week 53: H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N 🎃

Monday, October 31st, 2016

Hiiii friends.

This week has been good! It flew by and I can't even really remember what we have done. Oh I hit my year mark on Friday! That was weird, I feel like I just came out. I have learned so much, ah. I can't imagine my life without my mission.

Monday we saw Zach and taught the plan of salvation. Holy cow it was such a struggle cause he was asking so many deep doctrine questions and when we answered them he would ask more so we barely got through our lesson haha. Jehovah witnesses have similar but very different beliefs. But we asked him at the trunk or treat on Wednesday and asked him if he was going to get married to channa and he said yes and we asked him when and he said probably this winter!! Yayayaa!! We need to focus on the Book of Mormon with him and feeling the Spirit.

Tuesday we had a lesson with Keith who just hit his year mark. He asks some really good questions, we talked about the atonement with him. We had lunch with Brother Duncan. He takes us and the YSA Elders every Tuesday to taco Tuesday. We then had a mini missionary with us for about 5 hours, her name is Loa, so that was fun. We had a lesson with Sister Bliss who is less-active. She is old and stubborn. She just needs a lot of love. We then had a good lesson with the Cuiriz family. We taught them the restoration. They don't know much about religion, only the mom does and she doesn't speak English super well. I mean she understands well but it's hard cause we can't communicate. It was cute cause before we left the little kids were already reading the Book of Mormon. They were so excited. But they all loved it and the Spirit was there.

Wednesday we saw Tewana and her sister Shenia. Tewana wants to get to the temple by the end of this year! Which is awesome! We are going to help her get her there and the ward as well. Her and her nonmember husband both came to the ward's trunk or treat that night too! We then had district meeting, woot woot. We found a less-active family named the Carters. They are ready to get back to church though. Her kids are adorable though. We then had our trunk or treat activity this week and that was a lot of fun, so many people came!

Thursday we did weekly planning so that took up most of the day. We saw Sister Bottoms. We taught her the restoration. We then went out to white mountain lake with Charlie and he bought us pizza for dinner at the red house and it was so good. We had an appointment with an investigator but she canceled. So we went out finding.

Friday I went to MLC (mission leadership council). It was really good. We went to Payson for it so it was a drive. I got back right at dinner and went to the house with the Wallaces. Good burgers. Our less-active Jaimie was then having a hard time so we helped her out and stayed with her for a while. Her grandma passed away and someone threw a rock at her window so she was having just a hard day.

Saturday we had interviews with president! It's always good talking to him one on one. We then saw Sister Tuetken, and read about the stripling warriors. I love that story. We went finding at the apartments and had some good contacts. We then went to the adult session of stake conference. It was so good. President and Sister Robinson spoke for a little bit. They are doing boundary changes next week and I'm not excited about it, I'll be so sad if we lose our investigators.

Sunday was the rest of stake conference. It was all so good. We had another lesson with the Cuiriz family that night. We brought the Macneilles who speak Spanish so that was really good. We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with them. It's very hard to teach when half of them speak English and the other Spanish. They are just so cute and I love teaching them.

My ponderize scripture of the week is Jacob 4: 7 "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."

On my mission I feel like my weaknesses have been magnified, it happens as a missionary. But it has made me realized how much I need Him to do His work. I need his grace & guidance & help. He gives us power to do these things, he didn't leave us alone to do this work.

"By the grace of god it rains, but unless we plant seeds, we receive no harvest" - Legrand Richards

We need to work, we need to plant those seeds and have faith it will grow. We are an instrument in his hands and it is by grace that we are changed and that the people we teach change and come unto Christ.

I hope you all have a safe& fun halloween, we're gonna go have a tri-zone party up in the mountains, we had a reverse p-day today.  

--xo: sista fisha

carving pumpkins 

Proselyting is fun!

the district

the cutest girl in the world

random

1 YR w/ mtc comp

idk

cards on halloween

week 52: lakes, pumpkins & donuts

Monday, October 24th, 2016

hello my peeps!

This week has been really good! I already love my new area! And I'm more in civilization so it's great! We actually have stores! So I am in pinetop zone but actually serving in show low. In 1st & 2nd wards. 1st Ward is huge! The area and amount of people and 2nd Ward is small in both categories. Oh and idk if I mentioned but I am a STL (sister training leader). And I'm STL with my baby, Sister Gulley! So that's way fun. We are living together and she is training so I have a grandbaby!! But yeah I love my companion so much! She is awesome, it will be a great transfer.

So last Monday I was still in Eagar, weird cause it feels like it has been forever. I wrote 33 letters to my people there with a picture and handed it out to everyone! So that took a while but I'm grateful I did. Cause those people changed my life. We went over to the Henrie's and made tie dye aprons, it was fun. She really wanted to do that with us before I left. We then had dinner with the Stake President and his wife. She made hot fudge and you poor it over icecream and it's actually really good. I guess it's an Eagar thing. We saw Crystal and her kids and then I said bye to Haley :(

Tuesday I pretty much finished packing and then Mark and Lenna drove me to Show Low! I got my companion and then we went to the apt! Our room is so small but I'll live with it haha. I was so spoiled in Eagar. I'll send you pics of it next week. We had dinner with our ward missionaries in 2nd Ward, Nancy and Leroy. They are a mother and a son who are converts. They are so cute and funny. They are so good and go door to door finding us people to teach! The Webbs want us to teach their daughter Jhade who is about to turn 8 so that she can decide on her own if she wants to be baptized. So we taught her the restoration. We then had a lesson with the Sandovals. They have 6 boys and one girl so it's crazy. We had an awesome lesson on the armor of God and printed people and then they drew on the armor.

Wednesday we saw Tewana who is a less-active and her husband is not a member. She is 22 and wants to get active! Which is awesome cause we are hoping to start teaching her husband! Her little sister lives with them and she is really active. They are really cute girls, they have been through a lot. We saw Sister Bottoms, she is less-active and she had just had knee surgery that day so we went to see how she was doing and shared a message. We then went to go see a potential named Lynsey and she let us in and we shared the because of him video with her. She talks a lot...but it was good. But we got a text this morning from her and she dropped us...then in 1st Ward they do this thing where they called it splits but the high priests go out and they are delivering cookies to every member of the ward before Christmas! So we went with our ward mission leader and his wife (the Gilmores) and did that. It wasn't really productive on our part so we will probably not go anymore. Or just go see the less-actives.

Thursday we saw sister Tuetken who is a less-active. We had a really good lesson with her. She started crying and really wants the best for her grandkids (she is raising them). She comes off and on. She knows she needs to come every week. We then had this miracle! We prayed and got out of our car to go see a potential but then there was this guy standing outside of his house. We started talking to him and immediately he inviteed us in! We are like wait is someone else there? Cause we can't go in with just a guy home. And he is like yeah my mom is. Sweet. So we go inside and his mom is SO nice. Her name is Rafaela and her son's name is Victor, he is 19. They are Hispanic and Rafaela took the discussions 3 years ago. Anyways they really want to learn more. We had an appointment with them yesterday but it fell through...but we are excited cause it's a family! We had a lesson with Amanda and Richard, Nancy found them. It was our first lesson with them and we taught the restoration. It was going really well and they said they knew it was all true, so then we asked them to be baptized and they were like "no." lol I felt like it was off errand of angels. But it was kind of funny. But yeah it doesn't make sense but they are just like feel good people and they don't really think there is one right religion. She was like I got baptized in Guam, how can you top that? Lol. We are going to drop them when we see them this week. We then saw the Mills that are returning less-actives. They have a parrot in their house and it has the most creepy laugh. It was pretty hilarious. We had a lesson with Zach, our investigator. It was the 2nd lesson with him. It was really good and he wants to get baptized! He has some fears and such so we told him to pray about a baptismal date. He is dating a member and he goes to church every week. He used to be a JW so he is worried about his family shunning him which is understandable.

Friday we went to Panda Express! It's so nice to have options for lunch! Brother Phil takes us out to eat every week, he is like the new Brother Ayres. I saw some yw from Eagar there, that was fun. It's good they are so close. We had a first lesson with Clarise. She took the lessons about 5 months ago and I guess the elders pushed her. But she really wants to know more and she said us showing up at her door was a sign. She is Navaho and has four kids and is married. I asked the husband if he would like to join next time and he said yes! It was a really good lesson. We then had dinner at Jessica Deals'. It's a PMF and her brother is a less-active and we teach her 8 yr old son to make sure he is ready for baptism. I love that family!! Jayce is the 8 yr old and Marc is Jessica's brother. We then had a really good first lesson with a women named DeAnn. She is so sweet and nice. She has good fellowshippers who have been inviting her to activities. The Spirit was so strong in her lesson. She is so prepared and she came to church! She said she liked it!

Saturday we went to Show Low Lake and picked up trash along it with 1st Ward. It was such a nice day I even got sunburned. It's so pretty here! Not my Washington but it will do. I'm definitely a mountain missionary. It was fun getting to know the ward, we had a BBQ after. We had dinner with our ward mission leader in 2nd Ward, the Willis's. They are funny. I already love the members and people here! 2nd Ward hasn't had any baptisms this year but that will change!! We saw Jaimie who is a returning less-active. She is a single mom with two kids. She is very cute. She is very stressed though, it's hard when you just want to do everything for someone but you can't!

Sunday was good. It was the primary program in 1st Ward and it was so funny. Lots of people were there. I like both of the wards! We had a lesson with an investigator named Pasty and holy cow we couldn't even teach the restoration because her dog is Satan! Man it was rough but so so funny. So we are going to teach her at her neighbor's who is a member. She hates leaving her dog alone though. This week was good! We had 5 new investigators!

Today we did a morning hike, it was so pretty. And then we went to the saddest pumpkin patch ever...there were only two pumpkins left lol. And then we got donuts! Members own it and you can create your own donut! It's pretty cool.

I'm in Mosiah in my reading. In chapter 14, verse 5 it says "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." I love this scripture. I know that we can be fully healed through Christ. It reminded me of this quote:

"The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. It just heals, and what it heals stays healed. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, the Savior has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. The Atonement can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated.” - President Packer

When we get a deal cut, we get a scar. But repentance is not like that. There are no scars because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And I am so grateful for that.

I also read Mosiah 15:16 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!" I wanted to know more about what that meant and so I looked in the institute manuel and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, “These familiar passages, written first by Isaiah but spoken of and inspired by Jehovah himself, are often applied to anyone--especially missionaries--who bring the good tidings of the gospel and publish peace to the souls of men. It is he and only he who ultimately brings the good tidings of salvation. Only through him is true, lasting peace published."

He is the Prince of Peace! I'm grateful to share this peace with others! Have a safe week!

--xo: sista fisha

baby missionary

Show Low Lake

Idk

morning hike

The saddest pumpkin patch

DONUTS 

week 51: pinetop here i come!

Monday, October 17th 

Hello again!

I feel like I just had pday! Okay so President called me yesterday (before transfer news came out) dud I have no idea why but he told me my transfer news and I am staying in the mountains and going to Pinetop and I will be with Sister Suter. It's going to be hard being so close to Eagar dahhh. Like seriously it's going to be one of the hardest things I have done on my mission to leave this place. It's crazy how much you love the people you serve & serve with.

Monday we saw Crystal and her family. We had a good lesson with them. They told us they drove by the snowflake temple and they were SO amazed. It was really cute and funny. They were like so scared to go up to it so they just drove around it. They are funny.

Tuesday we show up at the Tisdell's and he is cutting wood haha. Like with an ax, he is so old so I was like hey I got this and chopped some of his wood for him in a skirt. We had a lot of appointments that night but like all of them fell through! We got to see the Nelsons though, they are doing good. They just need to come to church though! They were doing so good for a while.

Wednesday we had ZTM, it was kind of a call to repentance. It was good though. The stls did a good training on the atonement & love. It's so important to love the people we teach. We talked about we can increase the love for the work by sacrifice. When you sacrifice you will have more ability to feel His love. We saw Nancy Ward, she is so funny. We saw this family named the Burnetts. And I guess it was a miracle cause they NEVER let anyone in. We had dinner at PJ's, she is the funniest ever. We had a lesson with Tayler and we had a really good lesson with her cause her kids were asleep. She has a hard time with Joseph Smith so we invited her to read the Book of Mormon every day and pray about it.

Thursday was temple day! Our zone got to go to the temple and it was great. We did baptisms, confirmations, endowments, and sealing to parents for ancestors! It was a long but good day. We saw Erin Cordova and her kids. We taught them the plan of salvation and they were really into it. We then saw the Armijos. Haha we had a really funny lesson with them and couldn't stop laughing for some reason...

Friday we went by and saw Dave & Haley. Dakota was also there. Dakota was mia and like not responding to us. He still wants to get baptized but is just not like really motivated I guess. Idk we were like when do you want to get baptized and he was just like eventually...so set a new date for Nov 26 for the third time! Haha so we will see if he gets more serious about it. I think he is sincere, he is just a typical teenage boy. We had dinner with someone in MV Ward and one of our investigators randomly showed up, I mean we only taught them once cause they are super busy but it was still pretty good. We then had a lesson with Raydan. He is so cute. I love teaching him. We then saw the Eagars. They are doing well. Ah but I ate so muchhhhhhhh. They fed us so much for dinner and I wanted to perish.

Saturday we went and helped at Living Hope. Milligan Valley Ward was helping with it. We then saw Brylee that afternoon. She is so funny. Her dad's girlfriend's kids were there and we all made prayer rocks with them. It was cute. Brylee has been going to their church though and sounds like she likes it more, cause it's fun. And she doesn't really keep commitments anymore. She can't get baptized until her mom approves it which might take years...so sadly we have to drop her. I know that we have taught her a lot though and that one day she will remember the lessons we had with her. We saw Dollie. She is doing good. She moved trailers which is good cause it's a lot bigger. We had a good lesson with her. We had another lesson with Raydan. He is doing great. It was Brother Ayres birthday so we decorated his house, it was fun. Sister Penrod in our ward was putting on a night to remember babies who have passed away because it was national pregnancy and baby loss remembrance day. It was a beautiful night by a pond. There was such a sweet spirit there. Many people came and we lit lanterns into the sky. It was really pretty.

Sunday was good. It's always the best feeling when people come to church, but when they don't it's the worst. It's like you know how many blessings they are missing out on. A lady in relief society 3rd Ward gave me the nicest compliment. I didn't even know her but she started by saying how she has always wanted a good relationship with her daughters and how I did two things today that really impacted her and helped her. I have no idea what those two things were but she started crying. Sometimes when you're in an area you start to wonder if you have done any good in that area. It was a good confirmation to me that you have no idea whose life you affect and impact. Especially on the mission. People really are watching you, which is kind of intimidating but I know that if I am working my hardest & being myself, I can be my best missionary self. Anyways we then saw Dave Jr and Dakota. I have grown to love that family so much. I definitely feel that I was supposed to meet that family. We then saw Raydan, oh I love him! He is the cutest little boy. And then we saw the Gallegos. I have really grown to love that family even though we pretty much just met them. There is something special about them. I wish I could stay here and teach them even more. But God has a plan for me.

I was looking through my ponderize scripture little notebook last night and I saw this one & it stood out to me.

Alma 26:27 "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

I know that God wants to comfort us and to be successful. Even in hard times because those are the times we grow the most.

Elder Bednar said, "We grow to love those whom we serve. And because serving others is serving God, we grow to love Him and our brothers and sisters more deeply. Such love is a manifestation of the spiritual gift of charity, even the pure love of Christ."

I have learned so much in Eagar. I think mostly I have learned love. I truly love the people, the work & love for my Father in Heaven. I have learned how to be the best missionary I can be. I have worked so hard here. Like to me it's amazing to see the progress here, we had 9 lessons with a member present this week, that's good for us I promise! I think back to when I first got here, oh so much has changed. We have just found so many people to teach and it's hard to leave them. But that's how missionary work is. I know that Pinetop is where I'm supposed to go. I'm ready to work hard!

--xo: sista fisha

it's still summer here

Benalleys!

cuttin' wood!

John Phelps!

SISTAS!

Nancy!

Temple trip!

Holley!

Cordovas!

Our 18th weekly planning...

brother ayres

basic

prayer rocks

brother ayres birthday!

selfie

night of remembrance

our sarcastic dave

Gallegos!