week 7: noodle hockey, hedgehogs, and miracles

Wednesday, December 16th, 2015

This week has been truly excellent and full of miracles! Sister Jones and I have been working really hard! She is such a great trainer and I am so glad I have her for another 6 weeks! I'm so happy I got my first transfer under my wing!

We had our last lesson with Cheyenne Button this week! She is a recent convert and we finished her 90 days! She is a senior in high school and is moving to Ohio :( We are really bummed about it and hope she stays active in the church. Her ward will be 30 minutes away and she will be living with nonmembers. We are praying for her!

We saw Sue twice since last Pday. She is so awesome! She is a less-active but is coming back and is talking to the Bishop on Sunday about coming back to the temple! We are so excited for her!! Every time we go to her apartment I learn from her! She is so awesome and has great insights!

Friday was a great day. We are going to start volunteering at a mental care facility, so older people with dementia or Alzheimers. We are probably going to go every other week for two hours. I love just serving! It will be such a great experience! We are probably going to help paint the ladies nails! So we went this thursday. It was really good but oh so said. Most can't move or speak. This week we played "noodle hockey" with them. OH my goodness best thing of my life! Everyone say down in two rows across from eachother. Everyone got a noodle and there was a bouncy ball. We all tried to hit the ball in the goal. It was so funny and great. This one lady Mary can really hit hard! We were all just cheering and sword fighting lol. Even when they barely moved their foot we got excited. They truly are so sweet and I love them so much! I can't wait to go back! We then played the piano and sang for them! 

Later that day the whole district (12 of us) were invited to a nonmember's home for lunch! Some sisters in another ward serve them because their mother has Alzheimers. They don't take the discussions or anything but they love the missionaries! So they wanted to meet all of us! So there was a couple, and her mom Hilary. I LOVE them SO much! Hilary is the funniest women ever I can't even describe it to you. She is so happy and has had such a great life full of travels. She is very artistic and loves paint! Their home is full of colors! She painted the floors bright colors and everything is just amazing! He made us homemade indian food! Ugh best thing ever! And they made homemade marshmallows! like what!? how cool! It was so good! It was just a great afternoon full of laughs! I love that family so much! They taught me to enjoy life. Life should be full of laughter, travel, music, color, and fun!

We saw Marilyn Bowser this week on Friday. She is the one who has a son in the church and has been seeing missionaries for years. She is older but is so sweet. She loves missionaries and mormons cause she feels comfortable around them. She tells us she is not ready for baptism. We decided to check on her occasionally but not all the time. She called us this week to come over! She really just wanted to give us cookies. She is so kind. Then we saw her at the temple lights on Saturday! We were so happy to see her there!

I got to go to the temple this week on Friday for an endowment session! Am I lucky or what?! Sister Pinto-Haynes is a service missionary cause she has health problems. So she did not go through the temple before she came out. Since she has been out all of her problems have pretty much gone away! SHE IS A WALKING MIRACLE. She doesn't have a wheel chair or need to wear a brace or anything! She is the sweetest, happiest person you will ever meet! Her smile really brightens your day! Also her hair is down to her knees, no joke, she hasn't cut it since she was 8. She also is an opera singer. Anyways enough bragging about her. She is just so cool. The temple was amazing and then after we got to see the temple lights for a bit! It's like Christmas threw up!

Miracle this week! So we had a referral for Kathleen Gibson. We went over early last week and she said to come back Saturday! So we went and no one knocked...so we drove away. But as we were driving away we saw a white truck pull up!  We thought it might be her so we awkwardly creeped and it was her!! So we drove back up and knocked on the door! She answered and was so glad to see us! She totally forgot though. She had to leave soon for a hair apartment soon so we couldn't go in. We had a great conversation though. She immediately opened up to us! Her husband has recently passed away and she is having a hard time. She wants to be prepared to meet God and really wants to meet with us! Everything she was saying was like hey we have an answer for you! It grew my testimony that God really does prepare people! She is so ready for the gospel. We shared a scripture and she said that our visit was exactly what she needed. She said we were such a blessing. She was crying and hugging us. We are excited to meet with her again!

Another miracle was we pulled up to a less-actives Saturday night and their whole family was just leaving then to go to the temple lights! They invited us and so we spontaneously went! It was so great! I love the temple lights! So many people are there and I am so lucky to be able to go!

Another miracle is Sister Holdiman. She is a less-active older stubborn women. She is so funny. She never says she will keep commitments and does not go anywhere. She pretty much does not want anything to do with the church but will let missionaries in. We read the Book of Mormon with her and her husband. Since I have been here I can already see the change in her. Her heart is being softened. I think part of it has to do with it being Christmas time. We went over yesterday and she said she would do the commitment! She also said she has been thinking about coming to church and might come this Sunday or the next! AH I hope they do!

Also another funny thing is that we knocked on a less-actives door and they answered! He is an old guy and oh my goodness we stood outside his door for like 35 minutes talking! He is so funny! He just started rambling about how his daughter is selling hedgehogs and how he finds rats in his house and then he lets them go in a desert but told us not to tell anyone lol. People are so funny. 

Also I had my first experience of someone being really rude to us. We knocked on a less-actives and he was well..NOT happy. Everyone needs Jesus.

Last night we had a lesson with Isaac! He is the RLDS guy. We brought a member and it went well! We taught him the restoration even though he is a restorationist but we decided to just start from the beginning. We will probably transfer him to ysa though. We think it will be really great for him cause he just moved here and probably needs friends!

This week has taught me a lot and I am loving Christmas season. I will be so sad when it is over. Miracles are real, we just need to notice and look for them! I love meeting people here and having something to say to them. Many people know we are the mormons and will say "hey i've been to the mesa temple lights before!" It's great! 

Anyways have a lovely week. Also the past two days here have been pretty cold! Like 30's in the night and mornings! Thanks so much for all the love this Christmas!

xoxo

sistafisha

The mental health facility!

Lunch at Hillary's!

Yellow sweater, yellow couch

District meeting gets cray cray

Mesa temple lights!

These kids are absolutely nuts...

Eating dinner at the church...

Sister Jorgansen! She took us shopping today! SO kind!!!

week 6: spoiled in scottsdale

Wednesday, December 9th, 2015

Hello ya'll!!! (I've been saying that a lot because we can't say you guys, hardest thing ever) First off thank you so much for the package!!! Holy cow am I spoiled! Grandma Udell and Susie also sent me a package! I don't think I need to go grocery shopping for a good 3 months. Also ya'll gave me a butt load of gum lol. We aren't allowed to chew gum, only in the apt! Mints fer dayz!

I am emailing on Wednesday because we had mission tour this week! Elder Lynn G Robins came! It was amazing! He went to the mountains on monday and then to the valley (us) yesterday! So the valley missionaries got together and it was the BEST! I got to see my mission BFF (SISTER FAIRHOLM!) I love her so much! We definitely need to be companions someday. Anyways I some things I loved that Elder Robins said was how mothers who give birth is representing the atonement. Mothers lose some blood while giving birth and Christ bled from every pore for each and every one of us. Mothers literally sacrifice their lives when they give birth, mothers love their children so much. Just like Christ loves us unconditionally. He also said the Savior always focuses on the one. We are all lost sheep because we ALL need him!! He talked about planning and it is the most important proselyting time of our day. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Heavenly Father is the best planner. The plan of Salvation!! I love how he committed us to always keeping a temple recommend ALWAYS. I love being worthy to be able to go! It truly is such a special place and I can't wait to go next week! We should never let the oil in our lamps go out! Anyways I learned a lot I wish you all just could have been there! Also mom check my mission blog I believe there are pictures of me on there.

(found it!)

This week has been great! I don't even know where to begin! Everything is a blur but I will try to remember...We taught our investigator Theresa about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has been reading the Book of Mormon! We brought a member around her age that also has children. It went really well. She still did not come to church this week though. She had a photo shoot, she is a photographer. She told us she is going to try to keep her schedule on Sundays clear so that she can come. We are praying for her to progress more and so that she can come to church! I love her a lot and I am excited for her! She is moving into a different ward though on January 30..we are going to have the men in the ward help her move. I just hope she starts keeping commitments.

We had a lesson with the Luongs (recent converts) about family history work! It went really well and they got really excited for it! We think it started a spark for them about preparing for the temple and talking to Bishop! We showed them about family trees and they were so excited. 

We were able to contact a referral! Her name is Kathleen. She said that she wasn't free until Saturday so we are going to meet her Saturday! We are excited about that. We also had a young man show up at church on sunday! We didn't know him and anything about him. We talked to him for a bit. He spoke a bit in gospel principles which made us think maybe he is a member. I got his number and told him we would call him this week. We met outside his house. His name is Isaac and he just moved here from Kansas to live with his dad. He is 23 and then we found out he is a "restorationist", a branch out of RLDS? I don't know much about it. He believes in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. There is something off about him. We prayed to know what to do about it. I think we will meet with him again but we will need to send him to the YSA missionaries. We discussed views on the Book of Mormon and how we receive personal revelation. We asked him what he wanted out of our visits and he did not know. He met the missionaries six months ago in Kansas and has met with them a little bit off and on. He just does not seem happy and we are trying to figure him out. When we speak to him he doesn't look us in the eye! It is strange. He lives on a farm and has horses.

We got to meet with the Ross family! They have been sick so they have not been at church. We also met with the DeBenckendorff's and they came to the ward Christmas Party! We helped them set up Christmas decorations. We met with Marilyn Bowzer, a new investigator (kind of). It was our first time meeting her. She has been seeing the missionaries for about 2 years. She considers herself part of the mormon culture. Her son is a convert and it sounds like they have been working with her for a while. She is catholic and does not seem like she wants to change. She told us she does not want to get baptized now. We will just stop by her house occasionally.

We met with the Rossi's! We finished Pete's lessons for baptism and has his interview on Sunday! We are so excited for him! He is so ready! We met with the Lara's! Ruben and Lindsay (investigators). It was my first time meeting them! They always are "busy". The lesson went well. We talked about the 10 commandments and obedience. They are such a nice family. He is native american. They said they probably won't be able to meet with us until after Christmas...I'm like no!! Lindsay is an amazing singer and plays the piano. She is 13. Reminds me a little of Sarah. I love them already!

We met with Cheyenne (a recent convert). She is a senior in high school and is moving to Ohio in a few weeks :( We helped her pack and gave her a message. She is so cute. She has been through a lot in her life.

I met the Terry's and Joy Christiansen last night! They are both less-actives but it was a miracle we saw them cause they are NEVER home!! We had great lessons with them.

We had our two ward parties last week! Some less-actives and recent converts went to them! It's funny cause they were SO different. McDowell ward had this really nice fancy dinner and some games. It was at some nice barn. It's so weird being in a really wealthy ward. Larkspur ward was great! They did a Bethlehem theme and everyone dressed up in bible attire. We spent pretty much all Saturday setting up for it. I will send pictures! They had yummy food (like pita bread and hummus). Everyone sat on the ground on blankets. It really bonded the ward together. We watched a movie on Christ's birth and sang songs.

Last night McDowell had a Relief Society party at the Knights house. Oh man...Let me tell ya. Nicest and biggest house I have ever been too. We had chef's come and cook for us and the food was SOOOO good. We had real carolers. It was such a nice night. We really get spoiled down here...

I love all the members. It's weird cause I have so many connections with a lot of them. Like a lot of people here have been to the BYU Jerusalem center or Tanzania! It's pretty cool to make connections with people.

Overall we have been trying to invite everyone to the Mesa Temple Christmas lights and we have a stake devotional this Sunday! It is supposed to be amazing! The work is going! I love Christmas time and how people's hearts are being softened. I love testifying of Christ and how He made it possible for us to repent and to live with our Heavenly Father again. This year let's all think of gifts that we can give to the Savior. Whether it be setting goals and keeping them, having a humble heart, studying the scriptures daily, giving thanks to God in all things, or gaining a testimony of a gospel principle. These are all gifts that we should give to the Savior now and for forever. I know that as we do these things we will have a better understanding of who God is. We will feel His love more strongly. We will feel the atonement of Jesus Christ even stronger in our own lives. The atonement is eternal. It enables each one of us. It is the greatest gift that we have been given in this life.

I love you all! Make sure you watch the new Christmas video (A Savior is Born) that the church put out! It is amazing!

Have a blessed week! I'll email you next wednesday! (Transfers! Sister Jones and I are staying here though!)

LOVE,

SISTA FISHA

CHICK-FIL-A

McDowell wards party, fancy huh?

No kisses for me this year

Larkspur ward party

SISTER FAIRHOLM

McDowell relief society party at their house...

thoughts on charity

Being a missionary is awesome! Seriously the best and rewarding thing! I don't have a lot of time but I just want to say I have a strong testimony of charity and how it really is the pure love of Christ. When we see others as God sees them we will be able to turn our hearts outward and be charitable. I'm learning to love everyone, and I mean everyone! Especially the people I teach. It's crazy how much love you can have for someone without knowing them. We are surrounded by children of God and we should want to do everything we can to share the gospel with them. Look past judgements and learn to reach out to people. Charity is serving someone when it is inconvenient for them and without asking anything return. Charity should become a part of you. It's not easy to be charitable all the time. We need to stop saying me me me and start thinking of others. Charity is not natural, it is overcoming the natural man. To have it become natural and of our nature, we need to pray for it! I invite you to pray to have the pure love of Christ so that we may be true followers of Christ, especially this Christmas season. Let us remember what Christmas is really about! Discover why He was born! Heavenly Father loves all of you and I do too! I'm going to miss the nativity this year! Paul you better be Joseph, you'd make a good one! Merry Christmas Sammamish! 
️️
Love, Sister Fisher