Courtney's Mission

Final Email

2010-08-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

Dear family, (The FOUR generation pic on my last day!)

We went to the Albuquerque Zoo and Aquarium as a district today, and didn't get back until 4:00, then we had to run and teach one of our

investigators, he and his wife sat in on the lesson today! I love that family a ton, this is the gentleman from Ireland. I'm hoping he'll get a chance to meet Nadine. The we rushed over to the post office so I could mail off a box of letters and clothing. So we are finally at the library, phew. I still feel like I have a million things to do before I leave Rio Rancho tomorrow morning. More people to visit, information to check on, etc. But I think it will all fall into place.

People keep asking me how I feel. To be honest, most of the time it just feels like any other transfer. It just feels like normal. I don't really know what to expect as far as what it will be like to no longer be a missionary. Although everyone tells me horror stories about the transition to civilian life. One person told me that they've never known someone who had an easy transition. Maybe I'll be the exception. Then there are times, when it hits me that I'll be back home in a few days, resuming my old identity, my old name. And that's a weird thought.

Things have been so crazy that I haven't written in my journal in a long time. Hopefully I'll have some time to do that today, but with 4 more sisters spending the night at our apartment, I bet it will be anything but quiet. But I love those adventures, they are always fun.

Well, what have we been up to this past week? Let me review.

This week was the open house for the new Rio Rancho stake center. I think the stake was hoping for a higher attendance than it got, but I think the experience was still positive. Our "kool-aid" Mormon family came and loved it. They are so excited to get baptised. The mom said she has felt strength in their family since they started taking the lessons. Her husband has been really feeling the spirit. Sister Barello is going to talk to them about moving their baptism date from August to July, because they are so ready to go...why wait? They've been such a highlight these past few weeks. Our ward mission leader met them at the mall playground the first week we started teaching them, and they have started to become fast friends. These are little coincidences, that aren't really coincidences if you think about it.

We taught Nadine about temples and family history work this week. She is so cute. Whenever she talks about her late husband she just lights up, and can't keep from giggling. He passed away less than a year ago, but she promised him that she would always be his wife. When we told her that she could be sealed to him in the temple, she looked like someone just told her that she had won the publisher's clearnighouse sweepstakes! She put her hands over her mouth, and then kept saying "thank you! thank you!" She was so excited to know that she doesn't have to wait a year to do confirmations.

Our other investigator with a baptismal date got into a lot of Brigham Young anti-mormon literature this week. Interesting stuff. Needless to say we had to address a lot of issues. But what was more interesting was that it wasn't even the anti-literature that was bothering him. It was our view on the nature of God. So we'll see what happens to him. He still wants to continue the lessons, but isn't so sure about all of this.

Our neighbor had us over yesterday. It was fun to get to know her better. Some of our neighbors are so adorable.

Well, the work is flourishing here. Sister Barello is getting an awesome sister, so I'm not too worried about anything....well, not worried about the area at least, anyone who know me that I'm always worrying about one thing or another...or making us excuses to worry. Such is the life of Sister Waters.

I got to eat lunch with the Parks this Saturday. That was fun, then one of our investigators got married later that day (she's marrying a member.) So that was good.

Thanks for all your letters. I'm excited to see you all again. To get caught up on the pop culture (speaking of, apparently the movie "Spy Next Door" or something like that w/Jackie Chan was filmed in the main neighborhood here in the Rio Rancho ward where I'm serving), tell you more stories, and just talk. I think that's what I'm most excited for, just talking.

I have loved my mission. It has been difficult at times, but as one of my favorite members explained, Heavenly Father gives us the gift of only remembering the good times. As we look back at life, sure we may remember difficult things, but we don't feel the emotions of those times like we do when we reminisce on the good memories. I'm sure there are lessons that I will continue to learn from my mission as I see how the pieces fit together, or as I recognize things only after I get home. Heavenly Father really does direct this work. I know that. I have felt, in a small way, how important this work is to Him. I have felt of His mercy and love. His plan is so perfect. Thank you for all your support. Here's to the last chapter of Sister Waters' mission entries.

I'll see you in 2 days!

Love,

Sister Waters

Pictures from Santa Fe

2010-06-24T06:04:00.000-07:00

Don't have much time today! Going to Santa Fe! Think of Newsies for me.

P.S.
Nadine was baptised on Saturday. It was wonderful. We set 4 more baptismal dates this week. The work is booming. I love you and will write you a long letter on the train to Santa Fe.

Love,
Sister Waters

The Work in High Range is Booming! 6/07/2010

2010-06-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

Sister Barello and I got in to our apartment late last night, about an hour later than we should have. So the Zone Leaders freaked out and called the assistants, and so we're in a little bit of trouble, and they asked us to explain ourselves to President. I know very well that blessings come when we are strictly obedient. I regret that we left our phone in the car, but I don't regret what we were doing. We had planned to visit our ward mission leader Sunday afternoon, but when we stopped by, no one opened the door. We received a text message from him later that night apologizing, and we agreed to come by his house right then. I jumped on the opportunity. Anyway, we have a baptism in less than a week that we really need the ward’s help with. Our investigator is very limited physically (spinal problems), so we have been trying to find a stool or something to assist her in the font. We had a lot of issues that needed to be addressed as far as getting the baptism worked out, and I felt like we needed to get these things finalized ASAP, instead of having to procrastinate them, which usually leads to a stressful baptismal service.

Sister Barello and I felt a need to update our ward mission leader on the status of a few investigators, and talk about how much it would help if we could get some ward missionaries called to help us. So that’s why we were in late. Once we got talking with our ward mission leader, I completely lost track of time and wasn’t even paying attention to what time it was. Sorry we caused commotion among our leaders, but I felt like what we were doing was essential. I didn’t intend to stay out that late.

On the good side, the work in High Range is booming, I feel like. What a transformation from how the area was when I first got here. It is really sad that I’ll have to leave the area to go home. Things just keep getting better and better here.

Remember the couple we found last week that wants to move to Utah because of the belief system there? Well, we taught them the first lesson this week, and it was awesome! We gave them the soft baptismal commitment, and the wife turned to her husband and said she thinks that would be “awesome! For him.” She was so excited!

Nadine is so excited to get baptized as well. We reviewed the restoration with her this week, and the Spirit was so thick. She teared up and just said “thank you. Thank you. I’m coming home.” She has been searching her whole life. She looks better every week, and looks happier as well. I just love her. She is one of the people that I will never forget from the mission. It has been such a blessing to know her.

We met with another investigator this week as well. She finally let us inside the house, this time instead of just having doorstep lessons. She is also searching, and asked us so many brilliant questions. Like, after teaching about the apostasy: “So what’s your outlook for the state of the world now?” What a perfect lead in to the restoration!

We had an unusual investigator show up to church yesterday. But I love knowing that all are invited to come unto Christ. I just hope others remember that too. Sorry I don't have time to explain more on this one.

We taught the Plan of Salvation yesterday to a less active member. I love that lesson. I think it really began to sink in. The Parks also called yesterday, but due to the craziness I never got to call back. That was sweet of them. We also had dinner this week with one of my favorite families here in High Range. The spirit was so strong as we met with them. I love them!

So, Santa Fe is in our Zone. We are trying so hard to go there one preparation day before I come home. We’ve just about worked out all the details! I think we may be in Santa Fe next week, so if we don’t get to email you, don’t worry too much. I am also hoping to get some boxes today. Crazy that I'll have to speak so much when I get home, but I guess it's ok. I love you, and thank you for all your support.

I love you. I hope all is well.
Love,
Sister Waters

Updates 6/01/2010

2010-06-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Thank you for sending us brownies, I forgot to tell you last week I think, but we have loved having them! Thanks!

Sunday was a good day for us, we had four of our investigators come to sacrament meeting. That may be a record high for this area, although none of them stayed for Sunday school. Yesterday we also went to follow up with a potential investigator, and found out that they are thinking of moving to Utah because of the belief system there, and the family values. We have an appointment to teach them more about the church on Thursday, so that's pretty exciting.

Thanks dad for the poem you sent about the "critters" in Ether. We went back to see this particular investigator this week, and he DID finish the Book of Mormon. Wow! He understood a lot of what he read. One of his friends loaned him the money to get his car fixed, so he should be at church next week.

I continue to be grateful to have Sister Barello as a companion. I really feel Heavenly Father was helping me out on this one, because I'm not so sure if it would have been President's idea to have me train this last transfer. I hope everything is going well with you. I don't really feel as if I have much to report this week, so I sorry this will be a short email. I love you.

Love,
Sister Waters

"I Ran Into Some Critters I Don't Know." 5/24/2010

2010-06-12T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This week was wonderful, it was very much back to the “normalcy” and bliss of mission life that I love and missed for a little bit. So, Nadine has been to church three times so far. I think she loves it and is so excited to get baptized. We took her to see another convert’s baptism this weekend, and she was telling everyone how close she was to her own date. She is so fun to talk to, and she certainly is a talker. On the way out of the baptism, she was telling us: “I can’t believe I lived in contemplative silence….because I just love to talk!” I loved it. She tells us about some of the reasons she left the monastery, and I have written about some of them in past emails, but this week, she told us another reason why she felt called to leave the monastery. As a child, she was taught that it was good to be a mother, but better to live a celibate life doing the Lord’s work. She had some questions about our life as missionaries. So naturally, a lot of our lesson that day was about chastity, the sanctity of marriage, and the importance of the family. We left her a copy of the proclamation to the world on the family. Anyway, during our discussion, she told us that during her time in the convent she had such a strong desire to be a mother. She described beautifully how becoming a mother was the most spiritual and beautiful experience she has ever had in her life. She loved being a mom.

Nadine has felt for a long time that one of her callings in life is to write her life history. We’re excited, and think her story would make a great book. So hopefully we can find a way to make that dream a reality. She’s going to need a scribe first of all. I think we’ve got some good resources beginning to line up.

We just finished a lesson this morning that was amazing. (That’s why this email is a little later than usual. The next three emails you get from me will probably be later on a regular basis because this particular investigator wants to meet on Monday mornings.) Anyway, we had talked about original sin the last time we met, and in the meantime, he read 2 Nephi 2, and 9 all about the fall, Moroni 8, watched the film “The Restoration” and read a big chunk of “Our Search for Happiness.” All in the past 2 weeks! (Transfers and his trip out of town through our meeting time off a little bit.) But he basically taught us the lesson today, and has such a great understanding of the necessity of the fall, agency, and the atonement. Awesome. He’s like a Brigham Young, in that he may study the church out in detail for a few years, and analyze everything, but I think he will be baptized because he grasps these principles so well. I love teaching people with a Catholic background more than anyone else, I think, because the restored gospel fits in so well, with the organization of the Catholic Church. They seem to understand the doctrine so well. We need to get him a triple combination so he can study our pre-earth life in more depth. That is another one of those doctrines that is unique to the restoration. I’ll have to call the distribution center today and see if we can get one within the week!

Ok. Funny story. We stopped by another investigator’s house this weekend and assigned him Ether 2 and 3 to read. I wish I could describe this guy in such a way that I could give you a mental picture of what he’s like. I’ll just say, he’s the nicest guy ever, but he might appear to be kind of rough around the edges, for example, he hasn’t had electricity in about 2 years. Well, a couple hours after our visit, we get a phone call from him. “Hey, I ran into some critters I don’t know.” Sister Barello was on the phone and was wondering what he meant. Was he asking us to come rescue him? Did he need a ride? No, he was reading the scriptures! In Ether 9:19 it talks about cureloms and cumoms. “I thought I knew all the animals,” he said. It was super funny. But he’s doing awesome. He told us that he started reading the assignment, and decided to keep reading until he lost interest, and he hadn’t lost interest yet. “Well, if you get to the end of the Book of Mormon,” Sister Barello said, “just start back at the beginning!”

We tracted into another young man this week that seems to have great potential. We gave him the first lesson on his doorstep, and showed him the Book of Mormon. “Would it be ok if I keep this book?” he asked. He really wanted to read it! It’s all his.

Also, one lady we’re working with is moving to the DC/Virginia area this summer. Isn’t that awesome?

I also had my last Zone Conference this week. It was kind of weird. It was President and Sister Anderson’s last one too… and that was interesting. They were so funny. But President shared a story with the mission that he shares with all the departing missionaries. He showed a statue of Christ that sister Anderson made for his Christmas present, years ago. It was glued to a Plexiglas base that his son made. He talked about how it was the combined best efforts of two people he loved and how, that principle is the same with our Heavenly Father. When we put forth our best effort, although it is imperfect and flawed, it becomes the perfect gift to him. That is so true of the mission. We all make mistakes, but Heavenly Father just wants us to continue to try.

Thanks for your letters this week. So a homecoming talk on June 27th. Ok. I don’t really know what principle would be good to talk on. I know a few experiences I want to share as far as the power of the Book of Mormon in people’s lives, and I’ll definitely probably want to share some of Nadine’s story. But I think mission experiences can be tied in to just about any principle of the gospel…in a roundabout way…whether it’s prayer …or revelation ….or scripture study …or the atonement …or faith…so long as the topic isn’t about something totally obscure…like boy scouts….or gardening…or the history of the relief society. Yes, all topics we’ve covered in sacrament meetings since I’ve been in the field…L unfortunately. I let my companion read the letter you sent dad, and it was pretty funny. I had to explain that you were in the bishopric….otherwise it would have sounded pretty presumptuous.

I’ll try to get better at getting out some letters this week. I’ve been delinquent lately in responding to mail.

Well, I love you all. Have a wonderful week!

Sister Waters

Yay for "Greenies!" 5/17/2010

2010-06-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

This week has been absolutely wonderful! I just love my new companion so much. She is from Ogden Utah, and has been such a powerhouse sister right from day one. She is really fun, and we get along very well. She isn’t afraid to talk to people, follow promptings, and bear testimony. She is full of stories. New missionaries are the greatest missionaries, I’m convinced. It’s fun to see someone take in the mission through “new eyes.” Everything is so exciting! Giving away the first Book of Mormon, getting the first return appointment, preparing for the first baptism they will see…speaking of, our nun is doing great!

It’s been so wonderful to see this investigator’s testimony develop. She has to be the sweetest woman ever, and just wants to feel loved and accepted. The ward has heard me sing her praises, and is excited to get to know her better. She certainly has quite the conversion story.

Well, thank you for the articles you sent. I read all of them, and they have helped a lot. It’s interesting how something as elementary as the Godhead can be “found new” as I’ve studied it this week. I’m glad that I’ve been able to develop a greater understanding of this, and hope to continue to learn more. For Zone Conference, President Anderson asked us each to memorize a scripture about the restoration and be able to recite it. I chose Isaiah 29:14. In the marvelous work and a wonder of the restoration, it is so true that the understanding of the “wise” men of the earth will be hid as eternal truths are restored.

I can’t believe that this Wednesday will be my last Zone Conference. Throughout my mission, I have loved hearing the “words of wisdom” from departing missionaries’ testimonies. And now it will be my turn in just a few days. So crazy. The time has gone by pretty fast. A mission is something you look forward to your whole life, and then it’s over. Life goes on. Life gets more crazy. I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned in the field. I’m grateful to have seen gospel principles from the scriptures played out before my very eyes in the lives of the people I have met. The mission is gospel in action. I’m grateful to have received divine help on my mission, and know that it is always there when we don’t feel like we can do important things by ourselves. Before Sister Crossley went home, she talked about listening to missionaries’ homecoming talks. How they always have a few “miracle” stories. But that not every day is like that. There are a lot of days where you just work, and it seems routine. Most days are like that. I am grateful to have had “miracle moments” on my mission. It is an interesting experience to review what has happened over the past year and a half.

We’re putting a lot of things together as a mission for president and Sister Anderson, since they are going home, signing quilts, flags, and letters. It’s weird to feel like I’ll be going down with the ship. Some of the senior couples that we adore are finishing their missions too.

I swear people have the oddest pets in New Mexico. I told you about the wolf dogs and the Easter colored chicks at the beginning of my mission, but one of our potential investigators has a tortoise, it’s probably about a foot tall and 2 feet long, roughly. They also have tame parrots. I think I will miss meeting the most interesting people, and having the tag as an excuse to talk to everyone.

Brother Parks gave me a blessing this week. Sister Parks may have emailed you another picture, she said she would. I love them. I love being able to receive Priesthood blessings, although I have to admit I’m not the most forward sister about asking for them. One of the brothers in our ward has horror stories about the sisters in his mission asking for blessings. I’ll share it, just because it’s kind of funny.

He served in Argentina, and he went to the sisters’ apartment one day and ended up giving them all blessings because they were sick. But the sisters were all very angry at him for not coming earlier. They said he should have listened to the spirit to know they needed a blessing. He asked them how they knew they were sick…and they said they ate rotten meat. “How did you know it was rotten?” he asked. “It was green,” they replied. Yeah, don’t worry about me. I won’t eat any green meat.

There is another man we are teaching. He wrote a children’s book, so Sister Barello and I both want him to sign copies for us. He hasn’t been active in awhile, but we had the neatest lesson last night. He told us that we answered his questions better than the other people had in the past, and that he would think about everything we said. “Somehow, the Mormons always show up.”

OK, so I’ve basically finished writing everything I want to say. I’m sure sister Barello is just scrambling to type up all her reactions and thoughts about this first week. There is nothing like your first week. I remember sitting at the computer and never feeling like there was enough time. I love her! This last transfer is going to be awesome!

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you for sending me so many articles. I’ve got the best family in the world.

Love,
Sister Waters

Testimony 5/10/2010

2010-05-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad,

I am terrified to train again. But I received the impression that this new sister would be a great blessing to me. I still think new missionaries are the best missionaries. They are so ready to get to work!

I miss you so much. It was so good to talk to you on Mother’s Day, I felt so much peace and I felt the reassurance that this is right. But still, I can't wait to be home again.

I know Heavenly Father has answered my prayers and I know He loves me. I know I have felt the Spirit as I have read the Book of Mormon. I remember the feeling I had of being on consecrated ground when we were at the Sacred Grove two years ago. (GOSH! It’s been almost two years!) I have felt the Spirit touch me throughout my mission, especially as I have taught the lessons and the doctrines contained in them. I know we have the light of Christ to help us discern between good and evil. We CAN tell the difference between good and evil. I have felt the Spirit give me ability beyond my own to continue doing this work. I have a testimony that my life has been blessed because of the priesthood. But not having answers to objections people raise against the church is just irritating. And it weighs me down.

Our nun friend has a baptismal date! I am so impressed with her. She has questions about the history and archeology of the Book of Mormon, that no one can definitively answer, but she can still sense that the Book of Mormon is a holy book, and has a desire to be baptized. It reminds me of Alma 32:16 where Alma talks about those who are "baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know before they will believe."

Well, I think that's all I have to say for this week.
I appreciate you and love you so much!

Sister Waters

The House of the Lord 5/04/2010

2010-05-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was temple day. I am so grateful for the temple, and while there I felt so much peace, I felt at home in my Heavenly Father’s house. We were able to have a chapel session with our mission president, the temple presidency, and their wives. I think that was one of my favorite parts. The temple matron talked about how we can use the prayer rolls, even for ourselves. That thought had not occurred to me before, and I definitely feel as if I need extra help at this time. The temple is a place where we can feel peace. I know that. This past week has been anything but peaceful.

I’ve met a lot of people on my mission who like to argue, who have gotten into anti-Mormon-literature, who try to convince us that we are wrong, deceived, or that we are a cult. It is always difficult to be in these situations. This past week, we were invited into two homes that were very hostile towards us. One was a self-proclaimed biblical scholar. The other person basically told us that he didn’t think we would make it to heaven. Sister Kavatoe doesn’t understand English when people begin to talk fast, so I usually end up defending what we believe. I haven’t really been able to shrug off that “sick to my stomach feeling.” I get so frustrated because I can’t answer all the questions. But I know that I have felt the Holy Ghost give me peace, and witnesses of things that are true and sacred and dear. I remember in one of your first letters dad, how it is so important to remember those experiences with the Holy Ghost because they sustain us. I have been praying very hard lately to feel the Holy Ghost more and for renewed testimony. In the temple, I was able to feel peace and to let all of this anxiety settle. I wish I could have stayed longer. Because I feel like I’m back in a den of wolves, and I feel so worn out. I’ve kind of been an emotional wreck this week.

What is right is not always popular. In the temple, I was reminded of the Savior, when the critics accused him of being possessed of a devil, and doing miracles by the power of Beelzebub in Luke 11. I think that must have hurt the Savior immensely. Definitely, the Savior is stronger than I am, but similar accusations have been difficult to bear this week. I am reminded that it is through the Holy Ghost that we can discern goodness. And it IS possible to discern goodness from wickedness. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and every wicked tree bringeth forth wicked fruit.

Dad, I was so grateful for your letter this week. I’ve read it so much. Thank you. In the midst of trying to be a good missionary, it is important to remember that Heavenly Father wants us to feel happy. He wants us to feel joy! That is the good news of the gospel.

I love you so much. I really can’t wait to come home and hug all of you again. It sounds like things have been difficult at home too. Between family responsibilities and wedding craziness to all the other demands. I guess the take away for me out of all of this, is how much we need to make time to feel the peaceful influence of the Spirit. It is the comforter.

I look at all the concerns our investigators have. The things that weigh heavy on their hearts. It is overwhelming. Truly, the atonement is a miracle. I know that it is a real power. And it is for each of us.

I hope this letter wasn’t too much of a downer. I love you all. Being a missionary is a unique experience. I love what you said mom, about your mission being hard. It is. But you learn a ton.

Have a wonderful week.

Love, Sister Waters

P.S. I get to call you VERY SOON! I am so excited. Weekends are free on the mission’s cell phone plan so I get to call from the privacy of our own apartment! Yay. They are keeping to the white handbook 30-40 minutes. We’ll get home from church probably around 12:30 so I’ll probably call around 1:00 or 2:00 New Mexico time. Depending on if my companion goes first or not.

Should I Go or Should I Stay? 4/26/2010

2010-05-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

During interviews this week, President Anderson asked me if I still had the desire to extend. Out of the three sisters who asked to stay longer, the sister who asked for an extension first is no longer able to stay out till August. It would be helpful if one sister extends so that the new mission president isn’t left with a trio, and so that President doesn’t have to close another area due to lack of sisters. I told him I would still extend. He said he was sorry to keep changing the story and pull us in other directions.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about extending. It will come as no surprise to you that I have a difficult time making decisions.

As I have contemplated extending my mission, there are days, like today for example, where extending seems like it would be the greatest thing in the world. As the scriptures say, this is the last time the Lord is calling his servants to labor in his vineyard, so why not spend more time doing this eternally important work! If I can assist in helping one more family or individual embrace the restored gospel, then extending for another transfer would be absolutely wonderful. However, there are also days, where I feel as if my efforts are not doing much good. Where it seems like we accomplished very little that day, and the mission seems difficult and I begin to miss my family and get excited about post-mission life. I am still willing to extend, especially if it helps the work move forward. I guess I’m just the epitome of an emotional rollercoaster when it comes to extending.

This morning was so fun! We went to visit one of our investigators, but he had to reschedule the appointment because his daughter was sick. I loved his response though: “I think she’ll be better in a few hours, could I call you then and set something up for later today? If not today then definitely tomorrow.” Maybe it’s just the hopeful anticipating spirit of a missionary in me, but it sounds like he was really eager to continue his discussions! Sadly, it’s too rare an opportunity to teach someone who is so thirsty and eager to learn. I love it! Its days like this that are energizing and I feel as if I could do this work forever. This particular investigator works night shifts with my old ward mission leader from the Bandelier ward. Apparently, they have been discussing the gospel, and Brother Harker even gave him the Book of Mormon on CD. I’m going to have to write the Harker’s today and say “thanks.” In this way, it’s fun to live so close to my old area.

We met with an investigator last week, and for most of the week, I had planned that we would talk about the Great Apostasy more so that they could understand why a restoration was so important. But when I woke up on the morning we were scheduled to meet with him, I had that “uneasy” feeling that I have come to recognize as “Try again, Sister Waters. Your lesson plan isn’t right today, and today, more than other days, it matters what you are going to teach!” Back to the drawing board. It was pretty clear that we needed to teach the doctrine of Baptism. We needed to stress its importance, the authority, the covenants, and the age. Well, you can imagine my surprise when near the beginning of our discussion, our investigator said that today he had a lot of questions about baptism and that it had been on his mind. The spirit bore witness to me again, that it is Heavenly Father who is at the head of this work. He will tell us what to teach, especially when it is critical.

Remember our nun friend? Well she got in a car accident this week and can no longer drive herself. But she still wants to meet with us. The ward stepped up and we have a volunteer to drive and pick her up for her lessons. The Elders were also able to give her a priesthood blessing. It isn’t too often that investigators accept blessings. I am so grateful that she was able to receive a blessing.

One other quick little story from this week, we went back to teach another one of our newer investigators. She said that the book of Mormon makes sense. “Why would it all stop?” she said. I love it when the gospel clicks with people. I could feel the spirit in her home, more so than with other investigators who are searching just out of curiosity.

I am doing well. I wish I had more to tell you this week. It is getting weird that I don’t have all that long left on my mission. I was so glad to get your letters this week. I’m glad to hear that the moving of Mackenzie went well, and that dad is home from China safely. I loved the postcard. Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I really appreciate your letters. I love you and can’t wait to see you again.

Love,
Sister Waters

In the Event of an Emergency, Don't Give Sister Waters the Gun 4/19/2010

2010-05-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

This week we had a hilarious district meeting. We were going over the Mission’s Emergency Plan, and our Zone Leaders thought it would be fun to role-play different emergency situations, and demonstrate what you should do in each instance. So, first we role-played what to do if your companion is killed. (Stay with the body until it is in a secure location.) Then, we had to role-play a carjacking. They thought it would be hilarious for Sister Kavatoe and me to be the carjackers, so we consented. They even provided us with a little toy Nerf gun, so we could get dramatic about the whole thing. Ok. So I run up to Elder Kunz and Elder Gregson, knock on their “window” and yell at them to get out of the car. They won’t listen to me, and so I get angrier. “Get Out Of The Car!” (By the way, in the event of a carjacking, we are supposed to comply with the instructions given, FYI.) Well, I lose control of the gun and end up shooting. Unlike Sister Allred, I have never shot gun, and I’m not very good at handling toy ones either. So the “bullet” goes straight though the “car window” and hits my partner in crime, Sister K. At this point, everyone, including myself, lost it, and burst out laughing. It took us a little time to regain our composure. Our district leader closed the meeting by stating, “Well, we’ve learned in the case of emergency, don’t give Sister Waters a gun.” Fair enough.

Remember the former nun that I’ve been writing about for the past few months? Well, she’s officially investigating the church now! We met with her this week at the church building. Her husband passed away last August, so she is planning to build a mother-in-law’s house where she can do more of what she wants, without her family stealing her Book of Mormon. (Yes, we think they took her Book of Mormon). I’ll review her story in case any of you faithful readers have forgotten. We tracted into her back in January or February and she invited us in right away. She told us that she had been praying to know the truth, and had been hoping that she would come in contact with some LDS people. When she was a young adult, her mother convinced her to become a nun, and she was in a cloistered convent near Hollywood California. At this particular monastery, they preformed penance for sins, in the form of sleep deprivation, fasting, humiliation, and whipping. After a time, she realized that only Jesus Christ can atone for the sins of the world, and that our bodies are temples, so she left the monastery. Since then, she has studied a few different faiths, but has a firm testimony of the role of prophets. Because of this faith in the role of prophets, she has united with the Baha’i faith, but in her heart, has concerns or conditions with this faith, because she knows that Jesus Christ was more than just a good prophet, and that in reality, He was the Savior of the world. She was excited to hear about Joseph Smith and modern day prophets. She also read one of the pamphlets we left her, and was thrilled to know that we believe in a pre-earth life, because she has always believed that she came to earth from a good, beautiful place. She intends to read the Book of Mormon some more, and in the closing prayer, asked to know if this was true. When we asked her if she would be baptized when she gets her answer, it was a resounding yes! We found out that she has spinal degeneration, so if she can drive herself to church, most anyone can.

It has been fun to see the work in Rio Rancho pick up, compared to when we got here. We found a few more new people this week who said they want to take the lessons. One of them had attended a t Ballroom dance camp in Provo years ago. We’ll see how all of this progresses. Stay tuned.

Well, I love you dearly and hope all is well for you.

Love,
Sister Waters

Hello! 4/12/2010

2010-05-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!

More and more, I feel as if I have very little to write! This week was a little difficult, but it was good too. I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to visit the other sisters on preparation day. That has been such a tender mercy for me. There is such a strength there, and an ability to support each other that has helped immensely. I have been even more grateful for special experiences with the Holy Ghost this week. Maybe I am more emotional than usual, I don’t know, but there is nothing like having the reassurance of the Spirit that my Heavenly Father loves me, and that our efforts here, while imperfect, are acceptable to Him.

One of the attributes I wanted to develop on my mission was charity. I am still working on that one, but it has become even more important to me as my mission is drawing to an end. Helping people feel loved, and trying to bear real, pure sincere, testimony, and living witness of the truths I know will be more lasting than the little details that I tend to stress and worry about.

Yes, I fear I have become a “mission rules Nazi.” I tend to get irritated when rules aren’t kept. But then I have to remember that I am not perfect either. We all make mistakes.

We met with the neatest potential this week! She really wants to read the Book of Mormon, and she was going to read it while she flew out to Virginia to visit her ailing father, but ended up falling asleep. But she still intends to read it, and even talked about “next time” we come, which means she isn’t opposed to us coming back! We also met a former investigator that moved into our area. He believes that Christ could have come to ancient America and other lands as well. Yay! Everything in High Range tends to be new, new investigators and potentials. I hope that at some point, the people we meet will progress to be more stable investigators and or members!

My companion didn’t feel well this week, so we spent some time inside, which ended up being productive for me. I went through the area book and probably called 30+ people from the notes on people who had expressed interest at some point. I don’t know if any of them will call back, but at least it was a reminder, and a choice.

Yeah, there are some cultural differences between my companion and me. I’m sure I will look back at them and think it’s funny.

Well, I wish I had more to say. Maybe I will think of more as I sit here.

Love ya!
Sister Waters

Hello 4/05/2010

2010-05-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

I have been lucky not to struggle with homesickness much on my mission, but yesterday was awful. Really awful. I miss you all so much!

Well, if General Conference wouldn’t make a missionary trunky I don’t know what would! It was all about families!

Thank you for your letters, I got them on Transfer day. Yes, Laura Barney is in my ward here. She lives with the Ullibarri family, who I recognize, but I haven’t met Sis. Barney yet. That’s fun news.

Also thank you for the Easter packages. You spoil me a lot! But it was fun to have a new Easter outfit and some homemade cookies. Thank you!

Sister Kavatoe is a great sister. She only had two weeks in the MTC to learn English, but I really do understand everything she says. The Spirit is very strong when she speaks. She’s pretty funny and loves to have fun.

This week was very difficult…maybe one of the hardest weeks I have had in the mission. I think Sister Kavatoe might be convinced that people in the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho area are mean. I think it was just a rough week. I’m praying that the initial success we saw last transfer continues and wasn’t an illusion.

Meeting people who really do not like missionaries really makes me appreciate dinner appointments with members. Sometimes I really think we just need to be around people who will affirm that what we are doing is right. To feel the spirit in a home and to hear the testimonies of other members is a great blessing.

Today we will be spending some time with the Spanish Sisters in Rio Rancho. One of them is from Mexico and the other one is from Peru, so they don’t have driver’s licenses, and therefore are on Bicycles. We’ll be driving with them a lot on preparation days this transfer. It should be fun. And it means we get more miles to drive…which eliminates some of the stress. I’ve been going over the allotted miles lately. Our area is just too big!

I love you all very much and miss you terribly. You are the best family ever, and I cannot wait to see you all again. In some ways it feels like I have forever to go until I see you. Sorry this is so short! Hope all is well with you!

Love
Sister Waters

Tomorrow I'll Understand, but Today I'll Just Obey 3/29/2010

2010-05-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

It’s transfer news time! And my prediction was correct. I’m staying in Rio Rancho for another transfer. I’m learning that there are missionaries that move to a lot of places on their mission, and there are missionaries that stay and hold down the fort. I guess I’m the latter. I’m really going to miss Sister Allred. She had a way of telling me exactly what I needed to hear, and we had a lot of fun together. She is heading to Shiprock, an Indian reservation, and I am getting Sister Kavatoe as my new companion. She is from Tonga, and waited for almost 6 months to get a Visa to come here, so I’m sure she is an amazing missionary. We took her tracting her first day in the mission last fall. At that time, her English was very limited. I’m a little bit nervous about this. The ward is so excited to get another Tongan missionary, apparently they had one a few years ago they just fell in love with.

Honestly, I’m a little jealous of Sister Allred going to the reservation. That is something I had been hoping I’d be able to do my whole mission, and it looks like my opportunity has all but passed. Sister Allred just came to Rio Rancho from the reservation, so she’s a little hesitant to go back. I guess it’s a good thing Heavenly Father is at the head of this transfer business, because I don’t know if either of us would have picked it this way. As Sister Allred says, “tomorrow I’ll understand, but today I’ll just obey.” Yes, I would have loved the chance to serve on the reservation, but as I’ve prayed about it, I’ve also realized that it isn’t something I should ask for. Heavenly Father’s children are just as important in whatever area you serve.

We were telling one of the families we visit that Sister Allred was being transferred, and it was her opinion that transfers are harder on the missionary left behind. I think sometimes it feels that way. But I was reading in D&C 112 this morning, one of my favorite missionary sections, and I’m realizing that I have so much to be grateful for. Verse 19 talks about how an effectual door will be opened before the Lord’s missionaries. I’m serving here in Rio Rancho, and there are a lot of exciting things happening along those lines right here. In just two transfers, we have seen so many new investigators invite us in. We had two people we invited show up to church just yesterday, for example, and one of them even invited their friend! We even had a baptism this transfer, the first in a long time for this ward. (We didn’t have much to do with it though, that I KNOW.) Things are certainly starting to turn around here. As I was studying this morning, I was thinking about how one of my biggest challenges on the mission is to not compare my efforts with the outward signs of success that other missionaries have. Baptisms have been skyrocketing here in the Southwest, but I feel like in my sphere of influence, relatively not much has happened on my mission. As I read D&C 11:8,17 it hit me that the righteous desires of my heart WILL be fulfilled, somewhere along the lines, the work I’m doing now will make a difference. Like President Anderson said on my first day in the mission, “Because you have the Spirit with you, as set apart messengers of the gospel, you are succeeding even when it feels like you are failing.” I was talking with Sister Allred a couple nights ago, and she told me that the ties we build here in the mission field with Heavenly Father, the faith and the reliance on Him will outlast any area, or even the whole 18 month experience. That makes it all worth it.

Well, I’ll get off my little soapbox.

The Baptism on Saturday went very well, but the week was crazy! On Tuesday we found out that there was going to be a funeral, and so our baptism was getting bumped. We spent most of the week trying to move the Baptism to the Stake Center, get keys, and logistics worked out with the time and location change. But all in all, it worked out. When we got there, we found out the font had been filled only full enough for a child’s baptism, so that was another little hitch. And the funeral took precedence that day, so attendance was a little weak. But I’m glad it happened on that day, postponing baptisms is scary to a missionary, and it’s conference weekend this week. I know this brother felt the Spirit strongly. And that’s the most important thing.

Remember the Irish brother I wrote about in some of my last e-mails? Well we got to have another lesson with him this week. He’s been reading the Book of Mormon, but also studying things on-line…which is every missionary’s worst fear. Needless to say, we had a lot of tough questions to answer this week. He is very interested in historical evidence, and mostly we stressed that the witness of the Holy Ghost is more powerful than any other evidence we could obtain. Like Christ told Thomas, more blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed. I was so grateful to have Brother Bartlett from the ward with us. Sister Allred and I have gotten very close to this family, and both the Bartlett’s were converted several years ago. It was so powerful to hear Brother Bartlett’s testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. I just hope our friend continues in his reading of the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, we invited him to continue reading the Book of Mormon; I love his response “You know I will!! And If I find out that this book contains the truth, I will be this first to join and give up tea (which will break my heart.)”

Remember when I was in Farmington, and you fasted for and put Crystal and Tommy’s name in the temple? They were the couple that I sent wedding pictures of? Well I’m glad to announce that Crystal did get baptized in January. Also some other people I taught in Bloomfield were baptized. I was surprised to read their names at Zone Conference, because when I was there, it seemed to me as if our visits were more inconvenient than anything. It’s neat how when the Spirit works, attitudes can change relatively quickly.

We also got to visit our Nun this week! Finally! She loved the literature we gave her and would like to meet from time to time, in another location. We got her cell phone number. So that is exciting news.

Well, I think that is most of the news I have for this week. Thank you so much for all you do for me. I really do have the best family in the world. I love you.

Sister Waters

Here Comes Another Week in Rio Rancho 03/22/2010

2010-04-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

Thanks for working my class schedule out. It’s exciting to see it all come together. It should be a fun semester. The only class I am dreading is my Political Science class. I’ve heard that it is a beast and mostly deals with Statistics. You’ll remember from my senior year how much I love statistics. Gag. But it has to be done sooner or later. Thanks for making all those phone calls. I really appreciate it.

I don’t really have much to tell you about this week. It was a good week though. Our baptism is looking like it will still go through next Saturday, so we’re excited about that. Everything has been thrown together super fast, and we are rushing to finish the lessons, as a formality, but he has been studying the church for three years prior to meeting with us, so it’s not too much to worry about. I am always on “pins and needles” when it comes to Baptism dates, I just don’t want anything to go wrong.

Also, we get transfer news next Saturday as well, so it will be an exciting day. I have no idea what will happen. Although guessing is a futile effort, it’s still kind of fun to try. I think there is a good chance I will stay.

We got to teach a lot of people this week that we had almost given up hope on meeting with. We even tracted into someone we met at Tavern Guy’s house. That was kind of fun. We gave away a couple Book of Mormons to people that seem like they will actually read them.

I like the High Range ward. There are a lot of rumors going around that it will split in April when the Stake Center is finished and when there is Ward Conference. So, we’ll see what happens.

I love you a lot. Sorry this is so short, but I’m at a loss for what to say this week.

You might be interested to know that I am putting in my request to stay the late transfer today. I don't know if it will work or not, but I decided that I would see. I figure six more weeks isn't that long, if this is the last time the Lord is sending His servants out into the Vineyard.

Love you tons!

Sister Waters

But Even When You Have the Perfect Kill Shot, the Work Isn't Even Finished Yet. You've Still Gotta' Pack that Sucker Out of There! 03/15/2010

2010-04-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Family

This was a great week. Things continue to go well here in High Range Ward. Sister Allred and I had to give talks yesterday in church. Sister Allred’s talk was hilarious. She was talking about member missionary work and likened the scriptures unto herself in regards to the comparison between member missionary work and hunting. Quotes include:

“Imagine that a local comes up to you, tells you where all the good draws are, and then gives you permission to kill on his property! That’s so much better than scouting out the area for hours.” (Tracting stinks)

“But even when you have the perfect kill shot, the work isn’t even finished yet. You’ve still gotta pack that sucker out of there.” (Talking about keeping converts active and ready to go to the temple)

“Think of the joy you feel when the garage is all washed down and the meat is cut up and placed in the freezer, and how much MORE joy can come from sharing the gospel.”

Her talk was VERY well done, and she had the ward wrapped around her finger. Sister Allred…the fairy tale princess at first glance who doubles as a Bambi’s mom killer. We all love her.

Our ward mission leader spoke and he said the reason it is difficult to share the gospel with those around us is NOT because we are afraid, but because we as a society have stopped letting people into our lives. As we really get to know people on a personal level, the gospel is a less intimidating topic. Do you eat? He asked the congregation? Then you can share the gospel. How hard is it to invite our neighbors over to dinner, where they can see the pictures in our homes, and get to know us better? His talk was also brilliant.

Guess what?!?! We have a baptism date set for March 27! Yay! This is how it all fell into place. Last transfer, we tracted into a gentleman that said his friend was LDS, and that he was reading the literature given to him by his friend. His friend is in the Star Heights ward.

We stopped by a few weeks later, to follow up with this man we tracted into, and found out he had an appointment to meet with the missionaries in the Star Heights ward.

The Elders taught a couple lessons, and then invited us to help them teach.

We are finishing up the lessons, and if all goes well, the 27th will be a Baptism day! He came to church yesterday for the first time, and I think it all went well. Kind of awkward that his first Sunday was the Sunday we were assigned to speak, but it all went okay.

We also met the most amazing family tracting this week. They all sat down to listen to the message (a rarity on the mission) and even the teenage daughters were excited and asking really good, deep questions. Their father is from Ireland, and he is fascinated with other Christian denominations. He’s really been studying and searching, so he invited us to come back in an hour. We grabbed a member from across the street, (because at the time, he was the only adult home) and we basically went through all the lessons in one sitting. In Ireland, there is basically only one religion, Catholicism, so since moving to the US, he has been surprised to drive down the street and see so many different churches, and see people actually attending regularly. He’s been to a handful of churches already. Hopefully, we’ll get to visit with them again this week or next!

One of our other new investigators said this: “Were you praying for me? . . . I could tell.” He’s been pretty good at reading from the Book of Mormon lately, although he didn’t make it to church yesterday, we were sad. He is the investigator that lives way out on the edge of our area, we found out he hasn’t had electricity for the past two years.

So Yay for having people to teach!

Also, I asked President about the option of going home the late transfer. He said that it is an option, since plane tickets haven’t been purchased yet, but that he’ll look to see if there will be an even or odd number of sisters coming into the mission. If we are left with an even number, it would be a bad idea, because it would create a trio. But if there are an odd number of sisters, it might be a really good idea. I have mixed feelings on the subject. I think I’m just going to wait and see if President gets back to me on that. Part of me really wants to go home in June, and part of me thinks it would be great to stay out longer. My MTC companion is here in Albuquerque today for some medical stuff. She is also thinking about going home the late transfer, so that would be fun to have another sister to go home with. I heard they sent the “trunky papers” to all the parents a couple weeks ago. Any thoughts on the matter?

Well I love you tons.

Thanks for all your support. I love you and hope you’re having a great week!

Love,
Sister Waters

Being Resourceful with Old and Unwanted Ties from the Elders

2010-04-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Miracles 3/08/2010

2010-04-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

This week was amazing! Heavenly Father really helped us out. I don’t know why we had so much success this week compared to others. It could be one of two things. A) Heavenly Father knew I would just about gauge my eyes out if the work didn’t start picking up, and therefore blessed us with people to teach in order to prevent my imminent destruction. B) We finally got help to remove the couch in our apartment. President asked us to only have one couch in mission apartments. I also made a more diligent effort to exercise at least a little bit each day. I don’t know if these little improvements in obedience made the difference, but I do know we were lead to people who would receive the gospel.

We found FOUR new investigators this week. This is huge! Let me describe some of the miraculous things that happened.

First, on Tuesday morning, we were headed out to tract a particular neighborhood, but I felt strongly that we needed to check on a less active member who we heard was sick, and the ward asked us to go by, so we changed plans a little bit and went to visit her. When we got there, we found her to be in perfectly good health. Ok. Maybe it wasn’t really a prompting after all. Then I felt like we should follow up with a lady that we met tracting a couple weeks earlier. We stopped by her house. No one was home. As we got back into the car, the Spanish Elders pulled up and flagged us down. They gave us the name of a woman they had met tracting and told us that we should stop by…we were parked just a couple of houses away from where she lived. That’s how we met Kathy. If we hadn’t followed earlier “impressions”, we wouldn’t have been in a position to meet her that day. She is amazing! She asked us for literature, so we gave her a couple pamphlets, and she looked at us and asked, “Is that all you’re going to give me?” So we taught her about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy of her very own. She began to ask us questions about why people die horrible deaths, etc. And we were able to use the Book of Mormon to answer some of her questions about death. So we set up a return appointment for Sunday and taught her the Plan of Salvation. Apparently, her grandmother was LDS. As we taught her the Plan of Salvation, she had some of the scriptures we used in 1 Corinthians 15 and Jeremiah highlighted already. We talked about why we have opposition in life. At the end of the lesson, we told her that she could pray about these things and gain knowledge for herself, because she is a precious daughter of our Heavenly Father. We asked her “If you came to know these things were true, would you be baptized?” Now, usually when we ask these questions, people try to dodge it or else protest that they have been baptized already. Do you know what Kathy’s response was? “Well, you would have to be!” She told us that she felt really good. She told us that she knew God was very proud of us because of what we were doing. Kathy had been praying to know truth, and that’s when the Elders found her at home, just a short time later, she has a very strong belief that the Elders were an answer to her prayer. At the end of our lesson, she began to ask us a lot of questions about how to deal with challenges in her family, and we were able to point her to chapters in both the Book of Mormon and Bible that would help her with these questions. She thought that this might be her only chance to get these answers, but was glad to hear that we would come back. That this was more than just a onetime visit. She’s excited to keep learning! Yesterday was such a great day! We also taught a great lesson to another gentleman who also became a new investigator.

On Saturday, we stopped by another less active family’s home. We weren’t sure if we should visit them or not, since the husband’s truck wasn’t there, but we went to visit his wife anyway. When we opened the door, she said, “I’m taking you girls to meet someone.” She grabbed the keys, and we walked down her street to meet with her neighbor. She introduced us to him, and told him that we would be stopping by to visit him. He is in his 80s, and just gave up his dog because he couldn’t take it on walks any more, due to his failing legs. This sister asked us to help him clean up his house (which is full of boxes he could trip over). She says that gradually we can begin to teach him the gospel.

When we got back to this Sister’s house she told us that she was praying this morning about her neighbor, and Heavenly Father told her that the Sister Missionaries would stop by today and that she should take us to visit her neighbor. This good Sister has a heart of gold. She has a long list of neighbors, and friends that she takes care of, and fellowships. The list was starting to weigh down on her, and she came to the conclusion that she should begin to introduce these people to the church and the missionaries one by one. She has poor health herself, and she knows that when she goes, the church can help fellowship all these people that she feels responsible for.

Did we feel prompted to go visit this Sister? Honestly, no, but Heavenly Father is aware of everything we are going to do before we even get to it. I learned a lesson that day, about how Heavenly Father can use us in answer to someone’s prayer without us even being aware of it ourselves. Sometimes we get promptings, but often times, he already knows that we’ll be in a position to help. God really does use us in neat ways when we make ourselves available. It’s a neat thing to be a missionary and hear someone say, “I knew you would come today.” Or “This is an answer to my prayers.” It happens only occasionally.

We met another woman whose nephew is preparing to either serve a LDS mission, or go to minister school. (His grandparents raised him LDS, but someone else in his family is Baptist.) Anyway, she invited us in right away and let us teach her the gospel. Her husband is Muslim, so religion has always been very “general” in their house. Her mother also died a month ago. I’m excited to teach her the Plan of Salvation this coming week!

We also started teaching another man who is so sincere! Missionaries, a long time ago, gave him a Book of Mormon. It was neat to see him pull it out along with pamphlets and reading assignments, they had given him. I am so grateful for those missionaries who planted that seed years ago. I am lucky to teach him at a time in his life where he has time to devote to listening. We brought along a sister who just got off her own mission to Thailand this past August. It was interesting to compare the differences in teaching people who already know the Bible very well, to her experiences teaching people who really didn’t even know much about Jesus Christ. The message is the same, but we approach it so differently depending on the culture of our area.

Also, one of my favorite families from my last area moved into this area! It was so fun to see them at church! That was the first time I had ever seen the husband actually come to church. And now, they are here! Yay!

Also, a part member family invited us for dinner this week. I think it was the Catholic wife who was most enthusiastic.

I am really beginning to love this area. It is neat to see things finally begin to blossom. To really see how the area could transform. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing us so much this week. There is no way that we could have accomplished this by ourselves. We were led so often this week, without even being aware of it. All we had to do was get out and keep working. Heavenly Father will use us in his own time and in his own way so long as we keep doing as he asks; even when it seems like nothing is happening.

I love you all, and hope that all is going well back home. I have the best family in the whole world!

LOVE,
Sister Waters

"And if it so be that you should labor. . .and bring save it be one soul unto me." 3/01/2010

2010-03-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!

One thing I am grateful for this week is that BOTH our high school girls I wrote about last week kept their appointments. I love teaching them, and really hope that they will feel their Savior’s love and develop an appreciation of the scriptures. Yay for this little blessing! I love teaching young people because they have their whole lives ahead of them. We also had an opportunity to render service this week, helping at the American Legion. A lot of members of the community came to help fill care packages for a troop in Iraq or Afghanistan. That was neat to see.

We’re implementing the 40-day fast that Dad sent me from the Chantilly Ward here. We’re hoping it will help get the ward thinking about missionary opportunities. Thanks for sending it, we actually used it in my last area as well, but I was transferred before its kick off. This area has a lot of potential. Our Bishop called President Anderson to request that Sister Allred and I not get transferred, so at least someone likes us!

There is a certain type of screen door in New Mexico that is metal on the outside, and prevents us from seeing who is on the other side of the door. It allows the homeowner to have a clear view of us. I hate these doors so much! But it led to a funny incident this week. We were talking to this woman, and she sounded to be semi-interested, so we asked what her name was. “David” was the response. Sister Allred and I looked at each other, and realized that since we couldn’t see what the other person looked like; this must be a little boy! We couldn’t help but laugh. Kids usually are more receptive than their parents! They often say things like “try again!” or “Dad, they want to come into our house!” I wonder if children can recognize the spirit because they haven’t been gone as long as us old folk.

Last week, after I finished writing my e-mail, we went to Wal-Mart, and this man decided to pick a fight with us! Two sister missionaries! He asked if we were Jehovah Witnesses (a common mistake) and after learning that we were Mormon, began to criticize our beliefs. I tend to get so angry when people do that! It’s one thing if we’re on the doorstep, after all, we are on their turf and we’re kind of asking for it, but to approach total strangers…at Wal-Mart? Who aren’t actively proselyting? That’s just irritating.

We finally picked up another “real” investigator after weeks and weeks of tracting! We’ve met with him for two Saturdays now, and even got to see him at Wal-Mart as well. (Wall Mart was a very eventful day for us.) He already had a copy of the Book of Mormon, and we taught him about Adam and Eve, the fall, and why we have opposition here in life. He told us that it changed his perspective, and he even wanted to set up a specific time to have us come back! He lives out on the fringes of the ward, right before it gets to a sagebrush desert…but he seems very sincere! Yay! I’m excited to follow up on his Book of Mormon reading.

Remember the former nun that I wrote about a few weeks ago? Well, Sister Allred and I tried to stop by a few weeks ago, and her daughter-in-law (the Jehovah’s Witness) opened the door, and we hesitated to ask for our nun friend, worrying that it might cause family tensions. So, we mailed a letter to their address . . . then we came up with a brilliant idea on Saturday! Why don’t we stop by the house when Kingdom Hall has its Sunday meetings?!?! Yes, that would be a good way to ensure that our nun friend is at home, while the daughter-in-law is gone. So, Sister Allred and I drove to the closest Kingdom Hall, trying to be sneaky of course, and look up the posted meeting times. Well, guess what? They have “wards” just like we do, so deciding what time they meet presented a difficulty. Maybe we’ll have to investigate further.

Well, thank you for all your support. I love all of you so much. I know how important this work is to our Heavenly Father. I’m learning that even when people reject us, we are offering them a clear choice. Hopefully, the testimony we bear will be brought to their remembrance at some point. After all, they say on average it takes seven interactions with the church before a person joins. We’re just adding to the bean pile.

I love you a ton! I hope you know and feel that. I thank Heavenly Father for you each night. I have the best family in the world!

Love,
Sister Waters

Miracles in Rio Rancho and By the Way, Sisters Aren't Old Maids 2/22/2010

2010-03-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

Hello from Rio Rancho!

From Monday of last week through Wednesday of this week, we had a total of four different sister missionaries staying at our apartment due to transfers. Sister Ormsby who is from Australia spent a day with us while she was waiting for her new companion who was transferring to our mission from the Chicago mission. We worked as a trio with Sister Ormsby for a day, and it was fun to see her door approaches. I think she can get away with a lot due to her accent. I was impressed with her ability to tell people like it is. While we were tracting with her, we met a family that belongs to what was once the RLDS church, now known as the Community of Christ. Their mom just became a priest, but they were eager to invite us back. Should be interesting to say the least.

Update on Tavern Guy from a few weeks ago: We stopped by to see if we could meet again, and we asked him if he read the pamphlet. Not only did he say yes, but he also gave it to one of his friends, and told him all about the “girl missionaries.” It’s so great when you can get non-members to do missionary work for you! I don’t really know if anything will result from this, but it’s a fun little update since most of my stories in this area are “beginning” stories. There aren’t too many “middle” stories yet, but I’ll try to keep you posted.

So, Relief Society yesterday was super funny. This woman was telling a story about how much her mother didn’t want to serve a mission, although the Spirit was prompting her to do so. She didn’t want to serve a mission because, at the time, Sister Missionaries just became old maids, and she really didn’t want to be an old maid. As it turned out, she went on the mission, had a good experience and married one of the Elders. Later on in the lesson, the Relief Society President made a comment about missionary work and made sure to tell Sister Allred and me not to worry, we wouldn’t be Old Maids. So yeah, kind of awkward, but Sister Allred and I have been laughing about it. We are agreed that marrying an Elder isn’t the most appealing idea, if that’s the moral of the story. Some consolation.

As I have written before, when I first came to this area, my goal was to see miracles. The other day I thought to myself, “Ok, then Sister Waters, what would a miracle look like here?” It was interesting to think about, and I’m starting to realize that maybe we’ve seen some already. As much as I wanted to see more baptisms before the end of my mission, I’m starting to think that our purpose in this area lies more with an 18-year-old recent convert and a less active sister who is only 16. Sure, we have some potential baptismal candidates, but we haven’t really had the opportunity to meet regularly with these new investigators yet, and the only “regular” investigator we have keeps making comments indicating that he’s scared of church and would rather stay with what he knows. After trying for a transfer, we finally set up an appointment to teach our less active-recent convert the new member lessons. She is awesome, and I think the Elders just scared her a little bit (heck, I think they scared the members a little bit sometimes!) But Heavenly Father is so aware of this daughter of his, and maybe that’s why he sent Sister Allred and me here…to be persistent with her. Maybe the miracle is that we get to line up with specific people who have specific needs. Heavenly Father loves her so much, and wants her to have support, since she is the only member in her family…so far anyway. I just hope our appointments with these girls don’t fall through.

We went around yesterday and tried to contact a lot of people, I feel like people are starting to warm up. Hopefully, we’ll start to get invited in more, and our days of doorstep conversations will decrease. The work has to progress! There are too many promises in the scriptures for it not to. As I continue to pray for the missionary work in this area to progress, I’m sure there may be miracles occurring of which I am not even aware.

We met a man who was leaving for Afghanistan in five days and he said he wanted to read the Book of Mormon. So we left him a copy. Its situations similar to these, that I like to imagine are the beginnings of miracles. The kinds of miracles of which I may never be aware.

In sacrament meeting yesterday, someone said, “Bearing your Testimony is Never Wasted.” I think that is so true, and good to remember especially in this area. We as members should never shy away from bearing our testimonies. There is power in testimony, and it is never a waste to bear it. The speaker was talking about how the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance, and if that is true, we may never know when the Holy Ghost can bring our testimony to someone else’s remembrance. Think of the prophet Enos in the Book of Mormon, who remembered the words of his father, and they sunk deep in his soul!

Well, I don’t have much else to say, aside from, I love you, and continue to pray for you!

Love,
Sister Waters

New Mexico is Getting Another Mission, the Farmington New Mexico Mission 2/16/2010

2010-03-02T05:49:00.000-08:00

My Dearest Family,

This has been a whirlwind of a week. It's official, New Mexico is getting another mission, and as a result, the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission is getting split to create a Farmington Mew Mexico Mission. The boundary changes will affect the Provo Mission, a Texas Mission and two Arizona missions. Crazy. I'm having a hard time adjusting to the realization that when I go home, my mission will no longer exist as I know it. The change will take place on July 1, 2010. I'm thinking that the mission office will send out a letter and maps to all the current missionaries, but if it doesn't happen, let me know. This is too crazy.

We took the new sisters tracting yesterday as part of their orientation, and one of the Elders I came out with was there. He was asking me how many transfers I had left. I really couldn't remember. But he told me that I only have two left, because he won't count the one that just started. Wow. I'm afraid of the time I don't have left. Last week, I would wake up in the middle of the night, realizing that I'm a missionary, and it was the most surreal feeling. I got a notice from the mission office today that my release date is June 23, 2010, and to contact President Anderson if I have any questions. In the back of my mind, I keep toying around with the idea of going home the late transfer in August but 1. I don't know if that is even allowed, since every sister missionary (except for one) has gone home the early transfer as long as I've been in the mission. 2. With a new mission being formed, Church headquarters might have played the number game already with the number of new missionaries being assigned here. And 3. That could potentially have me finishing in a completely different mission than I started in, with a completely different group of missionaries and president, for only about the last 3ish weeks of my mission. That could be traumatic. Also, I would miss going home with the sisters I came out with. So, mostly, there are a lot of reasons why I wouldn't want to go home the August transfer, but at the same time, I really want more time on the mission. It has gone by so fast. Needless to say, this has been a very conflicting week.

Thank you for the Valentines Cookies. That was too sweet of you. I hope you start to thaw out soon. Everyone back here is talking about the snow on the east coast.

Our Zone Leader called us on Saturday night with transfer news. He told us that Sister Allred was going to the Cortez 2nd Ward, and that I was going back to the Paradise Hills ward. Sister Allred and I were so excited by the totally unexpected. But then he told us that it was all a joke. Yes, Sister Allred and I are both staying in High Range.

Back when I was in the MTC, they gave us a devotional about the normal emotional phases that accompany change. Here are the phases I remember the speaker explaining and how they relate to High Range.

1. Honeymoon Phase
Yes! We're going to make this dead area vibrant. We're going to see miracles. This will be an amazing area. We have a purpose here. Complete transformation and huge developing teaching pool, here we come!

2. Homesickness
I miss what I left behind, baptism dates and investigators.

3. Denial
Maybe we'll get transferred.

4. Resentment/Hostility
Mostly frustration that despite working hard and trying to be obedient there is little immediate success.

5. Successful Readjustment
This is what I am still working on. I knew from the moment we got here that we would have to rely on the Spirit, and on Heavenly Father more than in any other area. Yet, I don't understand why the work can't move faster. I guess this is a lesson in patience. When I went to Paradise Hills, I think I had the faith to see direct immediate answers to my prayers. Here, I guess I am learning that even when we have faith, even when we work hard, we don't always get what we want. There are many faithful people who don't get exactly what they want when they want it. Yet, I cannot reconcile this lesson in patience with the Lord's repeated and firm promise that the field is white, ready to harvest! If there are people who are so ready for the gospel, why aren't we finding them? Or why aren't they more anxious to progress? Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Is there a different approach that we should be taking? Is our method for finding investigators the incorrect one for the area? What can I do better? And yet, every missionary should know that it isn't us that drives the work, it's the Spirit. In some ways, it feels like a Catch-22. I guess I'm learning to have more realistic expectations for the area. We're probably not going to have a thriving pool of investigators over night. Yet at the same time, I still yearn to have investigators. I yearn to see miracles. I want the Lord to do for us, in this area, what I simply cannot do for myself. We read those inspirational stories from the Ensign about how missionaries can transform a dead area overnight. How can I see THAT kind of miracle? Maybe the mission isn't about seeing miracles. Maybe, as Sister Allred says, all I can hope to do is my best, and if nothing comes from it, then at least I can know I tried my best. I guess Sister Allred and I will keep plugging away at this area. I have felt the Spirit confirm on a few different occasions that we DO have a purpose here, and I firmly believe that people ARE prepared, or are being prepared. I don't know if I see it yet. I hope that the successful readjustment comes soon. I hope that we won't have to resort to the "imaginary investigators" we're planning to create to make companion study more entertaining. :)

Regardless, if Heavenly Father needs a missionary to work, even when it's hard, I want him to know that he can count on me. It's so easy to be a missionary when the work is thriving. You teach lessons. You have a set schedule. The real challenge is what do you do when the work isn't exactly "thriving". All I can do is try to do my personal best and let Heavenly Father make up for the HUGE difference between my best and what the area needs.

One of the golden people we baptized in Paradise Hills has already gone less active, by moving in with some anti-Mormons. I wish it wasn't so heartbreaking to hear that kind of news.

Also, we met a lady at Pep Boys who started talking about Apostles. We told her that this was our message: we have 12 Apostles today, the gospel has been restored, and we have a living prophet! She seemed to agree, amid periods of slight confrontation. But ultimately, she told us that SHE was an Apostle. Oh boy, the craziness.

Well, I love you dearly, the time has flown by today, and I wish I had more time to tell you what's going on. In good news, we were invited back to a really cool couple's house. I have great hopes for them.

I love you dearly. Thank you for your support and love. I appreciate it more than you ever know.

Love
Sister Waters

The Work is as Slow as Molasses but We Keep Trying 2/08/2010

2010-03-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Hello,

The work is pretty slow. We tract a lot. We tracted into a scary gangster guy who invited us back. I'm glad Sister Allred had the door approach, she testified about how we have a prophet on the earth again today, and surprisingly, he responded:

"Well that's good to know!"

He actually listened to what we had to say and caught the significance of it! Usually people are so eager to get us off the doorstep that they don't listen to what we manage to mutter out before they shut the door. But like almost all of the people who invite us back, we haven't been able to catch this man again. We'll keep trying. The work is just about as slow as molasses here, but we'll keep praying and trying.

Sister Allred and I finally found something fun to do on P-day. The Elders left us over 30 ties in the apartment along with an assortment of other junk that has been passed down from missionary to missionary. We're sewing them into skirts. Hopefully, we'll get them done before our last district meeting of the transfer. We're going to Goodwill today to see if we can find even more ties that are uglier than sin. Finally, the sisters will have something worthy of competition with the Elders' crazy suits!

Sister Allred and I decided to try to save miles this week. Of course, the day we decide to walk is the day that Rio Rancho gets a snowstorm. A cop offered to give us a ride, people were giving us weird looks, and both Sister Allred and I had mascara that ran down around our eyes. We looked ridiculous, and we couldn't help but laugh. We lasted in the snow for about two hours before we got a member to take us back to the apartment.

One of the members from my last area called saying they had an investigator that lives in our area! She is a single woman who just moved to the United States somewhat recently. When we called her to set up an appointment, she was so excited and wanted to come to church! But when we actually got her address, we found out it was in the Elder's area. At last, we have the hope of a legitimate investigator, and we have to turn it over to the Elders. Poaching in their area has never been so tempting.

I'm sorry this email, stinks. I'm trying to get it done before my remaining time runs out. Love you tons. I've been thinking about you a lot lately. I hear the snow back east is pretty bad.

You're in my prayers!

Love,
Sister Waters

Hello February 02/01/2010

2010-02-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

This has been a very long week. A lot of our appointments cancelled, but I guess that’s the life of being a missionary. We’ve gotten the opportunity to go “finding” a lot this week, and have actually had a couple of good experiences.

We also decided to try to contact a few former investigators this week, and that’s how we met “Tavern Guy.” As we approached this house, he came outside to meet us, and after talking on the doorstep for a while, he invited us in. Now, why do Sister Allred and I call him “Tavern Guy?” Well, it’s because as we were talking with him and his friends, we came to the conclusion that they remind us of people sitting in an 18th century tavern, talking politics, smoking, just down to earth. Tavern Guy has a very strong Jersey accent, if that helps you picture the situation better. He told us how he has studied the Bible and gone to a lot of different churches, but doesn’t feel like he knows which one is true. So as any missionary would, we tried to explain a little bit about the restoration of the gospel. Tavern Guy asked us a few questions and after a while, it just became contentious, almost borderline argumentative. I’ve had my fill of bashers on the mission, but for some reason, this guy was making me really angry. Suddenly I hear myself burst out “Don’t you tell me what I believe!” I was a little surprised at myself, but even more surprised at their response. Tavern Guy said, “I like this one! She’s cool!” Still, I apologized for being out of line. I don’t get upset with people very often, but when I tried to apologize, all three of them turned their heads almost in unison and said “Don’t Apologize!” Instantly, I had gained their respect, and the environment changed from one of hostility to one of respect. Not very often does abrasiveness gain that kind of response, but I guess my instinctive remark to defend my beliefs must have been so unexpected that it was taken well. Towards the end of our conversation, I went to apologize once again, and Tavern Guy had had enough of it. “Did Jesus Christ ever apologize for who he was? Did He? Hmm? No. Did he apologize for what He believed? See? So don’t go there.” Fair enough.

We also met another guy when we were tracting that I can’t decide if he was cool, or really off the rocker. He has studied the Bible for 37 years and knew it very well. He talked to us for about an hour, getting very metaphysical, and deep, yet at the same time telling us that he had died before, and that he had gotten the chance to re-live life. That he had met us before and that this conversation had all happened before, but that he had been given the chance to be more polite and respectful this time than last time. He showed us another passage from the Bible that he said, explained Déjàvu. He reminded me of some character out of a book written by someone like Earnest Hemingway, “Old and Lonely”. We must live life, and enjoy it! Studying the Bible is good, but I think there is a truth in that staying cooped up can make one go crazy.

As we were knocking doors on Saturday, we came across a house with HUGE mean dogs. We could see them through the window, so I thought we were safe and I went to approach the door. Suddenly we hear a woman yelling, “Get out! Get out!” My companion looks at me and says, "We’ve got to go!” So we both start running. I’m not sure if the woman was yelling at us, or if she was yelling at her dogs, and trying to send them out the back door to come and get us. But as we go to the next house, we hear the door open and the woman scream, “I’m Atheist!!!!” Wow, I think she must have felt stupid when there was no one there. We didn’t even knock on her door or anything. People are so crazy.

But for the most part, people have been very good and kind. At church yesterday, we heard the line “when evil is made invisible to you.” I wouldn’t be surprised if that is a blessing we’ve received as missionaries, because this was really one of the first few mean people we’ve come across. Knocking on random people’s doors every day, you would think you’d run into more rotten people, but really I feel like I will come home and say there is more good in the world than bad.

Well, Sister Allred and I have had enough of being lazy on Preparation Day, so today we’re going to Bernalillo, another little town in our stake boundaries, and hopefully we’ll find something cool to do. We might look into visiting a few local attractions.

Hope all is going well back home. I love you all and miss you tons.

Love,
Sister Waters

Catholic Nuns? No, Mormon Nuns. 01/25/2010

2010-02-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I can’t believe another week has gone by. It’s true what they say, the days go by like weeks and the weeks go by like days! I’m sitting here in the library, and as I begin writing my weekly email, I notice that someone is staring me down. I look up and this man says, “Your little badge confused me.”

“Oh!” I respond, hoping that this might be a great missionary opportunity. “We’re missionaries…”

“I understand that,” he said. “I just thought you were Catholic nuns.”

I’ve heard a lot of things on my mission, but I don’t think I’ve ever been mistaken for a nun before. But I guess I can understand that. The title “Sister” must throw some people off. But anyway, no inspiring gospel conversation grew out of that encounter. Such is life.

Speaking of Catholic nuns…we met a former nun this week when we were tracting. Heavenly Father certainly answers our prayers to be able to meet those who are searching for truth. This particular woman opened the door, and I didn’t expect her to be interested, but surprisingly, she let us in, and explained her life history. She was a cloistered nun in a convent in Hollywood, California. I didn’t understand completely, but it sounded as if her convent did a lot of penitence for the sins of Hollywood. Gradually, she came to the conclusion that it is only Jesus Christ who can suffer for the world’s sins, and she fell away from the Catholic Church. She told us that she has been praying very hard to find the truth and that she was hoping she would run into some Latter-Day Saints. Her daughter-in –law, whom she lives with, is a Jehovah Witness, and the day we tracted into this woman, her daughter-in-law was out of the house, otherwise there was no way we would have been able to go inside. I’m finding more and more that timing is so crucial in missionary work. Our former nun friend, said that she believes that there are other holy records out there, and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and any other literature we had. She asked us a few questions, and told us that she was learning about the Baha’i faith, and she agreed with some of the things that they taught, but that she was still very open and searching. I really hope we’ll be able to see her again soon.

This week was a kind of “day of reckoning.” Over the past few weeks we’ve tracted a ton, and found so many potential investigators. Our goal was to “pester” each of them until we could narrow this pool down to people who were sincerely interested in learning, and eliminate those who were just trying to be polite. It has been going well, and on Saturday, we were able to nail down three return appointments. Our area is still a little slow, which is frustrating, but I do feel like heavenly Father is pleased with our hard work.

I was studying about Mormon and Moroni out of the Book of Mormon this week, and it struck me that they were some of the most obedient ministers of the gospel ever, yet they had absolutely NO investigators. The people of their time were engaged in some of the most horrific activities that people can be involved in, but their efforts were still important to our Heavenly Father. I think I’m finally internalizing what it means when they say you can’t measure a missionary’s success by outward signs of success, such as baptisms. While I have certainly been blessed to see a few baptisms on my mission, I’ve also had those periods of dry spells. But it’s ok. I really think the work will pick up. One of our new investigators came to church this Sunday (she’s engaged to a member), and filled out a new move in form…so hopefully that means she feels at home here.

We made a very comprehensive map of our area when we first got here, plotting out all the less actives that the Bishop said would be good to visit, and all the potentials that the Elders left us. We were looking at that map yesterday, surprised to see that we’ve tried almost every single person on that map. I want to start on another updated one.

We visited a lot of less active families this week. It surprises me how often, if you invite them to come to church, they accept the invitation without much hesitation. I think people may think it is intimidating to invite less actives out to church, but it isn’t that scary after all! One of the couples we visited is hilarious! She was talking about how the church doesn’t want you to write church headquarters for complaints, and how you’re supposed to send them to the Bishop first. Her big complaint is that all the hymns are too old. They are all from 1820, 1843, and 1890 she complained. She always tells the Bishop about this, and he always tells her not to send a letter. I told her that she sounds just like Gladys Knight. Despite the boring music, they’ve come to church for two weeks in a row now!

Preparation day is going to be pretty low key again. I don’t mind at all. Sister Allred and I are pretty boring, and enjoy writing letters and sleeping on prep day. It’s great.

I love you all and hope everything continues to go well. I’ve gotten a ton of mail this week. Thanks to everyone.

Love You Tons!
Sister Waters

Blessing of Having to Rely on Heavenly Father 01/19/2010

2010-02-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Family,

Our second week in Rio Rancho went very well. It’s still a difficult area in some ways, but I know with all my heart that Heavenly Father is helping us find people to teach. My negative attitude from the initial shock of having almost no investigators has been softened as I have realized that this may be a blessing. We really have to have a lot of faith, and rely on Heavenly Father to find people to teach, whereas before, people were already provided. I am really trying to ask Heavenly Father and then look for the answers. It seems like almost every day, we find someone who invites us to come back. They seem pretty genuine in their invitation too! While we are still trying to turn these potential investigators into real investigators, I think the work will come along. It’s a lesson in patience, faith and perseverance. I continue to trust in the promise that the field is white.

Some of the exciting developments from this week:

It was exciting to get a phone call from one of our potential investigators this weekend. We stopped by her house, and were greeted by a very clearly disinterested husband. She gave us a call and said that she would still like to set something up with us, when her husband isn’t around, so hopefully she’ll get back in touch.

We also visited a part member family that is wonderful. Her husband is Amish! Crazy right? But amazingly fascinating. She said that they realize that their children need religion, but that an Amish lifestyle just won’t work. I hope that she’ll get back in touch with us as well.

Then we went tracting on Saturday and met a woman who is friends with a less active woman that we’re trying to meet with. It was a cool lesson, because she is looking for a church, but hates how many different translations of the bible there are, she was pleasantly surprised to hear that the Mormons use the King James Version of the Bible. Towards the end of our visit, she even made the comment, “I wish I was a part of your church”. I think she still has some concerns and a lot of issues, but it was a good experience.

Funny story of the week:

We met an 82 year old less active member our first week here. She is hilarious. There was a dog barking as we were trying to talk to her at her doorstep. Sister Allred made the comment that those dogs were scary looking. Without missing a beat, Pat responded: “Well, the way I see it is that some people are pretty scary looking too.” Later in the week, the High Priests went to go visit her, and when they told her that they represented the High Priest group, she responded, “Well that’s impressive.” It’s hard to believe she’s in her 80s.

One of the less active members here grew up in a pueblo that is within the stake boundaries. He invited us to come see a dance ceremony with their family. This is a very rare invitation, because in order to enter a pueblo, you must be invited in by someone who is a member of the community. There are only a few times during the year that guests are allowed to go in. We’re hoping that we can get permission to go with their family. Missionaries in the past have gone, but we want to be sure that it’s ok with the mission, since the church’s standing with the pueblos of New Mexico is on very unstable ground. I wouldn't want to cause any more tensions. The Yazzies were telling us about different festivals, feasts, dances, and traditions that occur in the pueblos. For example, whenever a new governor is elected, the family of the governor throws food, household items, and basically everything, off the roof as a thank you to the community for choosing their son. The members of the pueblo all gather round to catch the gifts.

I didn’t get to go to the baptism, but it’s ok. President read one of my letters in Zone Conference this week. It relates to this period of my mission when I have to miss baptisms. Back in October, I wrote:

“One thing that I have known for a while, but really hit me yesterday was how much work went into preparing this area for us. Not only was Heavenly Father preparing the area, but there were some really good missionaries who were persistent in their efforts, but never got to see the fruits of their labors. Having been on the other side of this situation when I was in Bloomfield, it makes me wish I could write some of these Elders and let them know how much good has happened because of their diligence. I know firsthand how hard it is to pour out your everything into an investigator and then never see any immediate success. It can be heart wrenching! But because of their efforts, I get to reap the benefits! I only hope the people I left behind will progress the same way.”

That’s how the mission goes. It’s a tag team effort.”

Thank you for your letter Dad, I needed to hear what you said. It meant a lot.

We’re doing well. Thanks for all your love and support,

Sister Waters

PS As I said, we didn't go to the baptism, there is a policy in place that prevents us, which I understand and support, but as a result, I feel that we were directly blessed that day. We got to teach more lessons that Saturday than we usually do. The Lord understands our "sacrifices." If that is even the right word.

I love you and hope the weather starts to warm up! I love you tons and tons!

Sister Waters

Greetings from Rio Rancho 01/11/2010

2010-01-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

Hello family,

We survived our first week in Rio Rancho. It was very easy to get lost because there is a lot of road construction, and the area is so new that some of the roads that appear on our map aren't exactly where they appear they should be. Our area is pretty big and very new. Rio Rancho is getting its own Stake Center soon, they are putting up all the artwork right now. It should open in March.

Thank you for the birthday cake and presents. I loved it! It was very kind of you. I cried and cried at getting your card. Thanks. I miss you all a ton. Thanks to Grandma too! I can't believe that in in a few days, I will have been on my mission a whole year. It has gone by pretty fast.

Well, this area is very hard; it's definitely my hardest yet. But the ward is wonderful, and our Bishop and Ward Mission leader are very passionate about missionary work. The Bishop in particular feels very strongly that we sisters are here for a reason, and I have felt the Spirit confirm that on a few occasions, but I am having a very hard time seeing that perspective. We really have no investigators to speak of. I’ve never been in an area before where we didn't really have a lot of people to teach. It makes it harder to feel at home here when we don't have those relationships with investigators. So we tract a lot, and visit less actives. We've got a few leads of people who might be "golden" but they are difficult to get scheduled or even meet. We've got our first real bright appointment on Wednesday with a recent convert's mother. So we're excited for that.

The area has a lot of potential, but it is easy to get frustrated when there is no immediate progress. I miss Paradise Hills a lot, especially since we had a few baptisms coming up that it looks like I'll have to miss out on :( That's the saddest thing for me.

In good news, we invited a part member family to come to church on Sunday and they actually came!

We were walking for a few hours so that we could try to save miles, and we met a woman. We talked with her for a moment and she said something to the effect of, "We go to a church, but surprisingly enough, I've always wanted to learn more about what you believe. I see you guys walking around a lot and I've wondered about it." We're excited to meet with her again!

My new companion, Sister Allred, is wonderful. She is very sweet. Sister Allred grew up just outside Boise Idaho. She is very happy all the time, and very upbeat even when I get discouraged at the lack of progress. She previously served on the Navajo reservations in Gallup, so being in normal neighborhood subdivisions is quite the culture shock for her. I remember feeling that way when I left Bloomfield. For being out only a few months, she is excellent at jumping right into lessons and teaching opportunities. I'm glad to have her as a companion.

Our apartment is HUGE. But it was a disaster when we moved in. It was very filthy, with a smelly fridge, a greasy stove, and socks under the beds, lost underwear, and dust everywhere. But after cleaning for about a day, it's a really fun place to live.

I decided to study out of the Doctrine and Covenants this morning. More than any other book of scripture, this book has a way of comforting missionaries when it all gets discouraging. Doctrine & Covenants 6:10-11 talks about how we each have special gifts and abilities that we can each use in missionary work. I'm relying on what I know...and that is exactly what Heavenly Father has promised: "there ARE people who are prepared to receive the gospel." But I need to rely on the Lord to figure out where in the world these people are. It is a complete mystery to me! I also love D&C 35:3. No matter how wonderful (or awful) our experiences on the mission can be, the Lord is preparing us for a greater work. It's great preparation, and that scares me a little bit to be honest. Speaking of the word "awful", one of our departing senior missionaries bore her testimony at our last Zone Conference and I love what she said. "How can you say goodbye to the most awful thing you've ever done, and the most wonderful thing you've ever done?" I LOVE that honesty. It's true it is awful and wonderful at the same time. She went on to talk about how when she felt like she couldn't walk another step, the spirit just lifted her up and carried her. I've felt that as well.

Thanks for all your love and support. I love you tons and tons.
Sister Waters

Transfer News & Happy New Year! 01/04/2010

2010-01-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

This week was very long. I found out that I am being transferred to the Rio Rancho Stake, High Range Ward. It is just a few miles away from where I am serving now. But it will be another double transfer. I was thinking about this recently, every area I have served in has been a double transfer. We’re opening the area to Sisters, just like we did here in Paradise. Which is always fun; people are generally pretty excited to get Sister Missionaries. My new companion will be Sister Allred. She has only been out for three months, but from her transfer board picture, she seems really cute, and I think we will really get along well. I’m excited. This next transfer presents a fun challenge: regain the trust of the ward and help them get excited about missionary work. Elder Johnson, who is in my district right now, served in the High Range ward three months ago and has been sharing information with me about the area.

So… I’ve already got big plans for the first Sunday there. I think it was Sister Crossley that told me about something they did when she was double transferred into an area. She and her companion made cute little notes and put them in all the hymnbooks to bookmark the opening hymn their first Sunday there. The notes said something to the effect of, “We’re the new Sister Missionaries. We’re excited to be in the ward and to get to know all of you! Let us know what we can do to help.”

I’m a little nervous about this transfer, but faith is for the future. Faith is knowing that Heavenly Father is capable of giving you something better than you’ve already had. My goal in coming to Paradise Hills was to find those of our Heavenly Father’s children who were prepared, and to see at least one baptism. Just ONE, I remember pleading! (Ultimately, He allowed me to see three! More than I thought he would bless me!) My goal for my new area comes from an article I read recently. I want to see miracles in this area. We can expect miracles as we do our part, and I really do want to see more miracles on my mission.

I am slightly heartbroken to leave the Paradise Ward. As I have said so many times before, coming to this area was a direct answer to fasting and prayer. It will always be a magical area for me. It felt so much like home, and for the first time on my mission, I was able to witness baptisms. The people really were prepared to receive the gospel, just like I prayed for. But the same thing can happen again.

It’s a hard time to leave. We have a baptism scheduled for January 16th. Craig has been taking the lessons for years. He even has a calling with the scouts, and apparently, some of the ward didn’t even know he wasn’t a member yet. But he’s getting baptized! I love their family so much. He has been plowing through the Book of Mormon, and it is so amazing to see him feast on that book. It truly enables people and gives them power and greater light! I’ve seen it over and over again on my mission. Prayers ARE answered. I’m hoping that President Anderson will give me permission to come back on the 16th, since he’s getting baptized only a few miles away.

The other thing I will be sad to miss is Sake Conference. Deb, who was baptized in November, will be speaking at Stake Conference along with Sister Parks, her friend that started everything. This is amazing. I wish so badly that I could come hear Deb speak, but this would be impossible, since that also happens to be the first Sunday we’re going to be in the new ward.

Still, faith is for the future. I have plans to make our first Sunday there memorable, so we can hopefully see miracles.

We taught another wonderful family last Monday. A few weeks ago, I felt impressed to teach them about baptism, but they cancelled that night. When we went back the next week, I ignored the prompting, partly because we had pushed baptism a lot in the past few months, and partly because we had another idea. You can imagine my surprise when at the end of the lesson, the wife announced that she had been thinking about baptism and decided that she wanted to do it. She wanted us to go over again the steps and commitments required. Wow! Needless to say, we’re going over that tonight. Heavenly Father is very involved in the lessons He wants us to teach. I’m very aware of that.

I’m doing well. Thanks for all the letters. Well, I love everyone. I can’t believe its 2010! A whole year has gone by! Crazy! Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Love,
Sister Waters

Our Mission Exceeds Their Baptism Goal for 2009! 12/28/2009

2010-01-22T07:44:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. The beginning of this week went really well. We got to teach a lot of people and we even found a woman who admitted that she was searching for truth. Yay! I love finding people to teach! We haven’t found many new people that actually want the lessons lately, so I hope this woman lets us teach her legitimately.

One of our investigators said that it may not look like she’s progressing, but that she really is starting to get answers, and that the Mormons are the greatest friends she’s ever had. She’s a single mom, and told her employer that she needs to have Sundays off. What a leap of faith! One of the sisters from the ward was with us at our teaching appointment when our investigator relayed this information to us. This sister has gotten the ward to rally around her so that she can start her own daycare. Presently, she’s got about three children, with more coming after the New Year. I think this is the Lord’s way of providing a way for her to come to church . . .sooner than later! This ward is so wonderful!

Some of our investigators were too busy with the holiday season to meet with us. I’m hoping things will progress more after the New Year. Almost every single one of our investigators did something for us for Christmas. I was so amazed at their love. I wasn’t expecting anything at all. It was surprising that they would think of us, but at the same time, I hope they realize that what they really love is the gospel and the spirit it brings into their homes.

Our mission almost doubled the number of baptisms we had this year compared to last year. I feel that the work is really speeding up. We met the mission’s goal for the number of baptisms we wanted to have for the Whole year in August. They had to raise the goal at least once or twice before the end of the year. So far, we’ve had over 500 people enter the covenant of baptism. It’s an exciting time to be in this mission! That is more people baptized than the mission’s ever had since the boundaries were established.

Have a Great Week!

Love,
Sister Waters

Merry Christmas From Albuquerque 12/21/09

2010-01-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

This week has been great! Thanks for all the packages. I got three of them yesterday. That is very generous of you. We are CRAZY busy today, and so I feel a little scatter brained…hopefully I’ll write everything I need to.

I had my first tamale of the Christmas season on Saturday. Our investigator made some, and invited us to try them. Yay! We were going to try to make them with her, but she got them all finished before we had a chance. But I’m so glad we got to try them. I was getting worried we wouldn’t get any authentic ones!

We got a call from one of our investigators on Thursday, asking what the process was for baptism! We hadn’t gotten a chance to really sit down and go through the lessons with her yet, but she has been meeting with missionaries for years. On Saturday, we went out to dinner with them, and she said she still had reservations about the church, but we invited her to listen to the missionary lessons. (It amazes me that some of the investigators in our teaching pool, which we inherited when we got to Albuquerque, had no idea that missionaries actually teach lessons. We’re hoping to help them realize that baptism is the goal). The thing I love about the Missionary Discussions is that just like Reading Rainbow, “You don’t have to take my word for it”. Anyone who asks Heavenly Father can gain a knowledge for themselves. It’s not really us that’s pushing…we just present the information and invite them to make commitments.

We also had Christmas Zone Conference this week. I love Zone Conference; it is always a spiritual re-boost. It was good to see half the mission. President and Sister Anderson participated in the missionary talent show, and performed their missionary version of, “I’m Gettin' Nothin' for Christmas.” All about how disobedient missionaries have been nothin' but bad, and how they keep gettin' snitched on. It was great! Don’t worry…I made sure to video tape it.

Another one of our investigators decided to try to quit smoking this week! We had no idea, but when we went over on Thursday, he said that he’d been cigarette free for two days. We’re excited for him to get baptized in January!

We’re teaching a 12 year old that does not respond to questions. We try to get him involved in the lessons, but he doesn’t answer or respond to anything we say. He doesn’t even just shrug his shoulders and say “I don’t know,” like most shy people would do. It’s a challenge. But at least we get to teach more now!

The Schoen family has been looking out for missionaries for years, so as part of an inside joke, we’re making a Popsicle stick puppet theatre for them today. We’re getting photos of all the missionaries that served in this area for the past 2 years or so, and gluing them to Popsicle sticks for their Christmas present. It should be pretty funny, I’m hoping.

Speaking of Christmas, we don’t really know what our rules are. So far, we’ve got families offering to feed us all three meals…but we don’t really know if we’re going to be tracting, or if there is a curfew, or if they want us to run the day like we ran Thanksgiving Day…which was mostly just visiting with members. But we do have guidelines on our phone calls.

Oh boy, I feel like there are a million things to do today, and no time to get it all done!

Like my trainer and I did at Easter, we’ve been trying to read the Christmas story in Talmage’s Jesus the Christ. I love this:

“Unto Moses, with whom the Lord spake “face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,” the course of the human race, both as then past and future, was made known; and the coming of the Redeemer was recognized by him as the event of greatest import in all the happenings to which the earth and its inhabitants would be witness.”

I love that! This is why we celebrate Christmas! His coming into the world was the most important thing, for without him, none of us could ever have hope of life again.

I’m doing well, and learning a lot this Christmas. I love you and hope all is well.

Merry Christmas,
Sister Waters

Gifts of Christmas 12/14/09

2009-12-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

We had interviews with the President this week. He told us about how we do things with different motives sometimes. Sometimes we obey out of duty, or fear. But the greatest motivating factor is love. I have thought a lot about that lately. The Christmas season has been very different than I anticipated. I had heard so many stories about how sacred and special Christmases on the mission are supposed to be, and I yearned for an outpouring of our Heavenly Father’s Spirit this time of year. I was confused as to why I didn’t feel any different than at any other time on my mission. After a lot of thought, I came to several conclusions.
1. The Spirit doesn’t have to be stronger at this time of year than it can be at any other.
2. I must not define my Christmas on the mission by any one else’s. That is an unrealistic expectation. Each of Heavenly Father’s children is different, and therefore will have different experiences.
3. I was so consumed with a desire to feel the Spirit’s abundance that I may have forgotten something I’ve known for a long time, and needed to be reminded of….the best way to feel of our Heavenly Father’s love is to GIVE it to others.

I’ve decided to write letters to as many investigators as I can this holiday. Writing is one way I can use the gifts my Father has given me to “gift” others this holiday.

In Sacrament meeting yesterday they were talking about how we rejoice this year because we celebrate the fact that through the Savior’s gift we can overcome our imperfections line upon line, precept upon precept. That is a joyous message! As a perfectionist, I tend to obsess over things that didn’t go just right, but our Heavenly Father knew we wouldn’t be perfect. That’s why he gave us the Savior. Despite what I know, I find myself too often, wanting to do this on my own; to be perfect on my own. I forget sometimes that it isn’t possible without Christ. I remember Peter who protested against the Lord washing His feet. And Christ’s response, and Peter’s impetuous desire to let Christ wash all of Him. Christ wants to bless us with the gift of his Atonement, and like Peter, I must receive that. No matter what I do to fix things on my own, to be perfect on my own I can’t. I need the enabling power of the Atonement to get better at small things I face on the mission…the fear of following a prompting that puts me outside of my comfort zone, the ability to be strong in different circumstances, etc. I’m learning that he doesn’t expect me to do it all on my own, but to be righteous and to continue to try.

Heavenly Father needs willing servants to do His work. I am learning that. I read in the Doctrine and Covenants, somewhere, that he is merciful unto our weaknesses. He tells the early missionaries over and over that he will forgive their sins, but GO! and bear testimony. The time is short and there’s so much work to do. In Doctrine & Covenants 128, it talks about how the precious truths and great questions of the world that the wise ones have sought after through the years are given to us (through the restoration)…the suckling babes. How blessed we are to have truths restored that some of the greatest minds have ever sought after. And yes, as 19 and 21 year olds, we are babes. But he so needs whoever he can get to do this work. He will be merciful to our weaknesses as we continue to try.

Love,
Sister Waters

Christmas in Albuquerque 12/07/09

2009-12-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s Preparation day again. It’s been a good week. I got another letter from that investigator in Bloomfield that was getting baptized! He sent me his baptism program! I was on cloud nine basically the whole day. This was one of my all time favorite investigators (but that’s not really fair, since I say that about a lot of them ;) Anyway, Francis got baptized! He’s awesome, and his story is definitely one that shows a night and day difference in how the message of the Book of Mormon can change someone’s life dramatically. He’s going to be a powerhouse in the church. If I’m this excited for him, it’s hard to imagine how much more pleased our Father in Heaven is. It’s easy to get discouraged on the mission when you don’t see day to day efforts make fast changes. But that’s not what the gospel is about anyway…it’s not a quick fix. It’s more lasting than that. But it’s amazing to get news like this from Francis where you can see that continued effort really does make a difference eventually. The spirit and the atonement really allow each of us to change. If we ask for a change of heart and greater ability, we almost always get it.

We finally got to know another one of our investigators better this week. She hasn’t seen the missionaries in a while, and I think she got turned off from the message after a bad experience with one of the missionaries. But we’ve been getting to know her! She made us some amazing green chili turkey soup, and even came to the Ward Christmas Party. She asked about how you get baptized, and she even went over to her neighbor’s house to get another copy of the Book of Mormon! I don’t often say that investigators need sisters, because most of the time a missionary is a missionary, but I think she just feels more comfortable with us! We shared a Christmas scripture from the Book of Mormon with her, and it touched her, and that’s what started all of the excitement listed above! I hope that it continues!

It is freezing here in Albuquerque! We went tracting a lot this Saturday. I was hoping that Christmas decorations would signify believers. I was hoping that these would be clues as to who already has faith in Christ. But I was so surprised to knock on doors, telling people that we have a Christmas message and to find that many people didn’t want to hear it. We asked another person if they believed in the Savior and got a flat out no I don’t believe in Christ. CHRISTmas decorations and all! People are very busy this time of year. It’s sad. But I still know that sharing the gospel with our brothers and sisters is one of the best Christmas gifts we can offer.

We brought a member to teach one of our long time investigators this week. And it made a night and day difference in how she received the message! Instead of doubting and questioning like she usually does with us, she felt like she had a friend and told us that she decided she was going to ask her boss for Sundays off so that she could come to church. She’s a single mom, so this will be a huge sacrifice. We fasted yesterday that the Lord would open up a way for this to be possible.

We had another of our investigators at church. She told us that the Elders were really good at not pushing her, but that since the sisters have gotten here, we have been persistent in trying to schedule appointments and get it done. I was surprised to hear that! I think her heart may have been softened now to the point that she doesn’t view our phone calls as being pushy.

I loved this thought from one of the testimonies given in church yesterday. “As we open our mouths we become a part of the restoration; the restoration of truths to other people.” It’s true! And it’s exciting!

Well I love you all. I love hearing about everything that you are doing. I hope you are all healthy and happy and that you are enjoying the Christmas season. Thanks for your prayers and for your support!

Love,
Sister Waters

P-Day, a Whole New Meaning 11/30/09

2009-12-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

We have had quite the morning, so we got to the library later than we usually do. Today started like any other P-day. My companion noticed the water in the toilet was quite low, so she flushed it, and it continued to be low. A little while later, we noticed a puddle of water in the kitchen. Hmm. That’s not normal, so I called the senior couple in charge of housing and told them a pipe must have broken, which surprises me, since we’ve had the heat on since October, and it doesn’t seem likely that any of them would have frozen over and broken. We continued with morning study, and then got up later to find out that the puddle of water was getting bigger, and very yellow. Then our carpet started getting soaked…from the living room to the bedroom and also in the bathroom now. It smelled really bad, so we moved EVERYTHING in the apartment off the floor and onto the beds and counters. Then we found the crowning element…human feces in the tub. Apparently the sewage line to our apartment broke, and now our apartment is filled with pee, and poo and whatever else might have been in the sewage tank. Beautiful right? It literally is a pee day. The landlords are on top of everything, and we’re going to spend P-day elsewhere. But it makes for a great story, don’t you think?

We’re excited for Christmas in Albuquerque. One of the families wants to take us to see the luminaries and the festival of lights when it gets closer to Christmas. There should be some fun traditions here; I’ve heard a lot of families make tamales for Christmas. My companion, Sister Brown, wants to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir someday. That literally, is her dream, so we’ve been listening to The Messiah this whole week. I’ve never listened to all of it before, so it’s been really fun. One of the sisters heard Sister Brown sing in sacrament meeting yesterday and asked us to do a special musical number for Christmas…we agreed, oh boy!

We’re excited to think of creative ways to find people to teach this Christmas (wrapping up Book of Mormons, delivering cookies to investigators and potential investigators, caroling, etc.) We’ve been finding scriptures in the Book of Mormon that talk about the Savior’s birth. Hopefully we will be able to share them at doorsteps. These are some of my favorite scriptures in all of the Book f Mormon, because you can literally feel how excited the Ancient American people were for Christ to be born!

One of my favorites is in Alma 13:22-25. It is fulfilled in Helaman 13:7 and 3 Nephi 1:13. It begins this way:

“24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.
25 And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.
26 And it shall be made known unto just and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.”

This week was interesting because one of our most promising investigators dropped us, another one was out of town, and it was also the Thanksgiving holiday, so a lot of people were out of town. We went tracting a lot, because we want to find more investigators since our pool feels like its getting smaller than usual. But not a lot of people were home. We’re going to pray for referrals.

Sister Brown and I took one of Sister Anderson’s quotes to heart; “We’re here to be awkward.” We were walking down the street, and saw this guy who didn’t look like he’d be interested, but he said, "hi" to us, and we didn’t really take the opportunity to talk with him. We both felt awful about it so we went back, even though it looked like he was driving away, and got to stop and talk to him and give him some information about the church. We were glad we got a chance to take hold of that situation, even though it was a little awkward at first. Hopefully, a seed will be planted.

We did get to teach Donna, who has read the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants already. I wrote about her a little in my last email. Anyway, she’s awesome and knows the church is true. We’re just waiting on her to get baptized. She shared her experience about knowing how the Book of Mormon was true. Logically, someone as young as Joseph Smith couldn’t write the Book of Mormon and have it turn out so beautifully and in depth. On the other hand, if Joseph was being influenced by Satan, it wouldn’t lead to good fruits, or testify of the Savior at all. If Joseph was truly a good person, he wouldn’t lie about the origin of the Book of Mormon. She then related this to Jesus Christ. “So many people revere Christ as being a good teacher, or a wise sage. If Christ lied about who he was, then no, he wasn’t a good teacher. If he lied, he would be despicable,” she said. Another quote from that lesson: “Each of us has a perfectly God shaped hole in our hearts…nothing else will fill the space.” I love that.

Thanksgiving was great. We had it at the church with a ton of other families. Then we had pie at another member’s house, and THEN another member cooked us another Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. It was great!

We’re excited for Christmas! The work continues to move forward, in some ways I wish I got two Christmases in the mission. It’s a fun time of year and I know that this work is so important to our Savior.

I love you all and miss you.

Loving Albuquerque 11/23/09

2009-12-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hello!

It's transfer time again. Sister Lamb is getting transferred to Aztec, where she will train a new missionary! Crazy right? But she’ll do a wonderful job. She was born to train and Aztec is a fun little town. I loved having district meetings there. Sister Brown and I will be staying together.

So, Thanksgiving is this week. Apparently, we have permission to go to as many Thanksgiving dinners as we get invited to. I bet there are a lot of Elders excited about that! One of my favorite families here in Albuquerque invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them and some other families at the Church building. They will be playing games and just having a big get together. It should be fun and we’re excited to stay here for the holidays! The families here are so good.

So, highlights from this week? Yes.

We got to teach another investigator this week. We knew that they would be going out of town for the holidays and that we wouldn’t get to teach them again for a few weeks. I wanted so much for this lesson to be powerful…for it to be exactly what they needed to hear. Sometimes, you can teach doctrine, you know, the missionary lessons, the principles that people need to know about the church. Sometimes you can just go through the order of Preach my Gospel lessons, after all there is a lot to cover. But it wasn’t the case this time. But I felt impressed that this particular person needed something more, something else. It weighed on me all day, it consumed our thoughts. So we went home and prayed specifically for this lesson. We developed a lesson plan that didn’t follow the order of Preach My Gospel at all. Mom, we actually decided to use excerpts from that talk you sent me from Jeffrey R. Holland, and it was perfect. We knew without a doubt, that this was what our investigator needed to hear. I love when the Lord tells us that he has something else in mind for a lesson than what we would normally do. You KNOW that that particular lesson is exactly what that particular person needs to hear, and you can tell them about the experience of planning it. Heavenly Father is very mindful of this work, even on an individual level.

We’ve been teaching a sweet woman who lives in the nursing home here. She is so wonderful. She never went to the temple, and her home teacher was talking to her one day and felt the impression that she needed to go to the temple before she died. So we’ve been going through the lessons with her to help her prepare. Anyway, when we went to visit her on Friday, she was very upset because someone stole one of her DVDs and a few chocolate candies. It bothered her a lot. But she told us that she tries to find the humor in it. “What kind of person would steal from a woman in a wheelchair!” she exclaimed. “Who would steal in the first place, but I mean, especially from an old person in a wheelchair!” I loved that. We laughed and laughed with her.

I love you all very much family! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,
Sister Waters

Missionary Heaven 11/16/2009

2009-12-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Thank you so much Mom for sending Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk, "Remember Lot's Wife". I remember listening to that in the SWKT Building on the BYU campus the day before I went into the MTC. I think that is one of my very most favorite talks. I had my companions read it for companionship study. Faith is for the future!

I received one of the BEST letters I have ever gotten on my mission! On Saturday, one of my favorite investigators from Bloomfield wrote me to tell me that he was scheduled to be interviewed for baptism on the 14th, and if all went according to plan, he would be ready to be baptized on November 21st! In some of my past emails, I referred to this person as my little Jean Val Jean, because he read the Book of Mormon during a very, very difficult time in his life and is transforming his life. That’s the power of the Book of Mormon. It literally can change lives if people let it! They promised to send me pictures from the baptism. He was the kind of investigator we spent hours and hours talking with; walking places with, he even would come and help us teach some of our other investigators. Such a powerhouse! I truly hope that the next few weeks aren’t full of too much difficulty. YAY!

As I thought about this letter, I realized that Heavenly Father truly answered my prayers. I’ve prayed for this particular investigator for so long, and with so much energy of heart. I have come to realize, that almost everything I have asked of Heavenly Father with that much effort has happened. There are not many of my requests that haven’t been answered on my mission.

I think before my mission, I was hesitant to ask for specific things to happen. I would occasionally ask for them, but I worried so much that maybe they wouldn’t be God’s will, or that my prayers wouldn’t have any effect because of the dominance of others’ free agency. I have learned to be bold in my prayers while I’ve been on my mission, to have courage to ask for things that are outside my own control. The Savior even said that by THEIR (meaning someone else’s) faith others were healed. And it amazes me how often Heavenly Father gives us exactly what we want! This letter is just one example of a few prayers that were answered this week. Even getting a return appointment is an answer to prayer!

I read a little bit of Alma 32 today. Sometimes I feel like I’ve read that chapter so much, that I feel reluctant to read it again, because it is so straight forward, but I was humbled today when it came up next in my Preach My Gospel study. I learned about the relationship between faith and patience. We must have faith that God will grant our righteous desires, and then wait patiently for the answers. If we give up, how often do we miss the answer? I think back to my Jean Val Jean investigator especially in regards to patience.

We got to set a baptismal date with a part member family this week! He’s been coming to Church for years, and is so ready. Hopefully, everything will go according to plan!

I was studying in, "Jesus the Christ", this morning. I was reading about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the only thing that will transform the world and that no other effort to mold society will ever be effective. I LOVE that. As a political science major, we often talk about what type of government is best, and which policies work. I absolutely LOVE knowing that although I love the United States government, Missionary Work is truly the work that will change the world. NOTHING can top this. No policy, no campaign will work. This message is so incredibly important!

I really feel like I’m at a climax on my mission. I love it here. We are teaching so many truly great brothers and sisters. I love my companions and am so grateful for this time of year!

Love you all!
Sister Waters

Hello 11/09/90

2009-11-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Deb was baptized this Saturday. It was the most crowded baptism I have ever seen. So many people came to support her that it was basically standing room only. She works at an elementary school and so many families came. It was wonderful.

I love both my companions so much. Sister Lamb is a dedicated worker and Sister Brown is so sincere, she truly will be a powerhouse of a missionary.

This work is so important, and I think each of us has the desire to be a perfect missionary, but we each have so far to go. The more I learn about the gospel, the more I realize how far I am from the mark. I absolutely dislike human weaknesses. It’s frustrating that even when you try…you can always do something a little bit better. The MTC, Preach My Gospel, and the handbook show you what an ideal missionary should be, but it can get overwhelming when there is so much to improve upon all at once. There are so many things expected of us, it's easy to recognize your inadequacies.

The mission is a learning process, I don’t think we can be perfect at once. How many missionaries go home saying that they wish they could start the mission over now that they know HOW to do it. I’m terrified of the time I don’t have left! It is very scary. I really don’t want to waste any of it! Complacency in the daily routine is so scary.

But the Lord needs willing servants to do his work in the latter-days. There are so few of us, that despite our inadequacies, so much good still gets done. Every little good thing that happens pleases our Heavenly Father so much. And I think he realizes that we’re trying to learn how to do this. Somehow, the Spirit can still work through us, despite our weaknesses. NOTHING can stop the work from progressing…even our own inadequacies. I love hearing stories about people who feel as if they are butchering the message, and little do they know that someone else felt the Spirit. The Lord merely needs us to open our mouths. He’ll make up for the rest.

Sister Lamb told me about a story regarding a woman whose friend was asking her questions about the Church. As she was telling the Joseph Smith Story, she started laughing. She was thinking about how it all must sound to someone who wasn't a member. She felt that it all sounded ridiculous. After the conversation, her friend went home and the member felt awful. She had mocked what she knew to be true. For the next month, she worried about how she had portrayed the gospel. Then one day her friend approached her and said that she had had a powerful witness of the truthfulness of the message. It just goes to show that the Lord works though us in ways we don't understand.

Training is an interesting experience because it makes you look back at the things you have learned throughout different situations and difficulties on the mission.

The first few months of the mission are such an emotional roller coaster. But I realized some time ago that I feel as though I’ve reached a point where it feels normal. This is my life, and I love it. I no longer feel isolated, or as if I’m missing things back home. I think it takes time to come to that point. But I LOVE it! This is my life. I've heard horror stories of what it's like to come home. I'm beginning to see why it is so hard.

I’ve learned that the mission is really one of the only times in our lives where we are forced to rely on the Lord. If you have problems, you don’t get to call Mommy and Daddy. Companions sometimes don’t understand. There is no one to physically give you an immediate response or even a hug. But the Lord respond’s to His missionaries’ cries immediately.

I am so happy in this area. I fasted and prayed very hard a little while before I got transferred here that there would be success. Heavenly Father answered my prayer in ways I couldn’t have expected. I think the prayers of Heavenly Father’s missionaries are very dear to him. I never thought I would love Albuquerque so much!

Courtney's Coyote Adventure 11/02/2009

2009-11-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

So last Monday was crazy. After I emailed you, we went to the Petroglyphs again to show Sister Brown what they were. She heard some coyotes in the distance and decided it would be funny to howl back to them. They definitely responded and so Sister Brown and the coyotes had a conversation back and forth for a good amount of time. As we continued on our hike, the howling started getting close and closer….almost like they were trying to find her! At one point it got so close that she got scarred and started to run. Sister Lamb and I weren’t too afraid, and so Sister Brown stopped running, looked at us and said it wasn’t funny. Apparently, she thought we had gotten the Elders in on it and that they were the ones howling at her. It took us a long time to explain that it really WASN’T a prank at all. Sister Brown is so much fun.

After the Coyote experience, we went on with preparation day as usual but Sister Brown had to have a mini orientation to the mission with President Anderson. That was pretty fun…except for the fact that we were running late because I lost the keys and had to find them before we could go. Phew!

Okay, so we had the craziest tracting experience but you have to promise not to worry about it, because we’re not going to be stupid about this. We were knocking doors in this one neighborhood….and we met a Muslim man. He was very nice, and said that he agrees with a lot of what the Book of Mormon says, and feels that both the Mormons and the Muslims get a bad reputation in the American media. He wanted a Book of Mormon, so we gave him one. Then he told us not to get scarred or anything, but that he trusted us and proceeded to tell us that he was from Iraq and used to be the scientific director for Saddam Hussein. We didn’t really know how to respond to that.

We were visiting with a sister who served her mission in Mexico, and she stressed that on your mission, you feel closer to the Spirit and our Heavenly Father than you do at any other point in your life and that it only comes once, so enjoy it. That has really stuck with me this week. I really do want to feel that way about my mission. And I think it’s a matter of taking the time to recognize it. I think everyone takes different things away from their mission. But for me, I have cherished the time I’ve had to study each morning. I went from merely tolerating the scriptures to loving them. I really hope that I’ll finish the standard works by the time I get home. I feel like I have grown so much.

Along these same lines, I had an experience yesterday that made me realize how I really do feel about this calling. Sister Brown got sick on Saturday afternoon, so we stayed in the apartment the whole time, and this morning is our fist day back outside. But one of our investigators really needed her home dedicated, and so our Ward Mission Leader and his wife offered to go on splits with me so that it could get done. This was the first time I’ve ever been without a full time missionary as a companion since I’ve been on my mission. And it was weird going on this split. The main thing I noticed was that Sister Lamb and I had been in the apartment pretty much just relaxing and chatting and trying to keep ourselves entertained while Sister Brown was sick. Our routine was off its regular schedule, so to a cretin extent I felt like I was back to my old self again. Then around 6:00 last night I went to go get dressed as a missionary. As I put on my tag (which I hadn’t been wearing for about a day and a half) it really struck me that I was in fact a missionary and how powerful that calling really is. I wish I could express what I felt, but I can’t quite put it into words. And the experience wasn’t life changing by any means. But I think there was a stark difference in how I looked at myself putting the tag back on after having it off and being relaxed for so long. You don’t really notice the difference while you’re in the daily grind.

We did dress up as the Triple Combination for Halloween. It was quite a hit. Hopefully, you've seen the pictures by now.

This area continues to be amazing. We’re excited for our baptism this weekend. We are teaching some very special people right now. Great people who have strong spirits… I can feel it when I teach them. I can’t wait to find more of them! This is missionary heaven. The mission is exploding right now. We’ve had to raise our baptism goal for the year two times now because we keep reaching what the goal was. I hope the whole world is having this kind of success, because it feels like everything is just speeding up. President Anderson said this mission has never baptized this many people since the mission was reorganized and boundaries were changed (Think that was when it used to be the Arizona Holbrook mission.) I love being here and I love BOTH of my sweet companions. I’m glad I have the opportunity to be a missionary.

Thanks for everything! I love you tons!

Sister Waters

The Greatest Treat is the Gospel. Don't Trick Yourself Into Believing It's Only For You! 10/26/09

2009-11-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Happy Halloween! It should be interesting to have people knocking on OUR doors for once. Yay for reverse tracting! One of the members suggested we dress up like a triple combination. Maybe we’ll see if we can pull it off.

We had our second flat tire yesterday, so we’ve spent the morning trying to get that fixed. But now we’re done, and get to enjoy Preparation Day!

I guess the biggest news from this week is that I am now in a trio. Sister Brown flew in from the MTC late Wednesday night, and President and Sister Anderson drove her to our apartment around 11:00. Sister Brown was Sister Lamb’s MTC companion, but injured herself playing Volleyball in the MTC and had to have knee surgery in Provo. So this puts me in the unique situation of training again. I have two trainees at the same time! I finally know what all the “older” sisters I looked up to meant when they would stress about training. I pretty much cried when I found out. I still feel like I’m the one that needs to be trained for heaven’s sake!

Sister Brown is from Twin Falls, Idaho. She worked as a veterinarian technician before coming on her mission, and I love her! She’s very sweet.

We had Zone Conference this week all about using the Book of Mormon. Some of it was inspired by Elder Holland’s talk in General Conference. President Anderson gave us some good door approach ideas, for example:

“Have you heard of the Book of Mormon?...Yes? Well do you know who Mormon actually was?”Or. “The Book of Mormon came forth to prove that the Bible is true.”

I love that last one in particular. So many people deny the Bible, and I think that is of concern to many of our Christian friends. We met a man this week who thinks that Christ wasn’t even a real person. That comment surprised me! Most people will concede that Christ was at least a good teacher. But this man refused to believe in the Savior because there is no archaeological evidence that he existed. He says there is proof for John the Baptist, but no evidence of Christ ever living. I had to point out to him that naturally, there wouldn’t be any evidence for Jesus Christ. He was resurrected, and so of course there would be no physical remains to study. It’s amazing how many different positions people have on religion.

Sister Palmer spoke in Church yesterday (and we did too actually!) She was baptized about a year ago and will be going through the temple in about three weeks! It’s so exciting! I’ve written about her in my first e-mail from Albuquerque, but didn’t mention a name. We’ve begun teaching her husband and he came to Church yesterday! Sister Palmer didn’t tell him that she was speaking until they were almost there. She kept asking him throughout the week if he was coming to church, and finally on Sunday morning he said, “Well yes I’m going to church because I promised the girls I’d go.” We were so glad he kept his commitment!

One thing that I have known for a while, but really hit me yesterday was how much work went into preparing this area for us. Not only was Heavenly Father preparing the area, but there were some really good missionaries who were persistent in their efforts, but never got to see the fruits of their labors. Sister Palmer kept mentioning one Elder in particular during her talk that really was “her missionary.” People talk about him all the time, and I actually knew him from Farmington, but he was transferred before she even got baptized! Having been on the other side of this situation when I was in Bloomfield, it makes me wish I could write some of these Elders and let them know how much good has happened because of their diligence. I know first hand how hard it is to pour out your everything into an investigator and then never see any immediate success. It can be heart wrenching! But because of their efforts, I get to reap the benefits! I only hope the people I left behind will progress the same way.

Kim got baptized on Saturday. It went well and there was a good turnout.

I don’t have much to say, really. I feel so blessed to be in this area and to have such hard working companions. They seem to put up with my worrying pretty well. I think my worrying is getting worse than ever. But I am amazed at how comfortable I feel in the ward, I leaned over to Sister Lamb yesterday as we were sitting on the stand. In some ways, it feels like these were families I grew up with in the church. I haven’t really felt that way about a ward before. I absolutely love Albuquerque.

Thank you for your letters!

Love you tons!

Sister Waters

She's Getting to That Dying Point. 10/20/09

2009-11-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

Hello!

We got permission from President Anderson to have our Preparation Day on Tuesday this week because there was a family in the ward who wanted to take us up to the top of the Sandia Mountains, and this was the only day they could all go. So that explains why this is so late. I’ll forgo a lengthy intro and just hop into the highlights of the week.

Remember how we got invited to Bible Study? Well we went. People were very kind and friendly towards us but both Sister Lamb and I came away feeling unfed. I haven’t been to another church in a long time, and the thing that struck me this time was how casual they are in their prayers. But for the most part, we agreed with everything they taught. But there is so much more!

One of the members gave us this simile this week: Mormonism is to Christianity what Christianity was to Judaism. I like that, (not saying that anything can trump Christ’s mortal ministry of course) but the principle is that there is so much more that has been revealed! And for the most part, not many people want to listen.

I have seen some pretty interesting Area Books in my time. Sister Lamb and I laugh about this entry in regards to one family the Elders were teaching. There was a son living with his mother, and they described the mother by the following sentence:

“She’s getting to that dying point.”

We just laughed and laughed.

So I told you about the woman who first got interested in the LDS Church after attending the Donny Osmond fireside chats back in the 70s. Well she’s going to get baptized in a few weeks! We’re all so excited. Sister Lamb and I are already working on her baptism gift. Picture this: A photo of teen idol Donny Osmond. With a card saying: “it started with this (insert Donny) and ended with THIS” (We’re still debating as to what the ending item should be. We’ve got a couple ideas up our sleeves so stay tuned!

All humor aside, we are so blessed to be in this area. We are having our second baptism this Saturday, October 24th, followed by the one mentioned above which will be on November 7th. Heavenly Father certainly heard my prayers when I asked that my next area be filled with people who are prepared to hear the gospel. After a 7.5 month dry spell, it is so exciting to have 3 baptisms in a little over 2 months.

This week was also exciting because we finally got lessons with two different people that we have been trying to meet with since September! We were tempted to just give up trying, because one of them NEVER seemed to be home. But we had two of the best lessons! One woman in particular, has a lot of questions about her Mother, who passed away about a year ago. So we taught the Plan of Salvation, and the Spirit was so thick in the room. I really feel like she may have family on the other side of the veil who are anxious for their temple work to be done. She listened so intently to the lesson, her eyes soaking up our every word, and interrupting with so many heartfelt questions. One of my friends told me before I left on my mission that his favorite thing about being a missionary was watching light come into people’s eyes as they understood the gospel. That has stuck with me. And this was definitely one of those kinds of lessons. She still has a lot of concerns, but her eyes were so eager to know more.

We had lunch with the Relief Society sisters at the Super Saturday activity this week so that we could get to know more members. As we walked in, the Bishop was glad to see us because a few minutes earlier, a man had just walked into the church building. He told us that the Lord guided him to that building today, he had seen it for a while and finally wanted to know what was inside. Wow! We taught him a little bit, and gave his address to the Elders in the next ward over.

This week has been wonderful. I love being a missionary. Thank you for all the letters and support. I think I have a list of 11 people that I am supposed to write...but that clearly won't all get done today. Sorry I’m really behind on responding to letters, but that’s how it goes some weeks.

Love you all!

Sister Waters

Transfer News - 10/12/09

2009-11-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Family! We didn’t think that the Library would be open today, since it is a holiday. Our district decided to have a fun Preparation Day Activity for our last day together, so we went to the Albuquerque Zoo first thing this morning. But I am so exhausted now! The Elders pretty much play football on every P-day, so this was our first time doing something with the other missionaries in our area. It was fun to get to know them more.

That’s neat that Sister Jordan is in your ward, she was a neat Sister and the teaching appointment I went to with them really helped me get excited about missionary work. She must be almost done with her mission, because that was nine months ago, and she was training a new sister at the time.

Well, the title of this email says transfer news. Our district leader called us on Saturday night and told us that our area was being split up. I would be covering the Paradise Hills ward with Sister M. and Sister Lamb would cover the Bandalier Ward with Sister Thude. We were shocked! Then our cell phone lost reception and the call was dropped. (YES! We have cell phones in our mission now!) We called back right away, and Elder Nash told us that he was just kidding. Sister Lamb and I would be staying together after all. Phew. That's good. (I think I will title every email at the end of transfers, Transfer News, just to be suspenseful!) We are getting three more sisters this transfer for a grand total of 20! So, two more areas must have opened up, but we don’t know where. Sad. But some exciting news is that one of my favorite Elders from the MTC is moving into my district. I haven’t served around anyone from my MTC district in three months, so this will be a fun little reunion. It’s funny how there’s a neat link between the missionaries you came out with.

We were tracting a few days ago. Most people weren’t interested, and some were quite rude. But we knocked on this one door, and the reception was quite different. Before I even opened my mouth, I felt like he was a member. There was a very familiar spirit in the home. We talked for a little bit, and the man expressed interest in what we were teaching, so we said we would come back another time. But I fell like this was a direct answer to prayer. I have been praying for a few months now that we would recognize those who are ready for the truth. I don’t know what is going to happen with this man, but the feeling was so distinctly familiar before we even said anything. That’s what it MUST feel like when you recognize those who are ready.

One of the things I LOVE about this area is that we are working with a great group of 15, 18, and 20 year old girls who just recently joined the church. Their testimonies are so sweet. One of the girls who was just baptized remembers what was said in her confirmation about preparing for a temple marriage and decided to dump her boyfriend this week. It sounds awful, but we were so excited for her! I think we’re going to have an ice cream party to celebrate.

The Family that knows the Metts family in Japan invited us into their home yesterday to teach one of their friends. This particular woman has been studying about the Mormons since she was 15 and was an Osmond fan. She is reading the Book of Mormon and loves to study on the Albuquerque Temple grounds. We’re really excited because she is a wonderful lady!

I can’t believe I’m hitting my nine month mark this week. It’s crazy. Time is a funny thing. It can seem incredibly fast and also long at the same time. I love you all very much, and miss you tons! I’m sorry this is so short. I just don’t have too much to say I guess.

Thanks for the letters. I love them. But I also don’t think I will have time to respond to any today. Napping sounds much more appealing.

Love you!

Sister Waters

My Second General Conference While Serving in the Mission Field 10/05/09

2009-10-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been six months since last General Conference!

Well family, this week was interesting. But that’s nothing new. We spent two days trying to get the car fixed. We had a flat tire one day. And then the next day, we found out that we have no brake pads left on the brakes. So unfortunately, a lot of our time was spent trying to fix mechanical problems.

There is a part member family that we’re working with. Both parents come to church pretty much every Sunday. The ward is very hopeful and so are we. At our last lesson, everything went exactly how we had hoped it would!

We also went to visit a “mystery name” the Elders left us (A mystery name is basically, a name and address written on a progress record without much of a story or history attached.) It seems promising, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Also, I don’t know what it is about General Conference, but both last April and this past conference, we’ve ended up having a minister come watch conference at the Stake Center with us! We had two people from a very popular church here in Albuquerque attend General Conference on Sunday afternoon. One was a member of that church that the elders serving before us had tracted into, and the other was the youth minister of the church, who he brought. He loved Elder Christofferson’s talk the most, and had questions about the Nigerian General Authority’s (Elder Sitati’s) talk regarding the Abrahamic covenant. So that was exciting! The fact that they attended Sunday afternoon also meant that they got to hear Jeffrey R. Holland’s smack down on those who deny the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Wow! So, I’m interested to see how our follow up visit goes. It should be interesting. (Whenever I watch conference with an investigator I get so nervous, I listen from the perspective of, “What are they thinking about this?” I’m on edge through the whole conference! It’s an interesting way to listen to conference, but I’m excited to re-read the talks when I won’t be so nervous.) The man the elders before us tracted into invited us to attend their services, but with our rigorous Sunday meeting schedule as missionaries, it’s not even an option, nor good since the Lord has sent us forth to teach and not to be taught of the world. But even the extension of an invitation is pretty daring on his part. It’s basically comparable to asking a nun to attend a Baptist church. He teaches a Bible study class for young adults out of his home on Friday’s and invited us to attend his class. Maybe we’ll be able to visit. We’ll see. We’ll have to be careful on this one. But I can tell what amazing and genuinely good people they are because they take special effort not to offend.

We’re teaching a member who wants to get reactivated and prepare for the temple. She is super funny, and completely honest in her concerns and hold ups. The Elders left a note saying that “She is very fun to teach.” No. Corrections:

“She is an absolute riot to teach!” We lover her, she’s kind of like a teenager in an adults body."

The Hot Air Balloon Festival is going on this week. Our Bishop wants to take us, and it looks like we got permission to go later in the week (from the Zone Leaders). That surprised me. But I guess it evens out if we have a teaching appointment on preparation day.

President Anderson asked us to email him our notes from conference and ideas of how we can improve our teaching.

I loved the emphasis placed on relying on the spirit! Richard G. Scott talked about how we don't need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to teaching. He also talked about how we must respond to first impressions or else more revelation will not follow. I feel like receiving inspiration takes a lot of work. But the Spirit is so essential in this work, that I need to get better at it. I want to get even better at following impressions. I love how Elder Packer said, “The key to heaven is on our side of the veil.” In order to achieve heavenly and magnificent results in missionary work, we must get better at following the Spirit!

I absolutely loved Elder Osguthorpe’s talk on effective teaching. What stuck out to me most was the example of his primary teacher. “She had so much confidence in me that I could not refuse her invitation to give that talk.” I want to help people feel like they CAN live the gospel! This is the way I can extend better commitments, which is sometimes hard for me. But the key is to also help prepare people to live commitments. I loved how he described teachers as messengers of God.

I loved Elder Oak’s quote as well. “Real love does not support self destructive behavior.” We are devastated when investigators do not fulfill commitments. We need to extend powerful commitments.

Elder Bednar’s talk on consistence describes mission life so well. So often in our teaching and finding, we don’t have “masterpiece days” but we must remain consistent in order to both help people gradually develop masterpiece testimonies, and also find those golden investigators.

Following President Monson’s talk, it was clear that service can be an excellent teaching tool as well.

So many of these talks applied directly to our investigators! Sister Lamb and I are hoping to take our notes and develop lesson plans around them so they can be specifically applied to individual investigators.

Love you all!
Have a wonderful week!

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder

2009-10-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This week was amazing. Amanda got baptized yesterday, and the spirit of the baptism fit her perfectly. It was exactly what she needed. I know she felt the Spirit very strongly. She bore her testimony in gospel principles class. I find it amazing to think about the timing of the events leading up to her baptism. She had been searching for the truth for three years and had attended a total of eight different churches. In the middle of the summer, she moved in with some members of the Paradise Hills Ward. A few weeks later, their grandmother died. In Amanda’s testimony, she talked about how this event played such a significant role in her conversion. She watched the stability and sense of peace that came with the funeral. When they explained the Spirit World and the Three Kingdom’s of Glory, it seemed to be exactly what she was looking for. It just made sense. In her confirmation, they blessed her that she would be an example to others and strengthen or lead others into the church. She’s the type of investigator I had prayed to meet for a long time.

Another exciting thing occurred this week. Well, it actually happened last week, but I didn’t understand how all the pieces fit together until recently. That’s how life always seems to go. I think Elder Grow’s visit to the mission was a turning point in my mission. I was determined that from that point on I would pray very hard to know where to go so that I could find those who were “already to harvest.” I had a stronger reliance on faith than I had before. So, I had my companion and I study the map of streets and try to be led by the Spirit as to where we should tract that week. We narrowed down our selections until we found an area that we both felt was right. We planned to tract it, but then our plans changed, so we ended up tracting it a long time after we had intended to originally.

Before we began to tract that day, we prayed before leaving the car. We prayed that we would find people on that street who would be receptive to the gospel. We found two people that day who invited us to come back. But the story doesn’t end there.

As we were tracting, we met a member family that was very cool. They offered to help us with anything, and even talked about a few people they are sharing the gospel with. Probably five minutes after leaving their house, we tracted into the neatest 19 year old girl. She listened attentively to everything we taught her about the Restoration and said she would love to come to church with us if she could get a ride. Well, Heavenly Father had allowed us to meet a family just a few minutes before who would make the perfect fellowshippers. She missed the first Sunday because we didn’t introduce them at first, but on Saturday we had them meet. She came to Church yesterday, and even participated in Relief Society! Come to find out, some of her extended family are LDS. We are excited to start her official lessons this week.

Our prayers were answered as we sought out where we should go.

During the relief Society broadcast, Henry B. Eyring said something to the effect of: “You may not in this world see evidence that you have succeeded….but you are on the Lord’s errand.”

I think that’s how I felt about my mission for a long time. But I am grateful that I have been able to see a few successes this week especially.

In other news:

We broke out the sidewalk chalk again this week. For Amanda, and someone else we briefly met. I think chalk drawing messages might become the theme of this transfer.

I am still obsessed with hair. Some things never change. I had to get my roots done. But I don’t trust just anyone. So, I decided to highlight them myself. My companion thought I was crazy. But it turned out ok! I’m actually kind of proud of it. And she was surprised that I didn’t make a botch of it either. So that’s an exciting new development.

The misconceptions and uncharitable beliefs of the Anti-Mormon rhetoric greatly concern me. I’ve seen it destroy good strong families. We were confronted again last night with these opinions. It is dangerous in that it can sound very convincing to those who are weak in their testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and to those who are unfamiliar with our doctrines. It makes you think that you are an intellectual, when really God is the only intellectual and spiritual source of truth. Sometimes people don’t understand why we are counseled not to get into it. For me it comes down to two things.

1). God is the only source of truth.
2). We are encouraged to expand our knowledge but with the remembrance that the glory of God is intelligence. It also comes down to faith. Faith that there is a prophet on the earth who tells us that it's a danger. We may not understand why, but if the Lord asks us not to do something. Have faith in that! Be obedient!

Each time people bring up anti-claims…I find myself thinking “is that the best you can come up with?” I fell so blessed to have heard so many of the criticisms of the church answered by the Church before I heard them from those opposed to the church. The Lord prepared me so much before I ever met an anti-Mormon face to face. BYU archeology lectures, talks on CD about defending the faith, and mostly a personal witness of the truthfulness of this work are such a blessing that I am so grateful for.

My companion and I are tired of not doing anything fun on P-Day, so we decided that we would go to the Petroglyph Museum/National Park today. We’ll see how it goes. I think it’s supposed to be about Anasazi rock drawings…but I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

General Conference is next weekend. It is also the kickoff for the Hot Air Balloon Festival which runs all week. There are rumors flying around that missionaries cannot go. But you will see hundreds of balloons all week long in the air. We have seen them a lot this week already, because they are practicing, I think.

Well family, that’s all the things I had planned on writing today. I love you very much and appreciate the letters you have sent me. I am glad to hear that the school year is going well, and that there are exciting new changes happening in the ward. Have a wonderful Monday!

Love,
Sister Waters

Temple Day

2009-10-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was temple day; therefore e-mails were postponed until today. My companion and I were the only sisters in our session, besides one senior couple, so it was a little different from last time where I got to see other sisters from the mission. But it was a good day nonetheless. We found some Christmas paper in our apartment, and wrapped up the tadpoles the elders left in our apartment, (they are technically frogs now) and “returned” them on temple day. It was great.

I feel like I don’t really have much to write home about this week. One of the recent converts talked to her husband, and he has agreed to take the missionary lessons! So that’s exciting.

Our baptism scheduled for Saturday is all planned and she passed her interview! So that’s another good thing. We taught her about tithing this week, which I have observed can be a make or break it commitment when teaching people new to the church. But her parents were very active in the Catholic Church, and paid a 10% tithe there. Soon after they committed to do that, they saw a lot of blessings come from it, so she was willing to accept that commandment. I loved that story. It is such a neat thing to realize that whenever people obey a commandment of God, no matter what denomination they belong to, blessings follow. Likewise, another sister was telling me a few months ago, that whenever there is faith, miracles follow, regardless of denomination. Heavenly Father is merciful to all his children, but yearns for them to have more blessings, and more light and knowledge.

I’ve shared this scripture with investigators a lot lately.

D&C 78:17

Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

As the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley said (in paraphrasing), come with the truths you grew up with, and add unto it!

We went to enrichment this week, so we could try and get to know more ward members and a non-member came and asked us to take the lessons! She wants to join the church. So that was kind of neat.

There was also a less-active member of the ward that we had planned on visiting this week. In direction with our Mission President’s counsel to plan our weeks out 10 days in advance, we planned to visit her during the end of the week. Earlier in the week, we met with a ward member who advised us that she was someone she didn’t recommend we visit. So we changed our plans. Instead we decided to tract. We ended up tracting into this woman, even though we had no idea she lived on the same street we had planned to tract! We got to share a scripture with her, and it was visibly clear that she felt the spirit. Later, when we looked at our planners, we noticed that we had tracted into this woman at about the same time we had originally planned to! Heavenly Father worked it out so that we would see her that day; even though we “thought” we had changed the plan.

I LOVE tracting. I never thought I would say that. In fact, I remember telling President Anderson during my first interview, how hard it was for me. But, you get to testify rapidly, and sometimes, run into people who are searching. You also never know what will happen, or what lies behind the next door! Whereas, with investigators, you can come to anticipate their reactions to certain things. We had a wonderful day tracting on Saturday and found two or three people who seem interested.

I didn’t realize how tired you would get on a mission. I am constantly tired. I often think about when I will get to sleep next. I feel like my body has aged at LEAST 10 years. It’s awful. I hope people will recognize me afterwards. It’s quite tragic.

That is about all I have to say this week. Thanks for the letters. I got a TON this week! Pretty fun. Now the trick is finding time to respond.

Love,

Sister Waters

Albuquerque! Still Loving it Here, but Still Slightly Lost.

2009-10-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

First of all! We have a baptism on September 26th! Yay! I have set several baptismal dates in the past with people, but there is no doubt in my mind that this one will go through. We taught her a lesson last night and planned out the program. She will complete the lessons in only four weeks, but she has been searching ever since she turned 18, and knows this is true. She bore her testimony last night and everything is super exciting. Yay for my first golden investigator!

Second of all, we taught one of our investigators this week. She is incredible, but she needs to have the courage to tell her husband and children about what she is learning. She told us her conversion story, and how she first got the Book of Mormon when she was 19 from a friend and carried it with her from move to move, and then finally read it all the way through. She told us that even before she knew about eternal families, she knew that this life only makes sense in terms of eternity. And that family is worth fighting for. I’m praying for a miracle in this family this transfer.

Another family we taught said that LDS church felt short. Really? Short?!? NO ONE says that. Ever! (Not even members sometimes!) But they felt at home there and very welcomed. So that’s good!

We decided to write a sidewalk-chalk-message on one family’s driveway on Saturday. It’s a long story, but my companion and I traced each other’s bodies on the pavement and told them the missionaries stopped by. Apparently they were inside the whole time…video taping us! I bet the footage is ridiculous. Oh boy. Missionary Anthem: Just open your doors people!

We also talked to a homeless family this week. Sister Lamb thought it would be a good idea to give them a Book of Mormon, so we pulled over and talked to them about it. Apparently, they carry a Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants with them everywhere they go. The wife was familiar with our pamphlets as well and LOVES them. But they aren’t members because they think all religions are true. (That's basically what we gathered. It was very difficult to understand her husband’s accent) and we think they also believe baptism isn’t necessary. They go from city to city preaching the word of God without purse or script. So yeah, that was a pretty interesting encounter.

Oh yeah! There is a family in the Paradise Hills ward that moved to Albuquerque a few years ago after having lived in Tokyo for some time. They totally know the Metts family! Small world! They e-mailed the Metts family on Saturday, and told them, and they said to tell me "Hi" in return. Pretty fun!

The members here are wonderful! They bend over backwards to help the missionaries, and so many of the women here served missions themselves. It’s a wonderful area and I love it a lot. Members are inviting people to learn left and right!

Well I love you all very much. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family. I’m very lucky to be so blessed with such talented, funny, hard working, loving people in my life, which makes me miss you even more. But time does fly by. I’m already at eight months. I hope the school year is going well and that everyone is in good health. I love you more than I can say.

Sister Waters

Greetings From Albuquerque

2009-09-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Wow! I’m in Albuquerque! I have to admit, it was a little bit of a culture shock to be in subdivisions, drive on highways (with lots of cars), and have a map so detailed you have to go to Kinkos to blow it up! But it feels a little bit like home here in Albuquerque, aside from the adobe architecture, I mean. Nonetheless, it is weird getting used to living in a new place!

Sister Lamb is a wonderful new missionary. She doesn’t even act new at all! I am very excited for this transfer, because she’s a hard worker and a good teacher. I think we will get to see miracles this transfer!

We cover two wards here in Albuquerque. We had four “official” investigators at church on Sunday, and another non-member that one of our investigators brought with them. Hopefully we’ll get to start teaching her soon. But let me just think abut this for a minute…FOUR investigators at church on the first week of the transfer…before we even know how the area works ourselves! It was super exciting.

Most of our investigators are sincere in their desire to learn. They aren’t just too nice to tell us not to come back, or intellectually curious, or lonely. They aren't crazy either! They actually have been searching for the truth and have a hunger to learn! These are the kind of people I have been hoping to teach my whole mission…and even when I was still contemplating the decision to serve, I hoped I'd find people like this. I am so grateful to be here.

As I said last week, I have been seriously considering the Lord’s declaration that the field is white already to harvest. He has promised that there are people ready for the gospel. Before I even left Bloomfield, I prayed very hard that the Lord would prepare people here in Albuquerque to receive the message, and that more importantly, we would recognize each other. I find it fascinating to see how many church headquarter referrals were generated during that same time I was praying. And we have gotten three member referrals this week as well. Once again, it is clear that Heavenly Father really does hear our prayers!

President Anderson always tells stories about how through the Spirit, missionaries can have a profound influence even when we think we’re failing. I always love those stories and hoped that I could have similar experiences. Well, I had one this week!!

There is an amazing recent convert in our ward. Our ward mission leader told us about her and told us how at stake conference a few weeks ago, President Anderson and the Temple president had both invited her husband to take the missionary lessons. Well, naturally, that made our ears perk up, so we stopped by the house on Saturday afternoon.

Her husband opened the door, and we chatted with him for a while. He told us that his wife wasn’t feeling well, so we said we’d try back again another time. As we walked back to the car, I remember telling my companion about how I got the impression he wasn’t too excited to see us there. Oh well. We’ll keep trying, I thought.

Then on Sunday, his wife bore her testimony about how her prayers are beginning to be answered and that her husband is taking an interest in the church. She said that after we knocked on the door, he told her that there were new sister missionaries and that they seemed very nice. Then later in the day, he asked if she could get out her DVDs on the history of the church. They watched them together all day. And he asked her what she thought about them. She bore a simple testimony and turned the question back to him. He said he thinks they are very good, and asked that they watch more of them after she got home from church.

I realize, that we didn’t really play a role in this…she had been praying for the past few months that this would happen, and that so many other people have played a role, the Holy Ghost being the most important factor. But I appreciated that she mentioned us. Even missionaries need encouragement sometimes!

Then, oh my goodness! We went to see one of our investigators! We went to visit her, and she told us her whole conversion story, about how she was raised Catholic and came to a point where she knew it wasn’t quite right. She didn’t believe in the Trinity so she started attending a non-denominational church. Gradually, she brought her husband and family along with her to this church. Then a few months later she started reading the Book of Mormon. She read it in about a week and knew it was true. It filled in so many pieces, she said! She’s read the Book of Mormon twice and has read the Pearl of Great Price and is now in Section 80 something of the Doctrine & Covenants. She knows so much about the church and loves it…but wants to bring her family along with her. She said she’ll point out bits of Mormon Doctrine, but she doesn’t want to freak them out by making them think she wants to switch religions every few months. So she said it will be a gradual process, but she isn’t afraid to be the leader! Amazing! Some of her extended-family has expressed some anti sentiments, and she deflects them off and defends the church even though she isn’t a member…yet. I hope we get to see a miracle in this family’s life this transfer!!! I hope they develop a curiosity of their own. This woman says she tries to attend the LDS church once a month (she wants to join) but at the same time, she loves attending church with her family. The church they attend together has a rock band and is very new age, so her teens seem to like it. She said the LDS service is very different from that church. Our services weren't as emotional, but “do you know what it was?” she said. “It was sweet. It felt like home.” When she imagines what it would be like to be with God, she imagines that it would be very much like home, and peaceful. I am so excited to be here!

These are just two examples of the people we’re working with! I didn’t even talk about the people who DID attend church this Sunday and who have already expressed a desire to be baptized. The list could just go on and on. As the mother in our lesson last night said, “I feel that God just has a pitcher full of blessings waiting for us, and He’s just wondering when we’re going to start!” She too, feels like she knows the Book of Mormon is true and she hasn’t even read it yet. But when her family started dissing on it, she was amazed at how passionately she defended the book! She said “I don’t get passionate about ANYTHING really, besides my family, so I feel like there must be truth to this.” Her husband has a light in his eyes, and you can just tell he absorbs everything he learns.

THEN… There’s a sweet 20 year old girl who has been searching for the past three years. Wow! I keep thinking of other stories I could share, but I am seriously going to run out of time!

This is the best time to be in Albuquerque. The Balloon festival is around the corner, and it’s chili season. We helped one of our part member families peel green chilies on Saturday. And I am converted to all things spicy! They grew up in Santa Fe, and told us about all the festivals and folk legends that are happening there this time of year. So it was a super fun day. I'll have to tell you about the Black Arroyo, and Zubrona (sp?) later!

Before I left Bloomfield, two of our investigators gave me the sweetest gifts. One of them gave me a book about the Navajo creation story, and wrote his testimony inside. WOW! I am amazed at how much he knows! He said, read this book as a conversation starter, but don’t believe it! Because it’s silly. The other investigator gave my trio matching Navajo necklaces. So sweet of them!

I miss you all a LOT!

Gotta run. But have a wonderful day!

Transfer News

2009-09-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

Well, you may have thought the day would never come, but I am being transferred out of Bloomfield. President called us on Saturday morning, and I will be training another sister fresh out of the MTC. I hope she is as good as my last “greenie.” Sister Lotulelei hardly needed training in the first place. I think new missionaries have such an enthusiasm and spirit about them that I actually LOVE to serve with them. There is even more motivation to work hard. Some people dread training, and yes it’s a little stressful, but I didn’t mind it this last transfer. Although I loved the trio I was in this transfer (it was a ton of fun, and I absolutely adore these sisters), I think it will be a LOT easier to train when it’s a normal companionship…fewer ways to get distracted.

I am a little nervous about my new area, but President said it was a good area, and that he received the impression we would do well there. Where am I going, do you ask? Should I finally get to the point? Ok. I am going to Albuquerque! I will be covering the Paradise Hills Ward as well as the Bandelier Ward. This is in northwest Albuquerque, just outside of Rio Rancho. We are opening the area to sisters, Elders have served there in the past. I loved opening Bloomfield, so I’m excited about this, but also…Bloomfield was just a tiny town. A greenie and I now have to navigate the city! I bet this will make for lots of good stories. I have felt a LOT of peace with going to Albuquerque. I feel like this is where I am supposed to be. As a result of our Zone Conference, I decided to pray and then fast yesterday that Heavenly Father would prepare people to receive the gospel, and that we would recognize who they are. I’m excited to see what happens. Albuquerque was the ONE place that I dreaded going. Sisters who have served in other parts of Albuquerque all told me that they had almost NO investigators and would tract at least 5 hours a day. Which is quite an adjustment from being in Bloomfield, where you don’t have to do much tracting. I like to tell people I am terrified of going to Albuquerque…but really…. when I think about it, I’m not. Like I said, I had a strong feeling that things would be good here.

The Elders said that Albuquerque is booming right now, and that it should be a good place to find people to baptize. They also said that President Anderson sometime attends those wards, but I don’t know about that, maybe they were just trying to scare me.

I’m driving down to Albuquerque tonight. It’s amazing how much more “stuff/clutter” or whatever you want to call it, I have collected. When I got here, everything fit into my suitcases…and now I have no idea how I’m going to carry everything to Albuqerk. I think I’ll just throw everything in the back of the truck.

Ok in other news…well. Transfer news is kind of the biggest news and everything else pales in comparison.

We met a lady who has a Pit Bull, a Doberman and a Wolf in her yard. Yes, people in New Mexico sometimes keep wolves as pets. How crazy!

One of our investigators attended a baptism with us on Saturday. I think he really liked it! Another of our investigators came to Church for the first time yesterday. It’s amazing how excited we get at little baby steps like that. The ward was super nice to him, I just hope it didn’t make our other two investigators who came to church jealous! Those two investigators are starting to progress beautifully and attend church regularly. Which is a first! Usually investigators attend church sporadically. I am so excited for these families and will miss them.

But I am excited for a change!

Love you all dearly!

Love,
Asdaan To (The Navajo nickname one of our investigators gave me. Apparently, translated it means “lady water.” I think I’ll miss her nicknames.)

What Would You Think If You Were Interviewed by a General Authority?

2009-09-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

This week was one of my favorites so far!

In my weekly e-mail to President Anderson last week, I mentioned that we have an investigator on probation, and that we’d have to wait for him to get off before he could get baptized. President immediately called us and let us know that if our investigator would meet all the qualifications for baptism, he would personally write the First Presidency and ask for him to get baptized. He has had about 4 people be approved so far. Well, we ran over to tell this man, and he was SOO excited. It gives him the incentive to really prepare himself for his baptismal date…which is October 16th. He picked the day himself because:
1. It will give him enough time to get ready, and
2. It is his birthday and he thinks it is symbolic of being born again!

We are so happy. He recognized that he has a big opportunity here and has prayed everyday. He is even helping us teach another investigator about the gospel, and he likes to talk about how he came to know the Book of Mormon was true. He said something to the effect of, “I really want to get baptized, I prayed about it, and this is my biggest dream.”

Other exciting things:

Crystal said she would accept a calling when she gets baptized.
One of our part member families broke out the Book of Mormon this week.
We taught a 1st lesson to a woman who said she was super curious about the restoration!

Also! Since President gave us permission to get creative in our work, Sister Boisselle came up with an idea to get the members into missionary work. We found this HUGE rock, and painted it hideous gold and orange. In blue lettering, we wrote “The Book of Mormon Rock.” In the ransom note, it says that “this monstrosity will stay in your yard until you successfully give away a Book of Mormon to a non-member (friend, neighbor, enemy, whatever). When you have completed your mission, place the rock in another member of the Bloomfield 2nd ward’s yard. Be quick and have fun.”

Who do you suppose got the rock stuck in their yard first? Yep. The Squirrel Meat Family. They totally had it coming.

Also, I had investigators and less actives try to set me up at least twice this week. SUPER awkward. Ha ha.

Also. Yeah, I’m leaving the best for last. I was interviewed by a General Authority yesterday. We had our general authority tour yesterday, and President Anderson selected several missionaries to be interviewed, and lucky me, I fell into that lot.

In my interview, Elder C. Scott Grow asked me if I had any thoughts or questions that ran across my mind when I found out he would be interviewing me. I told him: “I was basically terrified to death.” He just laughed and laughed and laughed. He asked why I was terrified (I think being interviewed by a General Authority needs no explanation as to why it invokes fear.)

He told me I reminded him of his daughter in law. (Which always gets me curious…) He asked about my family, and their callings. And he mostly just asked me what I learned from Zone Conference which I will relate below.

He talked about section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph Smith said that the same visions are available to EACH member of the church according to their desire, faith and purity. He asked us to expand our visions.

It became clear to me that there are literal miracles waiting to happen. I need to have the faith to seek them, and work for them. I often get in the mind set of just Do. Just Work. But there is so much more possible, if I but FIRST learn to seek inspiration. Ask to see where to go! This takes time.

My whole mission, there has been an emphasis on NOT dropping investigators. Elder Grow made it clear that there are elect people prepared. We don’t need to waste time with those who aren’t willing to progress. Simply leave them and go back later. Find those who are ready now. Have the faith that they will be prepared. I talked to Elder Grow about this in my interview, and I told him that not having a baptism was very discouraging, but that there are some specific things I can do to increase baptisms. One of them is to leave those who don’t progress. Another is to have more faith in the goals we set.

He told us about when he was a Mission President, there was a new elder who felt like he could have 23 baptisms in the transfer. The elder said he had prayed about it and felt like this was a good number. President Grow was a little bit shocked at this. The missionaries senior companion didn’t see it really being possible, but the young elder had the faith that if the Lord said 23 baptisms were possible, then it would happen and people would be prepared. In his interview with the mission president, he said “we didn’t meet our goal. We only had 20 baptisms this transfer, but three more people are being interviewed this afternoon.”

Elder Grow also told us that the Lord often takes His Prophets to a high place to show them visions of the world and of the Plan of Salvation. Look at Nephi, Moses, etc.. The lord tries to reveal the same vision of the Plan of Salvation available to each of us in the temple. I hadn’t thought about it that way before.

I better run, I’ve only got ten minutes to write a letter to President Anderson, but I love you all dearly. Thank you SO much! Have a wonderful week.

Stories From Off The Reservation

2009-08-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention, that I haven't written many stories in awhile. I will try to remedy that in this e-mail, although I cannot guarantee that I will be successful.

Bloomfield continues to be the same. We showed one of our investigators the film "Finding Faith in Christ" earlier in the week. This particular investigator always likes to ask a lot of questions, most of which are repeated from week to week... Sigh. But there was one line in the movie that stuck out to her. The Apostle Thomas was explaining that Christ had the ability to perceive the hearts and thoughts of men. After the movie was over, there was a pause.
"So," she asked. "Jesus had mental telepathy?"
We thought the wording was pretty funny.

We were talking to a man this week who was telling us exactly how the reservation is like a different country. In Arizona, at least, the U.S.police cannot cross reservation lines to issue a ticket. One particular person knew that if he could just out-drive the police and get across the boarder, he wouldn't be arrested for a DUI. As soon as he crossed the reservation line, he swung the car around, popped open a beer and stared right at the cop on the other side of the line. This story shows that the "wild west" stereotype is still very much in effect, even years after the typical western cowboy and Indian images we think of. I love hearing stories from the rez!

On a more serious note, we had a wonderful experience at church yesterday. Three of our investigators in Bloomfield came to Sacrament meeting. In our gospel essentials class, we were talking about signs of the second coming, one of which is that the Lamanites would blossom and become a great people. Sometimes I get nervous when the Lamanite issue comes up around the Navajo people I teach, but this topic ended up being amazing!

One of our investigators told us that his grandfather was a medicine man. He and his cousins would sit around their grandfather and listen to him preach. He remembers his grandfather telling them as children, about the latter days, about desolation and famine and other things. But the thing that gave me goose bumps was the fact that his grandfather told him that the day would come when they would all need to join a white man's church.

Our ward mission leader was in the class with us and said "Read 1 Nephi 8. In it, you will read about Lehi, who is another one of your grandfathers. He is begging you to come to the tree of life and partake of the fruit. And after you are baptized you can do the temple work for your own grandfather. He is up their just waiting for you! He is cheering you on!"

I love this part-member family; they both have a strong testimony of the restored gospel and will be absolute power houses in the church.

We also talked about how when the Savior comes the second time, his mission will be different. He won't be here to preach the gospel. He did that the first time and has entrusted that role to the apostles, and also the missionaries in preparation for his return. Now is the time to prepare. Our ward mission leader made that comment. And it hit me. I have a mission to fulfill that the Savior himself came to the earth to perform, but has since been entrusted to us...as members.

We are teaching an investigator who already took the missionary lessons, and wanted to get baptized, before recently moving to New Mexico. She knows everything, and is so eager to move forward! She is in Farmington, along with most of our progressing investigators. So after September 1, I won't get to see her anymore, but it is so nice to teach investigators who are accepting of the doctrine!

That is most of the news from this week. There are a few other silly things that happened, but they probably won't fit into print very well.

Oh. I got an envelope in the mail this week that was missing the card inside. I know that some of my mail gets lost as well...so if I don't respond to letters, I probably haven't received them.

Well. I think that's pretty much everything worthy of an e-mail. I love you all dearly. Have a wonderful week!

Sister Waters

Bloomfield

2009-08-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

This week in Zone Conference we were committed to do a new type of planning program. We are now planning out every hour of every day ten days in advance. President Anderson basically gave us permission to get creative with our time. Instead of tracting, we could do things like give soapbox lessons like they used to do 100 years ago, plan creative projects etc. He wants us to be crazy and creative. I am really excited about this. Usually, I get frustrated with planning because I just figure I will work as hard as I can and then things will just fall into place. But recently, I have come to the realization that there are just too many things to do on the mission, too many expectations, and that planning allows us to prioritize our efforts in a more focused direction. The problem here in Bloomfield isn’t a matter of NOT having things to do, but rather making sure the most important things get done first. I have been feeling very overwhelmed the past few transfers, and hopefully planning everything out ahead of time will help me make sure I’m not forgetting anything or anyone. I feel like there is so much to do, and I can’t do it all. We’ve let the ball drop a few times this week… thank goodness it was on less important things dealing with members and logistics and not on our progressing investigators.

Sister Lotulelei and I were talking about the challenges of being in a trio, and I think we finally pinned down what was frustrating us both. The problem is, we are working, but it is very difficult to keep our minds focused on the mission because there are three of us. It is so easy to get to talking, and end up on a tangent that has nothing to do with the work. The Spirit is the most important thing in this work, and it has been a struggle to have it with us. It is scary to feel like you’re flying by the seat of your pants.

One thing that stuck out to me from Zone Conference was the quote, “Without the spirit, you will never succeed regardless of your talent or ability…with the spirit you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field.”

I think I’ve hit the point in my mission where I KNOW I can’t do it by myself. I feel like we are always working…but we don’t utilize the Spirit to its fullest potential. I feel like I have to WORK to get the Spirit there.

Two of our baptismal dates backed out this week. One of them dropped us yesterday because she wants to go back to her traditional beliefs and her medicine man. She would like to learn how to be a medicine woman. This is really very painful for me. I feel like in the seven months I have been out, very little good has happened. I love this area so much! And I know I should be grateful to be in such a wonderful area with so much potential. So many missionaries would kill to have the investigators I do…but you see that’s the painful part. I see the AMAZING potential in these people, and I just can’t get them to progress. I just want to be a better missionary, but changing is difficult. I have all these goals of how to be better, but even the goals seem overwhelming.

We got a new investigator this week, that normally I would be elated about. He accepts the idea that God would prepare someone like Joseph Smith to lead his people in the latter days. We are teaching him in a member’s home, and he has come to church. He even said that he could accept the Book of Mormon as a companion to the Bible. This is EXCITING! He is basically golden. But I have thought this same thing about so many of our other new investigators, that I am beginning to expect rejection before it even happens. I do not want to be this way!!! I need to remember to be grateful, and focus on the good things that have happened here, like how many new investigators I’ve picked up since being here, and how one of the referrals I gave to the Spanish Elders got baptized, and how some of the other referrals are getting close. Intellectually, I know how to have a good attitude, and intellectually I know how I should respond to these pitfalls. After all, true conversion to the gospel isn’t an overnight phenomenon…testimony building takes time. But emotionally, it’s another story.

For the most part, the area is good. Our ward has really started to do well with the L.Tom Perry Mission Plan, and I have the most fun companions ever! The ward wrapped their arms around us yesterday when they found out we had been dropped by one of our investigators. I think we’re all just momentarily 'bummed' by Pam telling us she wants to go back to her medicine man ways last night. Even though this email is kind of a downer, we will make a healthy rebound. This work is too important not to!

In other news, we helped our investigator with her wedding on Saturday. She asked us to help, and we thought it would be easy. Yeah, Sister Boisselle and I have basically both sworn off big weddings. They can be a lot of work! But it was beautiful, and the food was great!

Anyway, I love you all dearly. Thanks for praying for our investigators. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers, and it will be interesting to see how they are answered. Maybe this week is a blessing in disguise!

I love you all so very much. Thanks for the letters. I don't have much else to say!

Sister Waters

A List for My Weekly Letter

2009-08-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

This week was full of challenges, but it is easier to handle them when you have fun companions!

In summary:

Our car battery died.
The air conditioning went out.
It sounds like our investigator might want to wait for her husband to get worthy to baptize her which would be a long delay in her baptism date-the whole situation is getting frustrating.
Our investigator Ben gave us a list of 11 reasons why Mormonism is wrong, and
We helped one of our investigators move out of her house so that they can move into a storage shed.

But when they say the mission is an emotional roller coaster, they don’t lie. Here are the high points of the week.

We got to eat dinner with the sweetest German lady!
I followed a prompting to knock on a particular door that ended up being the daughter of our investigator who is supposed to get baptized this month!
We prayed that our investigator would make the effort to find her Book of Mormon and she did!
The sweetest deacon/teacher? in our ward made us dinner this week. He passes the sacrament each week and is saving up for a mission even though his dad isn’t active in the church at all. He invited us over and made the meal basically by himself.
We made brownies to bribe someone to come to church…it worked!
We committed a young man to stop smoking …WITH a PINKY PROMISE
I got to fiddle with Mr. Brown, while he played guitar and Sister Boisselle sang…we finally got him to open up.
The spirit helped us so much with one of our lessons in particular and the investigator came to church!
Pistachio home made ice cream!

Thanks for the letters and especially for the See’s chocolates. My companions and I especially needed them last night! This transfer is so much fun. We laugh all the time and get to teach so many people every day! For Preparation Day, we are having lunch with the Sisters from Shiprock, and helping one of our investigators make centerpieces for her wedding. It should be a fun day.

Love you more than you know!

Sister Waters

The Three Musketeers

2009-07-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

I am really loving Bloomfield. We set two more baptism dates this week, for a grand total of four! Out of these four individuals, I think three will actually get baptized. But two of them will probably need to push their date back a little bit so that they can finish the lessons/build testimony. But Crystal has agreed to August 22, and she tells us she thinks about her baptism every day and is so excited! She told the Bishop at church yesterday that she wants her family to be sealed one year after her baptism. Yay! We had four investigators at church yesterday too! Yay!

I LOVE my companions dearly. I think this transfer is going to be one of my most fun! Our biggest problem in the first week was staying up later than we should giggling and laughing. We need to work on that. 

Sister Boisselle is from Vancouver Island, Alberta Canada. She is hilarious! Her story about why she decided to go on a mission almost had us rolling on the floor. She came out one transfer before I did, and I love her a lot.

Sister Lotulelei was born in Tonga, but her family has been living in Utah for the past 11 years. She is wonderful! I feel like I don’t even need to train her. In the MTC I remember that I LOVED new missionary intake days each week, because there was just a fresh excitement about everything, and a breath of fresh air. I feel the same thing in regards to new missionaries entering the field. They are so excited and have that MTC zeal. Sister Lotulelei has six older sisters who all served missions, one of which is in Brazil right now.

So I am very happy about this transfer! It’s going to be fun. We worked so hard our first week. We have so many investigators, that our new sister was surprised that there wasn’t even time to knock doors on a few days. We just had teaching appointment after teaching appointment.

On Monday, four of us sisters drove down to Albuquerque. I LOVE long car rides with these sisters. They are brilliant. Then eight of us stayed in the Sisters’ apartment in Albuquerque. Which was fun, but none of us slept until almost 1:00 am, and then had to get up early for transfers. On Saturday, Farmington had the biggest Pioneer Day picnic dinner I’ve ever seen. It was pretty fun since they don’t celebrate it at all back east.

The Funnies of the Past Few Weeks:

•On the last district meeting of each transfer, the district will take district pictures. The elders usually wear these nasty colorful polyester suits that they find at thrift stores. Our district leader asked if sisters ever do anything funny for these pictures. He said. “The Zone Leaders give you permission to wear your nose rings and belly rings. And Tell Sister Abney that she can roll up her sleeves and show off her tattoos.” So, Sister Abney and I decided to wear “tattoos” to district meeting. Mine had a cross with CTR below it. Believe it or not, I have actually seen someone with this tattoo in real life. Needless to say, we got some fun pictures.

Mom, it’s hard to think of just one investigator to fast for because I love them all, but if you want to, just fast that they all will recognize spiritual experiences and that they will be prompted to read the Book of Mormon and have the courage to make changes that will bring them closer to Heavenly Father.

I loved your stories about Girls Camp. I’m glad you enjoyed it even though it was camp. It sounds like you and the girls had a fun time staying up late and doing silly things.

Well, I love you very much and hope everything is going well.

Love,
Sister Waters

Transfer News

2009-07-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

OK. It’s transfer time again. Every single elder in our district, and even our zone I think, predicted that I would be transferred this time. One of our investigators even gave me a going away present because she sensed that I would no longer be there. But I get to prove them all wrong!

On Friday, I came home to a voicemail from President Anderson (which is usually NOT good news.) When I called him back he said he was thinking about putting a trio of sisters in our apartment, and he wanted to know if we would fit. OK, no big deal. He said he’d let us know if it would happen later.

Then on Saturday morning, I got ANOTHER phone call from President Anderson asking me if I would train the new sister that is coming into the mission. OK, I didn’t really see that one coming. Not many missionaries train in their OWN greenie area! But it should be fun, because we WILL be in a trio. I will be co-training with Sister Boisell, who I think is from Canada. Tonight I will be driving down to Albuquerque and staying with the sisters there so that we can be at the Training Meeting early tomorrow morning. It will be really fun to drive down with the sisters who are going home, including my own trainer! Getting a 3 generation picture of trainers is not too common, but I think it’s going to happen.

I am excited about being in a trio. While it will be awkward for tracting, I think it will be fun for everything else. Instead of one friend to talk to I get 2! But I have a LOT of cleaning to do today before I leave. Our apartment is kind of a mess, and I’d like to decorate it before the greenie gets here. One of the families in the 1st Ward threw me and Elder Miles a greenie party back in February for our first day in the mission, and they are already planning another one for tomorrow. They are pretty excited I’ll be at another greenie party at their house. SO that should be fun. Also, we are still covering BOTH Bloomfield and Farmington, but my old companion is going to Gallup.

People are the same wherever you go. Each of Heavenly Father’s children is equal in his eyes. SO it doesn’t really make a difference where I serve. Hopefully I can start implementing some new things I’ve been thinking about this transfer.

Plus, I will be here when one of our investigators gets baptized on August 15. If all goes according to plan, this will be my first baptism. And I am so excited. It is a part member family, and the mom told us she got her answer! The feeling in their home is very different than when we go to other investigators. They are excited to learn more, and they eliminate all distractions. I guess you can say they’re golden. SO that will be another highlight of the upcoming transfer. We had a lesson with their family on Saturday, and the grandma, who first introduced her daughter-in-law to the church, was there. It was one of the neatest lessons I’ve seen. They were talking about how their Native American teachings can fit in with the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Part of the discussion had to deal with ancestors, and how the church doesn’t take away from that spiritual connection, but adds to it. “Can you imagine 7 generations of Native Americans being sealed in the Temple?” Their mom asked. “That is what I have been doing.” She is so excited at the opportunity of being sealed to her son and daughter-in-law and their children. I am thrilled for them as well.

OK. In other news, we went to visit one of our investigators on Wednesday, and she was in the middle of a Bible Study with the Jehovah’s. THAT was a little awkward to say the least.

We also got to help with the Primary’s Activity Day. Which was interesting….I forgot how small children’s attention spans are.

I celebrated my 6-Month-Mark this week. It’s tradition to burn panty hose on the 6th month mark. But nylon doesn’t really burn, it melts, and stinks. But I got some fun videos.

We also met with a pretty neat new investigator this week. He is only 19 or 20, but studies a lot of different translations of the Bible as well as Hebrew and Greek. He wanted to understand more about LDS doctrine. He is VERY smart, and pretty nice. But I don’t think he is very receptive…yet. He basically told us we had been deceived and that we would not be saved. But as missionaries, you get that a lot.

Dad, I just wanted to let you know that I got your last letter on Thursday. It was a little mini miracle in my week, because it should have arrived earlier than it did, but I got it on the day that I needed it MOST. My companion and I had just had a little fight, over nothing incredibly serious, but spending 24 hours a day with someone is a very unnatural concept, and so there are tense days in every companionship. But anyways, THAT was the day I got it. And it said exactly what I needed to hear. I just cried and cried. I let my companion read some of it too, and she marked her scriptures with it. So Thanks.

I loved hearing about all the updates on the ward, and about all the recently returned missionaries in your letter mom, I love hearing those pieces of information! I hope Girls Camp went well and that there weren’t any injuries.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Waters

Yah-tah-hey!

2009-07-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

Yah-tah-hey! (What's up?)

OK, so I didn’t get to e-mail until later in the afternoon because one of the sisters in the ward volunteered to do our hair today. She gave me some highlights and now I am VERY blonde. Very. But I’ve been almost every hair-color before, so it shouldn’t be that much of a shock. Hopefully.

We got to help out at the LDS Farm this week! It was pretty fun, and they let us bring home some fresh green beans, peas and peaches. We even got to take some to an investigator!

Then we went out to Blanco (one of two even tinier small towns in our ward) and tried to find a referral. We stopped at the post office to get directions, and one of the workers was a lady in our ward. She was cleaning out some old things and so we helped her load up her car with some heavy items. New Mexico is known for being the birthplace of the Atomic Bomb. So she found some “What to do if there is a nuclear attack” booklets that showed you how to make a shelter. They dated back to the late 50s early 60s. It was pretty interesting. At least the postmaster back then was prepared to send out material in case of a disaster.

Our investigators are making baby steps of progress, which always makes me really excited! But then they always stumble backwards too. SO that’s been a pretty frustrating pattern. That’s life though.

Here’s a great scripture I found studying this morning . . . I Corinthians 9:16-19. I love the phrase “a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.” I hadn’t thought of it that way before, but as missionaries today, we help move the work of the Lord forward in this, the final dispensation of the fullness of the gospel. What exciting work! The real trick is to remember that . . . even on the hard days.

I hope girl’s camp goes well! And that everything is good back at home. I love you all very much and pray for you often.

I don’t have much else to say. Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Waters
Shideezhi Twoh (how you would say "Sister Water"in Navajo)

Almost Six Months

2009-07-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Belated 4th of July! The 4th of July in New Mexico feels absolutely nothing like it does in the Washington D.C. area. I didn’t feel the same exuberance to be an American! But some of that may also be because I am a missionary, and missionaries don’t get holidays. Oh well. We all came into our apartments early (7pm). But some of the members in Farmington invited all the missionaries out to have a BBQ at their house for lunch. These people are always doing nice things for us missionaries.

From everything I’ve heard here, it sounds like the Swine Flu in the MTC really DID change the way missionary intake day will go from now on. One of the members in Bloomfield just left for his mission a few weeks ago and his family couldn’t go inside. They also said this would be a permanent change. But I guess only time can tell. I hope they change their minds.

In other news, I’m starting to talk poorly! I caught myself saying “It don’t matter” the other day. I better be more careful! Sister Crossley, my trainer, served in Farmington wards for 7 1/2 months, so it has been fun to be in her old area. There have been at least 3 different people who have said we look alike and have the same mannerisms. What a great compliment!

I have been here so long, that I have tracted ALMOST every street within the main part of Bloomfield; so I sometimes I get stumped when it comes to finding an area to tract. I told Sister Abney that she could just pick any street and we’d tract it again. As we tracted that street, I could pretty much predict which houses would reject us and which would be nice. But I didn’t tell Sister Abney what happened last time until after we knocked the doors. But, I do have a firm belief that it is good to retract areas. Because on that VERY street we found a woman whose Grandfather was a Patriarch, and she herself never joined the church…but she invited us back to teach her today! She wants to learn now, and it sounds like her children do too! Monday is her day off work. We decided it was important to squeeze it into our preparation day activities. I’m pretty excited!

One of our Navajo investigators showed us how to make traditional soap out of cactus roots. She said that medicine men use this kind of root. She finally read on her own from the Book of Mormon this week! I’m so proud of her. I feel like some of our investigators who had been closed off before, are starting to open up again, so that’s exciting!

We got to show “Special Witnesses of Christ” to a part member family that is getting baptized in August. I LOVE using this because it not only lets them see different church sites, but also allows them to hear Apostolic testimonies. We watched the segment about the temple, and the couple just got so excited. I love days like that.

Our investigator who came to church last week LOVED it! She said she wanted to sleep there she liked it so much. (This is the woman who decided to stay for all 3 hours because her children liked Primary so much.) Her little 6 or 7 year old girls told her mom she felt like crying for no reason in Primary, and her mom explained that she was feeling the Holy Ghost. The next time we came to their house, this sweetheart was practically jumping up and down to see us! I LOVE her sweet children so much. A few minutes later her mom said her daughter wanted to ask us to explain what the Holy Ghost was. The dad was so impressed with the experience his wife and children had that he said the WHOLE family would be at church on Sunday. I love this family so much. They told us we can come by any time and their home can be our home away from home. We stopped by to remind them about church yesterday, but they had to get his welding machine fixed, and didn’t know if they’d be back in town in time. I sure hope this excitement doesn’t wear off! I’m tired of people having spiritual experiences and then getting distracted by life! What about ETERNAL life people?

Yikes! I’m 8 days shy of my 6 month mark! Time is certainly flying. Almost everyday, I think of President Calderwood’s advice before I left to “leave everything on the field.” I’m by no means a perfect missionary, but I do feel like I work hard. I want and desperately NEED to be better. Sometimes I look at my last six months and get awfully discouraged because I have no baptisms to show for it. I look around at other areas and wonder why my investigators won’t progress the same way. I feel so much like the little boy in one of the books my mom read to us as kids. The little boy, Li, takes care of the flower seed which he was given…every day he waters it…and nothing grows. Each child was given a seed to take care of, but his will not grow. He looks at all the other children who are growing beautiful pots of exotic flowers, and he wonders what he is doing wrong. He continues to water his little seed. Finally the day comes when all the children are taking their flowers to the Emperor of China to see who will be his heir. Dejected, Li takes his little pot to the Emperor and the Emperor smiles at him. Each child was given a boiled seed…no wonder Li’s seed wouldn’t grow! The emperor could see Li’s hard work and dedication and was rewarded because all the other children didn't use the seeds they were originally given. I’m not saying that other missionaries cheat, not at all. I feel so privileged to be around some of Heavenly Father’s hardest working, most elect sons and daughters. But I do feel like Li... Fruitless, but honest in my work. Could I have done things better these past 6 months? Yes. But did I try to be obedient, find the elect, teach and work everyday? Absolutely.

Love and miss you SO MUCH!

Love,

Courtney

Can You Go On a Date If You Stick Together?

2009-07-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hello!

We’re going to Chaco Canyon today! I am so excited. I was looking on the map Spencer (my younger brother) gave me for Christmas, and read a little about Chaco. It has something like 13-16 different ruins within the park. So it should be really fun!

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday; it was so strange to see Sister Crossley and Sister Mailo give their departing testimonies. They are the sisters I looked up to…now there are only 3 or 4 sisters that have been out longer than I have! We’re getting more English speaking sisters in 3 weeks, so I guess that means our group isn’t the youngest anymore!

After Zone Conference, we taught a lesson to one of our investigators. Her husband sat in on the lesson this time! It was so exciting! After we finished, she let us help her weave a traditional Navajo rug she’s working on. It was so fun! She explained that there are a lot of rules about the tools they use and the direction they weave that tie into traditional religion. Then… she and two of her kids came to church on Sunday! They were originally just going to stay for Sacrament Meeting, but her kids loved Primary, and so they stayed for all three hours! The ward was so good! And they said they would come back!

We were up in Farmington on Wednesday, and a member took us out to eat at Los Hermanitos. (I was so excited due to the similarity in name to Los Hermanos in Provo.) It was really good! On the way home, she had to make a quick stop at Staples, so we helped her get some office supplies. I picked up some more batteries for my camera, and Sister Abney was about to go back to the car, but then realized that she needed to wait for me. The store clerk that had been helping us (and following us around a LOT I might add) noticed that we couldn’t be separated. As he helped the lady load the paper into her car, he started asking questions about missionaries…where we can go, what we do, etc. Then he asked if we could go on a date, if we went together. The lady we came with told him a resounding NO, but said that other missionaries could teach him about the church if he was interested….he asked if we could teach him, but she responded by saying that we were busy. The whole thing was a little awkward, but mostly hilarious. There are too many crazy things that happen on the mission.

We taught about repentance to one of our investigators this week. After the lesson, I felt like I had taught something wrong, I felt like I had focused too much on the hope and relief that can come as we turn our lives over to the Savior. I worried for most of the evening, like I always do whenever I worry, but then I took the time to analyze why I was so worried. I came to the conclusion, that Satan WOULD want me, especially as a missionary, to change the way I teach repentance. He would want people to feel like there is no hope. After I realized this, I was able to stop worrying. It’s fascinating what you discover when you analyze why you do certain things.

Here is my favorite quote from yesterday. “All of us have a good heart; it’s just what we do with it.” We were talking about service in Relief Society yesterday, and one of the ladies said that, and so I wrote it down. I truly believe that almost everyone has a good heart. Everyone has the light of Christ. There aren’t many people who wake up and say, “How can I destroy someone else’s life today.” But it comes down to work. We may have good intentions; we want to be good people, but we have to USE our good hearts.

I love you all. Have a wonderful week! I’m sorry I don’t have much more to say.

Jesus Christ Binahagha Akee di Dayyoolkaalgo Ya Naazinigii = The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (spelled correctly for once! In Navajo, but missing the tones. Oddly enough Navajo is somewhat of a tonal language as well.)

No Clever Title for This Week

2009-06-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

I love Bloomfield, but I think I’ve tracted almost the whole town. I recognize people I've only had a two minute conversation with on the street! Anyway, we went to the Bloomfield Hot Air Balloon Festival this week. Since we might not get to see the one in Albuquerque, we figured Bloomfield’s might be the next best thing. One of our investigators invited us to go with her, so my companion and I decided we would get up super early in the morning and go with her since it’s only a few blocks from our apartment, and we’d be back inside before we needed to begin our proselyting.

I have really enjoyed being in Farmington a few days out of the week . It’s been refreshing to visit with a new set of investigators. Some of our investigators in Bloomfield have had the same attitude for the past five months, so it’s been refreshing to teach new people who I don’t already know how they are going to respond to commitments. In some cases I feel like I can be bolder even! I'm surprised that I don't feel quiet and shy around these new people...I must have grown more than I realized!

On Wednesday, one of the girls Sister Abney had been teaching in Farmington agreed to get baptized in August. She said she received her answer and was so excited that she wanted to get baptized the very next day after her wedding! (But then she realized that might be a little bit too hectic.) Anyway, she even offered to say the closing prayer, which Sister Abney said was a first for her!

We also contacted a media referral last Monday. We began to introduce her to the Book of Mormon and one of her very first questions was… “So, how would I go about joining the Mormon church?” Perfect! That’s what every missionary wants to hear. I hate how all the golden investigators are the ones who are super busy and are difficult to catch at home. We haven’t seen her in a week. Hopefully, we’ll get to see her today.

One of our investigators here in Bloomfield has a huge problem with the fact that we claim that there is only one true church. She says that God is a tree trunk, and all the different branches of the tree are different denominations that all lead back to our Heavenly Father. Well, we found her copy of the Book of Mormon (when she wasn’t around) and bookmarked Jacob 5 (the parable of the olive tree, how corrupt branches were taken out). We left a sticky note telling her to read it and pay attention to references to trees. I thought it was so clever of us to do. I hope she reads it. Her brothers are always standing up for the missionaries…they tell her to listen to what we say. She’s Navajo, and sometimes when we ask to set up another appointment with her for the next week, she’ll say: “White Man’s time or Indian Time?” She’s pretty funny.

We also helped one of the investigators in Farmington clean out her house. If there was ever an incentive NOT to smoke…this house would be proof. I just wish I had my camera with me. Her walls were all brown and orange. As we scrubbed the ceiling, big huge splatters of orangey/brown smokey grit dripped all over me! It was so disgusting. This was just second hand smoke that clung to the walls. I can’t imagine how black a smoker’s insides must be!

Sister Abney and I received the best compliment ever this week. We were teaching one of our families, and the dad told us that he could really tell that we LOVED sharing the gospel. He said he has talked to other religious people before who looked like they couldn’t wait to get done with it…they acted like it was a job. But that this time it was different. I do love sharing the gospel, and I told him that almost no other job is more important.

That’s pretty much the summary of our week. It was a good one, and I love having a companion who is a hard worker! Hope all is going well for you! You’re the best! And I love you very much!

Love,

Sister Waters

Farmington and Bloomfield Here We Come!

2009-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

This week was wonderful . I love my new companion a lot. She is a hard worker, and has been really good at asking our investigators questions that make them open up in ways I hadn't seen before. She's also good at getting out of the lesson before the spirit leaves. So I am really excited to see what happens this transfer. We are so glad they put us greenies together! It's going to be a great transfer.

I did feel bad for Sister Abney on Sunday, however. Sister Weatherston volunteered us to speak in church before she left Bloomfield . . . and Sister Abney had to give a talk her very first Sunday! It wasn’t so bad for me though, since I've been in the ward forever.

Also, we will be covering both Bloomfield and Farmington 4th Ward this transfer, which is exciting. Sister Abney has some investigators in Farmington that are pretty close to getting baptized!

Remember back in April, when we visited that man who plays violin/guitar/mandolin? Well, before Sister Crossley left, she said that he is part of the reason why I might be staying in Bloomfield. I have been feeling for a long time that I needed to go back and see him . . . but I kept putting it off. Anyway, we went to visit him, and long story short, he let me borrow one of his violins for the day. Sister Abney had the brilliant idea of filling his violin case with scriptures and all sorts of little quotes; so that when we returned it...we were sneaking the gospel into his house. It was brilliant! He says, "Hi", to us all the time. I think we may win him over yet!

I really felt strengthened this week. I could feel your prayers, and I feel a lot of excitement about this transfer. I love being out here. I love the missionaries I am serving with...and I'm excited to be in the same Zone as Sister Crossley when she gives her departing testimony. She goes home in July.

I don't have too many stories this week. Nothing too much was out of the usual last week, pretty routine.

I love you all. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Ah Hey Ha = Thank You

Love,

Sister Waters

Transfer News

2009-06-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week. You've probably heard that the MTC has swine flu. As a result of the quarantine, we weren't going to get our new missionaries on time...so President decided to postpone transfers by a week. Then, a few days ago, we heard that transfers would occur as originally scheduled. So, we made transfer predictions....and waited for the news on Saturday. And. . .I'm staying in Bloomfield for another transfer. I will hit my 6 month mark while in Bloomfield. But it gets more interesting. . . I am now the senior companion! Crazy. I'm still in my greenie area, and I'm going senior after just 4 1/2 months in the field. Hopefully, I can remember how to drive. My new companion will be Sister Abney, from Missouri. We were actually in the MTC together.

All is well here.

Love ya bunches!

Prayers

2009-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

All is well in New Mexico! This week was difficult . . . when they say the mission is an emotional rollercoaster, they aren’t lying. But there were several tender mercies this week, so before I start writing, know that there is purpose behind it.

On Wednesday, I was feeling so overwhelmed. I was feeling very discouraged because, although we’ve been working, I felt like the work I was doing wasn’t making a difference. I was on the verge of tears. Tons of discouraging thoughts kept flooding through my brain. Silently I prayed, “Please let me talk to someone who will listen, Heavenly Father. Please help us find people who we can help influence!”

Within a couple minutes my prayer was answered dramatically. My companion and I were looking up potential investigators (people missionaries have talked to before, but weren’t ready at the time). We finished talking to one gentleman, who . . . you guessed it . . . wasn’t interested, when we heard someone call us from across the street. It was Mitchell! We see Mitchell everywhere, but have never gotten the chance to talk to him. He was dating one of our investigator’s daughters. So we’d see him at the house all the time. Then we’d see him at the library on P-days. He told us that he was baptized into the church when he was 18, but refused to go back because he didn’t believe the Book of Mormon was true anymore. But in his face, it was clear he missed the church. He even admitted to the fact, saying “I didn’t want to leave, I LOVED the church!”

Well, we had Mitchell all to ourselves. I don’t think I’ve ever been so bold before. I was NOT going to take NO for an answer. I asked him how long it had been since he read the Book of Mormon, and he said it had been 21 years. No wonder you don’t have a testimony! I promised him that he COULD know it was true. That he didn’t have to leave the church. He kept making excuses. I asked him if he would let us teach him the lessons again, and he said, "no". My companion and I bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and of its importance. “Mitchell!” I finally said. “I’ve come out here on my mission. I’ve left my family. I don’t get paid. People don’t really listen to us. But this message is so important. The whole world has to know about it, what else in the world could get me to leave all that! Will you at LEAST think about letting us teach you again? Please!”

Then came the revelation, “I have been thinking about it since the first day I saw you over at Mrs. Gomez’ house!”

As much as he said he didn’t want to learn, and as much as he said he didn’t believe anymore, the fact remained, simply seeing the missionaries got him thinking about this. I hope the Holy Ghost is pestering him to NO END!

Like I said…I went into this conversation refusing to take NO for an answer. “OK Mitchell, do you still have a copy of the Book of Mormon?” He affirmed that he did. “Well, will you go home and pray about it?”

HE SAID YES!

My prayer offered just a few minutes before was answered. I got to talk to someone who would listen! Then my companion and I went back to our apartment, and guess what?!?! My prayer was answered a SECOND time! One of the couples we’ve been working with called us back! We had been out of contact for a while, and they called us back! (Investigators don’t call you back toooo often, just FYI).

We left the apartment, and I exclaimed out loud, “Heavenly Father really does answer my prayers!”

I was startled at myself for exclaiming that out loud. Of course I already knew that. I bear testimony of that all day long. But today…it was my own prayer being answered. And I felt reassurance, that Heavenly Father IS AWARE of the work I do. Even on days when doors get slammed in your face.

The SECOND difficult thing about this week happened Thursday. Before I got my mission call, one of my good friends on a mission wrote me a caution in one of his letters. “Courtney, I have to warn you. No one can prepare you for how much your heart will ache for the people you teach.”

I thought that was interesting advice. There have been many times on my mission when I was surprised at myself for NOT being more emotionally involved in the lives of the people I teach. I wanted to have that same level of charity that the missionary who wrote that advice had. So I made it a matter of prayer.

Be careful what you pray for. One of the less active families in our ward said we could teach their family a lesson. The ward had warned us that this particular family had gotten into a lot of anti-Mormon literature. So we spent three days preparing a lesson and praying. But when we showed up on Thursday night, the father bluntly told us that they didn’t want anything to do with the church and that they didn’t believe it anymore. I felt like a horse had just kicked me. The wind was completely knocked out of me. I have faced rejection nearly every day. But this time was different. Even now, I can’t explain why it was different. It just is. The only explanation for my grief is that we had prepared so much, and that it was clear that there had once been a light in this family’s life. That light was now gone.

I went home and sobbed. All I could do was write my testimony. And explain that despite what pseudo-intellectuals say, truth comes NOT as the world says it does (by looking at every side of an issue for example), but through our Heavenly Father who is the source of real truth, as manifested to our hearts and minds through the Holy Ghost. Once you have felt the Holy Ghost’s illumination, the world makes sense, and you KNOW the source of real truth.

We also got two new investigators this week. The daughter is awesome and was SO excited to get a copy of the Book of Mormon. I've never seen someone so eager to accept a commitment! Teaching a first lesson to a new investigator brightens your day like nothing else.

Yesterday was good too! We got to help with a Fireside for the Youth on missionary work. It feels like I was just attending those! Now I'm talking at them! Oh Boy. Time flies.

Anyway, I’m basically out of time. But I love you all. I love being a missionary. This work is so important to our Heavenly Father. P-day will be super relaxed today! I’m excited just to sleep in, write letters, and go out for lunch!

Love you all! Thanks for all your love and support. Have a wonderful week!

LDS Aquarium - Only in My Dreams

2009-05-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

This week feels like it was really not eventful at all, so I apologize in advance for this email being so incredibly lame. But I want to start off by venting a little bit. Usually, I am very complimentary of the U.S.Postal Service. When you stop and think that it is possible to get a letter from one side of the country to the other in such a short amount of time…like four days, it’s pretty amazing. But it has come to my attention that my mail is not being delivered to me. One of my best friend’s letters never showed up, and I know that at least two pieces of mail have been delivered to my neighbors apartments. So, if you are reading this and you wrote me a letter, and I never responded back. I’m not being rude. It’s just that my mail hasn’t been getting to me! It’s quite a tragedy.

Okay, yesterday was Memorial Day, so we couldn’t email. We went grocery shopping with a girl that was baptized almost a year ago. It was SO much fun! Then we played soccer, as usual with the Elders. Lucky me. (Note the sarcasm). On Saturday, we decided to spend most of the day on Sullivan Road. Sullivan Road is a LONG road that is on the other side of the river. There are a TON of less active members on that road, and if all those people would start coming back to church, there would be a new ward in Bloomfield. So we tried to visit as many people as possible. But it was the holiday weekend and a lot of people took off. It was thunder storming, which played to our favor because I think we got a little bit of pity.

One of the members in the ward has been making us Cajun food lately… and I LOVE it. We had jambalaya recently. Yum!

Okay, so since I’ve been on the mission, I’ve started remembering my dreams more. And it’s ridiculous. I’ve dreamed about BYU turning into a pencil factory sweatshop, to being at the weirdest wedding. But this one takes the cake. I guess transfers have been on my mind a lot lately…but in my dream President Anderson called me on the phone, quite notably upset. He told me that I wasn’t supposed to be in the New Mexico Mission. He felt very inspired that I was to go to the New Zealand LDS Aquarium Mission. I cried and cried. I didn’t want to leave New Mexico. When President Anderson told my new mission president that I was coming, the new mission president told President Anderson that he could keep me in New Mexico, since they didn’t really need sisters in the LDS Aquarium Mission right now. But I had to go. All the companions I have had thus far in my mission drove me to the airport. When I got to New Zealand, they wouldn’t give me a companion, so I was wandering around the Aquarium completely lost. I wanted a companion so badly! None of the other missionaries could understand why I missed New Mexico. They kept saying things like, “New Zealand is so much better. You’re lucky to be here, because EVERYONE wants to go on a foreign mission. You escaped being a stateside missionary!” The LDS Aquarium was beautiful. It was huge, and had escalators going to many different levels. Pretty crazy right?

We did tract into one guy this week who attended Seminary in High School. His best friend served her mission in Spain, and he’s read a lot of the Book of Mormon and LOVES it. So we asked him if he had any questions about the Book of Mormon. He said no, and started talking about how he remembered Gaddianhi and stuff. He said it’s a record of what happened in America, and is a lot like the Bible. “Hmmm.” I thought. “What now?”

"Well, it sounds like you know a lot!...You should be a member!” I said.
“Yeah, I probably should.”
“Well, would you be interested in taking the missionary lessons?”
"No"
“No?” (WHAT? How can someone who knows this much refuse to learn more.) “WHY?” I said.
“Because my mother would kill me. She’s a Catholic.”

Okay, my companion and I were struggling to teach him something about the Church he didn’t already know. So Sister Weatherston pulled out a copy of the Family Proclamation.

“Have you seen this before?”
“Yeah, I sure have!”

We were stumped. So we chatted for a bit, and told him to have a great week. In my planner, I put his name down as a potential, with the comment… “GO back when mom is dead.”

I was studying this morning about the Book of Mormon and how so many of the books tell about the latter days when the ancient American prophets’ writings would be handed down to their children. I LOVE these verses because they talk about our mission and how we get to help fulfill prophecy: that the Book of Mormon would come back to these people. The Lord ALWAYS keeps his promises! The prophets plead with their descendants to believe their words, and to remember who they are! All of Mormon 7 is written especially for their descendants:

“1. And now, behold, I would speak somewhat unto the remnant of this people who are spared, if it so be that God may give unto them my words, that they may know of the things of their fathers; yea, I speak unto you, ye remnant of the house of Israel; and these are the words which I speak:
2. Know ye that ye are of the house of Israel.
5. Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up.
9. For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if ye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.”

One of the things that strikes me is that like the Lamanites, for whom the Book of Mormon was written in part, we must all come to know who we truly are. There is POWER in knowing that we are the children of God. He is our Father. When Satan was tempting the Savior, the one thing that he wanted him to doubt was that He was in fact the Son of God. Knowing our heritage enables us to do great things. But it is surprising how little, we as children of God value ourselves. The media, and its distorted emphasis on outward appearance, not valuing our bodies, and on the acceptability of disregarding and belittling those around us ALL plays to Satan’s goal: to have us believe that we are less than we are. To forget out divine parentage.

Here is an incomplete listing of scriptures dealing with the Book of Mormon coming forth to the remnants of the Ancient Americans. So amazing!
1 Nephi 13:35
1 Nephi 15:14
2 Nephi 3:19-20
2 Nephi 26:16-17
2 Nephi 30:4-6
Jacob 4:4
Enos 1:15-18
Helaman 15:12-13
3 Nephi 21:26
Mormon 7:1, 5, 9
Moroni 1:4

We also found a wonderful CD in the car this week. It’s called “The Mountain Speaks”, and someone put it together just for the Navajo people. It’s in both English and Navajo. It explains the Book of Mormon and how it relates to their people.

Well, I love you all.

Have a wonderful week!

When the Saints Go Marching In . . . the Work Does Too!

2009-05-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

You’re getting this email today (Tuesday) because yesterday was our missionary day at the Albuquerque Temple. It was amazing to see so many missionaries in the temple. We had four sessions of missionaries, and I was the last group to go through, so the Mission President and his wife went through with our session (although he and Sister Anderson and the Temple President and his wife spoke to each group in the chapel right before their sessions began.) The talks focused a lot on the temple being the counterpart of what we as missionaries are doing right now among the living. We were to think of our name as someone else’s investigator, and to think about all our missionary counterparts who have passed on before us: Abraham and Noah, mother Eve, Joseph Smith, etc. I love to think about the many people involved in this work! Heavenly Father won’t let anyone fall through the cracks.

We found FIVE new investigators this week! It’s pretty exciting. We had the first lesson with one woman, and the experience was interesting! Our mission president has challenged us to invite people to be baptized right from the beginning so that people know what our purpose is. Anyway, I told this woman something to the effect of: “If God reveals the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to you, and when you come to know these things are true, will you be baptized?” I ADORE her response. She said something similar to this: “Well, yeah. God is the Man. If he tells you to do something, you better do it. So if he tells me to get baptized I would!” Yes! God’s commandments bring greater happiness than what we could devise. So many people don’t get that! I appreciate her sense of clarity. So many people dodge that question when we ask it, but if God tells you to do something, you just had better go ahead and accept it! She continued by saying. “In the past, I have shut the door on Jehovah’s and you religious people. But when I saw you a few weeks ago, God told me to listen. And even today…I was supposed to go to the grocery store, and I forgot you were coming, but God made it possible for me to be here…and not stand you up.” It is days like that when I LOVE being a missionary.

The other family I am excited about was AMAZED that we even found them in the first place. They live in a forgotten part of town. The mother has been looking for a church to go to, and her aunt is Mormon. Her husband is pretty interested in learning about other religions, but he, like SO many of the people we teach, doesn’t think that there is ONE true religion. He sees so many similarities between the religions he’s studied, that he thinks they are all pretty much the same. But they both agreed to read the Book of Mormon and give it a try. Our lesson today went well, and the mom emphasized at least twice that she wanted us to come back! I used to laugh when missionaries would write about their investigators so much in weekly emails. But I am coming to see how EXCITING it is to actually have families invite you into their homes after knocking on so many doors where people call you deceived, or say they’re not interested. Getting invited into a home is a miracle!

We also held Bloomfield Days this week! We had a booth and everything. It was pretty great, if I do say so myself. We had four people give us their name and number. I think all those people live in the 1st ward’s boundaries . . . but we’re all on the same team, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

OH! I’ve got another investigator story! How can I forget Harold? We met Harold’s grand-daughter back in February. This was the 17 year old girl who had just been through the Draper Temple open house, wanted a CTR ring, and had been in a lot of trouble. Anyway, the girl moved away, and Harold expressed right from the beginning that he wasn’t interested and that he belonged to the Church of Christ. Well, anyway, after his granddaughter moved away, we’d stop by his house from time to time to see how he was doing. We even did the one thing that Sister Missionaries are notorious and despised for . . . yes. . I admit it…we delivered cookies. (Those Sister Haters criticize us for that :) Anyway, we saw Harold as we were tracting this week, we said hello as usual. But this time was different! He started asking us about what we believe. He even said that he would be interested in coming to our church! He said “If you’re around here again, maybe I’ll sit down with you and you can tell me about what you believe, and I’ll listen to one of your lessons.” We were ELATED! It goes to show that often times, people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care! By developing that friendship, it opened the doors for him to start taking the lessons. Just by being friendly with people, they will eventually take interest in what we believe. So to all you members back home . . . keep at it!

My companion and I got really silly one night and decided to use nail polish to paint Indian war paint on our faces, tie ribbon in our hair, and take crazy pictures. Our district leader called for nightly phone calls, and he found out . . . he thinks we’re crazy…but that’s okay…because we are!

Well, that’s probably the MOST exciting stuff that happened this week. A few other things happened, and some other investigators made some baby steps of progress. So we were excited about those signs. But I’ll let you go, and stop rambling. I don’t want to live up to the reputation of being a long winded "Gohmeley" or Mormon as the Navajos say.

Love you all!

Sister Waters

Help from the Spirit

2009-05-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well, today will be an exciting day! We finally get to go to the Aztec ruins! I’m pretty excited. We will also be practicing our musical number for Zone Conference . . . which should be interesting. Zone Conference is tomorrow. The missionaries in Bloomfield will be hosting our own booth at Bloomfield Days on the 16th. . . and then on the 18th we have our missionary temple day. (We leave for Albuquerque super early in the morning, so our email schedule will be probably later in the day, just FYI .) Once again, thank you so much for the great package you sent. I forgot to tell you yesterday that one of the sisters in the ward commented on how cute my brown skirt was, so you did well! I’ve been listening to the Les Miserables soundtrack a lot lately. It reminds me of being home, plus it’s not hard to find motivation to go knock doors after listening to stuff like “Do You Hear the People Sing” and “One Day More.” I can’t tell you enough how much your letters mean to me.

Well, we’ve been doing a lot of walking lately, partly in order to conserve miles. I like it though; it feels good to get exercise. I thought I wouldn’t have much to write about since I called home yesterday (Mother's Day). I was worried that after talking with you yesterday, that I would get even MORE homesick. But surprisingly, I feel energized and super uplifted. It’s just great. Well, you asked me to type out this story . . . so here goes. Remember that family I always write about? The one that tried to feed me “squirrel” meat? And who also likes to make the HOTTEST salsa they can . . . and then feed it to the missionaries? Yeah, we had that party for less actives and investigators last week, and they scared me so badly that I screamed. Yeah. It wasn’t very befitting of a sister missionary. When I first came to Bloomfield, the family thought I was too quiet. . .so they felt the need to break me in. They want me to be ready to face ANY thing. I say pretty much EVERY prayer at their house, opening and closing. They don’t even ask someone to pray anymore. Brother “Jones” just looks at me. . . and I’m expected to pray. It’s pretty funny. But one time I started to pray, just as I’m “expected” to do. . .and he interrupted me. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s not your turn. It’s Elder “Smith’s” turn!” Hilarious, Brother “Jones” you’re just soooo funny.

Here’s a great story from yesterday. I was sitting on the couch during personal study. And I suddenly heard a baby crying. My first thought was: “Oh no! Somebody abandoned their baby on our doorstep, because they think we’re nuns! Mormon nuns!” I slowly opened the door, only to see a stray cat run through the parking lot. I sure do have a lot of blonde moments.

The past couple weeks have been difficult. Some of our investigators have cancelled a lot of lessons recently. I was especially sad about the one with a baptismal date. It’s hard to see investigators make so much progress, and then have things come to a screeching halt. We brought a member to one of our teaching appointments recently, but we found out the next week that the member used to be the vice principal of the investigator’s high school. Apparently, he suspended the investigator from high school, and so it was a little awkward for our investigator.

One thing that I have a really strong testimony of during my mission, is how the Spirit can enable you to push onward when you feel too exhausted to be pleasant, or to teach, or to even have the Spirit in the first place. Well, the Holy Ghost quickened me again this past week. It is so exciting to feel the transformation, and to literally feel energy being pumped right back into you. The thing is, this message is SO important to our Heavenly Father, and HE wants his children to come back to Him so much that He will enable us to overcome physical limitations. I LOVE getting that second wind suddenly and dramatically. In the MTC, we were told that this work is so important that we will be prompted more during our missions than we have ever been before. The trick is to learn how to recognize those promptings and seek that guidance in EVERYTHING. That’s why, as I said last week, complacency, or just going with the flow, is one of my greatest fears. Anyway, I’ll get back to my story. We had just gotten out of District Meeting, it was an incredibly hot day, and I was exhausted. We were teaching about Joseph Smith’s first vision. And as I shared his experience in his own words, the Spirit came to back me up. It was invigorating! And the Spirit was there so strongly, that our investigator was almost brought to tears. I’ve noticed that this happens a lot when we talk about how Heavenly Father answered Joseph Smith’s prayer. I just wish our investigators would cling to what they felt when we talk about the first vision.

Sister Crossley was telling me about Russel M. Nelson’s visit to the mission. She didn’t get to go to his fireside because he requested that only the missionaries near Albuquerque and a few towns nearby attend. He said that this work is so important and that time is SO limited and precious, that even hearing an apostle of the Lord is not worth taking away from proselyting time. I try to remember this always. We are on the Lord’s time, don’t waste it. I’m not PERFECT at using time effectively. There are days that are harder than others. . .but I wish every missionary would understand this better.

I had a lesson with a lady this week. Her father is a Jehovah’s Witness, and sat in on the lesson. It was frustrating. He pretty much just talked about how important gospel basics are. It felt a little like he was trying to attack us on the things our two religions do have in common. Also, there is a less active guy in the ward who we met this week. He was very straightforward with us about being a self-proclaimed “Jack Mormon.” His birthday is tomorrow, and we’ve got a brilliant idea to leave root beer bottles at his door with a card saying something to the effect of “don’t party too hard"…and leave a scripture or quote or something. I think it will be funny, and I think he’ll take it well. Maybe we’ll get to joke around and gain his trust or something. Well I love you all dearly. Have a wonderful week!

The First Week of Transfers is Over and Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

As you know, we had transfers this week. I think I hate transfers and the changes that come with it. I guess the mission is designed to get you used to changes, and losing companions. But I really do feel blessed to have been able to stay in Bloomfield. In the first week alone, I feel like I have grown a lot. Since I know the area, I have had to make a lot of the decisions as to where to go and who to see. I've gotten to step out of "Greenie" shoes and lead.

We had a game night this week for less actives and investigators so they could get to know other young families in the ward. I think it went pretty well, if I do say so myself. Yeah, there was a little awkwardness at the beginning, but by the end, everyone was laughing! Hopefully, we'll be able to do these somewhat frequently.

I also made a huge batch of Mom's famous chocolate chip cookies for transfers. I brought about half the batch to the stake house for the missionaries to eat while we waited for everyone to arrive, pair up, and transfer to their new areas. I should have known that with so many 19 year old boys, they would go pretty fast! (I saved the rest of them for breakfast, and for the party.) Although, they didn’t' turn out as well as Mom's, I always forget to add more flour since the altitude out west is so different from back home.

I say this a lot, but I am so grateful for the time built into the missionary schedule for scripture study. Occasionally, something happens, and I will miss out on scripture study. I never knew what a HUGE difference reading the scriptures can have on your day! Scripture study really does give your day a huge sense of stability, assurance and peace! The difference is becoming almost black and white to me. I was reading out of, Preach My Gospel, this morning and one of the activities was to read sections from Moroni and Mormon. This message means a lot more than we sometimes remember. The restoration is magnificent, and it is often easy to become casual in our testimony of it. But when you really internalize the restoration, the message is magnificent! It happens in our day! Heavenly Father won't stop speaking to his children. The Book of Mormon prophets plead with us to believe their words. I feel a bit like Mormon sometimes. It is so frustrating when the people we visit with just don't get it! As Mormon says, if there are weaknesses, they are the weaknesses of man (aka two 21 year old girls). Moroni takes every opportunity he has just to write a little bit more. It's the 11th hour! (D&C 33:3) If anyone knows what lonely is, it is Moroni. . . yet he persevered in sharing the one message that has such eternal importance. I love D&C 14:8. What a blessing to bear record of things that you will "see and hear." There are HUGE opportunities and blessings in store for missionaries. I don't want to become like a turkey that learns how to fly. . . but then walks home. I think I'm realizing that complacency is one of my greatest fears.

I can't believe I'm coming up on my 4 month mark soon! I feel like I just got out of the MTC. And June is only a month away . . . and guess what!?! I will probably be coming home in June 2010 (since that is when President Anderson goes home, and that is my early transfer date, and I hear that sometimes they make sisters go home on the early transfer if the next transfer would put them a month beyond the expiration date on the ministerial certificate.) Anyway, that’s a long way of saying, that in June I'll only have a year left. Crazy right? Ok well, I love you, and will try to get a whole bunch of letters done today!

Ropin' Missionaries

2009-05-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

It’s transfer time again! And I’m staying in Bloomfield 2nd Ward for another transfer! But Sister Crossley is leaving for Cortez, Colorado, and Sister Weatherston will be my new companion. I didn’t anticipate staying at all! So I’m kind of a mess. Sister Crossley had me convinced that she would be staying and I would be leaving. I feel a little stressed out. Even though I’m not the senior companion this next transfer, I feel “in charge” of all the investigators, less actives, and potentials (since Sister Weatherston won’t know what has been happening in the area). I feel hugely inadequate. All our investigators and the entire ward just adored Sister Crossley. (I compare this to the Chantilly Ward back home, imagine how Elder Swensen’s companion would feel if he were transferred). I will miss her a TON, and I KNOW our investigators will too. I just hope they still let me come! I also worry that my “greenie” stereotype within the ward will be difficult to overcome. I was kind of a wreck last night, but one of the ward missionaries called both Sister Crossley and I at about 10 pm last night. She told me that I have her confidence and that Heavenly Father and President Anderson wouldn’t have left me in this area if they didn’t know I could do it and am up to the challenge of taking charge a little bit. She basically just told me that I was a good missionary, which I really needed to hear right then. This transfer will be a huge opportunity for growth, I’m sure. I have a LOT of anticipation for this transfer, and don’t really know what to expect.

In other news, today was an excellent Preparation Day! One of the families in our ward has a huge ranch and they let Sister Crossley and I come up and learn how to rope! It was so much fun! They even let us keep the ropes so that we could keep practicing! They have their own rodeo arena as part of their ranch, and it was so much fun to see all the horses and steers. Then, we got back into our “city girl” roots and went shopping. I needed some more summer clothes, so we made a trip into town.

I think the ultimate highlight of the week was the baptismal date from last week. As I mentioned, we have a new emphasis on committing people to baptism. One of our investigators was SO excited to get baptized, but we hadn’t had the chance to tell them about the fact that the investigator needed to be married first. I was terrified of bringing up this requirement, because I didn’t know how our investigator would handle it and I also wasn’t sure whether or not they had already told a lot of family. But we went over there on Monday night to briefly go over the baptismal requirements. I had been praying all day to have the Spirit with us so that I could explain this topic with love. We had also prayed that our investigator would be prepared to hear about the marriage requirement, and would be aware of it. Well we were HUGELY blessed. Not only was the investigator still excited to get baptized, but they had already been thinking about marriage and was wondering when we would bring it up! I sensed that they were actually relieved that we brought it up! I’m not surprised that I was so scared to extend the invitation. The adversary does NOT want Heavenly Father’s children to get baptized, but he also knows how important family relationships are to our eternal progression as well! We stepped forward with faith…into the dark. We followed our mission leaders’ advice, not knowing beforehand how it would go, and everything turned out just perfectly! I’m so excited! That was definitely one of the highlights from my mission experience so far!

We also met with a less active this week who decided that they want the missionary discussions again!!! They even invited a friend to listen in as well! That was above and beyond what we were asking!

One funny thing that happened this week: We were teaching one of our investigators about the importance of scripture study. We pointed out that in Alma 31, Alma talks about how the word of God is more powerful than fortifications, or armies or ANYTHING and how he gave up the judgment seat to preach it. After the lesson, we tried to commit the investigator to read their scriptures each day this week. THIS was the response we got:
“Well, it was kind of like this TV show about midgets that my granddaughter and I were watching. I said that I HATE little people. And my granddaughter didn’t think that was nice of me. That is a very interesting show all about midgets.”
WE really didn’t know how to transition back onto a gospel topic with that one. So we just didn’t even try.“Yeah, scripture reading is really important. We’ll see you next week!”

Love you all! Hope all is going well for you. I don’t have much time to write letters this week, sorry. But I love you and appreciate your support. Hope all is going well for you!

PS We also had the neatest baptism. We found the woman, but the Spanish elders taught her. The baptism was all in Spanish, but the Spirit was so incredibly strong! I loved hearing "JesuChristo" -- that was about the only word that I recognized!! The woman got baptised even though her husband didn't agree with it. She basically just told him, "This is between me and the Lord, and you don't need to worry about it." She comes to our ward even though Relief Society is all in Englsih. It is so sweet to see the returned missionary spanish speaking sisters translate for her. It sounds like her husband might finally be interested! Yay!

We also tracted into some Spanish people this week. One of us (I'm not telling who!) went up to the women and gave them a pass along card, smiled, gave them a thumbs up and just said "Jesu Christo...moy bien!" So funny! They just laughed at us :) I think there were more funny things that happened but I can't remember tham all! Yikes.

Mandolins and Violins

2009-05-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This week was exciting. We tracted into a Spanish woman last transfer who decided to take the missionary lessons with the Spanish Elders. After only 6 weeks of study, she’s decided to get baptized! Yay! We also set a baptismal date with one of our own investigators this week. It’s pretty exciting!

Yesterday, we were leaving a sticky note for one of our investigators, when we heard someone playing bluegrass music on the other side of the street. We looked over and saw an older man sitting outside his house playing, so we went up to him and found out that he was playing a mandolin. It was so fun to listen to! He asked us if we play any instruments. When he found out I played the violin, he explained that the mandolin is just like the fiddle, as far as fingerings go. Then he got out his fiddles and asked me to play with him! It was incredibly fun! He started on the mandolin when he was 8, but then picked up the violin in his 30s. Due to his bluegrass training, it was really hard to follow him, he used a lot of embellishment that made it difficult to keep time. I explained that I learned classical violin, and therefore, couldn't fiddle very well. It would be so fun to learn how to do that better after the mission! Anyway, the guy plays bluegrass with one of the brothers in our ward. They go up to the bluegrass festival in Durango every year and perform together. They were just up there on Friday as a matter of fact!

We had interviews with President Anderson this week. After the representative from Church headquarters came in last week, there has been an increased focus on letting people know “Our Purpose” right up front. “Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.” Well, they asked us to invite people to pray about our message and consider being baptized on the very first lesson! We’re excited about this, but it will be interesting so see how everything works out, since when you do this, people don’t know exactly what all the commandments are that they will be asked to keep. I guess that’s where faith comes into play. If they receive an answer that they need to be baptized, then it will make it a little easier to keep those commandments. It is a little scary to teach those difficult commandments though, after someone already has a baptism date.

In interesting news, we met a woman who is an energy worker. She has intuitive powers, and said that she saw two little cherubs floating around Sister Crossley. They are twins, and are looking for a good mother…and she also said that they want to come soon. So that made us laugh a little bit . Soon eh?

We taught one of our investigators about the Joseph Smith story this week. I’ve never heard someone explain how they felt the Holy Ghost in a cuter way. “It’s like I have goose bumps…except, I can’t see them! They are on the inside!” Me too! I felt. I love having a reconfirmation of the truth nearly every time I teach.

I was reading about the Spirit World today, and there was a quote about how there is a thousand times more work to do there than there is to do here. I loved thinking about that. Sometimes I get frustrated teaching people who aren’t progressing. But it made me realize, that whatever they learn here, in this life (which IS the time to prepare to meet God) will only help them progress faster in the next life when missionaries on that side continue the teaching record there.

Well, that’s pretty much it. Thanks for your love and support! Ay Yo Nen Shney = I Love You!

Happy Belated Easter

2009-04-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for all your letters. All the missionaries in my area make fun of me for getting more mail than anyone. I do get a lot more mail than other people. I thought it would wear off by the time I got out of the MTC and the novelty of writing a new missionary was gone...but the stream has been pretty consistent. Which I LOVE. I'll take the teasing....cause I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks y’all!

This week flew by really fast! But I don't feel like I have very many stories to share! Anyway, the weather here is crazy! There are so many dust storms. We came in from tracting one day and I had sand in my ears, teeth, hair and clothes.

Some of the families here bought baby chicks for Easter, and it was so fun to play with them. They dyed them Easter colors...which was kind of interesting! On Easter morning, we read from Jesus the Christ for our study. I love the passages about Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene. I just wish there was more time to study in the morning. I would have never thought that I would think an hour of study wouldn't be enough! For Easter, we took cookies and copies of, "The Living Christ," to as many of our investigators as we could. I LOVE, "The Living Christ". I didn't appreciate it very much before...but it is profound, testifies of the reality that He is very much involved in this dispensation. Mom, you're so right. Holidays are very different on a mission. But I feel very strongly that Easter is the most sacred holiday, and it is a privilege to be a full time messenger for Christ's church at this time of year.

On Saturday, we sang at the nursing home again, but we made the Elders in our district come with us...so I wouldn’t have to be a soloist again. One of the residents came up and belted along with us. One of the Elders (who was in my MTC district, but who shall remain nameless) started giggling at this, which ended up being really bad because his laugh is infectious. I started laughing as well. Good thing I was sitting at the piano with Sister Crossley, and so people couldn't really see my face. Oh brother. Good times at the nursing home.

Today, the Elders are ganging up on me and are going to make me play soccer. For the past few weeks, I’ve been sitting out of the sports games. I guess I’ll just grin and bear it. Four of us are also going to practice a song to sing as a musical number for a Zone Conference. In high school I was really into music, but everyone at BYU was better, so I no longer considered myself a “musical” person…so it is weird to be put into that stereotype again. But it’s also kind of fun. It’s not very often that the male voices out number the girls, so it’s nice to be needed..haha.

I love you all very much. I'm grateful for your support. Have a wonderful week! As the Navajos say, (phonetically spelled as always ;) “Tlot Diyin nichk ha lone ah”…. or “God be With You!”

General Conference as a Missionary

2009-04-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

General Conference was wonderful, but that goes without saying. We had Zone Conference last Tuesday, and President Anderson urged us to cherish our General Conferences as missionaries, because it is the only time in our lives that we are working along side the general authorities in full time callings, as witnesses of Christ. Zone Conference was absolutely wonderful. It was interesting to hear many of the same things President Anderson talked to us about appear in General Conference as well. Specifically, he told us, as Quentin Cook did, to not dwell too long on the commonalities between others of a Christian faith. Because of the restoration, we can come to know deity in a way other denominations cannot. The restoration of the gospel took place in our day, that's why we are called Latter-day Saints.

Apparently, in Priesthood Session there was a story about missionaries finding a lady that had been "lost" or "dropped" by other missionaries. That message fit right in along side our Zone Conference, in which we focused a lot on using area books as Liahona's to find individuals who may not have been ready for the gospel then, but who are prepared now. But the REALLY exciting thing about General Conference was that a good number of people who we invited to come to General Conference came! Some of the people thought it was too long...and booked it out of the chapel as soon as conference was over, or in one case, right in the middle of a session. But the person we thought was LEAST likely to show up...came, and thoroughly enjoyed it....and even took copious notes!

I may have mentioned a few weeks ago that we tracted into a Baptist preacher. Well, we went back to see him last week and invited him to General Conference. He said something to the effect of, "You are some of the only Mormons who I can really feel and tell have truly let Christ into your lives. I can always learn more from people who study about Christ. So, it will be a pleasure to hear Thomas S. Monson." It was so exciting to see him there! He told us that one of his Mormon friends had given him a Book of Mormon recently. How interesting it was to find out that a member felt prompted to talk to him about the Church around the same time we were visiting with him! We've come to find out that there are several members in Bloomfield who know him. That made me think how easy it is to justify not sharing the gospel with someone because they are very strong in their own faith, or in the case of the preacher, PREACH a different faith. It just goes to show that we cannot judge who is ready. It will be interesting to see what happens with this man. He may be interested out of a mere intellectual curiosity, but maybe that will bud into something more.

The preacher reminds me of a cross between an old cowboy, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Whenever we visit with him, his wife is always there and he always refers to her as "Mama". It's super endearing. He made Mama teach us how to wink, last time we saw her. He also offered to give us one of his paint horses. Crazy right? Can you imagine us riding a horse as missionaries? Anyway, I wonder what will happen here. He may brush us off and dismiss our message. He may learn out of intellectual curiosity, or maybe, he could be the next Sidney Rigdon, who urges his congregation to study the Book of Mormon as well. One point of clarification, we don't know if he is a preacher that ministers on Sundays or if he just runs Bible camps. He talks a lot about "his preacher boys" who are training to become ministers. He also teaches Navajos how to read the Bible. So to be perfectly honest, his exact line of work as far as the ministry goes, is somewhat ambiguous.

I love you all. Have a great day!

Public Relations Campaign in Bloomfield

2009-03-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Brr. It snowed last night, and since we have zone conference tomorrow, we had to wash our car. One of the members here lets us use their hose every Monday. One of the Spanish Elders in our area is sick, so we offered to help them wash their truck as well. It was pretty fun. We made a mini snowman! Also, Sister Crossley had a brilliant idea for a "public relations campaign" that we could do right here in Bloomfield! We made up flyers to advertise General Conference. One of the ward missionaries let us come over and design the flyer on her computer. We gave them to the members to hand out yesterday, and we have also been using them in our tracting. After all, Thomas S. Monson was called as a prophet to speak to the world, not just our church. We are hoping to post our flyers in the Farmers' Market and the Triangle Cafe, and maybe some gas stations around town. We had to get approval from the stake president, and he was really excited about the idea, so that was good.

What else happened this week? Last week for P-Day we played a massive game of dodge ball with all the missionaries. The Elders set up tables and chair racks as barricades. It was super funny. We had to use tennis balls, basketballs, and volleyballs because we didn't have very many soft, bouncy ones. Sister Crossley video recorded it, I'll have to start doing video recordings as well.

We also had dinner with some of the Navajo families in the ward this week, and I got to try Navajo Tea! I learned about one more ceremony this week as well. I talked about the "Coming of Age" ceremony a few weeks ago. But now I know about the "Laughing Party" as well! Apparently, whenever a baby is born, the first person who can make the baby laugh has to throw the child a party. They must provide gifts for the child to give out so that it won't become selfish. I wish I could remember and had time to go into more detail. It really is a fun tradition. It reminds me a lot of Mary Poppins' laughing scene.

MOM! I almost forgot. I wrote my mission office last Monday to ask if I could order you a mission name tag in Mandarin Chinese. (My mom took her name tag to a Primary activity about missions/missionaries and couldn't find it afterwards.) My mission office said they were excited to do it for me, (I explained the situation, and was going to do it as a surprise.) But they called the MTC, who directed them to the Salt Lake City Mission Department, who said that they were not allowed to do that. But the Sister in my mission office said that if you were to call Salt Lake City yourself, you would probably have more luck. She asked if you still spoke Chinese, and I told her about how you were going back to school to learn more. She said that "we are going to need all the Chinese speakers we can get pretty soon." It made me so excited. The way she said it made me wonder whether or not she knew something I didn't know. I realize that I'm speculating a TON....and that nothing will probably happen....but President Monson asked the Church to pray for new areas to be opened to missionary work. Last Conference he talked about how he meets with leaders of other countries. How cool would it be if they announced that China was opening? I know, it's TOTALLY unlikely right now...but exciting to think about. I'm sure there will be a flood of people begging to go there when it is opened. We talked with a family who is very familiar with the Church. The mom was wearing a Chinese T-Shirt and told us that their two little girls were adopted from China. It made me think of you.

One of our investigators came to church yesterday! We were so excited! We also had a senior missionary couple talk about the, Strengthening Family Program and the, Addiction Recovery program. There is a verse in 2 Nephi that talks about never giving up on people, because you NEVER know when they will come back into the church. I'll have to look up the reference. It is good for those days when you think people will never change, and that talking to less actives and people who aren't interested is useless.

We met a lady this week who started her own church. It was kind of a tense discussion, but she showed us her "singing dog". She sang, "You are My Sunshine", and the dog would sing along. Except it sounded more like the dog was CRAZY and wanted to bite this woman's head off for trying to make it sing.

We LOVE reading the Book of Mormon with our investigators. It just calms the situation down and brings the spirit. We were in a Bible bashing situation with a family who believes that all churches that worship on Sunday are wrong and that Saturday is what the Bible tells us to do. But after we read the Book of Mormon with them, they calmed down, and said they liked it.

Okay, I know my email this week was really random. My email is WAY more disorganized than usual...but I feel a little rushed today because we're trying to make it to Farmington in time for a Luncheon. Anyway, I love you! Have a good week!

Squirrel Meat and Marriage Proposals

2009-03-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

I think all of you know my history with squirrels. I hate them. When I was working in Washington D.C. two summers ago, two of them jumped on my back. They would also sprawl out by my park bench and wag their tails, anticipating me to feed them...which for the record, I refused to do. Well, this week one of my favorite families in the ward tried to get me to eat squirrel. I knew that they would never let me live it down if I refused to eat it, and I knew it would make a good story. So I leaped right into the experience and choked it down. My eyes started watering, and I could feel myself start to gag. I didn't want to throw up right in their kitchen, so I made myself swallow the bite before I could fully chew it. I just kept picturing this gristly meat and a furry tail going down my throat. The wife was worried about me, I looked so sick. Well, her husband had finally gotten a big enough reaction out of me that he felt it was okay to tell me the truth. It was only hamburger meat put in a small dish. My gullibility has been very entertaining to them lately. I should just learn to never believe anything anyone tells me!

I also got my first marriage proposal of the week. We were contacting former investigators...there are a TON to go through. We were trying to get out of one particular home because one of the individuals had been drinking and we needed to move on. As we walked out to the gate, the guy followed us out and asked Sister Crossley and I if we were married. I just looked at her like a deer in the headlights. "How are we going to get out of this one?" I thought. Sister Crossley smiled, and said. "Someday." He replied by saying, "Well, you know...I'm available." It was one of those situations we just had to laugh off. This experience has kind of been the theme of the week.

I wish I had more stories for you...but not much happened. We did meet one girl about our age who is super interested in the church. I'm SO excited to get to know her better. I just love her already. One of our investigators gave us a Navajo stuff, so exciting! Sister Crossley is keeping the Navajo religion booklet, and I'm keeping the Navajo Bible I think. But it is big, so I might need to mail it home.

I think this transfer period will be exciting. We picked up three new investigators on Saturday, and a lot of the people we were working with last transfer period seem to be ready to move forward soon. I feel like lots of good things are about to happen. I am excited for this area and love being here.

I love all the mail I've been getting from friends, family and ward members. I usually try to reply within two weeks. Well, that's about it. I love you all. I love this time in my life, being a missionary is wonderful.

"Don't Get Discouraged. Noah Preached the Gospel for Hundreds of Years - then the Lord Drowned All His Investigators."

2009-03-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

This week started out hard because almost all of the appointments we scheduled for the week cancelled. But I think this may have actually been a blessing. We had to tract a LOT this week. But I think we saw answers to our prayers. I've been praying earnestly to have the Lord help us find those who are prepared to hear the gospel...those people who are truly searching for the truth. And because we had to spend so much time tracting, we found some AWESOME new investigators. One person we tracted into had been taking the missionary lessons in another state, and when we met him, he said that they had even been talking about getting baptised. He moved to Bloomfield two weeks ago, and we are so excited to start working with him. Then we met a guy who said his best friend is Mormon, and he and his wife would like to learn more. Then we met another lady who is elect, and prepared! Sister Crossley and I just came out of her home BEAMING! She was expressing concerns she has about her life and about her family and about God, and as she spilled her heart to us, sections of "Preach My Gospel" just flashed through my mind that would answer so many of the things she is feeling. "Preach My Gospel" is wonderful that way! Each sentence is crafted perfectly. It really was written with help from beyond the veil! We can't wait to show her that Joseph Smith was just as confused as she was, and that our life on earth is full of hard things. That's kind of the point of life, but our Heavenly Father really does have a plan for our happiness! She started praying recently, and now believes that there is a God. She shared an experience about how one of her prayers was answered. Some of her friends and family are Mormon. One of her friends told her about "that Church on Blanco Road" and how she should go to that one, and as a youth she used to spend a lot of time outside the temple. We can't wait to show her that the Church can be a family to her. So needless to say, we're excited about some of the people we're meeting. I'm SO THRILLED to be staying in Bloomfield for another transfer. I can't wait to see what happens.

I mentioned last week that we have been volunteering at a nursing home. Well, on Tuesday, I had to sing for them while Sister Crossley played the piano (she'd try to sing and play as much as she could ). They even announced it over the loud speaker! I haven't sung in public for so long! But it was fun, and most of the people just slept through it anyway.

One day this week, we ran into a Baptist preacher who sat us down and gave us a lesson. But he was super nice, and he said he had read our literature. Then a couple hours later, we saw a Seventh Day Adventist whose dream is to have us (the Mormon missionaries), and his Jehovah Witness Missionaries show up on the same day, and have a sparring match. Oh boy! Can you just imagine!? That would be way too heated.

My perspective on my mission has changed a lot in just one transfer period. I came out here because I wanted to serve more..with all my heart. I didn't really expect blessings. I just wanted to learn how to serve. But I'm learning that this opportunity, itself is a blessing. To be able to be a part of Heavenly Father's work is such a blessing. He is letting us take part in what he does, to practice, and learn to see as He does. Ever since I started, I've felt glad that I made this choice and I've been happy to be on my mission. But at the same time, I've wanted the time to go by fast. I keep looking towards the end and thinking about what lies in store for my life. I guess that's just like me though. I am always looking one step ahead. I need to learn to enjoy every moment, because even when it seems long, the time will really fly by and my mission can never come back again. What other time can I feel the strength of the whole world praying for me? I guess that's life though...always enjoy the stage of life that you're in.

While studying Preach My Gospel, I read about the power of just reading the Book of Mormon with investigators. So we decided to try this tactic of reading together with one person who hasn't been progressing for years. As we read, there was just a peacefulness and Spirit in her home that I hadn't felt there before...kids were usually going crazy, but this time was different. It reconfirmed to me how powerful the Book of Mormon is! She is also taking Bible studies with the Jehovah Witnesses. It was cool to see this lady make connections between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. She was studying in the Bible about the destruction of Jerusalem, and thought it was interesting to see Lehi and his family escaping the destruction of that city.

I often think about how much work has to happen before the Savior can return. I used to think the Second Coming would be near, but when I see how much has to happen first, it seems a long ways away. But when Heavenly Father wants something to happen, he can speed up the work tremendously. Just look how fast temples went up in 1999-2000. Also, a lady in our ward said that she and her husband calculated (years ago) the time it would take to teach the gospel to the whole earth. If each LDS family could teach just one other family the gospel every year, the whole earth could be taught in just seven years. That is an amazing statistic. My mission is also making the apostasy after each dispensation seem so real. I look at how many people reject the prophets and scriptures today, and then I imagine Noah or Moses or Christ living among us today...and the rejection seems so real. Oftentimes, we look at people who rejected the prophets in olden times as just "stories" or as being overly wicked. But I am beginning to see how easy it is for people to reject prophets who live among them. Joseph Smith brought forth the Book of Mormon and people said there could be nothing added to the bible...but Christ did the same thing. He brought forth new teachings, and the Pharisees said you can't add anything to the Law of Moses. In the MTC my companion talked about the other records which must come forth after the Book of Mormon, and how people will have to accept those books as the Word of God as well. I thought that idea was interesting. Also, I read page 199 in, "Preach My Gospel" in district meeting this week. I often don't feel "mighty in speech" and wish I could just write to people how I feel. I loved what that section had to say about Brigham Young's experience with the missionaries and how sincerity of speech is more important than eloquence. Even Moses wasn't strong of speech. But the Spirit is what magnifies what we say.

I looked back on my life this week, and really appreciated how the Lord has guided me so perfectly. I truly have been so very blessed in each stage of my life.

I love you!

Baby Puppies

2009-03-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I love being able to write you! Something fun happened this week! We were visiting a less active woman in the ward, and one of her dogs had six little puppies recently. I have never seen such young puppies before, and we got to play with them all throughout our visit!!! As missionaries, we can't hold babies, but we CAN hold baby animals! Anyway, one of her bigger dogs took a liking to us, and remembered who we were when we came back into the neighborhood to visit some referrals later in the week. He went tracting with us! He'd run up to the car and then follow us to each doorstep. We'd try to shut the gates so that he couldn't follow us...but he would JUMP over the fence like a deer!!! It was cool to have such a friendly dog follow us around for part of the day.

Oh! We extended our first baptismal commitment this week. Sister Crossley wanted me to be the one to ask the guy to be baptised on May 2, but I warned her that I would probably get nervous, and be too scared to do it. The lesson went well. I was able to teach fine for the most part. But sure enough, after teaching about baptism and why it's so important...I just looked at my companion and made her extend the baptismal commitment. I don't know why I got so scared! Anyway, it was exciting. He couldn't commit to May 2, but knows he needs to be baptized, and he thinks that that time frame would probably give him enough time to prepare. I think I could probably extend the commitment next time we do it though, because if you think about it...it's just inviting people to come unto Christ....and it's a huge part of fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. We pray for these investigators so much, that it's important to give strong commitments.

Sister Crossley's Birthday was on Saturday. Some members from Farmington drove down and kidnapped us at 6:30 in the morning to take her out to breakfast. My companion asked if I knew anything about their plans. I told her "Sister Crossley, if I knew anything about this, you can bet your life I would have gone to bed with make-up on and my hair done." But it was fun. Later that night, we went out for Chinese food with some missionaries from our distinct since none of us had dinner appointments. One of the Elders we saw was with me in the MTC, (one of those silly ones I wrote about). It was so fun just to laugh that hard again.

I love the letters you've been sending. I often quote them in lessons...especially what Dad wrote me about President Calderwood's talk to the women of the stake who don't feel worthy to go to the temple. One of our investigators/less actives doesn't think God loves her because she's not good enough to get to the Celestial Kingdom. That letter had a lot of things that could pertain to her.

We volunteer at a nursing home here. On Friday, they called us saying that one of our sisters was dying and to please come over. We called the elders to come with us to give her a blessing. (All of the leadership from our ward was down in Albuquerque for a stake temple trip.) I've never seen anyone so near death. But we went back on Saturday and she seems to be doing a little better. Her roommate is also LDS and she told us when we first met that it's hard being there because there are only two of the residents there who can actually hold a conversation with her. "Everyone has lost their mind!" she said. It reminds me of the silly people we saw when we visited Grandpa Waters. "Hey! Do you want to see an asthma attack? It's cool if you've never seen one!"

It's weird not being able to see the news. The economy seems to be getting worse and worse. It's scary! How is everything back home? It seems like every day we meet someone who got laid off that morning. People hear about the LDS cannery, and ask us if they can go. It just goes to show how important food storage is, and how inspired the prophets really are. Their role of preparing the people for danger is so much like Noah of old.

Lots of our appointments cancelled this week, so there isn't much news there. This email is probably pretty devoid of anything super uplifting, or entertaining. I contemplated just sending a one-liner this week saying: "The work is progressing, but nothing exciting to report. I'm doing fine.." ...But you all know that I can't resist writing letters, given the opportunity. I still have about 20 minutes, but can't think of anything else that is interesting. I love you all, and think of you often. Let me know if there's anything you need to know.

Stories from this Week

2009-03-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

OK, there are lots of tiny stories from this week, so I'll just start writing and see how many I can get to. Our ward's Relief Society President is wonderful! Her husband is a non-member, so we spend time over there occasionally. He trains race horses, and we are hoping he'll let us come over and take care of them one weekend. Since he's a non-member, years ago, missionaries would get approval from the president to go with him to the horse races. Apparently some of the missionaries put money down on the horses, and were in quite a predicament when they actually won and had to get their picture taken with the horses! It was a funny story.

We were looking at the phonebook this week. There is a section all about visitor/historical sites in our area, and we were trying to get ideas for things to do on P-day. Shiprock is an Indian reservation nearby, and it is famous for its mountain formation. This is what the phonebook had to say about the area: "There are numerous Navajo legends about 'the rock they call Tse Bit'a'i' or "winged rock." One is that it was a phantom ship that once bore the Navajo people away from the North and warring neighbors, saving them from annihilation. "WOW! Now... which story makes more sense given this legend? The "land bridge theory" that we are taught in school or the fact that Nephi and the Jaredites both used ships to get to the American continent? Pretty interesting. I just LOVE learning about Navajo traditions. Speaking of, we met with one of our Navajo investigators this week, and she told us all about the different plants, herbs and remedies that her people use to cure sickness. They really know how to live off the land. She HATES coffee and thinks the earth should be used sparingly. It's amazing how her native ways lend themselves into the Word of Wisdom pretty well. Thank goodness she doesn't use Payote, or alcohol.

Here are 2 Navajo words for you today. I have to spell them phonetically though.

Gomony means "Mormon"and
Yatehey is "hello".

We have dinner with a particular family in the ward at least once a week. The dad likes to pick on me since I was so quiet at first, but now I know that I will be the one giving opening AND closing prayer AND the member missionary lesson. It's tradition now I guess, and it's kind of funny. He loves to make salsa with HOT chiles. So at dinner this week he made the hottest salsa he could, and tried to feed it to us. Neither my companion or the Spanish elders who were also at dinner would dare try it. But since I'm still trying to prove myself to the family, that I'm not as quiet as I was at first, I willingly dove right into the salsa and took a HUGE portion. It was really hot, but I played it off like it didn't even bother me. I guess it was super amusing when I started coughing and sweating a few minutes later. But I still maintain, that it WAS really good. I actually would eat it again.

We had mission president interviews this week. I didn't really know what to expect, but it went well! I just love President Anderson and his wife. His advice on tracting has really helped. Always try to leave something at each door with the missionaries telephone number so that even after we leave the homes that seem kind of "anti", the Holy Ghost can convince people to call us back. I love seeing how my public relations training can help me even in tracting. As my professors would say, always make your message appeal to people's rational self interest. It also helps to remember who I represent, and realize that I am the spokes mouth through which our brothers and sisters can hear the message.

Tracting is getting less intimidating! We also met with lots of elderly people this week. One of them reminded me a lot of Grandma Waters, because she LOVES to make homemade candy. She had such a positive outlook on life. There are at least two returned senior missionary couples in our ward who are so fun to eat with, because they can relate to our schedule so well. There are also several women in the ward who are returned missionaries themselves. Now that I'm on my mission, I can see how well missionary service prepares you to not only be a good leader in the church, but also to be an excellent mother. Looking back on my childhood, I can see things that Mom had us do as kids as far as fellowshipping, that I think may be a direct result from her mission experience. I am so grateful for that upbringing and example.

Jeffery R. Holland gave an AMAZING talk on the Atonement at the MTC back in 2000. Most missionaries are probably familiar with it, "Teach the Atonement." Well, we were impressed to use that talk as the inspiration for one of our lessons this week. Originally, we had planned to go over the 1st lesson again, but I'm so glad we followed the impression to teach about the Atonement and it's enabling power to get through life. Like Dad used to say, "We don't know everything about the atonement and how it works...we just know that it DOES!" and it's powerful. The man we taught is trying to quit smoking by March 17, and at the end of the lesson he said that it was especially what they needed that day. I was glad that I was able to look them in the eye and say. "This wasn't our message for you today...it was your Heavenly Father's." When an apostle of the Lord commands you to teach the atonement, it is powerful. As D&C directs, whether a message comes from the Lord Himself or by one of his servants, it mattereth not.

We are starting to get paperwork for our booth at Bloomfield Days. The lady at the chamber of commerce even invited us to be in the Bloomfield Days Parade. Missionaries? in the Parade? Only in New Mexico. We'll see what happens with that one.

Oh! We were going to teach a German lady. I got SOOO excited. We even had a German version of the Liahona to give her, and I loved trying to remember all the German I learned in High School. But unfortunately, we found out that she isn't in our area.

We have run into lots of Jehovah Witnesses lately. Some of our investigators study with both sets of missionaries...which can be 'interesting' as you can imagine. But we tracted into one Jehovah Witness family the other day, and the daughter let us come out into her barn and showed us her ponies and the tricks they do. So cool! I love America, because of the freedom of religion, how we can share experiences and the truths that we share with other faiths.

Well, those are the highlights from this week. Missionary work is becoming more and more comfortable. It's getting warm here, and I love it! I hope all is well back at home.

XOXO Sister Waters

Missionary Life

2009-03-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

Hello. This week wasn't too exciting, but I"ll see if I can portray the highlights as if they were. One thing I am appreciating is that even though some days seem unbearably long, there is always at least one person that I meet that makes the day feel successful.

We taught a family this week that is moving out of our area, which is sad, because we think they are close to being baptised. The mother's father was on the Navajo Placement Program, so she is familiar with the church. We taught her the first lesson, and it was thrilling to watch her eyes light up when we talked about modern day prophets. She was thrilled and wanted to know all about Thomas S. Monson. I wish we would have had time to show her the Special Witnesses of Christ DVD. At the end of the lesson, she said that what we taught felt familiar to the last time she met with the missionaries, and she was starting to remember the things they had taught her before. Hopefully, she will realize that this is the Holy Ghost.

We also met a less active family this week right as they were feeding their cows. They have horses and goats and cows and even a peacock. Sister Crossley and I were so excited. Hopefully, we'll get to go back and work on their farm. When we reported our experience in Ward Council, everyone just laughed at our enthusiasm for feeding cows. We really are city folk, I guess.

My District Leader found out that he is three days older than me, and that we both graduated in '06. I think that wigged him out. He goes home next transfer, and he told me that he is just so used to having the sister missionaries be so much older than him.

We also visited a lady in the ward who has four cats. I don't know what it is about New Mexico, but everyone has tons of animals! She is an older woman who is just barely getting back into activity. She's very lonely. The first time I went to her house, there was cat hair everywhere!!! My allergies went crazy. When we went back, I prayed that my allergies would not bother me long enough to visit with her. It was a mini miracle. My nose didn't run and my eyes didn't itch very badly at all! I practically didn't notice. I think its hilarious that missionaries know the inactive people in wards, but don't know who the active members are very well.

Life before the mission seems so incredibly far away. I keep thinking back to what I was doing this time last year, and it is weird. Sometimes I wish I knew what everyone was up to...what my friends are doing, how civilian life is, or even what is happening in the news, but I can also see the benefits of leaving behind the "fishing net" to follow Him. When I have questions or worries, and can't talk to the people I feel most comfortable with, I learn to rely on my Heavenly Father more.

It is humbling to see people in such poor circumstances feeding the missionaries dinner every night. I guess the mission is about learning to serve, and learning how to allow others to serve you. Even the Savior accepted service, and let the woman wash his feet. But honestly, I don't like accepting so much help. Our dryer broke recently, and one of the members gave up a Saturday to fix it. So many people are willing to help! I have to remember what a privilege it is to be a missionary. We memorize the quote "no unhallowed can stop this work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calamity may defame, but the work of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, until it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, sounded in every ear. Till the work of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say, 'the work is done'."--(I probably messed that up, but it's close enough) and it's true. Heavenly Father could send angels to do this work. He could teach others himself. But he allows us to be involved in the teaching of his children. He allows, us, imperfect missionaries, to learn how to serve others, to learn how to teach as the Master taught, and to be involved a little bit, in God's plan for his children...to watch them work toward eternal life. I think that is everything worth noting. Undoubtedly, I forgot to mention something. But that's how life goes.

Question: My companion's birthday is coming up. I have no idea what I could even do...we're together 24/7 so surprising her with a cake, or ice cream is impossible. Maybe I just have to do it anyway. I wonder how people normally celebrate birthdays on their mission.

17 More Months to Go

2009-03-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

I didn't get a chance to email yesterday, long story, including car troubles, President's Day, and waiting. But here I am today! Yesterday was Preparation Day. A family in the stake took us to the world's largest taxidermy museum. Needless to say, hunting is super popular out here.

Due to car problems, we spent the night in Farmington, with the sisters up there. Zone conference was today, and it was actually really convenient. Our car was fixed right as the closing prayer was said. Since we were in Farmington with the sisters up there last night, we went to their teaching appointments with them. It was fabulous. We taught the Esklin family about prophets - it was neat to have my testimony reconfirmed. After the lesson, we got to speak with this wonderful Navajo family about upcoming events/ceremonies. I learned about cradle boards. It apparently replicates the womb, and sometimes Navajo parents will carry the baby strapped in the board on their backs. Their two daughters are recently participating in a ceremony which marks the transition from girlhood to womanhood. Their great grandmother is a Navajo medicine woman. The ceremony takes place over 6 days, during which they must run three times a day. They sleep in the medicine woman's hogan one of the nights, and she will sing with them for about 9 hours. The girls must not go to sleep, because it will mess up the medicine woman's song. She blesses every part of their body, from their head to their toes. She will sing about the mountains and the future. They even wear traditional ceremonial clothing. On one of the days, they bake a cornmeal cake with a special bowl that must ALWAYS face East, because that direction is Holy. Any other direction would bring bad spirits, I think. The medicine woman will take cornmeal from each of the four corners of the bowl. When the ceremony is over, the girl carries a bowl full of goodies throughout the crowds. Brother Esklin, their father, who is a recent convert, showed us pictures from this family tradition. It was FASCINATING to see how incredibly similar parts of this ceremony are to some things in the LDS religion. As a human family, it proves there is strength and comfort in these very specific things. Every culture has truth. It makes me wonder how much Christ taught the Ancient Americans when he visited this continent, and what traditions and teachings may have been passed on. On the car ride home, one of the sisters mentioned that she had heard of LDS members feeling incredibly uncomfortable during a Zuni wedding because it was SOOO similar to the LDS temple ceremony. What a beautiful culture.

I love my companion. She always stresses that we are not here to take away what people believe, but to add unto it. Mormon culture is not what we want to impose, but faith in Jesus Christ. I've noticed her approach to this especially when we are teaching Born Again Baptists, but it really goes for Indian traditions as well. Sister Crossley is incredible at turning a negative anti-Mormon atmosphere into showing a common faith in Christ. What a talent.

On Valentine's Day, Sister Crossley and I both received letters from our fathers. It was so neat to talk about our families. We shared part of our letters and had one of the most powerful companionship studies! Dad, thank you for talking about recognizing the Lord's hands in our lives. I have felt so needy for blessings lately, that I have made it a goal to be more observant of the Lord's tender mercies. I have a strong testimony of faith...and as I talked to my companion about EXPECTING blessings (especially when they are already the Lord's will) we had an increased desire to plead with the Lord for the work to progress, for our investigators to feel the same urgency we feel, and to see baptisms. We know that this is the Lord's will, so we just need to EXPECT the blessings now. Many times blessings are predicated on asking for them and using faith. I am reminded of Alma the Elder who prayed for his son to turn around. We can pray on behalf of others...and miracles can happen. Sometimes, I am hesitant to pray for others, because I fear that personal agency will negate what I ask for...but really the Lord can intervene according to the faith of others.

Anyway, Sister Crossley's dad gave her a long scripture challenge ranging from Moses/Abraham, to D&C 84, and others. So as sisters, my companion and I have started studying what her dad suggested for us. It has been fascinating so far.

Thank you so much for the Valentine's cookies and cards. They mean so much to me. I wish I had more time to write you. I finally got all my thank you notes written though....except for the one family who gave me a CD their kids drew me pictures...and never wrote their name on the card. So if you're reading this.. THANK YOU! Since we didn't have a car on Valentine's Day, we made sugar cookies and delivered them to our investigators/less actives.....well....as many of them as we could reasonably walk to anyway. Sometimes people just need to know they are loved before they will listen, I think.

Also, our ward mission leader is AWESOME! He reminds everyone of a cowboy out of some western movie. He gave us valentine's and is so helpful with a million things. I don't have time to explain more, but maybe sometime I can tell you about him. His conversion story is miraculous!

Well, the library is going to close soon, so I better run. But I love you SO MUCH. Sorry I can't write more. Have a wonderful week!

I'm Serving in Bloomfield, New Mexico

2009-02-10T05:46:00.000-08:00

I got to Albuquerque last Monday! We had a meeting with the Mission President and his wife, went tracting, had interviews, and then my companion and I slept at a members house and got up early for transfer meeting the next morning. I LOVE President Anderson. He and his wife feel like grandparents, or older versions of you, Mom and Dad. They are just as sweet as their picture looked! When President Faust called them to be mission presidents, he said that their purpose was to raise strong mothers, fathers, leaders and teachers in the Church. That was their first priority.

The mission has been growing TREMENDOUSLY at each transfer. There were 17 of us in our group, and only 8 missionaries were going home. President Anderson speaks Navajo, so he taught us how to sing, "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes", in that language. Do I remember it though? Nope. There are 19 pueblos in our mission, 2 of which are open to proselyting. President Anderson hopes to get the others open soon. Sisters ARE allowed to serve on the reservations. My MTC companion is on one right now actually. They also used to print name tags for us in Navajo, but that stopped recently. I can see why. There are 3 towns in northern New Mexico that were settled by Mormon Pioneers under the direction of Brigham Young. Kirtland was one, and I don't remember the other 2, but I want to say Farmington and Bloomsfield.

I am in Bloomfield 2nd ward. I love it here, but it is WAY different from home. 7,000 people live here, so it's got a small town feel. It reminds me of Richfield, Utah except we don't even have a McDonalds or a Walmart or a grocery store...besides Farmer's Market. There are a TON of country roads, and a lot of the roads are just dirt. The whole community thrives off of oil drilling...everyone works there. I would guess that over 75% of the community lives in trailers. It's a slower paced life for sure, but that's nice because people just let us in to their homes to shoot the breeze. EVERYONE has dogs, and they are sometimes MEAN. President Anderson said some missionaries buy dog treats to try to befriend them. We drove buy the LDS farm earlier in the week. The stake has it's own FARM! How cool! They use it for ward activities, canning, and they have a few animals.

My trainer is Sister Crossley. I can't imagine having a sweeter, more angelic companion. She is from Pittsburgh, and is super sweet, fun, and can bring the spirit into a room SO FAST. She is incredible at being led by the spirit. She always stops to think, "Does that feel right?" and it's so cool to see us be on the same page. There have been houses that we both decide we should not go up to late at night. It's amazing to see us both have the same impressions. Basically, I just can't say enough good things about her. She is a hard worker and is so loving. She's a gorgeous girl. And guess what her name is? Natalie, and obviously I have very tender feelings associated with that name.

We are double transferring into Bloomfield, because the area was closed before we got there. So we're opening the area again. Which I think is a little stressful, because neither of us know the area...obviously I don't because I'm new. The sisters opened the area again back in November, but had to go home. This means that all the former investigators haven't been taught in about a month and a half. We have a WHOLE BOOK of people to get in contact with. Only 44% of the ward is active, and there is just a lot to do. But investigators are calling us back, which is good. Sister Crossley said that this usually NEVER happens. So at least some people are excited we're back!

The Bloomfield 2nd ward had Stake Conference yesterday. The Stake President said that the ward made an offering at the temple recently that was acceptable to the Lord, and a blessing from that is that hearts in this town are being softened towards the gospel, and therefore it is the Stake's responsibility to DO SOMETHING. The year is going to be focused around missionary work so that is EXCITING! The Stake has a goal to get 60 new converts this year. Both Sister Crossley and I can feel that this area is ready to be HARVESTED, not just sown. I just know that there are people nearby searching for the truth. There is an urgency to find them.

At our First Day Orientation meeting, the car coordinator showed us pictures of a car that had been totaled because a cow ran into it. A COW! Crazy huh? It's just a different life out here. Speaking of cars, the President makes sure sisters are ALWAYS in vehicles. So no biking for me! Ever.

My first night in Bloomfield was interesting. One of the members made us a delicious "Greenie Dinner." They had tons of green balloons. We had stuffed sopa pias, with chicken, and I had my FIRST taste of Green Chile! It was delicious. Oh, and the members dyed ALL the food green. Even the chicken. It was fun to have our whole district there.

We visited with a less active family earlier this week. The 3 little boys asked us as soon as we walked in the door if they could get involved in scouts, and the little 7 year old looked right in my eyes and said, "Can I be baptised?!?!" Hopefully, the little kids can inspire their dad to go back to church. The mom isn't a member, but we're going to try to teach her. We are also working with a Navajo family. The grandpa was raised on the Lamanite Placement Program. I had never heard of this program until I got here, but President Anderson explained that Mormons used to raise Indian children so they could get a good education, so when you meet Native Americans, they often have very positive feelings or at least familiarity with the church. Some were baptised, but went back to their traditional Native American ways. I've also heard that some Navajos have negative feelings about the church due to the placement program.

I placed my first Book of Mormon this week. The lady was excited about it. We asked her to read the introduction, and we'd come back on Wednesday. The family was intimidating to me at first. I was skeptical, but when I saw how interested they became when we told them the history of the Book of Mormon...I remembered the scripture 1 Sam 16....the Lord looketh on the heart and not the outward appearance.

Well, there are A MILLION things I would want to tell you about, but time is short, and we have a dinner appointment to go to. But I love you ALL!

XOXO Love,

Sister Waters

Goodbye MTC

2009-02-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the letters, they mean SO MUCH! I know Caresse usually reads my blog, so thank you for the muffins! They were delicious! But I don't have your school address, so I'm not able to write you back! Thanks everyone for writing. Time is short, but I will try to respond. My Elders tease me for how much mail I get. Can I get a Ward directory? I need to send thank you notes to all the people who gave me such great going away notes...especially, the little Primary girls!

I am loving the MTC. The first week was HARD, as most new experiences are. But I've adjusted very well, and have really felt the prayers of everyone this week. What other time in my life will so many people around the world be praying for me?!? Even the Prophet and Apostles. Kinda cool!

Let's see, this week has been interesting. One of our roommates got the Elders to teach her how to take MTC Matrix pictures. So we took some Sister Missionary pictures...they are awesome! I'll try to send some home.

The thing about being in the MTC is that the spirit is here SO MUCH, that it is very easy to become desensitized, or used to it. I never want to take these experiences for granted or become complacent about them. There is just SO MUCH to learn, that I don't know if I'll ever internalize it all. The MTC is kind of like a time warp. The weeks fly by so FAST! And yet, the days are incredibly long sometimes. And it's also funny to notice that age doesn't mean ANYTHING. Age is calculated by how long you've been in the MTC or set apart as a missionary--not one's actual age. Some Elders seem years older than me, and some 24 year old Sisters seem very young. I never thought I'd see it that way.

Our Branch President was just called as a Mission President, but he can't tell us where they are going yet. Pretty exciting! So many people have asked me what my days are like in the MTC, and you specifically asked about, "Preach My Gospel", so I guess I can touch on that. This week we have been studying the second lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Most of my district is very apprehensive about this, and do not like it as much as Lesson One on the Restoration. I feel the exact opposite. While knowing the Joseph Smith story is important to knowing the truthfulness of the Church, the Plan of Salvation is exciting because it teaches us how to return to Heavenly Father. It is all about Christ and it gives us the instructions to happiness. My MTC teachers are great. I can't believe they are only 23. We've been putting a HUGE emphasis on teaching our lessons to other Missionaries as Missionaries. We prepare with specific companions in mind, pray for them and try to be led by the spirit as we prepare.

A good talk to read is, "Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon" by Ezra Taft Benson. I LOVE some of the quotes about his visions for the earth. Incredible. I'm developing a greater love for the Book of Mormon and wish I had been more of a scriptorian in Seminary. My teacher taught us something neat this week. "All angels do is quote scripture." Think about it...Moroni, Gabriel, etc. So often we wish we could have angelic manifestations, but really the words of the Lord are already printed in the Standard Works. All angels do is quote scripture. I'm learning how to incorporate scriptures more into my teaching. There are so many teaching skills to learn! At the same time, it's important to remember that we are not called as missionaries to re-invent the wheel. The gospel is beautiful in its simplicity.

My Elders continue to be hilarious. We get to sing in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, and they ALL wanted to sing their "special" version of, "I Hope They Call Me On a Mission". Thank goodness our Branch President vetoed that early on. They also made our teacher cry in class. So yeah, it's been interesting. But at the same time it is great to watch everyone grow. The Elders are funny, but I really do feel like we're equals. We bought shoelaces to tie all the companionships together, because some have problems staying with their companions. I am learning HOW IMPORTANT it is to build each other up instead of tearing each other down. Living so close together as a district is new and sometimes hard, but we have more in common than anyone else in the world. So you would think that we would build each other up more than we do. Although, it was cool yesterday to see everyone bolster a couple of Elders in our district who were having a difficult time.

We had a devotional speaker that said we walk on sacred ground when we teach from, "Preach My Gospel". I really think that is true. I am so glad to be a missionary. While this time of my life will FLY BY, as evidenced by the fact that I am almost out of the MTC, the effects of what we do are eternal. It is a privilege to serve the Lord and a sacred trust to teach His children.

Time is up. I love you all and miss you. But I love the MTC, and will miss it in some ways. But I'm so excited to hit the ground running come Monday.

First Week at the MTC

2009-01-25T10:51:00.000-08:00

Yay! I've been so excited to write my first email! I love the MTC. I have had so many wonderful experiences, but I don't think I've had a harder week in my entire life! I'm emotionally drained and I don't think I've ever been so exhausted! I've never cried or laughed so much in one week!!! Change is difficult, and there is so much I need to improve upon! They stress that as set apart missionaries, we are the arms of the apostles. We are witnesses of Christ. How amazing, but it is an overwhelming idea at times. When I look at what I need to become to be the best missionary I can be, it can get overwhelming. But by turning myself over to Christ, all things are possible. I guess I just need to have more confidence and faith in that! And remember that it isn't me that will be doing the work...it will be the Holy ghost! I also find comfort in remembering that Christ WAS the perfect missionary, and people still rejected him. But every now and then, Heavenly Father gives me a glimpse of his vision, and I can really see HOW IMPORTANT this work is too him and how much he loves his children and how HOW MUCH needs to be done prior to the Savior's second coming. If all members could catch the vision, I think there would be so many more missionaries willing to serve. I've been impressed with the fact that the restoration really couldn't take place until the latter days because the gospel cannot be spread with effectiveness to ALL the world without the media and communications technology we have today. I love seeing how my major (PR) and the gospel interrelate. That's why I love my blog so much!

This week has been HARD! My companion's grandmother passed away, and I have really been learning what it means to mourn with those that mourn. It is hard to see one of Heavenly Father's daughters hurting so much, and not knowing exactly what I can say. All I know is that we are both so grateful for the plan of salvation. Our lessons have focused a lot on that lately. We've met with nearly all the MTC Presidenency this week, but I feel so blessed to be an observer to their leadership! As I have watched them speak with her, I feel like I'm learning by example. I wish there was more time to explain.

My district saves me!!! Sometimes I wake up discouraged, but Elder Curtis is a little piece of sunshine every morning. He and the other Elders are hilarious! When all the other missionaries are practicing their language skills by greeting us with "Hola!" or "Guten Tag" or "Bon Jour!" Elder Curtis, just uses sign language and greets them with a traditional Indian "How". Elder Curtis has been in 23 foster homes, and was just recently adopted so that he could serve a mission. WOW! It's amazing to watch my district leader grow into a powerful priesthood leader. People can grow so much in just a week! These missionaries are amazing! Elder Miles gave my companion one of the most sincere and beautiful priesthood blessings I have ever heard in my life. But he likes to make fun of those of us who get a lot of mail. He likes to play the 50/50 chance game to make us guess who the letter is for. If you guess wrong, you don't get the letter. But really, we never let him get away with that.

Sister missionary gym is hilarious. It's the funniest thing ever. We play B-ball with the Palmyra sisters, and we just laugh so hard because we are so bad. But, I look forward to working out because my muscles get so sore from sitting in a classroom ALL day, and eating so much food and not ever walking around. It's weird to see so many from BYU at the MTC. Also, the intercom in the MTC residence hall reminds me so much of Charlie's Angels..."Good morning sister missionaries!" "Time for bed sister missionaries." "Quiet time!" It's a different kind of place. Also, the elders have been looking out for me. Sometimes my progress is discouraging, overwhelming and I begin to doubt myself. After leaving the call center one day, I kind of just broke down. Elder Reves asked if someone had yelled at me on the phone. I laughed and said no, and he replied, "Good! Because if someone messes with Sister Waters, we're gonna GET that guy!" It was pretty funny.

There is NO TIME to do everything that needs to get done. I only have 4 minutes left to type. But I wanted to tell you as many funny stories as possible. I'm growing so much! Growth and stretching and changing can be painful, but it is good. I KNOW Heavenly Father loves each of His children (that is EVEN more clear as a missionary). I wish I had more time to tell you all about the AMAZING meetings I've been to.

I love you all! Romans 8:16-17

Courtney Arrives at the MTC

2009-01-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

Sister Courtney Waters finally arrives at the Missionary Training Center ("MTC") on January 14, 2009.

Sister Waters enters the MTC doors. She will leave for Alburquerque, New Mexico on February 2, 2009!

Before the missionary orientation session started Courtney and her family had a few minutes for more picture taking.

By the end of the orientation, Sister Waters was excited and ready to start her mission.

The inspiration for this blog...

2009-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet
By Elder M. Russell Ballard
of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches. . .

All of you know that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are reminded and encouraged continually to share the gospel with others. The Church is always looking for the most effective ways to declare its message. Preaching the gospel of the Restoration has always been special to me. I loved being a missionary in England. I loved being a mission president in Canada. And I love my present calling, which allows me opportunities to share the message of the Restoration of the gospel to the world and to testify that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1820. Through Joseph, the gospel that Jesus established in New Testament times was brought back. It had been lost with the deaths of the Apostles of old. I can share with the world the knowledge that priesthood authority, the doctrine, and the ordinances of the New Testament Church are once again on the earth. This is the most important work that we can participate in. . .

Now, may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including newsroom.lds.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. This, of course, requires that you understand the basic principles of the gospel. It is essential that you are able to offer a clear and correct witness of gospel truths. It is also important that you and the people to whom you testify understand that you do not speak for the Church as a whole. You speak as one member—but you testify of the truths you have come to know. . .

Welcome

2009-01-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

This is where we will be posting Courtney's weekly e-mail updates and any photos that make it back home.

She will be heading out to Provo on Monday January 12th, and will enter the MTC on Wednesday! So Exciting!