Monday, September 26, 2016
When Elders steal your camera...
Never give Elders your camera. They borrowed mine so they could steal some pictures I took from the temple, and pictures like these two shortly followed.
forgotten picture
This is just how awkward I am. I had turned to say something to the Elders and accidentally had a brief moment of physical contact with the Elder I was standing by. I may have reacted to it, and then that Elder started busting up laughing because of my shock/distaste/I'm just an awkward missionary.
weekly update
Well, Sister Ledford has a nifty little contraption that I'm gonna be trying out. It's called the AlphaSmart 3000. Sounds like something amazing, right? Super high tech perhaps? Basically, it's a keyboard with a tiny screen up top that doesn't connect to the Internet, so it's missionary approved, but you can write out your emails on it and then hook it up to the computer when it's time to email and it'll transfer the file over. Hopefully it will make email time less stressful as I always try to cram in everything that happened during the week in my hour of email time. With this thing, I'll be writing out short summaries of daily happenings on the day it actually happened. Cool, huh? This will be nice as long as I'm with Sister Ledford, but then after transfers it'll be back to normal missionary email stress life. I would request one to be sent my way, but seeing as I'm almost done with the mission... just save the money. Wish I would've known about this thing about a year ago.
Well, this week... Where do I even start? First off, I have a new companion! Sister Ledford and I became a trio on Saturday! And you'll never guess who it is. Sister Brown! I don't think this has ever happened to a missionary before - to be companions with TWO of your trainees again after being transfered away from them. And it's not like I'm companions with them one after the other, but at the same time. This is a strange situation, but we will definitely make it an adventure! (It already is!) Shout out to Sister Brown's parents who I know will be reading this! Your daughter is incredible, and I'm excited to be with her again. Miracles are gonna be happening the last two weeks of this transfer while we're in our trio here in St. Mikes.
The miracles have actually already started. On Sunday, we had a lesson count of 20 for the week and 5 of them had members there! It might not seem like a lot, but that is ***amazing*** compared to the previous weeks I've been here! So we're all super happy about it :) We're only gonna go up from here! Cause we're done with exchanges and such, now it's just MLC and general conference, then the rest is working in the area! Joy!
So becoming a trio is probably the biggest event so far. You know about Monday and how we went to the temple. Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Kirtland Sisters. I was with Sister Anderson here in St. Mikes. Our exchange adventure happened at the end of the exchange when we were driving to our halfway point to switch back to our normal companions. We were driving, enjoying our conversation, and I somehow missed the turn to get to Crystal. We took a lovely 18 mile detour. The bad part was that we both had to use the restroom really really badly... and our detour didn't have any gas stations... it wasn't too pleasant. But we got to see a pretty lake and some mountains on our way to Lukachukai before we had to turn around.
Thursday we had a zone meeting with President Adams. We talked about the Garden Project and how it can be a major finding tool. So Sister Ledford and I (and Sister Brown now!) will be trying to find people that have gardens around St. Michael's and try to help them out in any way we can, and hopefully lead them into taking the missionary discussions. We found one garden. Now we've gotta find the rest. Sad part is that the gardening season is about over... but that's not gonna stop us!
Looking back at this week, I feel like it was just a TON of driving. First it was 3 hours one way to the temple... then 1 hour one way to do exchanges... and you make that drive twice, once to switch companions, then another time to switch back... then 1 hour one way to our meeting with President... then another 1 hour one way to yet another exchange...so times that by two to switch companions again... then 30 minutes to pick up Sister Brown... music is a must out here with all this drive time. Sister Training Leader life. It's da best. By the end of the week, we calculated that we drove roughly 700-800 miles. Wowza!
Saturday night we went to the General Women's Conference. Wow. That was an amazing meeting. I must say, as soon as President Monson walked in, I about cried. I love how every time I see him or hear him speak I get a spiritual witness telling me that he truly is a prophet of God. I'm so thankful that we have a living prophet today who can guide us in the craziness of this world. Some of my favorite parts of the Women's Conference were the choir- shout out to Ogden! I totally (reverently?) did a kind of fist punch to the air when they said that people from Ogden would be singing in the choir. I didn't really recognize anyone though... Wow, I've gotten old. But I thought I might have recognized Savannah Coburn. Was that true, or was I imagining things? Of all young women from Ogden that should have been in the choir, she'd be number one. But I also loved the speakers and how there was an emphasis on having a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ. How true that is. It saddened my heart a little when Sister Oscarson said that the world isn't going to be getting any better. We will be continuing to get worse until Christ comes again. And yeah, that's a little bit of a scary thought, but at the same time it is so true. And that's exactly why we need to be sure in our footing. We **need** to have not only a strong testimony, but a strong conversion to Christ. We need to consistantly act what we believe. We have to be knowledgable in the scriptures. We need to have a strong relationship with our Father in Heaven and rely on Him for all things. I loved how a speaker talked about how we can't have our own agenda with God, we must summit to His will, and then things will work out for the best. Sometimes we really don't know what's going to be best for us, because we have such a limited perspective in this life. Thank goodness God knows us perfectly and knows exactly what will help us reach our full potential. Our part is that we simply need to trust Him and act.
Ah, I just love general confernce time!!! I'm giddy with excitement for this weekend and to listen to our church leaders. Last conference on the mission :( It's gonna be good!
Our companionship has a new motto. Tis this - "Fourth floor, last door." President Uchtdorf talked about a missionary companionship in Germany that went to a 4 story apartment building and found rejection on every floor, at every door. But they were diligent and they had faith. So they kept knocking. Then at the very last door on the last floor (4th floor) they knocked and a little girl answered the door. Her mother had just lost her husband, there were a few little girls this mother still needed to raise somehow, and she was not in the mood to listen to missionaries. But after the daughter pleaded a little, the missionaries were allowed inside and shared a quick message about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They left a Book of Mormon, and after they left, the mother decided she'd read a page or two. Well, she read the entire book in a few days and the entire family was baptized shortly thereafter. The daughter that had convinced her mother to listen to the missionaries was President Uchtdorf's now wife. And he talked about how he's so thankful for the diligent missionaries that kept knocking until the last door on the fourth floor. So that's what our companionship is going to do now. We're going to keep going until we hit the last door. We are so excited to work together, and know that miracles will happen as we live up to our expectaions for each other. We're gonna communicate, be diligent, be obedient, and have fun together. We're already off to a great start :)
Sunday was pretty good. I think I've decided that I kinda hope I'm not called to be a primary leader once I come home... These kids were hard this week. We just couldn't control them. Mad respect to my mother that works with Primary kids 24/7. How am I ever gonna be a mother?? Good thing that question doesn't have to be answered for a while. Two hours of children on Sunday was just a little bit too much. We talked about missionary work and split everyone into companionships. It was fun, then they got out of hand. Bleh. One day, I will master this primary thing. But I think I prefer young womens. I'm much better at working with youth. Not that I'm aspiring to callings, but... yeah, I kinda am.
I absolutely love being a missionary. It seriously is the most rewarding thing in all the world. Even if there are rough times. That's just life. In the end, we decide if we're gonna let it be rough or not. And I will forever choose to have a good day :)
This week we're looking forward to MLC and General Conference! So excited for General Conference! For anyone interested in watching it, it'll be at 10:00 and 2:00 MST Saturday and Sunday on BYU TV, lds.org, and certain radio stations and such. It's the GREATEST thing in all the world. So uplifting!!
And you really do learn so much. If anyone's interested in the church and what we believe, this would be the time to find out. So stoked.
Well, I love you all!!! And I hope you're doing amazing things! Keep going strong! Keep reading your scriptures, praying, and going to church. Those are the super simple things that will get you through life. I know that to be so true.
I know this church is true! I know that we find happiness through Christ's teachings, and I'm so thankful to have this gospel in my life. It has made a world of a difference.
I LOVE YOU!
Love,
Becca
Monday, September 19, 2016
well...
well... I lied... we're finishing up emailing tonight, not Wednesday. I sure hope I'll be able to get everything in!
Hello! Once again :)
Love you!!! :D
Hello! Once again :)
I've only got a quick minute again... sorry. But here we go, update on this week!
It started with exchanges, and I got to go to Holbrook and work with Sister Southam. She is incredible. Love her so much. We got to talk to a lot of people during the day, and it looks like the work there is going well.
Oh, before that though, we got to do a random act of kindness and bag some groceries for a cashier. Sister Ledford is a saint, as it was her idea. I strive to be more selfless like her always. She is just too good.
We got to chop woods for a potential investigator! His name is Joseph. Miracles happen as you serve, cause as we were chopping woods he opened up to us and talked about religion some. It was amazing. He seems like he might be genuinely interested... once you get past the teasing and sarcasm.
Then I went on exchanges with Sister Woods in Joseph City, and once again got to go there instead of stay in St. Michael's. That was an adventure. We got to go to a 8-year-old baptism. And get fed every meal except breakfast. And little miracle happened, we were walking down the street in the evening, and saw a lady doing yard work. We offered to help, she accepted, and then throughout the conversation we found out that she had recently had some kids pass away and so we got to testify about eternal families and how she can see her children again. It was so amazing. She accepted a return visit, so that was a new investigator for the Joseph City Sisters!!! That's kinda hard to come by in a small LDS community like Joseph City. Man, service. It brings miracles.
We also got to serve our stake president's wife by picking apples and peeling them, and cutting them, and bagging them, and freezing them. It was quite the process. They're gonna have some incredible apple pies come thanksgiving time.
We taught Primary again! Whew, that was an adventure and a half!!! Just... wow. How thankful I am that I don't have that calling every week. I don't even know the official outline of primary. And I thought I was good with kids... then Sister Deschine came in and played the piano and taught all the kids perfectly... man... I have a lot to work up to.
Funny story - Bishop texted us Saturday night telling us he had a few big sandwiches for us missionaries. We weren't at our place, so the Elders grabbed them. The next day at church, Bishop asks us how we liked the sandwiches and we told him we never got them. He was shocked. We told him that we'd talk to the Elders about it. Later on after church, Bishop requests to talk to us. We go into the room and there's the Elders and Bishop. Bishop looks at us, straight face, and says "We were talking about the sandwiches." Sister Ledford doesn't understand jokes, so she thought he was totally serious. It was hilarious. It went on for a minute longer, then we laughed it off and started talking about the real deal.
This morning we went to the temple. WHOA! It was such a spiritual amazing experience. I walked in and just wanted to cry because it felt so good. We had a major hiccup in the road though in the morning. We had to leave at 5:30 AM to get to Snowflake Temple on time, and we had arranged for a member to drive us. Well, 4:15 AM comes around, and we get a call from our member... she's sick. ***aggggggghhhhh!!!!!!!*** We got the Elders to come and give her a blessing, but then she still wasn't comfortable with giving us a ride... so we were at a loss as to what we'd do. Well, our stake president happened to have 2 extra seats with the Elders, so we hitched a ride and got there safe and sound! Miracle. Then President Brown treated all 6 missionaries to a massive lunch after the temple. That man is a saint.
Well, that's about it. Kinda sorta. At least for now. I love you all!!!!!
Love,
Becca
Time is short :(
Hey there!
Time is super short today... sorry. Actually, time is non-existant. We went to the temple this morning and it took all of our P-day. And now we're at the library... and it's about to close... and the computers are super slow. SO to make up for it, I'm going to send my mass email on Wednesday. We only got in about half of our email time today, so we'll be doing the other half after exchanges happen. I promise pictures. Summary of what I would have written - the temple is AMAZING!!! And truly the house of the Lord. Wow, wow, WOW!
I love you all!!!!!!!
Love,
Becca
Monday, September 12, 2016
flashback to Sister Steele
Flashback to the days with Sister Steele and short hair! I borrowed Elder Larsen's camera for a moment and found these on there... good times
Breakfast again
To show our thanks for all the hard work the Elders put in to the fair, we woke up at 3:00AM to make them some homemade cinnamon rolls. They were pretty thankful, as they had to be at the fair by 5:30 that morning
That's what I look like at 3:00 AM. Cleaning away. Just call me Cinderella
Navajo Nation Fair Week!
Wow, this week was definitely unusual in our activities, but SO much fun!!!
This week was the Navajo Nation fair. And Sister Ledford and I talked to a TON of people!!! In one day, we had 115 TTI's (Teach Testify and Invites. Kinda like a door approach). It was amazing. In the end, we had 216 TTI's from doing our 3 days at the fair. And that wasn't even all of them... we forgot to count a lot of them. So, we found a ton of success, and we loved every minute. Kids day on Thursday was INSANE!!!!!! SO MANY KIDS! I felt like I was in Disney World again. But like, Disney World on New Years Eve. Or maybe Christmas. We were just swamped. We'd get about one sentence out and then start talking to the next person. It was like... missionary work on steroids.
Sad thing though, I lost my My Family booklet that I spent so much time on. My home mailing address is in it, so I really hope whoever has it is kind enough to send it back. Cause I put a TON of work into that thing. :(
Other adventures - the Elders dented our truck. We only had one parking pass, so we had permission to carpool in and out of the fair for the different shifts each missionary companionship had signed up for. We were working a long shift, so the Elders took our truck to switch with some other Elders. I had just said "Be careful with our truck" and then 2 minutes later, some Elders come back with super sad faces and told us the news that while backing, the Elder driving turned too soon and hit the car next to us. Their vehicle was in worse shape... but ours still dented... but I feel super bad for the other car. We couldn't find the owner in the chaos of the fair, so .... yeah. We left our info on their vehicle and will wait for them to contact us.
We woke up at 3:00AM on Saturday to make the Elders cinnamon rolls for their early morning adventure to the fair. They had to be there by 5:30AM, so we felt bad for them and wanted to relieve some stress so we provided breakfast and lunch. They were very appreciative.
Sister Ledford has been in a dancing mood lately. And I die laughing every time. She is such a dancer! You can tell any time she moves. I love it so much. We have some pretty entertaining nights right before going to bed.
We had navajo burgers this week. I was the only one to finish mine... bleh. We even ate with Elders! And they split one and didn't even finish it! I felt like a total fatty. There's a reason I've asked my mother to send me pinterest easy healthy meal ideas haha
I also tried Deep Fried Twinkies this past week. I promise everything else I ate was healthy. They were surprisingly pretty good... I was shocked.
UVU had a booth at the fair! It was the weirdest thing ever to see Utah people again. I didn't expect that one for another 3 months.
I adopted a Shima Sani (grandma) for National Grandparents day!!! :D Her name is Herma and she's the greatest. We've only met her like 3 times, but it really already feels like we're family. We always have the best of times with her. I love how honest she is in everything. Ah, she's so good!
I painted someone's nails for service this week. So good :) I loved it! Cosmetology license for the win!
We also conducted Primary on Sunday. Man, that was an adventure! We were asked to do it as primary was starting, and told we would need to be with them until church ended... so for 2 hours. We played a lot of games. Huckle Buckle Beanstalk, Charades, and such. Then sang songs... then had all the kids write their testimonies in a Book of Mormon. Cutest testimonies ever.
Miracle of the Week - Monica came to the church building for the first time in 5 weeks!!! She's a recent convert who had a slip up and felt so guilty she wouldn't come to church. So this was a HUGE step! She came after church to talk to the senior missionaries. Wow, we just felt like Heavenly Father gave us the greatest blessing in all the world.
This next week will be good, we're starting Exchange Madness. YAY! :D I'll let you know how it goes.
I love you all!!!!
Love,
Becca
Monday, September 5, 2016
IT'S FAIR WEEK!!! :D
We're prepping for our booth at the Navajo Nation Fair. It's taken a LOOOONNNNGGG time to paint these trees, but they're looking gorgeous. Just like my companion!
Former neighbors
Elders Stevens, Merrill, Larsen, Prescott, Sisters Porter and Cardon
...Don't ask what I'm doing in the first picture. I have no clue.
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