Completing Families!

This week was SO great!

We are still majorly focusing working with the Members. That is what our zone and district is really trying hard with. On Tuesday we were visiting a different ward's achievement days and talked about being a missionary to the little girls. It was sweet. We also had a faith promoting experience when we lost the keys to the car. The biggest miracle of all this whole week was witnessing a family being completed just like President Toone promised us. After 13 years, the Thoreson famliy got married on Friday night by Bishop M*. (the first wedding I've ever been to, it was cool). Then on Saturday the Dad and 2 kids were baptized (the mom is a member). And Sunday they were confirmed and given the Holy Ghost. Seriously at every event the Spirit was stronger and stronger. It was so cool to see this family enter into the waters of baptism and make covenants with Heavenly Father. And now they are working towards the temple! This is what it's all about. Seeing families making those steps to be sealed for time and all eternity. That was truly a blessing witnessing their decisions and feeling the power of it through the spirit.

-J* had a relapse with Alchohol this week so we are really praying for him right now.

-Also saw cockroaches for the first time this week in an investigators home. sooo freaky. haha

On Sunday there were some big changes in the stake. Our ward boundaries got changed. We pretty much doubled in size! it's crazy! ( we actually live in our ward now) haha but I think we gained about 250 members, so now the M* ward is going to be over 1000 members! Hopefully we will get another set of missionaries so we can have 3 sets.

Also this week is transfers and luckily i'm not getting transferred! yay! I am officially not going to be the youngest missionary in our zone anymore! It's so crazy that 1 transfer is already over! time is going so fast! Thank you all for your support! And thanks for the packages MOM and everyone else! I got the treats and all the letters! you guys are the best and I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Dewey

Sister W* from Sister Dewey's hometown! They ran into each other at a baptism! 

First Baptism!

Hey everyone! I hope all is well!

This week has been Awesome and crazy and weird and fun! Everyday brought a new experience. For one, it's been like high 80s all week! The natives say that we are going to have a blistering summer because the winter has been so warm. But mostly this week has been a week of firsts.

~I had my first interview with President Toone! It was sweet. He is such a powerful man, I know that he truly receives revelation for this mission and for our specific areas. During the meetings following the interviews we talked a lot about diligence and obedience. Those are the keys to success as a missionary. And I have definitely felt that this week.

~J, H, and Jo* were supposed to be interviewed for their baptism next Saturday, but they are scared and are questioning now. So Sister-F and I fasted for them on Friday. It was the first time that we had both fasted for a complete 24 hours, and it was on Valentines day too! It was so cool to see how during the day food wasn't even a big deal. I Know that because we were fasting for a purpose, the Lord gave us strength to push through and not even worry about eating. I felt the spirit a lot stronger that day too.

~another First: we knocked on the door of this super sketchy and beat up house because it was a house of a less active, and this Huge guy opens the door without a shirt on! haha I was trying not to laugh the whole time.

~Had my first baptism on Saturday! It was 8 year old SB.The spirit was definitely there which was great because all of his extended family were there, and they are pretty much all non-members. But that baptism was crucial because the grandma is starting to become active now!

~Another First, we had 9 investigators at church! That is a record! There are some great things happening in the ward right now.

Well this coming week is week 6, the last week of transfers! I can't believe how fast time is going here. The day's are slow, but the weeks go by SO FAST! I hope everyone takes advantage of every opportunity they have to share the gospel! I love you all!

Sister Dewey

MEMBERS!!

Hey family!

That is so crazy about all the snow in Oregon!! Sounds like it was pretty serious!! It was surprising that it wasn't that hot this past week. There were a couple cloudy days that reminded Sister Forson and I of Oregon.

This week has been crazy! We are still working really hard with out investigators:

-A* is coming along slowly... he hasn't come to church in a while and doesn't "have time to read the BOM" but he is still going strong on the word of wisdom so that's great! But really, the BOM is what converts people. If we are not willing to read the BOM every day, then our testimony will dwindle. President Toone has offered us a challenge to really focus on the BOM in our mission. We are challenged to read it within the next 9 weeks! It will be hard, but I know that it will bless my life and the lives of my investigators. so anyone is welcome to join! haha

-J* and his 13 year old brother H*, and their nephew J* who is 9, are preparing to be baptized on the 22nd! They are SO SOLID. And read the BOM at least 5 minutes a day as a family. They have come to church twice already and love it! We taught them about the Word of Wisdom saturday night. I knew that J* used to be an alcoholic and that he loves coffee, so I was a little nervous. BUT it was amazing, I believe that because he had been reading the BOM everyday and is gaining a testimony about Joseph Smith, he committed to live the WOW. At church yesterday he said that he didn't have coffee that morning and that he was struggling. BUT we told him how proud Heavenly Father is of him for making that choice and that he will begin to see the blessings from it right away.

-S*, and a 8 year old we have been teaching, that is a grandson of a less-active member, is getting baptized on Saturday.

"we live across a highway. So every morning and every night we pass over it. It's so cool! And reminds me of the song "life is a highway!"

This week, at Zone Meeting, at the New missionary meeting, at Ward Council, at coordination meeting and pretty much every meeting you can think of: the focus has been on the members and strengthening the members. So we are trying to switch our focus and time to visiting less actives, having dinner with part member families, and just trying to get the members to unite as a ward. Like I said before, our ward has over 800 members with less than 100 actually coming to church. So we are going to be working really hard these next couple weeks with that. 

We got to do some service on Thursday picking oranges from a tree! Oranges, grapefruit, and lemons are native here, and there are tree's everywhere! but the service was great and I got all scratched up on my hands and arms, it looks like I got in a fight with a cat haha.

But all is well here! I hope you have a great week! and don't get stuck in the snow! -Sister Dewey

Sister Dewey's apartment

"There are either cactus's or palm tree's in every person's yard! it's so crazy!"

"HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! it's a heart shaped bush! So legit! haha"

Some more MTC pics:

(Sis. Dewey and her high school friend Elder Melanson!)

Exchanges

Hello everyone!

 

I just want to say thank you for the letters and e-mails and just all the support that I have.

This week has been SO GOOD! I have truly seen the truthfulness of this statement: sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. Our goal of having more members come out with us was really hard, but we did it. The standard of excellence for the mission is 16 member present lessons, the past couple weeks we probably had like 4 average. So this week, in every prayer that came out of my mouth I asked that we would find members to come out with us. and after a lot of calling and texting and searching the ward directory, we finally found some. and yesterday afternoon we had our 16th member present lesson! holla! I am so stoked because I know that we definitely had heavenly help with it.

We had exchanges on tuesday-wednesday and it was so sweet! I had such a great time, I learned so much, and it was exactly what i needed. I know that Heavenly Father is really looking out for me. I went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leader in the South Phoenix Zone, Hermana S. We are literally the same person because she has 2 older brothers and played center back in soccer during high school and took gymnastics for a couple years. It was cool though to be able to have a different perspective and attitude about certain things. I learned how to personal study better, how to OYM better, and how to have a better attitude about missionary work. It was funny because we went finding and every person we talked to rejected us, and some even laughed. But she was like shoot, they may be laughing now, but in heaven they won't be laughin no more... haha but also her area was spanish, so during the lessons and with the members I would just sit there and try to pick out words. it was cool.

My testimony of the power of prayer has grown a lot as I have prayed harder and more sincere than I ever have. And then having our investigators pray and hearing them communicate with their Father in heaven for the first time is so cool and how strong the spirit is when they do is amazing. We have had some SUPER SOLID AND SWEET lessons this week! holy cow! And the people are so great and so prepared. Im just going to continue talking about the 2 things from my last letter. 1) the 50 year old used to be alcoholic, his name is A* and he's the best. On Wednesday I had him write down that he will commit to live the Word of Wisdom starting today and then sign it and put it by his tea and coffee and cigarettes. We have gone by everyday and he has stayed strong! The thing with him is trying to get him to read the BOM. He doesn't understand it very well, (just like everyone else) but we challenged him to read it even 5 minutes a day. He is on date for the 15. We'll see if he comes to church next week then he'll be ready I think. 2) the super sweet refferral is named Joe and he has 3 nephews that are solid too! We visited him a lot this week and every day he is so excited to see us and "hear God's word". They came to church yesterday and loved it! so we went over and committed them to be baptized on the 22nd! Holla! they are so sweet and I know the Lord has been preparing them for a while.

Fast sunday was awesome. We got up at 5:30 so that we could go wake up our investigators at 7, so they would come to church at 8. none of those people we saw actually came... sad day. BUT the blessings came from having other investigators come! Chruch was awesome and the things I fasted about definitely were answered. I love the work. I love these people. I love the gospel. it's just the best. A quote from the ZL: "The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing." so don't ever lose sight of what's most important.

Thanks for the delivery mom! I love you all!

Sister Dewey