Dec. 26, 2011

Hello Hello Hello!!!!
Soooo Drum Role Please.... I'M STAYING IN QUEEN CREEK!
                                          WE'RE STAYING IN QUEEN CREEK!
We are so excited to be able to stay together again for another transfer. Thank goodness I'm not going home yet so i still have plenty of time to be able to open a new sister's area. big things are happening right now and lots of areas are being closed and new ones are popping up everywhere!  we will be getting two new sisters and we aren't losing any so that will make it 14 English sisters, which is an all time high! and we will have 7 Spanish! Awesome!

So Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful one!
It was awesome to be able to hear and SEE my family with Skype, for the first time since MAY! wow i can't believe that it has been that long!  we get to talk again on mother's day and then i will be back home sometime around October... EEK that is scary because i have LOTS to do and time is ticking, so every second counts.

Big news from this week is.. CHASTITY! Yey, she is a new investigator and she is just awesome! she is 15 and has actually been going to church with her aunt and uncle for a little while now.  She went to the Christmas Lights at the Mesa Temple and referred herself.. AMAZING! Sometimes it's hard to teach people that young because we need to have a parental consent, but we met her parents and they were totally okay with everything, which is a huge relief. Hopefully they will begin to join us for our lessons. We invited them last time but no such luck.  Only time will tell! :)

Also., one of the BEST Christmas presents I received was from one of our recent converts named Josh! he wrote Sister Doll and I a letter and it was the best thing ever. It was a really great note and it made me cry like a little baby! Also we got to see him bless the sacrament for the first time on Sunday, which was such a blessing. His family came and supported him as well! Aww, I just love families together on Christmas!

Spencer Algers made these shirts for us for Christmas!

We made these bracelets with our names on them for all the Sisters for Christmas.

Sister Doll and I truly love each other.

Awesome stockings that Sister Alger made us! We love her!

On Tue we had an Arizona Tempe Mission Christmas Party and it was so great! we ALL went to the temple on Tue so they split the mission in half; half went at 6 am and the other half went at 3 pm. At one time there were 100 missionaries together at one time with president and sister Howe's, which was AWESOME! we all got to eat a Christmas feast with pie and it was fun to all be there together. We're all going to be together again on wed and so I'm excited.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  We're all getting skinny for 2012
love,
sister martin

Dec. 19, 2011

Hello Hello!
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY MOMAMIA
AND HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY LINDSAY AND LAUREN!

Well the theme for this week is CANCELED LESSONS! Ya not too fun... we get it, this time of year is busy and even people go out of town but its kinda rough!  i am SOOO thankful that i only have to miss one Christmas... even if that does mean that i have to endure the Arizona summers!

Nonetheless we were on our bikes ALOT this week but that is a good thing to try to counteract all the cookies and other treats that we have been given. One particularly hard day this week when all of our lessons fell through and we had been rides our bikes all day we went to a members for dinner and they surprised us with the "12 days of Christmas"!  What a blessing!  So now even if the day is hard,  its okay, because each night when we come home we open a Christmas present and with each present is a Christmas story. Those stories have really helped to bring the Christmas spirit into our home. There are classic stories of the Christmas Orange and the Christmas Shoes and then there are others that I've never heard before but  are very touching and inspiring.

I am so grateful for all the I have and for the warm home that we get to live in. Yesterday at church was the best ever because in one of our wards the whole sacrament meeting was just full of stories and beautiful Christmas musical numbers! Of course knowing me, I was a ball baby because it was just so touching :)
I just love Christmas and being on a mission and not being preoccupied with the stresses of shopping for presents and making treats. My mission has helped me to really focus on Christ and the real meaning of Christmas.

Our 12 Days of Christmas gifts!

Mesa Temple Nativity

Mesa Temple Lights

Our pictures are dark, but the lights behind us are amazing!

Sister Doll and I had the opportunity to go to the Mesa Temple Lights and to talk to people from all over the world - even close to home from Rock Port, Missouri :)  We loved talking to them about the true meaning of Christmas!  Another blessing of the week is that Sasha is going to be baptized on Dec 31 as well as Josh! This is the first time on my mission that I have had more then one baptism in a day! HAPPY NEW YEAR.  Transfers are on Dec 28th too. If i get moved i hope that i can come back for them-- cross your fingers.

well i love you all and i hope that everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Hint, hint,  I LOVE CHRISTMAS CARDS :)

Love,
Sister Martin

Dec. 12, 2011

HELLO HELLO HELLO!

okay so great week :)   JENNIFER GOT BAPTIZED! ohh man it was so great and her whole family (mom, dad, and brother) came to it! ohh ya the Power of Fasting! she is so cute and was a little nervous, but  afterwards,  she was just glowing!  I love that "after baptism" glow and the spirit at baptisms is breathtaking!  Another great thing about this baptism was that she has been dating this less active member and he got his act together and  the lessons really helped him and he ended up baptizing her :)  That is a 2-in-one in my book. I Love baptisms but its sad that we don't get to see her twice a week anymore. i really feel like a parent sending my kids off to college, out into the big scary world without me! It's good for her and she has a great support system and is already set up with visiting teachers that will just help her.

We did have the awesome experience of teaching Josh Horner one of his new member lessons this week! its just cool to see how much he has changed since we taught him that lesson for the very first time! the first time we met with josh we were talking, obviously, a lot about God and His son Jesus Christ, and asking him questions about his relationship with them and he got all embarrassed and told us how it was hard for him to talk about it and to even mention their names because he never had before Then be able to see him last week bare his testimony in front of the whole ward is just truly amazing!

Josh Chapman- the 18 year old with an inactive father and brother- got  on date to be baptized this week for Dec 31! cool huh.. he will be baptized in 2011 then confirmed in 2012! But its just great to be able to teach his whole family and then to see them all come back to church on Sunday! such a sight to see!

Tis the time for Ward Christmas Parties! Saturdays are packed with Christmas parties when you cover 4 wards... its so fun though, and its the best way to really meet the members and their friends. also every winter the Mesa Temple decks out in Christmas lights and its HUGE and people come from everywhere to see the lights... maybe not as good as Temple Square but similar! there are local bands that come and sing Christmas carols each night as well. Sister Doll and I get to work there with other Mesa missionaries on Sat which I'm really excited for. Our job is to just walk around and answer questions. you should google the mesa temple lights to see!

We had zone conference this week which was awesome as well!!! except they installed TIWI's in all of our cars which tell the mission office every time were not wearing out seat belt, speeding, etc!!! not okay and it makes me a nervous wreck... ughhh but i guess i get the reason, but that doesn't mean i have to like it. Biking is far better FOR SURE!

I love you all SOOO MUCH!  Think of Christ :),  he suffered for all of us because he loves us (1 NEPHI 19:9) one of my faves.  Tis the season to be JOLLY!

I look like a GIANT!  I love Toni who got baptized last week!

Lovely Jennifer!

Jen and her boyfriend, Taylor

love,
sister martin

December 5, 2011

 i want to tell you about my week! BLESSING ARE FALLING FROM THE SKY!

okay so first of all TONI GOT BAPTIZED! ohhh boy it was the best ever and it felt like a Queen Creek celeb reunion! all of the new and old mayors and town council people were there and the old mayor confirmed her on Sunday and a bishop of another baptized her. it was the greatest :) she is the very best and  i just love her!

okay so everything happens for a REASON!  Thurs. we had 3 lessons planned and a great dinner and by 12:00 ALL of them were canceled... yes even dinner! so i was discouraged and it was cold and rainy but we had to be on our bikes because we had to talk to people. so we loaded up ,thank goodness i have the best comp. ever that never complains or else that would have made it even worse, but so we loaded up and headed over to a recent convert's house named Austin!  While we were biking, this guy was in his yard behind a fence shoveling (creepy.  We turned around and went to talk to him. turns out he is WAY nice and  that elders had talked to him forever ago and had given him the Restoration DVD and that he just moved into our area and that he wanted to learn more! we set up a lesson for the next day and moved on VERY Happy!

then we saw Austin and that was great and we got back on our bikes and were going to the road and on the opposite side there were two ladies talking so we crossed the street to go talk to them.  I'm way nervous for this awkward approach because we were going to interrupt their conversation, but long story short,  one of the ladies is an inactive member that we have been trying to find for a while and a couple days prior she had prayed that someone could help her to come back to church! AWESOME! so thank goodness our dinner canceled because then she offered to feed us and to get us out of the cold and misty rain, we had a good talk with her and we are going back today to meet her nonmember friend that lives with her!

THEN we finally contacted this other lady whose house we have called and stopped by a million times and taught her! we have another lesson with her on Tue :)

ohhh man i could go on forever about this week! in the end we had a great lesson with Cuco (the shoveling guy) and he came to church all by himself on Sunday and stayed the whole time!

okay so not enough time to write about Jennifer but we had an awesome experience with her this week. we had a group fast with Jen for her parents hearts to soften and probably 35 people joined us for the fast! but so our prayers were answered and actually Sunday night we got to go and meet her whole family!!! CRAZINESS! it was awesome and her mom committed to coming to her baptism this sat! i am SOO excited :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a missionary! but the cool thing is that you don't have to be a missionary to receive all of these blessings and to see all these miracles... all you have to do it pray for them and Heavenly Father will answer your prayers :) SO DO IT! I am sooo grateful!

i love you all so very much
Love,
Emily