week 38: GIRLS CAMP (peel the avocado)

Monday, July 18th, 2016

So this week might have been the best week of my mission because we went to GIRLS CAMP. But really we were so lucky to go. It was so much fun, it was like one big flash back.

Monday we had a lesson with Gaylon. Sister Henrie went with us. He is still struggling with word of wisdom and hasn't started the 15 step program yet. We then had stake FHE and met our new mission president and his wife! President and Sister Robinson are the sweetest. I already love them so much. Their son is finishing up his mission in Seattle! Whoop whoop represent. It was fun getting to know the Robinsons. They are really sweet.

Tuesday (MEET THE ROBINSONS) we went to meet the president meeting! It was super good. You can just tell that they are supposed to be here right now. The mantle has been passed. They are so ready and excited to be here and we are excited to have them! And President Robinson cries!! And President Sweeney never cried. I have already learned a lot from them. They talked about how this is the greatest work ever to be a part of. We are gathering Israel in these last days, it's even bigger than Moses parting the Red Sea. We then had district meeting and it was the best meeting ever cause it was less than 20 minutes long haha. I love my district. We finally then got to see Sister Markley and shared a message with her. She lost her husband recently and has been struggling but she came to church yesterday! That was a miracle. We then had another lesson with Gaylon. We bought him the stuff for the 15 step program! So hopefully he has started that! He is so sweet and wants to be better.

Wednesday-Friday was GIRLS CAMP. We drove up to Vernon on Tuesday night and got there in time for the YCL devotional. Haylie (investigator) came to camp all week and she was a YCL. She loved it and it was so good for her! I love that girl so much it's ridiculous. Let's see, girls camp was loads of fun. Lots of less-actives and non members went so that was super cool. We got to know so many girls and not just from our wards. And also the leaders. We went on a hike and that was really great, I love actually working out on the mission cause we never really do...we did lots and lots of crafts which was way fun. And we just helped around camp with whoever needed us. The food was really good, I was impressed. The weather was really nice. It only rained for like two hours one day, we were blessed. Cause camping and the rain isn't always that fun. But really being in jeans for four days felt super odd but really great at the same time. The skits were like the best part of the week. They go all out here. I really wanted to do a skit but none of the other sisters wanted to until President Hamblin said we had to. And so we literally had 10 mins to prepare. We just did the exercise one where you sit on the personal stomach and their legs are your legs. No one else here or the other missionaries had ever heard of it before which I thought was weird cause we did it so much at my girls camp. But anyways everybody loved it. I'll try to send the video of it. Friday morning we taught a lesson (well the same one to each year). The whole camp theme was about pressing forward so we talked about how we pressed forward with coming on a mission and while on our mission. I talked about my fears and experiences that I had before the mission. We talked about missions and the blessings of one. A lot of the girls are thinking of one or know they want to go. We did color run one morning and got destroyed with colors. The bishopric came one night and we had dinner with them. We ward hopped and went back and forth between our wards. We played games and then had a testimony meeting. Girls camp is just so great. I have all the girls camp songs stuck in my head now haha.

Saturday we packed up and left to go home. We were all so tired. It was a little weird going back to the real world. We did weekly planning which is always so fun...Haylie then had her baptismal interview and she passed!! She is getting baptized on Saturday! We are making it very publicly known so we expect there to be a lot of people. We ate dinner at the Tisdells and grandma made burros with really spicy green chili. Idk how many chills were in there but our mouths were on fire  ahh the joys of being a missionary. 

Sunday was good with lots of meetings. We taught Brylee after church. She is so cute. She made cupcakes for us and fruit salad. She loves it when we come over. We then taught Dave and Haley. Well more like Dave taught us the plan of salvation. He did a really good job. We taught Dave Jr and his brother Dakota (nonmember) was also there. And he read some of the Book of Mormon! A lot happened with the Ericksons and they might not be moving, or they might move to Snowflake or something. Idk it's all up in the air! We met with President Hamblin and discussed the missionary work and such. It was really good to get help from him.

Here is the scripture for girls camp:

2 Nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

Since its been a lot on my mind this week I thought I might as well share this scripture. I love the word steadfastness. It doesn't necessarily mean we are going fast but rather holding on to the iron rod. It doesn't matter what our pace is, as long as we are in the direction headed towards Christ.

I was reading in 1 Nephi 20:21 this week and it says "And they thirsted not; he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also and the waters gushed out." I love how it talks about the water and the rock. Christ is the living water and he is the rock. We need to cleave unto Christ and we will not thirst. Pretty cool. My Savior has given me so much strength. I know that I would be nothing without him.

I read the talk "Your Happily Ever After" by President Uchtdorf. He says, "Isn't it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father know you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of "once upon a time," complete with your own true story of adventure, trial and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage and love. And most glorious of all, he offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all - eternal life and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own "happily ever after.""

I just love that quote a lot & wanted to share it with you all.

I know that life is much better with Christ as my pal. God is good, life is good. I love being a missionary! The joy is unreal 

Xoxo

Sista fisha

MEET THE ROBINSONS

The best district

Bye Elder Baumer

Girls Camp

Hiking

Watch tan line

week 37: milking goats

Monday, July 11th, 2016

Happy 711 day! Everyone have a free slurpee for me please! I'm in the middle of no where and can't have one. But it's okay cause I love being in the middle of no where! This last week has been soup totes purf.

Tuesday night we saw Sheila. She still says that hasn't smoked in a good while. She just needs to meet with bishop! She wants to go to the temple soon! We then saw the Bigalows, it's fun teaching their family. Trinity is so cute and is trying to learn everything. It's great that their family is getting more active.

Wednesday we were on bike so that was fun lol. We saw Haylie with Ashton. She is doing so well. Her new baptismal date is August 23! She is going to be out of town this weekend so we pushed it back a week. But we are not moving it again! We saw Natasha, Sister Pulsipher came with us. Her daughter LOVES it when we come over. It is really cute. We hope they can get to church soon. We sang at the beehive which is an old folks home. That was fun, they are so cute. We saw Gaylon that night. We had a really good lesson with him. We talked about the word of wisdom and he has been smoking since he was eight. Quitting smoking and coffee won't be easy. Gaylon needs tons of prayers please! We know that he can do this but he needs to help put all his has in God's hands. We then saw Daryl. We had a good lesson on missionary work.

Thursday we saw Sally finally! She is kind of having a hard time. She has been coming to all of church recently though! So that has been great. We saw Cyndie. She is doing good. We had ZTM that day. And then we had to go to Apache reservation because the sisters had to give a training at their ZTM. So that was fun going to Apache. We met Walter Shupe! They are active but have health problems so they don't come all the time, and if they do, they just go to Sacrament. But they really are the cutest.

Friday we saw Peggy Slade. We showed her to Mormon message good things to come. We saw Holley Young. Paula came with us. Holley was kind of all over the place (as usual). She is very funny. It's just really crazy over there and they have been through a lot. We then saw Haylie. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her. She is so ready! And she is so excited to come to girls camp! We saw the Tisdells. I just love them so much. I asked Sunny what he would do if he saw Jesus. His response "I'd give him a cigarette" SUNNY. LOL. Old people are so funny.

Saturday we had exchanges and Sister Oldham came to my area! Whoop whoop. We had tons of service. We went to Lisa and Davinas and helped put back up the canopy that we helped them with because the winds took it down. We then went to pull weeds! Biggest weeds I had ever seen. We had a lesson with Teri. She and Kenny are getting separated and so she is going through a hard time. You can tell she just wants to be better and keep the commandments. She said she wants to start paying tithing. She also needs lots of prayers. We then had a lesson with Brylee at the Armijos. We talked about the word of wisdom and that's one of the reasons she wants to get baptized. So that she doesn't smoke like her parents when she is older, it's a really sad situation. She just wants to be a good person. She told us some awful stories of her mom and it's just so hard to hear, sometimes we don't know how to respond. We talked to Heather and she is having a hard time with some things in the church. I knew something was up and there was a deeper reason for them coming to church. We finished digging the trench in Bob's yard! Haha that was a miracle in itself.

Sunday was a great day! Dave received the priesthood! Whoopee! After church we saw Sister Cordova. She came to church! It was her first time coming to our ward. We then went to Haley and her brother Dakota's. He isn't a member but we keep having lessons with him cause he is always there. Last time we committed them to teach us a lesson. Dakota taught us the Restoration! Like seriously. He doesn't really know anything about the church. He was so cute he was like can I read it? We keep asking him if he wants the missionaries to go teach him and he just says he isn't sure, haha he is such a Erickson. But it was really cool. I asked him to get baptized and he said he would have to think about it more haha. But he is really cool. And Haley is going to girls camp!!! Whoop whoop. Callie came with us and her mom is the YW president so it was super good cause we got her signed up right then and there. We then saw Dave later that night with her dad, Lisann, and Haley. I love that family too much. We have so much fun.

Mosiah 24:

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

I love to share these scriptures with people who are going through hard times. Throughout my mission I have seen so many people going through difficulties alone. But the thing is if we hand it over to the Lord, He will lift our burdens. They won't necessarily go away but you won't be dragging out the day with ten bricks on your back. His angels will carry you if you come unto him. I don't know how people go through life without the strength from Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's hard to submit cheerfully to the will of the Lord while doing it patiently, it's something I am learning to do everyday as a missionary. I know He will ease our burdens and that miracles do happen!

I love my Savior and all He does for me! Hope y'all have a great week!

Xoxo

Sista fisha

BIKING

PUPPY

GOATS

Dave and pigs

Pday activities

week 36: happy birthday 'merica 🇺🇸

Tuesday, July 5th, 2016

Hello everyoneeee :) how was your 4th?! I wanna hear all about it so you should email me, I know I'm desperate. But really emails are the best I promise you.

My week was fantastic. But actually so good. Many miracles. We had 16 lessons with less-actives/recent converts and 8 member presents! (Which is a lot for us) so I am pretty proud of ourselves. We have been very busy.

Monday we met some less- actives. Their last name is the Riveras. They were really sweet and let us in to share a message. I'm excited to start visiting them! We then just contacted bunch of people.

Tuesday we washed the Tisdells' Windows. So many spider webs. We then had a lesson with a less-active that I found a couple weeks ago. Her name is Natasha. She has a nonmember husband. He is pretty anti. She has 4 little children. We shared a message with them. It feels like she wants to come to church but she is just stuck because of her husband. She doesn't want us to come over when he is home cause she doesn't want to make him mad. So that's sad. We then had a lesson with Haylie. Ashton came with us and it was really good. She got off work so that she can come to all of girls camp :):) we are so so happy. She is progressing so well. We then saw Jarrett. It was our last lesson with him :( he is going back home. He is such a good kid, I'm so glad I got to teach him for a bit. We had a lesson with Gaylon. He is so awesome. We talked a lot about repentance and the atonement. He was crying the whole lesson. It is times like this when I am so grateful to be a missionary.

Wednesday we moved houses with the Elders...haha that was fun. There are pros and cons about the new house. We made it more girly that's for sure haha. It's a big house so it is nice. It was a weird feeling switching houses with the Elders. We had a lesson with the Tisdells. Colin finally gave us a referral he keeps talking about and she lives with one of out less-actives! We had a really good lesson with Daryl about getting the priesthood because he needs to get it before he goes through he temple. Brother Dewitt was there and it was really good. Daryl was crying like the whole time. He is really scared to get it but honestly that's good because he knows how big of a responsibility it is. I love that man.

Thursday we ran out of miles so we're on bike and got member rides all day. We saw Cyndie! We have been doing personal progress with her. She likes it a lot. We then saw Sheila. She likes to talk that one. We had a lesson with Donna and finished all her lessons she needs before baptism! Which is pretty crazy. She has a lists of all the things she want us to go over next. She is gone for the next two weeks so we won't see her for a while. We had another lesson with Haylie and Callie came. She is adorable and I love her. We then went to the Youngs and taught them the restoration. We had to teach them very simply and ask them lots of questions and to repeat things so that they can understand. They have had a really hard life, Quincy can't really get baptized though cause Holley's dad is working on adopting him. But we will keep teaching him and his family, cause they all need it! Sister Ciminski (relief society president) came with us and she was so helpful. As we were leaving, Holley told me that they were struggling and asked if we could get her any food. Luckily Sister Ciminski was there but they have to go through bishop first to get food but she said that they can rush it. We went to the Stewart's for dinner, we walked in and their whole floor is covered in food. Sister Stewart does food banks and she had one that day. They asked us if we knew anyone that needed food....we were like YES. And they were just down the street. So after dinner, we and Sister Stewart brought the food over. I can't even explain to you what if felt like to bring them this food. All of their faces lit up and hugs and hugs and hugs. They were SO excited and so grateful. And the thing is we even went to the wrong Stewart's for dinner...coincidence? I think not. Everything about that night was a miracle. A pure miracle, I know that God's hands are in every detail of our lives. We just have to recognize them. Sister Stewart told us she brings a lot of people food but she has never experienced anything like this. We then had our first lesson with this less-active named Amanda. Haley Erickson babysits for her. She was there also and we had a good lesson. We got to know her and her kids. She isn't into the Mormon thing but wants us to keep coming by.

Friday there was another miracle! We went to Sister Brown's house for lunch and there is this man that opens the door holding his baby. His name is Wes and is Sister Brown's grandson. She says he has some questions and wants to learn more. Brother Marble told us about him and would contact us when he is ready. Anyways we end up teaching him the restoration after dinner! He is so awesome! He has already read some of the Book of Mormon, he is a great guy and cares a lot about his daughter. I guess the mom never wanted to be in the picture. We then met a less-active family, the Eagars. We are excited to work with them! They just had a baby! Sister Chausow and I have started a miracle board and write down a few miracles or blessings we see each day. It helps us to stay positive. That night the Palmers dropped us so that was sad :(

Saturday we had a lesson with Brylee. She is so cute. She loves church and everything about it, she really wants to be a good person. We saw Peggy Slade and she loves us...haha we shared a scripture about prayer. We had a lesson with Tyric, he says he wants to read his scriptures 20mins a day! We hope he can keep his goal! We then saw Jerry Nelson! He is doing good! He went to church again this week! Yay! I don't think he realizes he is less-active. We then had a lesson with Dollie and Chelsea came with us, it was super good. We then went to see Kenny and Teri, they kept on canceling on us this week so it was a miracle that we finally got to see them! Anyways it was really sad cause they are separating and she is going through a hard time. Pray for her! We then went to the Keplars and shared a lesson with their family, it went really well. I love missionary work!

Sunday we went on splits for church! So many people came to 3rd Ward it was awesome! The town literally doubles in size for the 4th! Like it's bigger than Christmas here! Never have I ever seen a more patriotic town! After church we taught Brylee again. Brylee told us her mom doesn't want her to be baptized..so we are a little worried about that. We then taught Dave Jr. I love that man so much, they found a house in the valley and so they will be moving in August. I am way sad about it. It's crazy how much you come to love the people you teach on your mission.

Monday was a partyyyyyy.  but really the 4th here is the biggest thing around. People come to Eagar from all over. At 6am we went to a flag raising at the Hamblin's, they had a program that was really good. And then we had a breakfast. So many people were there. We then went to the Nicolls for another breakfast. We pretty much went where the people went. We then were in the parade! Haha it was probably the best day of my life. We were in the family history float and got to throw candy at people and talk with them. It was a blast. But also a work out and I got so burnt. We went to a rodeo that was really fun. We then went to a bbq that the scouts put on. And then we went to another dinner with all the missionaries and had waffles and played games. It was a perfect day out and was a blast. We could see the fireworks from our house. So we got blankets and watched the fireworks & it was perfect.

Ahhhh every day I come to love missionary work more and more! Nothing makes me happier than sharing this gospel. I want to share a quote from a talk I read this week. "The simple fact is that our Father did not recommend Eve or Moses or Nephi or countless other magnificent exemplars for this dispensation - He recommended you and me. Do you think God would have left the last days to chance by sending men & women He couldn't count on? A common theme of Patriarchal blessings given to men and women your age is that you were sent now because our Father's most trustworthy children would be needed in the final decisive battle for righteousness. That is who you are and it is who you have always been." God wants a powerful people, He needs us. & we need Him. 

I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!

Xoxo
Sista fisha

Sunsets

This is what lunch consists of...

The district

Happy 4th!! 🇺🇸

We were in the parade!

The rodeo

Sunburn lines...

P-day activities...

Our new house!!