June 13, 2011

Bike pimple

Yey, all finished! Notice the black thumbs.

No comment!!!

Hello!
Another great week to be in Arizona and not Missouri! what is happening there... tornadoes and now flooding? omg that is just crazy. although it is working to my advantage because when i tell ppl that im from Missouri, it is an immediate conversation starter, which is just great. Also, now there are 2 LDS people running for president and that is awesome!

So this week i became an expert bike repair girl. My back bike tire got a leak so we went to walmart to get these cool slim tires and came home, then had to go back to walmart to exchange them because i guess tires are different sizes... who knew!  i changed both the tires just because i knew the other one was soon to be a goner. after i was all done, i realized that i read the pressure gauge wrong and i aired up my tire WAY too much and the actual rubber tire broke, which caused a pimple effect to happened to the rubber tire. then I had to go back again to walmart to get another one of those. Well after a lot of wasted, but much needed time spent on my bike, i was finally finished and its running just great!

we have an AWESOME new investigator! his name is brad and he actually asked for missionaries by getting on mormon.org. we met him on thur and he told us that he feels like he is in the same situation as Joseph Smith and that he needs help on choosing which church is the true church. he completely agrees with modern- day prophets, so as you can imagine i am freaking out at this point.  I’m also sweating like crazy because we had to meet in the heat, since our member wasn’t there yet so we could go inside. so long story short he came to church on sunday and then we had another lesson that night and he had already read 11 chapters in the book of mormon.  he had also given up coffee and we hadn’t even taught him that yet, he had just heard that we didnt drink it!! OMG CRAZY! that never happens.  so we committed him to be baptized on july 2 because he has other word of wisdom problems that he has to overcome, but he will because he is just that awesome.

pretty much sister white and i are being blessing beyond imagine. brad is the 4th person that we put on date this week and that's only because the Lord is literally pouring out his blessing upon us as missionaries. I love this gospel so much and it truly changes lives. Sister White and i both gave talks on faith this week and it was the perfect topic because what i could apply it every single day last week!  7 investigators came to church yesterday, which is an all time high and it was just awesome because 4 came to the ward where we spoke. What A Blessing!    

I hope you all have a great week and be safe out there!

Love you,

Emily

Mon. June 6, 2011

Scorpion in the font

Alfredo's baptism

Water park cool-off

Aren't we lovely?

Hello Family and Friends,
Okay this has been another great week! Alfredo got baptized on sat and that was just the best service ever! Baptisms are the best ever and the spirit is so awesome and strong. It was great to have such a great saturday because Sundays are ALWAYS the hardest day of the week, well at least for me. Getting investigators to come to church and relying on their agency is one of the hardest things for me. i wish that i could just make them all come so that they could see how wonderful church is and so they can feel that awesome spirit inside.   i know that wouldnt be the best thing to do, so we just pray like for them like crazy and hope that they come.

So updates on joe and Rocio is that they are doing awesome but Joe has to get a job before they can get married.  getting married means that Rocio will lose all of her government help which would not be good for their family. They are in a really tough situation right now but i can see them being blessed for their diligence and for all their efforts and there really is no doubt in my mind that they wont get baptized. The work is soo good here in Tempe even tho it's so hot. the people and members are all working so hard!

I'm sad to be missing out on all the family fun that will be happening this summer and all the fun vacations that are about to take place but its okay. i guess this is what getting old feels like, although i have heard MULTIPLE times that i look way too young to be here. I’m serious, people won't quit saying it, but ohh well at least i don’t look old. Don’t worry, we get the "Wow you two look tired" line all the time. To all you out there, don’t say that! ha we're always so sweaty and gross and we know we don’t look good. It's okay because thankfully people still talk to us even tho they think we are crazy for riding our bikes in this weather! well i love all of you and its always great to hear from you. stay cool in the heat!
love sister Martin

May 31, 2011

HELLO WORLD!

sorry for the late email but this week being transfer week they switched  pday to tue (for only this week)! dont worry me and sister white are safe and are not being moved anywhere. two companionship's in my zone are being white washed out and my district leader is being transferred tho so my district will be totally new next week! kinda sad but good at the same time!

HAPPY LATE BDAY TO KASS!! i love you and im relieved to hear about Mike! he has def been in my prayers

first of all THANK YOU MOM! you are so awesome and i just love you so much. The plan of salvation thing is absolutely perfect and the candy was, as always not needed, but much enjoyed :)

second of all.... TAYLOR IS ENGAGED! omg heather wrote me this week and told me first and then i got all your emails today! omg that is crazy and totally does not feel real at all! Congrats taylor and crystal! I think you should wait a year and a half to get married tho... dont you think it would be worth it :) I'm def not a fan on missing out on their wedding but there is no way you could get me to leave Arizona because i just love it, so i say just wait!

So for more interesting news... i have told you about my investigator family, joe and rocio with their two little girls, well they were on date for may 28th but had to push it back because of joe's smoking so then they were set for june 11. Well this week we discovered that THEY ARENT MARRIED! haha okay so in order to get baptized you must be married if you're living with someone of the opposite sex. so obviously this came as a big surprise to me since im the one who asked the question. so sister white and her last comp found this family and they told them that they have been together for 7 years but obviously together does not mean married, so she learned her lesson.  Haha, but dont worry  because now we are planning a wedding, YEY!  i never thought i would get to do that on my mission, but that's what's happening so im excited! They are so awesome and their faith is just incredible. ill let you know more when i do.

Next.. okay so while oyming last week we found vito! on friday we met him and the first thing he told us was that he was addicted and was currently using MANY illegal and harmful drugs, plus many more things, so immediately i was scared. thank goodness we got a good member to come with us for this lesson.  it was a great lesson and he actually came to church on sunday YEY! then we met with him again on mon and he informed us that his girlfriend had died sunday night due to a drug overdose and that he is done with everything. He had been reading like crazy and wants every packet we have. he is amazing and he is completely changing his life around. he bore his testimony to us and told us that at church he felt the spirit and that he knows that God loves him and now he is going to change and has committed to baptism. obviously we still have much to teach him and we are taking it slow but we have another lesson with him on thur so ill keep you updated!

this sat we have a baptism!!! his name is Alfredo (yes like alfredo sauce haha) and i just love this guy. he is awesome and he is so excited to be baptized!

Well my memorial day def didnt feel like a holiday but it was good none the less because it was spent doing missionary work!

I love you all

love sister martin

May 23,2011

Hey everyone I'm glad to hear that so many of you made it!! I don’t know about missouri but in Arizona on May 21 there was supposed to be a rapture which is pretty much when the "righteous" were to be vaporized and go straight to heaven. that seems like something off star trek. haha ya there were billboards and i heard that it was all over the radio and on tv! tons of people asked us about it on the streets and were freaking out that the world was going to end. Ohh man i cant believe what people believe, but it was entertaining. we just read everyone the scripture in matthew about that “not even the angels know when the second coming will be here”!  that seemed to help and, hopefully, it caused some people to start repenting!

No news really on the bugs from last week because we think we sucked them all up but our apt is getting sprayed on thur anyways.

this week was way fun.  on P-day we got stuff and wrote on the back of our zone leader’s and spanish elder’s car and wrote JUST MARRIED on the back window and then on the front we drew a heart on the  driver’s side and on the passenger’s we wrote IM WITH HIM with an arrow pointing at the driver! HAHA it was awesome becuase we put streamers  and tied tin cans to the back as well. Well they got us back by smearing peanut butter and spanish hot sauce all over our car the day before car check!! UGHHH but oh well it was super funny. i love the elders here and I really do have a great zone because we all work really hard.

Okay so i need an answer, why do all the bird in arizona die?? when biking we seeing tons of dead birds just laying on the side of the road... is it the heat??  Can anyone tell me?

Well i love you all! this week was great! I love being a missionary and i love all your letters
hope you all have a great week.

Love, sister martin

"Decorating" the Elder's car

                                        Elder's revenge - a teddy bear covered with hot sauce.

At the Mesa Temple with Sister Matta

Mon. May 16, 2011

  Sister White, Ashley, Sister Martin

            

Ashley's baptism

my zone laser tag

Hello out there!
its P-day so sister white and i decided to clean the apt. It was my turn to clean the kitchen so i did the dishes and then began to sweep. While sweeping i saw that i was sweeping up some rice, which was really weird since neither of us have ever cooked rice. I got down to look at it and IT WAS DEF NOT RICE!!! EEEKKKK omg i get the chills from just thinking about it. the "rice" was def bugs. i dont know what kind but they were about 1/2 inch long and they look like worms. so its 6:30 am and sister white and i are full on screaming because we not only found them in the kitchen but along the sides of the walls in the carpet. they were everywhere!! Why haven't we seen them before? so we hurried and vacuumed all of them up.  the office where we live isn't open until later so we are going there right after emails. SICK! they better get rid of them or else there is no way im going to be able to sleep. i am scared to death to walk on the carpet barefoot now.

 besides that, this week was AWESOME! Saturday Ashley got baptized.  omg it was truly amazing and then on sunday she got confirmed with the Holy Ghost. she is so cute and is so happy. Baptisms are the best ever and hopefully Joe and Rocio will get batized on the 28th. Dani was supposed to be baptized on the 21st but she just canceled because her parents are not supportive at all. its sad becuase she is so ready and she is just striving to have a better life and to do whats right and her family told her that they would be very disappointed in her if she were baptized. this is sad but im not worried because i know that someday she will be baptized, just not now. sunday night was the mission president's fireside that they have every 3rd week of the month. To go you must have an investigator with you so we brought joe, rocio, and their 2 daughters. the fireside starts off with two new investigators who tell their conversion stories and then they bare their testimonies. this is so awesome to hear and i know that both of the stories really touched joe and rocio. then someone from the mission presidency talks and then there is a musical number. this weeks musical number was given by all the missionaries and we sang the EFY melody. when i sang this at EFY i bawled then and nothing has changed. there were about 14ish sisters and prob 40ish elders there and hearing all those young, worthy elders sing just made me loose it. we are all children of our loving heavenly father and i love him! it was just an amazing night.

the amount of blessings that i receive each day are just too numerous to count! we got 6 new investigators this week, one of them being Gerard! omg i love this man so much. He is so awesome. We met him while we were trying to contact one of our other new investigators across the hall. We met him 2 weeks ago but he was out of town so we just met up with him to teach him this week. he is catholic and he just wanted to hear about our church but not to join. we talked to him about the restoration of the gospel and after all of that he was quiet for a bit and then he said it wasn't a coincidence that we met! he knows that we were meant to meet and that he felt like this was right. since my parents passed down the sweet emotional genes to me, i OF COURSE,  started tearing up. the spirit was so strong and he has the most amazing faith. He loved the fact that children aren't baptized as babies and said that he always knew that was how it was supposed to be! we as LDS know that Jesus Christ came to to "call not the righteous but the sinners to repentance."

I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and all the modern revelation that we have in the Doctrine and Covenants and through the prophets today. we are ALL so blessed! The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church here on the earth, thanks to the priesthood. everything about missionary work is the best ever.  i challenge all of you at home to do missionary work as well! "If you have desire you are called to the work"

I love you all so much
Love sister Martin

May 9, 2011

Yes!  I love Quik Trip!

Sister Martin and Sister White

Hello,
It was so great being able to talk to everyone and to see you all on skype. i wish i could have talked to jenny and christy some more! i love you and your families so much.   time flew by and half the time on the phone i didnt even know who i was talking to, but i love you all.

okay so ill just repcap and some things that i told you last night for everyone else that read this.
So this week was CRAZY! we got 8 new investigators! my comp says that the most she has ever had was 5 in a week, so this is awesome and if all goes as planned,  we should have 4 more this week. Ashley is getting baptized this Saturday. Omg, it is so exciting to see with my own eyes how much the gospel changes peoples lives. today we have an appointment with Cina, she is 42 and is single and is just awesome. iv never met her before but she contacted us because she works with all lds people and because of all their awesome examples she wants to learn more. then we have an apt with Bolivia. She is in her 40s as well and will soon be adopting her 4 nieces and nephews and we are teaching them all!

Missionary work is so exciting but i really don't know what the best part is. im excited when they agree to let us teach them, im excited when they accept our challenges, and im excited when they accept baptism. It's all just amazing. Today and tomorrow are filled with appointments which is such a blessing because it's so hot outside. on Saturday it got to 100 degrees.... ITS MAY! i dont know how im going to make it since it doesnt cool off until october.

my daily schedule:
6: wake up and run
8: personal study
9: companion study
10: on bike and heading out the door
lots of OYMing (street contacting) because people are actually outside because its not too hot yet
12: lunch
1: training
2: appointments or oyming
5: dinner at a members
9 or 9:30 starts planning
10:30 bedtime

throughout my day sister white and i are just laughing and finding people that i would have never talked to before. people here are in general, super nice,  we have the occasional nut, but its just awesome. Missionary work is so awesome and its so rewarding. i know that this will help me throughout my whole life and im so grateful for this experience.

sorry i forgot my camera cord so no pics today but ill send some next time. last pday we did a tri-zone activity and we played laser tag against each other. my zone got killed and my overall score i ranked 22 out of 31 people so i was happy about that since the last time i played was at my 16th bday. today we are having a bbq at one of our bishops and i think, watching the new Joseph smith movie. sometime in between there i will be trying to write letters back to everyone! i love you all. thank you so much for all your prayers.   The field is def white,  ready to harvest but its not just for missionaries! I challenge each and every one of you to talk to someone about the gospel this week. you might be nervous but i promise you that you will be blessed.


love sister martin

May 2, 2011

HEY
THERE!

 So
the high of this week was 96 degrees and this week it should be up in the
100's!! its hot but i love it! my tan lines are pretty sweet too. My leg's tan
line isnt too bad but the one on my arms and feet is soo funny. i don't know
what it is but i have horrible tan lines, I wear a helmet, and usually my
shirts are black on the back because they get junk from my tire and still I've
never had more compliments or been whistled at more in my life! haha its
sometimes scary, but for the most part my companion and i just laugh.

I love my companion and its way funny, but she and i together can pretty much
quote Emperors New Groove. We love being Jesus freaks and i love the looks i
get when i come up to people at 8:45 at night when they are carrying alcohol in
their hand and ask them if they would like a message on Jesus Christ. this work
is awesome and is very awkward at times but its just the greatest. the awkward
moments make my day.

my comp and i love our bikes and so we are on them all day. this week the most we
rode was 23 miles in a day and the lowest was 15. sister white has a
speedometer thing on her bike that keeps track of our miles.

Okay so yey we got ashley on date for baptism this week. she will be getting
baptized on May 14th. ashley is 22 and has a 3 year old son. she is just
amazing and i love her. Also we have been teaching this 18 year old named dani
and she wants to be baptized as well,  but she is  waiting for her
dad's approval. she should know if its a yes or a no by today, so keep her in
your prayers.

We have amazing investigators that have so much faith. It's hard to find people
but that work is progressing and its awesome. the Lord is preparing people and
so we make sure to talk to everyone that we see, that's another reason why we
love biking so much because we can triple the amount of people that we can talk
to by just riding our bikes. We are teaching a Muslim, many Catholics, Baptists
and people that have never been to church at all. I love this work and i love
being here. Arizona is so beautiful and all the trees are just filled with
lemons, oranges, grapefruit, and many many more.

i love you all so much- help your missionaries. its so crucial that they have the
ward's help in every way or its hard for the work to progress. its also crucial
that members attend the lessons!

I love you all

love sister martin