June 25, 2012

Hello family and friends!
I cannot believe it is P-day already. Days are flying by like nobody's business and I'm so thankful because it sure is HOT out here!

The theme of last week seemed to be that "PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED"!

Soo Phoenix!  We planned to teach him about the Word of Wisdom, which, for all of you who aren't aware, is a commandment God has given us that will help us to keep our bodies heathy.  We don't partake of coffee, tea, tabacco, alcohol, and other harmful and addictive substances. So Phoenix's  parents DEFINITELY do not follow this commandment, probably because they don't know about it. (Although the stepdad is a heart and lung doctor, so it really blows my mind that he smokes like a chimney!)  You can imagine how nervous I was to tell him that God doesn't want him to do the things his parents are doing! 

Phoenix's parents were with us for a bit, but then after the opening prayer they went outside to.... SMOKE! haha okay, so first we teach him about what commandments are and why they are given to us, and then before we started teaching him about the Word of Wisdom, I  said a prayer in my mind that everything would go well;  that Heavenly Father would please help us in the things that we said.  Right before the words came out of our mouths about the Word of Wisdom,  Daina (mom)walked back into the house and it was just perfect because I called her over and told her what we were teaching Phoenix and about the commandment and how God will bless him for keeping it! She was so grateful and told us she knew she shouldn't be smoking and then she told Phoenix she knew the things we were teaching him were right!!!! WHAT!!!! ya so it pretty much was the very best word of wisdom lesson ever!

Also we have been praying for solid referrals from members and in our new ward we were contacting some less active members when we knocked on a lady's door and she invited us right in. We had an awesome conversation with her and she told us how she has been feeling the urge to start coming back to church.. AWESOME! so we continued to talk to her and we asked her if we could teach her the lessons to strengthen her testimony and she agreed and then she asked us if it would be okay if her friend could come and listen too because he has been asking tons of questions. She even has asked already if he could come with her to church!!! So we have a lesson set up with them on Wed. and we're so excited about that  :)

There are SOOO many more stories like this from this week but not enough time. Heavenly father loves us and is soo mindful of us and our individual circumstances. What a blessing!

This morning I was reading a really old talk from Elder Holland and I want to share a part of it that stood out to me:

"I had a missionary ask me once if I would give my life for the church.  I said "Elder, I am giving my life for the church!"  I knew what Elder Holland said, but what he meant was, "would you die for it?"
Dying for it is the easy part. That's a snap, and some days it is really appealing. What God really needs is people who will LIVE FOR IT.  People who will go the distance;  people who are in this race that will go all the way to the tape.  Some may die along the way and that's wonderful, but He needs people who will FINISH THE WORK."

That is us! you and me together We CAN do this work :)

Love you all,
Sister Martin

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!!! I LOVE YOU

Happy FATHERS DAY POPS love love love you :)

                                                                                               Best Zone ever!  I miss them!
Okay soooo with transfers this week we didn't get moved around,  but we did get another ward! Now we cover 4 wards again which I have been used to my whole mission, but I have just done 3 family wards and 1 singles.  Having 4 family wards is much different! We are very excited but kinda nervous for more work when it seems like all of our efforts are focused on our investigators to get them progressing... sooo we're going to have to really multitask now. But so we're so excited because the Highland Groves Ward decided THEMSELVES that they were going to do a 40 -day fast for missionary work. Each family in the ward signs up for 1 day out of the 40 to fast and it will be for 40 days straight.... CRAZY!  I'm so excited because that ward is really struggling right now and Heavenly Father will see our efforts in finding those whom he is preparing to receive the gospel.

It's HOTTT... and not just a little, i mean HOT! Today the high is 114 degrees!!!!
I'm so glad its p-day so we don't have to be outside all day. I saw a scorched lizard the other day by the side of our house and it was so sad.  How do people live here... I feel like I'm Fifal in "Fafal Goes West",  just seeing mirages in the distance of huge sprinkler systems!

This week we had a lot of ups and downs, but thankfully, I have a sweet comp so we just laugh at all the bad things that happen.  "Faith, hope and charity bringeth unto me- the Foundation of ALL Righteousness" Ether 12:28.

"Seek Heavenly guidance one day at a time; life by the yard is hard, by the inch, it's a cinch" Elder Uchtdorf

This week we had a cool experience where we ran into a former investigator who was SUPER stressed about her disobedient children who have completely rejected God in their lives. Thankfully, I had a "Family, Proclamation to the World" in my backpack, so we read through that with her and the spirit just comforted her and softened her heart. She invited us to eat dinner with her  family the next day. We came to dinner and the evidence of a broken home was too much to cover up. She made her 3 kids all sit down around the table and when we asked if we could bless the food I thought the kids (8,16,& 19) might just kill us.. HAHA but we did and the spirit was invited into their home and the mom said for the first time everyone got along. We joked about video games, Facebook, and just TV shows (everything I NEVER talk about, so I really had to wrack my brain to remember normal everyday stuff to relate to them)!  It was just awesome! The teens became polite and it was just crazy to witness the transformation that took place in that room.

 "All human beings-male and female- are created in the image of God" God is our loving Heavenly Father and he really does LOVE US! I am so grateful for that knowledge :)

love,

Love my tan lines!!!

Sister martin

June 10, 2012

                                          Sister's service day with Sister Doll and below with Sister Adams!!
                                            I love her and lived with her in Queen Creek for 2 transfers!

hello hello
I'M STAYING IN SKYLINE!!!
Woohooo and sister price and are both staying our together. Price has been here for 5 months so I thought she might get transferred, but we are safe and sooo excited to stay here together.

We had some sad news this week... because Lili is Chinese, and in their culture, when someone has a baby they stay home -literally don't leave their home- for a month! So Lili's sister just had a baby and  lives in Kentucky. When she got the call that her sister had her baby (premature), she called us and said she would be gone for a month and then she was off a couple hours later!  I guess that means she won't be here for her baptism on the 16th... super sad! It's okay though, because she will be back soon enough!

BUT sooo we have met some AMAZING people this last week. We met this lady named Ina in the apartments who just recently moved here from Ohio,  We told her about the Book of Mormon and what a blessing it is because so much has been taken out of the Bible,  She was like a moth to a light! She was so excited to learn and after we gave her a Book of Mormon she said, "Okay so where do we go from here" haha best question ever! Now we are meeting with her and, hopefully, her two daughters on Thursday :)

Also, randomly, we got a call from this guy named RJ, who's wife is a member, and he wants to learn!  FASTING WORKS!!!

Sister Price and I really do work so hard, but we have yet to have a baptism together!!!  THIS IS OUR TRANSFER! This is our "harvesting transfer", and I'm just so glad that we get to be together for a longer time. She is the nicest person ever and people just can't help feel the spirit around her!  Plus I have A LOT more to learn from her! She has some rough situations back home and she just presses forward like nothing is wrong. Heavenly Father loves us sooo much and has blessed me on my mission with amazing companions and amazing once- in- a -lifetime experiences that have shaped me into the person that I am now!

I love this quote that was in this last conference from Neil L Andersen:
"Discipleship is not a competition at all, but an invitation to all. Our journey of discipleship is not a dash around the track, nor is it fully comparable to a lengthy marathon. In truth, it is a lifelong marathon toward a more Celestial World. His invitation is a call to DAILY DUTY."

We all have so much to do everyday so don't waste a minute.  Even after my mission I know that it's not the end! I have taught SOOO many inactive return missionaries and that is the VERY WORST! We must Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ with a perfect brightness of hope, feasting on the words of Christ!  2 nephi 31:20


                              English Sisters                         


I love love you all so very much,
Love,
Sister Martin

Ha Ha, I just liked the rug!

I love you Mom!