Monday, June 10, 2014

Monday, June 10, 2014

Hello!

Lots to report this week. Our p-day is on Tuesday because Elder Nielsen of the 70 came for the mission tour.  We were the first stake of missionaries to hear him speak.  He will go to the other stakes of missionaries today and tomorrow to finish it off.  It was spectacular!  I look forward to sharing my thoughts.  Today our p-day is also cut short, because we have to leave Bensonhurst today at 2:15 to make it to the office for another MLC at 4:00. President called a special MLC (normally it is only once a month, but we have 2 since Elder Nielsen is coming) I look forward to it.

So, last Monday for P-day we played a game of clue that the elders in our district bought, and we played that as a district, and the elders from Midwood came and played with us too.  It was fun.  I also got the new Toms.  My other shoes were terrible, a year and a half of walking... nuts. When I was in Plainview I bought some shoes, but they were cheap and not made for walking in.  I thought that I wouldn’t ever be back in the city. Boy was I wrong... so the Toms help me a lot.

Tuesday was so crazy, we were kind of in a bad mode because we ended up having to cancel quite a few appointments since we had a STL meeting to attend.  We tried everything in our power to make an exchange work so that we could be in two places as once, but to no avail.  The meeting ended up being great though-- we were able to get Mission wide-sister exchanges all set up and planned out except for the new ASL SISTERS that are coming next week :) We are so excited to have them come to the mission. Right now, we have our first 2 ASL missionaries in the mission, so to have 4 will be spectacular! :) The ASL pool is growing bigger than it ever has. There are two missionaries here that transformed the whole pool, president said at our last MLC he was going to shut down the ASL program because it was so slow, but they elders did work and a family of 8 was baptized into the deaf branch this year. Phenomenal!

Wednesday was a great day-- we were able to go to Prospect Park and paint benches! That was fun for me to be here this year again, because last year even though I wasn’t able to go to that day of service my zone painted the same benches just a year earlier.  Amazing how time just flies away... I’m not a fan. Ha-ha! But, we had a blast painting, it was a more memorable day of service.  They had these jump suits that we could wear, so Sister Montgomery and I were the only ones that did.  We just had a fun time. Apparently we have been coming to Prospect Park for longer than 5 years. We try and talk to the people that work/volunteer there and the woman in charge was so cool :) She has such great leadership skills! I love people that just are fun loving and TAKE CHARGE! So, as we painted we talked to her and she really just loves the missionaries. Next time we go I really want to be able to talk to her again and see if we can give her an opportunity to learn more about the church-- to be honest I don’t know if she has been able to have the opportunity yet. Each week after service we go to Wendy’s for lunch, and so we went there-- Sister Montgomery and I just packed a lunch though. Trying to save money and calories.

That night we were able to have a great lesson with Sister Rose! She went to the temple Thursday and so we were able to prep her with any last min things before she went! :) We worked on getting her things set up for her family history so that she could have names to baptize.

Thursday was a great day all around!  We were able to have MLC-- and that was Stake Temple day, so Sister Rose got to be baptized for her mom and grandma!  She was on top of the world!  She would not stop talking about how she felt and things for days afterward!  She is not too old but her body is not healthy and this was a great thing for her to do.  She is working toward getting her endowment as well now!

At MLC president talked about the Holy Ghost. I am telling you, I learned SO much!  It was amazing how much I didn't understand about it. I think I might just copy and paste my notes from the meeting.... I actually felt like the things that he said were very enlightening. ((((((Mom, if you feel like it-- you don’t have to post the notes... I can't tell if they are too hard to understand.))))))

-----

LIGHT OF CHRIST:

The light of Christ, is not a personage, and is what tells us what is right and wrong. When we feel guilt-- feelings that tell us not to do something or TO do something.

POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST:

--Also known as the influence of the Holy Ghost.

--Teaches people of truth, how we got iPad-- how we get medicine and things... :)

--We have experiences in our life where we get to feel night and day differences.

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE:

This is related to covenants and promises that we make-- and can also be confirmed when we do acts of righteousness.

GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

*Discernment

-We can ask the Lord what is the problem, and he will allow us to know how to help them.

-When someone asks us a question, ASK ourselves/the Lord what they really mean.

HOW DO WE HELP OTHERS UNDERSTAND WHAT THE SPIRIT IS:

--Clarity

--There is not cloudiness

We need to tell the people that we are working with WHEN they are feeling it. They will not recognize it as what it is if we don't.

The spirit will impress different things in our mind depending on the experiences we have had in our life.

I can understand that we receive revelation the same/similar ways to how the prophets do. Just because someone is a prophet, or because they are an apostle, they often still receive revelation the same ways that we do. Which means that we don't have different potential then they do. They are learning to govern themselves the same way that we do which means that we have the same divine potential that they do.

Sister Calderwood: The Holy Ghost is our constant companion. I know what it is like to have a constant companion 24/7, imagine my companion critiquing my driving all the time in EVERY move that we make. That would be so annoying. Take the knowledge that I have learned from Drivers Ed and apply it.  I don’t need someone to tell me everything in those moments.  It is the same way with the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. He really leads us and guides us-- but he is not going to tell us everything in this life-- He will allow us to use him when we don’t know something and when we need to gain further insight.

-----

I just know that the Holy Ghost can be our constant companion, I am trying to work on being someone that can really have the constant companion of the Holy Ghost. I love Him, and want him to be around. I was asked to speak on our relationship with Heavenly Father for next sacrament meeting, which is Father's Day. I am looking forward to that. I know that we are blessed to be Gods sons and daughters. I feel so much gratitude for Heavenly Father sending his Son. I know that we all have an opportunity to live in a mansion with our Father in Heaven again-- I just don't want any of us to blow it so we can all live together again too ha-ha! I can't imagine feeling this separation that i feel now from you for eternity because we all couldn't make it to the celestial kingdom.

At MLC we had a fun time, because we were able to have the Calderwood's high school friends come to the meeting for a short minute. It was a great faith building experience for us. President and Sister Calderwood met in high school, and went to seminary and things together, and so-- that's where their love spurred..... and apparently from these high school friends they were the kings of missionary work in high school. Several of their friends were baptized. So, long story short there were two friends that came, and one of those people was a convert after high school. Both of the Calderwood’s friends served missions and now the convert has 2 exchange students over and they aren't members and they wanted to see "Real, live missionaries" as they said. 

So that was fun for them.  I learned that there are 8 languages in our mission as of now... Korean is a new language since I have been here!! It was cool to see 'Real growth' convert baptisms come forth to strengthen the church. There is so much of that around here, practically most of the members of the church here in NY are converts and a lot of those converts are within the last 5ish years. SO. Cool.

k-- Last thing from MLC. The standard of excellence changed for the mission. Did I talk about this?? Don’t remember... either way. So we have standards that are given for the missionaries to raise their vision. For example 20 new investigators in 6 weeks (NOT an easy task...) or committing someone to baptism every first lesson. But this time we just added some standards of excellence, this one being simply to extend a baptismal date on every first lesson :) I am not going to lie, I had to put a lot of faith in this, and just kind a skeptical. But when we did our role play/ lightening round (lightning round is when you take the main ideas and bullet points in PMG and list off the simple doctrine in 1-2 minutes simply to commit it to memory and a role play is when you take the same points and TEACH them in a format that is simple and clear, and then we critique each other!) In the role play for this, we had a special experience. We were doing the role play with the new standard and we felt the spirit so strong. We did it as if there was a member with us, and we were able to extend the commitment and date as if in a first lesson. It was something that really changed my whole outlook. I knew at that point that it was totally possible and I was stoked to be able to apply it one day :)

Friday Sister Montgomery and I were able to teach a lesson with a woman that we have visited several times now. It was quite the miracle lesson! We had our amazing relief society president with us and we were planning to teach her the lessons all over again. So we went prepared with the restoration lesson, and when we went all we did was talk about how God loves her and how the gospel can bless her family and she opened up all of these different things that we never knew. I had gained a bigger testimony of how preparing enables us to be able to reach the needs of others. We have to tell God what we are going to do- so that he can prepare the hearts of others to receive the message in a way that is for them. Long story short she committed to come to church! MIRACLES!!!!! :):):):) AND SHE ACTUALLY CAME! I prayed so hard. She loved church and felt the spirit. Even the lesson at church was totally for her in RS... co cool.

Also, we had a grand time with our iPad training.  The church came out with an official document that is our 'online pros handbook' if you will and so the Assistants asked us to help them make questions for a game of jeopardy. That was fun. We will have to send the pictures of them and their mustaches. It was the funniest training I have ever been to. :) I love the hand book, very insightful.

Anyway, Saturday, I went on an exchange... I went to Bushwick to visit Sister McGrath! Alight, let me tell you... reminisce central. When we were in Lynbrook we served together. I have not talked about Lynbrook so much since being there and we just LAUGHed and laughed and laughed as we told stories. She is only one transfer older than me, and it was amazing for me to see the growth in her and know that the Doctrine of Christ is changing us all. She is just soaring and working her behind off-- super proud. I learned a lot. We did a street sweep that was kind of fun! We had paper that was laminated that said  "I pray when..." with the church name on it, and then went around and told people that we were taking pictures of people with their answer and asking if we could post it  on FB to help the community see the importance of prayer. :) It was neat.

Back to Sunday--- Sister Montgomery taught one of our investigators who is 10, and in a part member family while we were on exchanges and let me tell you we found out that she chose to come on her own accord to church with her grandma. Her grandma didn't even invite her... It was so neat... she got herself all dressed and ready, and ask if she could come with her active grandma who said yes :) How special. :)

Okay, so in preparation for Elder Nielsen-- since it was a mega zone thing at our church building, we were asked to clean the building as missionaries. So when we went to the building we got out the mops and stuff and started going to town. Well, long story short I went to wring out the mop in the yellow mop bins and slipped, and spilled the WHOOOOOLE bucket of soapy water on the floor. HYSTERICAL. Until you hear the next part. I fell into a squat to catch myself and ripped my skirt. Pictures to come. Hahaha!

The conference was great!! We just talked about improving and progressing into better people. We had a great conference and was able to feel the spirit so strong. As soon as he walked in the room I started bawling. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ and had lunch, and broke into groups with sisters and elders in different rooms and talked about different things. We talked about how the doctrine of Christ has changed us. When we came back together we were able to have a testimony session and closing remarks. President and Sister Calderwood just spoke on the Holy Ghost again. The ZL's and STL's tend to hear the same things over and over again, which I actually like-- I feel like I am learning it better.

ONE MORE MIRACLE that I will record :) Okay. This was super special. Last night after the conference we had a look up that we have been asked to do. Sister Montgomery wasn't feeling good at all-- so we debated letting her rest so her stomach would settle. But she decided she felt okay enough to work. So we went to visit the woman. It was kind of a weird situation. We had her name from our RS president who only had her information from a Visiting teaching record, and her record wasn’t in the membership list. So we wanted to go check it out. So when we went there was a young man who was outside the front door that clearly was probing us. But when he found out who we were let us in, and found that the family was SOO excited to have us there. Anyway they could not go to church because of some things but she has a Jewish religious background and is still STALWART in her Book of Mormon reading and things. Her step son is not a member and we were able teach a little bit of the restoration and in our first appointment invited him to be baptized on July 6th. He is excited to learn more. He has the support of his family so this will be spectacular. He is 20 years old.

I love this gospel. I love The Lord. Thanks for all you do family.

Dad------- have a wonderful birthday and happy Father's Day! :) love youuuuuuu!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014

Another good week in the mission field!

I know you are all keeping busy-- that’s for sure, probably also getting super buff too! Ha-ha.

How convenient is it that almost all of our moves have been in the summer?  That’s super handy.

There is a lot to say, but I don't really know what is ever pertinent to put in the email.  Considering, as dad always says, that I am a very 'black and white'/ 'all or nothing' person it makes sense. Ha-ha I either want to add it all or not say anything.

So, Monday was REALLLLY fun! :) Elder Thorley-- who just got his visa to Brazil after 11 months in the mission field this week, decided to make another video that we suggested to him.  It is sad that he had to get the visa this week- I have a feeling it will never be finished.

But, long story short, it is to the tune of the song Scripture Power.  It has a peppy beat and is just cute.  He made dance moves to it so we each recorded segments. It was a blast.

Tuesday was a great day.  One of the companionships of elders are teaching this woman who has a tricky life situation. It is so sad, but she is waiting to get citizenship in America and waiting to be married. She is practically a member, just needs the ordinance to be baptized.  She can’t really meet with the elders as much as she used to because her fiancé can’t go to all the lessons that she would like him to, and the elders need to have a male with them. So-- we are starting to teach her.  I am telling you right now, she is the most pure in heart woman I have seen before baptism.  I was trying to think of the things that we need to teach her, and it was evident she has been taught everything and that she has a very profound testimony of the doctrine.  She hasn't read the whole Book of Mormon from beginning to end, so we are going to read it with her when we do lessons. :) So that lesson we had with her went well!

We had a miracle in my eyes, on that Tuesday. A testimony builder that Heavenly Father is involved in the small details.  So, the mission leaders just started using a new App that President Calderwood approved for our mission leadership counsels-- so now we don’t have to do conference calls each Tuesday.  We just use the Webex app. Dad, I hope you know about his app- it is the coolest! :) Anyway.  They sent us an email saying how to set it up.  But my lack of planning caused for an emergency :( I didn’t realize that we needed a computer to set it up.  I thought we would be able to do it all from the iPad.  So when I looked into it, it was too late to go to the library... and with that-- we called a member or 2 but they weren't available.  So the morning of the WebEx call I still didn’t know what we were going to do (we had a meeting that day at 10:30) and OUT OF NO WHERE I had a thought.  I knew that it had to be prompted by the Holy Ghost because it was so off the wall in my own head.  But I was thinking about a returned sister missionary who moved back from her home in the west to live in the Plainview YSA branch which is where I served before.  But she just moved back a month or 2 ago, and that’s when I realized that she could help us! So, I texted the sisters serving in that branch and got her number and then we went to the church to set it up. BLESSINGS.  I just realized that Heavenly Father wasn't going to hang us out to dry, but that he just wanted me to learn my lesson, which I did. The conference call went well! These meetings will be far more productive because we can show PDFs and you can see who’s talking better. Just very excited, we will be doing those each Tuesday.

Wednesday was Prospect Park service and an exchange :) I was with a sister who is originally from Beijing, China and then came to AZ/CA when she was 17 and met the missionaries FROM DOOR KNOCKING! :) Great, right? She is awesome :) We had a good time.  At Prospect Park this week it was really hot--- but we just weeded and planted new plants.

Sister Wang was a champ at sharing the gospel with the people at service! There are a few volunteers from the community and we started talking to them.  One of the people that we talked to we taught the whole restoration too while we were weeding and he said that he would take a look at The Book of Mormon. It was a neat experience.  I am amazed to see how many people in the world don't believe that there is absolute truth.  That is something that I am trying to wrap my head around.  I just know that there is truth. Sister Wang is a great example of teaching people as she goes.  I was able to learn a lot.  Exchanges tend to do that for me.  I learn a lot.  I wish you all could meet the sisters in my mission.  You would be baffled at how great they are.  I am always super impressed...

My favorite part about exchanges is the interview.  I feel like that is one of the biggest growing experiences for me, is to answer questions and see the ways that they can feel more love.  Sometimes the interview only ends up being a few minutes, and sometimes it is an hour-ish. We are taught that spiritual gifts are only for the welfare of others, and I am seeing that over and over again.  When The Lord allows me a spiritual gift it is only for the benefit of others.

Thursday we did service for a woman in the ward that hadn't dealt with her back yard after Hurricane Sandy.  So a year later, it is still a problem.  It was pretty gross, but honestly I thought it would be way worse.  So that was nice.  Just a lot of broken equipment like a treadmill, and random tools and things.  We got our whole district there helping and then there were 2 members from the ward that were there to  help. So we got it done in a decent time. They were so kind and fed us a late breakfast.

I have had some neat learning experiences with the scriptures lately.  As we all know, I can't ever understand what I read.  I have to admit I am getting much better.  But one day when we were on exchanges I was the one leading the area that day, and Sister Montgomery was away.  Long story short we were going to follow up on a chapter that we left with a less active and I was kind of nervous about explaining and teaching the chapters. But I studied and prayed so hard, and was able to understand what was going on in the chapter and we taught it alright.  Another time where I felt like Heavenly Father knew my personal needs sounds so small, but it was such a stressful situation for me.

Friday we had two leaders meetings and a great exchange with Sister Hodgson's trainee. I trained sister Hodgson, so it was so fun to see her growth and how great a job she is doing! But I spent the day with Sister Jones!  It was Sister Jones first exchange and this might be one of my favorite things about working with other missionaries!  Working with brand new missionaries :) She asked so many questions and was so nervous to do things-- but is a great missionary.  We talked to lots of people and got contact information for a few people! Great day for the both of us!

Sunday we were invited to Ward council to set Quarter 3 goals and they were pretty reasonable.  We will have to increase our faith, and work our butt off, but it is possible :) we have a great ward!

The rest of the week there nothing to really report :) I am thankful for what I am learning

Love you all!

Sister Freeze

Monday, June 16, 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Happy late Father's Day!

I know things are probably very stressful at home, so prayers are coming your way. Moving is hard on every facet of a life. Mentally, socially, physically, spiritually. You guys are definitely on my mind.  Hope things are going well there.

This week was another busy one-- since last p-day was only a few hours long, this whole week has felt FOREVER. Ha-ha The MLC that we had with Elder Gifford Nielsen was honestly a great meeting. At the beginning of the meeting just opened  it up  with questions and concerns that we had, and rather than answering them one by one he put them on the board. It was kind of interesting to see how connected the questions were. A lot of the questions were simply related on how to be better leaders and really minster more than administer to them. It was really inspiring. The biggest take away that I had was the "Do-good" calls and things, and hand written notes. Like dad always talks about. So that was good to hear. Elder Nielsen told of when he was a counselor to a mission president, the mission president would do these "do good" calls for 2 hours every Monday. The whole conference I just continued to see how much more I have to do to be a good servant of The Lord.

Sometimes I get angry I can't be perfect overnight-- but let’s be real, the problem of my life.  Pride, dang it!  Ha-ha.   So, just gotta live the Doctrine of Christ: have faith, repent, keep my covenants and partake of the sacrament and endure well. :)

The weather has been quite a joke the past couple of weeks. But I'll take anything over negative weather in the winter! Ha-ha! It has been averaging 80* on the hot days, and on the POUUUUUURING rain days it is much cooler. So it is nice to have the diversity. I keep telling everyone that I want to keep my Toms dry so that I can have them last until the end of my mission, and one elder asked if I would take off my shoes if I get caught in the rain-- I said absolutely! Ha-ha

So, this week practically started on Wednesday.  We were able to have 2 exchanges :) This week’s exchanges were spectacular!  I am telling you---- we had a blast at both of them.  One of them I was able to go to Staten Island. We were able to remove gravel and dirt so that they could put a drain system in the ground for a garden.  It was a TON of work, but MY kind of work!  I love service projects like that where I can get good exercise, enjoy great company, and feel super productive.  It was lots of fun.  I was SOOO muddy from the ground water. Ha-ha Later that day we made some fearlessing goals to pump this sister up and we were able to reach our pretty hefty goal, and exceed it too :) We were able to go to the ferry dock! Holy moly, it was GORGEOUS!  In that view we were able to see Brooklyn, Manhattan & New Jersey! We were able to do our interview looking out to the view. We talked to some great people. Both this sister and I fell down the stairs at different times that day, and I bruised my ankle pretty bad. Ha-ha I just had to laugh....

The next exchange was with a brand new missionary from Brazil! Her English is SPECTACULAR, and she is such a joy to be around.  I got to learn about the Brazilian culture and have a great time going to lessons! I was so impressed with the way she teaches. We had a great day :)  I am telling you, we will be friends forever- she is so great!  We just connected.

This week we were able to fearless a woman who was sitting on a bench.  When we went into our appointment she was sitting on a bench, and then when we came out she was sitting on a different bench-- but both times it was right in our walking path :) It was so great, because she was smoking and as Sister Montgomery was getting the next address we needed I just told her that I felt like I needed to talk to her. She was really taken aback and went on to explain that she was just talking to her friend (the person that she was sitting by) right before we came, about how she really needs a new church and that she is looking for one. So right at that time she said that her prayer was answered and that she will for sure be to church on Sunday. Miracles.  The Lord leads us to people with pure hearts if they have perfect faith (believe in Jesus Christ and that these things can happen and put forth the effort to make good things happen, I firmly believe this.)

This Sunday was a remarkable Sunday for me. I am so thankful. When we were filming the video in Midwood for the Sisters Conference (That is hysterical, by the way!) I was able to see my old investigator, Barbra, and she told me that she wanted to be baptized the next week-- which was yesterday :) Honestly, I almost started crying.  I was so happy.  I think I wrote about her before-- she was a HQ referral from Salt Lake visitor’s center.  Anyway, I was invited to come.  We aren’t supposed to travel far to baptisms so luckily I was able to go.  It was super special. I didn’t tell her I was coming because I didn’t get permission to leave my area until the day of and so when she went up to bear her testimony after the ordinance, she saw me and yelled out my name.  There were over 50 people that came to her baptism.  The senior couple was having a going away linger longer since it was their last Sunday in the mission.  It really was just a great day.  I bawled like a baby.

On my exchange I was also able to see Sister Fontaine (the first investigator I worked with that got baptized) from Midwood.  I got to see her because we had to go to the bishops store house for our RS president, and it is by the chapel in Midwood. Sister Fontaine is still going strong and her calling is in the bishop store house :) I was able to talk with her and tell her to talk to the missionaries and ward about being prepared to be endowed in September when she hits her year mark :) That was exciting. We are so blessed.

I was able to give a talk about our relationship with Heavenly Father, and I think it went fine.  I just tried to bare fervent testimony that He is our Father in Heaven. Every time President does that it is so powerful, so I thought I’d really give it a go.

Some sisters have some cockroaches in their apartment, so they are living with us-- that is kind of fun. :)

Love you all!

One step at a time.

Sister Freeze