A baptism!

August 27, 2012

The picture is from James's baptism.  It was so amazing!  James was so prepared and ready and he is willing to do whatever the Lord asks him to do.  It is just such a blessing to be a part of his life and to help him on the path.  The other sisters in the picture are from Temple Square.  It turns out that you can invite the sisters who gave him the tour to come to the baptism.  The bishop of the ward baptized James, and it was just a very special time.  I am also so excited when someone gets baptized.  It means I have another friend in the Celestial Kingdom. :)

This week has been a good week.  The best experience was definitely James's baptism, followed closely by a guy named Lionel.  We were in a ward council yesterday, and we got out we checked our phone.  We had a text message from one of the members that said to come to his ward at 3 oclock because he had a potential investigator for us.  So, we literally got there as fast as we possibly could.  It was awesome!  So, the member, Brother Green, had met Lionel right before sacrament meeting.  They started talking and then Brother Green brought Lionel to Sunday school.  When we got there, Lionel was about to head out.  He said that he had woke up that morning and felt like he should come to church.  So, he did just that.  We are so so excited about him!  We have a lesson on Wednesday in Brother Green's home, and we are looking forward to meeting Lionel more fully and helping him recognize the promptings of the Spirit that he has already has.

As a funny thing that happened:  We are teaching a young man who is dating a girl who is a member of the church.  We are having the lessons in her home, and her parents names are Jason and Margie.  Except, during the first lesson, I totally spaced on their names and called them Josh and Angie instead.  I felt so incredibly silly, but at least it allowed us all to laugh and we were able to have a good joke with it.  I honestly don't know why it is so hard for me to remember their names, but whatever.  I will just keep calling them Josh and Angie in my mind and not worry about it too much.

On Thursday we had a mission tour.  Elder Foster and Elder Whiting of the Seventy came and spoke to us about how to be better missionaries and how we can become better instruments in the hands of the Lord.  It was such a wonderful opportunity, and I am always so grateful for spiritual enlightenment.  I am really looking forward to the upcoming General Conference.  I know that it will be a great experience.  I encourage all of you to start thinking of questions now that you can have for General Conference.

Temple Square

August 20, 2012

This week has been really good.  The days all kind of blend together, but they are basically filled with teaching, finding, and visiting less-actives.

We were able to take our investigator James to Temple Square on Saturday.  It is such an great chance to be able to have the Temple Square sisters take investigators around and give them a personalized tour of what would best help them.

We started teaching this awesome guy named Levin this week!  He is so curious and very open to hearing the message of the Gospel.  I am looking forward to teaching him and seeing him progress.

Random tidbit of information:  President Monson lives in the stake just south of the stake I live in, in the ward with my mission president, so I get to hear some pretty fun stories about him.  

Sister Snow and Elder Campbell wear the same size shoes!

Salt Lake Temple

August 13, 2012

Today my companion and I had the chance to go do a session at the Salt Lake Temple.  It is absolutely beautiful!  And I just love the fact that I was able to go and feel of the Spirit that is present in the temple and the chance to receive revelation.  I am so grateful I have the chance to attend the temple once a month.  I am so excited when I get to go, and I know it is because I don't have the opportunity to just go whenever.  It makes me wonder if I will be as excited once I am off the mission and can go whenever I "feel like it."  (Mind you, that is assuming I live in relatively close proximity to a temple.)  As a fun happenstance, I also got to see my old roommate Jessica Ranquist.  She is getting married on Wednesday, and it was exciting to see her.  It was definitely a surprise and made the day even better.

This week Sister Martin and I were lucky enough to have Sister Harris with us for a few days.  Sister Harris was going home mid-transfer (she finished her mission), so she went around to the different sister companionships and gave us advice and guidance and additional training.  It was great to be able to have that extra insight and evaluation of our lessons.  It was hard at times, but it was definitely a very helpful event.

On Sunday we ran from meeting to meeting, including three ward councils and two sacrament meetings.  It was definitely an adventure to try to keep up with all of the places we were going.  That is what happens when you cover 16 wards.  It is quite tough. Sister Martin and I gave talks in one of the wards, and I feel like I am becoming an old pro at giving talks.  I think back to those days when I dreaded speaking for 5 minutes when I went to the different wards with Dad, and now I just shake my head and smile. I now have a hard time keeping my remarks to just five minutes.  I much prefer when I have 10-15 minutes to share scriptures, insights, and missionary stories.  And no matter what, people always tell me I did a good job.  So hopefully I really do do okay giving talks and it is not just people being nice to me.  :)

As a side-note, I can't remember if I mentioned this before when I went to the doctor, but the GI specialist is named Dr. Canale, and he is from Memphis.  His uncles own that shop on Raleigh-Legrange and Houston-Levee that even says has the best ham sandwiches.  It just goes to show that even in the non-Mormon world, the world really is quite small.

A new investigator

August 6, 2012

This week we started teaching a man named James!  He is just awesome.  The Spirit was so strong in the first lesson, and he is just so prepared.  The ward is great about welcoming and friendshipping him.  It is so wonderful to teach someone who has been so prepared.  He is getting baptized on August 25, and I am so excited for him.  His life has just been full of miracles that I have documented in my journal, but don't have time to write right now.

This week has been fairly good.  My stomach has been bothering me more, so I had to sleep in two of the days this week.  It is frustrating when I can't get up and study like I would to.  But I am doing my best to stay strong and focused.  I am also going to the doctor in a few weeks for a follow-up appointment.  Basically, sometimes my lower abdomen has a dull pain, and sometimes it is sharper.  It is almost always bad at night, worse in the morning, and okay during the rest of the day.  I hope that gives a little more information.  

Sister Martin and I are doing our best to try to find more people to teach. We feel that the best thing we can do is to work with members and help them see how they can invite their friends to learn about the Church.  It just isn't very effective to go tracking, and it is definitely not useful in Utah, where you run into a lot of members who talk your ear off for too long.

So, today, my companion and I have been super blessed by members.  We aren't allowed to drive our car on preparation day, so we had a member pick us up to take us to the grocery store.  When we were at the checkout, we met a lady in one of the wards we covered.  She bought our groceries for us!  It was so nice, and I had $60 worth of stuff, so it was really a blessing.  Then, our ride paid for our Subway sandwiches.  And to top off this awesome day of miracles, our ride for this afternoon is taking us out to lunch!  I can't believe how blessed we have been in just one day.  (Not to mention the fact that our car washes are free because a member owns the car wash and gives us free tokens.)

This week has been a blessing, even if it is not what I expected when I first thought about the week.  It is awesome to see how much I am blessed when I look back on the day.  It really is great to have the time to ponder how the Lord has influenced my daily occurrences.

New Area

July 30, 2012

So, I did indeed get transferred. We live with a widowed woman named Sister Joni.  It is awesome.  We share a kitchen with Sister Joni and we have a bedroom and a study room downstairs.  We also have our own bathroom downstairs.  We park our car in the garage at night, but during the day we just park it on the street.  

We cover two stakes, and we have a car. :)  I am very excited about being in this area and I know there is a lot of work for us to do. 

My new area is in the Holladay Zone.  I love my new companion!  Her name is Sister Laura Martin.  She is from Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  

Today I made lots and lots of cookies. :)