week 32: shia labeouf, feelin 22, rodeos & dave's baptism

Monday, June 6th, 2016

HI. Okay this week has been so good, so busy and so crazy. I don't know where to begin. Probably one of the most memorable weeks on my mission. Also THANK YOU everyone for the birthday wishes :) my birthday was amazing! Eagar has been getting warmer and our house is so warm, but not as bad as the valley.

Monday we saw Chelsea! She is doing really well but our Ward mission leader wants us to keep seeing her. We then saw the Youngs. We read the Book of Mormon with them. They are doing really well. They are so kind, they just don't know the gospel very well so I am excited to teach them more.

Tuesday we saw the Tisdells. We then saw Haley and taught her a lesson. She is so funny, she doesn't like expressing her feelings. She told us she wants to serve a mission. She is cute.

Wednesday we had district meeting and then we went out to lunch with Brother Ayres. And GUESS WHAT. SHIA LABEOUF CAME TO EAGAR!!! We missed him by two hours!! Okay so here is the story he is hitchhiking around the states and is doing some documentary about traveling I think. Idk go look it up cause I can't. But someone from here is obsessed with him and heard he was going to Provo so she went to go get him and take him to Eagar lol! How random!! Literally Sister Ballew and I DIED when we found out he was here, our apartment talks about him an unusual amount. We were freaking out and were soooo mad that no one told us he was here!! He stayed the night at the Davis house, he is in the stake presidency. I still can't believe we missed him, I'm still a bit salty about it. Some Mormon girls here drove him to Florida. Anyways back to missionary work - we went to Nutrioso and did some service for a former investigator. She comes to church but she just isn't ready to be baptized. They live in the middle of no where with no electricity. They made us elk soup, I still don't know how I feel about. Haha we had two dinners that night, people LOVE feeding us. I'm getting so fat.

Thursday we saw Cyndie!! She found a kitten. She is so funny. We then saw Jessica, she is going through the temple on Wednesday!! We went to DQ (duh) and the cotton candy blizzard is SO good. Just saying. We did family history and I found some names!! Yessss. We get to do 2 hours of family history a week in our mission, I haven't done that much just cause we never have time! Which is a good thing I guess. We then went to a hand off lesson with the other sisters with a girl named Haylie. She is going to be a senior and she is so cool. She is on date to be baptized July 9! She is dating a guy who is leaving on his mission in August. I'm excited to start working with her! We then drove down to the valley with everyone who was invited to MLC. It was a special MLC so some others besides stls and zone leaders were invited. Sister Ballew didn't go so I wasn't with her on my bday :( the Sweeney's daughter was in town and she is so cool I love her. We talked to her that night. I love staying at the mission home.

Friday { MY BIRTHDAY } is was a very good day. We played ultimate frisbee for exercise in the morning. Haha that was fun. Sister Sweeney made a yummy breakfast. MLC was so good. So many of my BAEs were there!! It was a great reunion! It was cool to see everyone on my birthday! Sister Wynn and Constance were the cooks from larkspur ward!! So it was so good to see them. It was president's last MLC so it was different than normal. We all did a kneeling prayer at the end, it was sweet. Everyone sang happy birthday to me and it was the most embarrassing moment of my life. I sank my head in Sister Kamalu's lap. It was just a fun and spiritual and good day. ALSO. the valley is soooo hot I wanted to die, blessed to be in the mountains. We drove back to the mountains and we almost ran out of gas to Eagar but no worries we made it. I got back and my companion decorated the house for my birthday and bought an ice cream cake for me!! We were trying to take cute pics (I looked so bad after a long car ride) and then we accidentally dropped the cake LOL. It turned into smashing cake into each others faces. Love my companion. It's my last week with her :( I'm training next transfer! It was a different birthday for sure but it was so simple and great.

Saturday was John Wayne days. It was really fun. There was a lame parade with horses in the morning. We then went to the rodeo where we had a booth. Our whole district ran it and it was so fun. We were giving away a picture of Christ if people filled out a survey. The kids loved us and we ended up having a marshmallow gun war. It was so fun. We had lots and lots of food. People love missionaries here and they kept buying us food. We watched a little bit of the rodeo and it was so insane. We then taught Dave his last lesson before baptism!! He got baptized that night at 6!!! Yes Dave is BAPTIZED! It was a great baptism and lots of their family had come. Dave has been waiting to be baptized for a while and it was very happy. Everyone was so happy. We then had root beer floats after. I'm so happy for him and Lisann! I feel like I am a part of their family, can't wait to see them get sealed in a year!

Sunday was a normal day! We taught sharing time in primary and it was so funny. I love kids. We didn't get to see anyone cause we finally got to do weekly planning. It was a busy weekend.

We went on a hike to flat top as a district this morning. It was way nice to be outside and get a workout. Right now Sister Ballew is getting her hair did so I am just waiting for hours here lol. So much worldly music...haha.

I read the book of John this week. It just reminded me of the love our Savior has for us. The shortest verse (I think) is John 11:35 "Jesus wept." It so short but so powerful. Christ weeps when we are sad and is joyous when we are happy and following Him. And a quote I LOVE which I'm sure you all know is "God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and with His help, where you are willing to go." This is so true. I love how Elder Holland said WITH HIS HELP. We can't get where He wants us to go with his help. I liken this to my investigators and less-actives. They need our help to feel the Savior's love and to use the Atonement in their life.

I love this gospel and the change is it has made in my life.

Have a blessed week ️

Xoxo
Sista fisha

Kitty cat

SHIA LABEOUF CAME TO EAGAR

#thedistrictandhomemadeicecream

Some of the mountain sisters

MLC IN THE VALLEY ON MY BIRTHDAY

MTC REUNITED

John Wayne days

Love them

DAVE GOT BAPTISED

RED SUN

Hiking flat top with the district

week 31: we are the message

Monday, May 30th, 2016

SHALOM. thanks everyone for all the emails!! I wish every week was birthday week.

Monday we got a call from President Sweeney saying that Dave got approved for BAPTISM!! He gave us a letter that the Prophet and his counselors signed!! Like legit they are signed in different colored ink! Pretty cool eh? Dave has waited so long to be baptized so it's really exciting for him. But it's neat to think that the Prophet approved our investigator for baptism!! Lisann (Dave's wife) texted us saying that she is more excited than she was on her wedding day, she is so cute. He is getting baptized THIS Saturday! The day after my birthday! Whoop whoop. That night we saw an investigator named Marine. She really opened up. The gospel would be so good for her. She moved Thursday so we helped her pack and clean this last week. We then saw Brylee (our 9 year old investigator). We had a lesson at her aunt and uncles (the Wiltbanks). It went really well. We gave her a children's Book of Mormon and she is so excited to read it. She made a "church box" and puts in all the things we give her in it. It's the cutest hint ever. So sad thing is she is living with her mom for the summer. We aren't sure yet if her mom will let us teach her. We are praying she will!! It sounds like her mother is not the best mother. We are really worried for Brylee.

Tuesday was good. We just tried to see a lot of less-actives. No one was home. That night during prime time (mom prime time is a new thing our mission is doing for an hour each night to go out and find people!) Catherine (a laurel) came out with us. We found some less-actives! Their last name is Nelson! They are really nice and let us in to share a message. We asked them who we could go visit and they said to see his uncle. His name is Jerry and was very nice and let us in. He has all these cool wood carvings. I shared a Mormon message that I was prompted to share with him called "the will of God". This grown mad started crying and told us similar experiences to the video. He knows he needs to get back to church but he got offended a year ago and hasn't been since. It is really sad how someone's unforgiving heart and pride can get in the way. It shows to me how powerful Satan is. We then saw Daryl. We pretty much just laugh the whole time we are there. They are awesome.

Wednesday was a weird day cause sister Ballew got hurt...baha on the wall so her head started bleeding. So we stayed inside for a bit. We had a lesson with Jessica about spiritual gifts and it went really well. She wasn't at church on Sunday though...she got her temple recommend this week! We then saw the Bigalows (LA) for the first time! Their son is 8 and hasn't been baptized! He says he wants to be baptized so that's cool. That night we got to go to the high school graduation because our investigator Donna was graduating! It was a small class, just over a hundred. They had it in the dome and it was so big and cool. It was weird hearing worldly music...I secretly like it though. Sister Ballew and I only listen to MOTAB. Their graduation was way cute and they did a flash mob at the end. I love small towns!

Thursday we had a lesson with Cyndie in the morning and read the Book of Mormon with her. We went to Nurtioso with the Hamblins and had dinner with them. They then took us to see some less-active over there. They are great Ward mission leaders and also good cooks.

Friday we had ZONE CONFERENCE in St. John's! It was the Sweeney's last one and it was SO good! They did their trainings on the trainings they got from Elder Holland. So let's just say it was really good. We talked about the second coming and how the Book of Mormon is a sign of the second coming. "The sign" is when the Book of Mormon came forth on March 30, 1830. We looked at so many parallels in the Book of Mormon to prophets, revelation & life. We have the word and the truth and we need to be a voice of thunder. We then had a training on how to prepare for the new president. We then went into a room with chairs in a circle. We got to ask the Sweeneys any question. Since we won't have departing interviews or dinner with them it was like marriage talk. It was cute cause they gave us advice and how they knew each other was the one. We then all got to share a minute of our testimony of the Savior. It was really special and spiritual. I love ASM. I'm really going to miss the Sweeneys. They have showed me what real love and sacrifice looks like. Zone conference was fun cause we got to see everyone who is in the mountains. We then had a mini missionary for the weekend, Macy! She is Daryl's daughter. We had a lesson with Sheila. And then Sister Smith and Peterson came that night for Chelsea's endowment in the morning! So it was a crazy fun night.

Saturday we drove down with Paula to Snowflake temple for the endowment! It was so good and Chelsea was beaming!! We went to celebrations for lunch. The rest of the day was fun cause we had Macy with us but we were SO tired. We had a lesson with the Armijos and the Ericksons that night. It was good. We taught both of them tithing. Recent converts have a hard time with that. It was such a crazy weekend.

Sunday was good, Macy went with me to 3rd Ward. I hate how our wards are at the same time! But whatever. We Skype Dave to get some lessons in cause we need to finish up the lessons before Saturday! He and his family are in the valley for the weekend. We asked him what enduring to the end means to him "to be in the depths of hell and still believe in God." Haha I love Dave.

I read a talk this week that I liked called "Repent...That I May Heal You" by Elder Anderson. He says "sometimes in our repentance in our daily efforts to become more Christlike, we find ourselves repeatedly struggling with the same difficulties. As if we were climbing a tree-covered mountain, at times we don't see our progress until we get closer to the top and look back from the high ridges. Don't be discouraged. If you are striving and working to repent, you are in the process of repenting." I love this. Don't be discouraged if you are making the same mistake again, the enabling power of the Atonement will strengthen you as you continue to repent and strive to be better. Often times we don't see how far we have come until we have looked back.

I'm so grateful for the Atonement and gospel and Jesus Christ in my life. This is His church and I am the messenger. I love being a missionary!

Have a great week & don't forget to celebrate my birthday! ;)

Xoxo

Sista Fisha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARYL

Donna's graduation!!

The jehovah witnesses gave us 10 dozen cookies...

After we found out we aren't going to be together next transfer... :(

Opening my package!!

TEMPLE WITH CHELSEA

LOVE THEM

SKYPING DAVE

Sister Ballew fell asleep during comp study...

week 30: "how's your name?"

Monday, May 23rd, 2016

Hello again! It honestly feels like just yesterday that I emailed, weeks are going by so fast. Good news is I finished my first mission journal! Only took me 7 months to finish it...

Let's see here. I finally feel like I am figuring out Eagar, I'm still really bad with names. It's still so weird to be in a small town but I love it. LITERALLY everyone is related to everyone.

Monday we had a lesson with Cheryl, a potential. We brought Sister Stewart. It was good, Cheryl is kind of all over the place and she can't get baptized for 7 years cause she is on probation. But it was a miracle that we saw her! We found some less-actives, the Ellis family, they were way nice and let us share a message. We then had a lesson with Daryl and his family. I love that family SO much. Daryl has some nerve problem so it is really hard for him to get to church. He really wants to go but is always in pain so it's pretty sad. He expressed his love for us and how much he appreciates us - it's moments like this that make being a missionary the best thing in the world.

Tuesday we went to trail riders with Bishop Gleaves and Brother Ayres. That was way fun. Our bishop doesn't even have an email...so that makes it difficult. And some people here don't have cell phones, it's like I am living in a different era. The Ericksons were out of town in Mexico so Sister Ballew and I went to their property and picked up a bunch of stuff and threw it away. Haha I don't think Dave even noticed. It looks SO much better but still needs a lot of work. We saw Tyric and talked about temples & family history. He was supposed to have his interview with Bishop after church this week to get the Aaronic Priesthood and he wasn't there at church so that's frustrating. We really want him to be sealed to his family. We had a referral for a 9 year old, Brylee, who wants to get baptized. The Armijos told us about her and we get there and brother Armijo was there taking Brylee to his house to babysit her so it was perfect! So we went over to the Armijos and taught her the first lesson! She is the cutest and wants to get baptized because she doesn't want to end up like her parents. Which was a bit heartbreaking, her dad isn't active and her mom isn't a member, they are divorced. She does not want to smoke, she emphasized that a lot. It's amazing the light of Christ that is in her, she is just so sweet. She wants to be better and follow Jesus. She loves to color and draw, it's so fun teaching a 9 year old! Her aunt and uncle are active so we are going to have lessons at their house and get her involved in activity days.

Wednesday we had district meeting and I have a training on finding. Which the mission is really pushing right now and our area needs it!! We found 3 new investigators this week which is a MIRACLE for this area. We went out to lunch as a district, that was fun. We had a lesson with Chelsea, she is going through the temple on Saturday and we get to go! :) I'm super excited. For prime time we took out someone who is preparing for a mission! We had a lot of good contacts! People are so nice here and everyone knows everyone!

Thursday was fun, we got to paint rooms in a house! All of us missionaries went and helped out. Painting is the best service I think. We saw Sally (LA) and read the Book of Mormon with her. She didn't meet with bishop to talk about tithing..ugh. We saw Jessica and she is doing well, she hasn't been coming to church though so we brought the relief society president. We're not sure if she made it to church or not. We ate dinner with the Armijos, they are the cutest family ever. Marty wants to make all of the missionaries burritos, like 200 of them! He is crazy, we are no gonna eat all those. We went to seminary graduation because Donna graduated seminary!! She did three terms her senior year. She is so awesome. Also they had a dance afterwards and Sister Ballew and I creeped and it was the best and most entertaining thing ever. I miss stake dances.

Friday we made cookies and did the cookie chain for prime time. You give someone cookies and then you asked them who else needs cookies and you give them cookies and so on. Nothing really came of it but we are hoping to have success this week. People's problems here are just so different than Scottsdale. People really open up to us and tell us everything about their life. That night we saw Erin (LA) and her family! Oh my goodness was that a good time. She has 8 kids and is divorced, she adopted 3 from her sister that passed away. She works at the gym so we see her every morning, she is so nice. But funny story, Sister Ballew was scared to talk to her, she knew she was a less-active so I said I would. We were walking out of the gym passed her desk and Sister Ballew was booking it so I had to say something fast and I said "How's your name?" Ugh it was 6 in the morning so that's my excuse, the Elders were behind me and thought it was the funniest thing ever. But it was a good ice breaker and we all laughed about it. I love going into people's homes and sharing the gospel with them. The gospel of Jesus Christ truly does bless families, no one is perfect, no family is perfect but with the gospel we can be our happiest self :)

Saturday was good...idk Saturday's no one is home it feels like! It's like isn't this the day people are supposed to be home?! Sister Jones (my trainer!) was here in Eagar cause she was on exchange with Sister Oldham so that was good seeing her! The Elders gave us a referral that day for less-actives, named the Youngs. They are way nice! They are converts and we got to share a message with them. I'm excited to get to know them more. It's a dad and daughter.

Sunday we did splits so that we could go to both wards! Donna came yay!! We then had lunch at the Larues with the Ericksons and we had a lesson with Dave Jr, he can't wait to get baptized. We then had a lesson with Donna, she explained that she doesn't want to get baptized this summer while still living with her parents cause she doesn't want to cause contention, which makes perfect sense. She wants to respect them and get baptized once she is at school. I love teaching her though cause she is so into everything. She still goes to Catholic Church in the morning and she says it's hard to feel the spirit there. We went to Dave and Hayley's, they got back from Mexico. Dave was in a bad mood so we just taught Haley. Haley is so so sassy and I love her.

SPIRITUAL PART (cause I'm a missionary): "Heavenly Father’s greatest desire is that we follow the light we were born with so we can receive more light. As we continue to follow the light our Father sheds on us, we receive more light and we become more like Him." {elder Lawrence} I love this quote. Something that Elder Arnold said that I loved was that receiving revelation is like God giving us a bit of his knowledge. We are here to receive light and to grow brighter and brighter. LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE✨

Xoxo

Sista fisha

My companion is BAE

Donna at seminary graduation

Donna and her bread (notice the slow dancers behind her)

DAVE ERICKSON SR EVERYBODY

Haley brought us sombreros back from Mexico!