HELLO!
Happy martin Luther King day! ha ha
Shout our to CHIRSTA STREBLE! SHE IS ENGAGED! I just Love you Christa and i couldn't be more happy for you.
Well once again because its a holiday we are at a members house really early and i don't even remember what happened this week... whoops!.
Well so Donny is doing just great just so you know! he has changed SOOO much since i first began to teach him in Sept so its great to be able to see that change in him!
okay so cool story... it all starts in Aug last year. sister Orton, Johanson, and i are all together but this one day Johanson was away training at zone conference. So it was just Orton and I and we were trying to see a whole bunch of people that haven't been coming to church for a long time and passing out the ward time- change fliers. we knock on 100000 doors and no one was home or they just didn't open the door, until we got to Penny's door. so she opened up and she was super nice but sister Orton and I didn't know what to say because we were both way new. it's always kinda awkward at these door approaches because you don't want to just say "Hey! why haven't you been to church in FOREVER?" ha ha, but so we just chatted and then than asked her if we could come back and read through the Book of Mormon with her. she agreed and so we started to come back week after week and soon she began to show signs of a very slow progression but that's still progression. well to make this story short, yesterday she came to church and stayed all three hours and was even participating in class and then afterwards she came up to me and gave me the biggest hug and told me, "Thank you for reactivating me!" BEST THING EVER! From Aug til now she has made some huge progress and she is just the greatest and she has even gotten her husband to along with her too :)
Missionary work is the very best work ever! Sorry this is so short but its time to go.
love you all,
sister martin
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Jan 9, 2012
YEP thats a QT donut :)
we hiked the san tans this morning as a zone! I LOVE Queen Creek :)
adams, me, doll, and kerr
adams, me, doll, and kerr
OF COURSE WE BROUGHT OUR BOOK OF MORMONS
HELLO HELLOohh man... another great week :)
Well as a mission we are completely changing the way that we "find'. Dad used to knock doors, we used to OYM or street contact, but now we're mostly just working with members. We have had 2 trainings this week about it and I'm not FULLY understanding everything that we need to do but i do know that in order to meet our huge goal, we have to do things different then we did last year! We are meeting with ward members to train and role play with them on how they can do their own missionary work! WEIRD but i understand the need. this next 9 months of my mission is going to be completely different then the first part and that is for the better. We seriously have the BEST wards ever and they are all committed to help us in our missionary work by starting the Ward Council Process, which we have known about for over a year, but has not been been implemented in the wards. BUT yesterday we set it up with two of our wards with ALL of our auxiliary leaders with us and next Sunday we will train the other two wards! ohh man i am so excited for this next year and we started off on the right foot!
MIRACLE!! So Donny... well he had been really struggling with quiting smoking since he had been doing it for 17 years and so you can see the kind of addiction he was struggling with. Well we have been meeting with him daily to try and help him out the best that we could and Doll and I even made these "Temptation Killers" for him which is really just a bag full of awesome scriptures and good motivational quotes for him to pull out and read to try and get his mind distracted when he is tempted to smoke. He was getting frustrated with himself because he just wanted to quit so bad and so before he went to work (which is the main source of temptation for him) he knelt down and prayed that he could quit. well he went to work and the guy that he smokes with came up to him and told him that he woke up that morning and felt like he needed to quit!!! so he told Donny that and Donny almost had a heart attack I think! ha ha well long story short, today is his 7th day without smoking :) WOW what a miracle. we have still been seeing or calling him everyday but he says that he doesn't even feel the need to smoke anymore! Heavenly Father answers our prayers!!!!
Also... everyone knows that I LOVE Quick Trip maple long johns and so we were talking to josh (Recent Convert) about donuts and i told him that they were my favorite and so that night he called us and told us to come out.... oh ya he bought 9 MAPLE LONG JOHNS!!!! thank goodness there are 4 of us, but they still aren't gone! ha ha he was so nice to do that and he had to drive a bit to be able to find the closest QT!
haha those donuts are def NOT in my diet but how can I resist! this is why i can't lose weight!
So this week sister Doll and I set up an "MTC night" with the youth in one of our wards. pretty much all the youth come for their combined actvity and we set up a mock MTC! they all entered and we split them up into companionships and then districts and rotated them in several rooms! one was a p-day room where there was TONS of cold cereal to eat and they wrote letters (we had them write to the missionaries serving from their own ward), then there was a Language room where they were taught Cantanese, a First Discussion room where we taught them the first discrussion and then there were Tracting rooms where the companionships knocked on a whole bunch of doors and each door was a differnt senario! it was WAY FUN and the youth brought friends and it was just great and very successful!
- i found a quote in the the new Relief Society manuel from President George Albert Smith that says " The best evidence of gratitude at this time is to do all we can to bring happiness to this sad world, for we are all our Father's children, and we are all under the obligation of making this world a happier place for our having lived in it." EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY!
I love you all very much!
Love, love,
Sister Martin
...
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
January 2, 2012
Hello Familia!
HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TOMMY AND HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!
Okay, all the libraries are closed and so we are at our neighbors and usually i think of things that i want to write about but we had to come over here earlier then usual so i have nothing prepared. i hope i don't forget a lot of good stuff about what happened this week!
It really is true what they say about mission life that a day feels like a year and a year feels like a day! Literally, it seems like Christmas was forever ago, when really it was just a week ago. There is no time to think about the past because all I have to work with is "the right now" and what can I do right now to be able to follow the Spirit and see Miracles! It's awesome!
Guess WHAT!! Paul don't miss this.... WE RAN A 5K ON SAT! :) Believe it or not Sister Doll and I really do run 2 miles almost every morning so I am in good shape! If I could just stop eating as much as I do then you would be able to tell! So our San Tan Ward had a Fun Run on Sat. and we could either run 1, 2,or 3.89 miles (random i know) so we ran 3.89. I thought i might die at the end, but i never stopped and i finished in the top 10, which I was VERY excited about. I know what you're thinking and YES we got it approved from our mission president, which we were surprised about :) crazy huh?
On Saturday Sacha and Josh got baptized together (because they are in the same ward) and it was just awesome! This was a first for me having more then one baptism at once, which was Very Cool! The more the merrier :) Both of these people live with family that aren't very active so we are keeping a close eye on them, but we really don't think it's a problem because they are just so great! I don't know if you have ever heard of Clyde Bauden -if not google or YouTube him pronto- but he he is an AWESOME PIANIST and Josh's family knows him and they got him to come and to play at the baptism and it was just amazing. He gave us his CD and signed it which was cool. ha ha its not everyday when you get a celeb at a baptism.
ohhh guess what, I turned 9 Months on Dec 30! WEIRD - half way done and that's not okay. it's awesome that my 9 months was right at the New Year because it was a great time to set some good goals on how to make the next 9 months even better then the first.
the mission has set a REALLY high goal for baptisms for the year of 2012. We had 1040ish for 2011 which is nuts, and now they have asked all the stakes to pray about goals, and all their goals added up to be 2010 so we just made it 2012! I am so grateful that i get to stay in the area for another transfer because there is so much that needs to be done. Church is the best ever because everyone that attends is promised personal revelation if you will just be listening for it and yesterday i was all ears. I can just picture Heavenly Father just waiting for us to just listen to Him. I know that he tries to help me out all the time but I'm just too focused on figuring everything out by myself that i don't give Him a chance to talk to me. This year Big things are happening and i am SUPER EXCITED!
Yesterday was kinda a rough one with people not being at church and just other things falling through but once i got into a better state of mind and left everything in Heavenly Fathers hands knowing that we did everything that we could, it all got better! The best thing that i have learned on my mission is that Heavenly Father loves ME and you and you and you! We are ALL His children and because of that he WANTS to talk to us. Sister Doll and I gave a talk in one of our wards yesterday about the Book of Mormon and at first i didn't want to do it AT ALL because church is already stressful enough, but in the end it was def. for the better. I have such a testimony about if we ask something with REAL INTENT then we will get answers. Now we can't just ask an academic question and expect an answer... He doesn't answer those ones, but if YOU want to know if the Book of Mormon is True, if there is a God, whether or not you need to get married to whoever, and you HAVE REAL INTENT- meaning that no matter what the answer is that you are going to do it- then he WILL answer you! Ask questions everyday because there is no limit and figure out how You personally receive answers from the Holy Ghost , because everyone is different, and then little by little it will get easier to recognize those answers.
Sorry this email is so scattered but i just LOVE the gospel and i KNOW that it is true and i challenge each of you to find out if it is true or not! Either it is or it isn't, so wouldn't you like to know? Pray, ask, GO AND DO!!!
I love you all so very much! HAPPY 2012
love,
Sister Martin
HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TOMMY AND HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!
Okay, all the libraries are closed and so we are at our neighbors and usually i think of things that i want to write about but we had to come over here earlier then usual so i have nothing prepared. i hope i don't forget a lot of good stuff about what happened this week!
It really is true what they say about mission life that a day feels like a year and a year feels like a day! Literally, it seems like Christmas was forever ago, when really it was just a week ago. There is no time to think about the past because all I have to work with is "the right now" and what can I do right now to be able to follow the Spirit and see Miracles! It's awesome!
Guess WHAT!! Paul don't miss this.... WE RAN A 5K ON SAT! :) Believe it or not Sister Doll and I really do run 2 miles almost every morning so I am in good shape! If I could just stop eating as much as I do then you would be able to tell! So our San Tan Ward had a Fun Run on Sat. and we could either run 1, 2,or 3.89 miles (random i know) so we ran 3.89. I thought i might die at the end, but i never stopped and i finished in the top 10, which I was VERY excited about. I know what you're thinking and YES we got it approved from our mission president, which we were surprised about :) crazy huh?
On Saturday Sacha and Josh got baptized together (because they are in the same ward) and it was just awesome! This was a first for me having more then one baptism at once, which was Very Cool! The more the merrier :) Both of these people live with family that aren't very active so we are keeping a close eye on them, but we really don't think it's a problem because they are just so great! I don't know if you have ever heard of Clyde Bauden -if not google or YouTube him pronto- but he he is an AWESOME PIANIST and Josh's family knows him and they got him to come and to play at the baptism and it was just amazing. He gave us his CD and signed it which was cool. ha ha its not everyday when you get a celeb at a baptism.
ohhh guess what, I turned 9 Months on Dec 30! WEIRD - half way done and that's not okay. it's awesome that my 9 months was right at the New Year because it was a great time to set some good goals on how to make the next 9 months even better then the first.
the mission has set a REALLY high goal for baptisms for the year of 2012. We had 1040ish for 2011 which is nuts, and now they have asked all the stakes to pray about goals, and all their goals added up to be 2010 so we just made it 2012! I am so grateful that i get to stay in the area for another transfer because there is so much that needs to be done. Church is the best ever because everyone that attends is promised personal revelation if you will just be listening for it and yesterday i was all ears. I can just picture Heavenly Father just waiting for us to just listen to Him. I know that he tries to help me out all the time but I'm just too focused on figuring everything out by myself that i don't give Him a chance to talk to me. This year Big things are happening and i am SUPER EXCITED!
Yesterday was kinda a rough one with people not being at church and just other things falling through but once i got into a better state of mind and left everything in Heavenly Fathers hands knowing that we did everything that we could, it all got better! The best thing that i have learned on my mission is that Heavenly Father loves ME and you and you and you! We are ALL His children and because of that he WANTS to talk to us. Sister Doll and I gave a talk in one of our wards yesterday about the Book of Mormon and at first i didn't want to do it AT ALL because church is already stressful enough, but in the end it was def. for the better. I have such a testimony about if we ask something with REAL INTENT then we will get answers. Now we can't just ask an academic question and expect an answer... He doesn't answer those ones, but if YOU want to know if the Book of Mormon is True, if there is a God, whether or not you need to get married to whoever, and you HAVE REAL INTENT- meaning that no matter what the answer is that you are going to do it- then he WILL answer you! Ask questions everyday because there is no limit and figure out how You personally receive answers from the Holy Ghost , because everyone is different, and then little by little it will get easier to recognize those answers.
Sorry this email is so scattered but i just LOVE the gospel and i KNOW that it is true and i challenge each of you to find out if it is true or not! Either it is or it isn't, so wouldn't you like to know? Pray, ask, GO AND DO!!!
I love you all so very much! HAPPY 2012
love,
Sister Martin
Happy 9 months!
MARTIN-ellies
New Year's party?!
Sascha's baptism
Josh's baptism
We had no electricity, so we made a fort.
Sister Norton left me :( last time at Costa Vita
Twinners with Sister Doll
Merry Christmas to ME!
Yey for Christmas Eve presents :) Thanks to Momma and Sister Alger
Dominey! Ha Ha, this is one of my FAVORITE elders and he got Sister Norton and I a Christmas present. Long story why he got us those gifts, but SUPER funny!
Half the AZ Tempe Mission, at the Christmas party
Monday, December 26, 2011
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!
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
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!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! We're all getting skinny for 2012
love,
sister martin
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
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.
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
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!
well i love you all and i hope that everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Hint, hint, I LOVE CHRISTMAS CARDS :)
Love,
Sister Martin
Thursday, December 15, 2011
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!
sister martin
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
Thursday, December 8, 2011
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
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
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