Week 39 - Transferred to South Logan - trip to Huntville

Hello form the cold...again!!

 So TRANFERS today!!! And I am being transferred. I am being transferred to Nibley which is in South Logan. My new companion will be Sister Davis (8 months out on her mission) she's from Alaska. We are white washing the area (which means both of us are new to the area). We are both going to be STLS! I'm excited for my new area, but I'm so sad to leave Ben Lomond: (I love all the people I've been teaching and all the amazing members here like the woods, Homgrens, Gilbert's, Dalpas, Cavenders, etc. I sent out a mass text that I was being transferred and everyone is so sad. Some people even asked for my mom’s number to text her to tell her how they will miss me. I truly love the members here, it's gonna be hard to leave.

 So just when I thought spring was on its way, we got a huge snow storm and now it's back to being cold and blizzardy! But I love it, it makes mission life an adventure.

 So this week’s highlight:

Zone sports with our whole zone

Wishing Sister Allred a Happy Birthday

it was our mission presidents wife's bday so we made her a card

 

So I went on STL exchanges again this week. I went with Sister Schell who is from North Carolina! It was such a fun day! So for some reason I bring out all the crazies when going on exchanges. I always meet the most strange people, haha. We were doing service at this old ladies house and sister Schell left to use the bathroom, so it was just me and this old lady. She looked at me and said "okay, now you’re going to help me get dressed!" In my head I was like WHAT! But then she started handing me clothes to put on her. So I just started with putting socks on her and she just layed on the bed and just flashed me the entire time! Also grossest feet ever! Then Sister Schell came in and the look on her face was priceless. I was like sister Schell do you want to help. And she was like nope you got it and was dying laughing, haha. I was gonna kill her. So that was one of the experiences I had on the exchange. We also met a guy that told us this funny analogy:

 "Mormons are like horse manure. You Spread horse manure all over and crops are gonna grow like crazy. Put it all in one pile and it's just stinky horse manure. Conclusion Utah is stinky horse manure..." - random guy named Tyler

Service with a smile
Painting fun! This is Lauralee who isn't a member of our church but loves hanging out with us!
We teach her kids!

 It was a fun exchange. I've really started to like being an STL! The “exchanges” are always the funniest days.

They are still obsessed with red heads, both of them left for Indonesia this week.
 I'm so sad they are gone:( but they will do great!

 

All of my companions in one pic but Sister Sharp.

We did a blitz in the Pleasant View area! It was great!

 

 So Sister Andrews and I had to speak in sacrament this week. There was a youth speaker who spoke for like 3 minutes, then sister Andrews spoke for 10 minutes and then I was the last speaker so I had to speak for the rest of the meeting which was like 25 minutes. I was stressing when sister Andrews ended her talk super early because I had only prepared a 15 minute talk. Well I got up there and somehow I knew exactly what to say. I didn't even look down at my paper, words just came to my head and I spoke for the whole time until the meeting was over. I was amazed. I thanked Heavenly Father once I sat down because I knew it was the spirit that helped me speak for that whole time. Afterwards so many people came up to me and said they loved my talk. One lady said she took notes and she felt like it was an apostle speaking! I was in shock! I knew it was the spirit who helped me speak. I've really come to see how much I've grown on my mission! In 3 days I will hit my 9 month mark of being on a mission and it has flown by! I never in my whole life would have ever imagined speaking for 25 minutes in a sacrament meeting but I did it and it went great. Missions really change you. I don't get nervous anymore to speak in front of people. I've never been so social in my life! I love the mission so much and it has changed me into a better person.

 Well that's all for this week! A lot more happened but it would take forever to write it all.

Love y'all

 

 Sister Lowe

 So lots of pics this week.. Sorry! We went to Snow Basin for Pday with the Huntsville sisters!

 

Exchanges with sister Schell!

Yep a moose on someone wall! Welcome to Huntsville

I went on a gondola for Pday! It was so fun and pretty!
 I wanted to ski or snow board so badly!

Ahhh, I love the snow!

Got to have a pick of Sister Brunt and I one last time.
We won't be in the same zone anymore:(

This is what we were in

It was a nice log cabin on the ski resort!

Oh you know just throwing up some signs in the snow,
we try to be cool but we're not or at least I'm not haha.

jumping on a moose, like usual

With Sister Schell

Week 38 - Mission Conference

Hiya!

 I had a pretty eventful week! Many, many stories to tell and great experience that we had! Here we go...

 Here are some highlights:

 - So I went on exchanges with Sister Ratunman because I'm her STL and let me tell ya it was such a FUN DAY! So Sister Ratunuman went to BYU and I was friends with her then. Well after the exchange we are now like best friends, haha. We talked about BYU memories and all the fun stuff we did there.

Marissa and Sister Ratunuman

 

 - So on the exchange we knocked on this door that on the map said they weren't LDS. Well this old man, named Joe, answers the door and tells us to come in and we sit down with him. We realize that he is definitely a member because of all the temple pictures in his house. He talks with us for a bit and tells us a little about himself. He then gave us this book that he wrote on prayer and divine revelation. He autographed it and it was the cutest thing ever. He then stood up and pulled out two $50 dollars and hands one to each of us with a tear in his eye and said "it would kill me to know that you two sisters go hungry." We first said no that's too much, but he insisted. Both sister Ratunmuan and I had tears in our eyes and we looked at each other and just started smiling with tears of joy. We then we're almost out the door when he tells us to wait a second, and he then runs back into his house and grabs two huge sweaters and gives one to each of us. Literally SWEETEST MAN EVER! Sister Ratunmuan and I were in tears the whole time. He literally was an angel to us and the spirit was so strong there as we were with him.

Such an nice guy

So happy to see the earth

My beautiful Marissa

After conference with Sister Andrews

So much fun at the temple grounds



Marissa and Sister Ratunman

 - So tender mercy. One night it was like 8:50pm and we were an hour from home in walking distance and it was pouring down rain. So we called a ton of people but no one picked up or were busy. So we just started walking home and Sister Andrews says to me, "I know someone will stop for us and pick us up, I just know it!" And sure enough 30 seconds later a car stops in the middle of the rode and says "SISTERS GET IN HERE!" We run over and hopped in and made it home right on time. Love being in Utah!! Holla!

 - So Funny story. I met this man this week who told us that the world is gonna end in October 2017 by a meteor. We asked him how he knew this and he said it was in the bible so we said "where?" And he said, "Oh you know just in some verses, but you can just look it up on YouTube." Yep... That sounds pretty legit. We walked away after he shut the door laughing, I just love meeting people here, haha.

 - We had stake conference this week and let me tell you...I LOVED IT!

 President Allred (my mission president) came to our conference and when he was speaking he called us up to the stand and had us share the restoration. It was such a spiritual moment and I could tell everyone could feel it. He then hugged us both and told everyone in the crowd that we are the Lords angels here on the earth and need help here to get the work progressing. Man... I love our mission president, he seriously is the best! Our stake president also talked about us and began to cry as he invited everyone to have us teach their friends in their homes. It was an amazing conference centered on missionary work! So my spiritual note of the week is something Elder Sobiaos of the seventy said. In D&C 4:5 it says, "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work." In Moroni 7:44 we learn "If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity." So everything revolves around charity which is love. So he changed the scripture to be "And love, love, love and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work." Everything in missionary work has to deal with love. We need to love God. Love God's children. Love our neighbors. Love our enemies. And love ourselves. As we love others, we will feel Gods love for us. All we need is love to be missionaries! And everyone can be a missionary!

 Sorry this is so long... It was a good week! Love y'all and hope you have a great week and show your love to your neighbor by sharing the gospel with them:)

Week 37 - Mission Conference

Hello from Ben Lomond!

Wow what a week!  This week has been a lot warmer then past weeks. It's gotten into the 40s which is so nice...I know crazy, 40 degrees feels warm to me. I'm definitely adjusting to Utah weather. It's so sad to see the snow melt though :( it's beginning to look like spring now which is crazy!

 Here are some highlights:

 - I went on exchanges this week with Sister Nuku! I am her STL and we had such a fun day! She is from Australia and is going to Indonesia on her mission and just got her visa so she'll leave at the end of the transfer. She is an awesome missionary though! She's not afraid to testify and loves to go out tracting! I was really impressed because I don't think I was like that when I was 3 weeks out!

 - In one of the lessons that day with sister Nuku. We were teaching this family and we heard a knock at the door. So the mom goes to answer it and it was the police. They asked her to step outside. So her and the Ward mission leader (thank goodness he was there) stepped outside. We had to keep the 5 kids entertained so they didn't cry. I was so scary because it was like 9 at night! What impressed me the most was the 13 year old daughter who was super calm and was just trying to distract her little brothers. Once the mom came back in she just began to sob. It was so sad. I just hugged her and told her everything is going to be alright. They are strong family and the boy in the family is getting baptized next week!

 - We've been teaching this lady named Bonnie and she is literally the best! My comp and I were knocking doors the first week I got to Ben Lomond and knocked on her door and she told us she was in the middle of something but to come back in 30 minutes. My first thought was darn she's not gonna be there when we come back but sure enough she opened the door and let us in and she told us she wanted to learn more. She had just moved there from Idaho and she said she just felt like something was telling her to move here and then we knocked on her door! She was baptized when she was 8 but doesn't remember it and never went to church after it. We've been teaching her the gospel for about 7 weeks now. She has no knowledge of the bible or Book of Mormon and doesn't even know who Adam and Eve are. We've pretty much had to teach from the basics and go really slow. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and has been coming to church every week! She truly is a star. I love her so much.

 This week someone asked us "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I have had this same question in my life and so I've been studying it a lot this week. This is what I've found:

 "The most important thing is to trust God and obey His will. Suffering in this life will eventually come to an end, and God’s perfect mercy, justice, and judgment will resolve all the “why’s” we wonder about now. The Lord loves us and sees the eternal view, so we can trust Him to guide our lives. He promises that our trials and difficulties can work for our good if we’re trying to live the right way. He promises us peace that transcends the evil of the world (John 16:33)." In Psalms 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”

Jesus Christ was the only perfect person who ever lived on the earth, yet He was scourged, smitten, and suffered all things (1 Ne. 19:9).  Because He suffered, we don’t have to be alone in our hard times. He understands the pain everyone goes through and offers peace, healing, and eternal blessings if we endure our trials well. Because of the healing and blessing power of the Atonement, we can see our trials as chances to learn, to grow, and, most importantly, to come unto Christ.

 I just love this gospel so much. It brings me so much peace. This area has been one of the hardest areas for me but I am grateful for it. It has taught me charity, patience, and diligence. I am grateful for the hard times because I know that I can get through them with Jesus Christ by my side.

 I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

 Sister Lowe :)

 

 So all of my pics are pretty much from the mission conference...sorry

Week 36 - HAKA dance

Hello everyone!

This week went by soooo fast! I can't believe it's Pday again!So some highlights from this week:

- I had my first MLC (mission leadership council) and it was so good. All of the STLs and ZLs in the mission came to our mission presidents house in Logan and talked about our goals for this month and did a bunch of trainings. I learned so much and sister brunt and I even had to speak in front of everyone on the training given by elder Christopherson. It was a long meeting but so worth it.

- We had a zone training meeting this week also where the ZLs and STLs trained the rest of the zone on what we learned at MLC. I had to do a training and was kind of nervous for it but I think it went well. This week was full of meetings and trainings... But I learned a lot from them.

- This week we helped move a non member family into their house and they were so grateful. It was so cool. We were just tracting in the area and then we saw this moving truck pull up to the house we were right by. So we just said "can we help you?" And we ended up staying their for like 3 hours helping them move in. At the end they told us we can come back so they are definitely a potential investigator!! Whoot! It just shows that through service we can find more people to teach.

- So Sister Brunt's sister, Michelle, was in North Ogden for a day because she was going to the MTC on Wednesday to go to South Korea! We all got to meet her and she is so cool and super awesome! Sister Brunt taught us the Haka and we did it in front of Michelle and Michelle did it back to us. Man... Doing the Haka is awesome! It is so powerful and fun!

Sister Brunt and Marissa - reunited again :)

Look at all that snow - CRAZY

Sister Brunt's sister came - just like when Devon came - so special

Marissa is of service every week

It was a super good week! We found two new investigators who want the lessons so we are super stoked about that. The work is picking up and I know that it is through our diligence, patience, and obedience to Heavenly Father. Missions can definitely be hard, but like Elder Nelson said, "the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." As we keep a positive attitude through hard times and never give up, we can find joy in anything because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have definitely found joy in my service even when things aren't picking up.

I love being a disciple of Christ and I love my savior Jesus Christ:)

Hope you all had a good week! Love y'all

Sister Lowe

Week 35 - 6 feet of snow

Hello from the Cold!

So this was a pretty good week. We did lots of service because of all the snow we have! We have also seen people just walking on their roofs with a snow rake. There is too much snow on the roofs so they are starting to cave in and leak, so people have to get on the roof and clear it off!

Okay so highlights of the week:

1. We had a worldwide missionary broadcast on Wednesday. The apostles changed the missionary schedule and the key indicators. Big things are changing which is kind of crazy, but it is all inspired and I know this will help us as missionaries. I'm liking the new mission schedule!

2. I had the privilege of going to the Ogden Tabernacle (out of our mission) with Sister Brunt and the Zone leaders to go watch Elder Christopherson, Peterson, and Curtis speak. We took a lot of notes because we have to do a training on it at MLC. It was such an amazing talk. Elder Christopherson is pretty funny and cracked some jokes, haha. Something I really liked that he said was, "Your ministry is outside of yourself. Sometimes we think we are doing this great work, when in reality HE is doing this great work and he lets us help him.” I want to become a more consecrated missionary and look outward always. Stop focusing on myself and just do the Lords work.

3. We did this amazing service project in Huntsville this week. The snow was like 10 ft tall and we had to shovel a path for these two widows so they could get out. I love doing service!

I've been studying a lot of talks on hope and this quote has really stuck with me, it says:

"Hope sweetens the memory of experiences well loved. It tempers our troubles to our growth and our strength. It befriends us in dark hours, excites us in bright ones. It lends promise to the future and purpose to the past. It turns discouragement to determination." - James E Faust

I know that through the hope of the gospel we can can get through anything that life throws at us. The gospel of Jesus Christ keeps us put together and keeps us holding on. Even in the hard times we can have joy because of Jesus Christ. It's great to be a missionary at this time and I hope you all have a good rest of your week!

Love y'all

Sister Lowe