2/16-2/22

Hello my favorites! :) This week went really well! 

We didn't have too many lessons at the beginning of the week, we contacted some people and tried to see some less actives which went pretty well!

Friday--we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders-- they changed who are STL's are and they are now in Bear Valley, which is about four hours away. Back to Tehachapi it was! :) It was so crazy being near my old area again! We had a good time on exchanges with Sister Simmons and Sister Larsen and I learned a lot about being more diligent. I need to work on that, we always do, but it makes or break the work in an area. Bear Valley is really pretty! It was fun, I've never been up that way, it borders Golden Hills area but is a little community up in the mountains more. It's always good to see how the work is the same in whatever part of the world you go in :)

Saturday-- after exchanges we went to the Brunner's for lunch! The STL's said that Brother Brunner called them because he heard we were going to be up there and they set up a time and everything for us to go to there house! It was sooo good to see them and hear how everyone is doing in Golden Hills! So much progress is happening! I don't know if I've already told you but Robert Miller-- Charlotte's husband, the one we were trying to teach in Golden Hills when I was there is getting BAPTIZED!!! :) April 11th! I'm so excited, it was the greatest hearing about how he and everyone else is doing. So happy and excited for him! So wish I could be there for his baptism! 

After lunch and a short visit with them, we drove back to Bishop! It was good to be back in our area, I really missed it. I love this area so much! We had dinner at the Romero's, a family in the ward, not our recent converts, I know confusing haha. But that was hilarious. They have three crazy boys who like to talk to us about awesome science things hahaha it was great. Love them!

Sunday-- Was so great! :) I am just so grateful for this ward and the people in it! They are so amazing! After church we had some lunch and then we prayed REALLY hard to see some miracles. None of our investigators on less active people came to church, so we were going to go see them all and contact a referral we got from the elders as well. We went and found Bob! He has been MIA for the last two weeks and really shady not texting us back this last week. We knew he had been sick but we were worried. So we drove up the canyon to his house and it was snowing up there! And we found Bob and he is alive!! haha it was SO GOOD to finally talk with him again. He is still doing well. We taught him a short lesson about prophets and general conference coming up and just about how everything is going for him and what he is worried about. We have a lesson with him and his son planned for Tuesday and we are so excited for it! Back on track with Bob! He went and got a coat so that he wasn't freezing on the door step and he came out looking like Billy the Kid or a winter version of Indiana Jones. I think more like Billy the Kid though. 

Don't worry Bob's knife is rubber, no danger. hahaha

Then we went and had dinner with Sister Decker! A powerhouse woman in the ward! She is amazing! Such an awesome example and she converted to the gospel just a couple of years ago I think and she told us somethings that helped her. ANSWER TO PRAYERS-- we have been wondering how we can better help Bob and she helped! Then we contacted the referral which was so great! Her name is April, but she is moving really soon, so hopefully we will be able to help her move and plant some gospel seeds in their lives! :) Then we stopped by the Steedles! We had an awesome short lesson with them, we read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon with Andrew and he liked it, said he would read the second chapter and he did the closing prayer! SO GREAT! Progress, so much progress with that family. Sarah, the daughter who is 27 I think, sat in the lesson too! And followed along with us while we were reading! AH! I just love this family. So many miracles. They are going out of town this next week cause their son/ brother is coming home from the Navy for a bit, so we will meet with them when they come back. We are so happy for them! After that we then stopped by Mitch and Angie's and they are just the greatest. The lesson was on the Sabbath Day and how to keep it holy. It went really well and Mitch got his patriarchal blessing on Saturday! So awesome!!! :) Love love love it.

So many great things happen when we are obedient, diligent and have charity. I am trying so hard to have those things, and trying to be patient with my imperfect self. Things are going so well and I feel so blessed to be in this area with Sister Dodson and to have such wonderful friends and family supporting me from home. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

 

 Just a casual lemon house on the 395. 

The only street light on this side of Bishop.......A New Scary Movie Cover

Giving elders a bag of junk food-- the usual happenings when

 we are given lots of stuff haha. 

Some adventures with Sister Dodson

2/9-2/15

Happy Valentine's Day from Sister Loar and Sister Dodson

Sister Dodson's mom sent us some Valentines :)

Hello Family and Friends! 

I don't have much time today and not too much happened this week. I did make some heart shaped pizzas on Valentine's day with Sister Spencer who had us over for dinner! It was awesome because I was doing the same thing Dad was doing in AZ at Papa Murph's! :)

We have been invited by President and Sister Wilson to read the Book of Mormon and underline scriptures that testify of Christ's love shown through His Atonement. I did this for a couple of days right after they gave it to us, but then became lazy and didn't do it after the New Year. (They gave it to us for Christmas) So, we just got word that they will ask us how our reading is going on March 3rd during our interviews with them.... oops! Haha :) So, this past week, I have been reading the Book of Mormon like a mad woman. I am currently on 2 Nephi 27 and I have a few more weeks until interviews, so I am positive and have faith that I can really make some progress before then. Satan cant stop me now! :)

Alright, so basically the Book of Mormon is the most rad book out there. The raddest history book there ever was! I've read it through a couple of times but never before have I understood the Book so clearly in my life. I have grown to have such a love and heart felt gratitude for the prophets in the Book of Mormon. They dedicated their lives to record the things that Heavenly Father needed them to. They lived and died in righteousness. Satan is so cunning. SO CUNNING. He still managed to grab hold of some of the people's hearts. Satan is so sly.. in the simplest of ways he finds how he can get into the hearts of men. We have heard snippets from people talking about the government and about the new movies coming out-- the awful movies that are coming out, and my heart is so heavy for those people who are letting Satan into their hearts and minds as they give in to worldly pleasures and curiosities.

So far what I've read in the Book of Mormon the prophets, Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob have all seen Christ and have all prophesied of His coming. It blows my mind how exact they are in their prophesies because they lived 600 years before Christ even came! So cool. They had the record of their fathers-- the brass plates-- which I think is soooo cool that those are the 5 books of Moses that we now have in the Bible as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These men of God all had faith in Christ and obeyed His commandments. They prophesy that the only way we will be saved, or even be able to stand before the judgement seat of God is through Christ's Atonement and Resurrection. If it weren't for Christ, we wouldn't even have the chance to stand in front of God at the Judgement day. {2 Nephi 9-11}

Heavenly Father has created the perfect plan for all of us to have a chance to receive salvation and eternal life. I am SO grateful for the testimony I've gained, for the knowledge I have that there is a Savior, and if we humble ourselves, have faith in Him, repent of our sins, are baptized, recieve the Holy Ghost and endure to the end, we will have eternal life-- we will live with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and our families forever in happiness. I love the Book of Mormon. It is true. I know because of the way I feel when I read it. After I read in the mornings I ponder about it through the rest of the day, and I can feel the Spirit even more throughout the day. It brings me such peace and comfort anytime I pick it up. Boy are we so blessed to have it in our lives!!! I cannot deny, nor will I ever be able to deny, the testimony that I have that Jesus is the Christ- my Savior and Redeemer, and this is His church, restored in its fullness, that the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet of God led by Him to bring all these things to life. I know this with every fiber of my being. I love this gospel. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers; He loves us SO MUCH. 

It is such an honor and privileged to wear this name tag and spread the good news! Being a missionary has been the greatest blessing to my life.

I'm so grateful for all of you and your prayers, love and support. Hope you all have a wonderful week. Sorry this weeks email was a little scatter brained and such haha! I love & miss you all!!!

Hoorah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

We made cookies for the Relief Society Night!

This is Sister Wilson! :)

2/2-2/8

Hello my favorites!

I can't believe it has already been an entire week. Lot's of great things happened this week! :)

Tuesday-- WE stopped by to talk to a few people and didn't have much success. We dropped by the Steedle's and talked with Chuck, the dad. That was a first! He was so chatty and actually carried a conversation with us, which never happens whenever we go over there. :) Andrew saw us outside and was so excited to see us! We talked with him for a bit and he said the next time we come over to teach him he wants to learn more about Jesus Christ's baptism. After that we were talking to Jake, Katie's son, and his friend Tristan because they live right next to the Steedle's. We made a deal with them that we would play a game of basketball, me vs. Jake and Tristan, and if I won, they had to listen to a story about Jesus. Haha it was a heated game with lots of trash talk coming from Tristan and Jake saying, "Oh! A girl just broke your ankles!" hahahaha it was hilarious! So yes, I played in my skirt, and yes I felt like a giant bully because they were ten and I was huge hahaha, but hey they listened to part of the Plan of Salvation afterwards so it was worth it. ;) After his friend left we kept talking to Jake and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it!  

After that we met Sister Freeman at the Family History Center and she started her family history for the first time! It was awesome, she found both of her parents who have passed away. We are planning to meet with her again this week too!

We had an awesome lesson at the Romero's with Sister McLaughlin about fasting. It was a really great lesson, we talked about how fasting can help us feel the spirit more and it can help us show our faith to God and help us receive the answers God is waiting to give us.

After that we had a lesson with Bob Luhan at the church and Sister Spencer and Brother Jacobs came. It was kind of a crazy lesson because he has so many questions about the details and so many doubts are creeping into his mind. But finally at the end of trying to ease his obscure concerns, Sister Dodson was like Bob! Stop it! Haha and she explained about the Holy Ghost and asked him if he felt it. He said he knew he had felt it and what it does-- testifies of truth. She asked him if he knew the Book of Mormon was true, if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if he thought this was Christ's church restored and he said yes to all three questions! He knows it's true!!! :)

So we told him to always remember the way he feels about those things and how he came to know them. We left the lesson relieved and so grateful. The Spirit seriously was the only thing helping us, because we had no idea how to answer some of his concerns. 

Wednesday-- Wasn't as exciting as the day before, but we had dinner at the Smiths-- a family that does not come to church anymore, but they feed us a lot and we are great friends with them. It was such an awesome dinner! After dinner they were showing us a funny video of the Mayor getting bit on the ear by the ground hog? hahaha it was funny, afterwards, I asked if they had seen the Because of Him video the church put out a little while ago. They said they hadn't and so they searched it and we all watched it together. The spirit was so strong!!!! And then we watched a couple more awesome Mormon Messages with them and they were really enjoying them. Brother Smith started tearing up during one of them, and their teenage daughter said that she really like them. :) Then Sister Smith brought up a memory of her and her brother's watching Johnny Lingo every Sunday together and so we searched it and found the full length video and watched it with them. They loved it! hahahaha that movie is super ridiculous in so many ways, but the spirit was there, and they enjoyed it. Afterwards, Brother Smith said, "I just love when you guys come over." He jokes a lot so we were waiting for the punch line to come, but it never did. He was serious, and so happy when he said those words. I know that he loves it because he feels the spirit when we are there. :) It was such an amazing time in their house, and the first time we were able to share anything spiritual with them. Such a miracle. Sister Smith said she wanted to feed us the next 2 following Wednesdays, so we are so excited for that!!!

Thursday-- We volunteered for a little at the Care Center and we were sent to go talk to a few of the old ladies hangin' around. Hahaha we had no idea what they were talking about, but it was fun just to be there. We then played the piano and sang some hymns for them. :) It was awesome. Love serving others, it gives you such happiness and peace!

Then we had dinner at the Elkins, such a fun and crazy family! Love them. After that we had an AWESOME lesson on baptism at the Steedle's. Andrew knows that all of it is true. We explained how getting on the right path, the straight and narrow path now, by entering the gate of baptism will bring so many more blessings to his life now, then having to wait to get on the right path years down the road. He understood it well and understands that we make a promise to serve God and follow Jesus Christ when we are baptized and that God promises us that He will give us the Holy Ghost and blessings and tools along the way to help us return to live with him again. It was a great lesson. I am excited for when Andrew will understand that he needs to be baptized now! :) He said he would say the prayer next lesson -- which will be the first time he says it with us. Woohoo! 

After that we taught Book of Mormon class on Alma 40-42. It's about the prophet Alma talking to his son Corianton about so many amazing truths that help us cope with what goes on in this world. I learned so much from those chapters, and I'm so happy that we taught the class. If you all get a chance to read it-- definitely do. :)

Friday-- We had Zone Training Meeting in Lone Pine which is like an hour away. I had to give a talk and only had a day notice, so that went well hahaha. After that we went to a Physical Therapy appt. for Sister Dodson because she hurt her knee the other week. It is so weird going back to PT! It brings back awful memories hahaha but she doesn't have to go through too much, just some exercises and stretches to get her back up to speed. 

We ate dinner on the porch that night, cause it was beautiful outside and super warm. We read our scriptures out their for the rest of the hour and it was a super peaceful an spiritual half hour. Oh how I just love the Book of Mormon! :) We went to Spanish class after that and that went well. We thought the church building was on fire when we were driving there because we saw smoke in that same direction. What actually was going on is that there were some extreme winds in the foot hills near the mountains, about fifteen miles away and a power line fell and caused a giant fire on the side of the mountain. It was the biggest fire I have ever seen!! It was super eerie and scary and I'm not sure what the fatality rate is or if they lost houses, some people said that they did but I'm not totall

y sure, since we can't watch the news. It looked like Megatron was unearthing from inside the mountain near Rovana, CA.

Saturday--We met Bob Shay a recent convert at the church and helped him with his Family history as well! It was awesome. He was super excited about it. Then we stopped by at the Daniels-- I talked about them a while ago-- and they invited us to stay for dinner. :) So we did and had an awesome time with them and shared a great message. Don said he would read the first two chapters of the Book of Mormon! :) yayayayyy! Also he knows Colton Christensen (if Marker is reading this at all) because Elder Christensen stayed in the apartment attached to their house when he served here! So cool! He said the nickname he always called him was "Gumbi" cause he was so tall! :) love small world experiences like that.

We played volleyball that night with the elder's investigators and the Ginn's and the Romero's came too! It was super fun! Such a great time with all of the Hispanic people! 

Sunday-- was awesome! None of our investigators came to church though :( Super bummed. Bob was out fighting the fire, so it was understandable. Now the fire is all contained so everyone is safe. Church was great though! We taught the ten year old's Sunday School class, and it went really well. We ate lunch at the Whitman's and her friend Fran who does Doterra was there for a workshop thingy and we talked about her conversion story and it was so awesome!!! Reminded me exactly of you Letty :) 

We had a great lesson with Mitch and Angie that night. They are my favorite!

Well, I'm so grateful to be serving a mission. I have learned so much and I'm so excited to continue serving and learning and growing. Love this gospel with all of my heart.

Love you all! Hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo

PS: We ate a "Rudy Dog" for lunch one day! It is soooo good! He has this little stand that he puts up on this corner all the time!

Fun Letter from a Cute Boy

Maren babysat for the wonderful M family quite often before her mission.  They contacted us tonight to get Maren's address so that they could send her a Valentine's package.  They sent over this letter from one of their cute boys....to fun not to share!!!!!!!

1/26-2/1

Hello Everybody! :)

This week was super great! 

Transfers are this week, and Sister Dodson and I are staying in Bishop!! WOOP WOOP! :)

Tuesday-- We went and did service at the Care Center. We were helping in the activities room with the residents and they were doing this weird meditation Chi Quong thingy hahahaha it was the funniest thing of my life. We were meditating while rowing our kayaks through a river and breathing in and out hahaha. We didn't know what to do, so we were just pretending we were on Avatar the last air bender.

{So a couple of weeks ago Sister Dodson and I were praying to have meals with less active members so we could start helping them come back to church and get to know them.} 

Later that day we were contacting some less active members and one of them has a girlfriend who knows one of the members. We got a text from the member telling us that Shae-- the girlfriend was wondering if we were allowed to go over for dinner sometime! PRAYER ANSWERED! :) So legit, so we are waiting to see if she contacts us this week to eat with her!

We had an awesome lesson that night with the Romero family! We taught them how to do Family History and they were super stoked! They are the first members in their family so they have so much amazing work to do!

Wednesday--We did some service at City Hall! Then later that day we had dinner with the

Freeman's and we started talking about family history with them and they are coming to the church to do that this week and start on theirs too! Our hope is to get all of these recent converts and less actives involved with that so they can go to the work for their families at the temple soon!

We had an awesome lesson with Bob Luhan! He finally came to the conclusion that he needed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to know if this is the true church! Yay! :) Then we had a good time playing basketball with some investigators and members! It was super fun!

Thursday--We had a good lesson at the Steedle's and we talked about who God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are and what their roles are in our lives and in the Plan of Happiness. He is such a smart kid, really stubborn-- knows that it is all true-- just doesn't want to get baptized. 

We had dinner at the Ginn's they are the funniest of families hahaha always so giggly when we eat with them! She made us cinnamon rolls, they were delightful! :)

Friday-- We contacted some less actives and found out that some have moved and then we went to Spanish class and had a good ole time with the ward there! Sister Dodson and I always quote Nacho Libre and then pretty soon we are crying laughing so hard in the back row.. probably not the most reverent, but it is a good time haha.

Saturday-- We contacted a neighbor of Sister Wilson's who's husband just passed away recently. We talked to her about the Plan of Salvation and she was so grateful we had stopped by! Gloria is the sweetest woman who has gone through so much, I feel so bad for her. But I know that she will find so much peace in this gospel!

We went to lunch at Mahagony Smoked Meats-- It is where Katie works so we saw her there and got some sandwiches as big as our faces :) Then we met Bob Luhan and the Rawlins and Mitch and Angie at the church and watched the full length Joseph Smith Movie. The spirit in the room was SO STRONG. Bob was really touched by it, and I know that he knows it is true. We all bore our testimonies afterwards and it was just an amazing spiritual experience. I'm so glad I had that confirmation of the Restoration and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

Later we played some volleyball with the investigators and members again! It was great! :) Love all of them so much! 

Sunday-- Andrew and Noni Steedle came to church! It was so great! :) We ended up teaching the Youth Sunday School class and it was so awesome! Those kids have such strong testimonies and they are going to make the greatest little army of missionaries ever. :)

We went to a Trek fireside the Stake was putting on for the youth that will be able to go on the Trek this year. It was so good! We are so excited for Liea Romero!!! She seemed super excited to go on it so we were just the happiest for her! :)

Then we had a lesson with Mitch and Angie and they were making us cry we were laughing so hard!!! hahahaha I can't even begin to explain in words what all was said, but they just crack me up so much. 

I just love all of these people so much, I'm so grateful for the chance to be serving here in Bishop for the next 6 weeks! :)

Love you all so much! Hope you had an amazing week and that you will have another great one!

The church is true and the book is blue!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo