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 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."

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!"