Week of Miracles!

This week was SO Good! I feel like I learn so much in one week it's crazy! One thing I learned is I love rain!! Haha go figure. I have never been so happy to wake up to it raining outside. We woke up to it, got to tract in it, then go to bed while it was raining! And that day it stayed below 100 degrees all day! #miracle

Another thing I re-learned is that the Members Rock!! Seriously though, this week was awesome, during our lessons they would just like take over and start teaching and testifying exactly what the investigator needed to hear. They were able to connect so much better and help bring out concerns. This work truly would not go forward without the members!!! Speaking of hastening the work, I hope you all got to watch the Talk by Elder Bednar this past week about sharing goodness! It was cool, this week I got to see the contrast of evil and good in this world. Sister E had a doctors appointment this week so I sat in the waiting room trying to read my scriptures while the news was on. There was so much evil on TV! Then during lunch after her appointment we watched elder Bednar's talk and he brought up flooding the earth with goodness, and using technology to do it. It made me think how blessed I am to have this Gospel of HAPPINESS! :)

We are working with the R* family still. We gave them this cool "map to baptism" which is a calendar that we give them with all of the things they need to do to be baptized. They do have some concerns that we are working with but I have faith that they will be ready and prepared by that date! We also got some sad news this week.... The B* family who are amazing and supposed to be baptized soon. Well the dad who is working in South Dakota got called from his work that he needs to stay longer. And now we don't know when he will be home! This is a major setback because the mom and the kids are SO ready!! And the longer they wait the harder Satan is going to work on them. But I know God has His own timing.

So remember last week I talked about how we were going to focus on referrals this week?!? WELL... Let me tell you, God hears and answers prayers! In every prayer this week Sister E and I prayed that we would get a referral. And then we were doing Facebook and got a random call from Elders in the Mesa Mission that said they have someone moving into our ward! #miracle. Then, the next day we were out with a member and asked if she knew anyone that could use an uplifting message and she said her neighbor! So we will go by them the next time we are out with her! #miracle. Then, we went out to the desert again this week and after off-roading a little bit we found this less-active lady's house and come to find out she has 2 kids that haven't been baptized yet and are semi-interested! #miracle. Lastly, at dinner the member told us his neighbor wants to talk
religion with him so the member's going to ask his neighbor if we can join them! #miracles!!!!

Also another miracle real quick. If you remember C*, a lady that is totally against the Book of Mormon and doesn't understand our church... Well we found out that her DAD is getting baptized Mormon on Saturday in Mesa!!! That is Huge! Hopefully while she is there she will feel the spirit touch her heart and the power of that sacred covenant.
I love this gospel, I love the work, and I love you all!

Sister Dewey

"When we go out to the desert I feel like I'm at the zoo! Or more like a farm. Haha the members have sweet birds, cows, peacocks and cacti. Haha."

"At the H family's house for dinner in the desert!! Got to hold their bunny, take pics by their car, and see the skulls of the cows they have already eaten."

Week of Inspiration!

"Recent convert M S and his boys came to K's baptism last Saturday!"

"At the mission president devotional with M and Sister C." 

"Recent convert B and his family we met in the desert, and they gave us cool things!"

"In the desert when we went to the less-active family's house! We got to try on all their clothes and hold their guns! It was crazy!" 

This week was super good! I learned A LOT, seriously, being on a mission I learn so much everyday about myself and The Lord and this Gospel and all the wonderful people we meet! The biggest lesson I learned this week would have to be about humility and love. I realized that my pride was getting in the way of feeling the Spirit and having unity in our companionship. It's so cool to see how without the Spirit and the help from God, we really are hopeless. I realized I need to be humble and submissive and in tune with the Spirit. I am trying harder this week. :) I also learned that this work is not going to move forward without the members help. I realized that the most solid people I have taught on my mission come from member referrals. So this week we are praying for referrals and focusing a lot on that.

At transfer meeting-we all went even though we didn't get transferred-President T* talked about making every moment count. These moments on our mission shape us into what God wants us to be so it's our job to make them count and to let it shape us. I loved it.

This week was a slower week for us. We got dropped by a couple people... But, we had some miracles and found a few super cool people! For example we had been knocking on this one potentials house forever and this week, the day we got dropped by E, the potential finally answered the door! And we have a lesson with her!

We went out to the Desert! It was way fun! We visited a recent convert and his family and the Grandpa makes these super cool toys and souvenirs from Arizona and we got to pick out a bunch! Then we visited a less-active family where the dad has been trying to get the wife to church and it was the perfect timing for us showing up!
The family does mounted horse shooting as a sport so we got to try on their clothes and see the horses!

We did some service for this family in the ward. It was CRAZY! We went to go clean the whole house, but we ended up spending 2 hours just on the kitchen. And it wasn't even all the way finished yet. Let's just say we worked hard. And while we were working I lost my CTR ring... Yeah there was no way in heck we were going to find it in that house... BUT, with a prayer and A LOT of faith, we found it! #miracle. Later, We had another miracle happen, We went by a member to see if she could come visit her neighbor with us (the same one as last
week). So we go over there and they weren't home... We asked if she knew anyone else on the road that could use an uplifting message. She took us to her other neighbor, S*, and we shared the Because of Him video with her! It was way sweet and hopefully we will be able to meet with her again sometime! The miracle is though, that the member introduced us to her friends!

Later that day we went to the temple visitors center with the B family! Their grandma, who is super catholic, came and loved it too! We watched the testaments and they all committed to read the Book of Mormon afterwards! It was sweet! And the best part was when we wen through the "God's plan for our families" the grandma just cried as well as sister B. The spirit was strong. Let's just say, I'm so grateful for families and Gods amazing plan for us! :)

Lastly, last night there was a Mission President Devotional. And our recent convert, M*, was chosen to speak! It was so sweet. He just spoke from the heart and testified that whatever the missionaries had taught him is true because his whole life has changed. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly does change lives. I know it's true without a
doubt. I love you all!

Sister Dewey

"Our craziness!"

"Some members of our ward. Gotta love them."

"We made it a transfer together!!! Hahaha."

"K's Baptism!"

"Super cool rubber ducky for sale. Oregon pride. Really wanted to buy it. Haha."

"On Saturday we went to the Temple visitor's center with the B family! Their grandma came, who is catholic, and loved it!"

Transfer Calls!

This week was super Good! Learned a lot about humility, patience, and gratitude. I realized without God's help and the spirit, I am nothing.

We got to ride bikes this week for the first time since I've been in M*, because we didn't have members that came out with us. It felt good to ride a bike again, but it felt super weird going without a member. The members are everything, seriously, their testimony and their spirit change the while lesson and investigators listen to them more.

Met this super cool guy this week named J*. We went to go visit the R* family, who have kind of been off and on lately and their cousin J* was there. He seemed really interested in who we were and what we had to say. We talked about the plan of salvation (just pre-earth life and the creation) and he just soaked it up, and was asking
lots of questions. The next day we came back and talked about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. He, and the family, listened so intently showing that they had never learned about Christ before. The Spirit was so strong as we got to testify about Jesus Christ and His pure love for us. We found out J* lives in Phoenix, in the area I used to be in, so we sent a referral to the missionaries there and I hope the best for him!

Went on Exchanges with Hermana S* this week! I learned so much from her! Even though she has only been out 6 weeks, she is so powerful and humble. We talked about how truly humble we need to be and how we always need the spirit with us. I love in PMG how it says "your confidence should be in Christ, not in yourself. Rely on the Spirit and trust that He will guide you" she also taught me some Spanish!

It was a cool lesson for me about following the spirit and being humble. We were walking around and driving for a couple hours and were having no success. We had like 10 minutes before dinner and we could have easily just gone home early. But we felt like God needed us out here for a reason. We had already tried all the ideas we had in our own minds. So we decided to stop the car and pray. We were guided to a members house. Who turned out not to be there, but their neighbor was working in the yard. We decided to go talk with Him and found out he works with a lot of Mormon's and really likes us and wouldn't mind learning more! The coolest part was while we were talking the member came home and came over and talked with us too. We had a short lesson about Faith in Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon and then left. Leaving the member there to create the friendship! Heavenly Father is amazing and will always lead us in the right direction.

Saturday was Also K*'s BAPTISM!! It was sweet!! And after he got confirmed he bore his testimony about how he felt the spirit while being baptized! Super cool! Also a recent convert, Michael, got to bless the sacrament for the first time! It was SO COOL! Missionary work is amazing. I love it. And this week is transfers and Sister E* and I are staying in M*!
Love you all!

- Sister Dewey

"Found this sweet cactus while tracting the other day. In one of the pictures I was holding onto the cactus...BAD IDEA. Even though the cactus looks like it only has big thorns spread out on the leaf.....it turns out that the whole thing is COVERED in little bitty teeny tiny thorns about a centimeter long. And the whole rest of the day I was trying to take them out of my hands. So lesson learned, even though I thought I could avoid the "temptations" or "traps" or "thorns" of satan, he is deceitful and disguises them with something normal. In the end, avoid evil and the thorns all together. It's much safer."  

"On exchanges with Hermana S*. We didn't have dinner that night, so after K's skype lesson with recent convert K* we looked in the kitchen for food. And we found ice cream in the freezer and perfectly good doughnuts in the garbage. Yep. That's the missionary life for ya!"

The M Zone! 

"This sweet small town restaurant we went to for lunch on Friday. The lady owns the store, Helen's Kitchen. And our waiter J* gave us free brownies! Best day ever!" 

"At a clothing exchange we were in charge of for a service project, while on exchanges with Hermana S*"

"This lady that just moved into our ward has 10 parrots and 1 big blue McCaw. It was SO SWEET! We ate dinner and got to hear them talk to us while we ate. They were saying "hello!" Haha it was so funny!"