natalie ann: 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