Elder Christofferson!!!

Even though it hasn't been a full week since I last e-mailed... It has

been jam-packed with amazing miracles, direction, revelation, and

changes.

President T called the whole mission together for a

"special meeting". He had recently met with Elder Cook and he

counseled President to hold a meeting. It was pretty much a meeting of

Chastisement. President told us of some things that have been going on

in the mission that need to stop. He told us we need to be better with

our I-pads, with Facebook, with daily schedules, with the rules, and

with our companions. He was very bold and blunt, but at the same time

very loving. And that's why I love President T. I felt very pumped

after the meeting to go work.

We woke up early and went to the ASU campus in Tempe to

meet and hear Elder Christofferson! He held a special meeting just

with our mission. When he walked in the spirit was SO strong. And we

each got to shake his hand and have him look deeply in our eyes, I

just knew that he truly is an Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. His

talk was really good! And I felt the spirit the whole time! He opened

it up for questions and then at the end, something cool happened. He

was about to finish, then stopped and said "may I caution you of a

serious sin... Rebellion." It got so quiet. This is exactly what

President had talked to us about the day before. He spent 5 minutes

asking us soul-searching questions and told us to dig deep and find

those rebellions that are holding us back and then to just give it up.

It was amazing. An apostle, not knowing anything about our mission,

just confirmed in my heart exactly what my mission president spoke of.

We also heard from Elder Corbridge of the seventy and Bishop Davies of

the presiding bishopric. The latter talked about not getting the DIMS

on your mission. (Discouragement, idolness, murmuring, sin)

We have had to stop going by a lot of people because they were not

willing to progress or keep commitments. It was hard and took a lot of

faith. But we found miracles because of it. Randomly when we were in

the store, a worker came up to us and asked us for a Mormon.org card

to give to Her friend, J, that lives down the street. We gave her

our number and hope to hear from him soon! #miracle! Also at church

this random family showed up. It was a less-active mom and two

non-member sons that she wants them to start coming to church now!

#miracle!

TRANSFERS ARE THIS WEEK!! Ahh!!! My companion is getting transferred

after being in this area for 6 months. I'm going to miss

her, I've really learned how to love during this companionship. And I

got called to be a Sister-Training Leader! It's like a Zone leader,

but for sisters! I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but

apparently the Lord has something in store for me. I will be staying

in Maricopa and getting another companion that will also be a

Sister-Training Leader with me! I'm excited and ready for this new

adventure.

Also-we ended the challenge that we had with the other sisters

today..... It was a challenge to see who could lose the most weight in

2 weeks. And whoever lost the least amount has to eat a cricket and

the winner gets 12$. And Sister E and I won!!! I lost 13

pounds and she lost 9 pounds! I was so happy, we worked SO hard! The

key will be to keep it off... The struggles of missionary life haha.

Gotta love it! :)

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Dewey

Temple Day! (9-17-14)

Today was amazing! This past week and a half went by super slow

because we were all waiting to go to the temple this morning! The

temple is truly wonderful, I miss going there once a week! I am

reminded when we go of how much I love my family and am grateful to be

with them FOREVER!! I'm also reminded of the ultimate goal of our

investigators: to be sealed as families in the Temple for time and all

eternity.

This week was the first time I've ever felt "cold" in Arizona. We were

biking in the rain and then afterwards our clothes were soaked and we

would go into air conditioned homes... It felt good to be cold.

This week I learned a lot about love, patience, humility, doing vs.

becoming, and how sharing the gospel can be very natural. It's hard

not to feel like a robot sometimes as a missionary and this week we

had 2 amazing members come out with us that reminded me how natural

gospel conversations can be. And that's when they are most effective.

When someone knows that you Love them, Care about them, and Trust them

amazing things can happen. We followed a prompting to talk to this

lady on her porch smoking. We got to know her and found out she is

catholic and is trying to get custody of her granddaughter

right now. We once again followed a prompting to give her a picture of

Christ pass along card that we hand out to people that has the

"finding faith in Christ" video on the back. She was speechless and

ran inside... She came out with the exact picture/card framed! Her

husband got it from a "co-worker" (who has to be Mormon) and brought

it home to frame it! And now we are going to go back to give her the

video. You never know what a simple card can do for someone and their

family. :)

We have had to drop a lot of people we were working with because they

really weren't that interested and not keeping commitments. It's hard,

we are trying to find more people to teach now, but I know that there

are more prepared people here in Maricopa! Our focus is obviously

trying to find people through the members, that's where the most

success is going to come. We are still working with B family and

have really started to focus a lot on the Grandma. She was intrigued

about the plan of Salvation and this week we are going to help her

with family history! It's amazing how many people are lost without a

purpose in life, the plan of salvation truly is there to show how much

God loves us. We went out to the desert to teach the K boys on

Sunday! It was great and they are preparing to be baptized in

November! We are still working with C, her dad got baptized on

Saturday and she came to church on Sunday! Slowly but surely she is

understanding a little here and a little there and opening her heart.

I have complete faith in her and The Lord.

Super funny- we went to visit a less active last night, we had an

appointment set up for. We got there and the house is dark so we

knock and wait... The dogs were barking so we know she heard us. No

one came so we knocked a little harder, trying not wake up the baby.

Finally she opens the door with a huge butcher knife in her hand and

frying pan. She was ready to stab us and knock us out!! Hahah turns

out she totally forgot about the appointment and thought it was some

stranger trying to get in her house! Haha good times. The life of a

missionary... You never know what you're going to get!

I love you all! Have a great week! We find out on Sunday if any of us

are getting transferred! So crazy that it's already been 6 weeks! Love

ya!

Sister Dewey

The Enabling power of the Atonement

So this week was a very humbling and growing week for me. I read this article in the Ensign, April 2012, all about the Enabling power of the Atonement. It's titled "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality" by Elder Bednar. I decided I want to use the Atonement more in my life and I sure got to this week! Haha be careful what you ask for... But it was good. There were some struggles that came up during the week where I had no where else to turn but to the Lord. Every time I prayed I just felt this overwhelming warmth and power. I had an increased strength to endure and I found amazing solace and guidance in the scriptures, more than I ever have before. I love the Savior and am so grateful for His endless mercy. Alma 34:14-17

We went on mini exchanges for the night while the Sister Training leaders were up here from Ajo. I went with Hermana S* and we went to visit our recent convert K*. Afterwards we walked outside and his neighbor was weeding. We asked if we could help and then just started pulling. We got to talking to her and eventually found out she's looking for a church and the ones she has gone in the past don't feel right and don't allow people asking questions. By the end of it we gave her a Restoration pamphlet and set up a lesson! Who knows what will come from it, but it's amazing how natural the conversation was. Talking about the gospel is natural as long as it comes from Love!!

We had an Family Home Evening with the B* family! It was cool, we did this Restoration tower thing I learned from my last companion. It's amazing the power that FHE has. It unites families and brings the Spirit! The Grandma came to church with them and stayed all 3 hours! We have high hopes for the grandma, she is so sweet and needs the Gospel in her life!

We are still working with the R* family! I absolutely LOVE them. Every time we come over they just light up. They sadly didn't come to church... But the kids finally started reading a little from the Book of Mormon! I mean, it's what Preach My Gospel says, "the Book of Mormon combined with the spirit is your most powerful tool in conversion".

Had a miracle when we went to the Desert. We finally found this less-active family! And the 2 sons, who are 8 and 10, had apparently been taking discussions from the sisters before us. And they were wondering when they were going to come back. So we got to set up weekly appointments now to meet with the Boys so they can be
baptized!

Some funny/cool things:
-We had Dinner with the Mayor! They are in our ward, and
we found out that both him and his wife served missions!
All the sisters in my zone (we are super close now) started
this challenge that goes until transfers. And the loser has to eat a
cricket! It's going to be hard but I sure hope I don't lose.
I tried a crab sushi thing for the first time... Very
interesting... Still not a seafood person. Haha

Well thanks so much for all the support!! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Sister Dewey

The Mission Tour! (9/1/14)

This week was another amazing week! I don't have a lot of time but just know there were many miracles and The Lord is truly in every detail of this work.

On Wednesday, we had the mission tour. Where half of our mission came together to hear from a general authority. We got to hear from Elder Switezer, from the seventy, and his wife. In addition to them we heard from President T, Sister T, and the AP's. It was probably one of the coolest meetings I've ever been to as a missionary. Elder Switezer talked about the power of observation and following the spirit. As well as baptism by Fire and the Holy Ghost. He encouraged us to watch the district and training segments in our companionship
studies to pick them apart and really receive revelation. It was way cool. President T talked about Humility and Sister T talked about charity. I realized that as a missionary, nothing we do is for ourselves. This mission is not about me at all. It's truly about loving everyone; companions, members, and investigators. I am slowly learning how to love.

We visited C this week and we decided we are going to start over with the lessons with her and just go super slow. It was cool how during the lesson, because we were just really focusing on her and her needs, we were able to discuss her concerns. I've learned that people are more willing to open up when you love them. And REALLY love them! We visited E for the first time in like 3 weeks. She shared with us that she has figured out on her own about how we are all on earth for a reason and that after we die it's not the end. It was so cool, we shared he plan of Salvation pamphlet with her. She was amazed how she had just had this realization and then we come over and share with her the same thing and confirm what she already knows! It so cool how
before this life we were all taught the gospel and now we are just bringing it back to peoples memory.

Saturday we did service in the morning, helped a lady move in, and I actually got a little sunburnt on my face! It's crazy! First time in a while I've gotten burnt. We also went to the ward potluck on Saturday with some investigators!

On Sunday Sister E and I gave talks in sacrament meeting. Surprisingly it was my first talk as a missionary. She talked about faith and I talked about the power of the gospel and sharing it. The biggest miracle of the whole week though was the R family came to church!!!! After 4 months of meeting with missionaries, they finally came to church!!! It was a miracle and a huge answer to prayer.

I love it here! I love being a missionary! I loved playing soccer in 100 degrees today as a zone.... Haha it was worth it though. Haven't played in a while. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Sister Dewey

"Dancing in the rain. Every time it rains it's like manna from heaven! It's the best!"

"We tracked into this super cool lady MB! And she collects my favorite animal, elephants!! She goes to another church but really respects our religion and our morals, values, and focus on families."

"Ward potluck with our investigators M and AR"

"Messing around in the car before we did service on Saturday!"

"Instead of bringing food we brought supplies for members to hand out! I'd say it's better than any food anyone could offer."