"I Sang for Elvis Presley's Manager!"

November 13, 2012

Sorry about yesterday! We had zone conference with a general authority! It was my day to go with 4 of the zones! Sorry to scare you that I wasn't on yesterday. Hopefully you were notified so that you didnt think that I died or something hahahaha. It was an amazing zone conference, I took like 10 pages of notes in my journal. Also to prepare for the zone conference with Stanley G. Ellis of the Seventy we were given a talk about being a consecrated missionary. We were assigned to all read the talk and all of us were asked to prepare a 5 minute talk and Elder Ellis would call on 2 people to give talks on the spot. GUESS WHO WAS PICKED!!!! Hahahaha. So I gave a talk on being a consecratesd missionary in front of a GENERAL AUTHORITY!!! Very nerve racking but the words just flowed out of my mouth and surprisingly I was not nervous at all. It worked out really well. Im soo grateful that I can prepared!!! :]

 It hit me this week that I only have a few weeks left on the mission. I am one of the "about to die" missionaries hahaha. But I am not going to focus on that, I am focusing on RIGHT NOW! As Uchtdorf says "You are always in the middle of your mission, it is not the end until it ends." And even when it ends, it really doesnt end. I want to hold cottage meetings at our house and have lessons in our home every week!!! hahaha. Im excited to be a better member missionary because now I know what our responsibility of member missionaries is!!!! I think us as members dont understand how important we are in the work! In EVERY baptismI have had, it was always when a member was actively involved in the whole process. Not just 1 or 2 members but the ward working together!!!!!! :] I learned so much from my mission so far I dont even know where to begin. 

So with that girl, she is not doing well. We had a very sacred experience with her this week and it made me see another reason why I am here. I have gone through experiences of seeing one that I love go through partially the same thing and so I am here to help. The key is.....she doesnt want to be helped. We found a lady who went through ALL of the same things that anna did and we set up a time to meet with all of us together and after we left I guess it went sour. She just wants to die. She is miserable in her life and she doesnt have a eating disorder in her mind....she just knows that if she starves herself she will die. And she wants to die because of all of the horrible things that have happened to her in her life. I just want the best for her but she has to want the best for her too. 

Sister Dutson told me that you said that hannah is doing good. I always worry because I know that you probably dont tell me everything and my whole mission I have just hoped that she is always getting better! It sounds like she is my hannah again! She was before I left but its been so long! When sister Dutson told me that hannah was doing good and that she was using this trial to help others I put my face in my hands and just bawled happy tears! HANNAH IS SUCH A STRONG ONE! I love her so much! I am proud of all of my little babies! They are getting so big and I cant wait to see them! I cant believe I will be able to hug you and kiss all of your cheeks. 

This week was great and we went to do baptisms for the dead with Jessie, Jeremy and Summer. They all did family names and it was such a sacred experience. I got cold chills as I saw all of them go into the water. Jeremy did baptisms for his own father, his grandpa and some of Jessie's ancestors. Jessie did some of her great aunts and great grandparents. Summer did a baptism for her own mother. Amazing. We all cried together! It was beautiful. We are even helping others be baptized who are on the other side of the veil. Amazing. 

Kevin was in the hospital again! This was the worst time. He is 18 years old, a recent convert, wants to go on a mission so bad, and he is suffering so much! In the hospital room when we visited him I just wanted to take all of his pain away. He has a blood clot from his foot to his hip. He is still in the hospital but he has so much support from the ward. He is an amazing guy and I know that the Lord will have him serve where he is needed the most!

Saturday we went and I practiced the song that I sang on the recording. It was actually saturday that we recorded it because we wanted to take it to Kevin so he wouldnt miss it. We thought it would cheer him up too!!!! It was sister Brunner's idea to record it! Im thankful for that.  I sang that song the next day in church and I really felt like my voice was guided. :]

This sunday we spoke at a baptism for a 8 year old and it turned out great! I just thought about caden and planned a talk on the holy ghost for caden because I really didnt know the kid at all. But it ended up great! Plus caden is almost 10 so hes not my little baptism boy anymore! My babies are getting so big!!!!!! 

Yesterday was amazing with the zone conference with the general authority! We get to go to a fireside with him tonight and we are bringing Jill, one of our investigators. Yesterday we had a lesson with Jessie and Jeremy and they talked about how much they loved the temple and that they felt a really strong spirit there. It made me soooooooooooo happy! Then we stayed and the Dutsons invited their neighbors over for dinner who had been taught the lessons before. Sister Dutson wanted us to try again on them because the last sister missionaries that taught them were not bold at all. It is so nice to feel the trust of the members! Now that they trust us, they trust us with their closest friends and family! THeir neighbors just happen to be Bobby and Joan. Bobby was Elvis Presley's manager for a long time. And the dutsons had me sing to them last night.  I felt soooooooooooo honored! We talked with them and asked if they will try the lessons again and they said yes! They are really busy right now but we are going to start lessons with them after thanksgiving. 

Speaking of thanksgiving, it looks like we are going to be on our own...... :( I was spoiled last thanksgiving, members made sure that we were feeling at home. This thanksgiving...im not sure what it going to happen :( but itll be fine. Some missionaries are washing their clothes in rivers and sleeping on dirt floors so I think that I will be fine hahahaha.

 Anyways.....tell my sisters that I am sorry about the soccer game! They are amazing little players! Also tell britton that his deer is SICK! Amazing job! Um I am trying to think if what else.....um....I LOVE YOU AND I WILL SEE YOU IN 8 WEEKS! MWAH!!!!!

Sister Fine

"We Dressed Up As Eachother!"

November 5, 2012

Things are going good. Here are the events.

We had a lesson with Jill this week and soft set her for baptism. She said that she hopes it is true and she wants to be baptized but she is going to wait for her son to get home. IN 2 YEARS! NO WAY! That is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooooooooooo long to wait for her to get all the blessings that come with it. But the Dutsons told us, dont worry, as she learns about this more and more, she will want it sooner and Ricardo will just be able to go with her in the temple for the first time. I think that sounds amazing. So we are working on that! 

Halloween was awesome! It is a churchwide thing that says that we need to be in one of 3 places on halloween night. 1. At a ward party 2. At a mission party or 3. At home. Since the ward party was going to be filled with non-members we decided to go to the ward party for finding opportunities. So what we did is we had a trunk at the Trunk or treat chilli cookoff party and set it up awesomely!!!! With help from the members of course. :] Also we got bunches of candy and attached pass-along cards (with our phone # on it) to half the candy. Also we handed out some "Finding faith in Christ" DVDs and talked to a bunch of people!!!! It was awesome! We couldnt dress up obviously so we did all we could and dressed up as eachother! hahahahahahaha it was really fun! We had a fun time with it. I wore a cute button up shirt and a black skirt because that is what sister monson likes to wear and also I made my hair wavy and wore some of her old glasses and we popped the lenses out of them! hahaha. Then for sister monson I straightened her hair and put it in a pony and then she wore some of my stuff. Plus we found a super cute colorful skirt that fits her in the apartment so she wore that :]. And of course we switched nametags hahaha. It was fun!

This week we took Kelsie to the Family history center at the temple and she LOVES family history! We hope to be able to go with her this week to do baptisms for the dead!

This week we taught summer's dad. We planned a family home evening with summer, her less active stepmom, and her non member brother and father but they all forgot we were coming. So we sat and talked to Summer and Janelle for a while and then Summer's dad came in. We talked about the blessings of the gospel that have come into their lives The spirit was there. But he said that he didnt feel like it was his time yet. His faith in Jesus Christ has led him to this point in his life. We could tell because he opened up to us and told us all these amazing wonderful things. I know that he will join the church someday but it has to be on his own time. We have high hopes for Summer and her family...Agency is the key. 

The other night we had a appointment with a recent convert family. We went at the appointed time and knocked on the door. It took a solid few minutes for someone to come to the door. When we walked in, I knew something had happened. When we sat down they told us that some of their family members on the east coast were murdered that day. OH MAN HOW TERRIBLE. We were silent because it was still fresh but we solemnly bore our testimony about the plan of salvation and how all of us can be together again. She said, thank you for coming, we needed that. Now I know the exact reason why we made the appointment for today. Then they asked for blessings and were were able to get some of the priesthood over to do that. WONDERFUL BLESSINGS were bestowed upon them.

This week we had a health fair in the stake. We were asked if we wanted to set up a booth and we said OF COURSE! So we set up a "spiritual health" booth among all the other booths. :] It was awesome! We had some really good contacts from it! Gave away lots of materials. It was cool with this one lady though, Sister Dutson was at her booth and the lady was talking to her about how her brothers had died. Sister Dutson took us over to her and we talked to her for a second and gave her stuff about Christ and the Plan of Salvation. She came out of her booth and gave us both huge hugs! It was amazing! 

ALSO ATTENTION DADDY! We were walking one day and we ran into this guy on a big tractor. His name is Robert Foremaster. He served in your mission at the exact same time as you! He gave his info because he would LOVE to talk to you! He was a really nice guy! Give him a call! Talked to him for about 30 min on the street a couple days ago!

It was a good week! Struggling with the teaching pool but considering that we just had 6 baptisms in a row I think we do need a little hardship to help us grow more. I love you and I am so glad that everyone had a great time at halloween! Love you all and I miss you so much! See you in a few weeks! By few I mean like 9 :]

Sister Fine

"I think I have Las Vegas summer blood now"

October 29, 2012

Ok here is my week! We have this new investigator named Jill who was provided by the Dutsons (as always) I love them so much! Mommy!!! SIster Dutson just got the same exact calling as you so I get to see a lot of what you do! Anyways....The Dutsons invited us over to have dinner with Jill and also the Dutsons invited Jessie and Jeremy as well. It was so great. Jill's son Ricardo just went on a mission to Paraguay and she was asking us tons of questions about missions and what we do. It was really great! Then at the end the Dutsons said "hey sisters do you want to do a lesson?" And we said of course! So we were talking for a little while with her and then the conversation just went automatically to the Plan of Salvation! She loved the lesson and she said that she would like to learn more! SO EXCITING! Now we are teaching Jill and this lady named Suzanne. Suzanne has been taking the lessons for a while now and we go over to their house once a week. I think suzanne is getting closer. She resists if we push so we are just trying to bring the spirit in her home so that she feels the difference. Her husband is a member and her son is also a member. They are a great family! 

For about a week and a half, one of the recent converts in our ward (Kevin) was in the hospital. He had a large blood clot over his right lung. He is 18 years old and he wants to serve a mission so bad! Then to our surprise, he was at church yesterday! He was finally released from the hospital! It was awesome! We visited him a couple of times in the hospital last week to try and get his spirits up! I know that the Lord has a plan for him. 

HEY! SO thank you for my ballot! Did you get it back from me yet?  How are all of you feeling about all this election stuff?!?! I'm excited to hear what kind of condition our country is in! I hope it is in the positive.t  

This last few weeks since all of our recent converts got baptized we have been doing TONS of family history!!!! That is one of the things that I am going to explode on when I get home! But we have been helping our recent converts research their ancestors and get names printed up so that their work can be done, Very amazing to see their faces and how excited they are to help their deceased loved ones. Jessie is taking a great interest in it and it is very exciting! Jeremy also has his father's name printed up. We are going to do the baptisms this week! So excited for that. This last week on friday we went with Bill and did baptisms for the dead with him. It was the first time I have done baptisms for the dead in years! It was a great great thing. Mommy and Daddy....do you think it is possible for me to just live at the temple so that I can always be doing work? hahahaha....I wish!!!!!! Hey daddy! What is grandma's full name! I want to add her in to my fan chart! And she was born on aug 16th of WHAT YEAR? What is all her info so I can add it? We have a lot to work to do on our lines! So EXCITED!

 SO lately I have been diving more into the new testament and I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Reading about the Lord's life and ministry is amazing! I'm so thankful for all the records and plain and precious things that were kept over the years. SOOOOO thankful! This week I was asked to give a talk on my favorite conference talk as well as talking about my mission and me before my mission. I prayed really hard to know what to say and all of a sudden I started just writing and writing!!!!! I filled pages up and I was prompted to say many things but I was worried that it was going to take too long. The exec. secretary asked me to speak for 20ish min so I was hoping that it would work out! I kid you not..........I did all that I could to prepare and when I got up there with 20 min remaining in the meeting, words flowed out of my mouth so freely and totally by the spirit. It was one of those times that I knew that the Lord was giving me every word to speak. It was the smoothest talk I have ever given in my life. I felt comfortable up there and the spirit filled my heart. I spoke about Jeffrey R. Holland's talk "The First and Great Commandment" and it was wonderful. I also finished 5 after the hour! Perfect! I am so thankful for the Lord's support when I do everything I can, aside from my weaknesses. VERY THANKFUL! 

So the weather has been super nice this past week and miles are running low at the end of the month so we decided to walk a lot. One of the days I was freezing cold I had to put thick tights on and a long sleeve shirt. I could have sworn it was 30 degrees but...............it was 60 hahaha. Wow, I think I have las vegas summer blood now! When we were walking the other day I saw a huge roadrunner. They are funny to watch! I was trying to get a picture like I did with the turkey but it didn't work :( sad to say hahahaha. We see lots of crazy things running around all the time! hahaha.

 Hey family! Make sure that the missionaries are taken care of for the holidays.  I decided that I am going to have the missionaries over for everything. So they feel more at home. Holidays are interesting on the mission but I will live. hahaha. Love all of your guts so much and I pray that all was well this week! MWAH MWAH MWAH!!!!!!!!

Sister Fine

ps-this picture is of us emailing right now hahaha. Dont I look precious. Miss you!

"I am just looking at it as that I am in the middle of my mission always!"

October 22, 2012

Well this week...........It was sister monson's birthday.SO I will go through her birthday! It was a fun day.

In the morning she fell really bad on the field when we were playing and her leg was bleeding really bad so we went home and took care of it. It was like 715 and it was my turn to shower first so I go in the shower and jumped out and threw some clothes on. Then I didnt get ready and I made a green smoothie, ham and eggs, cut up an apple and made toast. Then it was completed by the time she got out of the shower! IM SOOOOOOO STEALTHY! hahaha Then the Lord blessed me so much because I still had time enough to get ready!!!!!!!!!! Then I was naughty and I texted everyone that she loves in the area and everyone responded with things like "ohmy gosh I am going to make her a cake or oh my gosh lets throw a party or oh my gosh what does she want for her birthday!?!?!?" Everyone loves her so much!  So pretty much the whole day was an explosion of sister monson birthday! We got enough cake to feed the continent of africa and she got tons of gifts! She felt really special and she really is special! I love her a ton! We got to go out to dinner with Jessie and Jeremy at the olive garden and I tried calamari for the first time! (OCTUPUS! YUCKY!!!!) But it actually was really good! We had a great time with them! Then we went to the dutsons and they did a spa treatment for her and made an amazing cake! Those are just a few of the events that took place that day! ANd those are pretty much the only pictures I have this week! 

 This week we had a great experience with summer. We went to the family history center with her and got her mom's name printed so that she can do her mom's baptism and confirmation. AMAZING! The smile on her face was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also yesterday I sang for the Why I believe fireside with sister vanderdoes again. We sang "I Go To Serve My Lord." Here are the Lyrics they are beautiful!

His Words cannot be written, great and sacred was the day

Hearts and minds were opened, as the Savior knelt and prayed

He bowed before his father, no thought of worldly fame

His humble prayer was offered, hallowed be thy name

I will sing the song of redeeming love with all my heart might mind and strength

That every knee shall bow and tongue confess, that Jesus is the Christ

and faith hope charity love, with feet planted firmly on gospel sod

I go to serve my Lord with an eye single to the glory of God

His hands and feet bore tokens, one who paid the price for sin

His image now engraven, I ll testify of him

with power I will serve him, commissioned by his hand

to preach the gospel message, blessed be my stand

I will sing the song of redeeming love with all my heart might mind and strength

That every knee shall bow and tongue confess, that Jesus is the Christ

and faith hope charity love, with feet planted firmly on gospel sod

I go to serve my Lord with an eye single to the glory of God

THE GLORY OF MY GOD!!!!!! 

That song was composed by sister vanderdoes' dad! Cool huh! This last Saturday we did service called SMASH the TRASH and we gathered together as a ward and picked up all the trash in the ward! It was fun! Then we went and peeled apples for a lady why was canning and drying and what not. Everyone is so crazy thrifty and prepared and stuff it is pretty. Cool! We also helped this lady with making decorations for the Christmas party in the way future hahaha it was fun. 

Can you believe that I am 16 months out today? Crazy! Also we biked this week and it was awesome! Also we went to this members house and we asked for referrals and she gave us like 10 referrals! They were for outside of our area but that is okay! It doesn't matter because they just need the gospel no matter who they get it from!!! :] Other than that.....that was kinda our week! We had a good week! Here is the quote of the week from sister monson. I about died..... "We are more likely to get new converts by selling snake oil than from street contacting...." HAHA she is hilarious! Anyways I love you all and I am so thankful for my mission.  I love the mission and  I am just looking at it as that I am in the middle of my mission always and when I come home it will just be a call to serve for the rest of my life in sharing the gospel and helping others. I love you and miss you tons! Tell ashley clements that I love her and I am excited to meet my niece. :] XOXOXO

Sister Fine

"I Was Running After the Turkey with a Book of Mormon"

October 15, 2012

 Wow this week has been a crazy one!!!!!!! We had 3 baptisms! I got a few pictures :] The baptisms went amazing. Jessie, Jeremy, and Kelsie were GLOWING after they were baptized and confirmed. Jessie and Jeremy's baptism was very amazing. At the end, they bore their testimonies and their eyes were both filled with tears. Jessie prayed and asked if this was true and if she should be baptized and then she just opened her scriptures to 2 nephi 31 hahahaha that was her answer. Amazing! Also it was a really great thing because her parents were there and they are not very supportive of her decision but they were there and they were crying! They didnt even know what they were feeling! THE SPIRIT! WOOOHOOOOO! Jeremy's testimony was amazing and made me cry. The moment that he knew this was true was when we were teaching him the plan of salvation and we taught about how people that had not received the gospel before they passed away still have a chance to hear the gospel and accept it. I remember that lesson. He teared up, his heart started pounding and he was shaking a little bit. At that point he knew that the plan of salvation was real and he was so happy that his dad can have the same opportunity he has. We will be doing jeremy's dad's work as soon as we get it all set up :] 

Kelsie's was really great! Very short and simple and sweet. She is an amazing girl! I love her so much. Kelsie was tearing up after it was all over and you could see the glow she had! It was an amazing weekend. Now that leaves us with a pretty much empty teaching pool but sister monson and I have some potentials from the members. Very excited about that.

 Awwww Im so proud of my little babies.  Hannah was Homecoming Queen!  I'm so proud of baby cade! and wow Britton looks like a beast in that football picture. He looks so big and tall! I cant believe it! Shar is amazing! When I see my little babies in pictures I just want to cry! Everyone looks soooooo good! I miss them :] 

Sooooooooooooo this week I got a little hurt.....there was a REALLY REALLY big storm over here and they thought we were going to have a tornado. That DIDNT happen but it was a bad storm. We were walking outside and watching the lightning from afar. All of a sudden it started to sprinkle and we started to run to the car. One of the members saw us running and pulled over to give us a ride to the church so we could get our car and go home. What a blessing because as soon as we got in the car the storm hit HARD right over us. HAIL, RAINDROPS THE SIZE OF GOLF BALLS and thunder and lightning hitting all around us. I WAS REALLY SCARED. Usually I relly like those storms but I was convinced that I was going to be hit by lightning or something hahaha. Sister Monson was calming me down before we ran inside. Said a prayer and got out and I began to run! We were soaked instantly and as I was running the ground was all flooded so I couldn't see where I was stepping and my foot got caught in this gap and I sprained my bad ankle again. It was dramatic....hahaha dragging myself up the steps soaking wet and crying because my ankle hurt so bad! Im good now though hahaha....just have it wrapped up and it feels better. 

Sooooo you know how I am trying to preach the gospel to "every creature?" hahahaha well the other day, we were walking up to a member's house and there was a TURKEY on their truck! I was running after it with a book of mormon and sister monson tried to get a picture for me but the turkey was too fast hahahaha. So hilarious! I love you all and I miss you tons! It is crazy that my time is coming to a close but I am loving loving loving my mission and things are slowing down a little bit but they will pick back up. Our goal for this transfer is 5 baptisms and we have had 3 and so we need to find the other lucky 2 souls!

 I love these people so much! I am so glad that my grandparents are going to be there when I get home :] It will be very good :] MWAH MWAH MWAH! I think that is all for this week! Oh wait! I forgot! We had a zone meeting and the Zone leaders wanted 3 trainings to take place and so they asked the district leaders and I to train. I trained the zone on some of the Christlike attributes. I think that it went pretty well! There are always so many things that I have to learn! Love you all and I will talk to you later! 

Sister Fine

"Let Go and Let God"

October 8, 2012

Oh my goodness that was an amazing email thank you sooooo much! So I found out that sister monson and I are staying together for another transfer. Can you believe that I only have 12 weeks left.....?!?!?! Wow I cannot believe it. If sister monson and I are together for only one more transfer I will only have one more companion! WOW things are going into perspective for me.......wow.

 Conference was amazing! I loved every second of it! I also loved knowing that if you were watching conference at that moment I knew where you were and what you were listening to :] I loved elder holland's talk....talk about a spiritual smack upside the head! I always love that. I also loved elder nelson, uchtdorf and elder andersons talk. NOT TO MENTION I WAS ABSOLUTELY ECSTATIC WHEN THE PROPHET LOWERED THE AGE. MY JAW WAS ON THE FLOOR FOR ABOUT A HALF AN HOUR. THE OTHER MISSIONARIES WERE THE SAME WAY. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE MISSIONARY FORCE AS IT INCREASES A TON!  I was really hoping that the prophet would have extended the time for sister missionaries! I would have signed up for that immediately! :] But they are not going to change that within my time.... :( its okay...there is a time and a place. I am the oldest sister in the world haha. So today starts a new transfer. :]

 Wow lots happened at home. Im sorry that injuries happened this week with my little babies. Shar is such a beast I love her. hahaha. Oh man....and picturing britton and caden being all crazy in conference was hilarious. I remember the time where I would come out in blankets and just shade my face so that you and dad would think I was listening....and I might have been half sleeping half listening. Now I couldnt sleep through conference if I tried. Knowing that we have a true prophet of God that speaks to the world today it a HUGE deal! This time around I just really payed attention to the promptings I received from the Lord. It seems as though the main themes of the conference were missionary work, being converted, follow the savior, faith in Jesus Christ, love him, etc. 

Seriously! I love pictures I get of you! I just got the packages from g'ma and g'pa with some amazing goodies! Tell them thank you mucho! :]  Mom seriously you will be great at your new calling. The Lord doesn't expect us to be completely qualified for the callings he gives us. If we were qualified then we couldnt grow ever....and that is our whole purpose of life. The Lord knows all and you will be so great I know it! :] mwah!!!! Man I wish that I could get the girls ready for dances again. I have learned new tricks on my mission :] So fun!

 Nothing really super exciting this week...3 baptisms coming up this saturday and that is nearly the end of our teaching pool. Filling it slowly. :] Jesse and Jeremy went to conference with the dutsons and we still havent caught up with them since they came back last night, I bet it was amazing. I love that conference is so close that members can take investigators up there. I love that! What a great missionary tool.

 This week I learned that I always need to place my faith and trust in the Lord because the plans that I make for myself are not usually what the Lord has planned. I dont know what is going to happen in my future but I must LET GO AND LET GOD. I love the mission and I wish that I could be here forever. 

Tell erika that I love her and I miss her and congrats on her baby boy and blakerrrrrssssss is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute! Tell her to give him loves for me :] I hope all is well at home and I am sorry this email is so totally random. Love you and miss you! Didnt take any pictures this week :( sorry

Sister Fine