Week 70 #exchanges​#iloveasia​ns#campusl​ife

Tuesday and Wednesday I was out of the area on exchanges which was crazy. However, Sister McMillan and I had a really cool experience in Avon. We had gone to a neighborhood that was hit by the tornado last week and tried some potentials and no one was there. We were in a no soliciting neighborhood so supposedly we weren't allowed to tract. We found a little pathway that led to a park so I told Sister McMillan that we could try to it. We started down it and no one was out. I began to second think my decision. Soon we came across a pavilion and there was a guy sitting at a picnic table. We approached him and introduced who we were. He didn't seem all that interested especially when he told us he attends a church but doesn't claim it. However, as we got talking more he shared with us that he used to meet with a senior couple missionary in North Carolina and had attended church. I finally got the guts to ask him why he stopped. He told us the only reason was because he moved here to Indiana and lost contact with the church. At that very moment I asked him if we could teach him the Restoration. We taught the whole thing and he was telling us that everything made sense. We set up a return appointment for the sisters to go see him on Friday. And texted the sisters Friday night to see how it went. They said that there was some miscommunication because he told them he was unable to meet because he had an interview but they still showed up anyways. He told them that he believed the Book of Mormon to be true and they committed him to be baptized on August 2nd!!! I couldn't believe it!!! Avon has really struggled with baptisms, meaning they haven't had any since sisters got put in two years ago. I very, very excited for the sisters.

Wednesday I was in the Indy 3rd ward with Sister Richardson. In the afternoon we had planned to see about a billion less actives and we weren't able to visit with any of them. We still had about 20 minutes before our dinner appointment so we decided to just knock a few houses in the neighborhood that we were in. The last door that we knocked on a  woman answered up. She wasn't too interested, but Sister Richardson and I were persistent. She still didn't invite us back, but there is nothing more powerful than bearing your testimony to someone and wanting them to listen. 

Friday we taught Megan and Kiki together for the last time. Gosh I just can't get enough of these girls. Megan has already been contacted by the missionaries in Pennsylvania though and she'll be meeting with them tomorrow. Then we met with Kiki after church yesterday. Before we had a dessert social and I was talking with her and one of our members. Previously her baptism date was August 30th. Then somehow it got brought up that I would be leaving the 26th. She told me that she would need to get baptized before I left. Then when we had her lesson with her she said that she wanted to move her date up so that both Sister Gil and I could be there. We didn't have the heart to tell her about transfers though. She and Megan are both one of the many miracles that Sister Gil and I have seen in this area. She knows way more doctrine than either of us thought. I think we asked her what forgiveness was and the rattled off some definition that was literally perfect. Sister Gil and I just stare at each other in awe during her lessons. 

Tho

Those were definitely the highlights from this week. We have our last exchange of the transfers starting tonight. I'm finally staying on campus for once! This week will be really great. I'm sad Sister Gil and I will be getting split up soon, and I'm VERY anxious about this next transfer:(

Week 70 #exchanges​#iloveasia​ns#campusl​ife

Tuesday and Wednesday I was out of the area on exchanges which was crazy. However, Sister McMillan and I had a really cool experience in Avon. We had gone to a neighborhood that was hit by the tornado last week and tried some potentials and no one was there. We were in a no soliciting neighborhood so supposedly we weren't allowed to tract. We found a little pathway that led to a park so I told Sister McMillan that we could try to it. We started down it and no one was out. I began to second think my decision. Soon we came across a pavilion and there was a guy sitting at a picnic table. We approached him and introduced who we were. He didn't seem all that interested especially when he told us he attends a church but doesn't claim it. However, as we got talking more he shared with us that he used to meet with a senior couple missionary in North Carolina and had attended church. I finally got the guts to ask him why he stopped. He told us the only reason was because he moved here to Indiana and lost contact with the church. At that very moment I asked him if we could teach him the Restoration. We taught the whole thing and he was telling us that everything made sense. We set up a return appointment for the sisters to go see him on Friday. And texted the sisters Friday night to see how it went. They said that there was some miscommunication because he told them he was unable to meet because he had an interview but they still showed up anyways. He told them that he believed the Book of Mormon to be true and they committed him to be baptized on August 2nd!!! I couldn't believe it!!! Avon has really struggled with baptisms, meaning they haven't had any since sisters got put in two years ago. I very, very excited for the sisters.

Wednesday I was in the Indy 3rd ward with Sister Richardson. In the afternoon we had planned to see about a billion less actives and we weren't able to visit with any of them. We still had about 20 minutes before our dinner appointment so we decided to just knock a few houses in the neighborhood that we were in. The last door that we knocked on a  woman answered up. She wasn't too interested, but Sister Richardson and I were persistent. She still didn't invite us back, but there is nothing more powerful than bearing your testimony to someone and wanting them to listen. 

Friday we taught Megan and Kiki together for the last time. Gosh I just can't get enough of these girls. Megan has already been contacted by the missionaries in Pennsylvania though and she'll be meeting with them tomorrow. Then we met with Kiki after church yesterday. Before we had a dessert social and I was talking with her and one of our members. Previously her baptism date was August 30th. Then somehow it got brought up that I would be leaving the 26th. She told me that she would need to get baptized before I left. Then when we had her lesson with her she said that she wanted to move her date up so that both Sister Gil and I could be there. We didn't have the heart to tell her about transfers though. She and Megan are both one of the many miracles that Sister Gil and I have seen in this area. She knows way more doctrine than either of us thought. I think we asked her what forgiveness was and the rattled off some definition that was literally perfect. Sister Gil and I just stare at each other in awe during her lessons. 

Tho

Those were definitely the highlights from this week. We have our last exchange of the transfers starting tonight. I'm finally staying on campus for once! This week will be really great. I'm sad Sister Gil and I will be getting split up soon, and I'm VERY anxious about this next transfer:(

Week 69

Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Hunt. We went back and forth between areas because she LOVES campus. We started by teaching a couple of her investigators that are getting baptized in August. They are a mother and daughter and are SO prepared! The daughter is also getting married the week before to her fiance and then all three of them will be getting baptized the following week. After lunch we spent some time on campus pcing, not really any luck though. Afterwards we stopped by one of her less actives. We drive to this ghetto part of town and then pull up in front of her house. She's an older black lady and she was just sitting on her porch like Hoosiers do. Anyways, as we were sitting there on her porch I thought about THIS is why I love my mission. Those moments when I can just talk to people about the gospel.

 

So this week the missionary department came! On Wednesday we had a meeting up in Fishers with them that felt like it lasted a million years. However! I learned a ton about my purpose as a missionary. Sometimes I feel like everything I am learning now would have been really helpful a little sooner, but we have to learn one thing at a time. I guess what I took away from that meeting was that everything I learned there can be applied for the rest of my life, not as a full time missionary. They focused a lot on extending the baptismal commitment and how focused we need to be on baptism. Our purpose is to invite people, our goal is to baptize.

 

Thursday we ran into Iman on campus, the girl we went to church with last week. We introduced the Book of Mormon too her. We have to get members fellowshipping her because she is at the poitn where she trusts us and views us as her friends. There's definitely a lot of potential with her; we just have to help her understand the Restoration and she'll be golden! We had to get our car fixed that afternoon :( Then we ran and got some Mexican pizza from a member of the Spanish branch and headed over to help the White River sisters move out of their apartment.

 

Our topic for Book of Mormon reading class that night was confidence. The Spirit was so strong as we read stories from the Book of Mormon of people who were confident in their callings. I realized, that everyone is! My teacher in the MTC, Sister Metzger would also do an "I know" circle at the end of every class. Basically everyone in the class would go around the room and say "I know" and then something that the Spirit taught them. I remembered doing that right as class was wrapping up, so I suggested that we do it. I was amazed at the different responses of the members and investigators. There is nothing more powerful than people bearing their testimonies, because that is what we were doing.

 

Friday we had zone meeting. I was stressing about my training! Then we get a call from the assistants saying they were coming. It turned out my training got cut short so it ended up not being a big deal in the end. That afternoon we taught Megan and Kiki. They have the coolest story! They are friends we met on campus about three weeks ago. Megan came to a baptism a few days later and then we were able to teach her another time. In the mean time we didn't see Kiki. Then Megan left for Penn State and we didn't think we were going to see her anymore. So last week Kiki came to church and loved it and we set up to meet with her on Friday. On Thursday I had this thought to text Megan. She responded saying she was in town! And that she had ran into some missionaries and they gave her a Book of Mormon. We went to the church Thursday night and learned that the White River elders had pced into her along the canal on Tuesday and had taught her Wednesday and then that day as well. Crazy! So Megan said she wanted to come to the lesson on Friday with Kiki. Well....long story short. It was an short, simple, spiritual lesson. We taught some of the plan of salvation and then Megan prayed at the end. We had extended to both of them a baptismal date of August 2nd. When Megan prayed she asked that their faith be strengthened so they would be prepared for baptism!!!! NO ONE EVER SAYS THAT!!!

 

Saturday morning rolls around and we haven't heard from Elliot in 24 hours. We went to the church and our branch mission leaders begins to fill up the font. An hour and a half before the baptism Elliot calls and tells us he doesn't want to get baptized that day but that he still wants to come to the church and talk. We were devasted! I didn't think a baptism would fall through that close to the service. We tried to get the word out quick enough but it was so hard to tell the member that still showed up to the church. Luckily Elliot was totally fine with expressing how he felt. He just feels like he needs a stronger testimony of the gospel.

 

Yesterday was another miracle day. We were able to teach all four of our investigators that came to church. What a blessing! Yolanda we taught before church. I absolutely love teaching her. She told us she wants to prepare for baptism!!!!!!!!!!! It will probably still be a ways down the road, but that's the complete opposite mindset she had when I first met her. Then we taught Megan and Kiki after sacrament meeting because they wanted to leave to watch the world cup haha. You know someone is prepared by the questions they ask during lessons. And they are both prepared! We followed up with them about getting baptized on August 2nd and they both felt like that we too soon. They asked to be baptized on August 30th instead. Sister Gil and I are both pretty confident that that date will get moved up :)

 

We've been teaching Michael for quite a while now and we both have felt like he hasn't been able to recognize the Spirit. We feel like we are just sharing knowledge with him during our lesson. On Saturday during weekly planning we talked about what we could change to invite the Spirit. After church we met with him and read part of Alma 32 with him and talked about faith. Then he totally opened up! I asked him if he had been specifically praying about the things we had been teaching him. He said that at first he wasn't, but that now he was. And that everytime he prayed about it he felt good. Then he said he's been thinking about the first time we met. He said he saw us walk past the first time and he felt a connection, that there was something different about us. Then we walked around the corner and t hen came back and sat at the computer next to him. He thought it was a bit weird when we started talking to him and asked if he wanted to watch a video (we shared with him Because of Him). While he's telling us this Sister Gil and I are just looking at each other, completely dumbfounded. He's nervous because everything we shared with him is different from what he was taught and he's also concerned about his family. All I know is that the Spirit was present in that lesson. I bore my testimony much more powerfully then I have in a very long time. There is so much joy that comes from being used as an instrument of the Spirit. Sometimes I wish I could remember exactly what I said, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is the feeling that was in the room.

 

Last night was Why I Believe. I'm very grateful that I get to attend these wonderful fireside. President Cleveland had the departing missionaries stand up and bear their testimonies. It's hard to believe that Sister Clark and Sister Carroll will be going home in just a couple weeks. I love both these sisters very dearly and they've been a part of my mission since day one. Luckily Sister Carroll and I have already planned our sleepover for this fall :) Afterwards I saw the family that I had taught with Sister Hunt on Tuesday. I went over their to meet the fiance. When I shook his hands he said "I've heard so much about you!" and then Hope chimmed in and said that she really wanted me to meet him. It's crazy that kind of bonds we can develop out here. As I was going around shaking hands last night I realized that I really do know a lot of people out here. At my first Why I Believe I'm pretty sure I followed my companions around the entire night haha.

 

Please pray for Sister Gil and I. We got a new phone this week and we hate it!!!! We will probably lose our patience this week because it takes both of us twice as long to do anything on the thing. However, I just remind myself that I'm grateful we have a phone because our life would be much more difficult with out it. In fast, the night after we got it I had a dream I bought an Iphone when I got home. Sister Gil told me it was a revelation and that I should do it :) I was freaking out in the dream though because of how much money it was.

 

I definitely went to sleep with a smile on my face last night. There is an unexplanable joy that comes from feeling the Spirit.

 

Sister Mayberry

Week 68 #4thofJuly​Olympics#f​ireworks#c​onversion#​reachforth​estars

THIS WEEK WAS CRAZY!!!!

So Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Francis. It was way fun to be back with a previous companion! My favorite part of the exchange was being able to see Desi. Just a refresher, I taught her when I was here last time and then she got baptized in February. She attends the Plainfield family ward. She has since moved in with a member family. We taught them about Elder Bednar's talk "Bear Up our Burdens with Ease". At the end of the lessons I asked the family if there was anything we could do for them. The father of the household said yes, I ahve a question that maybe you can help answer. He asked how he could get ride of the burdens in his life that weren't providing the necessary spiritual traction. I didn't really know what to say. I gave some long answer that probably didn't make any sense. But what I took away from that was his humility. He said she since we had been set apart to teach maybe we could help answer his question. Members never cease to amaze me. I'm grateful for what he taught me that day.

 

So basically Wednesday was our last proselyting day of the week. Sister Gil and I set ridiculously high goals for the day, teaching 15 lessons to be exact. We didn't have single appointment scheduled so we would spend the entire day pcing campus. I was definitely exhausted by the end of the day. We didn't reach 15, but we did get 10. A new record for me!

 

Then on Thursday we had MLC at the mission home. I learned so much! First off both President Cleveland and the assistants trained on key indicators and there purpose. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite other to come unto Christ. How do we do that? Through finding investigators and teaching lessons, both of which are reflected in key indicators. He also talked about goals. We have a goal as a mission to baptize 121 people in two transfers which ends at the end of the month. I think we are at about 70 people. President explained that it doesn't matter if we reach it our not. What matters is that we push ourselves to meet it. Even if we don't meet the goal, we will probably have had more baptisms than if we hadn't set the goal. I applied it to my experience the previous day. We didn't reach our goal, but I know we taught a lot more than we would have if we had set a lower goal. We set goals not so we can reach them 100% of the time, but so we can push ourselves and grow from it. In the afternoon President spoke on conversion. It was really just what I needed. One of the scriptures that he shared was 2 Corinthians 13:5

 

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"

 

He talked about the importance of taking time to examine ourselves and waht we are doing to show conversion. What I personally got out of the scriptures was the importance of proving to ourselves what we are capable of doing. Heavenly Father knows exactly what each of us are capable of doing, but we often don't see the potential in ourselves. I remember at a youth fireside long ago the speaker said that we aren't here on earth to prove Heavenly Father that we can make it back to the Celestial Kingdom, but we are here to prove it to ourselves. I also love our Jesus Christ is in all of us. This made me think of grace. We are capable of doing anything with the help of our Savior. I loved being able to sit in the basement of the mission home and be taught by President Cleveland. It's such a blessing to be around him more often.

 

Friday was a lot of fun! In the afternoon most of the zone got together and we had a picnice and did some "olympic" stuff. Like sack races, stick pull, water balloon tosses and the limbo. That evening we went downtown and got some food and sat on the circle center steps. That was a very interesting experience. As I sat there I just people watched and that hundreds of people around me. I could actually feel how I was set apart from the world. I started talking to one of the elders and he said he felt the same way. That night we got to stay out until 10:30 to watch fireworks! We sat along the White River and watched them shoot them off from downtown. I have to admit, they were quite disappointing compared to the Celebration of Lights.

 

Saturday night a girl we had met on Monday texted us and invited us to come to church with her. On Friday I had been telling Sister Gil how I've always wanted to attend another church. We didn't have any of our early morning meetings on Sunday so we decided to go! It was just a non-denominational church. It was crazy! We get out of the car and I can already hear the band playing. We walk in and there's people dancing in the front of the church. Iman goes up and Sister Gil and I just sit in the back and watch. After about a half hour the service finally begins. They take communion, we didn't. The preacher didn't actually speak, but just a member of the congregation. Afterwards the guy sitting next to me knew it was our first time and after I introduced myself he asked if we were Catholic. I explained that we were Mormon missionaries. I think he was quite taken back. He admitted that they service was pretty crazy but that we should come back again. He was definitely working hard. Then I whipped out my mormon.org cards and started explaining more about who were were.

 

Unfortunately we were late for church so we didn't get to take the sacrament. But we had four people at church! After that experience I had just had I knew I needed to bear my testimony. As I was sitting at that non-dem church I realized that we have the entire truth. Those people love God, but they are missing so much. If anything that experience gave me a clearer perspective of my purpose. But I've never been so grateful to walk into a chapel in my life! I coudl feel the Spirit immediately as I walked in and I was very glad to be able to listen to people share their testimonies. One of the investigators that came was Kiki. She's from China and we met her a couple weeks ago but haven't seen her since. She even brought her boyfriend! After sacrament meeting they always have visiting/new people stand and introduce themselves. I told Kiki that if she didn't feel comfortable doing it that I could do it for her. She was just fine with it! She got up, said her name, that she was going to school at IUPUI, and wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. The members SWARMED her afterwards to introduce themselves to her. I was a very happy missionary :) The rest of church was great, members were very nice to all our investigators at our break the fast after church.

 

Elliot should be getting baptized this Saturday. We are very, very excited! This week is also going to be crazy, but good. The time keeps going by faster and faster.

 

Week 67 #baptizeth​enations#t​ornado#the​matriarch

So Monday for preparation day we went minigolfing because the church was being cleaned. It was so fun!!!

 

Yep Tuesday we certainly had a tornado, however nothing exciting. We were at the church eating lunch when they told us to stay inside and not leave. The clouds didn't even look any different, a very big disappointed. Apparently the funnel cloud was by the race track, which is only about a mile from where we live. Definitely not the tornado I wanted to experience. I didn't even hear the sirens! Once we got released from the church we drove up to Carmel to the mission office to pick up some copies of the Book of Mormon and then headed to our dinner appointment in Fishers. I love the mission office! Also the member was filling us in the Ordained Woman stuff. Both Sister Gil and I came to the same conclusion, both of us are just fine with not knowing about what is happening in the world. There is definitely a different feeling when you know you are set apart from the things of the world.

 

I wanted to share what I learned in institute on Wednesday. We talked about the story of the talents. Obviously, each person starts out with different amounts of talents. Our responsbility is to not worry about what we started out with, but allow out talents to increase. We each are given a different amount in different areas at life. Say someone is given a lot of talents to be a missionary, but maybe they struggle with going to school, or vice versa. It doesn't matter what we start out with, but how we allow it to grow. Hopefully that makes sense! I hate explaining things over typing. Before institute the elders had a baptism. We had met Megan on campus the week before but hadn't actually taught her. She came to the baptism! The crazy thing is she's only in Indiana for a few weeks visiting her sister before she heads to Penn State for grad school. During the service she asked Sister Gil how long it takes for someone to get baptized. So we had a lesson with her on Friday. The minute we said the opening prayer she asked if she could get baptized!!!!!!!!! We were both really excited for that whole lesson. She was raised in China but has converted to Christianity since coming to the US. We committed her to baptism and he said yes. We thought for sure she would be coming to church yesterday but then she said she couldn't because she's moving this Friday! We're kind of freaking out and really want to teach her before she goes. Luckily we already have the number for the institute teacher at Penn State. It was such a miracle lesson though.

 

I have officially become the "matriarch" of the missionaries. The elders are kind enough to refer to me as "mom". haha I guess that's what I get when you clean up after dinner at the church.

 

Saturday night we had NOTHING to do. Pretty typical for a campus missionary. That morning I had the thought to text all our investigators and invite them to play volleyball that night. They actually came! We had a lot of fun with them. So I have no idea what I've told you before because I can never remember, but Yolanda has changed completely since I've come. We've been meeting with her regularly and she's been coming to institute and church! Yesterday she was even joking around with me! Before she didn't even smile. I think my favorite part was when we were teaching her on Friday and she was laughing and smiling about what she had learned from her Book of Momron reading. At first I wasn't sure where she was going to go, but we've definitely seen a miracle happen right before out eyes with her.

 

I got waffles last night!!! Fancy Norwegian ones even. The Larsen's (senior couple serving in White River Ward) usually have the missionaries over on Sunday evenings.

 

This week is going to be a bit crazy. We don't have a full preparation day today because we are going to take the rest of it on the 4th. We also have MLC, interviews, and exchanges!! But I'm excited to work on campus on a Monday! I look back and the end of my mission is definitely a lot different from the first, even though I'm even in the same area! It's been fun to see how I've changed over the last year or so.