I Love Oregonians!

Devon and Gerise got baptized!!! Wonderful, wonderful day! So this was Saturday. It was one of the best days of my entire life! President Morby spoke which was cool because he is definitely going to be a general authority. I was asked to speak about the change I've seen in Devon and I didn't even cry! Which is surprising considering my nickname is Crylie. Devon and Gerise both cried though. I love them so much and I can't even describe how it felt to see them dressed in white and enter the waters of baptism, covenanting with their Father that they will follow the example of Jesus Christ and take His name upon them. I think we sometimes downplay the importance of baptism, or at least I never understood it until my mission.

 

Baptism is the first step to eternal life. Our salvation depends on this thirty second ordinance. It is the promise that we will leave our old life behind and reconcile our desires with the Savior's. Mosiah 18: 8-10

 

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life--

 

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

 

This next part is my favorite, cause these people are pumped! 

11 And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

 

I wish we could all have the vision of the importance of baptism. Each of God's children need this special ordinance to achieve true happiness, and who are we to hold them back from it? BE BOLD! This is a matter of life or death. "We are ALL enlisted till the conflict is over." It's still not over people. Let's put on the armor of God, join Zion's army, and save these precious souls! It is the single most important thing we can do on this earth. My challenge to you is to have one missionary experience a week. I know you can do it and I would love to hear about them :)

 

On my mission I have acquired a greater capacity to love. I have always been a people person and have always loved people, but the strength of that love has tripled! It's like God has unlocked a chamber in my heart that I never even knew I had and filled it chock full of Oregonians! I love the people here so much. I wanna cry every time an ambulance goes by because I can't stand the thought of any of my sherwoodites getting hurt! I especially love Devon and Gerise. They truly have become like family to me and I know God sent me here at this specific time so I could make this lasting friendship.

 

I'm sad that the letters keep getting sent back! Have you called the mission home? Maybe they know what's going on. I really hope I don't get transferred and I don't think I will. The work is our area is exploding so I would be surprised if I got moved. I love you all so much! Work hard, pray hard! :) oh and mom, in the women's conference, Henry B Irying said to send our moms a smile, so I sent some smily pictures. I love you mom! :)
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Hey family!

 Sorry about last week, sister Lawson was sick and since we are the only sisters in our zone I had no one to go out with. I was stuck inside all day! Also I am no longer allowed to email back and forth. President Morby is really cracking down on us, as he should! I want all the blessings as possible for my area so the more rules to be obedient to, the better! These past two weeks have been insane! Devon
and Gerise got married! It was amazing! They had about a hundred guests there that weren't members and most of them had never been inside an LDS church before. Bishop was the one that married them
and in his talk before the "I do's" he basically taught the entire plan of salvation! It was the best wedding I've ever witnessed! 

This week sister Lawson was really sick so I had to find members to take care of her and be my companion if I wanted to go out. Luckily I am in the best ward ever and had a companion almost every single day these last two weeks! We taught so many lessons and got new investigators.
The most awesome thing is that right now we have five people with baptismal dates! I've never realized how truly important baptism is until my mission. It's crucial! And to see so many people change their
entire lives to take part in this sacred ordinance is like nothing I've ever experienced. So remember the guy Ricardo that we found three weeks ago? Well he is getting baptized! I've never seen someone so
prepared! President Morby came to the lesson with him and it was awesome to feel the spirit and set a baptismal date with a man of such power in the room! 

I wish I knew what else to say. So many things happened that I can hardly remember what was this week and what was a month ago. I've never been more tired and more happy in my life and I never ever want to leave. Transfers are in two weeks and I'm crossing my fingers that I stay in Sherwood. We have so much work going on! 

The coolest experience ever was on Tuesday we went over to some investigators with a couple of men in the ward to give them a priesthood blessing to help them overcome their smoking. He quit his job a couple days before because they kept scheduling him to work Sundays and he wanted to dedicate that day to The Lord. He is just so awesome! He was really stressed because he couldn't find any work. Well, after these men in the ward gave them blessings, brother Moore asked him if he would work for him at his flooring company and eventually take over the practice. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Because he decided to keep the sabbath day holy and because he chose to quit smoking, he was rewarded with a career that is absolutely what he wants to do. She cried really hard and just kept saying thank you. If they didn't understand the love of God before, they do now. He truly is involved in every aspect of our lives, even if we don't see it. He loves us with a perfect love that we can't change no matter what we do. In the visitors center the first thing you see when you walk in is the Christus with Christ's arms open showing the prints in his hands. I testify that no matter what we do, his hands are "stretched out still." He longs to embrace us and to take away the things that trouble our minds and our hearts. In Him is the elixir to all of life's woes. We will still have trials and tough times, but we can have peace knowing that our Savior has been there before. I love my Savior and I wish everyone knew how to fully access the atonement and feel the love of Christ in their lives.  He is there for everyone. No one has gone far enough to be out of reach of the Savior. I love you all and I love my mission. 

Mom you asked what clothes I want. Remember the plain black dress I got at
Downeast? And remember how there was a white one just like it? I would
like that. Or anything summery. I need more summery shirts. All I have
is sweaters! I love you dearly mom. Today a family that we didn't even
know bought our lunch and I told the lady that you really appreciate
that. I am in really good hands here. I love you family! Thanks for
everything! 
Work hard, pray hard!

I am a huge believer in a GOD OF MIRACLES

 

The YW are always decorating our apartment and leaving us gifts!  Its great!

 

With Gabe at the visitors center

Kylee's Baptism

Mom! This week has been awesome! There are too many awesome experiences to say them all. So I'll just start by saying that Kylee got baptized! Woohoo! It was awesome! And that same day we got to go through the temple with a recent convert to get her endowments! So basically Saturday was legendary.

 

 That night we started a mission wide fast. President Morby is so inspired. He told us that our entire mission would fast for 24 hours to find the elect, or those that are prepared to receive the gospel and be baptized. He promised that God could not ignore the fasting and prayer of over 200 missionaries and urged us to fast for the entire mission, not just our area. So, we did. Boy howdy it worked wonders! We found a new investigator almost every single day this week. God has seen our desire to proclaim the truth and the way to salvation and has given us people to proclaim it to! I don't have time to talk about all of them but I want to highlight two awesome experiences.

 

 So Devon and Gerise are just on fire. They share the gospel everywhere they go. They even give people Book of Mormons on the bus! Anyways they were talking to their friend Gabe about it.  They invited him to the visitors center so we all went on Thursday night. We taught Gabe the plan of salvation inside the center and then went in the atrium in the temple. The spirit in the atrium is indescribable. Gabe wouldn't let us leave! He loved it and is going to make some changes in his life. We promised him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ all things are possible.

 

 The next one is Ricardo. We had this potential investigator that we found knocking doors and hadn't seen them in forever but for some reason we felt like we should go by on Saturday morning and when we did we found that they were moving to a different apartment. So we called the elders and the four of us moved them out in a jiffy. What was really awesome was that they brought their friend, Ricardo, over to help them move. He started asking us all kinds of questions and by the end of the move he was committed to church and baptism! He is so great! He's been searching for truth for so long and has gone to every other church imaginable. He came to church yesterday and loved it! It was such a miracle! I am a huge believer in a God of miracles. I know that God works mighty miracles in our lives every day. I know that fasting is a way to come closer to God so that we can receive his guidance and counsel. I also know that it shows Him the trust we have in Him and helps us earn His trust. I am so thankful for this mission and for my Father in Heaven. I love you all! Work hard, pray hard!

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I am a witness of the hastening of the work! I don't have a lot of time to tell you about the many miracles we saw this week, but I will share a few. So there is this man named Grandpa that lives next to us. I'm not sure if I've told you about him or not, but he is the coolest guy of my life. He is 97 and still kickin' like nobody's business. He still works and travels a lot and moves faster and more athletic than I do, but who doesn't? He works for a wharehouse and has to travel for business!  It's crazy!! 

 Anyways we see him every day when we leave our apartment and every night as we come home. We just so happen to be on the same departure and arrival schedule. He is always so friendly to us and gives us journals and candy every time he sees us. We have tried to talk to him about the gospel but he's never been the least bit interested, which is strange because he always asks us to send "the boys on bikes" meaning the elders serving in our ward, over to meet him. So we referred him to the elders but since he works so much they didn't ever see him when they went over to his house. Sister Lawson and I prayed about him every night because we felt such a special connection with him even though he rejected hearing our message. So last Thursday morning as I was backing sister Lawson out he pulled up and said "where are you two honeys off to today?" And I told him the temple visitors center. He freaked out and said "you're a Mormon? I'm very interested in the Mormons! I thought you were 7th day Adventist!" So we cleared up our true religion and he went on his way. After that we didn't see him for a few days and we were so bummed! Finally on Saturday night we ran into him and he said where have you ladies been and when can I get baptized? I want to be a Mormon! So we set a baptismal date with him right there in the parking lot and we have an appointment set up to teach him tonight! He is hilarious! He calls us sister you-doll and Loveson haha real clever grandpa. Tonight he is going to give us each an oscar for best missionaries. He is awesome and so prepared! He may be 97, but God doesn't care when we arrive, so long as we do arrive and take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. I know that it is never too late! No one is a lost cause. Jesus Christ is every one's Savior. He forgave the men who crucified him, why wouldn't he forgive you? I love the power of the atonement. It is such a gift!

It has rained really hard this week and it just so happens to be the week that everyone needs service! It's been so fun! My hair has been a wavy mane all week long. We saw this woman last night at 5 moving everything from her apartment to her truck BY HERSELF! She was mid sixties and her sons wouldn't come help her cause it's an hour away. Her church wouldn't come help her because she hasn't been attending lately. It was awful! So sister Lawson and I helped her for about five hours. Needless to say, we got to know her really well. She opened up some hard things she was going through so we got to share the atonement with her. I was so thankful that God put her in our path so we could meet her and help her move.

Devon and Gerise told me they are facebook friends with you!  Ha Ha that is so awesome!  They are amazing!  I love them so much!  They bore their testimonies yesterday!  

 

I really love this work. I never want my mission to end! I love you all so much! Work hard, pray hard!
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