather than reacting to a situation. We came home and did personal study and I was still thinking about how to handle the situation. I read D&C 121 and at first I was thinking about how he really should read it, then I realized that I really needed it too. I need to make sure that I'm not doing the same thing to him that I feel he may be doing to the ward. I felt a lot of love for him and was able to focus more on what the intentions of his heart are and giving him the benefit of the doubt. It helped me feel a lot freer and it helped me keep the unity in our district, which is so important with just four of us. He's a good elder who has good intentions and I saw him more how God sees him today, which really helped me a lot. 

We were also teaching a lesson this week and the investigator was asking us about all of our rules as missionaries. Then he asked how long we had left. I started telling him that the rules weren't a burden for us. We didn't mind because it's worth it for the experience. Then I started crying... thinking about not having all the rules any more. I felt sad. I'm glad a still have ages left so that I can keep living this life style. I love it. I love it with all my heart. Don't get me wrong I'm excited to see you all and be with you, but I just love being here as well. God is blessing me so so much.

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Thank you for your love and prayers.

letter sixty.two 06.03.14 a week full of blessings

I can't get over how happy I am here in Kalgoorlie! ps the way you say it is “kal-goo-lee” in Aussie. We have had such an amazing week here! God has blessed us so much. I wish I had more time to share everything. I feel like I am progressing so much as a person and as a missionary. I love Sister K so much. We get along so well. We both have strong personalities but for some reason it just really works with us being together. She is an amazing missionary and I think one of her greatest strengths is working with the ward. She's helping me to see more effective ways of working with them and helping them catch the vision. The members here are also amazing. I have only been here a week and a half and I already feel so close to so many of them. The best part is, it's not in a too casual way, but we're becoming close because we're all doing missionary work. Together. 

I think the main thing I felt so strongly this week was the power of the Spirit in conversion. Because we're still getting to know people as we plan for less-active members and investigators, some of them we hardly know. We study for them and plan for them, but it's really once we get in with them that we are able to discern their needs and then go by the Spirit from there. This week we have felt so blessed to be led by the Spirit in all of our lessons. There were some concerns that people brought up that I had no idea what to say. They were legitimate and challenging situations, but each time I was in the lesson I was praying for guidance and really trying to listen with love. It's something I've struggled with in the past, but I was so blessed this week to have the words and commitments come to my companion and my minds and hearts to tell these people just what they needed to hear. Not because we're wise, but because the Spirit was the one who was teaching the lesson. 

We were also able to teach at youth this week. They were doing personal progress goals and we taught a few of the classes. We brought two of our investigators and they loved it! The young women were amazing. After it our investigator told us how much she loved it. She sent us a text that said how much she loved it and she thanked us for bringing her back to God. A little background on her; We've been teaching her mum and sisters and each time we went she kind of blew us off. Her mum told us she was a bit anti-Christ. But one night we brought an awesome YSA member with us to the lesson and N sat down miraculously. Maybe partially because we were sitting at the kitchen table where she wanted to eat. But by the end of the lesson (which was on the gospel of Jesus Christ) she said, "I think I want to become Mormon." She has been amazing ever since. She is soaking everything in like a sponge. She loves it and keeps following up with us as well! Ah! I love her and her family so much. They are all amazing and they all came to church this week! And they loved it! Especially the girls! It was such a blessing. And the ward took such good care of them. By the end of church a member had pulled her aside and invited her family and us to come over for dinner and a lesson the next night. It was perfect! They felt so loved and welcome. I love this ward!

Another beautiful experience was with the YSA that we took with us to the lesson. She is just recently coming back to church. She's really pulling her life together and she volunteered to come with us to our lesson. She was super excited and she instantly clicked with the family. She was able to help them overcome their concerns in a way that we never could. She helped them feel comfortable and took them under her wing. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. Then when we got in the car she was so fired up for missionary work. She told us she wants to come out all the time that she can and that now she wants to prepare for a mission. Later she texted us and told us that she thinks one of the reasons we were sent here was to help her come back. The WML told us that she plastered all over Facebook about what an amazing time she had. She is so good. Heavenly Father sent us here for a reason and we're seeing it everywhere. 

At times it has been a bit challenging because we have been trying to gain trust back from the members and build good missionary relationships and show them that we are here to work. But overall, we've had a great response from the members.

We also had a less-active member who hasn't come to church in 10 months come to sacrament with us! 

We also decided to go out to the real country area of our area on Saturday night and visit a part member family. We had an awesome lesson with them and the four kids all want to learn more and prepare to be baptized! It was amazing. God has been pouring out His blessings in abundance!

We also had a beautiful experience with a member family who are getting sealed this week. We went over for dinner on Sunday and it was beautiful. The Spirit was so strong the whole time we were there. We learned so much from them. They are an incredible family who are all just so full of love. They are one of the families that I have looked at and decided that I really want to have a family like that. We felt a bond with them straight away because the love and the Spirit was so strong the whole time we were there. God is so good to us. I feel overwhelmingly blessed. I am so happy to be a missionary,especially here in Kalgoorlie with Sister K. I couldn't be happier. I love you all. I am so thankful for your support and help that you give me and thanks again for the conference calendar! I was soo excited to get it! I love you!

letter sixty.one 05.25.14 "I don't know about you, but I'm feelin' 22!"

I am in LOVE with Kalgoorlie! It has been such an amazing few days here.

I ended my time on a good note in Wanneroo with Sister S and Sister T. They surprised me for my birthday a day early and sang to me. They wrote down some memories and things they loved about me as well which was my favorite part. They are awesome. I loved serving with both of them. I learned a lot from them.

I had a great train ride for my birthday... 7 hours. I was almost late. I got there and the train left so that was stressful, but then the trip up actually went really fast. We had a lot of fun. It was Sister Kand I and Elder B and Elder L. We're the only four missionaries out here. We all get along really well too so it's good. It's going to be a great transfer.

The ward out here is awesome. We've already had more dinner appointments than I had in the past two weeks in Wanneroo. We've gotten straight to work. We didn't even unpack at first. We went to visit all the members of the ward council and we made that our priority for the first few days. It was good. We've already established some good relationships. The ward is so welcoming and inviting, even though they’ve had some struggles with missionaries in the past, we are reestablishing that trust.

I love being with Sister K so much! We get a long so well. She and I never run out of things to talk about. I'm learning so much from her. She's a convert of three years from Kiribati. This is her last transfer and she is keen to just work her tail off. We have been going so hard and also working effectively. It's nice that we both know how to do missionary work and that we get along. Nothing gets in the way. She is so kind to me as well. She never judges. She just builds and helps me want to be better. I love her so much. We are so happy to be with each other. Apparently President told her that we "deserve each other." I couldn't agree more.

We have actually had great success in really only having a few full days of proselyting. She is really good at helping me contact people even when it's awkward. Like we're talking we see someone walking and we pull over and talk to them. It's been so good. It's been the way that we found a beautiful family that we're now teaching. It feels so good. We were also able to get fellowship to the lesson before we'd even met the fellowship member ourselves.

I loved church as well, a very welcoming ward. I love it. There are so many adorable children that are so sweet.

There is only one problem with Sister K.... she always tells people that I'm an amazing singer and makes me sing... She's such a punk. I love singing, but not when she introduces it like that. We've had some really good laughs. We are always laughing and smiling. We're so comfortable with each other.

I couldn't be happier. I love Kalgoorlie. I love the people. I love the small town feel and we're talking small town. It looks like it came straight out of a John Wayne movie. I'm planning to send heaps of photos. I love it here so much. I love being a missionary, especially here. It's the perfect place to end my mission. I love it!

I love you!