January 27, 2014

Anyway so this week WOW a week of learning and growing ...

 

Alrighty so lets begin!

 

So Monday night we had a lesson with Erica which was good and then we knocked! We also had dinner at the Bishops house which was wonderful.  We have the Bishopric I have ever seen! Bishop Radricas is from Mexico and he is just so cool.  Him and his wife and 3 kids have the coolest hip fam along with his counselors.  So Tuesday we had a zone training in New Glasco (which is 1.5 hr away) and it was like "general conference" style but like for our mission - so President Leavitt and the assistants did the training at the mission home and the whole mission with our zones watched it on skype at the same time, then we would break off into role plays.  There was an hour after where the zone leaders conducted a training live just in our zones. So Monday night Elder Jarvis and Elder Steed called us and said they feel they would like to split that hour into quarters and have each of us 4 take 15 minutes to train.  They asked Sis Keeler to train on being motivated and they asked me to train on being a Bold missionary.... haha. So we were like yikes ok! So we had close to no time to prepare for this and we left at 7:30 am the next morning to be in New Glasgow  on time for the Zone training that day.

 

So tues: We had a great training! I love the sisters in our zone so much! It is such a blessing to work with such humble sisters that just have the desire to do their best! We get along with them so well and have so much fun and I am just looking forward so much to learning and helping them become their full potential! The trainings went great! Sis Keeler and I balance one another out so well!  She took 7 minutes to speak and I took like more than 15 haaha but she went first! It was great thought the zone is great and full of humble missionaries that have a great attitude! We went knocking and we picked up a couple to teach and taught them a lesson! I love serving with Sis K because everywhere we go we are talking to everyone and its just such real natural fun conversation- in the grocery store we go we have a great convo with absolutely everyone we can and usually get a potential! The Lord is truely blessing us! This area is alot different than Wolfville there are main areas to go street contacting, so we really are trial and error with the best way to prioritize our efforts in this area.  We have gone street contacting in parking lots (yes pretty greasy but got to do what we got to do!:) ) And in the parking lot we contact in, we can see the temple from it.  It’s great we stop people and are like yes that's a temple! You know what a temple is for?!? Perfect lead in line ;) .  But any way...

 

Weds: We had a meeting with the Dartmouth sisters they are the sisters.  We had a good meet with them where we gave our expectation and got theirs for us, we set a vision goal and planning cycle with them.  We set up times for us to street sing with one another and we are hoping to get a Free Haircutting booth up and going at the farm market here with them! They truly are humble and wanting to improve and we are working with them to help them with that!  We had interviews with Pres Leavitt Weds which was great and funny, he is such a funny guy and great example of having fun in the work but remaining focused and hard working! Weds was the night of the great and big "snow storm" much sarcasm is implied here as the town, school everything shuts down due to a normal Alberta snow ... not snow storm just snow haha its funny! But we still went and worked and knocked and contacted LA's and began teaching a LA.  Everything thought we were nuts, but we were just like this is normal for us Albertans! But we found a great potential that night as well as he was out shovelling and he has a family! We are looking forward to teaching him this week!

 

Thurs: We had a goal of two member presents we had one with Erica but the next lesson we had planned the investigator dropped us, well gave us a "I’ll call you" so we were like "NO Failure is not an option!" so we called all of the formers potentials to try and set up an appointment, nothing was working.  On our way out we looked at one another and was like well lets knock our neighbours doors, so we did and BOOM we set up an appointment with our neighbour.  We taught her with a member which they got along wonderfully and we picked her up as a new gator, we will be seeing her tomorrow again!  We also were blessed because we had a dinner at members home and Crystal who is our age, non member bf showed up half way through the dinner and we started teaching him as a new gator! The family is actually LA and the father who usually doesn't come down when missionaries are home has been LA for 8 yrs testified and taught with us when we taught crystals bf Abe! It was amazing he took a good liking to us.  The father said I apparently remind him of his niece! But we are looking forward to working with this family more! That evening we had a great lesson with another LA as well!

 

Friday: We taught a potential we met from the grocery store.  We met her at the church with her friend and we gave her and her friend a church tour and had a powerful lesson with them where we were blessed to pick them both up as new investigators! We had the concert at our church that evening where Jordan (gator from Wolfville) attended and missionaries from Nova Scotia area attended so I was able to see them all, it was great! As well as members from Kentville ward it was very exciting and we all just rejoiced with seeing one another :)! Jordan is getting baptised this Thursday whooo hooo! The members in that ward are just pumped right now for missionary work.  There will be like 4 baptims this month for them! In my interview with Pres L he told me that SIs A is on fire they put two people on date last week and Pres L told me that Sis Renda (her new comp. who has been out same amount of time as her) said that she is amazed at how much Sis A knows! I was so happy to hear that she's is great and I feel so blessed to have served with her!! I won't be attending Jordan's baptism but Sis A will take pictures and I am just happy it is happening!  The concert was great and we are continuing to get to know the members of the ward real well!

 

Saturday: We had a lesson with a LA that the relief society pres asked us to meet with.  For the second lesson we brought the RS pres with us it was a wonderful lesson! We did alot of contacting it was a GREAT day and we met some wonderful potential we hope to be teaching this week. We came home from a hard day of work to a wonderful text from our Bishop where he thanked us for all our hard work and said that Sis Edis (RS pres.) emailed him telling him how happy she is with the work we are doing.

 

Sunday: We had ward council and it was wonderful being able to meet the ward! We proposed the idea of a fireside that we had in mind and they loved the idea! At the end of ward council Bishop read the email out that Sister Edis emailed him and acknowledged the work we have been doing in front of everyone, is was very nice of him, the ward is trusting us and now we have set our vision and goal and just have to follow our plan to help the ward get excited and on FIRE for missionary work!! We had a great week and so many amazing things happened and much blessings!

 

I love this so much, we were blessed to reach alot of the goals we had set this week. We were able to pick up 6 new gators but unfortunately when 2nd lesson came around they did not stick - it was a tender mercy for us to have reached them.  We are still striving to find the real growth here and we have faith that we will! We feel strongly about work in the ward will do much here to help the ward from the inside out instead of the outside in!!

 

I have been very humbled this week! Serving with Sis K is very humbling and I am learning so much about myself. I am stepping back and learning to be more humble and allow her to take the lead and trust in her, I am learning and wanting to achieve the ability to completely forget myself and look to others.  The true nature of Christ to help others when we are in need of help.

I love all that I am learning and I am focusing on relying on the Lord instead of the flesh this week more! I am so grateful for everything I am learning and I am grateful for my weaknesses because I have total faith that through Christ we can be perfected!

 

I love you all very much and I am in amazement for how blessed we are to have one another!

 

Look outward and look through the window, pray for inspiration to see your weaknesses and to know how to help others with theirs!

 

I love you all very much and thank you for your amazing examples!

This week we are going on exchanges with New Glasgow and Sydney sisters- we will have one of us in our area this week but we have alot of travelling to do! Sydney is like 5 hours away! But we know we will be blessed and will go and do!

 

LOVE sister Pizzey

xoxox

So exciting Keagan Gibb is blessed to come to the best mission ever!

 

 

January 20, 2014

So this week has been amazing!!
I love my new area, and Sister Keeler and I are on a cloud right now serving with one another! This will be a point of my mission that I will always remember.  It has been so amazing coming back and serving with one another compared from 10 months ago in the MTC.  We have been sharing our great missionaries experiences, seeing the change in one another, learning from one another ... just rejoicing with one another!!  It’s great it reminds me when Alma and the sons of Mosiah meet up with one another from the time when they were converted till after much of their missionay service in Alma 17:2-3, as well in Alma 26 ... actually we feel just as it states in Alma 26.. " How great reason have we to rejoice!..... we have been made instrunments in the hands of God to bring about this great work!"

Now we don't have much time to email, only 20 mintues so I will do my best to share with you the week I have had.

For one it is just so amazing so serve with Sister Keeler we both are loving it, its crazy our missions have been soooo different and the skills that we have learnt are so beneficial!  I’ve loved my last companions but Sister Keeler and I are just like the same person.  We finish one another sentences and are just working like horses. The area and ward we have come into is really underworked, the apartment is nice, and it has been left quite remarkable the area book, wall map, everything in it is immaculate.  It is such a blessing because it has helped us immensly with the work!! 

We have elders in this ward, Elder Jarvis and Steed, Elder Jarvis and I served in Charlottetown ward at the same time.  You can tell these Elders just are stunned at how business we are. Apparently I have the rep. in the mission as a "really intense missionary" haha.  But its black or white!! Everyone is needing some motivation here.  We had a meeting and it was quite funny, sister keeler and I had our member book out writing notes, asking who we can see, what part member families.  We were like "okay well heres the list of families we were planning to see blah blah blah.... who else can we see" they just kind of looked at us stunned like "uhhh wow yes go see them!" haha it was funny, but Sister Keeler and I are quite excited to do some damage control and show this ward what the Work of Salvation is about and how through faith miracles brought to pass!!  BOOYAH!

So we starting serving in our area Thursday afternoon, so we instantly sat down set expectations our vision and goals, and plans, we are PUMPED for them, we just want to consecrate our selves!
My vision is to be 1) extra miler missionary- show the Lord that I will go that extra mile, stride, SACRIFICE brings the blessings of heaven! 2) more humility and charity 3)PMG missionary
My plan is to literally not rest till i lie my head down at night and sleep:)
We have been running after people, walking up to people in their trucks in parking lots and talking to them, talking to absolutely every person in our sight, we have been living off a loaf of bread and nutella for past 4 days, I have lots 4 pounds of the 20 I would like to lose... and we have a meal appointment everyday this week and at the Bishops tonight! We are just so excited to change things here and do absoluetly everything we can. We have set a goal of 3 baptisms and 1 reactivation for the next 12 weeks and we have faith that it will happen!

We are just learning so much from one another.  Everywhere we go we meet someone that we know was Gods plan, its amazing.  We picked up 3 new investigators this past week, and found a potential who after we talked to him on the phone his mother called back and said " I am depressed and really could use help with my Spiritual self could you help me with that?" Sister Keeler and I were like uhhhh YES! We will be teaching her tomorrow.
We picked up a man named Gary (who we actually met when he was sitting in the parking lot we walked up to his truck window).  His son is 15, he is a single parent, we taught a lesson with a member and he just soaked it up like  a sponge!  He is so sincere, real intent and wants this for him and his son! We started teaching Garys mother as well!
We had a great lesson with a LA and BOOM we are just "SO FREAKIN EXCITED!!"

We both needed this and feel like this a dream and that we are just going to soak every moment up with one another like a sponge and get filled up with fire, and bring it to our next companion and areas!
It's wonderful we are telling all of the ward members we are seeing all this, we share with everyone how we are MTC companions and how PL promised we'd serve with one another! It is great and the ward is excited!

Any who i have no time! But just know I love this work, there is no other place I would like to be right now other than HERE! I love serving the Lord.
I have really come to have an understanding of consecration ... think about it we promise to consecrate ourselves to the God in the temple... I know that "Seeking first the kingdom of  God" is so important and MUST be our first prioirity that its the only way to Salvation and eternal joy now and the next life. As we completely forget ourselves that is when we can be guided to Gods plan for us and be changed through Christ's atonement and become a saint. Mosiah 4:19. I think it is so important to continually set goals and changing and overcoming our weaknesses, Ether 12:27, and understanding that in this life we are here to change and prepare to meet God... and that through Christ we can!!

It is my Prayer that you all will pray and think about how you can become a consecrated member and continue to consecrate yourselves to Gods kingdom here on earth, and set goals so that you can continually grow, stretch and step out of your comfort zone and be an instrument in the Lords hands for others. It is amazing to live for others and serve others and that is where peace and joy comes from when we live in the moment for God and others, not just ourselves!
I love you all very much and have a great week!
xoxo
Love Sister Pizzey

January 13, 2014 - Cole Harbour here I come!!

So I am being transferred to Cole Harbour! I have been in the Kentville ward for 6 months and it is the time to move on now and to stretch myself and find those who I have been sent to serve in Cole Harbour Dartmouth! The Church is the one right beside the temple!! So this transfer is very bitter sweet as I am sad to leave the wonderful people we are teaching, the wonderful ward, and of course my wonderful companion, but it is also sweet BECAUSE: Erica!! Yes Erica who Sis T and I taught is living in that ward, and is still meeting with missionaries so I will be able to continue to teach and strengthen the Whalen family for baptism as Matt, her husband is on board! And I will also be serving with SISTER KEELER!! Whooo hooo! My mtc companion who has been in Newfoundland in the same area her whole mission!  Sister Keeler and I will be STL's for the Nova Scotia North zone as I am currently in the Nova Scotia South zone, we will be training sisters in Dartmouth, Sydney and New Glasco and next transfer there will be sisters in Truoro. It will be great for visits and exchanges to be STL companionship and I am just so excited! It will be very different because my past two companionships I have been driving the ship and taking the lead, so I will be learning a tone as we share that with one another- it will be a big learning experience and lots of fun and I can't wait and Erica is very excited as well!! 

Also Elder Prince has been transferred to Halifax YSA branch and is now serving as one of Presidents assistants (I called that) ! As Elder Clark who has been assistant for while will be serving as normal missionary for last two transfers of his mission! 

There is a tone of missionaries being transferred this transfer, something like 80 missionaries.. CRAZY!

 

It will be sad to say goodbye to Jordan and Jo but I am so grateful to have met them and I am pretty sure President will let me come back for Jordan's baptism on Jan 31!

 

SO this week has been great, I will be sending a box of stuff home this week so be prepared for that! And well this email may be brief today because of lack of time, but I will do my best to fill you in on everything :)

 

So Monday: Sister A and I went shopping with Jo on preparation day to find Sunday clothes! haha . It was great! We had a wonderful lesson with her then we knocked afterwards.

 

Tues: We had District training which was great we talked about the importance of the BOM and how we need that to be the keystone of our teaching, finding and conversion of LA and investigators.  We were able to testify how Jo read BOM for 3 days and how it softened her heart to come to church. The Book of Mormon is just absolutely wonderful it can soften ones heart, resolve concerns better than any other way. I personally can testify of that as almost 2 years ago when I read it it CHANGED MY LIFE!  After D.training we had a visit with the Halifax Family Sisters for the day in our area, it was good.  Sis Jungheim finally let the wall down and started talking to me and once I got her to start talking, she wouldn't stop so that was great! Then Tues night we went to Halifax where Sis A slept at the sisters in Halifax apt. and Sis Sanberg and I (STL in Newbrunswick) both went  to sleep at the mission home, as we both had leadership training there with all the zone leaders, and STL's  for the next 1.5 day.

 

Weds: We went to the temple that was wonderful! Newfoundland leaders weren't there due flights being cancelled so they skyped us afterwards for the training. The temple was amazing though! Haven't been there since Sept! Then we had an amazing training I just feel so blessed to be serving in this mission with such an amazing Mission President.  President Leavitt cares so much for each and every one of us and I have learnt soooo much life skill from him and SIster Leavitt. We split up into 4 groups during the training and each group discussed either 1)member presents 2)Sacrament meeting attendance 3)turning all contacts into real investigators 4)putting and keeping ppl on date. My group discussed member present; we all discussed that topic and recorded video on that which will be used for zone and district trainings coming up! 

At the end of it President gave a group training on repentance as well it was very powerful, made me reflect on past 3 yrs of my life ... I had a good chat with President about it that night, and we were talking about my past, and who I am now ... He mentioned how my experiences have led me to be the great missionary that I am today and  who I am today is just the beauty of the atonement".  What he said was very profound and the Spirit was quite strong I am so grateful for the atonement!  The beauty of the atonement is how Christ can bring us back from darkness and help us to be stronger than we were before... I stand in ahh and all amazed! We are just so indebted to God! 

 

Thurs: We had more training it was great and were trained on how to be more effective leaders! It was great for STL's to come together and talk about how we can bring the level of skill among the sisters up! Its funny because we were discussing it with President and we were saying how things aren't the same as it is with elders; and we came to the conclusion how ZL's and DL's have always been around and most elders have a friend or family member who has been a ZL so their understanding on how to be a leader in a missionary way is so much more known and understood where for us as STL's we really are the "pioneers" of STL's haha ;) and how we will be able to help our daughters know of the responsibility and how to be most effective leader and also be able to just help future missionaries! So we are trial and error but we are going to have a 1.5 training with President and the assistants once every transfer to get the skill level up among the STL's and then we will have 1 24hr exchange a transfer and 1 visit during a transfer to and it will be known as a "training visit" to get the skill level up among the sisters we train. Because its true some sisters just don't get it and aren't as skilled. 

 

Sat: We had a free Hot chocolate booth, we picked up 3 new investigators and did a full day of finding! We really are not allowing failure to be an option and have decided that "other lessons" are not an option we must only have member presents! With Jordan 90% of his lessons are with member presents in members home, and we have seen so much success with him, he has attended every Sunday since end of Nov. he is receiving an assignment in the ward to play piano in priesthood, and he is just like a member, he is now fellowshipping our investigators at church its great! and he is doing great! 

 

Sunday: We had two investigators at church! Stephen who we picked up on Sat he is 27 and Jordan after wards there was a YSA activity at a members home where they had a "Work and the Glory" movie mart hone where Jordan actually invited Stephen to come to and drove him to the activity! Jordan watched all the Work and Glory movies and it was great! We showed up to the activity for an hour, we had a great lesson with Bob and Jo last night and we taught Hope one last time before I leave!

 

I will be leaving this Thurs morning to start in our new area, we will be white washing it Sister Keeler and I as there have not been sisters there for a few transfers.  Sis Starkie trained over the sisters that were there and apparently it was really under worked so i am looking forward to doing our absolute best and doing what the Lord needs done in that area.  I am looking forward to getting to know the members and the growth that will happen!

 

I love you all and hope you have a great day, and my prayer for you all is that you look at one thing you can sacrifice and do to serve others as it says in Mosiah 2:17 when we serve and stop holding the mirror up and seeing ourselves and look through the window we notice and see there are others around us that Heavenly Father needs us to help strengthen, bless, go be an answer to someones prayer this week! Sacrifice brings forth the blessings from heaven!

 

I love you all very much and thank you for your support!!

Have a great week mom and dad

xoxox

Love,

Sister Pizzey

 

January 6, 2014 - A week of progression!

This week truly has been a great week amazing highs!! And a few lows... but hey what would be a mission without some trials and triuballations... eh?!?

 

So let me shared with you the amazing details!!

 

Monday: We had a lesson with (investigator) at members home it went great- first lesson we had with him in a week or so due to holidays; he now accepts and understand tithing is from God that was a relief!! He has now been taught absolutely everything he needs to understand before baptism! His baptismal date to Jan 30th and he has commited to do the BOM 17 pg's a day challenge with us so when he is baptised it will be the day before he completes the BOM!

 

Tues: We picked up a couple from ShirLanka (Lalithe and Radika) which we felt sooo great about! We met them on boxing day, we felt Lalithe already looked like a priesthood holder. We had a great simple lesson with them on godhead and prayer as they are Budhist and don't know much about God. Spirit was very strong and they were very excited to come to church this Sunday! Its too bad though because they ended up talking with their family about becoming members and they forbade them to and they dropped us Saturday night before they could go to Church. Its too bad but I know some real seeds were planted there! Then we were walking all around town of Wolfville and street contacting and we ran into a guy whose from Spain, lived in Ecuador, his name is Julio.  We stopped and talked with him and he said well lets go to a coffee shop and talk more about this.... so we were like alright! Turns out he just become muslim a year ago and he was debating and basically trying to convert us... so after getting out of that which was HARD, he kept pushing and pushing we said well we will drop you off a BOM tomorrow.... So we left it at that then we continued to contact people. For New Years Eve we had to be in at 6 unless we had a dinner appointment so Sister Gee had us over for dinner it was a great dinner then we were in by 9 and sleeping by 10:30!

 

Weds: We had breakfast at a members home it was great, then we knocked (we find knocking is working quite well as everyone is home for the holidays).  We were able to pick up a new investigator who was a referral from the member of the ward, we served an older lady in the ward who doesn't have much money where we cut her hair, then we knocked some more. We also met up with Julio to give him a BOM that was just a downward spiral- he was filled with anti. We just gave him the BOM and talked with him a bit but got out asap... it was too bad for two days afterwards he sent us quite a few angry text messages filled with anti. It’s too bad but when things like that happen.  I just really realize how angry the adversary is with the work that we are doing and that the adversary really is just doing whatever he can to stop the working from progressing as Heavenly Father is preparing many! Then Weds night the Halifax YSA sisters,  Renda and Laxton arrived for the visit in our area!

 

Thurs: it an amazing visit we had with the sisters we saw many miracles!! Literally we had many successful opportunites for us to teach with one another.  It really just amazes me that this is the Lords work and no matter who you teach and serve with the Spirit will unify a companionship and allow the teaching to come from one sound place; which is Heavenly Father and by the power of the Holy Ghost that is possible! Sister Laxton and I started our day where we went and cut Tanya's hair for a service, then we went and taught Jo which WOW was such an amazing lesson!!! I don't even know what happened but it was completely Spirit driven it was amazing- we had planned to teach POS but we totally just took complete different direction where we addressed her concerns of why she isn't reading in BOM.  The Spirit led us to ask many inspired questions which had her open up- and Jo usually is quite hard in heart with a wall up, but the Spirit just pounded it down!! It was unreal- I was quite bold but it was only because I know where she has been . At the end of the lesson I said lets all kneel and pray so we did; I looked Jo in the eyes and was like "Jo the Spirit is so strong, I feel so strongly that you need to say the prayer." (keep in mind Jo has NEVER prayed in our lessons and always straightway shut it down). She looked at me and we literally sat there kneeling on the floor for 10 minutes - it was amazing.  We literally were watching Jo wrestle within her self as the Spirit wrestled with her natural man... finally she did and it was a beautiful prayer.  During the lesson and after there were few tears, it was powerful and she opened up to say that when we are around she has the desire to 180 her life around and go back to church, but as soon as we leave that desire leaves with us.  It was amazing to see how she recognized those feelings.  We were able to help her establish that those feelings are from God ... all in all it was POWERFUL and words can not put into words that moment with Jo Sister Laxton and I.  So we left and Jo commited to read BOM daily!!! When Sis L and I got in the car she looked at me and I looked at her and we just were like WOW!!  She later said "your intense I feel like im serving with SIs Broadhead again" haha.  So afterwards Sis Renda and I served with one another and we went to Hants Port and we knocked for good two hours outside in the freezing cold it was FANTASTIC!  Nothing will stop the work from progressing!  We were blessed to knock into a former investigator and contact a referral and set an apt. up with both. After dinner we felt inspired to knock an apartment building and we came across a man in his 60s who has been clean from alcohol for 26 yrs! We had such a powerful lesson and Sis R and I picked him up as a new investigator, teaching with her was so smooth and we just learnt so much form one another! It was great and I look forward to teaching Garth this week!  Again in that the lesson the Spirit was POUNDING!  In the lesson he just stopped and stared into space for good couple minutes - we sat and embraced the silence and he looked at us and said " I was just thinking how blessed you two young girls reward will be one day for doing this... I don't think you two know how amazing this work is that your doing" The Spirit was unreal and his words were God sent and very touching- afterwards Sister Renda and I were speechless it was unreal... it was a great opportunity for us to grow closer with those sisters and strengthen each other as sisters!

 

Friday: We went to Jo's, read with her in the BOM another powerful experience where we watch message "Patterns of Light" - by Elder Bednar. We talked about revelation and how we can do so receive and recognize revelation.  It was a crazy snow storm where as the day continued to go on we eventually had to head inside.  As we were parking our car our car got stuck in the parking lot leveled out from all the snow... Luckly a man that lives in apt. building came and shovelled us out.  45 mins later we had our car safely parked and we headed in and weekly planned and called potencials etc.  It was successful and best thing, no one else was out, we'd be crazy to!

 

Sat: We had a tone of appointments planned but it was one of those days where alot of our appointments fell through, we taught new gator Patrick and then we street contacted and knocked were able to invite 60 ppl that day to learn. After a hard day of work we were planning and we were blessed by the Lord to recieve a text from Jo Davis where she was telling us she is going to come to church tomorrow! We truly were so blessed to recieve that!!! And it certainly was a shock and huge tender mercy!  Her praying in a lesson was a shock and day before she was saying no right away to church!  Such a testimony that the BOM as one reads, it truely works, God sends miracles!!

 

Sunday: Jo Davis came to church and Jordan Comeau did as well! Jordan is like a regular member by now haha. Testimony meeting was amazing! Every testimony that was shared was so inspired and all directly to Jo's needs. It actually was hilarious, she would just look at me and smile!  Dory a Phillipeano RC (recent covert) who was baptized in July, turns out is one of Jo's students in her English class that Jo is very close with as well!! So they connected at church as they both did not know each other was mormon... it’s amazing this work is so inspired...BECAUSE THIS IS GODS WORK! Jo has a wonderful relationship with Sis A and I; we are so close and we can just say stuff to Jo like "JO?!? come on?!? you know this is true! These things are not just coincidences!" She just laughs but I know she knows!! I love seeing LA's come back to church... it warms my heart and just makes me so happy to see, but I know it makes Heavenly Father even happier!  So that afternoon we taught Jordan at members home it was a great lesson we read in 2 Nephi with him as he had 17pgs to read so we felt it would be good to read few pgs of that 17.

We had dinner at Jo's and we had another great Spiritual lesson with her, it was honestly alot of me relating my experience to hers.... (that sounds really self absorbed for me to say) but it wasn't the way it sounds.  It’s interesting the Spirit just totally directed me to share and it really touched her and enlightned her.  It really is amazing, I fasted that day pleading to Heavenly Father to help me to always REMEMEBER my experiences, my conversion, who I was before this gospel and after and to remember my need for this gospel - because as humans I find we naturally have the tendancy to forget and as we become use to Spiritual experiences its easy to take them for advantage and become content!  THAT IS MY FEAR TO BE LIKE THAT, so part of my reasons for fasting was for that ....and in Jo's lesson my conversation was crystal clear and was flowing out of my mouth and was in relation to what she needed to hear.  I am very grateful for the powers from heaven we recieve through fast and prayer.  We left her to watch "Lord, I believe" by Jeffry Holland and read Almd 32.  Sis A and I left and just were on a cloud and so Spirit filled.... we knocked, contacted referrals, stopped by members home, then we came home at 9pm set our bags down just about to add up our keys for the week and plan and we hear a knock knock knock at the door.  Without even thinking Sis A and I go and answer the door.... and BOOM; Christof is there (one of the divinity school guys that asked us on a date). He hands us a new english addition of the New testatment and says "if you read this and find the same Christ you have "found" right now then I will convert to mormonism" sooo weird!  So we had a converation with him, in a really weird situation, it was very frustrating more anti came from him ... afterwards it was bit upsetting... but it is so clear that we shook the adversary's boots that day from the amazing work that the Lord is blessing us with.  We did call President Leavitt though and had a great conversation with him about that situation.  PL read with us Alma 30 over the phone, it talks about Korihor the anti-christ and it was very powerful experience.  President really motivated us and left some comforting words.  It never affected my testimony but it’s sad to see people that are so merely convinced against the truth, (Apostates) but reading Alma 30 was exaclty the situation we were faced with.  Anti is like wrestling with a pig- you both get dirty but the pig enjoys it - never read it, just hearing it is upsetting! ...BUT GET THIS: after the convo with Christof at the door we came back to the office after that frustrating upsetting conversation with Christof to a text messages from Jo where she sent us a quote from Elder Holland's talk that we left with her.   

At the end of the quote she said, I read the talk and it really resonated with me and I loved it, I am now reading Alma 32 the quote was; "When problems come and questions arise, do not start your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have, leading as it were with your "unbelief." That is like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak!... Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith. It is not!" ... like how inspired and heaven sent is that?!?  Sis Aslett and I looked at one another and then tears flowed haha a bit from the Spirit and frustation and in awe at how aware Heavenly Father is of our needs and what we are going through.  That quote was well needed at that moment.... little did Jo know we needed that quote just as much as she did at that moment.

 

We did have an amazing week though! We were able to talk to 200 ppl! and find 6 new investigators! And now the town is so much more alive today as all the students are back so we are looking forward to talking to more people!

 

This morning I read my patriarchal  blessing! I just love it so much! I love studying it and writing down lines and understanding it more and more, I recieve so much strength from it! I am so greatful for the priesthood and how we have this gospel because of it! I know that Heavenly Father has restored His gospel through Joseph Smith. We are so blessed to have this knowledge and to have one another! I am so greatful to be raised in a home where the priesthood was actively used and truly has created a foundation for the rest of our lives!

 

I love you all very much! I am constantly being stretched and growing so much! Its amazing and the work will always go forward!!

 

Have a great week family and friends and I would like to stress to you and invite you to see the eternal perspective, open your eyes and don't get caught up in the little stuff and see the bigger picture - rise above and be Spiritually minded not "carnally" minded!

 

I love you so much my heart is full and its a great day to be a missionary! --> thats to all you members wear a missionary badge on your heart!

LOVE,

Sister Pizzey