Personal restorations

June 30:

Sister Evans & I have really fun roommates! Sister Inagaki loves the color yellow and Sister Niska has a hilarious fake laugh.

I got to help Sister Niska and Sister Inagaki reply to a gospel packet that was given to and filled out by an inmate. We found a gem of a quote the senior missionary had written in the packet: "Jon Huntsman said, 'Difficulty is one excuse history has never accepted.' You already know it is 'difficult' to be in jail; it is 'difficult' to disappoint your loved ones. Why not start doing 'difficult' things that are positive?"

I've been going out with members and our Sister Inagaki & Sister Niska because Sister Evans is sick. Please keep her in your prayers!

Something I've been pondering upon is how just like we can have personal apostasies, we can have personal restorations. Do we say we have done enough or that we have work to do? Do we say all is well in Zion or do we continually serve our brethren? (2 Ne 28)
30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
31 Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.
32 Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts. (2 Nephi 28:30-32)

I love you all!

Transfers again!

June 23:

I cannot believe so much has happened since the last time I emailed y'all!

Sadly I just realized I don't have any normal pictures of my new companion, Sister Evans. She is super fun! We have laughed so much together.

This week I met a bunch of people that confirmed to me that this is where I'm supposed to be. Which is really nice because leaving my last area was not very fun

The first picture is with Heather, she was my splits buddy I would go out with just about every week, we had a ton of fun! YSA is the best!

Our ward mission leader has 2 huge racks of hats, so on my last night we took a bunch of pictures with hats! And the pictures in the car are very descriptive of our companionship. Goofy and laughing all the time. I was very blessed to be their companion :)

2 Nephi 29:8. Replace nation with person or missionary :)

Transfers, miracles, day to day, treasures, & pictures

June 16:
This transfer has been a whirlwind! I feel like the relief of staying happened just last week. I'm getting transferred on Wednesday to 1 ward with Sister Evans. She seems really cool, and she was companions with my trainer last transfer.

So many miracles this week! We just found out that the awesome girl we got to teach before she went to Chicago is getting baptized soon :) Remember the nonmember who invited us over for dinner? Miracles just keep happening with her and her family. We met one of her daughters who is really really interested and has tons of questions! Yay! Another huge miracle, elders were teaching a YSA in our area and decided they should pass him off to us--the guy wants to be involved and asks really deep questions.

Mom asked for me to talk more about my day to day life. The dry heat, even though it's usually 110, is not as bad as humid heat. Weird fact: Sometimes the parking lots have sticky tar because it's so hot. Also, Sister Henretty & I put sunglasses on over our prescription glasses because we want to keep seeing & not get blinded--it looks pretty hilarious! We have listened to the Lower Lights' music every day in the car this week, and singing along is highly entertaining. Sister Henretty made up a funny voice/character, "Egbert Kitecutter" and we get to have standup comedy in our car rides too! Sister Snyder has a really distinct laugh that makes everyone happy--after sacrament meeting, if someone said something funny and she laughed, 2-3 people usually comment on how much they loved it. Life  is wonderful :)

There were some golden treasures of knowledge from church on Sunday. "Commandments aren't given to us to change them. They are given to us to change us." And "daily scripture study isn't always about the understanding, more often it's about the sacrifice." I have been noticing more and more the subtle blessings of obedience to the small things. When I'm consciously doing the small things (like not getting distracted by the wall during church--way too easy for me) to invite the spirit, I really do feel better and I'm more edified. It is amazing.

In every spare moment I'm reading the Book of Mormon with the question of how do I get my faith to lead to action--repentance, change, progression (don't worry, I'm still reading PMG over the  summer too).

What is your favorite scripture story?

Pictures:

Members are the best

exchanges are the best

funny looking pictures in the Sunday school manual are the best

Mesa "greenery" at its finest

Mesa Easter Pageant

That's only a tiny portion of the 4 story stage that the Easter Pageant was acted out on.

Also, all of those chairs get filled, people sit on blankets on the grass (just not in the aisles). They also sit on the wall. Apparently about 16,000 people watch it the last few nights (the seats are filled for the 2 weeks of the pageant) if you're ever near Mesa around Easter, it's a must see. Watching it brings the scriptures to life, and the spirit is so strong :)

Pictures again!

Quoting my mission president: "Rather than end my letter with a spiritual message, I would like to begin with it. It comes from President Packer's General Conference talk titled "The Key to Spiritual Protection". He said, "The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection. They contain the doctrine and laws and ordinances that will bring each child of God to a testimony of Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer."

President Packer added, "Be not afraid, only believe. Righteousness is more powerful than  wickedness". Never lose hope (don't be afraid). Never give up or give in. You are stronger than you think. The power of the scriptures, of our personal righteousness, and of our faith and belief in the Savior, combined with the enabling power of the Atonement are sufficient for all our challenges, trials, heartaches, addictions, tendencies, and weaknesess. I promise you that this is true."

Uploading pictures was not working for a few weeks, and Sister Sallstrom got transferred, so we got a bunch of pictures (this isn't even a fraction of them, we love taking pictures)

I cannot recall if I told you about our super fun lesson! The Cenatiempos helped us teach the blessing of obedience to Tyler. We raced, and then raced with one person being weighed down with weights (being weighed down with sin). We basically did a bunch of relays. Seeing who could shoot the most hoops first with a basketball and then with a yoga ball. One of my favorites was when we did the wall sit competition, Sister Cenatiempo "kept the Sabbath day holy" so she got a 7 second break every 7 seconds, & then a longer one for "General Conference."

"Consider on the blessed and happy state of those at keep the commandments" Mosiah 2:41

Also, meet Antonio, he may look scary, but he accurately describes himself "like a big teddy bear". He is so cool! We had the best time teaching him, he is so funny. The new elders in the area love teaching him. He is trying really really hard to quit smoking by the end of this month so he can be baptized, we are praying for him! Many many miracles have happened as we have had the privilege to teach him, he loves loves loves the gospel!

Shada invited us to her son's birthday party this week. We got to meet a ton of her awesome family, they are awesome! she is one of the sweetest women in the world :) she's the one we got to teach with the elder who passed away from muscular dystrophy.

I just realized I only have a few more minutes, but just so you know, Tyler's mom, Terri! is one of the most amazing people I have ever met (someday you might be lucky enough to be her friend)

I love you all!!!
Stay strong in the faith,
Sister White

Puppies, lunch

I went picture crazy this week since I forgot to do it last week.

A less active member has puppies, and she let us take pictures with
them, aren't they adorable? (she has 11, and I think they are all sold already, wow!)

I had so much fun making breakfast for Sister Sallstrom, and she
wanted a picture of it :)

Sister Sallstrom lost her contact container, so I told her what I would 

do when I forgot mine--use teaspoons, haha.

Oh, and that last picture? Especially for Hannah :)

We got to go to the Gilbert temple open house!! It was so incredible!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!

The work is going well, everyone is getting sick though! Geneva, (I think I sent pictures of her earlier with the gingerbread houses) is getting baptized on Saturday :)

I love you all.

I know that our Father in Heaven loves each of you very much, I hope the Spirit impresses that upon your hearts as you remember all the good things in your life (Moroni 10:6).

Remember Who You Are,
Sister White