Sept. 5, 2011

The San Tan Mountains before sunrise!

               Mom and Dad and Heather, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE

i cant even tell you how excited that i was when i saw it! and i LOVE the cardigan and i got tons of compliments on it on Sunday.  you are all the very best! so wierd that you were here though. i def was looking around all day to see if you were going to try and see me.  haha

i loved the marshmellows and i def have been toasting those babies!

 So this morning we all got up at 4:00 and hiked the san tan mountains and it was awesome... I’m super tired now but what's new. Sister Johanson is back here for the weekend. haha she couldn’t leave for long. This week has been WAY good. Okay so we have been praying for new gators like CRAZY and this week our prayers were answered! we got this new gator named Anthony and he is awesome. During the first lesson we were telling him the whole story of joseph smith and he stopped us and told us that for the past 3 months he has been feeling exactly like that. At the very end of the lesson we put him on date for oct 1!!! He came to church yesterday and we talked to him afterwards and he just kept talking about the spirit that he was feeling and he said that he was trying his hardest not to smile becuase he didn’t want to look like an idiot! iv never heard anything better than that. This week we are meeting with Darrin and we're way excited for that lesson too!

 well im sorry that this is so short but i just love you all! 

I am so grateful that i can pray and that i can recieve answers to my prayers and that it’s not just a blessing that i get, but it's a blessing we can all recieve as well!

i love this gospel so much and im grateful for all the prayers that everyone says for my companion and I! we really have been strengthened

 i love you all!

love sister martin

Aug. 29, 2011

Ok CRAZY things are happening here! you might have heard of all the "i am a mormon" blitz campaigns going on around the world...   starting

oct 3 there will be one happening HERE! its going to be nuts. billboards, bus stops, TV commercials.  you name it, “Mormon” will be on it. I’m a little nervous because people are either going to love us or hate us! its okay though, because we are only looking for people who are prepared.  

 so the wards are pretty much going nuts here trying to be prepared and salt lake is asking everyone in the area to make a profile on mormon.org as well. this happened in NYC and 47% of lds people got APPROACHED by nonmembers with questions about the lds faith and almost 100% of the youth got approached!  they are telling us that in NYC people were just showing up at church without even being asked if they wanted to come because they were so curious and they found the ward building on mormon.org as well. WOW

 our teaching pool is LOW and i mean low! pretty much all week it has been around 114 degrees and we have been outside biking in that ALL DAY LONG just trying to find people to teach. this lull always happens in the work so its okay because i know that things will soon turn around. its super stressful being senior and i feel a lot of responsibility but its okay because im learning tons.  It’s also way weird only having one companion!!! i miss sister johanson! i am so grateful for everything that she taught me.

 mom i can’t believe you, Dad and Heather are coming to Phoenix on wed! welcome to the heat. i don’t really need anything... ummm well, food and pictures would be nice . thanks for the gps, it was MUCH needed and we love having it. the candy is very yummy. im glad it was all nestle haha

 well i love you all so terribly much.

love sister martin

sorry no pictures... you dont want to see what i look like after biking all day in 114 degree temperatures HAHA but seriously!

Aug. 22, 2011

okay... it's official I'M SENIOR!!!  this is not supposed to happen. remember I've only been out for a little under 5 months... ya i should def not be senior for another transfer or two!

Well i guess the Lord has more trust in me then i do,  so i better start gaining some. Sister Johanson just left and i felt like a little kid with my mom driving away. I have no idea what I'm doing!!! I NEED LOTS OF PRAYERS

 this week was great! Holly got baptized which was AMAZING! seriously that was one of my favorites. Holly has been taking the lessons for over a year and so is just so prepared. after her baptism she got her temple recommend and did baptisms.  CRAZY HUH

We also had sad news with stephen canceling his baptism a couple of days right before. there is no doubt in my mind that he won’t get baptized, I'm just not so sure when it will be though.

 Our prayers have been answered with finding a lot of new investigators lately so hopefully, that will all go well. this stake is AMAZING! so this week was stake conference and the sat. night session was completely about missionary work! omg i wanted to cry it was so good. our wards are so missionary- minded so it’s awesome.  Hopefully, we will soon see the fruits of all the members labors. when ward members are missionaries then the whole teaching process is so much smoother and everything just works better.

 Well time flies, so sorry i don’t have much to say. this week will be great and i know I’m about to be the most stressed that I’ve ever been, but also about to learn more then i ever had!   SERIOUSLY.. i need prayers, LOTS of prayers! This stake worshiped sister johanson because she had been here for a year and now i have to take over. I really hope this area doesn’t just crash and burn! I’m trying to stay positive but im scared out of my mind.

 I love you soo much,

Sister Martin

My whole Zone at El Ricos. Missionaries eat for free, so of course, we go there after every District Meeting.

Sister Johanson and me!

Holly

Elder Reddish - he is my Zone Leader from Nampa.  He knows Jordan, Devin and Spencer.

Awwww . . . I will miss him!

Aug. 15, 2011

                                          Sister Orton, Johanson, and I at the Mesa temple

Happy Road! All the road signs here are awesome!

I sweat ALOT! Proof to everyone that I finally sweat and it's not a pretty sight!

A BIG CONGRATS to taylor and crystal for tieing the knot on sat!! woot woot!  Sadly i couldnt attend but I saw some pictures and everything looked great! i LOVE the picture with the all the family.  Everyone looked so cute especially my beautiful sisters and of course the BRIDE! where did Taylor and crystal go on their honeymoon?

 well the weeks are flying by like no one’s business and next week is transfers already so that means sister johanson is gone.... im not okay with that! this week we had interviews with our mission president and i asked him to give me a blessing because im soo stressed about becoming senior and it was awesome! i wouldn’t be surprised if pres. howes was the next prophet! seriously every time he speaks, the spirit just floods the room. So no baptisms this last weekend but Holly is getting baptized on the 19th and Stephen on the 20th! CRAZY

 this transfer has been filled with success and  its all becuase of the awesome members. all of our baptisms have been in our singles ward because the members just aren’t scared to bring their friends to church and its awesome. hopefully that keeps up and I don’t run this area into the ground! we have pretty much baptized everyone that we have, so now we really need to find some more  new investigators. we have a few potentials so hopefully, we can contact them soon. Its crazy that we only cover a 15 square mile radius and we still find new people to talk to everyday and some of them have never even met lds ppl before.  don’t ask me how that's possible.  sister Orton’s mom made us three cute shirts so ill send you some pictures of those next week.

 mom I just love it here and I’m so blessed for this awesome opportunity. I’m out of my comfort zone and because of that I’m learning a TON! I can’t believe how much I didn’t know about this amazing church but despite that fact, I still knew it was true. I def did not need to have a perfect knowledge of this gospel to have a testimony and I’m so grateful for that. thank you so much for putting up with me and all my stubbornness!

 sorry this is so short but i have to go. i love you all.  go out and spread the great news of the gospel!

 love sister martin

Aug. 8, 2011

                                                Shae! She is so beautiful!

Parker's mission call opening. He is our ward mission leader.  Look out Spokane, WA because Parker is awesome!

Trio!

From: Emily Martin <emily.martin@myldsmail.net>

Date: August 8, 2011 11:52:41 AM CDT

Okay so not on a spiritual note i got my haircut this morning and this lady was CRAZY! ya she chopped my hair and i def broke down when i saw it... ughhh im never cutting my hair again on my mission. i dont care if i have 10000000 slit ends. now i just look like a boy and its def not cute! but then i was happier because one of my ward mission leaders is a dentist and owns his own business and so today we went and got teeth impressions for retainers and so that we can whiten our teeth!!!! YEY im so excited and its all for free :) ohh the blessings from being a missionary. oh and next pday were getting our teeth cleaned as well! at least my smile will be pretty even if my hair looks horrible.

okay back to spiritual matters... Shae's baptism was amazing and i just love her so much! this week was awesome!  so i was super nervous because just me and sister orton had to teach stephen and this was a very imprortant lesson because we had to get him back on date but it’s touchy because he has major family problems and we didn’t want to be too pushy. so i was freaking out before but we just prayed A LOT and so because of that the lesson went awesome and he actually told us at the end that he needed to set a date!!! YA...  that never happens. this taught me such an important lesson about the spirit and how the spirit is the most important thing in the lesson because that is how the investigator will be taught, not by me! if it is by me then that's a problem and that's when people fall away from the chruch.  stephen will be getting baptized on the 19th and holly the 20th! that will make 5 baptisms this month in our singles ward! NUTS!!! this ward is amazing and its just awesome to see just how awesome members really help. We didnt find any of these great people. they are all referrals or just came to chruch because they were invited. when the missionaries and the ward members help each other the work really progesses!

well i hope all is well in the world! good luck taylor and crystal on getting married this weekend!

July 25, 2011

Us with Sister Matta. WE LOVE HER!

Rockin the red, white and blue-except I'm wearing black

okay so AMAZING NEWS!

we having been teaching this 18 year old girl named Morgan for about a month now and she was doing amazing until tons of people got together and completely “anti-ed” her with tons of false doctrine. she got really freaked out and so she dropped us and we had the hardest time getting ahold of her. She then went on vacation for a week and so we were really worried but were hoping for the best. She came back in town on thur and CALLED US and so we set up a lesson for friday and it was one of the most spiritual lessons that I'v had here yet. We helped her with a lot of her concerns, which was great. She came to church yesterday so we talked to her right after sacrament but then we had to leave. a little while later she texted us and told us that had recieved an answer to her prayers and she wanted to be baptized! YEY!!! we were freaking and overwhelmed with happiness! She will be getting baptized this friday now and then Mike will be baptized on Sat.!

 Queen Creek is absolutely awesome and the stake members are so missionary minded! The stake leadership right now is doing this thing where they’ve challenged every family in all the wards to pray specifically for us three by name and to pray for missionary opportunities! miracles are about to happen and i can hardly wait! Stake conference in Aug. is centered all around missionary work as well! Our trio is awesome and its amazing because we can go on splits with the members and can literally be in the 3 different places at once.

 Who wouldn't want to be a missionary is what i want to know! I get to see the gospel change lives, including mine! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is another witness of Jesus Chirst! I am so grateful for all the blessings in my life and for the health that i have that i am able to do the Lord's work. I hope all is well back home and that everyone is safe.

 love you all

sister martin

July 18, 2011

HELLO FROM QUEEN CREEK!

So no more Tempe for me, now im in hickville, USA!  i feel like im back in idaho forsure and i love it.

This area used to be the San Tan area if you know where that is too. this area is completely different from tempe. in tempe there are tons of apartment complexes and actual sidewalks, but not here. there are open fields, farms, and just houses. I'm covering 4 wards again and one of them is a regular young single adult ward which is way weird since im used to my mid single adult ward! Ohhh and guess what??? IM IN A TRIO!

 Ya i feel like im back at the MTC! okay so when i figured out that we had an odd number of sisters this tranfer i knew that i was going to be in it and i was super nervous about it but its AWESOME! i love my companions and we are all learning so much about each other. we look like a biker gang and the members call us Heaven's Angels :) haha

 Sister Johanson is from Colorado and this is her last transfer, but WEIRD.., she has been in this area for a year! the members love her and i couldn’t imagine being in the same place for a year, but she is def been a help to this area. She is way awesome and i wish that she could be my comp for a while longer. Then there is Sister Orton and she just got here last transfer so she is still in the middle of training. She is from Florida and it’s awesome that none of us are from utah or idaho! we already teach so well together .  im kinda nervous that im going to go senior next tranfer because sis johanson will be gone and so then it will just be me and sis orton! actually sister johanson went senior in her 3rd transfer so it could happen to me but i DO NOT want it to. That pretty much scares me to death having to be in charge over an area.

 Ohh and so Brad got baptized this weekend.  i got permission to go back to tempe and attend the baptism and it was the best thing ever! He was as happy as can be and the spirit was so strong! He is such an amazing person and i am so grateful that i had the privelege to teach him!

 Well, i don’t know what else to say besides I love my Mission! It truly is the best thing ever and im so greateful for this awesome privelege. THE CHURCH IS TRUE! i just can’t say that enough. I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and I'm so grateful for the restoration of the gospel! Ilove you all

 love sister martin