Week 57

This week was a quickie! 

Maria and family did not come to church. we are not sure why yet, but good thing there is always next week! 

As for the food we eat here- its a lot of GREEN CHILE! Green chile every thing. I have had green chili fudge even! And green chili cheeseburgers. That's what we do here. Its all about the green chili. And TexMex. 

The stragest thing I have almost eaten here was mountain oysters.

I didn't though.

A new key indicator that our mission is keeping track of right now is TTI's. Which are first contacts with people we don't know and inviting them to learn more. So my competitive drive has come out even more in talking with everyone.

We had the Catron County Fair this weekend, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They cancelled school on Thursday for the fair- its a BIG deal here! A few weeks ago we visited a less active family here in Apache Creek and they are in charge of a lot over the fair and so we were able to help out on Saturday cleaning up after the BBQ. Everyone of the usual helpers were so thankful and appreciative of our help- we washed A LOT of dishes. 

There was a group of young men there paying guitars and singing and we were able to talk with them. We ended up inviting them to learn more about the gospel and 4 of them agreed and they all happen to live in PIE TOWN of all places. So we carved their numbers into a Styrofoam lid and told them we would call them! 

Then my favorite part of this week happened Saturday and Sunday.

We were heading out of town for a meeting in Eagar and we had just left Brother East's home (He has a whole nother story). When we were passing down one of the 5 roads in Rancho Grande I noticed some men sitting out on a porch and waved. Then I remembered TTI's! So I said should we turn around? I got a "no that will be so awkward."  So I turned around anyways because I thrive off of awkward situations. We pulled in front of their home and Sister Harrast was a little apprehensive at the sight of the men and Sister Lee said, "yeah big blonde and beautiful over here is going to get us killed." hahaha. So I walked up and noticed they were all drinking... They spoke Spanish and were so happy I did too! They are here working for a few months from Mexico-legally! 11 of them live in that little house. I said that we have a special message to share with them about Jesus Christ and asked if we could come back another time when they weren't drinking. They tried to invite us in but I was persistent and we set another appointment. 

So SUNDAY, Bishop Payne came out with us, we went in the house and all of the men were dispersed through out the house and they kind of awkwardly ignored us. So Bishop motioned for me to take charge. I walked through the house and told everyone to come listen to us that we had a message for them. After a good ten minutes of trying to rally up these tired men, we had 7 of them sitting in front of us.

 

I started us out with a prayer and then went right into how the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth by a prophet in these last days. Bishop explained about Joseph Smith and then we introduced the Book of Mormon. They were all staring bright eyed and attentively at us. It was so neat.

Bishop Payne and I were able to teach them together in Spanish. We had a copy of The Book of Mormon for each one and read a few parts all together. One of them, Roberto, was so sincerely interested and had SUCH GOOD QUESTIONS. Then the other ones started asking if they could be baptized into our church and then if they would be able to serve missions too if they did! Haha, we explained that yes they could, once they read the Book of Mormon and believed that the things we teach are true. 

We taught them how to pray and invited them to church to hear us sing next week and to the chicken fry on Saturday. They seemed really excited to have something to do other than work and lay around the house and drink all day so hopefully they come! 

The cool thing is, is that Saturday morning I took a Spanish Book of Mormon out of the car to carry around with me instead of an English. I said a prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father to help me find someone to give it to. That night I gave it to Jesus the Mexican worker I talked to on the porch. I know that my prayer was answered and form that small act of faith we were able to teach many people in Spanish. I am so happy. 

I love my companions, we have a lot of fun and are very creative in the ways we talk to people and the things we do to bring about much good in this area. I love it here. 

Hermana Christensen

Among the flowers.

One of our many river crossings, and check out the beautiful country we live in! (in Luna)

Week 56

In the PT trailer! Also I have so much hair.

This is the Snow's ranch down the road from us. This is where we spend every preparation day!

being models

Holding my elk Jerky

At Ale Gray's being models.

With Sister Gray.

I wanted all 3 of us to ride together in the front seats. Don't the 3 other seats in the back. We love each other. :) 

Sister Harrast and I in the back of Linda's car on the way to dinner in Alpine!

Crossed my legs while on a long drive from Datil to Reserve.

At Foxfire with our friend Linda (non-member) and sister Lee

Week 55

These last few days were awesome! The best part was seeing Cynthia again. We drove up and she was outside working in her yard in her red shirt like always! She was so happy to see us. As we went inside she started talking about how she finished all the readings we gave her in the Book of Mormon. She told us how simple and easy it is to understand compared to the Bible. (YEAH!) Then she talked about how after we left the other day she was searching for something in her dresser and stumbled across the notebook that she wrote her answer in to her prayer about which church to join. She read it to us along with the date that it happened. It's true that God does hear and answer prayers. In Cynthia's case she heard an actual voice saying that the churches she was considering joining "are not my church and they are not your church either."

We ended up answering a few questions she had about her readings. She told us how she finished reading Moroni chapter 10 then asked herself who Moroni was.. SO she read the whole book of Moroni and found out he is Mormon's son! Then she was wondering who Mormon was! We told her she just has to read the entire book!

We taught her all of lesson one in good depth. She is such a fun person to teach because she asks questions right away whenever they pop into her mind! As we would explain things she would listen intently and then repeat what we said in her own words for clarification! She is the best investigator ever! 

As we were finishing up the lesson she stopped us and said, "Please leave me more passages to read in The Book of Mormon before you go?"

We said of course! After we invited her to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority from God, she looked at us and said, "well it sounds like you are telling me that my baptism wasn't valid?"

I don't remember what I said back to her but my companions said it was perfect. She understands prayer and the role that the Holy Ghost will play in helping her receive an answer from God. She knelt and prayed at the end of the lesson. She thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to her and pleaded that we would keep coming back to teach her. I want to cry just thinking about it. She is a truth seeker and it is so incredible to watch her eyes light up as we remind her truths that she once knew.

I love Cynthia so much.

We did service again this week for Linda B. We got ladders and cleaned the bricks of her huge fireplace. She was so appreciative and we sang hymns and primary songs as we worked. She invited us over to play a game with her next week then I asked her if we could have dinner with her too and she agreed! Haha woo!! Best friends with Linda! One day she will join the church. We are making good headway!

We were able to help out at the church for an auction we had. We had to finish raising $10,000 as a community so that we can have a pavillion built in Luna. It was approved by the church as long as we raised our part of the money. The auction/enchilada dinner was a success! Sister Lee and I helped the man at the mike. We chose the items that would be bid on and held them up and I modeled them when I could haha. The next morning in Ward Council was complimented on my Vanna White skills.

I realized this week how incredible our area is doing. I thought about day 1 up here. There were 2 investigators that I knew of. Now we know SO many people and have created an actual teaching pool. It helps me to stay positive when I think about day 1. We have made so much progress. I love Luna and Pie Town!

Also the picnic in Pie Town was so good! The members brought so many friends and we have 3 service appointments set up from it!

Also some members volunteered to clean our trailer this week! Yay for clean trailers!

I love studying. I love companion study. I love learning about the scriptures. I love singing songs. I love the mormon messages, ("the Savior wants to forgive" is still my favorite). I don't ever want to stop being a missionary. I know who I am and I know my purpose. 

Thanks for sending me Tad's letter. He sounds great! Thanks also for all your letters!  Coco looks like a little Kass/Drew! Like she should!

Also I had fresh antelope meat yesterday at Sister Gray's. It was killed just two days prior. It was yummy! Yay for all the hunters.

With Sister Harrast in the Trailer!

Luna welcomes you

ALSO I FAILED TO MENTION THAT ELDER ORME IS IN EAGAR IN MY DISTRICT NOW! My life just got that much better!  Weekly call ins with the District leader. (We are an hour ahead of them and I was ready for bed!)

Week 54

I never thought the day would come that Sister Harrast would be my companion! We served in Scottsdale zone together the whole time and were such good friends! She was waiting for a visa to Brazil and never got it so is officially re-assigned to our mission! Now she's my companion (with Sister Lee too) and I could not be more excited!

We all love each other so much. Sister Harrast went to BYU and was on music scholarship and we know a lot of the same people. She is from Michigan (the Lansing mission).

Transfers were crazy. 5 hours down and 5 hours back up. We stayed in Eagar last night and finished driving up this morning. We just barely got back home!

The most exciting news is that WE GOT A TRUCK!!! I felt indestructible driving back up the mountains! And I wasn't AS afraid of hitting an elk, and we just glide right over the dirt roads. Hallelujah!

2 weeks ago when we showed up for volleyball one of the non-member ladies we play with walked up to us and handed us a folded piece of paper. It was a service referral! One of our neighbors really needed help with yard work and asked for us to give her a call! We did and a few days later helped Cynthia weed and do lots of yard work. She wanted to pay us so badly but of course we could not accept that! So she insisted on feeding us lunch. As we chatted with her she let us know her whole religious background. She was once married to a Mormon and took ALL OF THE LESSONS, but never decided to get baptized. She divorced that husband a few months later and hasn't had really any contact with the church since (about 30 years). When she moved up here a few years ago she started attending different churches and finding out how she could be baptized. She was studying with this one church and attending all the classes she could to learn what she should do. She asked the pastor a bunch of questions about baptism and he was not able to answer them so she eventually stopped going. One day while she was walking on the mountain behind her house she was praying and asking what she should do, she heard a distinct voice tell her that "they weren't the right ones". (in regards to the churches she was attending and their baptisms. Anyways... She ended up finding out by herself that she needed to be immersed in water to be baptized. So she got her friends from every different church that she had to come and baptize her in the river. If the person didn't say something right or do something another religion believed was correct, they fixed it. So now she figures she HAD to have been baptized correctly with all of their help! She is a true truth seeker…

She had a Book of Mormon and after we taught her a little bit about what we knew she got us a bunch of pieces of paper and asked us to mark a bunch of passages she could read. So we gave her 8. We came back about a week later and she had read 4 of them and highlighted! She watches BYU channel everyday and just watched all of the Work and the Glory movies and LOVES them.... SHE IS AWESOME!!

We are trying to figure out how to fellowship her to church. We love her so much. All from a non-member referral!

Also... last week we were in Alpine and ended up having 2 and a half hours before dinner and were figuring out what we should do. The thought came to me so I asked the sisters if we should go to the Blue (a town about an hour south I have heard about). We all agreed and our adventure commenced! It was the most beautiful drive ever. I felt like I was traveling back in time and in some Mayan river bed. We made it down there and I only knew 2 names of less actives down there. IT IS A PRARIE. Seriously NOTHING is down there. But after knocking on a door we asked where Betty lived, or where the Joy's lived. We found them both! Sister Joy was so nice and at the end of our visit she agreed to start reading her scriptures again. She said having us there made memories flood back. She wants us to help her and her husband get to the temple.

It was so worth going down there. We will go visit with her once a week!

Good things are happening. We have a potluck picnic in Pie town in a few hours! And the members are going to bring LOTS of friends so we are excited! I am hoping sister Harrast will be able to play a tune maybe on her guitar for all of them. We will see how it goes.

I love working up here. It gives me a chance to REALLY get creative. I feel to happy. I love this area. I love these rural parts!

I am happy to hear how much Trevor is going to the temple! He is such a good boy!

And mom- good girl for working there!

Dad- thank you for helping me learn how to recognize the spirit, you are such a spiritual man. I admire you for that.

And Riley- I expect a wedding announcement soon!

Kass- good job on all of your talks! Thanks for the Coco updates.

Coco- keep learning how to talk GOOD GIRL!

Tad- keep having fun and learning in Costa Rica!

Drew- thank you for the workouts... they are killing me. I LOVE feeling sore again!

LOVE YOU!

TRUCK! and Harrast!

me with trucky. 

ALSO! AURELIO IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! I cried when sister Wheelwright told me! SO HAPPY! It took him a year!