Distant Cousins, Salmon, and New Investigators

June 11, 2013

 

Dear family,

Guess what? I found a relative here! At zone meeting on Thursday I heard someone say "Elder Grover." I hunted him down and asked him where he is from. He said San Diego, CA. I was pretty sure Grandma Great lived in California before, but I just asked if he was related to the Thomas Grover in the D&C. He said yes! His grandpa's name is/was Bud. Super neat! Too bad I am being transferred or we could figure out more. I am going to be in the Mandarin 2 ward. 

 

The Woodruffs finally had us over for salmon. I don't even know how they found out... but they teased me about it last time we were over at their house. When I saw their names on the meal calendar, I just thought "oh dear. prepare yourself." Then Sister Woodruff came over and asked Sister Graham what she liked/didn't like. Sister Graham then just told her that I don't like fish. Sister Woodruff laughed and said, "We know. We are having salmon." ha ha I knew it! We got there and sure enough... salmon was on the menu. and chicken in the fridge if I really didn't like it. But I ate it. And I am not even dead. :)

Sister Graham and I had a wonderful week! We found two new investigators! Hooray! We went to a potential in our area book who said we could come back later that week. We asked her if she new of anyone who could use a message of Jesus Christ or a prayer. She pointed us in the direction of her neighbors. She didn't know who they were, she just knew that they were going through a rough time. We used the Harvest approach at the door. The husband invited us right in and said that his wife could use all of the blessings she could get. His wife had a stroke about two and a half years ago and is paralyzed on her left side. After we prayed with them we felt impressed to talk about the Priesthood and Priesthood blessings. We asked if we could come by another time with a Priesthood holder who could give her a blessing and also teach them more about our beliefs. The wife said she had time right then. We taught them about the Restoration and set a return appointment.

When were able to maintain daily contact on the phone with this couple. However we had some miscommunication and showed up unexpectedly to them on Saturday. But it was perfect! The wife asked us how she can show her faith. We told her some ways that we can show our faith. A few minutes into the lesson she asked if she could smoke in front of us. We were able to teach her about the Word of Wisdom and asked her if she would show her faith, and promised her that if she lived it then she would be able to feel the Spirit stronger; especially as she was preparing for the blessing.

The next day we took one of her neighbors who is a member with us to give her a blessing. She asked that she could also be blessed to quit smoking. It has been absolutely wonderful watching both of their faith grow!

Inet, asking everyone for referrals, working with members, and daily contact are all so important! Along with many other things that we still need to be doing. This has been such a faith building experience for me.

 

I love you! Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Scott

Week #47

May 20, 2013

Dear family,

How was your week? Mine was great! Sister Graham and I set a baptism date with one of our investigators! He is the son of a member in our ward. He came when we were teaching mission prep to the Priests a couple weeks ago. Our lesson was on introducing the Book of Mormon. We broke out for role plays, and it turned into a "real play" for the boy who was teamed up with this boy. His lesson must have really had an effect on this boy because as we were starting to finish up he told Sister Graham that he wanted to read the Book of Mormon, but he didn't really understand it. We went over to his house a couple days later and offered to read with him and his friend in the ward who has his call to Brazil. He agreed and we met before mutual on Wednesday. We read 1 Nephi 2 (because he had been reading chapter 1 in the car) and it went really well. He was asking questions and his friends were making comments and bearing their testimonies. And the Spirit was really strong. We read the last two paragraphs of the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and invited him to read and pray. Then we invited him to be baptized when he came to know that these things are true. He said he would have to pray about it. :) Perfect answer! His baptism is set for June 9. With the ward's help we will get there!

I got to sit by a less active woman in Relief Society yesterday. I think I was able to connect with her and hopefully we will be able to go see her soon, and hopefully we will be able to help her start coming to Sacrament meeting too. :)

We really focused on the Atonement this week as a mission. On Tuesday we had Service Day. We decided to lay out Sister Pearce's mulch for her. We tried to finish it before she got home, so it would be a surprise, but she caught us. I am so happy that she did though. The smile on her face warmed my soul. I can hardly describe it. But it just made me so happy. Is it possible to have smiling AND work be your favorite? ;)

I love all of you! I hope you have a stupendous week! And if you feel like you need a smile, go mulch someone's yard. :)

Love,

Sister Scott

Getting to Know the Ward

May 13, 2013

Dear Family,

It was so good talking to all of you last night! It made me so happy!! I just love you all so much!!! :) I love hearing about what is going on in all of your lives. You are all so talented, and I am proud to be a part of this family. :)

Something that was pretty neat that happened last week. We contacted a couple referrals we had received, and they weren't interested...that wasn't the neat part, but I do feel that we were able to have a friendly conversation with them... As we were leaving their neighborhood I had a pretty good feeling about stopping by a less active/part member family in our ward that lived just a street over from where we were. We parked the car just outside the circle and said a prayer. As we got out of the car and started walking toward the house we saw the husband driving away. Aw drat! I had felt so good about going there. We decided to knock on the door anyway. The dogs barked at us for a few minutes. Then the wife came to the door! Hooray!!! We talked to her for a little while and she said that it made her feel so good that we had stopped by, and that maybe it was a sign. :) She told us a few of her concerns and why she didn't come to church. Hopefully we will be able to help her resolve some of those concerns when we see her again tomorrow.

Yesterday we were asked to teach the lesson in gospel principles. The ward mission leader asked us the night before as we were preparing for bed. So we didn't really have much time to prepare. Luckily it was just a more in-depth lesson on the Restoration. We tried to go off of the little that we had read in the beginning, then I tried reading some parts from the manual, and finally we just went by the Spirit. I felt like the end of the lesson went better than the beginning. We are told that we need to teach people, not lessons. When we focus on the needs of the people in the class more than the bullet points in the lesson, then the Spirit is able to teach and we are all edified. (This doesn't mean don't prepare a lesson. Just also be prepared to follow the promptings of the Spirit.)

I think I'm getting to know the whole ward. It is kind of sad that I have been here for about six months and I still don't know everyone. Each week I feel like we meet with another family that I haven't met yet in the ward. We stopped by a family that I had never heard of last week. The dad was outside in the yard playing baseball with his boys. You already know this is going to be a good family. ;) Plus they have 6 kids! Plus they have two girls and four boys! PLUS they went to Utah State!! When the wife came out she was even wearing her Utah State shirt! We were pretty much instantly friends. :) They have been going to a Catholic church. The wife is a member, the husband is not. The wife went back inside to take care of her baby twins, but we were able to talk to the husband for a little while. He asked us if we had any questions for him. I was caught a little off guard and the first question that came to my mind was how to make mosquito bites less itchy... Sister Graham caught on and asked him something about his beliefs. He had to go in and help get the kids ready for bed, but he told us to come back. I can't wait! :)

Another miracle with meeting someone in our ward... There is a woman in our ward who comes to Relief Society every once in a while. And only Relief Society. She was pointed out to me a couple months ago by a lady in our ward. I have seen her a couple times, but she is always out the door before I can catch her. But she was walking into the building as we were going to Sunday School yesterday. So I caught her and we got to talk to her for a few minutes. She said that we should come by sometime! And she lives in the gated of all gated communities. No one can ever get in there! And we have quite a few less active families in there. We are going to give her a call this weekend and I am so excited! :)

It's true that when you count the blessings or tender mercies you have that you just keep remembering more and more and more. :) I had a pretty great week! The best part was definitely getting to talk to my family. :) :)

I love you! I hope your week is wonderful!!

Love,

Sister Scott

p.s. I will try to send my picture of a manatee next week. ;)

p.p.s. Love you!!!!

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

Dear Family,

Let me tell you girl scouts a story... Once upon a time there was a place where it ALWAYS rained. The End. he he he :)

 

Last week was probably one of the fifth or sixth most rainiest weeks of my entire life.

 

It rained 3 days straight and a little into the 4th. It was also probable the fifth or sixth most best weeks of my mission though. Sister Graham and I talked to so many people! We found 3 new investigators and really 5... but we didn't get a specific return appointment with the last two. They did commit to reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon though! :)

 

Sorry this e-mail is so short.

But I get to talk to you on Sunday!!! :)

 

Love,

Sister Scott

Counting Tender Mercies

April 29, 2013

Dear Family,

Wow. It has been a crazy week. I got my new companion, Sister Graham, Monday night, and Sister Chappell flew home on Tuesday. Sister Barry called and said that she is doing well. -She has her surgery on Thursday and returned home two days later. So she is recovering quickly and should hopefully be back next transfer.

On Wednesday, Sister Graham got sick, so I got to play nurse. Yay... I made her some delicious Tylenol soup (crushed up Tylenol in a spoonful of a hydration fluid that I had also made) and she didn't even like it. But it made her feel better, so she asked me for some more later. :) I spent the day organizing the potentials in the area book, which needed to be done. When I finally finished that, I treated myself to reading the Book of Mormon. I finally made it to Alma! :) I also got to write in my journal! And I started a "tender mercies" journal, because I love 1 Nephi 1:20 so much. I hope that by recognizing all of the little miracles that happen each day will help us have more. :) During training the new missionaries participate in a conference call with all the missionaries that they came out with. They each share how they applied something they learned and share a miracle they had that week. A couple weeks ago, right before the conference call, Sister Chappell asked me what miracles we had had that week. I got out my planner to see what had happened... I said, "you could share about how a less active family in our ward asked us to come help them make fleece blankets for the hospital...(flipping through planner)...or share about the two people who said we could come back... or the woman who talked to us in her garage for half an hour -when we first talked to her about the Book of Mormon she said that she had not interest in getting involved in our religion, but by the end of our conversation she said that she might pick up and look through her daughter's copy." Pretty soon we had come up with about 50 miracles that she could pick from to share. It made me feel good to think of all the good things that had happened that week. Miracles are everywhere! :)

On Thursday we got into a gated community in our area. (We have a lot of them.) I either feel like I'm part of the "cool club" or something...or that I am trespassing and they don't really want us there... But we were going to see a member in our ward, so I felt mostly okay. Plus. The gate was open. So they were practically inviting us in. :) As we were walking over to this particular member's house I looked over and thought..."I think a member lives in one of those ones." And then we saw someone waving from his car. It was a member of our ward. I was right! 6 months and I think I am starting to know the area. ;) We walked over to talk to him. We played "when I drop something, you pick it up" with his two year old daughter, who just laughed and laughed. She has been sick and he said that that was the happiest she had been all day. 

On Friday we had a full schedule. We had planning all morning and then appointments all afternoon. I love days like that! 

Saturday we knocked on a lot of doors. We decided to go to a member's home that I have been meaning to go see for a few months. They weren't home, so we set off to build some character. We had seen a couple little girls playing the guitar and their ukelele, so we started to walk in their direction. Then two nurses with a young man with special needs walked out of the house across the street from where we were. They were going on a walk, so we asked if we could go with them. :) They asked us some questions and then we were able to teach them a little bit about the Restoration. One of them said that he has a relative who is a member of our church and he has been to church with him a few times. Nice! We asked him if he would be interested in learning more and if he would mind if we sent missionaries over to where he lives. He said sure! He is golden! I will be looking for his name when the list of baptisms for the month of May comes around. :)

We talked to some more people and then headed back to our car. We noticed a car in the driveway of the member we had originally gone to see that hadn't been there before, so we decided to try again. And they invited us in for pizza and brownies. It was a good day! The wife said, "so you met the walkers?" I told her that we didn't get anyone's last name... then she said, "I meant the walk-ers." Oh! Like the people walking around. yes. We met them. :)

Sister Graham was sick again on Sunday, so I made her more soup. ;) We prayed and we were able to go to church. Hooray! I needed it!

I hope all of you are doing well! Have a wonderful week! And have fun with the Zoumberis family. :)

I love you so much!!

Love,

 Sister Scott

Two Drowned Rats

April 15, 2013

Dear Family,

Oh dear. That story of the pouring rain reminded me of an experience that we had last week. Once upon a time, we decided to go see an investigator that we hadn't seen in a long time. We decided that we were just going to drop in on her. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but whatever. It was probably the least thrilled she has ever been to see us. oops. Should have listened to that prompting. We had about 15 minutes before we had to be to our next appointment. (you know what that means. It means that we are going to get into any door that we knock on.) We knocked on the door of a less active woman that we have a hard time reaching -also the same woman who made us late last time we tried visiting her 15 minutes before an appointment- We knocked on her door and she answered. She told us we were late jokingly. She told us that we could have helped her take the garbage to the end of the street if we had just been a few minutes earlier. Now I was really wishing that I had followed that prompting. 

When we left her house it was pouring rain. She was nice and gave us an umbrella. Ha ha even if it didn't help us too much. Before getting out of the car I told Sister Chappell the game plan. I would get out of the car with the umbrella and run over to her side to get her. Then we would made a mad dash...sort of...she can't really run with the braces on her legs...to the door. 1...2...3!I jumped out of the car! She hadn't listened to the game plan, so she did too. My purse was upside down and all of my pens, the phone, other misc. items fell to the ground. We both made our way the the door. I tried to hold the umbrella over under the rain pouring from the roof so Sister Chappell could avoid that, which ended up pouring on me. Our investigator answered the door to two d-r-o-w-n-e-d r-a-t-s. (Bob from Mill Hollow) We were soaked! We all laughed as our investigator ran to the closet to grab us some towels.

Yesterday we went to see a potential investigator that was in our area book. She wasn't there so we decided to build some character. We decided to knock on a door a couple houses down. As we were walking to this house I had a strange sense of deja vous (however you spell that) We started walking up to the door a guy next door told us that no one lived there anymore. He asked us how the work was going. After a few minutes of talking to him we asked him if he had ever talked to missionaries before. He said that his best friend in high school was Mormon. Then he asked, "Do you remember me? You stopped by here a few months ago?" oops... We asked him some questions about religion. He said that he had studied lots of religions and had decided that it wasn't for him. He said he enjoyed our conversation and wished us well. We asked if we could add him on facebook, and he said sure. When we got on today he said that he had been thinking about our conversation yesterday and was impressed and said that if we were interested he would like us to come back. We are interested enough that we do this all day everyday! :) I am sure that he felt the Spirit a we testified to him. And I am super excited to go back. :)

I hope you all have a terrific week! I love you!!

Love,
  Sister Scott

General Conference

April 8, 2013

Dear Family,

Wasn't General Conference wonderful! I watched three of the sessions at the church to keep a woman in our ward company and because our investigator who just got baptized came to one of the sessions. Sister Pearce and another family invited us to watch conference with them at their house. I really wanted to. Especially since I don't feel like we get to spend a lot of time with Sister Pearce. Only in the morning before she goes to work, and at night before we go to bed. But we had been invited to come to lunch between sessions by a neighborhood of families in our ward. (There are four of them in one neighborhood! ...that probably sounds funny since our whole neighborhood is in our ward. ha ha But it isn't like that out here. :) And we offered to watch the last session with a less active woman in our ward who has health problems. We tried calling her on Saturday, and decided to just stop by before the session on Sunday. She told us that she wasn't having a good day and wasn't feeling well, but when we reminded her of General Conference she invited us right in. She is so sweet! I just love her! She told us that we aren't allowed to leave without telling her where we are going. :) She is usually super talkative. But her attention was completely fixed on the screen as we listened to each of the speakers.

It was neat to hear as President Monson talked about all the missionaries. We are a part of that 65,000 and Spencer is part of the 20,000! Oh boy! It's so exciting!

Will you tell Grandma Great that I love her all the way from Jacksonville, Florida?! :)
p.s. A girl in our ward said, Why did the chicken cross the road? ...to get to the Missionaries on the other side. :)

I think the highlight of my week this week was when we were out SMACTing. (I never ever ever thought I would ever say that in my whole entire mission... or life.) We received a couple media referrals a few months ago. We have tried contacting them, but haven't had much success. Okay... one of them was an older couple and they were fantastic! They seemed super interested and we thought for sure they were going to be baptized. But for some reason they haven't been returning our calls or answering the door. We are encouraged to tract (or in nicer terms SMACT) around the house of media referrals. We were sent there for a reason. Even if it might not be them. Sp we knocked on all of the doors in this circle. We were getting to the last few houses and none of them had been interested. I felt like maybe this was God's punishment since I hadn't talked to someone earlier that day. So maybe he had taken away the Spirit and my ability to connect with people. I thought maybe we should come back another time when God trusted me more. Instead we decided to endure to the end and finish the circle. The next house we went to was a nice family that we ended up talking to for half an hour. We hope to visit them again in the near future. It was just a tender mercy that we found someone who was nice and willing to talk to us. God loves us even when we make mistakes. :)

The other one we tried multiple times and ended up leaving a note on their door and said to give us a call. The mom called and told us that her 10 year old son accidentally requested us on mormon.org. (I would still like to know how he got there.) She asked us not to come by. To make a long story short...er, when we reported that we had contacted this family to the referral center it didn't register. So we got many notices from our mission leaders that we hadn't contacted them. We decided that this must mean that we needed to go back. Maybe their hearts had changed. We went to their house a couple nights ago. As we started walking to their driveway, the thought came to my head that maybe we were sent here for someone else. Then I thought, No. We already knocked on all of these doors. Then a house caught my eye, and the thought came again. I had an inner battle for a few minutes. I'm sure Sister Chappell was thinking that I was going crazy. We decided to knock on the door of that house. No one came to the door. Slightly confused and discouraged we started walking away. And a car pulled up. A man came got out of the car with a little girl. He was on the phone, but asked what he could help us with. We told him that we had a message for families and asked if there was a better time that we could come back. He said, "Come back tomorrow around the same time. I was a door to door salesman for 4 years. I'll listen to whatever you have to say." :) :) :) Oh me of little faith. And yet God still blesses me and allows me to see his tender mercies. We went back the next day. We didn't have much time to talk to him, but he said that someone from our church had talked to him about families before and family was really important to him. He already had two copies of the Book of Mormon! We plan on going back again this week! :) This family is going to be eternal! That is my goal! :)

I love you, eternal family! Thank you so much for your love and support! I hope you have a fantastic week!

I love you!!

Love,
Sister Scott