Medford is on Fire! August 22, 2016

Medford is quite literally on fire...we had 107 degrees on Friday, Saturday

was 105 and Sunday finally cooled down to 102. Thank goodness for

shade! Well, not really. It's still hot under the shade.

We had a miracles happen this week! We got a referral, a SELF referral

mind you, of a guy named Jason. We met him Monday night. Jason wants

to make his life better and his daughter, JC also wants to know more.

Jason has a son too, named Ryden. We taught them the whole Restoration

on Monday and they accepted to be baptized! On the first lesson!!!!!

We taught them the Plan of Salvation later in the week and they

accepted to be baptized on September 17! They said they would come to

church, but they didn't make it. 😒 We have a lesson later with them

tonight on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are so excited!

If you remember Enrique and Ruben, we tried all week to have lessons

with them. One day we had a lesson with their dad, Ben. Ben was

drinking and told us his whole life story in an hour. He's had a rough

life. But we told him of the blessings of the gospel, of how his life

will literally change if he would just listen. He got sick this week,

so that also made it hard to meet with them. But Enrique has been

reading the Book of Mormon! 😆  We will probably have to move their

baptism day back a bit, it depends on what happens this week!

On Friday, after District meeting, our Zone leaders did an inspired

pump up meeting! We talked about setting goals and how we can achieve

ANYTHING with the Lord on our side. We need to change our thoughts to

become great, we have to literally believe one thought: I am NOT an

average missionary.

That thought has completely changed what I do throughout the day. We

chased people down the street because the spirit prompted us to.

Eternal Salvation cannot wait. Fear is of the enemy and we are

fighting for the God of Heaven and earth- Jesus Christ. We cannot wait

to share the gospel, and I will not be average. With His help, I can

rise to become that missionary I always wanted to be.

Major Medford Miracles. August 15, 2016

Wow! What a week! First off transfers happened today and....I'm

staying in Medford with Sister Peterson!!! We are going to light

Medford on fire this transfer!! 😆🔥🔥🔥

Speaking of fire, it was pretty hot towards the end of the week.

Sunday was the worst. It was more humid than hot and it was just

sticky and gross. We were out all day after church in the heat. 

After awhile you get used it.

Well, we are teaching these brothers, Ruben and Enrique! We taught

them the whole Restoration and we told them how they can know that

Joseph Smith is a prophet by reading the Book of Mormon. They then got

quizzical looks and said: "Well, he is a prophet isn't he? I know

that he is!" They want to be baptized! We set a date for sept 10!

😄😎

We met a woman named Annareli. She was outside hanging out with her

family and she totally listened to us! She told us how she

wants to get closer to God and she knows that we have been sent to

help her achieve that goal! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she has

started to read it!

We met a man named Everet last week and this week we taught him the

Restoration! He thought it was all very interesting and we asked him

if he would be baptized. He said that he will think about it, but that

he wants to learn more!

We also had a lesson with Mike! We taught him part of the Plan of Salvation.  Even

though he doesn't understand all that we teach him, the spirit hasn't

told us to drop him. We hope and pray that his family will come and

listen one day. 

Moroni 7-

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever;

and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well

with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the

energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath

bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;

that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall

be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this

hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.

I learned today from studies that I want to try to develop charity. In

1 Corinthians 13, Paul also talks about how even if we give all we

have to the poor and not have charity, then we are nothing. Crazy

right? So I am going to develop charity this week to be able to be

clean, to feel the spirit and to love others!

"Two White Chicks Here" August 8, 2016

Man, what a week!! We were so busy, and somehow, we still found 7 new

investigators! Whoot whoot!

On Tuesday we had MLC. It was super great! It was announced during

that meeting that we now will sing to members after dinner - so we

are a singing mission now!

At the end of MLC, President took us all up to the top of Mt. Ashland.

It was so beautiful up there, it reminded me of home. We talked about

being watchmen, of being leaders. It was so spiritual up there, I

really felt of Gods love for me. I loved it. :)

On Thursday we went to the pear farm and harvested pears! We started

at 8 am and worked until 1:30. It was long, but it was tons of fun!

Especially with our Zone being there, even the Yreka sisters were able

to come! We were joking and throwing shriveled pears at each

other....and yes, of course we picked too! We got a little sun

though...☀️

On Friday we taught ZTM! It was nerve wracking though, President came

to our meeting! All of us were a little stressed because of it, but

once we got up there to teach, the Spirit just took over and our

teaching just flowed. The spirit was really strong, I was so blessed

to be there and to grow my knowledge of the gospel. President really

enjoyed it! The spirit really lifted us and helped us get pumped up to

do missionary work!

On Saturday, we were walking and saw a former investigator- Tommy. He

tried to run away from us, but we caught up to him. He proceeded to

tell us how he was trying to avoid us, hoping we would just give up.

Little did he knows that we are REALLY persistent. He then told us how

everyone is racist and that his life is awful and we have no idea what

he is going through. Me, just being me, said : Tommy, do you have any

idea why we keep coming back? Why two white chicks keep coming

back!?!?

Hahaha...not the brightest moment....but he agreed to let us come

back! We want to teach him the Plan of Salvation to explain how he has so much to

live for in the future!

However, we taught Tina and Donald Millard about the Plan of Salvation.  They were

so surprised about all of it, but they knew it to be true! Sister

Peterson then shared a wonderful testimony and we asked them if they

would like to get baptized. Donald was all for it, but Tina wasn't too

sure. Our member rephrased the question and she said yes! And then,

even before we brought it up, they asked about the priesthood and the

proper authority. It was so cool! We told them that the next time we

would teach about the priesthood.  They are so prepared!  We are so

blessed to meet them!

Today, I read two talks: What Lack I yet? And Testifying of the Great

and Glorious Atonement. I was feeling that I wasn't doing all I could,

I had stopped progressing in a sense. But as I read, the spirit just

filled my soul, letting me know that most of all, I was doing my best,

and that God was pleased with what I was doing. It was such a comfort.

Then, the Spirit told me how I can be better. I can bear my testimony

more of the Atonement. It was awesome to gain that direction. I loved

this week! It was so full of spiritual help and encouragement.

Brother and Sister Jacobsens.

It all started with a name tag. August 1, 2016

Sunrise on our P Day hike

So yesterday we spoke in church and we left our apartment and got

there about 15 mins before it started. As we got out of the car, I

realized that I forgot something. Something REALLY important. My name

tag. So we raced back and grabbed my name tag. We got back just in

time for the meeting to start. Our talks were pretty awesome and then

we also got enlisted to teach gospel principles on the Second

Coming....oh my goodness. And that was just a start to a crazy day.

Today, we went on a hike, early in the morning! It was awesome! But I

fell and totally destroyed my hand and my arm. But all is well, that

why we have the resurrection right?

We were finding a lot this week, but we did have some great lessons.

On Wednesday we had specialized training. We were taught about the

Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and of the Atonement of the Savior (foundation of

testimony). It was awesome, the spirit reminded me of the time then we

went to Carthage Jail with my family. The spirit witnessed to me then that

Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Sometimes the spirit reminds you of

the times that you received a witness of the truth. 

Later that night, we had a lesson with the Ponciroli's. They are the

coolest family ever! 😆 Chris, the husband, is not a member. He has

been working to be able to get baptized for almost two years. We had

our lesson on temple grounds. President and Sister Russell came with

us as well. We read 1 Nephi 8 with them, and talked about how

important it is to read the scriptures and to hold to the rod and to

continue press forward on the path. The spirit was amazing!

On Saturday we had lesson with Donald Millard. We taught him the Plan of Salvation,

and he loved it! He understood all that we taught. He was saying how

everything what we were teaching made sense and that he felt that he

had already known it. It was a stellar lesson! We invited him to be

baptized, (three times even) and he would love to, but he is worried

about his wife. So we will work with her and help her understand the

gospel as well. I'm so excited to teach them!

On Saturday, a lesson fell through and we started walking down the

street. A car pulled over and inside was a woman named Shayla! We met

her earlier in the week and she let us into her home and talked with

us. She is really cool. After talking to her from her car, she invited

us over again. We helped clean her home, and she showed us all this

Christian music that she loves to listen to. And she also played some

songs for us on her guitar. At the end of us helping her, we showed

her "Because of Him" video. While she talked to Sister Peterson, I pulled up

Alma 7:11-13 and read it to her. All the sudden her curiosity took

over and she asked all these questions about the Book of Mormon. We

gave her a copy and we have a lesson with her later this week!

This coming week we have lots of lessons set up, at least four

everyday. We also have MLC this week and we are teaching ZTM. And we

are going to pick pears this week as well. We are so busy! But what

better way than to serve the Lord? I am so blessed to be here, to be

part of this zone. I really love them a lot, I hope we can teach them

well.

We all have a little Hippie in us! July 25, 2016

With the Neild Family

Wow what a week! We have been so busy! We found 7 new investigators

this week! 😄😎 it's so awesome! There is never a dull moment here as

we are working so hard to find and teach.

This past week we met a woman who told us how her parents were Mormon

and that she wanted  financial help because they were going to shut

off their electricity and they were out of food and such such. So us,

being missionaries, offered to give them our food. So we walked to our

apartment (took two hours, but we found two new investigators, yay!)

and we cleaned out our food pantry and gave them our food. And, yes we

still had food, we don't really eat much during the day. But, here's

the miracle: the next day members showered us with food!! Now we have

so much, we don't even know what to do with it all! 😆😊 God really

watches out for us!

That same day, we went and talked to a guy who lives behind us. The

one time I met him last transfer he was a little odd, so we had no idea

how this conversation would go. He has a "psycho gnome" in his front

yard and we asked him about it. He told us how he served in Vietnam

war, and when he got home he suffered from extreme PTSD. But he has

completely changed his life around and has written poetry. He read

some to us to explain that the psycho gnome in his yard is his PTSD

that is trying to destroy all that he loves. It was really powerful.

Then we took pictures with him!

We had a Pie-o-ne'er festival in Ashland! We had investigators coming,

but they backed out at the last second. But we had fun, visiting with

members and eating pie! I am so grateful for all those who were

pioneers, who did all they could to keep the gospel in their lives.

And that's true for today as well! There is a family that we are

teaching who have been struggling and fighting to get baptized,

fighting against all odds for two years. They are so close! They are

changing so much, the light is growing in their eyes and in their

countenance.  It's amazing.

Ah! There is so much that happened this week! We taught ZTM, I learned

so much about planning, of repentance, and of being an inviter. The

spirit is so real, and the gospel is true.

On Sunday, I was a little discouraged as we have so much to do, and I

was feeling the weight of it all and of the weight and wickedness of

the world. But I read in Alma 29:9-10--

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I

do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath

commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an

instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and

this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and

coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do

I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard

my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended

towards me.

God really hears our prayers! I know he does! And really, my whole

desire is to teach repentance, to teach others of the Plan of

Salvation. It's so beautiful, it's so perfect. And repentance is

truly how we can gain eternal life. And as missionaries, we are all

doing our best and serving and fighting and declaring. It's hard, but

one day we will fall at the feet of the Savior and say that His will

is the best and that we did all that was required.

Our neighbor and his Psycho Gnome. 

Super Awkward . . . July 18, 2016

Giant Sandwiches from the members.

On exchanges with Sis. Rhoton, a new missionary 

I don't even remember what happened this week. It's all a blur. Is it

P day? That's weird- so are hippies.

Speaking about hippies, we had exchanges again this week and switched

back in Ashland. We again went to Lithia park and saw like 50 hippies

just chillin' in the grass, shoeless, brown skinned, dreads and smoking

weed. As we were getting up the courage to drink the Lithia water, a

hippie walks up and fills his water bottle of the stuff and takes a

giant swig. He then proceeds to show us the 'true' lotus pose by

crossing his legs and then reaching his hands around the back to grab

his feet. And I guess to make the day even better, I swallowed the

Lithia water! 😳😜

This week was very full, we were busy all week long! I love Sister

Peterson! She works so hard with me! I am so blessed to have her! So

many people are outside and we talk with all of them! With the new

Pokemon go game, tons of people are showing up at the church (haha,

nab them before they run away).

One person we are teaching is named Pat. She is so cute! She's an

older woman, she is living with her brother for the time being, and his

family knows many members in the ward. She agreed to take the

lessons with us and she has lots of questions about the priesthood and

about prophets.

Crazy story: We met with a man by the name of Marcline Charles, a man

from Haiti. At first, he explained a bit about his beliefs and we just

sat there in amazement at his knowledge of the Bible and of the truths

of the gospel. It was amazing. And then I asked him what he thought

the priesthood was. He then explained Aaron and Melchizedek and how

John had the Aaronic and Jesus Christ had the Melchizedek. And then

THATS when it got crazy! He got REALLY passionate about Jesus Christ,

to the point that I thought he was going to thrown something at us. As

he was yelling and crying I thought : "Man, this was going so

good...I don't even know what is happening right now!" When he quieted

down I explained the Restoration and of Joseph Smith. He understood

that the Father's role to testify of Christ, which is stated in the

First Vision. But Marcline believes that Christ was the last one, the

last prophet. But he agreed to study the pamphlet and to let us come

back. So yeah. We survived that.

On Thursday we drove all the way up to Eugene with President Cropper,

a counselor in the Mission presidency. He kept asking us questions to see if we

were studying deep doctrine stuff. Me: "Well, I'm just studying about

faith and about Christlike attributes....so yeah. You won't get any

questions from me...." None of us really had anything, so then he just

asked us really deep questions to get our minds spinning....So

anyways, we drove up there to have MLC. It was so much fun! I loved

it!

Yesterday evening we went out and tried to find a couple that we had

meet last Sunday, Skylar and Miranda. The spirit prompted us to knock

on some doors and we found them! Miranda came out and talked to us.

Her and her husband just got married three years ago and they almost

got a divorce. But they realized to put God first in their marriage

and they read scriptures together and pray everyday. It's amazing!

They read the Restoration pamphlet and STUDIED from it! They are so

prepared! Miranda asked us for another pamphlet, and we gave her a

Book of Mormon! We are having a lesson with them on Wednesday!  They

are totally going to get baptized!

I love being a missionary! Thank you for all your prayers! I love you!

An authentic poncho of the Spanish Elders.

"Y'All believe in the lizard people." July 11, 2016

With Sister Peterson

Wow! This week has been awesome! My new companion, Sister Peterson is

the bomb dot com. She is so cool, so full of the spirit. I'm so

blessed to be with her!

Miracles have abounded this week! We have started to get lots of work

done! At the beginning of the week we had lots of finding, but by the

end of the week we had lots of lessons. We were pretty busy!

Christine (RC) is struggling a bit due to her medical issues, she got

a blessing on Saturday. But she is doing a lot better.

Kayden (RC) got baptized on Saturday! It's so exciting! The spirit was

so strong during the baptism, I know she will do great as a member and

will strive to listen.   The family took us to an Asian restaurant

called New East Asia. It was really good. Interesting enough, there is

a sauce in Asian restaurants here called Kim sauce. It's pretty good.

I got the recipe! 

Yesterday after dinner we walked down the street and contacted

potentials. We met an atheist guy, who was very determined to stay

that way (even though he accepted a Book of Mormon) and he even followed us to

the next door neighbor telling us all about it. (The line in the

subject heading is his. Eye roll) Goodness. People are crazy!

Well, later that evening, we were walking and talking to everyone we

could. At one point we met a young man by the name of Louis. He moved

from Mexico to here a year ago, and studies for two hours a day to

learn English. There was a slight language barrier, but the spirit

just kept urging us to talk to him. I then felt prompted to share the

#Hallelujah video. We did so, and the spirit was so strong! It was

amazing! He really felt it! He agreed to let the Spanish elders come

and teach him! :)

And we also found another Spanish family who were really nice. We gave

then to the Spanish elders too. I hope it was an answer to their

prayers!

This week was a lot cooler, the rains came in. It made it so that we

could be out more. Or at least have more motivation to be outside. We

met so many people just by walking! It's so cool. Sister Peterson is

really brave and is really committed to talk to everyone. It's a

completely different approach to missionary work than I have ever seen

before. And even though we are really different from each other, we

are able to work together because we know the end goal. And because of

that, work is happening! I love it so much!

Transfers! And Happy Fourth! July 4, 2016

Transfers are upon us! I am staying in Medford and am getting Sister

Peterson for my companion! Sister Connelly is going to Springfield for

her last six weeks. She is excited! I am sad to see her leave, but I

know she will great things in Springfield. I can't wait to see what

Sister Peterson and I will be able to accomplish here in Medford! 😎

Today, we have to go into our apartments early tonight to get out of

the fray of crazy Oregonians. 😏 😬 ✌️

This week we had lots of lessons set up! Mike Fehely is doing great,

he's older, so he doesn't retain as well and it hard for him to focus,

but we taught him the beginning section of the Book of Mormon. I

invited him to baptism, but he said no. But maybe, in the future, he

will accept!

We are also teaching Kayden, she is getting baptized next week, but it

will be a child of record baptism. She is so cool, I love her so much!

She is progressing well.

Christine is a recent convert and we taught her a really good lesson on trials and

how they make us stronger. In fact, she helped answer my prayers- we

were talking about faith and how it sustains us. She said: "You know,

the faith was always there. All I had to do was trust in the faith,

trust in the feeling that was already there." Wow. So profound! Our

answers are already inside of us, all we have to do is trust in the

knowledge that God has already given us!

Yesterday, we finally got a lesson with Tommy. He awesome and African American.

His kids remind me of JeKobe...hahaha. We retaught the restoration

with him, he was a little confused with the priesthood and of

prophets, but as we talked of the Atonement, the spirit was so strong,

it was just a warmth that filled the room. He agreed to read the Book

of Mormon and to pray about it. 😊

Food for thought: The Atonement is real. Trust in the knowledge you

have received, hold on, don't jump ship.  God will always be there,

His love is always there. Keep praying, keep trusting, and one day,

you will receive more blessings  than you can comprehend.

Brookhurst crew. 

We call these WhoVille trees. 

Killin' it in Medford. June 27, 2016

With Sister Connelly

This week was great! It was full of ups and downs, but what week isn't?

As the STL, we had to help the zone leaders and the district leaders

plan for ZTM. Our teaching section was on faith and obedience. It was

an awesome teaching part! I studied a lot about obedience. I had three

readers read these verses: Alma 26:31, Isaiah 1:19 and D&C 82:10. I

then explained that one way for us to eat of the good of the land

(investigators) we should be obedient in everything, because then the

Lord will be able to bless us. The feeling in the room was very

powerful, it was such a joy to study and teach.

It was interesting because earlier in the week I had been struggling

with feeling as though as I haven't been receiving revelation. But now

I know that I can trust in God. I need to exercise patience and wait

on His timing, for I know that when that revelation comes, it will be

really powerful and wonderful. So, I am asking the same questions,

waiting for the time that God is ready to let me feel it, because I

know that it will be the right time for it. 😊

Yesterday we had a miracle! During the week we felt prompted to knock

on a door of an apartment that's near the church building. It turns

out that this older man, Mike, had just moved in. He battled with

cancer and a stroke for a number of years, and during that time he had

met with the missionaries. He wasn't interested quite yet, but we

invited him to church. And guess what?!? He came!!! All by himself! A

member was kind enough to sit with him, and afterwords we talked to

him about it. He really liked it and appreciated that "We don't talk

religion and politics in the same sentence..." He said that he would

like to have us swing by later in the week but that he wants some time

to think about it. 😉

Also, our ward mission leader texted us on Sunday and told us that he

had been receiving a prompting for us to go see Alania, a former

investigator. As soon as we read the text, we knew we had to leave

immediately. The spirit was practically dragging us out the door. So

we rushed over to her house....but she wasn't there. We stopped by

multiple times during the day and she wasn't there. But we will keep

trying!

Today for P-day we went ice skating. It was awesome! And I fell....a

lot! I've been out of practice for so long!

Ice Skating

Today in personal study I read in D&C 11. It's been kind of tough with

the work in this area, we really have to be hunters and seek out people.

But what I got from it is that I need to treasure up the word, I'm in

a waiting period for the moment. I need to trust in God and know that

all will work out. For really, that's all He asks. Trust in Him, and

try our best to live the commandments. Don't jump ship when it gets

hard! Hold on, and He will steer you through it. And at the end of the

storm, you will realized how much a better captain you've become.

We stole the Spanish elders hat. Multiple times. All because they didn't lock their car!

Great Grandpa Ray June 20, 2016

So this past week, after daily planning, we started talking about our

family history. It eventually lead to me talking about grandpa Ray and

of his sacrifice. As I looked at the pictures of him, I realized

something. Throughout my mission I have some some particular spiritual

experiences where I always thought it was the Holy Ghost, or some sort

of angel watching over us. And whenever I pictured this person, I

realized that it looked a lot like Grandpa Ray.

As my companion was in the shower, I prayed out loud. I asked Heavenly

Father if my suspicions were right, if it is Ray who is watching over

me. Quietly, a presence came into the room. It was him! He hugged me

and said that he loved me. I felt that love, it was deep and powerful

and tears came to my eyes with the simplicity of it. He then told me

that because he was unable to serve his own mission, that he would

watch over me on mine.

Since then, I now know what he feels like. Sometimes, he is suddenly

just there, as we stand on the porch, eating lunch, or as we are out

in the sun. I am reminded of that quote from Elder Holland that people

from both sides of the veil are watching over us, cheering us on,

helping us on our struggles and adventures of this life.

So I just thought that y'all would like that. I guess it's just a good

reminder that we are never alone and that families are truly together

forever.

Wherefore, ye must press forward . . . June 20, 2016

Ice Cream from the Ice Cream Truck with Sis. Connelly

What a week! The scripture in my heading is 2 Nephi 31:20. It was so

true for this week- Sister Connelly has finally realized that her

mission is coming to an end. On Tuesday and Wednesday we struggled a

bit to continue to move forward. We had a rough start to our week,

nearly all of our lessons fell through, and Stanya dropped us for the

time being. (Ah! It's so sad, she was on date for baptism) and

Jaslina, our other investigator who was on date is a little hesitant

to meet with us because of her boyfriend.

And yet, through all the struggles we have become stronger. I have

seen my companion grow in her capacities to serve and her testimony

too of the Savior. One day was really rough, and we found one

potential and one new investigator (named Rob). God really watches

over us. She got a blessing too, and the Lord said: " know that every

door you knock and every action you do is seen by your Savior, and He

is pleased with what you do."

We also had a great pick me up on Friday! We had a zone conference

with the bottom half of the mission. Elder Johnson and Elder Hansen of

the Seventy came to talk with us. Elder Hansen asked us: "Do you know

that God loves you?" Us- yeah. "Well, do you love God?" Yeah. " then

obey them!" He talked more about obedience.

Elder Johnson talked about teaching the first principle of the gospel:

God is our loving Heavenly Father. He took two hours to teach us, and

we realized how much better we need to get at teaching it. For our end

goal is not baptism. It's to teach others to become like Heavenly

Father. But we have to understand who He is in order to have the faith

necessary to change. It was really powerful.

I also participated in Missionary Leadership Council (MLC). We talked

about what we learned and what the mission needs to learn this coming

week for Zone conference. It's really fun and stressful! Being a

leader is hard.

Since that meeting, I have been pondering a lot about what kind of

missionary I want to be. I've realized that obedience is the only way

that God can bless us. And so if I want investigators, I need to be

exactly obedient. And sure, it's all up to God's timing. Reading the 

scriptures really creates the strength and force field around you to

keep the spirit with you. So pray. So read. So stand up for what is

right. Be the kind of person who will stand up for the right, who

stands out from the crowd because you have the spirit around you. That

will be the kind of friends I will look for when I come home. The ones

who let the Atonement change them.

Love you all! Hope y'all have a great week!

Zone Unity. June 13, 2016

Top of the Valley!

So first off, this week has been full of excitement! We were told to

find 5 new investigators this week as part of a leadership challenge.

All together, we found 259 investigators!! Its awesome!

On top of that, Sis. Connelly also got food poisoning this week, so we

were stuck inside for an entire day! It was so stressful. But it was

also interesting, I read seven chapters of the Book of Mormon.

Stanya is doing well! She didn't come to church yesterday, so we will

have to push her date back a week. But she loves the gospel. Hopefully

she will still be able to continue to press forward.

Today for a zone activity we played the mini Olympics! We did all

sorts of different competitions all ending with water buckets being

dumped on you and rotten eggs being thrown across the fence. Yes. We

are still teenagers. Hahaha...

Mini Olympics with our Zone.

We found some great people this week, and I am so excited for the

coming week and what adventures that will come as we serve the Lord.

Love you all and hope you have a great week! Continue to pray and read

the scriptures! Your testimony will grow so much!

Hippietopia. June 6, 2016

Man, it's hot and humid here! It got up to 104 this week! But

thankfully, I think I am finally getting used to the heat! Kind of.

Haha.

We had a great, busy week! We went on exchanges with the sisters in

Yreka, California. It's like a completely different country down there!

It looked a lot like home, and it was dry heat too. We passed by Mount

Shasta. It's HUGE!  I had lots of fun with Sis Johnson. She's so

cool. The next day, we switched back to our companions in Ashland.

Ashland is famous for three things: 1) the Shakespeare festival and 2)

the Lithia water! And 3) Hippies. Well, actually, hippies are

everywhere in Oregon. The Lithia water is naturally cleaned water

through different minerals, but it smells like sulfur and tastes

nasty. It is apparently really "healthy" for you. I posted a video

below. 😅 😎

I had to try the Lithia water. 

Stanya is progressing well! She is still on date for June 18. The

sisters taught her about the Word of Wisdom while we were on

exchanges. They asked her if she would live it and she said : " Well,

it's a commandment from God, and He promises all these blessings, so

why not?" 😀😀😆 She is the best ever! I love her so much! We are

learning Samoan words from her too! We met her brother, Jimmy,

yesterday and her cousin, JR.  They are interested in learning more too!

😊 Miracles!

Also, during exchanges, the sisters met with Jaslina, a new

investigator! She is now on date for baptism!! Yay! It's funny, because I

haven't been there for any of her lessons...sigh. I guess Heavenly

Father needed me to be elsewhere. Haha. I'm excited to have a lesson

with her next week!

This week, all the leaders in the mission have set high goals for

finding new investigators. We are praying to find one new investigator

everyday. It's lofty. But President Russell told us: "The greatest

miracle is about to happen this week. Pray and God will hear you, he

will help us achieve this goal."

I'm so happy to be here on a mission. My prayers have defiantly

changed. I sometimes pray out loud, and those are sacred experiences

for me. I know that you too can pray, and that you have prayed, but

when was the last time you prayed out loud? A very powerful thing

happens when you do. Angels come beside you, your words become more

holy, your prayers are more meaningful. Truly, God will consecrate

(or make holy) your prayers for your good. He answers prayers. 2 Nephi

32:9 How blessed we are to have this knowledge!

P Day Ninjas. June 1, 2016

Me, Sis. Hepworth, Sis. Johnson, and Sis Connelly at the Medford Temple.

So! Medford is great! It's been hard to adjust here, I find it weird

to be in the city. 😳😜😱🚗🚗

Today has been crazy!! We were blessed to go to the temple (I love the

temple! The spirit and peace there is indescribable- please make an

effort to go as much as possible!),  then we ate at Jaspers. It's The

burger place of the mission, because it has weird burgers. I ate the

Jiffy burger, which was a burger with bacon and peanut butter and

jelly. It was good! I am totally bringing my family back here to try

it! They also have camel, buffalo, kangaroo, and deer from New Zealand

meat. So yeah. I got the normal stuff. We have been really busy trying

to get everything done that we needed to. Thus, we are ninjas.

My Jiffy Burger from Jasper's.

We had a great week! We have had so many miracles and wonderful

adventures! We are teaching a Samoan woman by the name of Stanya, she

is so cool! We taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she just totally accepts it.

The spirit is so strong around her! She is on date to be baptized June 18. She

also has a cat named Kiwi. Which I found out that my name, Keilee, is

"cat" in Samoan. 😺

With Kiwi, the cat. 

We are teaching an eight year old named Kayden. She is awesome too!

She is adopted by her grandparents, who are LARC. So in teaching her

we are also teaching them. We taught her about faith and how it's a

seed you grow within your heart. She then said at the end how she

feels the seed grow in her heart and that this is the path that God

wants her to be upon. 😊 I love the spirit.

Speaking of, on Saturday we drove past apartments and the spirit just

suggested to me that we should go and tract it. So we went last night

and met a couple, Alan and Alyssa. Sis Connelly told them about the

Book of Mormon and I bore my testimony of it. It was so sweet to find

them. And so many other spiritual experiences have happened! It's

awesome!

It is hot here! Whew. It gets up to about 90 degrees by the time lunch

hits, and with the humidity, it feels more like 110! It's crazy! But

I'm getting tan, so that's cool. And people let us in more to get us

out of the sun. 😊

Love you all! Thank you for the prayers! Mosiah 4:6-30. Service is awesome!

Medford is Calling My Name. May 23, 2016

Chris and Connie Rowe, Sis Lunt

Well another transfer is upon us! I am down in Medford now, with

Sister Connelly!! We are going to be STL's (sister training leader)

together! We are like the moms of a zone. It's kind of stressful, but

I'm so excited to be part of the zone here and to lead others. It will

be so much fun to be with Sister Connelly. She is awesome!

The last week in Sutherlin was full of great things! We had a FHE with

the Finlaysons and Ron was able to come for dinner and for the FHE.

We watched the Testaments movie, and the spirit was amazing. Ron just

loved it. He will get baptized, but it will be when he is ready for

it. I pray for him a lot. I hope he feels the peace and healing that

comes from the atonement of Jesus Christ.

We also had a lesson with Jose. We planned it out to go over baptism

and the Holy Ghost and the priesthood. He opened up to us a lot and

our lesson went so smoothly. The spirit was definitely there. He told

us about when his brother died and he wondered where he was. I felt

prompted to read the scripture in Alma 40 that the "spirits of all

men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave

them life." He loved it so much, he had me read it again. So much pain

Jose

was lifted in that moment.

We also had a lesson with John. Ha, he's such a cranky old man but I

love him! We found out that he knows nothing about Jesus Christ. It

was interesting because we had no idea what we were going to teach

him, but we felt a good place to start is the Godhead. And he doesn't

know much. So it created just the perfect jumping start for Sis Lunt

to be able to teach him. He gave us hugs after the lesson, telling us

how he really does enjoy having us over, even if he gives us a hard

time.

John 

The Leach Family

I am going to miss Sutherlin so much. Such amazing people! But I'm

also excited to see what God has in store for me here! Love you all!

"Elder, That's a Cookie." May 16, 2016

Man, this week was crazy! On Wednesday we had Specialized Training

down in Grants Pass. However, we had people from Salt Lake coming to

inspect our cars. Basically a BIG DEAL.  On Tuesday we came in with

our zone to deep clean our cars. And as the elders were waxing our car

they said : "Sisters, did you know your tire was low?"

Us: " Oh yeah! We knew it was low, we were planning on filling it up

after this..."

Elders: "No sisters. It's really low. It's flat."

Us:  "Seriously? On today of all days!"

So long story short, we had run over a NAIL ( of course, Sutherlin has

tons of them) and it made our tire flat. We spent the night with the

STL's and went with them to the meeting. The quote in the subject

heading is from Pres. Russell. He's the best! He was bribing us with

cookies to answer questions.

After the meeting, we got our tire fixed and on Thursday we had to drive to

Eugene to get the car inspected. We passed. 😂

We had a great week nonetheless! Even though we haven't found anyone

new, we have been busy everyday doing the work of the Lord! We were

able to meet with John. He is a new "investigator". He lives right

next to the reservoir, he is a referral from elders in our zone. The

second lesson we had, the member we brought got in an argument with

John about Joseph Smith being a prophet. Sigh. So we set up another

lesson for later that week, intending to drop John. We sat there in

the lesson, listening to him tell us that he will never change, that

we can't convince him of our religion being the true religion. As he

was speaking, the spirit just told us that we should not drop him. So

we gingerly taught him about prayer. During the lesson, he prayed.

Slowly but surely, he is changing. We just feed him bit by bit, and

what we teach him stays with him. He thinks about it. And slowly, his

ideas are changing. It's really cool.

We met with Ron too this week. He is starting to heal from the pain of

losing his wife. He is so cool. His birthday is this week, so we are

making a cake for him today as we are seeing him today for dinner and

tomorrow for a lesson! It's awesome!

Spiritually, so many things have happened this week. I can't even

explain it all. I feel like I don't have enough time to write down all

the miracles that happen. Just to sum up: Heavenly Father does answer

prayers. And while we go through trials that are hard, they make us

better. I know now more than ever that I will not return the same I

came out.

The look on your face when the Elder's tell you your car has a flat tire.