3-17-14

Familia!

Miracles are happening in the WKM! (Washington Kennewick Mission- now you know why we abbreviate....) Over the past 6 months we have received many promises and challenges from our leaders about working hard and leaving it in the hands of the Lord. Well those promises are coming true and i have had so many humbling experiences over the last little while. 

Our area is doing so good! many of the people we are teaching really are ready to accept the gospel and are all working to overcome different challenges. Right now we are trying to get prepared for Debbie's baptism, which is fun. She has slowly been being prepared for this probably throughout her whole life! Every time we go over she throws out some little dig at me. She has a great sense of humor and i am kind of surprised we get anything accomplished when we go over there. As we plan for her baptism she has begun to start doing things better and better! Like reading and praying. I love when she prays because i know she is really talking to God. That is one thing that helps you see that a person has that sincere desire. They open their mouth and are honest to God. Helping my investigators pray has helped me to realize that my prayers could often use improvement. Luckily that is what we are here on Earth for. 

Antonio and Armanda are another couple that we are working with and we had some great experiences together this week. First have been trying to apply the scriptures more to teaching and so we taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the scriptures. It was an amazing experience because as we studied for it, the scriptures taught the doctrine so plain and simple i couldn't help but think, "Wow, why don't we just read it like this every time?" It was an amazing lesson, the Spirit was strong and Sis. Yeates (one of our super amazing members) bore powerful testimony on what we were talking about. It definitely helped connect some dots. We finished by reading some words of the Savior out of the Book of Mormon and wow were they powerful. It was also Antonio's birthday this week, so we went to say happy birthday and drop off some gum. He recently quit smoking and chewing gum is helping him get over it. He laughed and was very grateful for it. We had a more relaxed lesson and talked about the importance of temples. 

I could go on and on about the amazing people that we are teaching.. Aiden & Bo, Heidi, Angie, Elhemar.. I seriously love the people here in Quincy! It would take me forever to explain how amazing they all are and why. (This is why journaling can be hard many times. Especially since i feel like we race the clock home every night). We have seen so many blessings come as we forget about ourselves and get lost in the work.

Sister Tuigamala and i have really been hitting the streets. She has quite the sense of humor. We were lucky to get to spend part of a day with Hermana Heninger!! It was so good to see her. We had transfers this week so she got to hang out with us while she waited for her new companion. I was so excited to see her! The other night we had to introduce each other at dinner and it was super funny, i think maybe about half of the things said were true, but the members really enjoyed getting to know us from the other persons perspective. try playing that game when you have the missionaries over... You never know what answers you will get. Apparently, according to Sister T, i am a mad beat boxer, i have and amazing singing voice, 

Earlier this week we had a meeting about many things but two of those were about opening our mouth and the Book of Mormon. The first we were talking about a promise that was given to us by Elder Ballard that said if we would talk to 10 people every week our success would double. Well this was back in October. and i remember really well when he said this because people were very fired up about this promise and all i remember is that i felt a little discouraged and thought, "how?" At this point i was serving in Royal and if i talked to 10 people everyday we would talk to every person in the area like 10 times every couple weeks. We were lucky to talk to like 25 new people a week. So remember trying and feeling like there was no way. Well this week we were reminded of this promise and someone said, "If an apostle promised me something, i would do it and test that promise." It hit me. Why wasn't I talking to 10 people everyday? So we recommitted to do so. Well in one day we talked to like 12 people and only knocked on 1 door. It was amazing what the Lord can do when you put yourself in his hands. We have been seeing miracle after miracle and the Lord wants to see what we will do with our faith. Will we jump out of our comfort zone? Will we do something even if we have no idea why we are? Well we have strived to do everything the Lord asks of us and perfecting our obedience and talking to EVERYONE. We see miracles on daily basis. The WKM has found success by trying to do those 2 simple things, over and over til we get it right.

We also talked about the Book of Mormon. We have been challenged to read the Book of Mormon in 80 days, and i am really excited! Everything has been focused on the Book of Mormon lately! What a great thing to focus on. Last night we were in a lesson teaching about the Book of Mormon, and at this point one of the 2 people we were teaching had been kind of passive and half way attentive. Well last night we read about the Book of Mormon, bore testimony, had a member talk about what it meant to her and this girl said, "like you, i don't like to read either, i have a hard time finishing a whole book because they don't pull my interest." then she picked up her Book of Mormon and said, "But i am going to read this Book to know if it is true." BAM! It was super powerful and we could feel the Spirit that was there. The Book of Mormon can change lives and is revelation from God. Elder Holland said, "The Book of Mormon is revelation for those who are seeking revelation." I am so grateful and will forever be grateful for the push that i received to finish the Book of Mormon for the first time all the way through. I know without a doubt in my heart that it is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that he came for each and everyone of us, that God loves us and has sent a prophet on the earth today, and that everyone can read the Book of Mormon and know that it is true. 

Love you all thanks for the prayers and the support! Have a great week!

Hermana Ray

3-10-14

Familia!

Things are warming up here in the area of Quincy! Whoo! It is spring time! Which also means people are going to be really busy planting soon. But hey that is the life here in small town USA. This past week has been really amazing! I never cease to see miracles happening around us!

This week was full of challenges but at the same time, full of miracles. Some of the people we are teaching have faced some hard things this week, but it was amazing to me how they testified about how they know that they have received strength from the Lord and that they know they must continue choosing the right if they want these trials to turn around. It was a huge testimony builder to me that we aren't here to teach people but to bring them closer to Christ so that they can use their own testimonies in these times of trial. It has been so cool!

Especially as we turn to the scriptures and read out of the Book of Mormon. This morning i was talking to my companion about how much i loved the scriptures and reading them. As i kind of laughed when i said that i had to explain that me saying that i loved to read anything was kind of a miracle. You are all laughing because you know it is true. I can't get enough of the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings. Then i try and take other people to the scriptures to try and find their own answers and show them what a tool the Book of Mormon can be for us in our lives. We had an experience with Debbie where she asked us to share a scripture about understanding. after we showed her how to use the index and she said next time she would share a scripture with us next time. i"m excited for that.

We had 5 people come to church yesterday and it was amazing. Even though most of them weren't having the best day yesterday. It was fun. We had a really good lesson in Gospel Principles about the Holy Ghost and how he can testify to us and after we know what is true we can follow the example of Jesus Christ and then have him as our constant help and companion. it was interesting as she was teaching i realized just how much it applied to our investigators, but not only that how much it applied to me and how i could better use the Holy Ghost as a missionary. Overall it was a great church meeting and i know that everyone there benefited. My favorite is when members come up to us and tell us how perfect a lesson or a sacrament meeting was for someone that we are teaching. We are working together and friendships are forming. As we all try to emulate the example of our Savior we are made into better people. A quote in Preach My Gospel talks about how a study of the gospel will change behavior faster than a study of behavior will change behavior, which i think is really true. Why? Because as we learn we want to become like our Savior which gives us the drive to become better people.

We were at dinner the other night and the Brother that we were eating with is really into hiking, so i asked if there were any good trails around here, where he then proceeded to pull out his maps and show me. it looks like there are some good trails around these parts and i think my companion and i have some exploring to do. They laughed as they saw how excited i was and that Sister Tuigamala was like oh ya... hiking.... But she sounds like she is up for the adventure.

So the adventure continues in Quincy as we search diligently and labor without ceasing with those who are prepared to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is amazing that no matter the level of knowledge that they have about God, anyone who wants to learn can receive understanding! It was cool this week we talked with Sister Kahu in Slat Lake City who is giving Bo the lessons, and Bo has really been open and accepting to the gospel and i realized how amazing it was that when we took down the language barrier she started to absorb and get excited about all the things she is learning.

Hope you all have a great week and remember to look to the savior. The title of this email goes with the theme all our investigators found this week, and was shared during sacrament yesterday, "If our feet are moving, he can guide us." They all know that they need to continue on the path of righteousness to let the Lord guide them even when life is tough. so move forward with faith and have a good attitude because there is no reason to be unhappy! have a great week!

Hermana Ray

3-3-14

Family!

It has been a pretty good week here in Quincy. The weather had us fooled that it was going to warm up, we even went running one morning, but then we got a little snow yesterday and today so the cold isn't gone quite yet. It isn't horrible. i think i handle it quite well. But as it got cold i started to ask every companion if they would rather tract in the snow/cold or in hot weather... They are all crazy and most of them have picked the cold.

It was a pretty great week and the Lord has been blessing the people we are teaching, they all are trying to follow God's commandments and work closer to baptism. It has been cool to see that as they put their life in line with God's commandments that they are happier people.

Debbie is our one that is getting the closest to baptism and as she prepares for baptism she is getting stronger and stronger in her faith in Jesus Christ! It is really cool to see. She is so funny and we get along great because we tease each other quite frequently. She tells us about the blessings that she sees in her life and i just love hearing about it!

Earlier this week we ran into a girl that had just lost a very good friend, and we talked about the Plan of Salvation. This week we have taught more than one person about the Plan of Salvation, and it is amazing to me the peace of mind that can be brought when we understand that we can have happiness forever and that is what God wants, he doesn't want any of us to be unhappy! As we sat there on every occasion i wanted so bad for them to understand what we were telling them and have a light bulb moment come and have that peace that comes when we know that there is more to this life. 

It is amazing how the Lord is preparing people to teach if we are willing to go look for them.

This week we also met with Aiden and Bo, they are the couple from Laos and slowly they are learning more about the church. This week Aiden asked about the qualifications for baptism and how long it would take to be a member, so we talked about what it took to be baptized, then he prayed for us. (Which is a big step because God is a newer concept for him) and then after the prayer Bo said that next time she would pray and that Aiden could translate!! She has been having phone lessons with a sister missionary in Salt Lake City who can speak Thai with her and she taught her how to pray and it is super exciting. It was interesting to see how much Bo soaked it all in once she knew what was going on! Miracles! proof that people being prepared often take many helping hands. In their case that also has to do with the members. They really took Aiden and Bo in and helped them get married and have just been great friends to them. That is what got the interested in the Gospel. how nice the people were to them. It was interesting as we were discussing how to talk about the importance of Jesus Christ and who he was, we were thinking of Christs mission on the Earth and how we as people are truly trying to follow his example and help other people. It was so cool!! I made a major connection which happens over and over again as we are learning to teach simply and let the Spirit testify, as i study to teach simply the Spirit testifies to me! Love it! Plus they are teaching me a few words in Laotion, so that is fun, i always try to pronounce them in a Spanish accent which is so wrong... But it is fun none the less!

I love you all have a great week! 

Hermana Ray

 

This picture is down by where the Columbia river is blocked up to make a dam, well before the Dam was there, there was a highway along the river to Seattle. One of the Dam's is being repaired, so the water level is way down and you can actually walk on parts of that old road that has been under water for years! So this was around that area and I thought you all could appreciate the picture. Don't worry I would have never jumped in it was only like 26 degrees outside in that picture! Polar Bear swim anyone?