God Answers Prayers

This week was literally so good and such a faith building experience. First of all the heat was killer. It was like 90 degrees all week... On bikes it was way fun! Haha but seriously God has answered my prayers so many times this week. I was like DANG, I don't know what I would do without praying. This week has truly been a "magical march":
-we got 19 member present lessons this week!
-we had 4 investigators at church!
-we have 2 people on date to be baptized in April! J*, who we have been working with for a long time is getting baptized on the 12th! She is seriously like my best friend, we get a long so well and I feel a deep connection with her. We have been working through some problems and this week and they were all resolved through prayer and fasting! Yesterday we fasted that she would pray and get her answer. And when we talked to her she said that in the middle of the night she got up and said the longest prayer she has ever said and cried because the Holy Ghost told her that if she wants to be happy then she needs to live this way. It was such an amazing experience and answer to both of our prayers because we have been working SO hard with her. We asked her to pray and ask God if he wants her to be baptized on the 12th and she did and the Holy Ghost told her she is ready!! She has literally changed countenance. When we met her she was very reserved, angry, and didn't talk at all. Now she is happy, talks more, and wants to do good. It is a miracle. The 2nd person, P*-who lives in the recent convert family's home, is going to get baptized on the 19th of April. Apparently his brother who lives in Mesa has been working with him for 23 years and now finally he is ready to make this change in his life! It's so exciting! He is trying to quit smoking, but the cool thing is every time we teach him we ask him to pray about Joseph smith or whatever we taught and he says, "oh I don't need to pray, I already know". It's amazing how prepared the people are when they are friends or family of members!
-we are also working with a recent convert, A*, and her brother M*. He works on Sundays right now so he can't come to church. So we had a lesson at the church on Monday and he said he really liked the feeling of the Mormon church. And on the way home he was like "so this happy feeling I have is the Holy Ghost? And you guys feel that way everyday?" Haha it was sweet. It made me realize how sweet the Holy Ghost is and how we take it for granted sometimes.
-this week has been super crazy as well. Tuesday we went on splits for the first time with 2 members! It was weird at first, but really cool. Then on Wednesday we had our neighbors, the sister training leaders, move in with us! So now there is 4 sisters in our apartment! It's a lot of fun actually! Hermana M* and I get along really well because we both love sports. Sister F* crashed her bike again... Sad day. But this time it wasn't as bad. Her bike was broken so I rode one of the Elder's bikes, it was super weird! Then I actually got a flat tire on his bike haha it was funny. And lastly, the General Women's Conference was bomb! Seriously, I felt the spirit so strong.

This week has just been wonderful and now I have 1 week left till transfers, we find out on Sunday if we get transferred! Last week of training-here I come! Happy Conference Week!
I love you all!

Sister Dewey

"We had a young woman, K* come out with us on our bikes! She rode her cute little bike and wore her mom's name tag. It was so sweet!"

"And then Hermana M* was going through my closet and mix-matching clothes... haha she's hilarious."

LEGIT!

This week has been super LEGIT!

besides the fact that twice this week while trying to go to sleep I've heard gunshots. that's comforting. haha and that on sunday we went to this apartment complex to visit this lady, E*, and one building was ALL BLACK like it was burnt and was taped off and there were police and fire trucks there. It turns out that some guy was abusive to his family and deliberately set his apartment on fire with his family inside! And then just outside the apartment, a police man was writing a report and some guy walked up and was being abusive to the police so he shot him... haha so lovely I know. But it's crazy because I know that we are in the GHETTO and things happen like that all the time around here, but I never feel scared because I know the spirit is with us and protects us. Also when the Lord is on your side you have no need to fear! (whose on the Lord's side who?) haha 

But on monday we met with J* and her sister D*, taught them about the Word of wisdom again and asked them "do you want to change or not" so then they gave us their coffee maker, tea, and cigarettes. it was sweet, don't worry we threw it away!

The most Legit part about this whole week is our continual progress with working with the members! First off we had members with us at almost every single lesson this week! Which is really how the Lord wants us doing this work! 2nd, This recent convert, A*, we are now teaching her brother and her friend. 3rd, This recent convert family, who has a nonmember living with them, told us this week that after seeing them get baptized he wants to take the lessons and get baptized! seriously, it is the best, because with those people we know they are going to be strong because they have that member fellowship that they need to help them along their path to conversion. We are continually trying to do our finding through the members, and then the members that come with us to Lessons, have them do a lot of the teaching! We also had a ward BBQ on saturday that a lot of people brought their nonmember friends to! So that was good! It was funny because the BBQ wasn't really an american BBQ, it was carne-asada and rice and beans and salsa. But hey, i'm not complaining, I loved it!

I love the Gospel! I love this work! And the sun is really starting to shine these days! it got up to 90 this past week! So crazy! Well I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! thanks for the support!

Sister Dewey

"One of the sisters in my Zone. Sister H* from south Dakota! We were totes matching but didn't even plan it!"

"Our ward mission leader bought us tons of juice!! it was sweet!"

"Been here for almost 3 months and I just barely found this sign that I pass by everyday! haha"

Great Week!

Hey everyone!

This past week has been super great! I have truly felt the importance of listening to the spirit to resolve concerns people have. During district Meeting and Zone Conference this week we talked a lot about The doctrine of Christ, the Atonement, Being consecrated and the role of the Holy Ghost. I learn so much from these meetings it's crazy! I just get super pumped afterwards, and then the coolest part is later in the day, those exact things will come up and we get to put what we learned into action. For example we practiced resolving concerns during the meeting and then that day we went to visit this less active family and her sister who is an investigator and were able to listen to the spirit and help resolve their concerns about the Book of Mormon and the Word of Wisdom. Also there have been times this week that I have just said a prayer in my heart "Heavenly help me know what to say" then I act in faith and just open my mouth and it comes out.

Exchanges 

We are teaching this girl, J*, who is preparing to be baptized, and it was so cool to see this week that because she has a strong testimony of the book of Mormon (meaning she reads it everyday and feels the power that it has), every time we taught a commandment she understood and committed to pray about it. Then we come back the next day and she said she received her answer that it was true. There are still other concern and things we need to help her with, but a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith is so critical in understanding the commandments like WOW and Chastity etc. I have seen her countenance change though as she has been reading everyday. We also met with this other family and they committed to read the BOM, pray about it, and if it was true they would be baptized.

We had exchanges this week. I stayed here this time and Hermana M came to my area. It was fun, she taught me some Spanish so that I can actually introduce myself to half the people here... haha it was great though, Hermana Manwill is sweet! She plays soccer too and played in college before she came and she is super fun. I learned a lot about how to be consecrated and have fun at the same time.

Lastly, we go and visit less actives like all the time, since there are like 800 or so... but we went to this one guys house and he opened the door wearing this wizard type robe and it was dark in the house and his robe was like open... haha yeah... but it was funny because he was like, I don't believe in God anymore, I believe in energy creatures. And time and space and all this stuff. I was about to ask him where his wand was. haha it was funny though. Also this week was the first time that I had doors shut in my face. It happened a couple times too! build's character right? Well I love you all so very much!

Sister Dewey

"The gang we are apart of.. haha jk, these are all over though"

"The pink house. There are tons of these everywhere!!! there are bright orange, yellow, green, blue, and every color house you can think of. haha it's crazy. "

Magical March

Hello everyone!

This week has been so amazing, like usual haha. We had a less-active who invited one of our investigators over for dinner, and now they are friends and can talk about the gospel and strengthen eachother's testimony. It is amazing to see that when the members get involved they do the finding and teaching and the missionaries are just there for support and the preparing them for baptism.Also we had a referral come to us that turned out to be a less active that wants to come back to church and she has a 9 year old daughter who she wants to get baptized! I'm telling you every member whether active or not active has friends that can benefit from the Gospel. And when we work together as one the Lord will provide. On sunday was our first regular sunday in a while. and our first sunday with our newly changed ward! It was SO packed it felt like a stake conference haha. It's going to be great working with the new members from the old ward that are now in ours! Along with the boundary changes our ward didn't get any more missionaries so they're are still the 4 of us and our areas just doubled! It's crazy, but it will definitely be worth it as we can come together as a ward and start the fire of missionary work!

Sister Dewey's Zone 

We had a Zone meeting this week where our zone leaders sang a song about magical march. This month is truly going to be magical as we focus on the members and being consecrated missionaries. We had a zone fast on Wednesday and pretty much our zone is the best. The ZL's made an oar of righteousness from an oar they found in the alley... don't know how clean it is, but they gave it to the missionaries with the most member presents last week. So we got it, it's sweet. We are still focusing on the BOM in our mission as we continue reading it. I have seen my testimony increase so much as I have read and applied the teachings and then help my investigators apply the teachings. Seriously the BOM is the BOMB.com

"The oar of righteousness"

We went to give a Bible to a referral, he was sleeping so we talked to his friend and his brother and had a lesson with them about the restoration and they are interested in learning more. We have also been teaching a less-active's sister, Jz*. Jz* is legit.She doesn't show her emotion very much and when she starts feeling the spirit she just starts joking around. so it is hard to tell if she is really taking in what we are teaching her, but I have faith and Know that she will come around. Also I told you about J* falling off the wagon, yeah we still haven't heard from him, but we still visit the kids and for once the mom, v* sat in a lesson with us and said the closing prayer! She realized she needs to be an example to her kids! The Lord works in mysterious ways.

I love you all very much! Have a wonderful week! enjoy the rain, because it is starting to get hotter here! ahh!!!

Sister Dewey

"This random turkey crossing the road" 

Gilbert Temple

"This was corn, covered in mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and chili sauce."

This week was wonderful! There were so many things that happened that I knew was no coincidence and that God truly had a hand in. For example we actually had a lot of members come out with us! which is great because they get a chance to meet our investigators, have a personal relationship with them, care about them, share their testimony, see that we are working hard so they trust us, which in turn (hopefully) they trust us with their friends and we get referrals from them. Because the strongest converts are the ones that have member friends, that way they become spiritually converted and not just socially converted to the missionaries.

I have truly felt the Spirit in much abundance this week. During my personal studies, role playing, district meeting, new missionary meeting, with the members, and most importantly during lessons. The Holy Ghost is the true teacher in everything we do, so having the Holy Ghost with me at all times is the hardest but most powerful thing.

My companion, Sister F* crashed her bike on Wednesday. It was pretty bad and I have had to take care of her a lot this past week and serve her. It has been a blessing to be able to serve her because I have felt my love for her grow more. Also we went to go visit a referral who didn't answer, so we went to their neighbors house and talked to this kid outside we set up a lesson for the next day and are now going to be teaching them. they seem pretty sweet!

It RAINED for the first time in months here! We went running in the morning and then got to walk around in it in the evening. It was sweet! Reminded me of Oregon. I have never been so happy to see rain though. I ran outside and was like YES! this feels so good! People were freaking out here and didn't want to drive or anything, also everyone had umbrella's! I was like wow... haha

On Saturday night we watched the Cultural celebration that the youth preformed for the Gilbert Temple! It was so cool and reminded me of the dance festival that I missed out on... And then on Sunday we went to the stake center (which was an extension of the temple) and got to watch the Dedication! the Prophet was there and President Eyring gave the dedicatory prayer! It was so cool! The spirit was so strong.

The Church is true, I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Dewey