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

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."

Crazy Week!

"One of the member's cool cars!" 

"The YW had Christmas in July! It was so cool!"

This week was super crazy! Talk about a roller coaster. So many things happen everyday!

 

We met this super cool guy named J*. Who we were hesitant to go talk to becasue it was raining (for once in Arizona) and he was working hard and the member that was with us didn't want to bug him. But we felt prompted so we walked up to him and immediately he put up a wall and said "you got the wrong guy" and "i'm not religious"... We kept talking with him and found out he has this one question. Why are there so many churches and how do you know if any of them are right. We told him that we had the answer to that and about how we ask God our questions. He was surprised, telling us that we were the first ones that could ever answer that question, even all of the preachers he's asked. It was way cool. We haven't been able to contact him since then, but at least he knows now!

 

We had a crazy lesson with our investigator C*. Our member was very bold with her, turned out offending her and making her cry... later in the week we went by and calmed her down and were very loving with her, I truly felt God's love for her during that lesson. She came to all 3 hours of church yesterday and we think she really liked it!

We are continuing to go by the B* family so that they can be preparing for their baptism on August 30th. We went by one night and found out that they have been reading the Book of Mormon together as a family everyday! The joy is incredible to see the peace come into their home and the unity in their family.

The 17year old, K* had his baptism interview on Saturday night and passed! So his baptism is this Saturday at 7pm! We are so excited for him! And hopefully his mom will come too and feel the amazing spirit that is always at baptisms!

We are now working with a recent convert, M*, and his sons. We had a lesson with the 3 boys last night and they all want to be baptized! They are only in Maricopa with their dad on the weekends, so that will be a struggle trying to teach them, but I have faith and know that God has a plan for this family. As well as every family we meet!

 

Even though we had an amazing week, stat wise, with 30 member presents, 5 of those families dropped us this week. That was sad. BUT. I know that this is a trial of our faith and that there are more prepared people here in Maricopa that God is waiting for us to find! I am excited for this challenge and I love this work! Seriously, missionary work is the Best. it's like Tony Horton on p90X always says "I hate it, but I LOVE IT!" I love this Gospel and know it's true. :) Have a wonderful week ya'll!

 

Sister Dewey

"Yep, it was 121 degrees today!"

Living the Dream!

"The B* family at the Temple."

"The sisters in our zone went to lunch."

So, we actually had P-day today instead of on Wednesday! The temple is closed this month so we can't go this week so we're back to the same old schedule! it's crazy, some kids start school this week and everyone else next week! starting school in july would be SO weird! Plus it's like super hot here, got up to 117 on thursday, not sure if it ever get's below 100. When we get home at night, it's 100 and when we leave in the morning it's 100 and it only gets hotter during the day! But, I think I may be slowly getting used to it. And during monsoon season, which is now, there will be dust/wind/rain storms which helps it cool off a bit. Life is great though.

This week was once again, AMAZING! I love being a missionary, it's seriously the best.

We had exchanges on Wednesday, I went with Hermana S into her spanish area, which covers all of Maricopa. I learned so much from her! She only has these last 3 weeks of the transfer and then 1 transfer after this one until she goes home, so I got to ask her a lot of questions and I learned about not wasting time and being exatly obedient. I learned about loving everyone and looking for the miracles everyday. Spanish work is completely different than english work, but I love both of them!

Met with C* again this week, talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's hard because she has already been baptized and feels the Holy ghost, we are trying to help her realize that she can have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost when she get's confirmed. She actually came to church yesterday! Not sure how she feels about it, but at least she came! She doesn't think it's fair that most members of our church have read the Book of Mormon cover to cover but not the bible. So we made a pact with her that if we start reading the Bible she will start reading the Book of Mormon. We are still working with K*! He's super excited for his baptism on the 9th of August! We are hoping to meet his mom soon so that we can maybe start teaching her! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and the 10 commandments. He's solid. We took the B* Family to the Temple visitor's center on Saturday! It was so nice! The spirit was super strong and it confirmed that this is what they need for their family. We found out Brother B has to go out of town for work for A WHOLE MONTH! so now they are going to be baptized on August 30th, the weekend he get's back. It's sad that we have to wait a whole month, but I know that God has plan for everyone.

Yesterday was awsesome! we had 8 investigators at church! And this random girl, V, and her dad came into our ward. Apparently she was on date to be baptized in the spanish branch but she wants to go to the english ward. So now we are going to be teaching her and hopefully she will be baptized on August 16th! Miracles are happening people.

Hope you have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Sister Dewey

"K* at the Mission President's devotional"

"TD in the car on the way home!" 

"We were twinning on Saturday!" 

"C* did my hair into a little flower!" 

"We went out with a member, Sister B*, last night! She is SO funny! And reminds me so much of Tay Tay! She has the best laugh and the cutest outfits!"

"Last Monday we had a lesson out on the porch of someone's house at 8pm...bad idea. I got attacked by mosquitoes! They itched so bad. The Lord works in mysterious ways!"

"My comp did my hair!"

"During the big dust/wind storm a tree literally broke! It happens all the time because they are just not used to it." 

"A young woman in our ward came to a lesson. She just moved from Texas!"