Snow is Falling

Monday - February 23, 2015

What a good week it was! So many good things happened here in Fort Collins. It was for sure a turn around from last week. We have really been focusing on seeing the miracles each day and accepting what the Lord wants to have happen here at this time while doing the best that we can.

 

This week I will share a few highlights. So, first off, we were able to have 2 councils for members who have given us referrals. What neat experiences those were! The spirit truly guided our plans for each of these people in helping them to accept the gospel. The members got so excited about missionary work too. One even at the end said, "Missionary work isn't hard, it's easy!" Haha. Super great to see the members so excited. The members have been so great as of late. We truly have gained the trust of the ward and the leaders of each of the auxiliaries. And what a HUGE difference that makes. Goodness. When we show them love and concern and that we are here to help, they are so much more willing to help. So, it's taken some time but it is happening:). 

Another miracle that happened this week, K, the 10 year old we are teaching, she was really nervous to ask her dad if she could get baptized, so we role played it with her. Acted it out with her to help her feel more comfortable. Then the next night we saw them at the church building and her mom said, "She asked her dad and he said yes!!" She was so excited! She has been waiting for her daughter to be baptized for so long and K is so excited!! So that was a miracle for sure. Then we had dinner with their family on Friday and her dad sat in all through dinner and even stayed for the lesson that we shared after. It was amazing. They are such a great family and I truly just love them. They are a large reason why I am here right now, I am sure. 

So, to illustrate the town of Fort Collins more, I will tell you about a game that Sister Jensen and I have been playing. We are playing, find all the license plates from all over the United States while we drive around. Guess what, we have literally almost seen a license plate from every state! We are only missing like 3 or 4 and we are determined. That means that there are people in this town from literally all over the United States. 

We have gotten a ton of snow here over the past couple days. We even got told by president to "park your cars". So those days are always a little tricky. But members stepped up and offered to drive us to appointments. We have been so blessed by the service of members this week. I truly do love the Terry Lake Ward.

Also, Sister Jensen and I got to sing this week in Zone Meeting. It was great! We sang, "Where Can I Turn for Peace." We were so grateful that our Zone Leaders asked us to do that. We also got to go and speak to the Young Women at mutual this week because their whole activity was all about missionary work. It was so great:) Love the youth!

Well, I best be wrapping this up but it has been a wonderful week. I am grateful for the little miracles that we have been able to see all week and to be content in doing the Lord's work. I know that this work is true and important. Keep pressing forward family!! I love each of you soooo much! Keep smiling!

Love,

Sister Young

Sister Jensen & I on our snowy day walking

"Shake off the dust of your feet"

Monday - Feb 16, 2015

Dear Everyone,

Found out about transfers on Saturday, and I will be here for another 6 weeks with Sister Jensen. Which I was guessing would happen. Most of our District will be staying here except for our District Leader  and one of our Zone Leaders. We have been truly blessed to have wonderful leaders this transfer. They truly follow the spirit and have helped out so much with the struggles we have been having with the work. I know that is a tender mercy of the Lord for sure. They will be missed. I am also so very grateful to have a wonderful companion! We both help each other out and lift each other, encourage each other, and we just have a lot of fun together. I truly am blessed by the missionaries I am surrounded by. 

This week in studies I have been focusing on The New Testament and The Book of Mormon. I read a bit from each every day. What a blessing it has been to be studying the life of Jesus Christ. I am learning so much more about how to emulate the life of our Savior. There are a lot of verses about missionary work and the Savior's words of counsel to his disciples as they are going their separate ways to minister. I love in Matthew 10: 12-13 " 12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.

 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

 14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet."

We have been struggling with finding those who are truly ready and willing to accept the gospel.There are lots of hearts that are not softened right now. But this verse, when those individuals don't receive you, shake it off! And move forward continually striving to find those who will. We have decided that it is time to get creative and to try ways that have never been tried in this area to find those who are ready. We are praying to know what new ways we can try to find. 

This week, K still hasn't set a date to be baptized, but she is talking to her dad this week and we have dinner with them this week too. We are excited to hopefully get to meet the dad and talk to him. R came to church this week!! That was awesome! :) Miracle!

We had a lesson with E this week, Less-active, and he is just doing so well. He has been to church for the past 3 weeks and has set a goal to read from the Book of Mormon every day. Elders have been meeting with him for years, but nothing happened. But he said that he just really loves the spirit that we bring into his home. Some people just click more with Sisters. Others, don't. Haha, but I know that he is one reason why I am here. 

There are many little miracles daily. I am still searching daily to know reasons why I am here. This has been the hardest place to figure out why I am here. But I have grown so much. Another reason that I am finding that we are here is, there is a sister in the ward who is trying to decide if she wants to serve a mission. We take her with us to lessons all the time and she is so willing to come every time. We have just had some really neat talks with her and she is getting closer to deciding what is the right path for her. She is so great! Just love her. 

There were many times this week that my brain was just going crazy, and I was struggling with see why I am here, why I am staying, and some other weird thoughts. But through it all I have found peace and solace. Even on the days, which have been many, that we visit house after house, and no one is home, or no one is interested. Those are the tough days. We are striving always to follow the spirit but we feel stuck. But I need to trust in Heavenly Father more and His promises. Miracles will happen this transfer!!!

We have our first council set up for our referral system tomorrow! So that should be good:) 

Well, I better wrap this up. Just know that Heavenly Father puts people in your life that you need to help you through times of trial, He will fulfill his promises, even if it takes time. Times of trial build your faith. There are reasons for everything. As I keep smiling and moving forward, shaking the dust off of my feet, we will find those who are prepared and do the Lord's work in HIS way. Keep smiling! Don't forget to pray. Heavenly Father answers prayers, even the ones that don't seem too important to anyone but you, He answers. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Young

Pics: We had a dinner appointment in the mountains! Oh how I have missed the mountains.

Here is our Happy Valentine's/Charity Day picture. :) Weekly planning. 

Children of God

Ok, well the trust that we are gaining from the ward members is truly the real miracle this transfer. It is so great to see that trust develop and manifest in so many ways. We have had many wonderful experiences this week with trust from ward members and teaching active members who are struggling. That is truly the focus that we have been feeling lately in this area. Which is so different from other areas that I have served in. But there have been so many experiences with members opening up to us and sharing some very personal struggles that they are having. We have also had members who have given us names of friends that they have never given missionaries before and asked us to pray for them. We also had a great meeting with the bishop this week as well and really got on the same page even more. 

This week I gave my first training at District meeting. I was so grateful for the opportunity. I felt truly guided in my preparation. I taught the fundamental of teaching people, not lessons. I started off by doing a visualization, a bit out of the norm for a district meeting:) But we are called to use our talents and our creativity. haha. So I had all of the missionaries close their eyes and chose one of their investigators, less-actives, or someone that they were working with. I took them through this person's life, starting with the pre-mortal life and their relationship with Heavenly Father. I walked them through each of the stages of their life and then had their person find the gospel and had them imagine their life with the gospel. Then I took them to the final stages of death and when they would meet Heavenly Father again. I focused the whole time on the love that Heavenly Father has for His children. It was really powerful and the spirit truly was teaching the missionaries as they went through that visualization. We then talked about 3 ways to more effectively teach to Children of God. 1.) Listening with Love, 2.) Asking Questions, 3.) Letting your Mouths Be Filled (following the spirit). Then for the role play at the end, I put each of the missionaries with another missionary. I told them to just be themselves, instead of an investigator. Then I had them teach the missionary to their needs, one of the principles of the Doctrine of Christ. It was really powerful and there were just some neat experiences that everyone had. It helped them not only to remember that we are teaching children of God but that we ARE children of God too. :) The spirit was so strong by the end of district meeting, which is good because we have been lacking that spirit in some of our meetings. I was so grateful for the spirit being the true teach but that I got the chance to be the mouthpiece. 

We have been teaching a 10 yr.old girl, named K. Her mom is a member but her dad is not. Her dad doesn't think that 8 is old enough to be baptized and so he wants her to wait until she is ready and then asks to be baptized. We have been teaching her almost the whole time I have been here. They just love us coming over and we have just been teaching her like any other investigator we just hadn't invited her to be baptized yet because we knew her family rule. But we talked to her mom on Sunday and she said it would be fine if we invited her to be baptized. So this week we invited K to be baptized and she said yes:) She is talking to her parents about it this week and setting a date to work towards. Her mom was so happy. We know that eventually her dad will also want to learn more. We have dinner with their whole family in a week and we are excited for that night:) She truly understands that in order to make it back to live with Heavenly Father, we need to be baptized by that priesthood authority. 

Life is good. Struggles are real. But so is the Atonement. :) There are joys and miracles every day! Heavenly Father loves us. We are His children. We each have our own personal journeys towards him. I love Him. 

Have a wonderful week! I love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Young

Updates

Monday - Feb. 2, 2015

So, guess what?! We just received news this week that our mission is expanding! Guess where it is expanding to? We are now going to include both the Casper,Wyoming Stake, and the Riverton, Wyoming stake, starting in April! I was sooo excited when I found out. More opportunities for me to go serve in Wyoming:) We will be getting some of the missionaries from the Rapid City mission. I am just praying to get to finish my mission in Wyoming. I know that I need to accept the Lord's will but...I can still pray:)

This week I wanted to give you all an update on all of my wonderful Rawlins people. I know it was a tender mercy of the Lord, I was able to hear from, or about 3 of my investigators/Recent Converts in Rawlins this week. 

B - is doing sooo well. She is sharing the gospel like crazy and was able to get permission to do baptisms for her Grandparents and some other family members. At work she even has copies of the Book of Mormon and pass a long cards at her desk to give to people. So great!!

A - is still super strong. Has a calling in the Young Women's. She is still keeping the temple as a goal. Also, her husband has really clicked with the Elders that are there and they had dinner with them the other night!! So great.

S - Wrote me a super long and wonderful letter. She is still investigating the church. She is reading 2 chapters every day from the Book of Mormon, and has gone to church every Sunday since I left. She is still loving learning and misses us a lot. 

 I am just so grateful to see these wonderful people staying strong in the gospel and continuing on. That is where the true joy comes into play being a missionary. I find so much joy seeing these wonderful individuals becoming stronger and happier as they come closer to our Heavenly Father. The gospel is so true and it changes lives. 

Sometimes it may be slow, but they Lord is still continually in control. He will guide His work and as we are working hard, being obedient, and following the spirit, we will do what He wants done. Have a wonderful week! KEep Pressing forward! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Young