FAMILY
hey!  I LOVE IT HERE!
im probably annoying my comp cuz i cant stop talking about the weather but its just amazing! happy late Easter. Easter here was kinda a bummer but i was expecting that. it didnt feel like a holiday at all because since we cover 4 wards we have church from 9 straight through 5 every sunday... not fun! Thanks so much for the candy tho mom. I probably put on like 5 lbs because of it so no more now okay! haha  

 

some awesome news... we put Joe and Rocio and their two beautiful girls on date this week for baptism and i think today were going to try and get Ashley. The wards are just amazing here so if we get them to come to church then the members step in and they just feel the spirit and just love it.

 

I went to the Easter Pageant way too many times this week.
We went 4 days in a row! it was good but nothing is that good. I think im set for a  LONG time. ohh and plus  I LOVE MY BIKE!!! the seat could be a little softer but beside that its just great. i am on my bike 24/7 and its awesome. I look absolutely ridiculous with my helmet on but everyone is so nice here and just politely says no thank you so its not scary at all which i def didn't expect. ha last night i was talking to this girl named jessica and she told me that she would like to hear a message about Jesus Christ and i just froze because iv never gotten that far cuz everyone usually says no haha. i looked at my companion in confusion and she just smiled so i just kept on talking. i was so excited!!!

 

so my address is 701 W Grove PKWY apt. 153 Tempe, AZ 85283 so send me a letter.  

to all my friends that have emailed, me just know that i will be writing you a letter back today.

i can only email family back,  so its fine if you email me because i just print it off and will write you back.

 

i really don’t know what else to say besides the fact that im sooo happy and i just love it
here. im so blessed to be here. this morning my whole zone hiked a mountain (not really a
mountain) and it was so much fun and just so beautiful. ohh and something cool
about my mission is that we all wear our name tags on the right shoulder instead of the left because were so close to the mesa mission ( Dad i dont serve in  mesa haha) so this just sets us all apart and so we know who our competition is haha not really but i still like it. it was nice at the pageant too cuz you could tell what mission you were serving in just by your name tag.

 

well i love you all and i miss you! heather and taylor i love your youtube
video that you made. i realized after i watched it that that music probably was
mission appropriate...wooops! but i still loved it non the less.
ohh and i dont know if i told you before but i get to skype on mothers day. YEYYY

love you all

love sister martin

We climbed a mountain (hill) today

I love the Soguaro cactus here in AZ

I love you Sister Kara Van.!

My MTC companions, Sister Howard and Sister Banks

My new companion, Sister White

Looking outside my apt. window.

Wed. April 20, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,
I emailed you this long email and then the computer turned off to update and it didn't save, so I'll just get to the good stuff! 

I'm here and I LOVE IT!  The weather is 89 degrees and it's awesome being in the sun!

I LOVE MY COMPANION!  Her name is Sister White and she is from Middleton, Idaho and I'm serving in Tempe!! Yey!!  Since I'm here, I will be attending the Easter Pageant, but we can only attend if we have an investigator with us.  Guess what?  WE HAVE INVESTIGATORS!!  Crazy huh?
At the MTC I just had fake ones but here they are real and I'm way excited.  We're teaching a family and a girl and a boy and they are way interested, so I'll be meeting them soon. 

OMG, I'm just so excited and can't wait to get started.  I love it here and I'm supposed to be here.  So today is my P-day, but this is the last week that it will be cuz the mission pres. just changed things, so now it's on Monday.  So I'll write more then.

I love it here and I love love love my companion.  Ohh and awesome. . .she says we just ride bikes, so I'm way pumped and ready to sweat to death.  I love being a missionary and am ready to hit the streets.

Momma, thanks for all the wonderful goodies!!  My comp. and I thank you.

Christy, thanks so much for the wonderful Easter surprise!  It was exactly what I needed and wanted!  You are the best!

Love you all,
Sister Martin

Tues. April 19, 2011

Got to call my mom and dad this morning from the airport before flying out to Arizona.  It was great hearing their voices and sharing a few last words before I boarded the plane.  I loved the MTC, but I'm def. ready to move to the next phase of missionary life - the real world.  Tonight I'll be sleeping someplace in Tempe under the WARM Arizona sky!

April 13, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,
The MTC is great and I just love my companions and district.  We all help each other so much.  We practice teaching a lot of people hired from the MTC to be investigators.  Some are members and some aren't, so it helps us really take it seriously because we just hope that they aren't members.  My teaching has come so far since I got here.  I have learned that I need to teach less and commit more.  Also, questions are the best.  When we get the investigator to talk more than us, we are doing really great.  My companions and I work really well together and I love them so much.  Next week I get to Arizona and become a real missionary!  Crazy!!!  I can't wait!

So I bought some shoes this week!  Ha!!  They are super cute.  They are a little darker than tan and work with everything.  They are def. the most comfortable shoes that I own.  I'm so jealous that the weather is so great in MO, because it keeps snowing here.  Arizona is going to be amazing.

Look up D&C 31:3, 13.  This is my motto!  I found these scriptures the other day and they made me so happy.  Thanks for all your awesome letters and keep me in your prayers because you are all def. in mine.   I love you so much!

Sister Martin

April 13, 2011

I have been in the MTC for 2 WEEKS! sooo crazy! This time next week I’ll
be having personal study somewhere in ARIZONA! Omg im just so excited to get
out there. Ohh and mom and dad just so you know i will be getting on
my plane at 9:50 tue morning to fly to Arizona and i get to call home
before so MOM KEEP YOUR PHONE CLOSE. your number is the only one i know so if you don’t answer that wouldn’t be good. So far some cool
things that happened this week. Well i met one of Taylor's old companions,
Brother Lee. He works at the mtc and i saw him and immediatly knew who he was from some of taylors pics so i talked to him and sure enough it was him. great guy. This week my companions and i finally committed Josh (fake investigator but it feels real) to baptism and we set adate. It was the most exciting thing ever and the spirit was so strong! Going to the temple when you're a missionairy is the coolest experience. I LOVE IT! getting to go to the temple each week is the best thing ever and it helps me so much. In the temple there are no worries, just comfort and that’s def very helpful to me. So it's way funny and as many of you have probably guessed... thanks to my mom i inherited her fast walking skills and so at first i dont think my companions liked it very much but now they have grow to love it. Thankfully for me it says in the white handbook to "walk with a purpose" so i am always reminding them of that.

So this Sunday was my first real sunday thanks to last weeks general conference and it was just great! Before each sunday everyone in my branch is given a topic and we all must write a 5 min talk and during sacrament the branch president calls on 2 people to give there’s. Well since i was already signed up to give the closing prayer and sing with my district for the musical number I thought I was in the clear but of course i was wrong! i gave my talk and it was great.  yesterday Ronald A Rasband who is in the 70 presidency came and talked with us on how we can keep the Holy Ghost as our constant companion in the mission and it was awesome!

TAYLOR AND GRANT- please tell me you got my letters before you left Rexburg, i promise i did write you both back but i just couldnt until Wed. I love you both

COURTNEY- i love it that you stalk my blog and you just do it all you want. i love you

Well i love you all and thanks so much for all the letters. the mtc is amazing but im ready to get to arizona. its gunna be way sad saying goodbye to my companions and my district but it is for the best. Im happy and i love every second of this place. This is where im supposed to be and i know that without a doubt. in relief society there was a quote given that said " Your mission is going to be the MTC for the rest of your LIFE" I def know that to be true and im so thankful for it. Love you all and keep the letters coming.

 

Love Sister Martin

Emily with her dear friend, Chelsey.

I love my sister Heather and brother Taylor.  He came down from Idaho for the day just to see my off.

Mom, Heather, me, Taylor and Dad

March 31, 2011 - First letter mailed to home

Hello Family!
I made it safe and I'm adjusting slowly, but surely.  My MTC President, President Brown, told us all that we should write our families and tell them that we are safe.  Okay, so my companions are Sister Howard from Austrailia who is going to Boise and Sister Banks who is going to Seattle.  They are just great.  We get along great and I feel super blessed to be with them.  I am in a District with 4 other Elders, 2 of whom are going to Tempe with me and the 2 others are going to Seattle.  The first day we were all really quiet but today (the 2nd day) we are already  way comfortable with each other. 
Wed. night we did this role-playing where we rotated with 3 teachers and tried to get them to accept baptism as a group.  I was freaking out and definately didn't want to say a word.  Today we did the same thing, but I actually spoke and it was amazing!  Even though I knew that the person was a member, I totally felt the Spirit speak through me as I told him about the gospel.  It is amazing here, a little overwhelming at first, but totally awesome!
The sleeping situation kinda stinks, because I sleep on the top bunk and Sister Banks sleeps under me and she snores.  So I woke up a few times, but I'm just hoping that soon I will be so tired that it won't phase me anymore.  I miss you all dearly and love you all!Love, Sister Martin

April 6, 2011 - One week in the MTC

FAMILY!

I feel like I haven't talked you in years! Mom thankyou so much for
all your letters. It really makes my day go by so much better when I get a
letter. So tons has happened in just a week so I hope I can remember it all.
So I have two companions, Sister Howard from Australia going to Boise, ID
and Sister Banks from Cody, Wyoming going to Seattle, WA. My district is
AWESOME! There are us three sisters and 4 other elders! - Okay so weird side-
note - I just found out that Sister Stacey, aka Jen, was taught in my exact
same classroom with my exact same teachers just a month ago!!! So weird but I
love it and I love hearing stories about her from my teachers. Okay so
being here is kinda like being back at BYUI cuz I know soo many people. I
think my companions might be getting tired of me always running into friends
because they dont know anyone. I see Sister VanWagenen all the time and that is
truly the BEST! Seeing people you know is just awesome. I live right
next door to sister Ross (Casey) who used to be my neighbor at BYUI
and Elder Reid (my old roommates bro) and many many more from my major. 

The food is pretty good but I can see how people gain tons of weight here.
There is always dessert and NOTHING is low cal. Some elders seriously sit down
with 5 plates of food! No thankyou! My  teachers are awesome and actually
one of them, Brother Larson used to date Ali Rowley so that's way weird to be
taught by him. But the other one Brother Katcher, and just awesome and they teach
me so much. Conference was AMAZING and I just loved being here for it. One of
the coolest things was that during the Sat. morning session everyone stood to
sing I Know That My Redeemer Lives and I really have never felt the spirit so
strong! There is such an amazing spirit that comes from 2000 missionaries! As
you can imagine I was a ball baby but I didn't even care!  Ohh shout out to
Taylor's roommate for singing in the choir! That's so awesome.

 

We had a fireside with Via Sikahema who used to play for BYU, Green Bay Packers, and Philadelphia Eagles and now works for NBC. He told his inspiring story of when
he was a missionary and he taught one of the people that he baptised and all
his family. It's crazy to see that one baptism can help and I can't wait to
do that! My branch president told me "You can come to the end of your
mission and hear Okay you're done or you can hear Well Done thou good and
faithful servant! I love this work and I am trying my very hardest to learn all
that I can. The time is flying by and so I have realized how valuable my time
is here and Im taking advantage of every second. The spirit is so strong! My
testimony is growing faster then I ever thought possible!

Pray for me and my companions because we could use all the help we
can get!

Write me because letters are like gold to me and really brighten
up my day!

I love you all!

Love Sister Martin