A Wonderful Week!

"There's cactus everywhere!"

This week has been so wonderful! I guess you heard my prayer of sending rain here! It rained on Saturday just for a couple minutes, but it felt good! I was like ahhh, this is nice. Everyone was super cold and had jackets on. It was super windy too, and that's when its hard to ride bikes, when it's windy. But holy cow, There are truly some prepared people in Phoenix.

L* was baptized on Saturday! She is so sweet and her whole family came and had a dinner afterwards and made it a huge deal, it was so cool. The spirit was definitely there too as she bore her testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. It was funny, she invited her friends to come to her baptism-she asked if they were catholic, christian, or Mormon. And her little friend said "umm... i'm Mexican" haha little children are so funny.

We had some powerful lessons with K* this week! She prayed and accepted a date to be baptized on May 10th. The spirit is always super strong in her lessons because she is so open to know the truth. We asked her why she wants to be baptized and she broke down and said that she got her answer, she knows it's right for her, and she has been looking her whole life to find the truth! She has so much faith because her family is all catholic and she is scared of what they will think, but she knows that what God thinks is more important. We also taught her the Word of Wisdom Saturday night, which ended up being super inspired because she was going to a party that night. She committed to live it no problem and is super excited for her baptism! I know that without the Holy Ghost answering her prayers she would not be here right now.

We got to go do a session in the Mesa Temple Wednesday morning with our zone! It was super cool and I felt the spirit so strongly! The temple is amazing and I have seen a real focus on it this week as we are working with J* now to prepare to do baptisms for the dead! Then at ward conference yesterday a lot of the talks were about the temple and families.

We are continuing to work with the members and find people to teach through them. We found a less active family that has a 9 year old son that isn't baptized yet, we showed the Because of Him video them and they pretty much told us that they want us to come teach the son, A*, so he can get baptized!

We are truly blessed here in phoenix because the work is moving along so quickly! Sister M* and I are having a blast together as we run into the most funny people and situations. We were riding our bikes one night and was waiting at a stop light, this guy comes up on his bike next to us and just sits there, staring off in the distance for like 3 minutes.... then finally turns to us and says "where you off to?" we said to go teach a lesson, he was like cool, i'm going to see a friend, then turns around and rides off in the direction he just came from... hahah so random. There are literally the most funny and crazy things happen every day. We went to this less active family that live in a trailer park, have 6 cats, couches had a blanket of cat hair on them, and the husband would randomly just get up and walk around during the lesson and the come back and act like nothing happened. hahah oh man, life is great! I love the people here, I love missionary work. it's the best! I love you all too! have a wonderful week!

Sister Dewey

"Most of our zone"

"Maryvale missionaries!"

"The rain!"

"L*'s baptism!"

"J* put m tag on during church!" 

Easter Miracle in Maryvale!

This week has literally been SO GOOD! HAPPY EASTER!!! I hope that it was wonderful and joyous for all of you! Hopefully you have all seen the video on lds.org "Because of Him". We showed that to all of our investigators this past week. I love it so much because we literally wouldn't be here without Him. I love this easter season as we get to reflect on the Savior and all He has done for us.

Well... First off, I love my companion, Sister M*. She is just the best. We work together so well and she is just so nice and sweet and loves taking pictures! Like Me!

For real though. We had a miracle happen. This week P*, who is an investigator who lives with a member family, was planning on getting baptized. The past couple weeks he had been working really hard on quitting smoking. Which he has been steadily doing for 23 years now. He knew that he had to be completely clean before his baptism. He smoked his last cigarette last sunday and The whole week we were talking with him and making sure he didn't smoke. Through much prayer and counsel with the Bishop, he was able to get baptized on saturday! It was the neatest experience as he went into the waters of baptism and covenanted to follow God the rest of his life. The spirit was so strong in that room as he bore testimony after the baptism how grateful he was for finally making this step in his life. He had been living with members for 20+ years now and finally came to the knowledge that this is what God wants for him in his life. I love this Gospel so much and I know that this would not have happened without the help of the Lord.

~We are still working with the 9 year old girl, L*, who is getting baptized next Saturday! She is super sweet and has a countdown for her baptism. And to think we found her because her less active mom decided to go back to church! So now we have a list of "overage youth" that we are going by to try and talk to them and help their parents.

~We also are working with this girl, K*, whose boyfriend is a member. It was cool, we told her to pray about joseph smith and the church and then explained the Holy Ghost and asked her to pay attention to how she felt afterwards. We came back the next day and she told us she wrote down that she felt "peace, comfort, and security".

~We also got this super LEGIT referral from the mission office. His name is L* and his wife, D* and their 2 kids. When we went by, only L was home so we talked for a little bit. It Turns out that where he works, the head doctors are LDS and talk to him about the gospel all the time. He said that he is finally ready to make a change in his life and wants what his co-workers have. We met with him and told him about the Holy Ghost and he was like "Oh so that's what it is called, I can totally feel that right now with you sisters here, now I know what it feels like! Thanks!" My testimony of the Holy Ghost grew so much this week as we had those 2 experiences with K and L. I know that the Holy Ghost is the true teacher.

"P's baptism!" 

On Friday we got to go host and then watch the Easter Pageant in Mesa! It was so cool! We met a lot of sweet people from all over. Including my cousin, Matt Henrikson! As well as L R from the Scottsdale Arizona Mission! The best was this family that came because their friends that are members invited them. we talked with them and now they are interested in having missionaries come teach them! It is amazing the power that members have when they just invite! The worst thing that can happen is they say no... big deal! No one is going to change unless they are invited to do so! I have a testimony of that. And of this gospel! I love being a missionary! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Feel free to send some rain my way! please!

Sister Dewey

A Week of Change

 This week has been one of the best weeks of my mission so far! It has been super hectic with all the changes that have gone on, but I have loved every minute of it! change is good, did you know that? We may not always like it, but I know that that is how we grow.

1. Change in temperature. it's been in the 90's pretty much all week! and in the middle of the day, like high 90's! I want to say i'm getting used to it... but i'm really not. hahah its all good though.

2. Transfer change! At transfer meeting, President Toone invited the whole mission to be there! (except the Yuma zone, they skyped in). But he pretty much had a smackdown on us about being better and more consecrated and leading each other with Love. it was powerful.

3. Companion change! My new companion is Sister M*. She is from Virginia! She is 21 and has been out 1 transfer longer than me! I love her so much already! We get along really well, she is the sweetest most loving person I know. She is super dedicated and converted. And we work really well together. I am so excited for this transfer! Things are happening in Maryvale.

4. Easter pageant! WE had the opportunity on Thursday to host the mesa easter pageant "Jesus the Christ"! We didn't get to stay and watch it becasue we didn't have investigators there. but on friday we will be able to! This is seriously a huge thing here! it's like the Hill cumorah pageant! I am so excited! it is a great misisonary tool!

5.Technology change. Since sister M* has been here, we have transferred completely to ipads and don't use our paper planners anymore. it's super hard to get used to but I know this is they way the Lord wants it and how we are going to hasten this work even more! we also have been street contacting a lot more! it takes a lot of faith but we have met some cool people on the street and have had some short powerful lessons with the spirit on the street.

6.Change of LIFE! J* WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY AND CONFIRMED ON SUNDAY! I could literally go on for pages telling how amazing it was. I have literally seen her change her life around 360 degrees. My testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has grown so much by seeing her enter the waters of baptism and make that covenant with Heavenly Father. I love her, and told her that after my mission she should come live in Oregon with us! haha

I love this work so much and I love the people here. Thanks for all the support and all the prayers. I love you so much! And thank you Stimpson family for the care package! I loved it!

Sister Dewey

"Family tree picture! A*, the recent convert, Sister J*, my grandma, sister F*, my mom, sister K*, my aunt, and then ME!"

"J* baptism"

"Sister M* and I were matching with J*that day!" 

"With a youth in our ward, N*, at the Stake BBQ"

"at the mesa temple for the pageant hosting"

Faithful April

This week has been amazing!

For one, it actually sprinkled a little bit one day! We got out of the car and was like RAIN! Finally! Feels like home! But that only lasted like 20 minutes haha its funny because when it rains here, it doesn't smell like rain, it smells like dust. Also it's pretty funny to watch people water their dirt and their rocks. (since they don't have grass as a yard). I guess they water it so that when its windy the dust doesn't blow everywhere.

On Tuesday, J* had her interview to be baptized. We were a little worried going in, but put our Faith in God and she passed! So new she is for sure getting baptized next saturday! I'm so pumped!

We also are teaching a 9 year old girl, L*, who is the daughter of a less-active. They started coming back to church and this week we extended the date of April 26th for her to get baptized! So that will be sweet. Also A*, the recent convert, her brother M*we have been teaching. And He pretty much told us that He wants to get baptized-he commited himself! haha he said he knows it's right and true! now he just needs to get sunday's off.

It's so cool because all these people have family that are members! Hence the focus on member missionary work. speaking of that, I just LOVED CONFERENCE!!!!! seriously, it was legit! We had J* and L* come and watch. But Elder Ballard's talk about following-up. DANG. I was like heck to the yes! He was so powerful, as well as Elder Holland of course. I loved his. And pretty much every talk this conference. It was sad because we were in the stake center and the power cut off right when the prophet was starting his talk... so I haven't seen that one yet...

We found out last night that my companion/trainer is getting transferred on Wednesday! And i'm staying here! It is very sad and i'm kinda nervous, but I'm excited for the change and the growth that I will have from it. Go forward with Faith. Just a cool experience: we went to contact a referral from the other sister's and we found out that person had moved back to Texas? So we just talked to the lady there and talked about God and how the message we have to share will bless her life and I testified of why I came on a mission in the first place. At first she was stand off-ish, but at the end she accepted a return appointment! And we had a member with us who is going to come with us back to teach her! I love missionary work!

I love you all! thanks for the support!

Sister Dewey