Ask of God

This week was absolutely amazing. After the week my companion and I have had..I could never deny Heavenly Father or this Gospel. 

It started off with Diane and her baptism. Diane has stage 4 cancer, and she wasn't doing well at all when we went over Wednesday morning. She and her daughters told us that she wanted to get baptized before she passed. It was amazing how everyone got together and worked together to make her baptism happen. Our ward mission leader, Bishop, and a member of our mission presidency (President Lowder) came over to give her a blessing and talk to her about being baptized. When we first got to Diane's house..she could barely speak and she was in so much pain. After her blessing she was herself again. She was still in pain, but she was talking, eating, and had so much energy. President Lowder called a member who has a patient transport business, and he came to Diane's house and loaded her up on a stretcher, and drove her to the church building. There the elders, along with president Lowder, carried her into the font and baptized her. The spirit was so strong during her baptism. All I could do was sit there and cry - a good cry of course. I know I had nothing to do with this miracle that happened. 

Saturday we went to the Rockin R Ranch and helped with a special needs fundraiser. I love those kids. Their spirits are so sweet, pure, and kind. 

This week we also got to go to a sealing of a family in our ward. 

It makes me so excited to one day be sealed to my own family so soon! 

 I know Heavenly Father knows the desires of our hearts, and that if we just ask..He will help us. He is always waiting there, willing to help us. 

https://history.lds.org/story/first-vision?lang=eng
​1. Some of the Sisters 

2. Sister Weyand and I

3. Frog Legs

4. DIANE'S BAPTISM!

5. After the baptism

6. The Buchholzer fam 

#PrinceOfPeace

Just another rad week as a missionary in the AGM. 

Sister Johnson and I had a fun time together this week!

Diane, our investigator and one of my favorite people, was supposed to get baptized yesterday. We taught her 3 of the lessons this week and had her baptism interview.  Well Diane has stage 4 cancer, and this WHOLE week wore her out so much that she was in too much pain to have her baptism yesterday, so we're rescheduling it for this week! It's kind of a miracle that she didn't get baptized yesterday because her other daughter is coming into town today! So she'll end up being here for Diane's baptism. Everything happens for a reason.

On Wednesday we had zone conference. We got together with the Highland and Gilbert Zones, and got trained by our Mission President, his wife, and the Assistants. It's so awesome to be able to be spiritually fed and to grow and learn more about Our Savior. 

Speaking of..I loved General Conference this weekend. It was so amazing. I may or may not have teared up a few times during the talks. Everyone who spoke in Conference was inspired by Heavenly Father in what they needed to say. There is no doubt about that. My favorite talk was Elder Holland's talk in the Saturday Afternoon session. 

In it he says:" Among the realities we face as children of God living in a fallen world is that some days are difficult, days when our faith and our fortitude are tested. These challenges may come from a lack in us, a lack in others, or just a lack in life, but whatever the reasons, we find they can rob us of songs we so much want to sing and darken the promise of “springtime in [the] soul” that Eliza Hewitt celebrates in one of her verses

Brothers and sisters, we live in a mortal world with many songs we cannot or do not yet sing. But I plead with each one of us to stay permanently and faithfully in the choir, where we will be able to savor forever that most precious anthem of all—“the song of redeeming love”. Fortunately, the seats for this particular number are limitless. … “Come as you are,” a loving Father says to each of us, but He adds, “Don’t plan to stay as you are.” We smile and remember that God is determined to make of us more than we thought we could be."

I love the Savior and everything that He has done for us. Without Him and without our Father in Heaven and their guidance I know that I would be lost. I love the Savior and the fact that he performed the Atonement for us. He has felt EVERY pain, loss, suffering - everything that we have, and because of that we have someone to turn to. We have an instant best friend. He want us to be His friend, to get to know Him. So get to know our Savior and our Heavenly Father. Learn about them. Come to find peace through them.  https://youtu.be/Ly9xk59Qkfc

You had me at Gilbert

This week was super sad. Sister Anderson went home! sending a companion home is hard, but it's even more hard after you've been together for almost 5 months. 

But I got a new companion this week, which is super fun! Her name is Sister Johnston, and she's from Great Falls, Montana! She's been out for 4 months. She's pretty rad. 

This week we had the General Women's session of conference. It was so amazing! I love listening to the Apostles and Prophet of our Father in Heaven. The Second Counselor in the General Primary Presidency shared this scripture. Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” then she went on to say :"When we spiritually lean to our own understanding, we lean away from our Savior. If we lean, we are not centered; we are not balanced; we are not focused on Christ. …We must each ask: How do I keep centered and lean not to my own understanding? How do I recognize the voice of the Savior when the voices of the world are so compelling? How do I cultivate trust in the Savior?" and it got me thinking about these questions..and am I REALLY focusing on the Savior and leaning on His teachings? Let us always remember to follow the example of our Savior and His teachings. I know that because Christ suffered for our sins..that we have a built in friend. We always have someone to talk to about the trials we go through, because He has felt the same pains and joys that we have. 

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1. Last Pday

2. LoLo's Chicken and Waffles

3. Last Zone. Of course I was talking in the picture. 

4. Just hanging with the Elders.

5. One eyed willie

6. Sister Johnson and myself

13 Months Down. D Ridge Round 5.

This week was so much fun. We had FHA, Family home afternoon, which is where all of the elders and sisters in the zone get together and we eat and play games. It was super rad. 

The next day, Thursday, I went on exchanges with Sister Allison in Florence. It's been my dream my whole mission to get sent to Florence, and it looks like Thursday was my only chance. hahah but at least I can say I served a day in the FloZone. It's just super humbling, and what I thought I'd be serving in. But I love where I'm at! 

Sister Anderson is going home to Tennessee tomorrow, and I'm super bummed. But I know that my new companion is going to be amazing; I find out who my new companion is on Wednesday!

Last night there was a New Member fireside, which is where new members come and tell their conversion story. Super awesome surprise...I GOT TO SEE SISSY! One of my converts from when I was in Highland. I love her with all of my heart. She's the cutest thing in the world. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Here's one of my favorite quotes from our prophet, Thomas S. Monson:

"I have been thinking recently about choices. It has been said that the door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. The choices we make determine our destiny.  May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. As we contemplate the decisions we make in our lives each day—whether to make this choice or that choice—if we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice." 

1. tracting signs. 

2,3. FHA

4,5,6. District !.

7. Elder Green's dying wish was for us to take this picture. 

8.MY BEAUTIFUL SISSY

9. National Corndog Day

 The elders got a hold of my camera.

                                                          Our zone leader's voicemail

There's a hole in my bucket, Dear Liza.

This week we went to the temple with our zone! It was so much fun. Here in the AZ GIL, we have a tradition where we go to Kneaders afterwards and get the all you can eat french toast. Each zone "competes" to see which zone can eat the most....we definitely didn't win. 

We had dinner with one of our bishops this week, and we played 4 square with his family! It was so much fun! 

My companion and I went to breakfast with Stephanie Moore and her Sister Shay. 

It was so fun to see someone that I know, and to catch up! 

Diane, our 80 year old investigator, is on date for APRIL 1ST!! 

We're so so excited. She told us that she knows without a doubt that this is what she wants to do. She came to church yesterday, and she was cracking me up the whole entire time. She was commentating on everything everyone was saying. She's a savage. We're teaching her the rest of the lessons this week. 

Her daughter got baptized when she was 16, but we can't find her church records, and if we can't find them by the time of Diane's baptism..her daughter said she wants to get baptized again. If we can't find them..that means she's not a member. So we'll see what happens! Either way..it's going to be an absolutely amazing day. 

It's been about 80-90 degrees each day this week, and we've been tracting, knocking door to door, about twice as much as we normally do..so I have some pretty rad tan lines! 

I hope that everyone has an amazing week, and remember that YOU are a child of our Heavenly Father. He loves each one of us unconditionally, and that we could never do anything to lessen that love for us. 

https://www.lds.org/blog/what-it-really-means-to-be-a-child-of-god?cid=HP_FR_3-3-2017_dOCS_fBLOG_xLIDyL2-1_

 

 

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Polly is dead

So this week we had a lesson with our Chinese investigator. He finally prayed outloud in front of us! Which is a huuuuuuge step. He didn't believe in God when we first met him, and now he is starting to. It's amazing to see someone's faith strengthen so much in such a short amount of time. 

We had a lesson with the Allison this week. Her husband is a member, and she has taken  the missionary discussions for at least 7 years, but she's never had sister missionaries before! I loved her lesson this week. We just talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. The spirit was so strong during the lesson. I loved it! She said that the information we were telling her..that she just didn't get it before, but that she does now. It's amazing how time can soften someone's heart. 

We helped with our investigator's garage sale. They're moving to Georgia. It's so sad that they're moving, but change is needed sometimes! 

We also had a lesson with a less active in our YSA, Young single adult, ward. He got baptized a year ago, and doesn't know much about the gospel, so we're re teaching him the lessons. It's so fun to teach people our own age! 

In Sunday school yesterday at church someone read the quote to us: "as someone has said, if we do not choose the kingdom of God first, it will make little difference in the long run what we have chosen instead of it." 

This world is crazy. It's super fast pace and focusing on how we look, how many material things we have, and how popular we are.  What matters is that we're happy, that we're following Heavenly Father and His teachings, and that we're immersed in the Gospel. 

I'd rather choose Heavenly Father than to choose the world. 

All pictures: we played at top Golf today as a zone, and we played football this morning. 

Cactus Picture: it has nice little fuzzies on it, so it doesn't look scary. BUT it actually is. I touched the little fuzzies, and they all stuck into my hand. Everything in AZ is meant to kill us.