November 9, 2015

Best companionship EVER. 

Sister Johnson this morning during exercise. ​How sweet is that?

Is it too early for eggnog? Because I drank half a gallon of it this week. It's never too early for eggnog, right? I've already started listening to Christmas music too. Bishop Kunz is not happy that he can hear our Christmas music from upstairs, but he tolerates it. 

TRANSFERS! It's coming up this Friday so be prepared, because there's a very, very slim chance that nothing will change. (so sad)

Here's a fun surprise: WE HAD A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY. I'm not really sure how that happened. So there's this adorably obnoxious 11 year old named TJ who is in a recently re-activated member family and he was planning on being baptized a couple months ago but then something happened and everything went crazy and long story short he was kicked out of school and became a ward of the state and all this nonsense. The family has been a mess since and has been trying to get everything under control. We didn't want to add anything to their plate so we didn't want to bring up baptism again, but then on Tuesday, the Spirit told us to do it, so we did. And they were totally okay with it and TJ was really excited and we somehow threw together a baptism in 4 days. And it was like one of the most spiritual baptisms I've ever been to. TJ was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia and he acts up a lot, but he was a little angel on Saturday. He was back to his obnoxious self on Sunday, but he said he felt a difference after he came up out of the water. So cool. I'm so happy for him. I know how much this'll help him. 

How come I only ever baptize sassy adolescent boys?​​​

So funny story, on Tuesday Sister Johnson and Sister Tiritilli decided to let me drive (a mistake they'll never make again, I'm sure) and we went to TJ's house to set him for baptism. We all got out of the car and they asked me if I had the keys and I said yes because I had put them in my pocket, so they locked the car and we started walking towards the house when I realized the keys weren't actually in my pocket. They were sitting on the seat in the car. Soooo we went in the house and set TJ for baptism and then asked them if they knew any good locksmiths. But turns out TJ's aunt, Amber, has what she calls a "slim jim" which is a long metal rod you unlock car doors with. We didn't ask why she had one. But we all went out and she was able to get it unlocked for us for free! Miracle!

We got the conference ensign!!! I'm so happy about that. Except we all have to share and I just want my own. Uchtdorf was seriously on a roll this conference, every single one of his talks was like the best talk I've ever heard. He should always give 3 talks per conference. I read his talk from the Priesthood session today and it's so amazing. Here's a link in case you missed it or want to read it again. Either way, everyone should read it. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/be-not-afraid-only-believe?lang=eng​ 

"I wish I could help everyone to understand this one simple fact: we believe in God because of things we know with our heart and mind, not because of things we do not know . . .

Heavenly Father has prepared for His children a spiritual feast, offering every kind of exquisite food imaginable—and yet, instead of enjoying these spiritual gifts, the cynics content themselves with observing from a distance, sipping from their cups of skepticism, doubt, and disrespect.

Why would anyone walk through life satisfied with the light from the candle of their own understanding when, by reaching out to our Heavenly Father, they could experience the bright sun of spiritual knowledge that would expand their minds with wisdom and fill their souls with joy?"

His talk was just great. "Sipping from their cups of skepticism"? Dang. I love Uchtdorf.

~Sister Temp

November 2, 2015

Remember how Nebraska is super weird and eats chili with cinnamon rolls and I swore I would never be that weird because chili and cinnamon rolls are just wrong? Well, I gave in. And it seems so wrong, but it is the most delicious thing of my life. Who knew? I feel like I had this hole in my life that only this combination could fill. I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat chili without cinnamon rolls ever again. 

​I can't believe this sky is real life.

Oh my goodness, this week was crazy. 

On Monday, we got to carve pumpkins with my favorite family ever, the Gibsons! Ignore the fact that TJ looks a little possessed. It's fine. 

Our ward did a Halloween trunk-or-treat/chili cook-off and on Sunday Sister Johnson and Sister Tiritilli and I decided to jokingly sign up to bring chili, and then the day of the party came and we realized we actually had to make chili. So we threw together a bunch of different types of beans and squash and onions and tomatoes and peppers and put it all in a crockpot and prayed it would turn out okay. And it was flippin delicious, we got second place in the chili cook-off. The Lord answers prayers. We also dressed up and of course I dressed up as the Doctor and it was fantastic. Don't look too closely at my sonic screwdriver though, because it's actually a duck call. But you can't really tell.

And then on Sunday, President Gardner called and told us that he was coming to our sacrament meeting because I never got my president interview this transfer since I got moved to Neb City after he had already done interviews here. So I had my interview and it was great. He's so inspired.

Quote of the Week: "We must never forget that we have the truth. We have the understanding of the entire Plan of Salvation which gives us purpose and meaning in our lives. We know that God love us and is interested in the details of our lives. He loves you personally and he knows who you are. He knows your strengths and he knows your weaknesses. He knows what you can and will become. He wants you to pray to Him and study the Gospel so that you can know what you need to do and how you need to live to return and be with Him.

He has provided His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. Christ loved us so much that He willingly gave His life so that we might live again. We must apply the atonement in our lives, repent fully of those mistakes that we have made so that we can be clean and have the Spirit with us fully as we serve. We must reverently partake of the Sacrament each week so that we can renew our covenants and be washed clean. We must share this message of hope with ALL of our brothers and sisters." ~President Gardner

~Sister Temp

October 26, 2015

​There are these demon bugs everywhere that look like ladybugs but they're not. They're actually like some sort of Japanese beetle that bite. I can't wait for winter so all the bugs will go away.

And of course the clouds are still as wonderful as always.

Oh my goodness, I've never actually seen trees turn red and orange and yellow in real life, I didn't know that was actually a thing. It is SO BEAUTIFUL out here right now.  I've never seen trees so beautiful. Fun fact: Nebraska City started Arbor Day so there are a couple-three billion trees everywhere.

Here's our truck Bruce! He's my favorite. The only downside is that there's no way to plug in a USB to listen to all of our music, so we've been listening to the same CD for the past 2 weeks. But it's a good CD so it's fine. Other fun fact: So, way back when in York, Sister Brunner and I ran into the Aurora elders and their car was dead so we jumped it for them, and I have a picture of us jumping it, and turns out it was Bruce! So Bruce used to be in York too. We bonded a lot over that.

I was so excited to not have a vegetarian companion anymore, but surpriiiiiise, Sister Tiritilli is a vegetarian. So that's fun. Apparently the Lord is trying to tell me something by putting me with the only 2 vegetarian sisters in the mission. 

I don't know if I'm ever going to figure out this ward because literally half of the members at church have the last name of Bennett. So I've realized that if I'm not sure what someone's name is, I can pretty much just call them Brother or Sister Bennett and that's actually been working so far. And I learned yesterday that there are actually 2 separate Bennett families, so they're not all related. But basically everyone in the ward is related to each other. It is so confusing. I'm never gonna figure this out. 

MIRACLES. I wish I could tell you all about every miracle we had this last week, but there were so many, it was ridiculous. Sister Johnson and Tiritilli and I are so successful together. So I'll just talk about my favorite miracle.

A couple days ago, we were on team-ups with this awesome guy named Waylon, who just recently became active again. He told us that he felt like we should go try his friend's ex-girlfriend sometime because he feels like she could really use the help. So yesterday we decided to go see her after church. We knocked on her door and started talking to her and she immediately opened up and told us how lately she's been feeling different like something needs to change and she's been feeling like she needs to come closer to God and she needs to know her purpose in life and that she got goosebumps as soon as she saw us. We started talking to her and told her about the Restoration and the whole time we were talking, she was saying, "This is so weird, this is freaky, I can't believe you guys just showed up, I still have goosebumps" and then she started crying and told us she had been wanting to end her life the last week and she hadn't because of her 2 kids but she didn't know how to go on, and then we all hugged her and told her how much God loved her and then we invited her to be baptized and she agreed. We gave her the Book of Mormon and she told us she was gonna read the whole thing before Tuesday (that might've been an exaggeration, but it's the thought that counts).

Then later, Waylon called and told us that she had been texting him (her name is Ashley by the way) and she told him that we had been an answer to her prayer and that when I prayed at the end, she felt like she had never felt before and she felt wrapped in God's love, and I am just so glad we were able to meet her and help her. 

"Every trial is an opportunity for you to strengthen your relationship with Christ."

~Sister Temp
​

October 19, 2015

I already know this is gonna be my favorite transfer ever. I'm just so glad I get to serve with Sister Johnson. It's so cool to see how much we've both improved since the MTC. We all teach so well together and the area is having so much success. 

Miracle! We went this former investigators house to try and meet him and this giant Sudanese man answered the door instead. He wasn't the guy we were looking for but we talked to him and his name is Daniel and he said that he had seen a Book of Mormon a while back and had read some of it and knew it was true but he didn't know who to talk to about it and he said there was no way he could get to Utah so he had given up on joining the church. We told him he didn't have to go to Utah to join and he got so excited. We invited him to be baptized on November 7 and he was like "Yes! Definitely! I can't wait!" He's so cool.

Second miracle! So we were trying this other former investigator who lived in an apartment and she was not interested AT ALL, and shut the door pretty quick, but then Sister Johnson decided to try the door across the hall so we did and this cute lady answered named Tamra and she has the most adorable 4 year old son named Joel (Jo-el) and she's super quiet but she let us in and we taught her about the Restoration and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She really wants to come closer to Christ. Good thing we know how to help people with that. And she actually came to church yesterday!!! I get so excited when that happens because it almost never does. People aren't good at following through. But she totally came and stayed for 2 hours.
But she kind of got drowned in gospel principles class with waaaaaay too much information, so we're hoping that doesn't scare her away. We're really worried about that. They were talking about all kinds of crazy things that never need to be mentioned in gospel principles class, and they even mentioned briefly that we're trying to become gods, sooooooo maybe you could pray for Tamra. That would be much appreciated.

This is called a wire worm. They're basically the worst things ever. We find them all over the basement and they're so annoying. Good thing Sister Johnson is brave enough to take care of them for me and Sister Tiritilli. 

We got to go to the temple on Saturday with our recent convert, Eden! She's 14 and she's my favorite person in all of Nebraska. She and her mom (who recently became active again) got to do baptisms in the temple for the first time and we got to go and watch and support them. I loved it. 

​I just love being in the country again. So much better than a city.

You can never take too many pictures of the sky.

Quote of the week: "You're kind of making me uncomfortable . . . " ~This awkward lady we tracted into the other day. Yes, because you don't make us uncomfortable at all. We are completely comfortable knocking on random doors trying to talk to people about Jesus.

Actual quote of the week: Be cheerful and be fearless.

~Sister Temp
​

October 12, 2015

Best transfer ever. I'm in Nebraska City now! WITH SISTER JOHNSON! And her trainee. This is literally my favorite place ever. I can't decide if it's better than York or not, but either way it's pretty close. Even though it's just like straight south of Elkhorn, it feels more like out west, so I like it. And we have a truck! Being in a trio is so fun. 

This is the three of us together. We get along great.​ I'm so happy to be with Sister Johnson again. We knew we would serve together someday. Her trainee, Sister Tiritilli, is really fun too.

The members here are great. It's a ward but it's not that much bigger than the Aurora branch because it has so many people who are less active. There's this one family that loves the missionaries so much, they make gravestones for all of the ones that serve here. They even already made me one. Apparently I'm dying next year.

Well, that's all the news I have since I've only been in Nebraska City for about 48 hours. 

Quote of the week: "Don't mistake God's patience for His absence. His timing is perfect and His presence is constant."

​​

~Sister Temp

October 5, 2015

Transfers was last Friday! I forgot to mention that in my last email. But that happened. And Sister Peters and I both stayed in Elkhorn! Although I did hear from my sources (my sources being the mission president) that I was intended for a new area, but the Lord directed otherwise. 

Although . . . okay it's a long story. But long story short, both Sister Peters and I will be going to new areas in next week or two or three. We're not sure when, but President told us he's hoping to move us soon. So yeah, that's the abbreviated version. So for now, if you have a letter you're planning on sending today or tomorrow, then go for it, but otherwise send it to the mission office. 

11027 Martha Street

Omaha, NE 68144

No, there was no disobedience or anything, and she and I got along fine. He just received revelation that we would benefit more from being somewhere else so he's trying to move us as soon as possible. So that's fun.

General Conference was so awesome!!! It was so good. I laughed, I cried, it moved me. I still think Uchtdorf's talk from the women's session was still the best one, but Sister Marriott's was a close second. I also really liked Elder Durrant's talk about ponderizing a scripture every week. That was awesome. I'm gonna do that for the rest of my life. Here's a bunch of cute quotes from conference in cute little boxes! https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/category/october-2015-general-conference-picture-quotes?cid=HP_SA_10-3-2015_dOCS_fMLIB_xLIDyL2-3_&lang=eng 

Sorry this email is lame. Not much happened this week besides conference. But nothing would compare to conference anyway.

Quote of the week from Neill F. Marriott: When we offer our broken heart to Jesus Christ, He accepts our offering. He takes us back. No matter what losses, wounds, and rejection we may have suffered, His grace and healing are mightier than all. Truly yoked to the Savior, we can say with confidence, “It will all work out.”

The corn is dyyyyying! Good thing I'll still be here when it turns green again.

 

~Sister Temp

September 28, 2015

​Look at that face. Moose is seriously the cutest dog ever. I'm so glad I live with people who have dogs.

OH MY GOODNESS. I can't believe Elder Richard G. Scott passed away this week! That's too many. They better stop this, I don't like it. I even happened to use and Elder Scott quote as my quote of the week last week! Augh. But I am so excited for General Conference. I just want it to be today. The Womens Broadcast was awesome! I normally don't really like the women's broadcast because they're all too sugary sweet, but it wasn't that bad this time. I LOVED Elder Uchtdorf's talk. It's probably my favorite talk ever. Everyone should read/watch it. Here's a link, so you know I 'm serious. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/10?lang=eng&vid=4512255275001&cid=10 I don't know if that's exactly the right link. . . But you know how to find it.

Oh, fun story. We set someone for baptism! The stake president, President Perkes, is in our ward and he is the best member missionary ever. He's been responsible for 4 of the 8 baptisms that our ward has had this year. He invited us to his house to teach this guy that he's been working on for a couple three years. His name is Mohsen (he's from Iran) and he's dating this woman who's a member but has been less active for years. Her name is Nancy (She's from Columbia (so basically we have trouble understanding either of them)). She came to our lesson too. We taught him the Restoration and he wants to be baptized and have Christ in His life. He's so humble and sincere, he kept apologizing for crying. He and Nancy came to church yesterday and they're just awesome.

We had a lesson with Amanda. I don't know if I talked about her yet. Her husband got baptized last spring and then they moved here from Kansas and nobody has any clue why she's not baptized too. She comes to church every week with her family and has had missionaries coming to teach her for like a year. She's heard all the lessons 4 times. Our bishop and ward mission leader both told us that they believe she'll be baptized by sisters, and we're the first sister missionaries she's ever met. We met with her and her visiting teachers and one of them had the idea for all of us to do Personal Progress together. So we've been working on that for a couple weeks and it's kinda fun. And she's actually doing it! She's like the first person I've ever taught who actually keeps commitments. I was shocked that she actually did it, which I shouldn't have been. I need more faith. Good thing we're on the faith section in Personal Progress.

We got to see Joe and he asks a LOT of deep questions that we don't really know the answers to. . . like a lot about the apostasy and comparing the LDS church to the Catholic church and stuff. So it's a really good thing that our team-up is a seminary teacher and he answered all of his questions perfectly. I got to play his piano and it's the most beautiful grand piano I've ever played. Joe is so excited to watch general conference with us! I'm excited. He really has a desire to learn.

Quote of the week from Women's Conference: “There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life… God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy! So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do?" ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

​The clouds kinda look like cotton candy. Or just cotton I guess, but I like cotton candy better.

There was a blood moon last night! It looked a lot cooler than it does in this picture. I wish my camera took better pictures of the sky.

​~Sister Temp