miracle of the week!!

"it was really hot on friday (87 degrees!) and sis graf and i were tracting (we were on exchanges). sis graf said (half jokingly hehe) i think we should be done tracting. and i said no no sis graf, we need to tract until we find a new investigator! she said, or until it's 7 (we were scheduled to tract til 7), whichever comes first. haha. we were both really hot, thirsty, sweaty, etc and no one was really listening. a few doors later, ______ opened the door, invited us in (that had never happened to me before), and gave us cold, bottled water!!! not only that, but we ended up teaching her the restoration and getting a return appointment! her brother is mormon and has been bugging her to go to church so she finally agreed for this coming sunday. she said she always gets bored and tunes him out when he talks about the church, but that when we spoke about it, she felt something! (which we were quick to point out was the spirit of course). anyway she promised she'd read and pray about the book of mormon and we were pretty much giddy!!! SERIOUSLY a miracle."

too much fun?

"sis bush and i have just been having a blast! sometimes i think we have too much fun and we need to repent :) we honestly feel so blessed! the Lord has been providing people for us to teach. it's all about having faith and working hard, and He provides the miracles. sis bush and i are already planning our road trip to come back and visit all our friends :)"

a sweet testimony

"well, i'm very happy and loving the work! i'm just trying to keep getting better and better because there's SO much we can do to improve. i want you all to know that my testimony has grown so much! i knew it was true before, but i've come to recognize how amazing it is that we know this is true! there are SO many christian churches here, seriously one on every corner. and lots of people we talk to say we already have a church, we've already found Jesus, etc. i've realized how unique our message is . . . the message of the restoration! we have the authority of the priesthood on the earth! a living prophet! god still speaks to us! revelation hasn't ceased! i never knew how unique it was to know that until i came here. i know that joseph smith truly saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and that through him they restored their church on the earth. with the authority to perform all the ordinances we need to return to live with them and become like them. I know Jesus Christ lives, and knows us and our pains. He loves us so much. The power of the Atonement is real and we can apply it to every facet of our lives. I'm so grateful we know how to be together as a family forever. I'm excited to live my life in such a way that we can all reach our potential together. I love you all!!"

pics of the week!

"here's pics from the week! there's one in the car to document our pre-tracting enthusiasm :)"

"there's a pic of me, sis bush (in matching outfits by accident . . . we were on exchanges so she got dressed in puyallup and i got dressed in maple valley . . . so it really was an accident haha), sis graf, and sis sawyer! i've been companions with both sis graf and sis sawyer for a day each and they are awesome!"

"there's also a pic of us enjoying our package (THANKS MOM! IT WAS AMAZING! sis bush now shares my love for the muffins and banana bread and we've almost finished the muffins hehe)"

"and the last one is me pointing to our many investigators on our whiteboard because we are so blessed to have people to teach! yay!"

another great week!

“everything's going great! the Lord has blessed us so much! we got a referral from a realtor for a couple that he helped buy a house in our ward. we went over and met [*] and [*] on saturday, and [*] is SO ready for the gospel. he was basically saying he wanted to change his life around, have more faith in Jesus Christ, and improve his relationships with his family, and he wanted us to tell him how! they couldn't come to church on sunday because they were going out of town, but they asked us if they could come next week. of course!! [*] got really emotional during our lesson and it was such a great experience! he's a trucker and even said something about being willing to quit his job if it interfered with changing his life around. what a champ!

“My favorite experience of the week happened with [*]. it was our first exchange where i stayed in our area and sis bush left. so i was driving! i feel like i know our area a LOT better now after having to drive it! so yeah [*] had cancelled our appt for Thurs (which was sad) and we had a cancellation Friday night, so I decided Sis Yura and I should drop in on [*] in case she was home. she was there and invited us in (she is so great!! 26 yrs old, single with a 5 yr old boy, so happy even though she's gone through hard things) and we taught her the whole restoration (which i was not expecting! without sister bush and sis yura who is still learning english!). she had LOTS of questions. after hearing about the Restoration and being challenged to read the B of M, she still had the does any of this matter? doesn't it just matter that we believe in Christ? I know the Spirit helped me answer her questions because I'd never really thought about her particular questions before. it was a miracle and probably my favorite experience so far. after I answered her questions, i again challenged her to read the Bof M and pray and she said DEFINITELY! she was excited. ah it was so great! I can't wait to see her again.

“we had zone conference this week. it was awesome!! pres moffat and the assistants spoke a lot and it made me way excited to be better and improve! everyone is asked to write a 5 min talk on a subject, then president reads them all in the morning, then calls on 2 missionaries to speak . . . and he asked me to give my talk!! i think because i was one of 2 missionaries there that were new. it was a cool opportunity. i felt like it was a little random and scattered, but i enjoyed bearing my testimony.”

* Liz asked me not to include the names of her investigators!

"here is a pic of me and sis bush with sister moffat!! she's such a sweetie. we just love her. this is at the new missionary training at the mission home one week after i got here. she's so cute, she said, i knew you 2 would get along!!"


"the second pic is me and sister bush in our matching mariners shirts! we got them in the little boys section at walmart for cheap because we had a zone activity yesterday playing softball! it was so fun! it really seemed like a holiday because it was p-day so we barbequed and played softball! the elders were way nice and pretended that i was a valuable member of the team. i did hit the ball a couple of times! we borrowed mitts from a member and i used his son's t-ball mitt cuz my hands are so small haha. so yeah it was a blast! sister bush and i brought lots of fruit (because elders never think of fruit) and a cake decorated with strawberries and blueberries to look like an american flag (sis bush is the crafty one). good times!"

"these are pictures are of chuck!! haha so during companion study we roleplay sometimes, and i hate roleplaying to nothing, i just feel stupid haha. SO we made chuck out of our ironing board. good times :) he of course is from seattle and so he has an umbrella"

"this pic is me and sister yura! she's from mongolia and she's awesome. i've met all of the english sisters now because sis bush needs to do exchanges with all of them. she's holding chocolate because when i asked her what she wanted for lunch she just said chocolate haha."

"this pic is at a zone service project planting bushes and stuff. our zone is so great! we did that last week

hello from beautiful Seattle

"so before i forget i have to tell you the funniest story. k so sis bush is the training sister, which means she needs to go on exchanges with all the other english sisters every transfer. that means i get to go on exchanges with every sister every transfer which is fun because i'll get to know them all! this week we exchanged with the federal way sisters, and i was companions with sis kim. she's from korea, the only member of her family . . . amazing! she's great. we had tons of fun. there's a lot of koreans in federal way so they have an english class and we were passing out fliers. i learned out to say "hi! you're welcome to come to a free english class" in korean! it was awesome. i spoke korean to real koreans. legit. anyway the funny part is . . . we were driving back to maple valley to exchange back, and LONG story but i had her get on I-5 going south instead of north and we ended up in tacoma . . . aka OUTSIDE THE MISSION!! hahaha it was awful. i felt so dumb. but it was not intentional. haha just so you know though, i'm not that dumb, we just happened to get on the freeway at a different entrance that was JUST south of the exit we needed and if we'd entered the freeway the normal way then i would have been right haha. it's easy to go out of your mission when your mission is so small.
"other fun things of the week: we played laser tag with our district last p-day and i came in 2nd!! yup that's right i whooped the elders. it was way fun. we played at this park overlooking a gorgeous lake!

"this week has been great! i can't believe how fast it flew by. there were a couple days of discouragement (not too intense no worries) because we didn't have many people to teach. we just kept working hard and the lord has blessed us so much! a member brought her roommate to church last week and we set up an appointment to teach her on thursday. it went really well!! she came to church yesterday and we have an appoinment this week too! cross your fingers :) we also got a random referral from a real estate guy who had sold a house in our ward to a family who mentioned wanting to meet with the mormon missionaries again. we have an appointment this week!! also the cute girl that was baptized a little over a week ago, her dad has been reading the book of mormon when he thought no one was watching :) his wife leaves it on the table and he reads it. they're going to ask him tonight if he wants us to teach him. we think he's going to say yes!! he's awesome and that will make a whole family! ah pray for him too :)

"sis bush and i got to speak about the restoration in sacrament meeting yesterday. we were a little nervous because we didn't have much time to prepare, but it went great! it's hard to explain, but as a missionary you really feel like you can bear testimony with power! the spirit defintely gave us what to say and it was so great! there were a few nonmenbers there so it was a great topic!"

Maple Valley, Washington

Liz has been assigned to Maple Valley, Washington! She sounded so happy when we talked to her on the phone yesterday! They had a baptism on Saturday, a 17-year-old girl named Sarah. Here are some pictures and excerpts from her first email from Maple Valley:

"i LOVE maple valley! it is so gorgeous here, just like driving through a forest constantly. i feel like i'm already used to the rain, and even liking it sometimes :) it's been raining pretty hard some days which they say is not common. it's starting to get warmer and lighter longer and summer is coming! there are gorgeous flowers everywhere! the most beautiful colors. and now that i am here i realize how pretty utah isn't haha. actually i love utah and think it's gorgeous, especially the mountains, but here it's like the trees are everywhere!

"so yeah, sis bush and i hit it off immediately and we have a blast! . . . sis bush is an awesome missionary that just loves the people and everyone adores her. i hope to gain the same relation- ship with the people that she does. i feel like i love them already! i've found that teaching lessons is probably one of my favorite things on earth, just talking to these people about what i love most! i'm so glad that the brethren came out with preach my gospel, because it allows us to meet the needs of everyone we teach and not just recite the same thing over and over. it becomes a discussion where the investigator contributes and lets us know what they need to hear! love it!

"we're working with 2 awesome people that just got baptized, 3 or 4 people that have been working with missionaries for quite a while and just haven't received a solid testimony yet, and then we have a bunch of people that could be interested! i just wish we had tons of people to teach!! the hardest times are when EVERYONE bails on you and your plan c falls through. we can always find something to do, but it's not always as productive as the original plans.

"we have a good week coming up, just praying that our new investigators keep their appointments so we can teach them!! . . . ah the mission is just so great, i really have been so happy. . . . it doesn't seem to be as hard as i was expecting, so i hope that doesn't mean i'm doing something wrong. we're working hard, keeping the rules, and just loving it! i've already seen that the lord can use me, even an inexperienced greenie to bless his children. there have been few times that i know the spirit has told me what to say and what to ask to really figure out what the people need to hear and do. my testimony of god's love for ALL his children has grown so much. i know he loves each of you!!"

Lizzie's in Seattle!

We just received the letter that Liz wrote on Tuesday, May 5, the day she arrived in Seattle:

"I’m sitting in the mission home :) The flight was great . . . a little turbulent at the end, but just fine. So now I’m just excited to be in beautiful Seattle! It is GORGEOUS, very green, very wet. Pres. & Sis. Moffat and the Assistants were waiting for us at the airport. They are great! Very nice, very welcoming. It was fun to get a hug from Sis. Moffat after hugging was outlawed at the MTC due to the swine flu. We’re having lunch here at the mission home, then having some orientation, I think, and then meeting our trainers. The President said we’ll be teaching this evening! I’m excited. Sis. Moffat told me I’d love my trainer—she said we were the same type of people, meaning happy and smiley I think—so I’m really excited! There are no sisters in the city right now, just in the country down south. There are 8 English sisters turns out, but one is switching to Spanish, so I won’t be in a 3-some (so now w/me there’s 8 again). So yeah, I’m a real missionary now!!"

one week left . . .

Here is an excerpt from Liz's email that we received today! It's hard to believe she has only one week left at the MTC!

"life is so good! it's like a crazy life, seems like i've lived a lifetime crammed into 2 weeks! but i'm learning a lot! we've taught quite a bit and sis ireland and i have learned to be united as we teach. all the feedback we've gotten has been very positive! our teacher said the only thing she had as advice was that we were teaching awesomely and that we just need to stay humble and recognize that it's the spirit and not us! boy do i know it. there was one lesson i felt like i wasn't teaching well at all, but the teacher we were teaching said it was one of the most spiritual lessons he's heard in a LONG time, and he gets taught by missionaries all day every day! that's when i knew it was the spirit :) so yeah, there's some emotional rollercoaster-ness . . . going from feeling just excited, to very inadequate, to feeling like i'm doing great, to being humbled and relying on the Lord. but all i know is i've gone to bed really happy every night!! i know i'm supposed to be here and i'm getting REALLY excited to go git 'er done in seattle :) i got letters from some sisters from my mission and they got me excited! there's 8 sisters there now out of 160 missionaries!"