Marissa - Week 8 - beautiful nature

Hi everyone! 

Hope everything is going well. This week was another great week for me and my companion. Here are some cool things that happened this week: 

• Monday, we went on a hike to the wind caves with our whole zone. It was so fun! I love hiking and being out in nature, and I got to talk with more people in my zone because it was about a three hour hike there and back. We took some cool pics too and got to study our scriptures once we got there which was very peaceful.
• On Tuesday we went to this service project at this building site for a family house for kids in the social work system. The volunteer coordinator told us to take out ALL the rocks cause they have to lay turf in a couple of days. So we were all trying to be fast and sift through the dirt to find all the little rocks and big ones. A half an hour later he came back and goes "oh you only have to get the big ones," we were so mad, we could have finished way earlier lol. We also had to carry wood & rubbish (my companion hates the word trash, so I never say it anymore) all the way to this bin at the end of the car park (another word my companion uses too). But all well, all in all it was a good service project and I love serving and being like Christ.
• On Tuesday I invited two people to be baptized on August 13th after teaching the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and both of them said yes. Luz was at the beginning of the day and Colten was at night, so we started and ended our day with a bang! We had Sister Hernandez (our sister training leader) come out with us on Tuesday also, she is such an amazing missionary. She has such a great testimony and knows how to connect so well with the people who we are teaching. She was so inspiring to me, and I just wish I could teach like her. She goes home to California in two weeks though, so I am super sad because I really liked her:(
• On Thursday we went with the Chinese elders to see our investigator Min and Phi who speak both Chinese and English. The elders spoke Chinese to him and the crazy thing is, is that I could feel the spirit as they spoke. I had no idea what they were saying, but I could feel this warm feeling inside of me. It really is a testimony to me of the power of the Holy Ghost because even though I had no idea what they were saying, the Holy Ghost knew they were testifying truth and that is why I felt it. The mission brings miracles and I see them everyday. I can see God's hand is in my life and in the lives of the people we teach.

- Next week is transfers, so all the missionaries are scared that we will be moving because the area is going to be filled with people soon who are coming to school here in the fall. We are getting 28 new missionaries and 4 of them are girls, so it's gonna be mostly elders. We are getting a Chinese and Korean sister who are from the Salt Lake Temple square mission. They will be taking over the Chinese elders area since they are going home. A lot of missionaries think that Sister Brunt and I will have to teach them how to tract and teach people because they've never done that before. I'm excited to do that! 

The scripture of the week: 

Heleman 3:35 in the Book of Mormon 

"Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." 

I've seen how reading a praying really helps someone grow their faith. As we strive to grow our faith firmer and firmer we can receive a witness that this is the true and everlasting gospel. As we have the people we teach read the Book of Mormon they, personally, gain a witness of its truth and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ. 

I love you all and hope you are all doing well! 

Sister Lowe 

PHOTOS:

We went to the wind caves in the mountains as a zone on Pday! it was so fun!

Just loving nature! We got to do personal study and read our scriptures up here:)

My companion brought the New Zealand flag to take a picture with!

Sister Hernandez, our sister training leader (STL) came with us for the day, she is so amazing! This was taken at our dinner appointment:) 

This is the service project we worked at. We picked out all those rocks, it was so hot! 

Here's my district, we all wore blue because Elder Hier is going home, we all ate at Chick-fil-A! 

I got to take a picture by our mission office with the Utah Logan mission sign:) 

I got to see all of my MTC peeps on Thursday for return and report. We are all kind of goofy haha. 

We were walking and saw this lady laying on the ground trying to weed her garden. We told we would be happy to help after a few of our appointments. I had to stand on all the tree branches so more could fit in the rubbish bin!