week 17: "and it came to pass"

Monday, February 22nd, 2016

Hello world.

what's up. this week has been good!! We dropped a lot of investigators that were not progressing! We are working on a lot of finding! We have a new solid investigator named Tayllor!! We're super stoked.

Monday we had a lesson with Isaac at a members home. He is just so vague, we ask direct questions but he just is confusing. We asked him to pray about baptism again. He came to church on Sunday which was good. We went to see the Wansgards. They go to gospel principles because she just got baptized. They miss church sometimes because they own Kneaders and work tons. It was great getting to know them. They want to come to lessons with us with Tayllor and her boyfriend!

Tuesday we saw the Holdimans! They weren't at church again this week. I'm guessing because Brother Holdiman was working. Sister Holdiman is so funny. She was telling us all about Grey's Anatomy. We bonded over that. We saw another less-active, Linda Pavlick. She likes to talk A LOT. But she is super nice and wants to come back to church (some day). We then saw Gena Walker, she is a less-active. It was the first time I met her. She is a bit strange. She believes everyone is one and that we are all Christ. We didn't feel good about it so we probably won't go back again. We then saw Constance Garcia. The Bishop came with us! It was super good. She opened up even more with Bishop Wynn there. She has had a lot of trials and hard things happen to her. I know that it will start getting better for her soon. She is a member still, she asked Bishop to have her name removed but he told her to take some time to think about it. She agreed. Also we went to dinner at the Bussinos. The dad asked their kids who their favorite Prophet is, and their 3 year old son said "And it came to pass" lolol. 

Wednesday we had a lot of miracles with trying to see less-actives. We met a few potentials so that's exciting! We saw the DeBenckendorffs, they are so awesome! Sister DeBenckendorff came to church for three hours this week! That was a miracle! We then saw the Lumans. Jeremy wasn't there but she shared a message with his non-member family. It went well! I love them!

Thursday we had Zone conference! It was super good! We talked a lot about the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. The Holy Ghost really is the teacher. "teaching is not talking, teaching is listening and observing". It's so true. When I really listen and pray for the Spirit, things come to me and I really don't need to worry about what I am going to say next. We are the conduit, we need to be obedient and worthy of the Spirit though. Then President asked me to drive his car to get some things from the mission home for him. So that was exciting. haha. We saw Lillian Morrow, she is a member in the ward. She is actually from Maple Valley and knows the Pagets. She is super cute and her husband is not a member. We shared a message with them. He is a baseball player and is starting spring training. His name is Brandon, he used to play for the Mariners but not for the A's. So that's pretty cool. We then had a lesson with Laine, Sister Carr went with us. It went really well but she just told us she will never be a mormon. sad. We dropped her.

Friday we had Stake Correlation. And it was Sister Oldham's birthday! I made her a cake! and then we went to kneaders for french toast! yum. the whole district came and it was so fun. We also got a discount and they gave us bread! They are so great. We had a lot of miracles with getting into gated apts this night. It was really cool. Even though the people didn't answer, we still got to leave a nice note. We then had our first lesson with Tayllor! It went SO well! Amos, her boyfriend was there and he is coming back to church now. Tayllor is so solid and said yes to baptism. They are living together so they need to get married first. She is shy but super cute. She is just so excited. She came to all of church and loved it! Everyone was so kind to her, it was amazing. She is so solid. 

Saturday we saw Mike Gonzales, he showed us all of his cards haha. We then saw Jennifer Tortice, she was standoffish at first but then I shared a quote to her and she really liked it. She also really wants to come to the Easter Pageant in Mesa. We were in Tayllor's complex trying to see people so we decided to drop by and remind her about church. Her niece was there Jasmine. She is 13 and we showed them the Because of Him video. Jasmine said "I think Jesus is still alive but is just not with us right now on this earth" we told her she was right and then she said "really?" she was so cute! It's amazing to me that she knew this. She said she watches bible videos on Netflix. We taught the Luongs but Jason wasn't there. The luongs have not been at church for two weeks because of work which is not good.

Sunday was good. We made referral cards for people to give back to us. And we also passed out a sheet on who could meet with us on what days and times. I'm excited to use it! We taught YW's in McDowell. It was a lot of fun. I love YW's. I then sang in the choir at the musical fireside in Mesa! It went so well and everyone did so good. We had Baptists sing and that was the highlight of my night WELL besides seeing SISTER FAIRHOLM. love that sista. 

Today we got up EARLY and hiked camelback! It was just so fun and so many of us missionaries went. We watched the sunrise. Ah i love hiking. I finally got my permanent car today. It's a rad corolla. haha it's cute.

I was reading in John 15, and verse 5 says" I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." I love this scripture and I know that when we abide in Christ we can do all things. We can't do it without Him. We need Him so that we can grow and change. I know that Christ is our FRIEND. He loves us so deeply that he died for us so that we can have HOPE.

I love my Savior and being a missionary!

I LOVE YOU ALL

-Sister Fisher

Sister Palepoi got us free shakes at chic fil a

Celebrating Sister Oldham's birthday at Kneaders! The owners are in our ward.

Brother Gonzales and his ride

MTC flashback!

Haha Elder Schatt

I LOVE SISTER MARTINEZ

Hiking the camelback

I love my sisters!

We're fit yo

JAMBA JUICE

week 16: i LOVE summer in february

Monday, February 15th, 2016

HELLO ALL! oh man it is summer in scottsdale, and it's february, so we will see how this goes. Life has been busy and fun

Monday we had fhe with two families from our wards. Our stake goal is to have more lessons in active members homes. So it has been good getting to know more members and building their trust! 

Tuesday was a day of errands and also my companion has to do extra things because she is new, so that takes a lot of time. We had a meeting with our ward mission leader and then our bishop. Bishop Wynn told us a bunch of names to go see, it was really productive.

Wednesday we had to go to the mission home and get a truck!! what what. I'm driving a truck for about a week I think. So that has been fun. We sold our old car because it had a lot of miles and are getting a new car soon. We had ZTM that day. We listened to Elder Anderson's talk again from the missionary broadcast. It was way good. My favorite quote they said was from preach my gospel "As you understanding of the atonement increases, your desire to share the gospel of Christ increases." We went to see a women in the ward who just had a baby! So cute. I'm sad we can't hold babies. We went to see Mike Gonzales. We are still trying to figure him out. I really just don't think he is willing to change, we need to figure out what is holding him back. He is just not super open. We then had a hand off lesson with Theresa, She moved to Chaparrel ward. It was sad saying goodbye but I know she is in good hands. It seems like all of our investigators our moving. We went to see Roy Ellis and his kids. They are doing well. 

Thursday was a day of miracles! We had 7 lessons! Everyone answered their door! Some were children of the people we were trying to see but still everyone answered their door!  We had a lesson with Constance. We got her birth date and such and she is still a member!! She told us she wants her records off though. She is meeting with our bishop tomorrow. Our lesson went well though. We brought a member. We then saw Kaylynn, a less-active, she came to church on Sunday which was a HUGE miracle!! I don't know when the last time she went to church was. We had a lesson with Sue, love her. We then saw the Becketts, they are members who are struggling in the ward. We saw Glenda and she just does not seem interested so we are going to drop her this week. We then saw Joy Christensen, she is doing okay. Her daughter is going through a divorce so it has been pretty crazy at their house. The spirit was so strong in the lesson though and she said we told her exactly what she needed to hear. Her daughter went to church on Sunday! So that was really good. We then saw the Luongs that night. We are going to see if Jason wants to go to ysa ward, we think it would be really great for him.

Friday we had stake correlation and weekly planning. woop woop. We then had a lesson with Isaac and it went SO well. We were bold but loving. He is still pretty wishy washy. We had it in the Miller home and they were great member presents. We are having another lesson with him tonight so we will see how that goes. We then were driving down the street in a neighborhood. A car is stopped in the middle of the road so I slow down and then see something on the pavement, I get closer and it's a dead cat and then a man runs over yelling. He gets down hugging the cat and starts crying. We pull over to help. The man who ran over their cat felt super bad. It was all so sad and awkward. The man was telling us how good of a cat he was. His parents then drove up. We shared a scripture with them and gave them cookies. It was the craziest tti I have had on my mission. We saw the DeBenckendorffs and they came to church yesterday! It was so good!! Amelia wants to get involved in ysa so that will be so good.

Saturday we did service and cleaned a women's house. We went to the Ross's and they are doing well. Brother Ross is out of Life care clinic so that's good. We went to see some less-actives but no one was home or they were not interested. But Sister Gulley and I have so much fun. I'm so glad I am training her. She has the Spirit and is already so good in lessons!

Sunday we had both ward councils. Also it was valentines day! i had way too much chocolate. I then had to go to Mesa for choir practice haha. yeah i'm in a missionary choir for a fireside next week haha. We practiced today as well. It is pretty intense. People even came down from the mountains to sing! Like my trainer, Sister Jones! It was so good seeing her! It's a big commitment but it is real fun! We have been getting lots of referrals and have had some interesting phone calls this week to say the least haha.

I love my area and I love the weather, life is good. Being a missionary is a sacrifice. We give up things that are good, but missions are the BEST. Definitely worth the sacrifice. Serving others really does bring you closer to Christ. This gospel is perfect. Heavenly Father loves us perfectly. He knows our wants and desires and he is fighting for us. 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

There is no greater love than this. Christ does love us and we should strive to be as charitable as Him. He turned outward even when he was on the cross. I am so grateful for the atonement and that He loves me enough to die for me.

Thanks for all your support! Life is good in the hood. I hope ya'll have a blessed week!

-Sista Fisha

Cute family in my ward!

My truck!

Smells like spring!

Sue!

GLENDA

MY DISTRICT with brother horn!

Bubbles at dinner time

The Ross's dog always lays on me during lessons

The sunsets here are amazing but I can never get a good pic

Sister jones!!

Sister Grow, my MTC companion!

week 15: it's not everyday that you get to listen to adele's new songs

Monday, February 8th, 2016

So I finally have my companion! And we have gotten her all settled in! She is just the cutest and I am so excited to be training her! She is from Rexburg and just turned 19. She is my BABY! She is super chill and fun. It's like she came pre-trained. She didn't do any college before but she is into photography like me! We have a lot in common. She is awesome! I'm excited to learn a lot from her and from training.

So I stayed in the mission home Monday night with all the new sisters. On Tuesday we had meetings and such and then found out our new companion! (which I already knew mine lol) It's definitely different training but I really like it because I think I like being in charge. That night we got to see and meet some less-actives. Tamara Martin is one of them and I finally got to meet her daughters! It was funny because when we knocked a young man answered and we asked if Tamara Martin was home and he said that she doesn't live here. We were super confused haha. And then just then Tamara walks up and they all start laughing cause the guy didn't live there and he didn't know his friends moms name. We had a good lesson with them. 

Wednesday we had a mini pday for my companion and got her unpacked. We got to see the Holdimans! They are so funny haha. But they have been reading the Book of Mormon together! I am so excited! I'm trying to get them to go to the visitor's center with us but they are so busy with his work. We also went to see Sister Ross. She doesn't believe in fasting so we talked about that. It's sad because she doesn't like testimony meeting because she feels like everyone is having miracles but her. I think she is mad at God and is not looking for His hand in her life. You have to have faith and be looking for miracles to see them. 

Thursday we did service for Karen, and investigator. She is having a really hard time but we got to help her with her house and to pack and clean. She is renting it out to a baseball player for two months. At the end she started having heart problems and started crying. We shared with her a message and scripture that she loved. We also did more service that day at Amber Creek Inn. We did their nails. They have been getting new residents. It's sad when the residents who remembered you don't remember you anymore. We went to see the Rai family, the hindu family and see if they are interested in learning more. They said no. Super nice family though. We shared our testimonies and gave her a Book of Mormon. We asked her to say a prayer so she said it in her language. We also had a lesson with the Luongs that night. We taught them the restoration. Their son Jason was pretty engaged.

Friday we had a lesson with Brother Terry. He had read the chapter in the Book of Mormon that I had asked him to read! So that was awesome! He is very nice. I asked him if he will be at church this Sunday. He said he will peek his head in one day. We knocked on a lot of less-actives houses that night but no one answered. It was around 8 and we were going to see a less-active. We were walking in the parking lot of the complex when we see a man bringing his groceries in. We asked if we could help him. He said no thank you and then asked if we were the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was super taken back because no one has called us by our church name before, people pretty much only know us by the Mormons. I asked him how he knew that and he said he was a member. But I was still confused because I didn't recognize him and I knew all the less-actives that lived in the complex. Then he tells us he is here with his wife for 10 weeks selling his artwork. We bring in groceries and we meet his wife. She was SO excited to see us. We shared a message with them. Such nice people. Their granddaughter was in the Bear Lake accident that happened last year, with the big storm. 4 people died on the boat. They were telling us about their experiences. I remember hearing that sad story last year. They said their granddaughter would have died if she was in the water a few more minutes.

Saturday was an awesome day. Karen asked us to come back and to help. We brought an awesome member who was single as well and around her age. The member has just started coming back to church within the last 6 months. We taught her the restoration and the spirit was so strong. She was crying and was very receptive. I know that trials do humble hearts and God prepares people through life events. We asked her to be baptized but she said she can't tell us right now if she would. We then saw Brother Ross in the life care center. He should be out this next week. Sister Ross was also there. We had a really powerful short lesson with them. Brother Ross loved the scripture we shared we him. Sister Ross opened up about her son's passing and how she still feels him around. We went to contact a referral. The info on it said she preferred english but spoke spanish. She is old and lives in a rehab center. We go and she doesn't speak any english. So it was funny trying to communicate with her. I was trying to remember all the high school spanish that I have. I remembered we had a spanish Book of Mormon in the car so we gave it to her. We referred her to the spanish missionaries. We then went to see a less-active but she was not home. We had 10 minutes before we had to go to a concert so I asked Sister Gulley to pick a number between 2000 and 2030 and whatever she picks we will go knock on that door. She picks 2021. We get there and there is a man right outside that complex. He is grilling burgers. We talked to him for a bit. He was nice but not interested. He was only living here for a month. We then got to go to a concert that elder Taylor puts on. It's a bunch of kids singing and playing music (worldy music haha) I may or may not have got to hear some of Adele's new songs. I was trying really hard not to dance. President is so awesome and lets us do so many random things. I felt so worldy. 

Sunday was fast Sunday! I love testimony meetings. We broke the fast at the McReynolds home. We asked them if we could have a lesson with the Rossi family afterwards. They agreed and also invited them for dinner. We finished up their last commandment that we had to teach them. Vince requested that next time we do bible study. So we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with them and discussed it with them. Sister Gulley then did this awesome activity that she did in the mtc where everyone closes their eyes and they imagine they are a lamanite at the time where Christ visits them. She read some of 3 Nephi 11. Vince really liked it and he said that he felt guilty through the activity. He wants to repent and he knows he is living in sin because he is not married to Jenn. He didn't say that but I know he was thinking it. We just all had a really good discussion and it was good for Vince.

What Vince was saying last night reminds me of a quote from Elder Boyd K Packer, "restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the Atonement of Christ." I know that we can be fully healed through the Atonement of Christ. He made up the difference and he did it for YOU.

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for all the emails! Sorry if I don't respond to all of you! :)

LOVE YA

-Sista Fisha

Shopping!

Cupcake atm!

Contacting in old town with new missionaries

SISTER GULLEY!

Isn't my companion the cutest?!