4-27-09

Well this week was all in all pretty good. Although waiting for transfer news kind of sucked... but we are both staying here! I am so excited because I want to see the baptisms. sister and I will be together for 4 1/2 months all day every day! Ha-ha but we aren't sick of each other yet! So hopefully we won't be by the end of this transfer :-)

We don't have an official date with Derik (bro manning's friend) but he is coming along quite nicely. I think bro manning was lying when he told Uncle Alan that I am a good teacher, because I am not! Sister Boisselle tells me all the time that I need to work on my teaching skills! Ha-ha but it's okay because I have the spirit with me and that's all that matters. (I am still trying to work on it... apparently I repeat myself a lot)

On Saturday we volunteered at this piano concert with Colleen (the one getting baptized) and we were ushers. It was pretty exciting... the pianist was Richard Goode apparently he has a Grammy and has played in symphonies all over the world. It was pretty intense and kind of boring...BUT we got to spend some time with colleen and we talked about why she wants to join and talked more informally about her testimony and so it was a really good opportunity.

Yesterday was our fireside and it went really well! Sister Boisselle sang and she has a really good voice. Our ward mission leader told us afterwards that at first he thought "oh no! Another sister missionary that thinks she can sing" but he said he was wrong and she has a good voice! Ha-ha I thought that was hilarious! Everyone says they loved it, but you know they all have to say that. My honest opinion was that it was good and the spirit was there. Some of the people (the teenage boys and one girl) didn't practice and so it was kind of off... but overall it was good. There were a lot of non-members there and it was a good opportunity for them to see that we believe in Jesus Christ the same as them. Also we invited some members whose spouse isn't a member and they all came! The guy that narrated isn't a member but has a really good deep narrating voice and he did well. we were hoping maybe it would touch him as he was reading it... we will see (he comes to church about every other week and encourages his kids to go to church and stuff so we aren't sure what his hold up is) Firesides are A LOT of work but I think it will be worth it in the end.

There is a less active lady that is trying to set me up with her son. He is in the Navy. So, yesterday at church she was asking me my first name and then she asked where I am from and she goes ohhh Alex (her son) loves Michigan! ha-ha every time we go over there she talks about how amazing he is and how his roommates were laughing at him while he was talking to his mom and he goes "shut up, I am family oriented ok?" ha-ha!!!! I thought that was hilarious

Well that was pretty much all for this week! Hope all is well in "lake woebegone" hope the wedding goes well!


HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

love ya xoxo
sister lizzie marchant

4/20/09

Ok so we had the BEST week EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Well it was the best and the worst week ever) but we got a baptismal date!! I am sooo excited. Her name is Colleen and she has investigated the church before but stopped for one reason or another. When we got here the Clifford's (the family we live with) told us about her and that we should stop by. So we did and she was always too busy with work and was never home. Well, she lost her job and so now she has lots of time, so we kept being our persistent little missionary self's, and kept stopping by and one day she was actually home. She was on her way out but we finally got her to make an appointment with us. Well, we went over there and she is kind of all over the place. But we taught her and she has been really receptive. We also gave her "Life is a football game" by Troy Dunn and she loved that! She said that helped a lot. Anyways so we were over there teaching her and she said at the end of the lesson... "I want to be baptized" awesome!!! We obviously didn't have anything to do with it and it was just the right timing but we are so excited. Last year the Cedar Crest Ward had 1 baptism total!! And this year we already have one date and almost 2 more!

So yesterday at church we had 3 investigators! (record high for our ward) Colleen was there and she stayed for all 3 blocks (which she has only done once last year). Lisa has been saying that she will come for about 2 months now and she stayed for 2 blocks, and then... CJ (about 19-20 yrs old) came to church with his friend. His friend took him up to Temple Square this week and he watched the Joseph Smith movie and got a Book of Mormon. He is really excited about learning. In Sunday school he told Jaycee Manning that he wishes some of the kids would shut up because he wanted to learn what the teacher was trying to teach! He is really really smart. Jaycee told us that in 8th grade he got a 31 on his ACTs, He just got messed up in some bad things (he was in a gang, probably drugs etc.) But he quit smoking 2 weeks ago and is moving to Utah soon. Soooooo we don't have much time to teach him but we are REALLY excited!!

Our fireside is coming along. The guy that was supposed to sing "I believe in Christ" at the end of our fireside called last night and said he didn't want to do it anymore. I am not sure if it's because we weren't super organized at our practice last night or what but I am super bummed about that because he is amazing! He had a #1 hit song in Australia, it would have been the perfect ending but I guess we will have to find someone else. Frustrating but that's life! Another person's mom died so she and her daughter won't be going either. Firesides are soooooo hard to plan!!! Never again! lol

So we taught Victor and Jessica this week and they are doing well. They said they like to hear about real people's conversion stories so I was thinking maybe Gma and Gpa B could maybe e-mail me their stories and Victor and Jessica could read them. I think they just like to hear about how people feel the Spirit and that it's not just a big lightning bolt. I don't know, they are a tough case. I think they will be baptized it will just take them a while. He is there it's just her that we are waiting for.

The Relief Society President's husband isn't a member (he is kind of hardcore Catholic actually) and we went over for dinner and we taught this lesson called "cups" (awesome lesson about how our church is organized exactly like Jesus Christ set up his church). We were super nervous that we were going to offend him or something, BUT sister Everett said that it went really well and he asked her questions after we left!!! Every little bit helps.

Man, yesterday I was just so excited about people coming to church, and seeing the results of all our hard work! This is what missionary work is all about! Most days are hard but the awesome days totally make it all worth it!

I love this work and I am so grateful that I am out here doing exactly what the Lord wants me to do! I love you all and thank you for keeping me in your prayers! xoxox

Sister Lizzie Marchant

4-6-09

It's the most beautiful day outside today! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sun :-). Today we had a chance to just sit outside and write letters it was so nice! We also got to go to target! Yay! I needed to update my wardrobe a little bit for spring. All my clothes are kind of dreary and dark! lol Mom, did you get those shoes? If not... I think the size is an 8 1/2 . I was looking on the back. It's kind of worn out but I think that's the size and I remember when buying them that the size seemed really big. If you already ordered them then don't worry about it!
:-)

Sister Boisselle is feeling better this week and we have been working, so I guess life is good!

Our fireside is coming along. it's not until April 26 so we still have a few more weeks. I never realized how much goes into planning a musical fireside. We finally, almost have everyone confirmed, but still not yet! it's very stressful :-) ha-ha, but I am so excited to see how it turns out! I know it's going to be great because we have God on our side!

Door knocking is going well... not too much success but we are still out there trying. The springs here are extremely windy! So that's super annoying but hopefully it starting to die down a bit soon.

I can't believe the wedding is coming up so soon! I am going to have a married brother! Crazy and a sister-in-law... lol Tell Al I better get an invitation... I may not be able to go, but I at least want to be invited!

Conference was AWESOME!!!!! I just loved it. My favorite talk was probably Jeffrey r Holland's! It was sooooo amazing. I also really liked L. Tom Perry's story about the ewe and how he related it to missionary work. It was the only talk that was about missionary work :-( lame lame)! ha-ha. But it was still so, so good!!! Between conference sessions we watched a movie called "On the Lord's errand" and it was about Thomas S. Monson's life. It was really good! If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it!

well... things are going GREAT! hope all is well at Lake Woebegone! love you all and good luck driving mom and Abby! be safe :-)

xoxo
Sister Lizzie Marchant