How God shows that he loves me? He sent me rain :)

Hello everyone!

So this week was pretty amazing! It was super busy and we had some crazy stuff happen, but all is well in Zion... haha

First of all, it rained!!!! And it was a lovely warm rain. And it was super windy and cloudy. I loved it. I love extreme storms.

Anyway, We had dinner with the Maughans this week and it was awesome! We showed up a little early, so she let me play her grand piano for a little bit before dinner. They have a beautiful home and I'm super excited for the ward picnic there next week. Tuesday this week was a bit insane (again). We had 5 set appointments all across town from each other and THEN we had to pay a visit to the doctor for Sister MacKillop. We also didn't have a car... So, thankfully, we were able to get a ride from Sister Bass (the mission secretary) and we were able to shift our schedule around just enough to make everything work out. The Lord definitely blesses us when we're doing his work and when we're working for a good cause.

This week was amazing! "Why?" you may ask. Well. I'll tell you why. Stephanie has a baptismal date!!!!! Yes, this wonderful woman who has been consistently coming to church for over 3 years has made the commitment to be baptized! She's amazing! AND we are currently hitting almost all of our mission's standards of excellence! Yes, be proud. I'm proud. I've worked my tail end off, so I deserve to be happy with the fruits of my labors. Although, none of this would be possible without Heavenly Father's help. He has given me strength when I've been weak and he's helped us all along the way. This work is never something that we do on our own. The Lord is with us every step of the way. And, just like the poem about the footprints in the sand, he carries us through the most difficult times. I'm so glad that we've emerged through the tough times and are now in the times of plenty. It's such a relief.

Anyway, we also did a pretty awesome service project this week where we're helping one of our investigators make dresses for little girls. One of the patterns is made from a pillowcase and they turn into the cutest dresses!! We helped with that for a bit and then later this week, we helped Stephanie (it's such a nice name, isn't it?) weed her front and side yards. It took me back to the Saturday mornings during the summer doing yard work with dad. It was awesome. You could tell I was a perfectionist because I pulled EVER SINGLE SOLITARY WEED. Yep, even the baby ones. That yard looked pretty good when we finished with it.

We had so many blessings this week! Really, when we do what the Lord asks us to, when we are obedient and when we are trying our hardest, he rains so many blessings on us. We got the downpour on Sunday. We had almost 20 nonmembers at church and 3 of our investigators were there as well. Also, many of the less-actives that we have been working with and praying over, were at church and it was so good to see them there! It was an amazing day and I felt so much love for all of them! I played for primary (they were desperate) and we had the opportunity to teach the Young Women how to use the Restoration pamphlets. It was an incredible day. Absolutely incredible. An incredible day to round off an incredible week.

Congrats Allison on graduation! Congrats Jen on finals! Congrats on everyone else for surviving another week! :)

Love you all and have a wonderful week!

Steph

pics: So, I was riding behind Sister MacKillop when this happened, and it looked like her bike had fallen apart as she was going up the stairs. Luckily, it was only her basket, but it scattered everything (including our phone) all over the sidewalk.

Also, I found an arrowhead!!!! jk it's actually a piece of a confetti egg. I thought it was pretty cool, though

Sleep? That's a part of the schedule?

So this week was great! I'm a little bit fuzzy on remembering things (lack of sleep) BUT, I have my handy dandy planner to help me remember it all!

Monday was pretty crazy. Tuesday was insane. Wednesday was also super packed. And then we had Thursday. Yes, it's in a category all it's own because, apparently, no one wants to set appointments with us on Thursday... Seriously.

Tuesday was my favorite day because it was, like I said before, INSANE!! We were able to meet with Heather, Ricky, Kaitlin, AND Tsahai all in one afternoon. And because none of you really know how crazy that is, in this area and on bike, let me tell you something. It takes us 30 minutes to bike from the church to Kaitlin's apartment. From her apartment to Ricky's it takes us 15 minutes. From Ricky's apartment back to the church is 15 more minutes. From the church to Tsahai's is another 30 minutes. Yes, we bike 15 or more miles every day. That being said, Tuesday was insane! We had a really good appointment with Heather and she prayed with us! For the first time! She's so amazing and she really wants the best for her family, so please pray for her. She's going through some really tough stuff right now.

I've discovered that I absolutely LOVE object lessons! We've been teaching several 8-10 year olds and the object lessons are GOLD with them! It keeps them focused and it keeps me focused too! We've been doing a lot more visual aids with our teaching recently and we've seen a huge effect on the participation in the lessons. It's been awesome!

So, due to the shortness of the letter, I will include a short little snippet about one of our dinners this week. We ate dinner with 2 British women that are both in their mid to late 70s and it was so funny! Their mannerisms were so different and I really loved talking with them! Especially hearing their funny stories about missionaries (one of them had been a mission president's wife) and it was fantastic! I wanted to talk in a British accent for the rest of the night!

We had an amazing Stake Conference this weekend! We had Elder Nash come and it was an absolutely amazing experience! The Spirit was so strong and it was such a good experience! I took a lot of notes. It was amazing :)

Well, I love you all and I hope that you all have an absolutely FANTASTIC week!

Love,
Steph

Also, I'll be going to BYU-Idaho in the Fall!! I'm super excited :)

pics: Arizona sunsets are the best! Also, my wonderful companion, Sister MacKillop, drew a simple comic to describe the 10 commandments... I though it was epic :)

Miracles Grow

Hi everyone!

Did you like my little play on words in my title? Yep, only took me 30 seconds to make that up. BUT the reason for the title is that this week was a week of miracles!

First off, I need to explain our standard of excellence in the Arizona Scottsdale mission. The main gist of the standard is to have 3 progressing investigators, 3 investigators with a baptismal date, and one referral from a member per week. Well, we've been doing really well with earning referrals from members every week, but this week was a milestone in that we now have 3 PROGRESSING INVESTIGATORS!!! This area hasn't had very many progressing investigators and hasn't had any baptisms in OVER A YEAR. So yes, this was a major milestone and it stemmed from miracle after miracle after miracle. 

We had several lessons this week that were absolutely AMAZING! One was with Stephanie (with a name like that, you know the story is going to be good). She was taught several years ago and, for some reason, the missionaries stopped teaching her. We were introduced to her art church the other week and found out that she's been coming to church regularly ever since she was initially taught. Wait, back up. An entire TWO YEARS has passed since she has been taught. And she's been coming the whole time. I told you this story was good :) So we have her praying about a baptismal date now and we are so excited for her!

Another lesson that we had was with Heather. She's been hard to catch recently, but we've had 2 lessons with her in less than a week! This is the same investigator that watched the Saturday morning session of General Conference with us. She's amazing!

We're also helping a part-member family with FHE on Mondays and the 8 yr old son is so excited to be baptized! It's so cool to see the effect that the Gospel has had on their lives and how happy they are in the church. It's so cool to see the change in everyone's lives. I really never really realized how much we have as members of the church. We have so much that brings us so much happiness and peace. It truly is a blessing to be a part of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. And to know that it's Christ's church Restored to the earth again. The blessings and miracles that follow his church are here. It's incredible to be a part of that process of bringing those blessings to others lives. I love this work and I wouldn't be anywhere else right now. It's the most fulfilling thing that I've ever done!

I love you all and pray for you all, by name, every single day! I'm keeping that promise and I'm reaping the blessings from keeping it.

Love,

Steph

pics: my district and the box for the vacuum... It fit :)

Also, Tanya, my recent convert from Mesa! We ran into her last night at the fireside and I had to get a picture!

Also, I have become dad. I left my camera on video instead of picture, so this is a crop from the video of me with Sister Hurst (Mesa comp) and Sister Lopez (MTC comp)

College acceptance!!!

I GOT INTO BYU-IDAHO!!!!! WOOHOOO!!!! Just thought I'd let you all know. It's awesome because I just sent in my application last week and my acceptance was sent to me 4 days ago! Man! YAAAAAYYYY!!

Love you all! I'll keep you posted :)

Steph

Happy Easter! Happy Birthday Travis!!

So,this week was awesome! We got to go to the Easter Pageant with a less-active (whose name happens to be Deanna) and it was awesome! And the member that we went with, the Jensens, invited some of their non-member friends to come as well! It was an amazing experience and you could definitely feel the Spirit. This week we were also able to have a lesson with Heather! Heather is an investigator that we've been having a hard time pinning down because her schedule is so crazy, but we were able to meet with her Friday! AND she watched the Saturday morning session of General Conference with us!! It was incredible! There were so many miracles this week! Because of all of the miracles, I have gained a testimony of record keeping. Basically, keep a journal. I know that I'm not the best at writing in my journal, but it's so good to be able to go back and look at all of the daily miracles that God has worked in our lives. I love reading through my mission journals. I've been blessed in so many ways, and when we write those blessings down, we remember them. And we remember "how great are the dealings of the Lord among the children of men." (I don't know if that's an exact quote, but I know it's in the Book of Mormon somewhere). Sorry the letter is short this week, but I'll make up for it next week!

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Lee