Wow, What a Week of Miracles

"Wow, what a week of miracles it has been for us! Not only is the weather starting to warm up, and both of our other investigators are progressing, but two of our investigators joined the church this week...the baptism was held on Saturday evening! They were just glowing. Her mom was beaming- she had worked so hard for that experience. They were both confirmed on Sunday. What a special treat- I am grateful that the Lord saw fit to bless me with that experience."

"The weather is warming up, finally! Yesterday it was 50ish and then this afternoon should be upper 50's. The whole mission I think is excited for spring. We were visiting a member who was telling us about how she saw robins this week- and in Bluefield, that means spring is around the corner...like, it starts in 4 days. The harbinger has spoken (: The sky is blue, the wind is warm, our gloves and scarves are being stashed. I love spring!!"

"One of our investigators, S, is totally wonderful. She is basically a member she just needs to get baptized. She asked me this week on Saturday when we met with her if I could teach her piano. So once again, I have pulled out my piano books, and we will be teaching her back to back piano/gospel lessons on Fridays. She has investigated since last July. It has taken her a lot to get where she is at- but oh my gosh, I have never met anyone as faithful as she is. When I first met her, I wanted to get an idea of where she stood as far as the lessons and her testimony. She told me when I asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith that she didn't have to pray- she just knew that they were true. How's that for a golden investigator?! She quite smoking cold turkey, and she is warming up to us. She texts us all the time with questions, and she is trying to get her nieces and nephews to come to church with her. I felt inspired to promise her that if she made church on Sundays a priority and if she came and partook of the sacrament every week, the Lord would help her quit coffee. She told us that as her priorities of coming to church more have changed, her nieces and nephews are attending churches, and are making God more of a priority for themselves. So many cool miracles!! I love her!! I want to stay another transfer and at least see her be baptized and finish her music lessons!"

"We are working with a few less actives, and our ward goals and plans for the year revolve around our ward roster and reactivation. We have 400 plus people in our ward and if we can activate at least 30 or so percent, we could split our ward. So we are trying to reactivate. We found a gold mine- we just have to be prayerful about how we extract all of these faithful members from inactivity."

"I hope everyone has had a great week! May the Lord bless you in your endeavors and don't forget us in the field! (: Hope to hear from you soon! Love you all!!"

2 BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!! WOOOOOOH!!!

"This week the weather decided to suck, and the library was closed yesterday. It snowed only like, 3 inches, but the ice was bad. It was 60 on Sunday, and it sprinkled. It smelled like rain for the first time since summer. It was so wonderful to feel the spring humidity again. I seriously can not wait for the summer time!!"

"We have had a super busy week getting ready for our 2 BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!! WOOOOOOH!!! These will be my first two baptisms I've seen, but I don't really consider them as mine, because they are basically done with all the lessons. I have taught them the last two. Obviously they are the Lord's baptisms not my own, but it is so amazing to see two solid people ready to make covenants with the Father. They both love the church. They want to be sealed next year, and this is helping her mother (a LA) come back to church. We love these folks!! They are fantastic!!"

"This past week was zone conference, and as you have seen in President's letters, we are going back to the basics, and part of that is giving ourselves up to the work. Paraphrasing the Lord, C.S. Lewis says to us: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You, all of You. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half-measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart." (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, p. 167)"

"I've been having a tough time adjusting to Bluefield - But I swear, this zone conference was totally for me! So much revelation & spiritual guidance! It was truly a neat conference. So my district leader knows I am/was having a hard time in Bluefield, so he told me to read D&C 25. I read it out of my quad with all my seminary notes, and Holy revelatory experience! Verse 4 really hit home and especially when I realized that I'm the only one keeping myself from loving Bluefield! I know that God blesses us when we're humble enough to learn what his will is, cause our will needs to be his."

"My heart is slowly changing, and I am starting to just absolutely love the people in this branch. They are so much fun, and there is so much love for the gospel oozing out of the members here. Even though the Sunday attendance is sparse, their spirituality is just busting out of their eyes, and they participate in what they are asked to do. I love Sundays here." 

An Update From Bluefield

I got a letter from Elizabeth today with a little information about her new area. "Adjusting to this area has been kind of hard. . .but I know I'm supposed to be here." She spent 2 days organizing the maps, area books, materials with her new companion and now they have a lot of good things happening. They have 2 people on date for baptism on March 8th and they had 3 investigators at church on Sunday. They've made contact with a few "long-lost" less active members and the work is moving forward. They share the ward with the zone leaders and another set of elders.

This is a direct quote from her letter about her new living quarters. "Our apartment is a duplex. Living room, kitchen are downstairs; bedroom, bathroom, and spare 'dressing room' are upstairs. We also have a creepy cold basement where the washer & dryer are. This duplex is kind of older, so in the basement we have a coal & furnace room. Basically it looks like part of the Holocaust Museum or something. I've only been down there once & it was in broad daylight. Creepy basement."

Maybe Next Week

Well, she is in Bluefield, WV but I don't know anything else. She had time to email me and ask for a list of things to be sent but didn't have time to give me any details about her new area. If she writes a letter, I'll update the blog.

Alive and Well in Bluefield, WV

"So, just thought ya'll should know that I am still alive, hahah...what a crazy 2 weeks it's been. So transfer news. After 12 INCREDIBLE weeks with the Bedford 4, I was the only one transferred from Bedford. I am in Bluefield VA/WV. I "boarder hop" daily (: you will NEVER guess who I am serving with...I am serving with Sister E again. What a treat!" (She served with her in Charleston and finished up Sister E's training.)

"So some news about this weather/transfer fiasco. So transfers were originally supposed to be last Thursday. Tuesday night we were supposed to get transfer calls, but because of the snow forewarning, they postponed it. Wednesday wasn't terrible, but then that afternoon about 3ish it started to just come down, and it snowed for hours. Before transfer calls happened Wednesday night, the four of us had a really nice lasagna dinner and had our "this transfer rocked" discussion. After dinner we got phone calls and we all sat around the table as they told me that I was going to be with Sister E. I was excited to be with her, and to be in a new place...but leaving Bedford was one of the hardest things I have had to do on my mission. Serving in a branch changed me. So Wednesday night to commemorate our time as the Bedford four, we all pulled our mattresses into the other sisters' apartment and had a "sleepover". We had ice cream and told transfer miracle stories, and funny stories that happened, and it was so wonderful. The next morning we woke up and we were literally snowed in. We had to push our storm door to open it. It was snowed shut. We got a call that transfers were moved from Friday to Saturday morning, so Heavenly Father blessed me with two extra days in Bedford."

"I love Bluefield! I went on an exchange here when I was in Christiansburg, so I knew a little of what to expect. They canceled church because of the weather, so I have met 2 ward members so far. The snow is starting to melt, and its supposed to be in the 50s all week."

No News is Good News, I Hope

This is transfer week and normally they have P-day on Wednesday when it is transfer week but we still haven't heard from her. I'm guessing that the big winter storm has them stuck in their apartment. Yesterday the internet said it was 20 degrees and they were expecting 10-14 inches of snow in Roanoke. She is about 30 miles from Roanoke. I'll update the blog when I hear from her.

Miracles and swimming with whales

"Boy has it been a week! So much to share!! Best, birthday, EVAH. I got the chance to swim with whales for my 20th birthday"

"One of our sister training leaders was on exchanges with Sister M. The morning of my birthday during work out time, Sister M distracted me, and we went into her apartment and played volleyball against the wall. We were totally into it, it was so hilarious. Meanwhile, Sister H (who said she wasn't feeling well) had shut herself in the bathroom. After I went into the other apartment with Sister M, Sister S (our leader staying with us)

slipped into the bathroom with Sister H...and they painted a giant ocean scene with washable finger paint on the tile walls of the shower. It's totally my dream to swim with whales one day, so that's what they got me for my birthday (: It was so neat! But alas, the whale named WALLter had to migrate, so we have a white tile shower again. It's so boring. It was so neat. Sister H has been hired to do that to my shower when I have a house of my own haha- she is so talented! So that's the picture of the whale on the wall. It was enormous!!" 

"We picked H's boyfriend up as a new investigator. The branch is having a temple trip this weekend and they want to go up with them to see the visitors center and the temple.We are totally teaching a family. It makes me cry- I've only taught couples and individuals, so this family is a huge miracle for me. This family is SO ELECT. I am so grateful for it. They all came to church yesterday, so we had 2 investigators at sacrament meeting- the most I have had since Christiansburg. We also picked up someone the day after my birthday, so not only did I see miracles on my birthday, but this whole week has just been the biggest miracle ever!! (Which probably means, that since everything has picked up in this area, I will most likely be transferred...that's how it always seems to work with me...)"

"Piano lessons are going well. I have one of the sisters I am teaching in the branch playing one of the Primary songs this week. They are working perfectly."

"I love you all!! Remember that miracles happen everyday- we have to be worthy to understand and notice them...always be worthy to experience miracles in your life! (:"