Sometimes, ministers in training, come to Sunday school

Hi everyone!

So, this last week wasn't too exciting... I got  really sick on Friday and Saturday, so we stayed in. But luckily, as a missionary, you can never have too much paperwork, so we did paperwork while we were inside. We were also able to witness an AWESOME dust storm! Yes, my first dust storm! Did I document it for posterity's sake? Yes. Did I take pictures? No, but I took a video!! Or two... :) On the plus side, I was feeling betterby Sunday, so i was able to go to church. We also taught Gospel Principles this week and there were 2 nonmembers and 2 investigators (Sharlene and Stephanie) in class! It was awesome and the Spirit was so strong! Practically everyone in class bore their testimony of different parts of the lesson, so it was a really powerful experience. I was exhausted by the end of the lesson, though. It turns out that one of the  nonmembers is actually working on his Masters degree in theology and is preparing to become a minister, so that was interesting to find out. I'm just super glad that I didn't know that before the lesson, otherwise I would have been unnecessarily intimidated. After all, I HAVE a ministerial certificate of my very own. The Lord qualifies those whom he calls. But the lesson went extremely well. 

Other than that, the week was pretty mellow. I got to go back to Mesa on exchanges and it was really weird to be back in my old area. It probably didn't help that we were on bike in 117 degrees, but I survived :)

Well, besides that, Sister Isert and I are singing 3 times this week! So that should be fun. Stephanie is also getting baptized tomorrow!!!! I'm super duper duper excited for that! She's so excited to be baptized! She's so happy and she lights up every time she talks about it! She's been working toward it for so long! Now we just hope we can get tickets for her for General Conference so that she can come up  and watch it! It'll be so cool!

Anyway, I love you all a ton and hope that you all have a fantastic week and an absolutely WONDERFUL 4th of July!!!

Love,

Steph

1) So, I didn't have time to figure out how to turn the video right side up, so it's currently upside down, but this is Sis Isert's and my top pick for our mission song :)

In the desert, the arid desert, the sisters sweat again! Aweeeeoooeeeooooeee ahbumbawe

Hola!

This week was fantastic! We had a baptism on Saturday!!!!! Yes, his name is Quinn, an adorable 8 year-old and it was so cool to see his dad (a recent convert) baptize and confirm him. It was amazing! And his non-member mother was there! It was a super crazy Saturday because there were actually 4 baptisms scheduled between the times of 6 and 7pm and so we had to arrange it so that we could all do our programs in different rooms in the building and THEN walk over to the font for the baptism. It was nice because we were able to hold ours in the Relief Society room (which is across the hall from the font) So we were able to see all 4 baptisms and Quinn's mom was able to view them all as well. It was an amazing day! And guess who forgot to take pictures? I did.... oops. I'll get them tonight, though. Never fear!

It's been a super busy week! We have another baptism scheduled for next week with Stephanie (haha it's a great name isn't it?) and we had a new investigator, Sharlene, come to church and she said that she wanted to get baptized in October! We weren't expecting her to have a date picked out already, so we were a bit floored. And she really enjoyed church yesterday and said that she would definitely come back! It was super funny because she came to our Gospel Principles class and we had another nonmember in class whose name was Arlene. So we had Sharlene and Arlene. It was so ironic :)

Other than that, this week has been a blur... Again. It must be the heat or something because it's been over 110 degrees consistently all week... Yep, it's definitely the heat.

In other news, Sister Isert and I discovered that, when I'm sick, my verbal filter goes *kahplut* Apparently it was a super hilarious experience. All I know is that I was super embarrassed and Sister Isert and Sister Grooms were on the floor, gasping for air. because they were laughing so hard. (Sigh) The joy that they have at my expense...

I love you all muchas muchas muchas and I can't wait to see you all soon! In case anyone was wondering, this is my 2nd to last email as a missionary.... :'( Stay smart, wash behind your ears and read your scriptures! haha

Love,
Steph

random pictures form the past few weeks.
1) the Pattersons, whom I miss dearly and am definitely going to visit when I get home

2) Our temple trip

3) We're not allowed to hold babies, so I had to find the next closest thing... Tippy
4) service with a smile!

I'm like an elephant, but cuter!

Hi everyone!

So, due to some technical difficulties, this keyboard that I'm typing on will not allow me to type certain letters/symbols. So, it it looks a little weird, it is haha.

This week has been pretty fun. It's been a super fun week because we got a car! Granted, it's only because Sister Isert isn't allowed to bike for a couple of weeks due to an injury, but it's been a major blessing! It's been so hot and biking around in this weather is no bueno. SO, a car has been lovely.

We met with both Stephanie and Quinn this week and they are both so excited and so ready to be baptized! Sister Isert and I will be singing at Stephanie's baptism on the 30th, then at our Mission Leadership Meeting on July 3rd and again on the 4th of July for a Chinese cultural celebration. We learned "I am a Child of God" in Mandarin and Cantonese. It's going to be super fun!

These past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. We had exchanges this week and I got to go to the Spanish Branch with Sister Vargas. It was really cool to spend most of the day in Spanish work and by the end of the day, I understood much more Spanish and I could speak at least a little bit more than I used to. I knew enough to say the closing prayer in Spanish in 2 of our lessons and it was super awesome! Our dinner was with Hermana Zalgado and she made us some super delicious tostadas! They weren't tex-mex tostadas, they were spicy chicken tostadas. They were absolutely delicious! But there's a funny story attached to this dinner. So, when Hermana Zalgado dished us up, she gave us 4 tosdadas each. Well, I've been raised to clean my plate, so I ate all of them. Of course, these tostadas weren't just any tostadas. Each one was about as big as my hand, with my fingers fully extended, and all were piled high with this spicy chicken. So, I ate 4 and then Hermana Zalgado asked for my plate. Me being the gringo that I am, I thought she was just clearing it for me. Then I look back at the stove and she's dishing me up more tostadas!!! I turned to Sister Vargas and asked if she could see how many more she was giving me. Sister Vargas turns around, snorts, and starts laughing! I asked her what had happened and she said that Hermana Zalgado was dishing me 4 more tostadas!! Despite the deliciousness of these marvelous tostadas, I thought I was going to die! I was already super full from the first 4 and then Hermana Zalgado plops my plate in front of me with the sweetest smile ever, and I knew I had to eat more. I ate 7 tostadas. 7 MASSIVE tostadas. The Lord loves his missionaries and definitely blesses them with stomachs that can down all of that food. It was delicious, but I was so full! I got the recipe, though, so I'll be able to make you all these authentic tostadas when I get home.

I love you all and want you all to know that I pray for you daily and that I'm so grateful to be here in Scottsdale! I wouldn't be a missionary for this church if I didn't know, with all my heart, that it's the restored church of Jesus Christ. I know it, and I know that God knows it, and I can't deny it.

Love,
Steph

PS the title comes from a wonderful quote by Sister Isert

Here's a look at the weather forecast!!

Me:

Jon, Morgan, and Travis:

Allison:

(notice that this is the temperature AT NIGHT!)

All you Utahns:

Amy (rainy...something I miss):

Andrew [oh boy, you must be freezing! ;)]:

I got y'all BEAT!!!!! Haha just thought I'd put in a plug for this marvelous Arizona weather and it's looking like it's going to get hotter! But, no worries, I'm still biking around and loving every minute of it! I mean, where else can someone put a frozen capri sun in their bag at 10am and have it completely melted by noon? This week was pretty eventful. Sister Isert had some pretty epic crashes and may have sustained some minor injuries, so we're taking it a bit slower, but we're fine!

This week we had a couple miracles. One was from the lady that approached us last Sunday and wanted to meet with us. We've seen her twice since then and she's accepted baptism!! She set a tentative date for the winter, but we're hoping that she'll move it up as she learns more.

this week I got to have a few cool experiences. One of which was helping new immigrants in a service project. I was on exchanges with Sister Grooms and we got to help unload donations of furniture for these families that had just barely received visas to the United States, some of which entered the country under really dangerous circumstances and some had lived in refugee camps for over 10 years. It was really cool to hear their stories and to see the effect that the service had on them. There was only one refugee that could speak English, but despite the language barrier, we were able to communicate our love and concern to them through service. Service is the language of love, kindness, and charity that EVERYONE can understand. Actions truly DO speak louder than words.

Speaking of service, another miracle of the week happened wiith Chip. Chip is a nonmember that lives with 2 members (one of which is his daughter) and, just yesterday, he fed us dinner and then started telling us about all of the years that he had denied the missionary  lessons because he wasn't interested and then he said, "what I guess I'm trying to say is that, NOW, I'm interested." And we were able to set up times we could come and teach him!! And it all started with us weeding his yard. He wouldn't even stay in the room when we would come to visit, but this last week he stayed and even participated in the prayer! It was incredible!

I am so grateful that I get to serve here and see the change that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings into these people's lives. Its been one of the most humbling, inspiring and rewarding experiences that I've had in my entire life.

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! See you soon!

Love,

Steph
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Let the summer begin

Hi everyone!!!

I am now getting a small taste of the Arizona summer! Don't worry, I"ll probably get more of taste as the month goes on. 

So, the weeks are becoming a bit of a blur (you know, the heat and all that)... That being said, I now only remember the good things that happened!!! :)

This week we had so many miracles!

Miracle 1: We had a random lady (that we had unsuccessfully tried to contact over a month ago) show up at church yesterday and ask for us! She wanted to meet with us this week!!! It was a miracle!

Miracle 2: We had a really good lesson with Ricky this week, but that's not all! So, background. When we go to teach Ricky, Chip (the family friend that he lives with) used to go back into his man cave and basically ignore us. But, recently, he's been staying in the kitchen when we visit and this week, he came into the room near the end of the lesson. But wait, there's more! He asked us, after the lesson, if he could talk with us the next time we came back!!!! We're keeping our fingers crossed that he wants to learn more!

Miracle 3: We've been able to visit with Kaitlin on a weekly basis and have been able to answer her questions and it's been amazing! Also, we're having dinner with President and Sister Sweeney this week! Apparently, my new companion makes some really really good curry. Not to worry, Amy, I'll enjoy it in your behalf!

Love you all and can't wait to see you all again! The countdown begins!

Love,

Steph