One year mark!

One year!!!!

Hellooooo!! I hope thanksgiving was great and that everyone recovered from stuffing themselves and black Friday. :) How fun. Thanksgiving here was great. A family in one of the wards made us a huge thanksgiving feast. It was fun to be with family and to be able to celebrate together. :) On Saturday was our family wards Christmas party! It was a huge success. They decorated so beautifully!! Each table had a little nativity on it and there as very elegant Christmas trees and lights. We had a very nice supper and then the ward missionaries and we put on the nativity from the BOM and from the Bible. It was really neat. We have been focusing a lot of working with the members and we invited a lot of the families to invite someone to the Christmas party and a lot of them did!! It was so neat to see so many other people there and watch the ward interact with them all. Meaghan and her fiancé came as well and loved it. Meaghan has made a lot of good friends in the ward already and just felt right at home. There was a huge turn out and it was a huge success. It was just a weekend full of festivities :) lots of good opportunities.

On Saturday night as we were planning, we planned to work on a certain on Sunday afternoon...then I got a very strong impression to change it to another street. So we did. On Sunday as we were working on the street we had changed it too...we were knocking on doors and no one was very enthusiastic to see us. Ha. We had been going for a while and I remember just praying and asking Heavenly Father why we were supposed to be on this certain street and to please show us why we were there. We walked up the stairs to a door. We told the person who we were and what we were doing and he said please come in. he and his family had just got here from Columbia a few weeks ago. His wife does not speak English. After a little bit...we will now be teaching his wife English and we are meeting with the family this week. They were all very excited and super humble and welcoming. It was amazing. I know the Lord puts us where He needs us and if we listen to those promptings and ACT on them, we will be led to where He needs us and we will find those that He has been preparing. It was a very neat experience.

Arianne told us that her friend in Michigan has set a baptism date :) she is so excited about it. What a great little missionary.

Hope you had a lovely week and that things are great. The church is true.

Have a happy week. Love you all. Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it

xoxo

Thanksgiving Day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! :)

It feels like so much has happened because it has been a week and a half...and yes...so much has happened. It’s been amazing.

Well last week I wrote a little bit about our new friend Meaghan!! We met her on the way to a meal appointment. We had a few extra minutes so we were doing some finding...she was the first person to  walk by and for some reason sister roper and I both just jumped out to talk to her...I think I told all of this already...so I will skip ahead.

Last Tuesday we taught the law of chastity....it was phenomenal. She said she is willing and wants to do it. She said she would get married right now because she knows what needs to happen and she knows it’s a commandment from God. So the next step was to talk to her fiancé. She talked to him that night but when we talked to her she said she wasn't sure if he quite understood...so we made plans to go over and visit him ourselves. We saw her on Thursday again and on Saturday and she came to the family ward on Sunday. The primary program was on Sunday and the spirit was so strong and she was in heaven. She loved every minute of it. The ward was fantastic about coming up to introduce themselves and get to know her. She felt so welcomed and so loved. She said this is what she wants for her family. This is where she wants to belong. On Monday she cooked up supper. It was very good might I add...and her fiancé was there so we sat down and talked with him about the law of chastity. He says he understands the importance and why these things need to happen...but he wants a special wedding...he wants things to be special and nice, which is natural of course. So he wants/needs more time is what he told us... we have a lot of faith in the situation and he wants to start learning. I know that when he starts to learn and gains a testimony of the gospel for himself...he will begin to see the urgency and the need for it to happen and will be prepared to be baptized himself. Meaghan is amazing. She loves the Book of Mormon. She told us she not only thinks it’s a good church with good morals but she knows this is what God wants her to do and see has a very strong testimony of the gospel already. It’s amazing to see how prepared she is and how the Lord has made a way for her to find the church and to learn and to have such a deep understanding already. I love it.

We met with Angie last Thursday and had a POWERHOUSE meeting with her about priesthood. It was very very neat and very very special. At the end we asked her to offer the prayer and to pray specifically to know the priesthood power is real and then to just sit for 30 seconds and listen...she did and the spirit flooded the room. After she said, I know that this is real. I know the priesthood is true. I understand. But.....she says she still feels like this is not her moment. Little at a time. It will happen. I know it will but it needs to be her decision. She has to decide. :)

We have been working a lot with the members in the family ward lately. We have been working with 3 fantastic families. They are so fun and they are really starting to catch fire on missionary work. This weekend is our ward Christmas party and we invited them all to invite people to come. Each family has invited 2 people and they said they will come :) they are so excited about it and you can see they are getting the fire of missionary work. It is way fun. So we work with them like we would an investigator...we meet with them once a week and invite them to do something that would help them invite people to learn or meet people to have potential to learn...it has been so fun and so amazing.

One of the ladies we are working with made us a Christmas present...she made us wool skirts!! :) It is a wool blanket...then she put a cute fabric on the edges to make it cute then velcro at the top so we can velcro it around our waist!! It is PERFECT. Super warm because...it has been in the -20's this week. Ha-ha. Nutso. This weekend it has warmed up but last week and this week was bitter cold so it was a perfect little surprise.

Things are good. We start our new transfer next week. We are pretty excited about it. We’ve got lots plans! :)
Happy thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to share the gospel and to be in Canada. I am so thankful for the gospel and the impact it has on others lives. I am so thankful for the prophet Joseph Smith and for his diligence and his testimony. I am so thankful for my Savior and for the atonement. I am so thankful for my family and friends and the support I receive. I am thankful for a car we have to drive and the phone we have to use to help us in missionary work I am thankful for meal appointments :) I am thankful for chocolate of course...I am thankful for my sight and hearing! There is just so much to be thankful for always. The secret to having it all...believes that you do :) HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I love you all so much. Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

Nov 14, 2011

November 14, 2011

WOOOOOOOOOOOOW! This week was a thriller. We saw sooo many miracles this week and it was amazing!!

We had a crazy amount of lessons which is always sooo good.

The highlights of the week:

Well...I made one of our investigators really ill. She is super sensitive to light change and so when we were walking into the church...the light was on...but the room light was off...so I went to go flip the switch to turn the light on but I flipped the wrong switch and accidently turned the hall light off and then I was like oh no...I’m sorry so I flipped it back on...and then I got confused so I flipped it off again...anyways...long story short...she was on the ground shaking because it hurt sooooo bad. :( I felt AWFUL!!! It was the worst thing ever.

2nd: on Wednesday we were going to supper at a member’s home...right before we were going in...We met this girl named Meaghan. We stopped her real quick and asked if we could bring a DVD to her the next day. She said yes...so we did...and she has a strong faith in Christ already so we talked about the restoration and she set a baptism date!!!!!! for December 10th!! We met her again on Saturday and she came to church on Sunday. She wants to see us 3 times a week! :) It is so great. She is wonderful. Very kind and loving and has a very very strong faith in Christ and the love of God. Sooooo great :) she came to church on Sunday and loved every minute of it. Miracles have NOT ceased :)

3rd. Thursday we were doing a little bit of finding before ward choir and ran into this cute little Chinese girl. We talked to her and she said she was way too busy. So we asked if we could just see her for a half hour on Saturday...she agreed...we met with her and SHE SET A BAPTISM DATE AS WELL!! :) Sooo amazing. We are turning her over to the elders in the family ward...because when we met with her we found out she is married and technically in their area...but she is getting baptized! :)

4th. we met with our little family that we are working with...they are super strong in their church both have degrees in ministerial work...we took a member with us and talked about the Book of Mormon...they have a LOT of questions but were pretty open to it. It will be a hard adjustment but the spirit was so strong and you know they felt the spirit. They took the Book of Mormon and they agreed to read it together and this week we are going to go over some of their questions. They had a lot of good questions about it.

It was a HUGE week! We were busy busy busy always on the go. We had a lot of members who helped out this week as well. Ooooooh I love it. It just gets better and better.

It snowed this week and it has been pretty cold. But nothing will stop this :) It’s too good to stop.

Hope you all had a great week. Love you all. Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

November 7, 2011

November 7. 2011

HELLO!!!! Well this is just so great another Monday has come! Can you believe it?

Well to start off...Halloweeennnn...it was a Halloween to remember for sure!! A member had us over for super...she is from Vietnam...and she fed us...and yes...she fed us chicken feet and pig ear!!!!! And yes...I ate it. Sister Roper struggled so the member made me eat hers as well...so I had 2 chicken feet and pig ear. It is true and I am still alive to talk about it. Crazy I know!!!!!! It goes down in the record books for sure. It was a busy week...but super fast. We had quite a few appointments with new potentials this week and we really focused on using members this week. We are working at working with members on a regular basis so we have started this new thing where we teach them like investigators...and invite them to do things that would involve them inviting people to activities or to learn....we are looking forward to see what happens with it. It is pretty exciting.

This week I studied a lot about the Love of God and Christ and how to apply that into our work and into our lives. I love the scriptures...greater love hath no man than this...that he lay down his life for his friends." I love the fact that to Christ, we are His friends. He even laid down His life for those who don't "consider Him their friend." that is true love for all of Gods children. It just makes me realize how powerful love is and the effects it can have on anyone. I know That God loves each of us as His children and He would do anything for us. I know that because He loves us, He has given us so many things, like prophets to lead and guide us, our families to be in forever, our friends, the gospel, the Book of Mormon, and yes, even trials. He gives us trials because He knows we can handle them. He knows what we need in order to grow and to be truly happy and so He trusts us to be able to rely on Him during those times of difficulty. I know His love is infinite and He would do anything for us, he is just waiting for us to ask. His love is real.   His love is powerful and infinite and we can share that love with everyone we meet just by our example, by being kind, but being a child of God.

The church is true. I know it is. Joseph Smith is a true prophet. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and changes lives. The power behind fasting is real. It has worked miracles in so many people’s lives; Arianne bore her testimony yesterday about that. The atonement is real and can take effect in anyone’s life. God loves us. Each of us.  I am so thankful for that knowledge and for the opportunity I’ve had to know about the gospel and to be able to share it with so many people here in Canada.

I love you all. Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

October 31, 2011

October 31, 2011

First things first...last Monday night...we saw the northern lights!!!!! Yes! Yes! it is true. they are magnificent!! It was stunning...we were at FHE and one of the members came busting in and said you can see the northern lights from here...so we all went out and looked at them!! Beautiful! How fun is that eh?! I love it.

This week zoooooomed by. It feels like Monday was just yesterday. We had a big week of lessons and finding. So it was a good mix in between! We had a good lesson with Angie and Arianne came! Her testimony was powerful...naturally and she loved being the missionary! It was fun to watch her share her thoughts and things and it was really good with Angie. On Sunday a girl that Sister Crozier and I met a couple weeks ago came to church. She has been looking into another church...she came to general conference...and this was her 2nd time at church...we met with her for a bit afterwards...Arianne came with again...and she said she feels something different here. :) Perfection. It was great. She says she is just really confused and really curious and needs answers to her questions. She came to the right place. We are really looking forward to meeting with her again this week. We have had a lot of doors open to us this week. It has been great.

It was pretty cold...however...we wore a couple layers. :( Sad. I know. Saturday was the coldest!!! It was freezing rain and snow flurries and just bitter cold. It didn't last long...but while it did...it was cold. But today it is beautiful and warm! :)

On Saturday we also met with a little family who are very devoted to their church. We had a really neat conversation with them where we were all able to share insights and thoughts...they even fed us lunch! Isn’t that something!

It was a good fast and furious week!! Time just speeds up and things just keep getting better. Things are good. Happy halloweeeeeen! We aren't to be out past 5 today so we will be in cleaning and such. That will be pretty exciting. But we are being fed by a member...rumor has it she is feeding us chicken feet....I’ll let you know how it goes...you know i'm nervous.

I love you all. Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.