I'm Going Back to Wyoming!

Hello All! 

We heard about transfer news this weekend and there are some pretty big changes that will be happening for me. I will be heading to Cheyenne, WY in the Capital Hill Ward. I will be companions with Sister Heintz (I think that is how you spell it...) Another exciting change, I have been called to be a Sister Training Leader as well. I think I will be the Sister Training Leader for all of the Sisters in Wyoming since they now only have 3 companionships of STLs for the entire mission. I'm excited to have this leadership opportunity to learn, grow, serve and love. It will be quite a few changes though so I will be praying a lot. I hear that the ward I am going to is awesome though, so I am pretty excited:)

We had some really neat miracles happen this week. First one, last night we got a text from Sis. M, K(recent convert) mom, that said, "Just wanted to let you know that (her husband) has been sitting in on scripture study for the past couple nights!!!" That was the best text ever! His heart is being softened little by little and as they read the Book of Mormon together, I know it will continue to be. That was a huge step for him and it filled me with so much joy to hear. Their cute family is so sad to see me leave. The youngest doesn't quite understand transfers and when she was told that I was leaving, she said, "She can't leave mom! She can live with us! She can have my bed!" They were pretty upset when they heard. This family has been such a big part of my mission and I know they will continue to be a huge part of my life

Another amazing experience that we had this week was a bit unexpected. One day we felt prompted to text a couple that we have worked with a bit but not too much. The wife is a member but less-active and didn't grow up much even in the church. Her husband is not a member but has taken the missionary lessons many times through out his life. They both love missionaries but have seemed pretty content to stay how they are which is why we haven't worked a ton with them. But we text them, after not having seen them in quite a while. Sis. B said, " My husband was just asking about you both and wanted you to come over!" We set up a time for the next night. We went over and found out that we needed to be there that night. He had been going through some tough times and was really in a tough spot. We shared Because He Lives with them and had a wonderful lesson on the Savior and his Atonement. They both really opened up to us, which is hard for them. Then we felt prompted to sing, "Where Can I Turn for Peace." So we did. The spirit was so strong while we sang and Bro. B after just sat there sobbing. They kept saying how much they had needed us to be there that night and how it was not by accident that we were there. I love the spirit. I love music. I love the Savior. 

As, I leave Terry Lake, it will be hard to say goodbye. I love the ward dearly. I am so incredibly grateful for my wonderful companion, Sister Jensen. We have had such a good time together. I am so grateful for her. She is such an amazing missionary and I have learned so much from her. We helped each other through the difficult times. I know I was needed here.  I'm grateful for the people I have meet and worked with and I have made some lifelong friends here and seen lives change through the Atonement. 

I am so excited to watch General Conference this weekend and hear the counsel from our living Prophet. I know he receives revelation from Heavenly Father that we need in our lives. To watch conference online this week you can go to  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng

Prepare this week to be able to receive the messages that Heavenly Father has to give to you individually. I know the spirit teach us each what we need to know. I love each of you!! Happy Easter!! Always remember our Savior and His sacrifice for us.  

Love,

Sister Young

Because He Lives

March 23, 2015

Sorry! This email is going to be really short. Not too much time today. 

We find out about transfers again this upcoming Saturday, so who knows what will happen. I'll let you know next week. 

C has set a baptismal date for April 11th, so that will be exciting! She is really great and excited to be baptized. 

We have been focusing a lot on the new initiative that the church is putting out for Easter. Because He Lives. This Friday the church will be releasing the Because He Lives video on helives.mormon.org . We got a sneak peek of it at our Zone Conference a few weeks ago and it is beautiful. I am so grateful for the Savior and how because He lives, we have so much peace and hope in this stressful, chaotic, world. There is so much beauty in the world because He lives. We can also live again with our families for eternity because He lives. I am grateful for that blessing. Check out the video this Friday and share it with your friends. Use the hashtag #becausehelives . 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Young

A sweet sister we teach

Our wonderful district this transfer!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

As Zion's Youth in Latter-Days

Well, I'll have to be fast! This week K got baptized! It was such a great baptism. She is so sweet. The spirit was there strongly and her dad could feel it as well. We showed a short clip on the Restoration and he watched intently the whole time. Later on, Sis. M said that he had told her that he thought we were really good sister missionaries. We have become part of their cute family as we have taught them and it was not by chance that we were a part of their life at this time. I love them so much! 

We also have been teaching an 11 year old girl, C. She is so sweet. Her brother just got baptized a few weeks ago and they both are just choice spirits of Heavenly Father. As we taught the Plan of Salvation this week, she just had so many good questions. She wants to be baptized and she will probably be baptized in the next month! I feel so blessed to be able to meet these choice children of God. 

The promise is real. The field is white and all ready to harvest. But the harvest sometimes takes a while and takes patience and sorting the wheat from the tares. We have done that a lot lately. Just been using the spirit to help us know who is not quite ready at this time so we can focus our time on the most effective work of the Lord. We also had a neat experience the other night when we went to a Part Member Family's home. As we got to know them and shared a lesson with them, the spirit was just so strong that there was a very specific reason we were there. Now, their daughter, age 14 is going to start learning more about the gospel and we pray that in time, her dad will too. He sat in on the lesson and their family was just so great. I felt a strong connection to them. 

Good things are happening in this area. Less-actives are coming back, moving forward, we are finding those who are prepared and ready. The members are getting involved in the work. Just so many good things happening. I know that the Lord in control of this work.  Sister Jensen and I have gotten to sing a lot lately. We sang at Zone Conference, we sang at Zone Meeting, we sang at the baptism, and we just love it! The spirit truly speaks through music in a way that no words could. I am so grateful to be a missionary. Sorry for the randomness of this email this week! 

I love you all so much! Thanks again for your support and love. Keep pressing forward!

Love,

Sister Young

Legos?

This week was actually super productive and effective. It was great! K is getting all ready for her baptism. She is a bit nervous for her interview and a bit scattered sometimes but she will do great. She understands everything but sometimes doesn't explain things very well. For instance, this week we were going over the baptismal interview questions and we asked, "What is the Word of Wisdom?" Her mom then prompted her, "It's things that we aren't supposed to eat and drink that are bad for us." K then said, "Oh like, don't eat little legos or else you will die?" Man, I couldn't stop laughing! It was hilarious. So we went over the Word of Wisdom again:) 

We have been teaching so many young kids lately. Most of our investigators that are progressing are under the age of 13. The young boy who got baptized last weekend is so awesome! We had the first new member lesson with him this week at a member's home. His little sister, age 11, came too. She now is super excited about being baptized too. He has such a powerful testimony and is such a bright kid. His Sister is great too. We will begin teaching her even more now too. 

We also have been teaching another 11 year old who is the granddaughter of a lady in our ward. She wanted her to be taught while she was visiting her to prepare her for baptism in the future. So we met with her every day this week and taught her. She is also just super smart and has such a desire to follow Jesus. The youth are so powerful! I love that Heavenly Father has blessed us to work with so many youth at this time. 

Also, a neat miracle in our lesson with J this week. We have been teaching her a lot about prayer lately and helping her feel comfortable praying again. We have invited her the past 3 or 4 times at the end of the lesson to say the closing prayer. She declines and then we ask why and try to get to the root but always have felt the spirit telling us not to push it too much. But this week we focused our whole lesson on prayer and then at the end we invited her again to pray. She agreed and said one of the sweetest prayers. It was such a huge step for her. She is doing so well.

It is so neat having the trust of the ward. They are so much more willing to help and serve and bless when they feel loved and when they trust us. Hard work, and obedience really does pay off, even if it only results in the trust of the ward member. When we were at dinner with Bishop this week, he let us know how great he thought we were and how the ward members had just been coming to him and letting him know how they trust us and see us working hard. He was so grateful and it was a huge compliment. I hope this paves the way for even more work in the future for the missionaries too. So many changes are happening in the ward and how they treat each other and talk about each other. It is becoming more positive and loving. We really can make a difference. 

We've had so many set appointments this week that we go from one to the other every day. It is so nice! That is what should be happening. We are full time teachers. The Lord is blessing us so much.

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

Love,

Sister Young

This is a recent convert that we work with.  He is great!:-)

The Peace of the Temple

Tuesday - March 3, 2015

Hello All!

Sorry that I didn't email yesterday. I had the privilege of going to the Denver temple this morning since I am past my year mark on my mission.It was amazing! 

It was hard to leave the temple today. I didn't want to come back out to the world where Satan has influence over so many of Heavenly Father's children. It all hit me after the temple too. It was such a contrast. I went to the temple with Sister Hay and Sister Budge. I love those two sisters so much. They had a member from their ward drive us there. From the minute we walked into the temple, the peace was just overwhelming. I literally let go of all of the stress that I carry with me every day. I didn't fully understand how much I am carrying until it was all lifted from my shoulders and I felt complete and utter peace. There is no better feeling. I know that this temple trip will give me the strength to continue strong until the end of my mission. The peace is sooo real!

Some crazy, but good things happened this week. So, first one, there was a young boy named J, that was baptized into our ward. Some other Elders had been teaching him but had received instruction that he needed to be in our ward. Ha. So we found out on Wednesday that his baptism was going to be on Saturday, and they handed over the program to us to arrange.  We ended up putting it together in those few days before the baptism. It felt like the night before the opening night when everything is crazy but then when it comes to performance, it miraculously comes together. It ended up being really great and the spirit was there. J seems like a great kid. We already have his new member lessons set up and we invited a ton of ward members to the baptism, last minute, and they all came! So great! 

K is still on for her baptism, it is on March 14th. She is so excited and it has been a miracle to see her family change and the spirit in her home just increase. Her mom is now reading the Book of Mormon with her kids every night, she is so excited about the scriptures, and family home evening, and she has really just come alive. She has totally changed and has more confidence in being able to teach her children the principles of the gospel. When we first met her, she was afraid that she didn't know what she was teaching her kids, but she really has gained confidence in that and it such a good mom to her kids. The spirit is so wonderful in their home now and it just brings us such great joy to see the changes in their wonderful family. I just love them.

We had a great trainers meeting this week with President and Sister Brown. It made Sister Jensen and I realize that we are doing ok. We really are. I had confirmed to me that I am training Sister Jensen the way that the Lord wants me to, and miracles are happening. I could just feel President's approval and trust and with that, I have just really felt Heavenly Father's love and approval this week too. Which is a nice feeling. I still have many ways that I need to improve, but I am doing what I need to right now. 

This week up ahead is very promising! We have 3 new Potential investigators and tonight we are starting to teach an 11 year old girl the lessons. She wants to get baptized! We got a call yesterday from a member telling us that he granddaughter wants to get baptized and that she will only be here for this upcoming week! So we will be teaching her probably every night to help prepare her for baptism.

 Miracles are happening, and I am learning more that the Lord calls you to areas for certain reasons, but they are usually not the reasons we think or want. I am finally seeing the reasons I am here. Building Ward trust, that has been a pattern on my mission. The M family. Other missionaries might have overlooked their family because she is only a 10 year old girl, but I love working with part member families. The changes in their family are leading them to the temple, to be an eternal family some day. The less-actives we are working with. There are just so many good reasons why we are here. Just not the reasons I would have originally thought. I'm sure the reasons will continue to appear. But for now, I just strive to do the Lord's work in His way, not my way. 

Well, my brain hurts. haha. So I better be done for now. But I love you all sooooo much!!!! Stay strong and remember that the peace that comes from the gospel far outweighs any temporary pleasure. This is lasting peace and joy! I know that! 

Love,

Sister Young

Here is a picture of K, who is getting baptized in a couple weeks and her sister:) They are so cute!! 

Also, a picture of the temple today:)