week 24: feeding lemurs

Monday, April 11th, 2016

Another week another email. Let's see here. It was a good one. Here's the recap:

Monday we got to see Weston! He is a less-active that is coming back to church! We had a good lesson with him. He came to church and stayed for 2 hours:)

Tuesday we went to see Constance. She is doing so well. We brought Sister Wynn with us. She hadn't read the Book of Mormon so we read with her. Sister Wynn is the best member present and told her she would pick her up for sacrament meeting. Constance was like I'll go all three hours! And she went to an empty nesters FHE and seemed to really enjoy it. Constance always makes us food when we go over, she is so sweet. We saw Stephanie who is active but lives in an assisted living home so she doesn't come to church. She really needed our visit so it was cool that we were inspired to see her. We then saw Sue and taught her a lesson. We saw Mike again, he told us he is gay and atheist. We tried to share with him a mormon message but he didn't really watch it. He really opened up to us though. It sounds like he has had a rough life. And then he was talking about how much he loves marijuana. And then I think Saturday he calls us telling us how much he appreciates us coming by. He said even though you don't always convert people you might change their life. It was so cute and he was saying how much happier he is. He says he is being healed. He is using the Atonement even though he doesn't realize it! But it's amazing to impact people's lives even though you don't really think you are. We then saw the Luongs that night. They are so good, Linh bore her sweeet testimony in sacrament meeting. I mean my heart literally melted.

Wednesday we had ZTM, which was good. They pretty much told us all the things that we are doing wrong, but it is motivating us to be better. Sue called us during the meeting and told us she found a tumor on her thyroid, that is why he voice has been gone for over a month, it's pressing on her vocal chord. She was really upset about it and asked us to come over. We read a talk with her. They told her she won't get her voice back :( pray for her! We then saw the DeBenckendorffs and Sister Pruel came with us! It was really good. Their resident that lives in one of their rooms, his name is Carlos, came and sat in on a lesson! It was really cool. We planned on teaching the Word of Wisdom and I was a little hesitant because Word of Wisdom isn't normally the first lesson we teach people! But Carlos had some cool comments. As well as Amelia. She bore her testimony about it and has some personal stories about the Word of Wisdom. Oh and their daughter MEGAN got BAPTIZED in new jersey on Saturday :))) oh my heart. 

Thursday we volunteered at Amber Creek Inn, my fav. We then saw Sister Holdiman and she was so happy. Sister Chase came with us. Brother Holdiman found out this week that he has skin cancer on the back of his head so he was bummed about that. And then we got a referral for a guy named Fred and he has cancer too. So it has been a week full of cancer, no fun. But Fred is really amazing. He has been going to church for a while and moved from Biltmore. There is a member there that was a really good fellowshipper. We went over on Saturday and brought the Elders and they gave him a blessing. He was told he only has 6 months to live, I can't even imagine. He is from Germany so he has a real cool accent.

Friday we had a lesson with Zach! Finally! We had it at the Lesueur home and it was really good! Kaytie Kerr came with us. He didn't read his Book of Mormon...so we read with him. It was really good and we got to talk about revelation. He said he wants to get baptized May 7, but we will probably move it to the Saturday before to April 30. Some members took us out to red robin, yum so good. and then we had a miracle! We knocked on a less-active door, her name is Tawni Price and she answered and was so nice and totally let us in! (which pretty much never happens). Her husband is not a member and she has an almost 8 year old son. We got to share a message with her and leave her a Book of Mormon. We are excited to get to know her more! 

Saturday we had a lot of lessons in active members home which was so good! You could tell they all needed a visit. We didn't get any referrals but we got some names of some less-actives they told us to see! I love the members here because they are so willing to help. We saw the Pavlicks and it was probably the best lesson with them we have ever had. We talked about temples and invited them back to the temple. She says she doesn't go to church because after sitting for the one hour she is down for 2 days later...lol she is very dramatic. but we love her anyway. Brother Pavlick said the closing prayer which was good because he never talks. We then went to see Karen Cummings (the one with ALL the animals). Like I can't even describe to you how many animals she has. Like she used to own camels and BISON. She has all these licenses to own all these animals. She has a pet skunk and he is so cute. I got to hold a skunk. What. And all these exotic animals I had never heard before. And its spring so she has all of these babiesssss. The puppies and baby goats were to die for. She let us feed the lemurs haha. Her grandkids were there so they gave us a whole tour. 

Sunday was good. We taught relief society in Larkspur ward. It went really well for not really preparing anything. haha I have definitely learn to wing things on my mission...We then went Brother Newman's. He doesn't go to church because he has severe depression so it is pretty sad. We had a good lesson with him. Then there was a missionary fireside. Grace and Nate brought Zach and he fell asleep in the middle of it! baha. So they all left during it...haha awkward. I guess he worked until 2 last night. And the fireside was music and the spoken word so it was all singing.

A quote that I really like is "perhaps at no other time do we feel the divine love of the Savior as abundantly as we do when we repent." All repentance is is change and love. The Savior not only cleanses us when we sin but he strengthens us! He gives us strength to overcome temptation to stay on the straight and narrow. Remember no sin is ever too big that the Atonement cannot overcome. Jesus Christ loves you and is cheering for you!

until next time

xoxo

sista fisha

Bike week in Scottsdale

Blue chick

4 day old puppies

Skunk

I don't even know what that is called

Bunnies everywhere

Feeding the exotic animal

Lizards everywhere grossss

Feeding lemurs

Free froyo cause a member works there

Hiked pinnacle peak!

High school musical 3 part 2

week 23: april rules

Monday, April 4th, 2016

it's APRIL! where is time going? New months are great for missionaries because 1 more money on our card and 2 more miles for the car. General Conference was so good, as you all already know. It really is the super bowl for missionaries.

Monday we had a lesson with the Luongs and then we went over to the Browns for FHE. It's been really good getting into homes for FHE and getting to know the members better. members trust is SO important!

Tuesday we went to see Frank, he is a man living in an assisted living home. He was the one we met on the street. He bought us lunch and he is so nice. Assisted living homes are just the cutest. Frank has such a crazy life. His wife passed away, he got shot in the side, and his daughter was murdered. We talked a lot about faith. We don't know how interested he is but he is pretty religious. We then found out he is just outside our area so we sent him to the elders. We saw Mike Gonzales and he is doing well. He listened to conference which was great. We then saw Sister Holdiman, we brought Sister Rogers with us and it was really good. I hadn't seen her that happy for a while! She was less-stubborn when we brought someone. We then met with Bishop Jorganson and went over the Quorum of the 12 plan with him. We are trying to implement it and get him excited about it.

Wednesday we had exchanges! I was with Sister Israelson in Cave Creek! I just love her. We get along so well. She is just such a down to earth missionary. I love being in different areas and meeting the people they teach. You always learn a lot of exchanges! We ate dinner at Elder Morgan's house so that was fun (that's Stephanie Myer's dad btw, he works at the office). Oh and side note I guess one of our investigators Jackie yelled at us and dropped us. They had a member with them and I guess it was just bad. Pray for Jackie!

Thursday we went to have lunch with Jenn and we got there and she canceled on us :( She is just so busy. But she gave us money for Inn N Out so I can't complain. We got to bring her a journal to take notes on for conference! She and her family went to Utah for conference! They got to go to the Sunday afternoon session. JEALOUS. We had a lesson with Zach at Barnes and Noble. It was good but he seemed really stressed with work and everything. He got a car this week so that's good! We got a referral this week for a less-active. Her name is Emily. We went over and she was SO sweet. She is 23 and has 2 kids. She is living with her boyfriend and I guess he is very anti. Emily wants to come back to church and have that foundation and stability for her kids. They only thing is her boyfriend does not want his kids to go. She is having a hard time with that. I'm really excited to get to know her and teach her. We are going to go shopping with her soon to get her dress clothes for church. She hasn't gone to church in 10 years. Her family is active though. We met a less-active's grandpa that night too, his name is George. We got to share the Hallelujah video with him, he really liked it. We are going to visit him again :)

Friday we had a lesson with Constance. She is just so amazing. She started reading the Book of Mormon! She is amazing. She sets up members to come with us and her own appointments! We then had a short lesson with Zach and Alyssa came as well. They were both late so we had 15 minutes but it was a good lesson. We then tried to see a lot of less-actives. We ended up seeing a lot! Some said we could come by again and others weren't interested. So it was productive.

Saturday we watched the morning general conference with Constance! Her TV didn't have the channel so we walked to a members to watch it. Constance then made us lunch, she is so nice. We then watched the afternoon session with Sue. It was so good. We had a lesson with Zach. We taught him the last lesson he needs before baptism. This whole week we were a little worried if he was ready or not. We want to make sure he is committed. He wasn't reading his Book of Mormon and that night Sister Daughtee looked a bit worried as well. 

Sunday we watched the morning session at the Holdimans! Sister Holdiman loved it. She then made us lunch. I feel like i'm at my grandparents over there. They are so cute. We then went to the Daughtees to watch conference with Zach. He wasn't there though and he went to go get jimmy johns...he came in though when conference already started. He said he really liked conference. We then met with him and went over the baptismal interview questions. He slipped up with the Word of Wisdom so we are going to postpone the baptism a bit. We don't know when it will be. But it will be a good time for Zach and to apply the Atonement in his life. It's sad but it is for the best and maybe what needed to happen. Zach is so strong and he does have a testimony of the gospel, this is just going to strengthen it. We then saw the Christensens, Mike Gonzales and the Lumans. All were really good lessons. It's the best feeling knowing you can help someone come unto Christ. It's really an honor to be His representative!

This week I have learned a lot and I have been able to see the love Heavenly Father has for all His children. His divine chastening is because he knows us better than we know ourselves. His plan is to build us better than we could ever become. When judgement day comes he is going to look at who we became. And we cannot doing it without our Advocate. He does make us whole no matter how broken we are. I loved conference and listening to the leaders. The Prophet Thomas S Monson is called of God and does receive revelation for US in THIS day from God. I love what Elder Holland had to say about Lucifer and how he can not progress and so he does not want us to progress. But we CAN. It's our choice and we can DO it. Christ makes salvation and happiness possible. And remember "GOD will never desert us, He will always stand by us." Oh I also loved what President Uchtdorf said "obdience is the process of which we discover what we are truly made of." We can have all the blessings God is willing to give us if we are obedient to Him. If we come unto Him, He will draw near unto us.

I love this gospel! I love being a missionary! 

xoxo

Sista Fisha

This is old but it's when I went street contacting for the first time with Sister Israelson! First day on the mission wowzas

Exchanges with Sister Israelson and loofahs from the ground

Low quality pic of a coyote

Tori and Jenna are the craziest girls

Hayley!!

week 22: selling cookies and salvation...for free

Monday, March 28th, 2016

We get asked sometimes if we are selling something, YEAH SALVATION. Also we made a sign up sheet for the relief society to make cookies each week so now we don't have to make cookies every week! It's way nice. The best way through a person's heart is cookies right?!

But yeah this week was good but a totally blur. All I remember is that we were BUSY. Busy is good.

Monday we had FHE at the Snow's. They are the CUTEST family. Like seriously all the families in the ward are the cutest. His dad is speaking in general conference the Saturday morning session! I met him yesterday at church. Supa cool. Their son was like "my great great great great grandpa gave Joseph Smith a cane!" lol

Tuesday we saw some potentials! We saw Rosetta and Jean! We taught them the restoration and they really liked it. They aren't 100% all there though. Super sweet ladies. We then saw their upstairs neighbor, Jackie. She is funny. She doesn't believe in organized religion. She says she is searching for something though. We tried to hint that it is the gospel that she is searching for. We then had a lesson with Zach at the library! Alyssa came with us and she brought her nonmember friend! He wanted to see what it is like. His name is Noah, he was baptized last summer into a christian faith. He is really awesome and has good insights. He said that we we're "too serious" though. Even though he said we answered a lot of his questions. He is just used to loud church with chanting and such. But Zach is doing really well. He told us this week that he is planning on going on a mission and asked how he can go!! SUPER cool! Missionary work is actually the best guys. He was super confident that he knows the Book of Mormon was true when I asked him about it. And he talked to his boss about not working on Sundays and his boss was really understanding! Miracles! We then saw Joy Christensen and her grandkids. It sounds like they all want to go to church. Joy didn't come on Sunday though. So that was sad. We then went to a baby shower that night, let me tell you I don't know how to socialize anymore. I'm just a bunch of awkward. plz help. sos. But it was good cause it was for a less-active and a bunch of relief society were there.

Wednesday we saw Karen Cummings and shared a message with her. She had the cutest kittens that were only 12 days old! Like I don't think I had ever seen something that cute. We volunteered at amber creek inn. I LOVE it there. One of the ladies stole pass-along cards from our bag!! We confronted her and she was like "I don't know what you're talking about" lol so we let her keep them. We ate at the Quicks that night and Sister Quick is from Las Vegas and said she always had missionaries over so I just gave it a try and asked if she knew any of the missionaries that served there that were from our stake. She said she knew Derek White! That was really cool and special to meet someone that knew him. She said he came over a lot. Her maiden name is Olsen. We went to the DeBenckendorffs that night. They are doing so well! Amelia gave a book of mormon out to a coworker and highlighted some verses she liked! She said that he really liked it! You should have seen the light in her eyes, she was SO happy. It's amazing to see less-actives do missionary work. She was like "I could actually be a missionary!" She turns 19 next month. I hope she decides to serve! She would be so good. 

Thursday we had stake correlation and district meeting. AND service. We picked some random guys citrus fruit with the district. haha but all the fruit was bad cause he didn't water them so we just threw them in the trash. But all in all it's still fun. Our district has changed a lot this transfer. It's always good getting to know more missionaries. We saw Sue and we committed her to do personal progress! She is so excited about it! She is so awesome. It's hard to think of commitments for her because she literally does everything! We had a lesson with the Luongs. They are good but have been missing some church recently. 

Friday we helped the Daughtees pack. They are moving from a pretty big house to a 2 bedroom apartment. So it is going to be a struggle for them. They are getting rid of a lot of things. We had lunch at cafe rio, go figure. And then we met with Brother Chase. It was good. We are really trying to help the bishop. We went to the Easter Pageant that night! It was SO good! Alyssa took Zach and us and we met some other YW there. We go there super early and got 2nd row seats! We got to go to the visitors center and walk around. Zach loved it. He is so excited to be a part of this church. We had a lesson with him on the temple grounds. It was really good. Guess who I saw there?! Anna Mckay! My Jerusalem friend! She was there with her husband! It's always good to see familiar faces.

Saturday there was an Easter breakfast for larkspur ward. Constance and Betsy both came! Bishop picked them up! They both had a really good time! The food was also so good. We then went to amber creek inn and helped them with their easter egg hunt. Some family members were there so it was good to talk to them. We then went to the stake center to watch the womens broadcast and have dinner there. It was really good! It talked a lot about service. It's so true that when you serve others you forget your problems and you can really learn to love them and see them as God see's them.

Easter Sunday was good. I mean it didn't feel too much like Easter but it was good. We had two ward councils. Zach was beaming at church. He just loves it. A ton of people were at church. A lot of part member families! That was great! I mean Easter is the 1 out of 2 times people go to church out of the year. We had a yummy dinner at the Christensens. A lot of people were busy last night so we visited a lot of single people and that was good. 

I'm so glad my Savior lives!! How wonderful we can have hope because of the Atonement. No trial is too big because of Him! Nothing nourishes us more than the understanding of the Atonement. The Atonement is less about me and more about the Savior. He performed the perfect atonement for each one of us. I know that Heavenly Father knows who were are to become. We need to remember this and not be so worried about where we were or even will be tomorrow. Our potential is so much bigger.

I hope everyone had a great easter! I love you ALL! Thanks for everything! Sorry for such the long emails....

xoxo

sisa fisha

ZACH

Karen Cummings and her kittens!

Amber Creek Inn

Service with district

Riding a horse...breaking rules

Temple with Zach

Easter Pageant

Anna at Easter Pageant!

Amber Creek Inn

week 21: #hallelujah

Monday, March 21st, 2016

Hellooooo so yes I am still in Scottsdale :) I'm so happy I will be here for 6 months! Things are going really well! It's getting a little hot here...not to the 90s YET, I am not excited for that. I just think ONE summer only ONE summer. I got this nat. It's funny people ask us if I would ever live in Arizona, I'm just like yeah no. I miss my green!

Monday we went to the Ross's. They are so so amazing. Like I want you all to meet them one day. They have truly changed my life. Vince plans on getting baptized in June!! So we are like well when are you going to get married?? haha

Tuesday was busy, actually this whole week was busy. Time goes by a lot faster when you are busy. We saw Constance that day and brought Sister Wynn. She didn't go to church this week but I know she wants to. She said she really liked stake conference! We then saw another less-active, Sister Terry, we brought another member, Sister McReynolds. It went really well! We then had a lesson with Zach. He is doing well! We had 2 laurels come and Pete come! He is progressing and reading the Book of Mormon! We then had a relief society birthday dinner at the Whites. It was so nice! They taught us how to cook in a survy, however you spell that. It's amazing all of the homes we go into...it's going to be strange leaving Scottsdale.

Wednesday was good. We found some less-actives and some people who have moved or not interested. It's funny cause missionaries are some of the most loved and hated people. We met this really cute old man in a car, he lives in an assisted living home so someone was driving him around. He gives us his card and we give him a pass along card. He invited us for lunch on Saturday but we couldn't go so we are going to visit him this week. Haha it's so funny the people we meet. We had another lesson with Zach and Nate and just read the Book of Mormon with him. We then saw Tayllor and Amos! We shared an Easter message with them. They are so cute and so in love. It's crazy that Amos's sister Rebecca knows Brittany!

Thursday we saw Sister Holdiman, she is so stubborn haha. We then saw Brother Gonzales. We saw Jackie! And she was actually sober! So that was amazing! Well she might have had one drink but we could actually have a conversation with her. We knocked on her downstairs neighbors and these two cute old ladies answered. Oh my goodness so funny. They told us that we can come back! We have been getting referrals from youth in the ward! We are excited to contact them!

Friday we had a really cool miracle! We have been trying to do better with talking to EVERYONE we see, even if it is a really uncomfortable situation. We go up to this lady who lives across the Ross family. She is sitting on the ground in front of her garage. She is looking at all this really cool family history stuff. We talk to her about family history and that she can do a lot with this stuff! She had letters, birth and death certificates, photos and other cool things. She was cleaning out boxes from her mothers house that she had never seen before. She was SO excited about it! You should have seen the light in her eyes! Sister Gulley found a letter and read it. It was a man who was writing a letter to his parents, He was in Tokyo and witnessed the signing on the peace treaty! It was SO cool. Susan (the lady) started crying and it was really sweet. We are getting the history consultant in our ward go help her! We shared with her the Hallelujah video and she loved it. Especially cause in the video people are showing pictures of their ancestors. We had two dinners that night, yes double dinner! You wonder why I am getting fat haha. The second dinner was with Laura Holgate, the elders kind of teach her, but really just do service for her. Haha we get there and she makes the elders go to the attic and vacuum up rat poop haha in their suits! We then had a lesson with Zach that night. It was really cute cause he said he was playing video games and then he got this feeling that he should go read the Book of Mormon. It's really amazing to see investigators get so excited about the gospel.

Saturday we saw LaVonne and taught her the restoration. She says she doesn't have time to read the Book of Mormon or to go to church but she says some day...I hate when people say that haha. She is so nice though. We then saw Brother Kearn, haha I love them. They are so funny. Even though he is so hung up about the holy trinity. He is starting to read the Book of Mormon so we hope that goes well. We then saw the Ross family. We had a great lesson with them. They are really so amazing. We just then tried to see lots of less-actives! We actually met one! They are siblings and they live together. Their last name is the McSweeney's. They said we can stop by again.

Sunday was good. We taught Relief Society about the Restoration. It went really well! I love the women in the ward and their strong testimonies! Zach came to church and he really liked it! I'm so excited for him! In Larkspur ward we had a woman just show up! She said she lives down the road. She is 80 years old and has lived her 20 years and has always wondered what this building was. She figured it out and decided to come! She is so cute! Sister Cutler was awesome and really fellowshipped her! This is how it should be! She stayed all 3 hours and then came to the Easter Devotional last night. Also Tayllor came with Amos's Sister Rebecca! The one who knows Brittany so it was fun meeting her! Such a small world.

Today we went hiking with Laura Holgate! It was really fun! The sun makes it so hot though but it wasn't too bad. Hiking just is so different here than what I am used to.

I love Easter week. It is so special to me. "He is not here: for he is risen". #Hallelujah 

His resurrection is so glorious and is the most reassuring of all events of human history. It is the victory over death! I'm so happy we can live again because of Him :)

Have an amazing Easter!!

xoxo

Sister Fisher

CONSTANCE

Cheesy pic

Helping Linh with homework turns into this haha

Zach and the Daughtees

LaVonne

Brother Kearn reading the Book of Mormon

Rebecca and Tayllor!

Hiking with Laura!