July 15, 2012

Hello all,
Funny, but SUPER embarrassing moment! Hahaha I can't even believe that this is going to be put on my blog but oh well.... this story is evidence that the Lord works in mysterious ways. So Paco and Jaquelin have been either out of town or attending every social event known to man so we haven't taught them in 2 weeks... not good! So we see Jaquelin outside and we go and help her carry in groceries. We take them to her house but she says that she has to hurry so we can't stay. Well so literally right when we were saying good-bye, OUT OF NO WHERE, my nose starts to bleed.! Haha, if you know me, you know this thing happens all the time, but NEVER in public!  Jaquelin sees what has happened and invites us in to fix it, and while I'm taking care of my nose, Sister Price talked to Jaquelin and she opened up about some of her troubles. We were able to share some scriptures with her and Paco and have a prayer with them! MIRACLE! Hahaha it really was the weirdest and most random thing ever! Gotta love it!

We met with Kevin and Ginni this week and it was the best thing ever!  I don't even know how to go about describing their lesson, besides amazing and powerful! The spirit was so strong and Kevin and Ginni completely opened up and told us that they recognize that they have been led all their lives to be exactly at the place where they are now and to be taught the lessons by US!  We soft-committed them for baptism and they agreed, but they told us that they want to go REALLY slow because they want to know everything! Well, they will never know everything, but thank goodness they have awesome neighbors who are reading with them in the Book of Mormon through the week, so that will be awesome!  At the beginning of the lesson we asked them why they wanted to learn and they told us "we would be stupid to not!"  They have had so many positive experiences with the Church and so they already know that it's true! Pretty amazing how that Lord is preparing people their whole lives to be able to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Rjs baptism is this weekend which will be AWESOME! Next week is transfers so cross your fingers that I stay here for my last ( WEIRD) transfer and that hopefully Sister Price will stay with me as well! Great week!

I love you all :)
love Sister Martin

July 9, 2012

Hello Everyone,

I def.  do not have enough time today to be to write ALL of the blessing that Heavenly Father has down poured on us this week! Seriously, it really is crazy amounts of miracles we have encountered, which strengthen my faith even more in my Savior.

Where to even start...
RJ: okay so RJ is married to a member and has already read the Book of Mormon and is actually on the 3rd book of the Work and Glory... why isn't he a member? He has known the church was true for a while but he is now ready to commit to the lifestyle ... mainly keeping the Sabbath day holy. So when he attended church last week (he has been hopping wards so we didn't even know about him) he felt the push that he needed to make better decisions for himself and his family and so he just got on Mormon.org and requested missionaries! WHAT!!! ya that really happens! so ya he is now on date to be baptized on July 21 and he is so excited and has a date already set for next Aug 2013 to be sealed to his wife! He is awesome and a blast to teach because he already has a pretty good foundation so its like were teaching these lessons for the 2nd time because ohhh ya... he has already read Preach My Gospel too! Crazy!


Also! okay so a LONG time ago when I first got into this area I wrote about this family who is awesome! The husband has already read the Book of Mormon 3 times and he is pretty much just waiting on his wife. So the wife has a mother who literally HATES the church, so that was her main hold up, plus some bad experiences in the past.  Thanks to awesome neighbors, her heart began to soften. A long time ago we talked to them outside and we had an awesome conversation with Gini and she told us that she would call because she wanted to learn,  but obviously that never happened. So they came to church on Easter and loved it, but because of grief from her mom that was the only time that they attended.  For some reason Sister Price and I both got a really strong impression to go and knock on their door... at 8:00 at night of all times... so we did! we were pretty nervous because we were sure if the member- neighbors knew we were doing this they would kill us!  They are just super nervous of them feeling overwhelmed, but we did it anyways. So we knocked and Gini answered the door! She was SOO excited to see us and the Spirit just touched her and she just opened up and spilled her guts to us about everything that was going on and all her the craziness in her life. She then told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon with her husband and that SHE WANTS TO LEARN!

Okay, this is a FAMILY! I have been praying to be able to teach a family my whole mission!!! It's Kevin, Ginni, and their 8-ish year old son! The gospel BLESSES FAMILIES! Truths such as "Families can be together forever" are found within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and with God's authority that has been restored to the earth, that truth is made possible!

After we left Gini's house Sister price and I were skipping and jumping and we got into the car and screamed out guts out! haha! missionary work is the best work and the most important work to be done while here on this earth! I am so grateful to be here and to be able to serve in this area! Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers... Especially when were exactly obedient! 

The good news of the gospel is that Joseph Smith IS a true prophet and God's authority to be able to act in His name and SEE MIRACLES, has been restored to the earth!!! :)
love you all.
Sister Martin

Sewing new skirts

Sister Price and I match our car!!!

July 2, 2012

HELLO HELLO
okay so funny story! For anyone who has ever been my roommate, you know that I talk in my sleep! Well nothing has changed and all my companions really get a kick out of it. So earlier this week I woke up Sister Price by saying  "Ahhhh SHADE"! hahaha that tells you how hot it is here when I dream about shade.                                                           
                                                                                                   Happy Birthday Sister Price!

This awesome member bought us these SWEET misters that fit in our back packs and when I hand pump it and turn this knob, the best mist ever comes out :) LIFE SAVER!

Another funny/embarrassing moment this week! So we were biking... yes BIKING in 112 degree weather... and we stopped and talk to this guy who CLEARLY was not interested in anything we had to say, so we ended the conversation and as we were biking away I said "See ya, try to

BE COOL. uhhhhh I meant to "STAY COOL, STAY COOL!" haha hopefully, he didn't think that I meant to say be cool! haha it was hilarious!

This week has been great! Lately we've been teaching lots of less actives that are coming back to church and it's just so awesome to see. I love being able to bear my testimony and to literally, have my mouth filled with the things the Lord would have me say. The Gift of Prophesy is something that has been really new for me on my mission. Heavenly Father is a God of order and He set up a system where we can receive revelation for those we have stewardship over,  and really... I've never had stewardship over anyone- like parents over their children, bishops over wards , etc! Now that I'm set apart to be a missionary, my companion and I can receive revelation for those that we are teaching and its such an amazing spiritual gift to receive! I can't even count the amount of times Sister Price says something that I am literally JUST about to say!

Okay so this is a really short letter, but this week we are emailing in a different place and I CANNOT concentrate! This girl next to me is gossiping about another girl about how she needs to get married fast because she is 22 and is almost ANCIENT... awkward!

The Church is TRUE!!! Sister Price and I received blessings from our Zone Leaders last night and it was seriously to best thing ever. The priesthood is REAL and has definitely been restored to the earth! I received so much council that Heavenly Father knew I needed to hear so I could be more dedicated and directed these last couple of months on my mission. I am so grateful for worthy priesthood holders who hold God's authority here on earth!

Ughhh, hot and sweaty every day!

I've been out 15 months!!!!

Mosiah 2:34
"ye are eternally indebted to you heavenly father, to render to him all that you have and are"

LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Martin

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!

                                  

May 28, 2012 Memorial Day and Kass' birthday!

Hello and Happy Memorial Day!
Of course, Happy Birthday Kass! I love you darling sister-in-law!

Today is so wonderful seeing flags in almost every yard! I really makes me appreciate the county we live in and the freedoms that we get to freely enjoy :) How thankful I am for the great men and women who have served,  and are serving today for all of us to be able to continue to enjoy this beautiful country. I hope you all have a blast today with  everyone today! Tell everyone hi from me!!!

Usually I bring my journal with me but I forgot it, sooo I can't remember anything! Ohhh, but mom I studied President Monson's talk this week too and I just love it!!!

Hebrew 12:1-   "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

This scripture was in that talk and it really stayed with me this week and helped me to have a better perspective on my days. "Run with Patience the Race that (this is key) is set before us!" What a powerful scripture filled with love from a loving Heavenly Father telling his children He has a plan prepared for all of us and it up to us to be able to achieve all that He has is store for us!

This week was HOT..until the weekend, but the week had two days of 108 degrees! Last Wed. we had 3 lessons fall through before lunch and so I was pretty worried about what we were going to do all day in the heat, but we had a whole bunch of names we just found in some really old progress records from 2008.  So we decided to visit all of those, even though we were confident none of them would still be living at those addresses, since all the names were at an apartment complex!  So we knocked and knocked and knocked and nothing was happening, UNTIL we got to a house where a lady named Esther answered the door. She poked her head out and told us she was Baptist, and was about to shut the door, but we bore a simple testimony that Christ's Church has been restored and she stopped talking and invited us in. We came in taught her about the Restoration and she completely understood and called us "her angels" by the time we were ready to leave! She is excited about reading The Book of Mormon and told us "I know that the Holy Spirit will tell me if that book is true if I have an open mind about it and pray." Shocked that she had pretty much quoted Moroni 10:4-5, we agreed and left it with her and set up a time to come back this week. She didn't want to come to church until after she had read some so I'm super excited to meet with her again, because I know that she WILL receive a witness by the power of the Holy Ghost! I know that the Book of Mormon is, in fact, Another Testament of Jesus Christ and that Christ's church and authority has been restored!
Esther is from Kenya, Africa and she has listened to God her whole life and is very in tune with the spirit, so I'm excited for her to discover the blessings of the gospel.

We also had some awesome lessons with Paco and Jaquelin, Phoenix and Lili! They are all having their struggles right now but Sister Price and I fasted yesterday and I know that will really help them in their progression in the gospel!

Agency, and the ability to choose for ourselves is a free gift that we all have,  It's something that can be super frustrating because we see people make decisions that are not the best..  I guess that's the process of learning. My parents had to suffer watching me make mistake after mistake and I will continue to see that,  not only now, but when I'm a parent as well. Seeing this process helps me to love and appreciate our Heavenly Father even more because He must be devastated at times while witnessing His children suffer so much!

I am so gratefull for Him and this "race that has been set before us".
I know that patiently running through it is the only way to go!

I love you all so very much :)

love,  sister martin