Week #31 - Look out April here we come!!!

Hey family! 

How is everything going?

Lol, you aren't doing the whole Apple thing? The Dell is probably the best thing! Learning a whole new operating system is more than a little confusing. So I am glad that you are learning the ropes of your new computer. 

 

And as for greek yogurt I have been wanting to get some I just never have so now I have the perfect amount of motivation. 

My new companion is Sister Hicken (no, not a Spanish speaking sister...but I don't really feel like I qualify as one either, now that I haven't really spoken Spanish on a regular basis for over 4 months...) 

Wow! Way to work with the missionaries that is completely awesome! Those Newman Lake sisters are lucky to have such an amazing missionary mom with them! 

Man, the temple is so awesome and I am really missing it. I can't wait to be able to go on a very regular basis when I get home. As for now I am learning to be content in the present salvation of souls! wow, what a thing to be content in! I can't really think of anything better. However, I really want to go to the temple with Rod and Erma Zendejas in a year! They are sooooo amazing and they are just thriving on the gospel. I really want you to meet them. Erma calls her sister missionaries, "her girls" and sometimes she calls me the little rich spoiled one... apparently if your clothes come from thrift stores you are rich and I am spoiled because I am the only girl and the youngest... whatever...

 

We had a baptism this last Sunday Amanda Reed is the newest member of the Monticello branch! Pretty crazy stuff. Throwing together a baptism 3 days before the fact was a little more stressful than I could ever imagine but it happened and it was absolutely fabulous!

Ummm as for a package....if you could send some more of those ogwalla bars... but only if there is room...maybe some more CDs... but I don't really need anything. 

Thanks I love you have a wonderful day/week! 

Can you believe tomorrow is April? Where did March go?

Thank you so much for your letter dad, not to mention the Debit card ;) I will try to use it wisely! lol

You are fabulous! Stay strong stay awesome!

Con amor,

Hermana Ives

Week #30 - Re: Moving beds and meeting friends

Hola! 

You got a new computer? What?!? That is awesome! What kind is it? I am sure you will be able to adjust beautifully and that the transition won't be too difficult, because you are really one smart cookie! And dad is a fabulous instructor. You just can't freak out because it is different the concepts are still the same! (wow, look at me preaching, sorry.) 

So transfers are this Wednesday...and Hermana Howton is leaving. I am pretty sad about that! I love her so much and being companions has been a total blast! She is so spiritually in tune too, so that has really helped me. She loved the chalk and the journal and pens! Thanks so much! We haven't made banana bread yet, but I think we are going to do that today! Yummm!

Can you believe general conference is right around the corner? I am SOOOOO excited! And the general women's broadcast sounds fabulous! I and my new companion will probably be going to sister Kulbeth's house to watch it with our investigators Rosa and her daughter Yaireth (Ja-I-wreath). Yup pretty awesome stuff. 

Grandma Caye needs/has hearing aides now?!? What? When did that happen? Does she like them? I am glad that she enjoys getting letters, I love getting hers. And sorry I don't always get a letter to you when I send her hers. But I have been trying! Did dad get his card too?

Teehee, you got to have the sister missionaries over? How awesome! I am glad they liked my quote wall! I miss that. Hermana Howton and I made a happy door in our apartment with awesome quotes and pictures and random stuff that makes us smile.

Oh my goodness!!! I want to meet Skeeter so bad! that is awesome! 

Man, I miss my music and being able to sit down by myself and just have fun. I have decided that in my future home I am going to have a nice baby grand and an organ! Yup that is right I am officially going to learn how to play it . That way I won't get completely freaked out when I am asked to be a ward organist or to play at funerals. 

I am trying to think of the new and crazy things that have happened this week...But the truth is it has been very routine. But we have been getting really nice weather for biking now. 

I am officially 20! Sister Bryant took us out to eat at an Italian restaurant in Monticello. And it was DELICIOUS! I got Alfredo tortellini.  Talk about delicious and totally NOT healthy! lol. 

Yup...I love ya'll! Keep up the awesome work! I can't believe that March is practically gone. Or that I am staying in Warren... Yet another 6 weeks with cockroaches and a bathtub drain that doesn't drain...yeah! lol we have the worst sister's apartment in our zone... but that always makes for an adventure so it is good.

I love you

Hermana Ives

Week #29 - 20 here I come!

Hola!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! Are you wearing green?!? Have you noticed how not big St. Patrick's Day is when you aren't in an Irish Dance class??? I certainly have...

Oh My GOODNESS! Thank you so much for the package!!!! I got handed the package and i nearly dropped it for how heavy it was! And all the cards and stickers are SOOOOOOooooooooo adorable! Hermana Howton's eardrums are probably STILL ringing from how much squealing there was going on. So Thank you! It really made me VERY happy! Can you believe that I am going to be 20? I know that I am still going through shock! It is only 2 days away before it is going to be official! (Would it be inappropriate to ask how it feels to have your baby girl turn 20?)

Ahh man! It sounds like grandma Caye is having an interesting time adjusting to everything! That has got to be hard. But you are so amazing to go and get milk for her even though it was late. And I know that you have/will receive blessings for it.
What did Tyler do to Melody's song?

How To Begin Teaching (HBT) is in Preach my Gospel chapter 10...(pg 162?)
And the 10th bullet point leads into the baptismal invitation perfectly! And it establishes your relationship with the investigator so you aren't wasting time but they know right up front why you are there. To help them prepare themselves to come unto Christ through the waters of baptism.

ITM ing is (Inspire the Members). It is a short 15 minute lesson.
2-3 minutes chitchat.
open with prayer
5 min share a scripture/spiritual thought
3 min testimony
Invite members to think specifically about people that they could share the gospel with. Then offer the prayer.
Ask for referrals, if they don't give you any, set up a next appointment and invite them to continue to pray and fast about it.

This week has been crazy but really it all climaxed on Sunday. We had a baptism! Rod Zendejas was baptized! And we had a funeral. Sister Eileen Smith's mother Sister Forrest passed away. And they asked me to play the organ and accompany a grand daughter singing the hymn In the Garden... It was more than a little stressful... But hermana Howton and I got through it.

The Rodgers just moved into our branch and it just so happens that they know Ben and Mamie Winters!!! We went over to help them clean up their new house. And when Jen Rodgers found out that I was from Spokane she said, "This is probably a shot in the dark, but do you happen to know a Ben Winters?"  We both may have freaked out a little bit when we made the connection!  Anywho, that was just super neat!

Well, I love you all so much!
I know that the gospel is true, that the work is hastening, that the Lord loves His children and that there is nothing better than sharing the things that truly make us happy!

I love you!
Hermana Ives

Week #28 - What a week!

Hello Familia y amigos!

What a week! Usually the days feel super long and the week flies by...this week, total opposite! The days went by WAYYYYYY to fast and the week seemed to last forever!

So on Monday we went to Monticello and we went to a thrift shop with Sister Wadsworth (The senior couple serving in our branch) and she had a ball shopping with us! I seriously felt like I was shopping with grandma Caye! lol she just got so tickled when something she picked out fit! So we were able to get a couple of new clothes! Soooo much fun, but I have never spent 2 1/2 hours in a thrift shop before without ever leaving the dressing room! lol

Shopping in Walmart was like heaven just because everything was SO much cheaper than in Warren. We made it all the way back to Warren...and guess what we forgot to get...yeah so it is good that we are still on car week! ;)

On Tuesday we got to put on our jeans again and help Sister Eileen Smith clean her house. She has a bad back so we got to do some bending and scrubbing for her. She uses ever cleaner under the sun though, and I was most definitely NOT used to that. 

We made a ton of phone calls, like an hours worth of phone calls! Yes, I can actually talk on the phone now. It isn't my favorite thing. But I can do it! 

And we had a spiritual harvesting miracle! We were out spiritual harvesting on Parks st and we knocked on all the houses that looked inhabited. And after not very much success we decided to get in the car, pray, and then be led by the Spirit. We came to the main road and Hermana Howton parked. She pointed to two houses and I picked the one that was directly on Main st (we really only had time to visit one house.) We knocked and a voice said something. So we shouted, "the missionaries" and the voice said, "I said come in!" (I don't like it very much when we are the ones to open the door and step in, and it happens a lot more frequently than you would imagine!) Anyway we opened the door and I introduced ourselves and the lady said, ''yeah, come in, come in! Sit down, Sorry I missed you last time ya'll came I was in Little Rock." (we had never knocked on this lady's house before....what happened was that we had received this lady as a referral from the elders in Monticello. Her name was Ebony, and we had try to contact her but the elders had given us the wrong street name and we weren't able to find her house anywhere!) So the Lord had led us to Ebony and after talking with her for a little bit we discovered that she is actually the daughter of one of our investigators! How crazy amazing is that?!? So we gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment!

On Wednesday we had zone meeting and we were able to discuss the importance of prayer, faith, and works all together. I have never felt so inspired to do missionary work! Our mission president has really been focusing on the importance of using the how to begin teaching points and inviting everyone to be baptized during that first visit! Do you know how inspired that is?!? How to begin teaching is SO effective. I have no idea why the entire 6 weeks in the MTC wasn't spent on roleplaying, memorizing, and using it!

We went on exchanges and I was able to go to Bryant with Sister Miller. And it was AMAZING! All we did was use How to begin teaching and inviting to be baptized! We taught 5 lessons, invited all to be baptized and set one date! It was so amazing! All of that and we were able to avoid going contacting in Walmart. (Sister Miller had planned that for 8:30) and I was trying really hard to look forward to it....but I wasn't really succeeding. I have never had anyone ask to see my ministerial certificate and driver's license before either... that was a bit crazy...

On Thursday we exchanged back and we had a pretty interesting night. We visited with the part member family, Scotts. And the lesson was...well, it made my brain hurt. It was super overwhelming how much we read on Nephi's vision about the great and abominable church...yikes, that just happened to be where sis scott was in her book of mormon reading so we decided to help her. And her husband read with us...yeah. I am just praying that we can go back...

Friday was awesome because we used How to begin teaching and set a baptismal date with Shalanda! She is a referral from Sister Bryant and she has two daughters that are baptismal age! We are so excited for them to come to church. 

We were able to talk with a lady Ms. Wilkers who is in her 90s and she was out digging in a flower bed. She was also telling us how she still runs her own tiller! It was pretty impressive. 

Pentacostal people are nice but they scare me a little bit. We got a referral from a recent member to go contact these people. They read us the Bible verse from Galatians where Peter or Paul was telling the people that if anyone preached any other gospel unto them let their souls be damned... so we left them with a prayer....

Saturday was sweet! We were finally able to get a hold of Rabbit and talk with her. She is such a sweet lady and I want her and her husband to get baptized so bad. 

We were able to set 2 more dates this evening with Amanda and Michael Reed. They are the cutest couple ever. You would never imagine them being together but they are so sweet and they want to really learn for themselves! I know that they are going to get their answers and be baptized! 

Sunday was awesome. After church was potluck and then we were able to go and see Nora, she is struggling to quit smoking again. But she gave us an almost full pack of cigarettes... I have never handled so many cigarettes than on my mission... actually this week! Hermana Howton and I are not quite sure how to dispose of them....

I have to say that members are the answer to missionary work and Hermana Howton and I really saw that this week. We have been studying PMG 160-162. And what was really awesome was that we talked with with a member's less active son and received an invitation from him to visit his friend Johnathan. I can't tell you how many times I have knocked on Johnathan's door and never has anyone answer but that night he did and we were able to invite him to read from the Book of Mormon everyday. That experience really taught me that members ARE the key! So we are really going to be working on ITM-ing our members in Warren and start teaching more in their homes! 

Plus we had the opportunity to be an answer to a prayer last night. We decided to see an investigator that we haven't been able to see in a little while and we knocked on the door and she opened it and said, "Wow, I had just sat down in my chair and said, 'Lord, I could use some help just about now'!" And then we knocked! How amazing and perfectly timed is the Lord!?!

Being a missionary is the coolest thing ever! I am so glad I have been so greatly blessed! 

Keep up the good work!

Go and share the gospel because there is no greater gift that you can give!

Love ya'll so much!

Hermana Ives

Week #27 - What a week...

Hola Familia! 

Let me just say that I have never had a week quite like this one. It just seemed like everything was happening and it just wasn't turning out. You know that my bike tire exploded last week so we were on a partial walk week. But it was all good because we were getting the car on Tuesday at district meeting in Pine Bluff (an hour away from Warren)...Well district leader came down with the flu so district meeting was cancelled...we would either have to wait til Thursday or find a ride....we couldn't do another 2 days of walking. So our angel Sister Bryant gave us a ride. 

Oh talking about Sister Bryant maybe you should talk to her about charcoal (She is very into natural remedies) I imagine she would love getting into super food and super tonic. Plus she is having problems with her knee and I was thinking Dr. Cough might be able to help. (She is very spiritually in tune so I don't think she would get freaked out by long distance adjustments...)  Also you should look her up on Facebook! (These are all suggestions....you don't have to do any of them if you don't want to) 

Anywho so we did eventually get a car and we were able to go spiritual harvesting and contacting in some areas that are relatively far to bike to! Hallelujah!  

We were able to teach Johnny (has a date for the 16th of March) about the word of wisdom. He has a problem with smoking and drinking coffee. So in order to support him and Nora to quit smoking Hermana Howton and I quit chocolate... for the rest of our lives... I know right!?!?! Hermana Howton and I make crazy goals but it really seemed like the only thing that we ingest that has close to the same effect because we crave it and everything... so, yeah... we went through our apartment and put everything in a bag to give to various investigators. 

We were able to have dinner with the branch president and his family and that was awesome because we received some counsel about how we could better serve the branch.

We had interviews with President at district meeting this Thursday. Pretty awesome...he counseled me to talk with EVERYONE about the gospel and to not play with it in my mind anymore. To just make the decision today that no matter what/who/when I would open my mouth about the gospel. 

On Friday...... what a joke...EVERYTHING fell through, NO ONE answered their doors, etc... we literally had a ZERO key indicator day! It was so ridiculous it was almost unbelievable. Anywho, we got in bed "early" 9:30 and we both had this ridiculous feeling that our district leader was going to call so we couldn't really fall asleep and then right when I had almost drifted off our phone rang...it was our district leader, just calling to see how our day went! lol man, it was rEEdonculous!

Saturday we helped Nora organize her trailer that she just moved into. That was fun (we got to wear jeans!) anywho on the way back we needed to grab something from the store and before we went in Hermana Howton had a feeling that we would see a member....in our jeans... anyways we got to the check out and the Worthens come up behind us. It was awesome because we got to know them a little better and actually talk with them face to face (it was super weird being in jeans talking with them though.)

Sunday we had an awesome fast and testimony meeting. we had 4 investigators to church this week even though we had only taught 4 lessons the entire week! Yessssss! Thank the Lord! He really is the coolest, awesomest person EVER! 

And as an answer to our fasting and prayers we are getting some of our less active members excited about missionary work and have some missionary lessons in their home! I have never really taught an investigator in someone's home! ...okay that's a lie, I have but the investigators/friends were more there for dinner than for the lesson! So things are really looking up. 

I am so proud of ya'll for all the missionary work you are doing! Keep up that fabulous work! 

I hope you have a wonderful week full of opportunities to share the beautiful message of the gospel! 

And if anyone asks you, ''whatcha know?" The gospel is true, the book of Mormon is true, God is our loving Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, Miracles are real, and the list just goes on and on. 

I really love Alma 7:15, "lay aside every sin that doth easily beset you" nothing, no sin should be standing between you and God. If you know who He is and in relation who you are, (a divine son or daughter of God) then that is all you need because His strength, His wisdom, and His mercy are over, and around, and through all!

Keep Going and doing and I will try and do the same =)

Love,

Hermana iVES