Missionary Maren: 10/26-11/1

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hey hey! :)

SUCH AN AMAZING WEEK! Let me tell you whyyyy --->

Miracle report, ready go!

Monday-- Sister Burdick told us to come over and teach her best friend's son, so we did! His name is Jesse, he's 16 years old and he is SEARCHING for truth. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he said he would read, pray and get baptized if he found out the Book of Mormon was true. :) So amazing! We are teaching him tonight as well! SISTER BURDICK IS ON FIRE!

We had Sister McMullin come out with us that night to see a few people.. all of which were not home, so we went back to her home and shared a message with her family, and they were the ones to uplift us I think! It was awesome. I love their family. They are amazing and they have a daughter out serving (actually she served in Sister Long's home ward! Crazy small world! So awesome)

Mission President gave us all "little boulders" because he wants us to remember to all be a little bolder! :) hahaha love it!

Tuesday-- We had ZONE CONFERENCE! :)

It was seriously so amazing and exactly what I needed.

President Wilson taught us how to be problem solvers through explaining Nephi's experience and what he chose to do when his bow broke and his family would starve if they didn't have any food. {1 Nephi 16} His plan of action is as follows:

1-PRAY (Pray after thinking of a solution to the problem)

2-DO SOMETHING; ACT

3-Turned to his PRIESTHOOD LEADER (father,and leader)

4-Read SCRIPTURES

5-EXPECT MIRACLES--> nothing is too hard for the Lord. Show trust in the Lord.

Food for thought for you all :)

Wednesday-- We went on an EPIC EXCHANGE!

I went with Sister Perrin and we had sooooo many miracles happen! WE FOUND 4 NEW INVESTIGATORS! And then when we reunited with Sister Long and Sister Alderman (she is from Eagle--She said she knows Summer from High school!) THEY HAD FOUND 4 NEW INVESTIGATORS! So amazing!!! We just followed the plan we had made and were in the right place at the right time, and the Lord blessed us with so much courage and the words we needed to say in our mouths! We each had picked something that we feel uncomfortable doing, or something that's awkward for us in missionary work and prayed to have opportunities to face our fears and grow our faith. IT HAPPENED LIKE SO MANY TIMES where I had to work on my fear/ awkward thing and it was awesome! We found this lady named Tiffany and she is SOOOO SOLID. She asked us to come back that night to teach her family. Sadly, her husband called and told us that they had a previous commitment they forgot about.

Thursday-- We had SUCH a rad day! Brooke came out with us to go to an appointment but it fell through so she ended up calling her step-mom (who isn't a member and is married to her less active father) to see if we could come see them and they weren't home, so Brooke invited them to come to her house when they were done running errands. BASICALLY THE BEST LESSON ABOUT THE PLAN OF SALVATION with their family!!!! They are so excited to come and change their lives! Sondra (the step-mom) is so intense and so excited to learn about the gospel! She took NOTES! hahaha it was the best! I was so happy!

Then we had a lesson at Sholanda's with Sister James who came with us! It was great! Sholanda went out of town so she wasn't able to come to church. But she agreed and committed to meet with us twice this coming week! :)

Friday-- We did service at the Senior Center and all of our favorite cafeteria ladies dressed up for Halloween! It was super fun to see them.

We were walking down a street and started talking to this single mom for a minute, but they were heading somewhere and were running late, so we weren't able to talk too much with them, but we did figure out she needs some employment so we are going to give her info about the unemployment center the church has here, and then we got her name, it's Jessica Johnson! (I was like MY BEST FRIENDS NAME IS JESSICA JOHNSON!) hahaha I thought it was a cool thing. :) She also told us they just moved there and want to go to church.. so yay!

Brother Jorgenson's wife just recently passed away a few weeks ago, so we went and visited him and we needed some water, so he gave us some. The sweet man. He is so awesome! My favorite! He gave us some great life advise and wisdom. Such a great man.

By the way, I've never seen so many ice cream trucks in MY LIFE. They must follow us around or something, because we hear them and see them 24/7.

Oh also great news! It's finally cooled down! We are hoping it's the El Nino year so we can get some major rain in this desert! We are in for some sort of storms this week hopefully! :)

We also talked to Tiffany's husband when we stopped by and invited him to church! He seemed pretty pumped about church! They didn't end up coming, sad day. But they are SUCH a good family. Good things to come for them in the future hopefully!

Saturday-- We contacted Erica's grandpa (she is someone I met, and whom I love, in Stockdale area and her gramps lives nearby!) He was happy to see us and super nice!

We tried to fix Sister Bower's computer for her so she would be able to watch conference, but we failed.. she doesn't have the right connection for the internet. Oh well! We taught her about ponderizing and that seemed to help! :) We also talked to her niece Charlene that lives with her for a minute and she is SUCH a gem. She is super rough around the edges and acts big and tough, but she is truly such a wonderful example of selfless and quiet service. She's amazing! Love that woman.

We went to the Bey's for some baked potatoes and I showed them how Idahoans get down with their potatoes! ;) hahahaha and then WE GOT TO SEE TEAGYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT WAS AMAZING!

She spent Halloween with Sister Nowak and Zek and it was soooo good to see her!

We had to go in at 7pm that night for curfew, but we were A okay with that. We went to be SO early hahaha best day ever. SLEEP IS GOLD.

Sunday-- For old times sake we walked to church with the Teag-mister! :) It was fun! She's such a doll. Just has such a rough life to live. Love her so much.

Church was awesome!! I bore my testimony of the Savior. That morning I learned a lot about what He went through for us. My heart was so full. I am so grateful for Him. For His perfect example and sacrifice. I love Him.

We had dinner at the Despain's and she had asked what we were wanting for dinner and we said french dip sandwiches (miss you mother and your delicious french dip sandwiches:)) haha and she totally outdid herself! They were delicious!! I love the Despains! They are amazing.

We got a call from the Haney's and they had their son (who hasn't been to church forever) and his girlfriend over for dinner and they both came to church and she had some questions! So we taught her the Plan of Salvation and it was super great! She had some good questions! She said she doesn't have time right now to investigate the church full fledged... soon Jessie, Soon! :)

"Part of our challenge is, I think, that we imagine that God has all of His blessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to us unless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has set up. But the commandments aren't like that at all. In reality, Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us. His commandments are the loving instructions and the divine help for us to close the umbrella so we can receive the shower of heavenly blessings...

"The choice is yours! The Creator of the seas, sands, and endless stars is reaching out to you this very day! He is offering the grand recipe for happiness, peace, and eternal life! To qualify for these glorious blessings, you must humble yourself, exercise faith, take upon you the name of Christ, seek Him in word and deed, and resolutely 'stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.'" {President Dieter F. Uchtdorf}

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Stay strong!!!

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxoxo

This dog got a hair cut... hahahaha