Monday, December 29, 2008

December 29, 2008

HEY!!!!
I am glad you all had a great Christmas! I miss everyone. It was really good to talk to you all on the phone... it's so weird that life really is going on without me! haha But it's awesome. We had a great Christmas; we went over to the Nielson's and had dinner with them all. Sister Nielson made a lot of food and there were only 9 of us, so she gave us two big platters of food to take home, ahhhh! This whole "staying skinny" thing is hard.

On “Errand of Angels” when she is fed a lot of food... that's EXACTLY how it is!!! Lol. But then the Elders came over and we played in the snow and made a drunk snowman (the snowballs we made were too heavy to pick up so we made it laying down). It was snowing all day, so that was nice.

My new companion is really fun. We went over to the Nielsons this morning for breakfast and we played Nerts! It was so fun! I haven't played that game in forever... Mom, Lucy is really good and I told her that you were good too, so she wants to play you! haha I got second place :-( Abby knows how competitive I am with that game! haha. This afternoon we went and played volleyball with the elders and some people from their ward/ the high school volleyball team. Needless to say, we sucked!!!

Mom, I LOVED that bag!! It was so cute- the only thing is, I am scared that I am going to trash it on my mission... I don’t know if I should just use it, or send it home and use it when I get home. lol What do you think??

So when are Pam and Alan going on their mission?? That is so exciting :-) I had to give a talk yesterday, so I just gave the same talk I gave 2 weeks ago, but I wasn't as prepared because I forgot to read over it, so it didn't go as well the second time. :-( Sis. Pond had to speak too, and we were the only 2 speaking. I told her my talk was only 10 min long, and she was, like - well try to make it longer, bare your testimony. haha So i gave my talk and it was only 7 min.! Oops she had to speak for 25 min, haha. I felt really bad but I didn't know what else to say. I guess that's the perk of going first haha!!

Alex said that "we are spoiled with a great family", and I was thinking that this week. My comp's siblings aren't very supportive of her and it's hard for her. I was just wondering how I got so blessed. My family loves me; everyone in our family is active in the church, even our extended family! It’s crazy how blessed we really are. The mission puts a whole different perspective on families.

I don't know if it's because I am not around my family or what, but it's so hard not to hold babies or let them sit on your lap. One of our investigators just had a baby about a week ago, and I wanted to hold him so badly! haha It's a bummer that some people have to ruin it for everyone and sad that the world is coming to suing missionaries for things like that (I am guessing that is why we aren't allowed to hold children).

Anyways, I hope all is well!
I miss you all tons and I can't wait to see you.

xoxo
Lizzie

Monday, December 22, 2008

Dec. 22, 2008

Hey!
It's good to hear from everyone. :-) The work is going well... kind of slow with no baptisms, but soon we will! We have a few really golden investigators so hopefully we don't screw it up! haha i got 2 packages from Mom and 1 from Abby and Alex (you guys are the best!!! I send you a letter (but i guess it didn't get to you before you left Provo).

Mom you would be so proud! I only opened one gift and I haven't peeked at any of the other ones! Luckily, I am in Farmington/Bloomfield right now so it's not a temptation. Dad, i haven't gotten the pictures yet but I haven't been in Cortez since Sat., so it very well could be there :-)

I'll get a new comp. tomorrow. Sister Sorensen flies home today. It's sad that she's going, but my new companion's name is Sister Pond. I hear she is really fun and we will laugh nonstop so i am excited! This week hasn't been very productive because Sister Sorensen was packing and getting ready to go, but we had a really cool experience. At zone conference on Thursday each missionary was given a $50 gift card to Wall-mart. It was given by an anonymous donor to be used for something we need and then the rest used to help someone out this season. Sister Sorensen and I didn't need anything so we took one gift card and bought Dale church clothes. We then gave him the other gift card to get shoes and things he needs etc. It was fun to take that over to him. He had felt uncomfortable going to church before because everyone was dressed nicely and he wasn't. OH! also, when the Elders went over last week, he said he wanted a haircut like the elders. So, Sis. Sorensen cut his hair short! He got a total make over and looks awesome. The sad part is, he didn't go to church yesterday! Ugh... sometimes it is so frustrating! But he will go next week.

They are closing Bloomfield, NM to missionaries for a transfer and then bringing the Sisters back in Feb. Everyone keeps saying that I will be transferred here next transfer! haha So we will see. I went to church here yesterday and met everyone- it's a great ward. There is a little mission excitement for you to partake in :-) We will see how inspired the missionaries here are! haha

So Christmas should be exciting... I can't wait to talk to you guys! I am trying to think of the best time, and I think maybe 12:00 pm (11:00 am Cali time) should be a good time, I hope. It's hard to say because i don't know what my comp set up and our exact plans, but I will make sure I am home at noon :-)

Now that you have my phone number you can call and leave messages! haha Just kidding, that would not work. lol

Well I hope you have a wonderful week getting ready for Christmas and remembering the real reason for the season!

Love you all

xoxo

Monday, December 15, 2008

Season's Greetings



Dec. 15, 2008

HELLO!
It sounds like everything is good :-)
I had to speak yesterday at church too! It went really well! I started off by telling a story about how I saw the UPS man and wished that I were him because people are always so grateful for the gifts he brings. But then I was reading the last conference issue of the Ensign, and Silvia H. Allred said "the gift of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel is the greatest gift you have to give." So it gave me a better attitude. If people knew the gift that I was sharing they would receive me with a greater smile than the UPS man! Then I talked about gifts from God, and how Satan deceivingly wraps his gifts beautifully but God wraps his gifts in a small and simple way. We need to seek the gifts of God (D&C 46:8-9). Anyway, it was obviously a lot longer and I would just send it to you, but I didn't type it up (I am living in the life with no computer except for 1 hour on Mondays ah!) It went well:-) I hear the economy is getting really bad throughout the whole country. I am glad that we know God and that he will take care of us if we continue to follow him especially in the hard times of life.

This last week we had an investigator, Dale that called our old apt. and he was drunk and talked to the elders, and the Elders talked to him for a while. The Elders called us and told us not to go over there because he was drunk. So our ward mission leader told Dale that the elders told us not to go over there (hoping it would make him wake-up and realize what he is doing to his life). Dale felt so bad he called us and was, like you girls know I would never hurt you... blah, blah, blah. He also wanted to apologize to the elders in person, so we took the Elders over there and they talked to Dale about putting on the armor of God (Ephesians 6: 11 or somewhere around there). They said that we need to keep the Spirit in our lives, because where the Spirit is, the Devil can't be there too. So, they gave him a blessing, and after the blessing Dale said he felt something leave or something come in! It was a pretty cool experience. Before we left, we blessed his home and we think that this has stuck, and that he is going to change his life around for good!

Well, Saturday Sister Sorensen is leaving for Albuquerque, so I will be in Farmington until Tuesday, which should be fun! It's nice to do something different, or be in a different area every once in a while. Our days are all pretty much the same! I should still be able to e-mail next Monday.

President said I was probably staying in Cortez for the next transfer, but it's never sure, and I won't find out until Saturday. I will tell you next week. BUT if I am still here, then the afternoon of Christmas would be the best for our phone call. We are going over to a family's house Christmas morning, and we have dinner at 4:00 pm. so if you want to call, then give me a specific time and I will make sure we are home, or I can buy a 5 min phone card. I can then call you when I am home and then you can call me back. Either way works for me but my phone number is 970.565.0737 . I am SOOOOO excited to talk to you all too :-) maybe not "pee-in-my-pants" excited, but I think I can be excited without embarrassing myself :-) The mission office called the other day and said that they got a package from you guys... so I will get it on Thursday at Zone conference!
I really miss you guys and it's hard sometimes to see other families all together, but I know that I will be blessed and you are all blessed double for supporting me and being the BEST family ever! I love you more than you could ever know.

Always remember Jesus Christ in this wonderful time of year, I know it's hard not to get wrapped up in the busy-ness of the season, but Christ is the whole purpose. We have a Christmas lesson that we teach to members, and we have a bunch of pictures. The first is Jesus Christ, then it's Jesus Christ getting baptized, then him raising someone from the dead, then Him giving the priesthood to his apostles, then His ministry on earth, then Him in the garden of Gethsemane, then his resurrection, then him preaching to the people in the Americas, then Jesus and God appearing to Joseph Smith, then Peter James and John giving the priesthood to Joseph Smith and we describe all the pictures and what Christ has done for us and the last picture is a picture of Mary kissing baby Jesus and we say "all of this came from one humble birth in a manger". It's a really cool lesson and powerful. It helps people realize the importance of Christmas and keeping Christ in our mind throughout the season.

Love, Lizzie

Monday, December 8, 2008

Dec. 8, 2008 : from Sister Lizzie

So we had a very eventful week! On Tuesday we had interviews with the Mission President. He told us that we would probably be moving in with a member because they offered their home to us. Sis. Sorensen said that would probably be a good idea because we live in an apt complex with all single men, but we didn't feel threatened or anything. Well, later that night president called and said that the member's home isn't going to work out. We were kind of bummed but didn't have our hearts set on anything, so it was no big deal. The next morning we received a call from the President and he said that he woke up at 3:00 am worried about us and feels like we need to move. So, so we said okay (thinking that we would be moving at transfers because they are coming up in two weeks or at least in a week). He said the zone leaders would call us and coordinate things. So they called us up about 30 min later and said that the "president sounded urgent, so can you move tomorrow?!" We were like,...uh ok. So we packed on Wednesday night and moved Thursday morning!

So..., keep in mind we are switching apartments with ELDERS! (and sisters have never lived there) so we had A LOT! of cleaning to do. The couch had been duct taped together, there was a layer of dirt and dust covering all the walls. The kitchen was nasty and the whole apartment needs help! Needless to say, it took us all day Thursday and most of the day Friday to get it livable! It's looking good now.

Some members cut us a Christmas tree last week and we put it up. It looks so cute! it's kind of barren (a Charlie Brown tree) but it looks good! I love it
:-)!

Oh man, another funny story! So, we have a window in our shower, but it's that glass that you apparently can't see through. Well, we came home one day and realized that you could see the shampoo bottles through the window and practically read them! So we thought maybe, just maybe, you could see through it better than we thought, so we tested it out and it was pretty bad! We had to go and get a shower curtain to put up to cover the window. Then we were talking to the Elders and telling them about our embarrassing discovery, and they were so surprised! Ha-ha - one of them said "we just figured if you can't see out, you can't see in...", and then he said "some mornings I even opened the window while I was in the shower!" Oh man, it was so funny! Obviously it's not as big of a deal for boys as it is for girls, but still that's awkward to see some guy showering from the street (and the street we live on is pretty busy)!

Cortez had a parade of lights and anyone can put a float in the parade, so the 3rd ward made a nativity float with the primary children singing and we walked alongside the float and passed out pass-along cards with candy canes attached. It was really fun, and cold but not too bad. We don't even have snow yet! I love it here :-) It's been in the 40s and 50s so far and today it's raining! I am used to Rexburg and Michigan, so this weather is a piece of cake ha-ha!

Last week at church the speaker challenged us to write a list of 100 things we are grateful for. So I did that this week and I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. It was really easy and after I was done, I could think of at least 10 more things! I would challenge you all to do the same. It made me realize how much I really have. You especially feel grateful for what you had when you are in the middle of moving into a crappy apartment (remember the old Elders' apt.). lol.

Yesterday we went over to a member's house and they had stockings hanging on the mantle and they were like the ones mom made for us with the sequins. I forgot about those! they were so cute!

We watched the 1st presidency broadcast last night, it was really good. I loved how Elder Uchtdorf compared Christmas lights to Christ being the light of the world. It was really good! if you didn't see it, you should go read it!

I am glad you got my Christmas card! They were fun to make and to take pictures for :-) Well I hope all is well and everyone is enjoying life to the fullest. I love you and miss you tons (I get to talk to you in 17 days! Wahoo) do you have any fun plans for Christmas?

xoxo Lizzie

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Dec 1

Hello!!

Sounds like your thanksgiving went well... I would love to see pics! My thanksgiving was really good too :-) We made pumpkin rolls in the morning (they were sooo good) and helped out at the soup kitchen in the afternoon. Then we had dinner with a family from the ward and their daughter's in-laws were there, which aren't members. So it was a good missionary opportunity, although they weren't too interested. Then we stopped by a couple other members’ houses. It was a pretty nice day. I tried not to think about home so it wouldn't be too hard, so it wasn't too bad. Not as bad as I thought it would be! I can't believe it's already December!

We had zone conference and it went really well. We talked about sharing the Book of Mormon with more people, so when we went out tracting, we talked about the BoM and how it answers questions of the soul (we got a little piece of paper that we glued into the front of the BoM) it went really well!! They also started a thing where we are supposed to "lend" out our BoMs so that people take it more seriously and read it quicker and know of the book's importance to us. So we lent out 4 BoMs and got 3 new investigators! So that was exciting.

Our neighbor came up on Tuesday night at like 9:40 (I was ready for bed ah!) and he was like hey sorry I am drunk right now, but I want to change my life around and start going back to church. I want to learn more about your church! So we taught him the restoration it went really well! And he knocked on our door! How’s that for missionary work :-) Haha

This week went by really fast. We helped a member paint in one of her rooms. I told her about how I got the chalkboard paint all over the floor in my room and she still let me paint! Haha I am getting really good at painting :-) So on Friday they went to this place where you pay like $7 and can go up on the hill and cut down any Christmas tree you want, and they invited us. But, we decided we probably shouldn't, so they got us one! I am so excited to put it up and decorate it :-) We don't have it yet, but they said it looks like a Charlie brown Christmas tree haha!

That’s exciting that there is a baptism in the ward! I hope it goes well :-)

If you have any requests for Christmas presents you might want to put them in soon, maybe some turquoise or something from the southwest... :-)

Thanks for the addresses! Hope all is well! Love you all and you are always in my prayers.

Xoxo

Lizzie