March 15, 2010

Hello Everyone.....

Ok first off I want to start with saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!! I hope you have a great day. I am doing great and working hard. This week has been a little slow but good. We were able to set a baptism date with a girl we have been working with. Her name is Mayra and she is great, she is a referral from the elders, they went to get an ice cream cone at McDonalds and met her. She had a date for the 28th of this month but didn’t make it to church this week so we had to change it. We will reset it for the 4 of April. She has a lot of struggles in her life and we are going to have to work hard but she knows it true and she wants to do it. She has 2 little boys and her boyfriend but her boyfriend is away right now so anyway. We still have something’s to teach her but all will be good.

My companion is sick right now she has been sick these past 4 days but we have been working through it and going strong. It is great. We can see the miracles everyday even the small ones. We have been doing a lot of walking because we share a car so we switch every 3 days or so. So I am getting my walking in. I like to walk it helps me think. But don't worry I have not had any new interesting stories to tell you. But just know that the work is going well. I am doing great and the Church is true. I hope you all have a great week. Look for the miracles everyday because they are there. I am sorry that I don't have much more to tell you. But really the exciting news was that we set a Date!!!! She is the only person that is progressing; we are still in the finding stage. Know that I think of you all the time and i miss you all tons. Have a great week and we will talk to you next week.

Oh exciting news for this coming week. Wednesday we get to go to the TEMPLE!!!! YES I am so excited and I really need the temple right now. Also Friday is zone conference so I get to be spiritually fed again!!!!! I am excited. So anyway today is not a p-day we just have time to e-mail and shop and then it is off to work. Thanks everyone for all your prayers and support. I love you tons and tons. The church is true and we are a part of it, how lucky can we be.

Love

March 9, 2010

Hello my wonderful family,

Mom I hope you are doing well and that you know that I love you tons. Me I am doing well. Today is transfers day but I am not leaving I am staying were I am with Hna Taft and we are going to work our little hearts out and do all we can do to get a baptism this month. My District Leader became our new Assistant to the President and so we got a new district leader who was our old zone leader and we got a new zone leader. So we had a lot of changes but it should be good. My district is amazing. We have 4 sisters and 4 elders but two of the elders are zone leaders so we don't see them at our district meetings as much because they have to travel. But it is great and we all get along great. I mean what kind of a district leader would not like a district with just sisters. Hello we are the best :) hahahhaha no but anyway

We have been facing hard times but it is going to change. We have some good investigators but a lot of them are not wanting to progress. The family that was progressing just told us the other day that they were moving and so they would not be here anymore. SAD DAY!!!!! But we told them we would help them find the missionaries so they could keep learning. Also we have another family A mom, dad and little boy they came to church on Sunday but the little boy has so much energy they he just kept running and yelling and making tons of noise that half way through Sacrament the family said I am sorry but we need to go. NOOOOOOO but that is ok they still seem really interested so we are just going to come more prepared for the little boy next sunday I am going to bring out all my tricks. I just didn't know he had so much energy so I didn't come as well prepared. :)

But other then that we are still finding and looking and doing all that fun fun stuff.
I hope you know that I love and miss you all. Sorry that I didn't get write yesterday but the Library was closed for Staff training. :( Sad day but that is ok I am here now...... writing and telling you all that I love you.

Tomorrow is my 9 month mark. That means I am half way through. AHHHHHHH time by fly’s way to fast. I can’t believe it. CRAZY!!!!!!! Well I am sorry that I don't have more to tell you. I hope all is well and that you know that I am well.

Also I would like to tell happy Birthday to Katie, Lauren, Kris, Leah.....and anyone else who has a birthday. I am sorry but i don't know where you all are at or I would send you a birthday card. I need your addresses. But have a happy happy birthday and know that I am thinking of you.

Love you all

March 1, 2010

Hello Family,

Ok so this week has been good and work has been moving on. The area is progressing we are still finding. WE have about 2 good families that we found we just have to get them to church. They seem pretty interested but we will see. Mom transfers are on the 9th of March so I am not sure if I will be transferred but I am thinking no.

I want you all to know that I am doing well and that I am loving this mission. WE are facing opposition right now but things are sure to change soon, I hope. I know that as I am faithful and follow the Lord then things will be just fine and soon we will see some mighty miracles.

I am sorry that this is not a very long letter. But really this week has just been finding and finding. Oh we did find a girl who is 16 she is amazing (her name is Paola) we set a baptism date with her and she was so excited but we told her we needed her mom’s permission. She said she asked her mom and she got upset and said no and that she didn't want us coming over anymore and she didn't want her daughter to have anything to do with the Mormons. Paola called and told us this and said that we couldn't come over anymore. I was sad and told her that we wanted her to keep reading in the Book of Mormon. She said she would and was worried that we would want it back and she didn't want to give it back. She really is amazing then she said well I will be 18 in two years so then I can get baptized. WE are just praying that maybe her mom’s heart will be softened.
But yeah the rest of our week was just looking and finding.

I am so very grateful for a loving heavenly Father and for this wonderful work that I am apart of. Thanks for everything you all do for me. Have a great week love you tons. Be Safe and know you are in my prayers.

Love

Feb. 22, 2010

HELLO!!!!!!

It is a beautiful day and I am happy because I got to read your wonderful letters to me and I thank you so very much. I am doing well, first Mom just so that I don't forget… I do have an oven in my house but the oven part does not work, but the stove does! I live with a family so we use there’s so don't worry everything you send me I make and I share and we all love it. So keep sending what you are it is great....I love it.

Ok so on to this week. It was kind of a slow week but really good all at the same time. My new companion Hermana Taft is doing well. I was her companion once before, for 2 weeks and now we are back together. It has been good and there have been things that I have needed to learn from her and her from me. We are working well together and having a blast. I have really learned to love her, she has had a hard time in her mission but this transfer we have decided will be her best and it is already on the way to being it.

We had interviews with the President this week and they were good. I told him I was frustrated because it feels like I have just hit the bottom and am not having any success in getting people to come to church. He looked at me and said GOOD I love that. I was like what.... but then he went on to explain that I am doing my part and that the Lord is trying us and that soon things will turn around and look up. So I thought about that and yep that is what is happening. We are going to start to see a difference soon, I just know it.

I am sorry that I don't have any interesting stories to tell you but I didn't see anyone...Church yesterday was amazing and I am so grateful that we are able to partake of the sacrament every Sunday. I LOVE IT!!!! I just want to let you all know that I am doing well. I did have a little ruff week but things are looking up and all is well. I love this work. I love this gospel and we can all smile because we are MORMON!!! And have the truth. I love you all, have a great week and keep up the good work. I love you all!

Love

Feb. 15, 2010

This is an letter Emily worte and sent to her parents.... she did not send a formal email this week.

Dear Family,

I hope all is going well with you. It is going great here in Tennessee sharing the Gospel with others here. I hope that you had a great Valentines Day because mine was great. We had some investigators at church and that could make any missionary have a great day. It is Presidents Day so we are not able to get to a computer so I am writting a letter instead. It has been snowing a lot here and the President has asked us to park our cars and walk so that has been our mode of travel this week. The work is going good but slow so we are having to work hard to find people to teach. They let us in two times to teach than they ask us to not come back which is a little disappointing. We know if we just keep working hard and have faith we will find someone soon. I am sure things will pick up soon we just need to have faith.

I have a new companion this week. Pres. called us up and said he had a problem and that he needed to split Sister Brodhead and I up. He didn't say why and we didn't ask but we were't happy about it. It was hard to see Sister Brodhead go to Madison. I now have jSister Taft who I had for two weeks a while ago and she is great. So I am in the same area only with a new companion.

So this last week has been a little interesting. I guess I am attracting men but the wrong kind of men and at the wrong time. We pulled into the gas station to get gas and I was standing outside putting gas in when a Black guy pulled up got out and came over to talk to me. I told him I was a missionary and we talk a little gospel and he told me he was a church going person. I told him what I could and invited him to church than he said you have made my day and gave me a hug!!! It happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to say hey I am a missionary don't you know but the next line was the best. He said do you have a dollar!! That told me everything right there. Than the next day we were walking around 8 pm going home when a guy pulled up and asked us if we wanted a ride. We told him no that we were almost home and than he said come on get in and we told him no again. Than he said he was looking for a wife to marry and would I like to get married. We turned and left and told him to just keep looking. The next day a guy pulled up along side of us and asked us to go smoke pot with him, boy it takes all kinds of people to live here in Nashville. I wish these were stories about people being converted to the gospel but they aren't. Well I hope you all have a great week and I wwill do the same. The Gospel is so-o-o True.

Love

Feb 8, 2010

Family,

Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing well and that you are having a great week. I am doing well and staying busy. All the snow has melted we are back to using our car and life is great. Yesterday we had church and it was really good. We had some really good testimonies that were great for our investigator we had come to hear. Nothing huge happened this week, just the normal little stuff like knocking doors, talking to people, and just laughing and smiling because we are Mormon Missionaries. It is great, some days I will just be driving to are next appointment or walking and it will just hit me: YOU are a MORMON MISSIONARY, it just makes me smile. This work is so true and it is so good to see the change in the people you teach.

We had an amazing lesson yesterday with one of the investigators the Elders are teaching. She is a single mom, and since there was not another guy available to come with them, they could not teach her alone, so they asked if we could come and sit in on the lesson and help teach. We did and the spirit was so strong! All of us missionaries extended a baptismal date and asked her to pray about it. The Elders have another appointment with her today to see how she is doing; we will be going along as well. I think the Elders will have us take over teaching her because they can't teach her with out someone else there. I don't know if I told you but this work is AMAZING Miracles happen everyday and it just puts a smile on your face.

We did a lot of knocking doors last week so this week we have a lot of return appointments. We are hoping for a great week with good things in store. I hope you all have a great Valentines Day. We get to spend it in Church how much better could you get. Well I love you tons and tons I am sorry that my life right now is not to exciting we are still working with our investigators for baptisms. We have had a little bit of a down fall but we are working hard and the blessings are coming... I know they are! We see little ones everyday. Know that you are all in my prayers everyday and I hope all is well. Love your Missionary,

Feb. 1, 2010

Hey Family,

I hope all is well with you and that you are doing great. I am!!! This week was a little crazy but things worked out and we had some fun times. First it we were told that there would be a chance of snow on Friday and we woke up that morning and sure enough there it was the snow. Yeah!!! It was beautiful and COLD! Because of the snow we were not allowed to drive our car, so my companion and I marched off on foot to find our investigators. We found: people that were interested, people who didn't really care, and others who just took pity on us because it was cold. We were not allowed to drive again on Saturday so we walked once again in the snow and ice, only this time my companion was a little sick and I don't think the cold did anything to help her get better. Sunday, church was cancelled because of the roads were snowy, and once again we were not allowed to drive. My companion was not feeling good at all, she got dizzy every time she stood up. So I called President got permission to leave her with our ward mission leader’s family, the Linears. I went out to do missionary work with Jennifer the 13 year old daughter of the Linears. We had tons of fun together and found some new investigators. Yippy!!!

As of today we are now allowed to drive, but it was fun to walk around our area for a time… I like walking. It is crazy that another month has gone by---where does the time go? The work is good the people are amazing! We are still working with the same people to try and get them baptized. Cecilia and America need to put their faith in the Lord and except the invitation to be baptized.

Well I think that this is all the news I have for you, I love you all lots and lots!

Love,