natalie ann: week 16: i LOVE summer in february

Monday, February 15th, 2016

HELLO ALL! oh man it is summer in scottsdale, and it's february, so we will see how this goes. Life has been busy and fun

Monday we had fhe with two families from our wards. Our stake goal is to have more lessons in active members homes. So it has been good getting to know more members and building their trust!

Tuesday was a day of errands and also my companion has to do extra things because she is new, so that takes a lot of time. We had a meeting with our ward mission leader and then our bishop. Bishop Wynn told us a bunch of names to go see, it was really productive.

Wednesday we had to go to the mission home and get a truck!! what what. I'm driving a truck for about a week I think. So that has been fun. We sold our old car because it had a lot of miles and are getting a new car soon. We had ZTM that day. We listened to Elder Anderson's talk again from the missionary broadcast. It was way good. My favorite quote they said was from preach my gospel "As you understanding of the atonement increases, your desire to share the gospel of Christ increases." We went to see a women in the ward who just had a baby! So cute. I'm sad we can't hold babies. We went to see Mike Gonzales. We are still trying to figure him out. I really just don't think he is willing to change, we need to figure out what is holding him back. He is just not super open. We then had a hand off lesson with Theresa, She moved to Chaparrel ward. It was sad saying goodbye but I know she is in good hands. It seems like all of our investigators our moving. We went to see Roy Ellis and his kids. They are doing well.

Thursday was a day of miracles! We had 7 lessons! Everyone answered their door! Some were children of the people we were trying to see but still everyone answered their door! We had a lesson with Constance. We got her birth date and such and she is still a member!! She told us she wants her records off though. She is meeting with our bishop tomorrow. Our lesson went well though. We brought a member. We then saw Kaylynn, a less-active, she came to church on Sunday which was a HUGE miracle!! I don't know when the last time she went to church was. We had a lesson with Sue, love her. We then saw the Becketts, they are members who are struggling in the ward. We saw Glenda and she just does not seem interested so we are going to drop her this week. We then saw Joy Christensen, she is doing okay. Her daughter is going through a divorce so it has been pretty crazy at their house. The spirit was so strong in the lesson though and she said we told her exactly what she needed to hear. Her daughter went to church on Sunday! So that was really good. We then saw the Luongs that night. We are going to see if Jason wants to go to ysa ward, we think it would be really great for him.

Friday we had stake correlation and weekly planning. woop woop. We then had a lesson with Isaac and it went SO well. We were bold but loving. He is still pretty wishy washy. We had it in the Miller home and they were great member presents. We are having another lesson with him tonight so we will see how that goes. We then were driving down the street in a neighborhood. A car is stopped in the middle of the road so I slow down and then see something on the pavement, I get closer and it's a dead cat and then a man runs over yelling. He gets down hugging the cat and starts crying. We pull over to help. The man who ran over their cat felt super bad. It was all so sad and awkward. The man was telling us how good of a cat he was. His parents then drove up. We shared a scripture with them and gave them cookies. It was the craziest tti I have had on my mission. We saw the DeBenckendorffs and they came to church yesterday! It was so good!! Amelia wants to get involved in ysa so that will be so good.

Saturday we did service and cleaned a women's house. We went to the Ross's and they are doing well. Brother Ross is out of Life care clinic so that's good. We went to see some less-actives but no one was home or they were not interested. But Sister Gulley and I have so much fun. I'm so glad I am training her. She has the Spirit and is already so good in lessons!

Sunday we had both ward councils. Also it was valentines day! i had way too much chocolate. I then had to go to Mesa for choir practice haha. yeah i'm in a missionary choir for a fireside next week haha. We practiced today as well. It is pretty intense. People even came down from the mountains to sing! Like my trainer, Sister Jones! It was so good seeing her! It's a big commitment but it is real fun! We have been getting lots of referrals and have had some interesting phone calls this week to say the least haha.

I love my area and I love the weather, life is good. Being a missionary is a sacrifice. We give up things that are good, but missions are the BEST. Definitely worth the sacrifice. Serving others really does bring you closer to Christ. This gospel is perfect. Heavenly Father loves us perfectly. He knows our wants and desires and he is fighting for us.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

There is no greater love than this. Christ does love us and we should strive to be as charitable as Him. He turned outward even when he was on the cross. I am so grateful for the atonement and that He loves me enough to die for me.

Thanks for all your support! Life is good in the hood. I hope ya'll have a blessed week!

-Sista Fisha