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

FAMILY
hey!  I LOVE IT HERE!
im probably annoying my comp cuz i cant stop talking about the weather but its just amazing! happy late Easter. Easter here was kinda a bummer but i was expecting that. it didnt feel like a holiday at all because since we cover 4 wards we have church from 9 straight through 5 every sunday... not fun! Thanks so much for the candy tho mom. I probably put on like 5 lbs because of it so no more now okay! haha  

 

some awesome news... we put Joe and Rocio and their two beautiful girls on date this week for baptism and i think today were going to try and get Ashley. The wards are just amazing here so if we get them to come to church then the members step in and they just feel the spirit and just love it.

 

I went to the Easter Pageant way too many times this week.
We went 4 days in a row! it was good but nothing is that good. I think im set for a  LONG time. ohh and plus  I LOVE MY BIKE!!! the seat could be a little softer but beside that its just great. i am on my bike 24/7 and its awesome. I look absolutely ridiculous with my helmet on but everyone is so nice here and just politely says no thank you so its not scary at all which i def didn't expect. ha last night i was talking to this girl named jessica and she told me that she would like to hear a message about Jesus Christ and i just froze because iv never gotten that far cuz everyone usually says no haha. i looked at my companion in confusion and she just smiled so i just kept on talking. i was so excited!!!

 

so my address is 701 W Grove PKWY apt. 153 Tempe, AZ 85283 so send me a letter.  

to all my friends that have emailed, me just know that i will be writing you a letter back today.

i can only email family back,  so its fine if you email me because i just print it off and will write you back.

 

i really don’t know what else to say besides the fact that im sooo happy and i just love it
here. im so blessed to be here. this morning my whole zone hiked a mountain (not really a
mountain) and it was so much fun and just so beautiful. ohh and something cool
about my mission is that we all wear our name tags on the right shoulder instead of the left because were so close to the mesa mission ( Dad i dont serve in  mesa haha) so this just sets us all apart and so we know who our competition is haha not really but i still like it. it was nice at the pageant too cuz you could tell what mission you were serving in just by your name tag.

 

well i love you all and i miss you! heather and taylor i love your youtube
video that you made. i realized after i watched it that that music probably was
mission appropriate...wooops! but i still loved it non the less.
ohh and i dont know if i told you before but i get to skype on mothers day. YEYYY

love you all

love sister martin

We climbed a mountain (hill) today

I love the Soguaro cactus here in AZ

I love you Sister Kara Van.!

My MTC companions, Sister Howard and Sister Banks

My new companion, Sister White

Looking outside my apt. window.

Wed. April 20, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,
I emailed you this long email and then the computer turned off to update and it didn't save, so I'll just get to the good stuff! 

I'm here and I LOVE IT!  The weather is 89 degrees and it's awesome being in the sun!

I LOVE MY COMPANION!  Her name is Sister White and she is from Middleton, Idaho and I'm serving in Tempe!! Yey!!  Since I'm here, I will be attending the Easter Pageant, but we can only attend if we have an investigator with us.  Guess what?  WE HAVE INVESTIGATORS!!  Crazy huh?
At the MTC I just had fake ones but here they are real and I'm way excited.  We're teaching a family and a girl and a boy and they are way interested, so I'll be meeting them soon. 

OMG, I'm just so excited and can't wait to get started.  I love it here and I'm supposed to be here.  So today is my P-day, but this is the last week that it will be cuz the mission pres. just changed things, so now it's on Monday.  So I'll write more then.

I love it here and I love love love my companion.  Ohh and awesome. . .she says we just ride bikes, so I'm way pumped and ready to sweat to death.  I love being a missionary and am ready to hit the streets.

Momma, thanks for all the wonderful goodies!!  My comp. and I thank you.

Christy, thanks so much for the wonderful Easter surprise!  It was exactly what I needed and wanted!  You are the best!

Love you all,
Sister Martin

Tues. April 19, 2011

Got to call my mom and dad this morning from the airport before flying out to Arizona.  It was great hearing their voices and sharing a few last words before I boarded the plane.  I loved the MTC, but I'm def. ready to move to the next phase of missionary life - the real world.  Tonight I'll be sleeping someplace in Tempe under the WARM Arizona sky!