Sister Elizabeth Marchant

8 Feb 10

2010-02-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey!

I will need to keep myself busy busy busy. I was thinking about volunteering at the hospital or something part time while I look for a job, so that way it isn't so depressing because looking for a job is the worst thing in the world!! Also I was thinking about moving to Utah with abs. I dunno... when I get home I am sure that I will know what to do.

This week has been great! Last Sunday one of our investigators that we have been working with on and off came to church! She is reading the BoM and praying everyday! I just love to see people actually take our commitments and do something about it! And then see that it actually does work :-) crazy isn't it?!

Yesterday we helped this family clean up their Hogan probably the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do. There is a layer of dirt and something black all over the floor. There were dirty diapers just chillin' on the floor, clothes everywhere, etc. they had done some laundry and they hadn't hung it up to dry yet, so I picked up this blanket to fold it and it was wet so I said "oops this is still wet" and asked the little girl to hang it up to dry and then she goes "oh, no my sister peed on it" AHHHHH! The mom tried to cover it up and said "no she spills milk a lot"...right! Oh man!!! Afterwards our hands were black! We had to soak in boiling hot water :-\

My district leader is going home the same day as me and so at district meeting this week we are having a "funeral". His comp is giving a eulogy. My comps won't give one for me :-( but we are having funeral potatoes and watching "Labor of Love" ha-ha it should be fun!

Welp just trying to soak up as much info as I can while I can! Love you all and I will probably email you next week too :-) LOVE YA

Sister Marchant (for only 9 more days :-( sad!!!!)

25 January 10

2010-01-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

HEY!!!

our week was pretty slow again but better than last week!

we had zone conference which was really good! we talked about the Holy Ghost and using it in our own conversion as well as helping other's conversion. It was perfect for my last zone conference. i gave my departing testimony. i was really nervous i don't know why. it's one of those things that i always saw other people do but never thought my turn would come.

the mud is really bad here. we got a bunch of snow this week then it turned to rain and so all the roads are just MUDDY! and not just mud but clay. we got stuck because we slid into the ditch but luckily a few weeks ago someone told us that if you jump up and down on the back it helps, so my comps got out and jumped and we got out in about 10 min! we are good. the worst part is, this van drove by and just laughed and kept driving! ugh but it was cool to say that we are self-reliant!

the work is going good! no exciting stories this week. it seems like the work goes up and down. last transfer we were really busy and things have slowed down a lot, so it just leaves a lot of time for finding new people :-) but that's okay

Well our meeting with Richard G. Scott got cancelled :-( i was really disappointed but there is nothing i can do about it!

mom, that's fine if we don't go out to the baby shower. i want to come visit utah though so i can see alex, lauren and the family. maybe after a week or so.
your zone conference decorations sound like they were really cute!

you all have been really good at not talking about me coming home :-) thanks i really appreciate it! it's hard to stay focused on the work and think about what i am going to do when i get home ... so i have no idea what to do! take classes, try to get a job...? ugh! mom, if you have time could you look for any job opportunities?

18 Jan 10

2010-01-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

HEY!!!!

this week was pretty slow :-( except on Sunday we had stake conference and Elder Romeo Villareal of the 70 came! he held a meeting for all the recent converts (within the past year). we went too of course. it was awesome! and then on Saturday Jan 23 Richard G. Scott is coming to talk to the missionaries, ward mission leaders, and bishops. i can't wait! i have never even been in the same room as an apostle :-) i will let you know how it goes!

That's so fun that you got to play nertz with Lucy and jenny. sis. neilson took us to farmington yesterday. she spoils us, she took us to eat and bought us groceries. Plus she is great company! always a riot :-)

mom i might enjoy going to st. George on the 20th. i need to keep busy or i am going to go crazy! plus it will be fun to see everyone. then Abby and Alex wouldn't have to fly out to Michigan, we could just go visit them in salt lake. just tell everyone not to judge me because i am low maintenance (i don't even blow dry my hair anymore AHHHH)

dad that church is beautiful! Thank you for the pictures, i especially enjoyed the pig's head! haha

we have zone conference tomorrow i am excited! i always love the energy and motivation that it brings :-)

all our snow has melted and it has been raining, so our truk has an layer of mud on it. (not a lot of paved roads around here) luckily it's sunny today :-)

how is everyone's Book of Mormon reading going? i hope it's going good :-) love you all and you are always in my prayers
xoxo

11 Jan 2010

2010-01-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

HELLO!

Arron and Ryan got baptized on Saturday and it was sooooooo awesome! I will try to send some pictures home soon. the spirit was soooo strong there! one of my favorites for sure :-)

Everyone keeps reminding me that i am coming home and telling me how terrible it is to go home. so i need something to jump into to keep me busy so i don't get depressed. i am really nervous! everyone keeps asking me if i am trunky! ugh! somehow the ward found out...

other than that things are going GREAT! mom, i am glad you like that bracelet. did abby get her package? it had al and lauren's in there too...

dad i LOVED your sissy thing! that was hilarious i just laughed haha!

sorry so short but the library is down so we are at the college and we only get 30 min. we will try to get to another computer so i may email you again! love you xoxo

Sister Marchant

4 Jan 2010

2010-01-05T20:28:00.001-07:00

NOTE: NEW PICTURES!!!

Hello family!

we had a really good week! we got a lot of good lessons in and... Ryan and Aaron came to church, so their baptism is on saturday!!!! although, the baptismal font is filled up with sewage :-( so i really really hope they get it fixed by saturday! we have been trying so hard to get them baptized and satan just keeps getting in the way!!! ugh.

Also, Marishia (she has had a few baptismal dates but has never come to church) came to church this week! she called us on Sunday morning and asked for a ride! i was soooooo excited :-) it was so good.

Sister Lo told me after that she fasted for them this week! isn't it amazing how fasting really works! it speeds up the process. we pray for them every night but fasting is what they really needed. I can't believe i didn't ever think to fast for them! but it helped to realize the power of fasting and prayer and i need to fast more often!

so things are going great! we got a new companion, another 3-some! her name is sister abney.

i am so excited for aaron and ryan to get baptized! i just hope we could get their siblings. i asked courtney if she was going to get baptized with them and just just looked at me and goes "nooooo"... so we have a lot of work to do but hopefully soon. and gabriel has been MIA for about a week or so. we gave him the book "our search for happiness" maybe he will read it when he comes back.

I also heard that Jessica (one of our investigators from Cedar Crest) got baptized last saturday! i was so happy to hear! so lots of exciting things going on i am so excited for this transfer.

love you all and hope all is well and everyone is traveling in safety!
xoxo
Sister Marchant

28 Dec 09

2010-01-03T19:54:00.001-07:00

it was good to talk to you all too!!! i really do love the people here and the missionaries i work with. obviously it's hard to work with some people but that's what life is all about. Charity and love! which i have grown in a lot but i still need a lot of work :-)

the pictures are so cute! it looks like the family is all doing so well! everyone looks really good.

We had a good Christmas, Sister Lotulelei got to talk to her family it made her so happy :-) then we went to our Bishops house for dinner it was fun. they are such a sweet family! Then we made dinner for some of our LA and investigators and so we took that to them. (i am not sure if i told you but one of our LA's Ella, he son just died and he was the one that took care of her, now she lives all alone! i feel so bad for her) so it was a great day, and obviously i got to talk to you :-)

we are trying to find those that are ready for the gospel. i once heard someone say that God wouldn't put missionaries into an area that there wasn't anyone ready to hear the gospel... so i am hanging all my hope on that and trying to find those people!

well have fun in southern utah...you aren't too far from me! you should go to 4-corners and i can accidentally run into you there! just kidding i get to see you soon enough.

well love you all and hope you have a wonderful break and travel safely where ever you go! xoxo

Sister Marchant

21 Dec 09

2009-12-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

21 Dec 09

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! ah I can't wait to talk to you all! 4 more days :-)

So Mexico!?! That's awesome. Mom and I will def. come visit! I hear Mexico city is very dangerous... ekkk!

I haven't thought much about my plans for when I come home, I just figured I would stay in Michigan and work until I got bored out of my mind or if I couldn't find a job so we will see.

Did you get my flight information in the mail?

This week has been pretty good. Kind of frustrating still with our investigators not coming to church! ugh. We finally got a hold of Marishia (one of the dates) and she said she just hits her snooze button and can't get up! So we told her that we would stop by on Sunday before church... hopefully she will get there this week. She is so sweet and needs to strength and guidance of the holy ghost so badly!

The yazzies haven't been to church in 2 weeks! ugh so Ryan can't get baptized until he comes to church one more time and they will be out of town next week so probably not until mid-January! But I still hope they keep up the excitement, it's hard when there are delays because their enthusiasm dies down but I am sure it will all work out :-)

Today we went into Farmington with yong-sun Nelson it was fun. She is such a riot I just love her! and she spoils us too much. We ate at chili's and shopped around. it was fun.

Well love you all and have a great week! Talk to you Friday :-) YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Marchant

2009-12-17T19:54:00.001-07:00

14 Dec 09

HELLO!!!!

Well, we had a discouraging week. First I was sick on Wednesday :-( I think it was just food poisoning (never eat Chinese food!). It was my first sick day on the mish so I figure I am doing pretty good :-) Then our investigator that was supposed to be getting baptized on Saturday Dec 19 (Aaron and Ryan Yazzie) didn't come to church yesterday so we have to push it back (hopefully just one week) and our other baptism for Dec 27 has been avoiding us. We haven't been able to meet with her ever since we set the date which was about 2 weeks ago. It's so frustrating! BUT, all we can do is keep trying and keep praying!

Tomorrow we have zone conference which will be good and uplifting as always :-)

For Christmas if you can call me that would be great! Our phone number is 505.368.4112 (don't abuse it ha-ha jk). I am not exactly sure what time yet maybe 10:00 am. I will let you know next week when our plans are finalized. I can't wait to talk to you! I can't believe Christmas is coming up so fast!

So will Alex and Lauren not be at gmas for xmas? I need to know where to send packages (preferably one place)

So that's pretty much all that's going on here pretty lame week :-( LOVE you all and hope you travel safely where ever you are going! talk to you soon :-) xoxo

Sister Marchant

07 Dec 09

2009-12-07T16:44:00.003-07:00

Hello family!

Soundl like things are changing for everyone. Alex and Lauren moving out, Abby moving to Utah etc. I Hope everthing goes smoothly and everyone travels safely! I love you all

Well, Christmas is upon us, and I love it! I just love the holiday season and the 1st Presidency broadcast was so good last night! It made me start to think more about what i can do to help people have a good holiday. I was coming up with elaborate plans and presents I could get our investigators (especially the ones who will probably have a lean Christmas), and I was getting exciting to the point that I couldn't sleep. But the problem was, I don't have money. So i was coming up with ideas of how i could get the money to buy all these things for people. Then this morning i was reading a quote that I had in my scriptures by Pres. Ezra T. Benson "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." it made me start thinking about how i can take these people out of the slums (in a smaller scale, by giving them presents etc.) but i have a better gift to offer, the Book of Mormon! a lot of people already have it so i am still working on what exactly i could get them or do for them as a gift but i realized that i don't need to give them elaborate gifts to bring them a great Christmas. I can offer them the humble gifts of the spirit. It seems like i alwasy get caught up in worldly things! haha but i am working on it.

things are going well. The 2 Yazzie boys (aaron and ryan) have a baptismal date for dec 19. and another investigator marishia has a date for dec 27. (although we cannot get her to church ugh!) so it looks like that fast we did is working! THANKS! :-)

other than that we are trying to keep busy and out of the cold. we were walking a lot to save on miles but now that it's so cold it's really hard to walk. we are still trying to walk when we can! anyways i love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas! and remember it's not the presents that count it's the actions! My favorite Christmas memory is when we went to that food bank in Tennessee and gave out bags of food and toys!

Sister Marchant!

2009-11-29T18:14:00.001-07:00

22 Nov 09

Hello all!

Things are going great! Sister Lo and I are staying together for another transfer! Only 1 left after this one so I am guessing that President won't move me for my last transfers (hopefully), so I think I will 'die' in Shiprock. Pretty exciting but you never know!

Things are going good. An investigator we were teaching was struggling with getting married (his girlfriend lived with him and they have 2 kids). Well yesterday at church he said that she doesn't live there anymore, and he wants to get baptized... ugh! Not the results we wanted... we wanted them to get married! So I don't know what's going on there

The Yazzie's came to church yesterday! Yay!!! It was so exciting I can't wait to get them baptized. The younger 2 boys (Ryan and Aaron) both want to be baptized we just have to teach them! Ha-ha we are probably spending thanksgiving with them (hopefully).

So things are going great! This morning I was reading a talk called "Because My Father Read the Book of Mormon"; it was so good! You should read it but my favorite part was"

"When you know that the Book of Mormon is true, you know that Joseph Smith was called by God to restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. You know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. You know that there is only one faith and one valid baptism. You know that a prophet of God lives on the earth today and that he has all the keys of the priesthood and the right to exercise them, as Peter did anciently. You know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the only name whereby you can receive salvation. You know that God the Father lives and that He loves us. You know that His plan of salvation is perfect, and you have the desire to perform ordinances, live the commandments, and endure to the end"

I just love the gospel so much!!!!! it's so awesome :-) President Anderson always says that eternal things always get better and better (i.e. the book of Mormon, his marriage etc.) and the temporal things of the world get old and boring! I love that! Anyway, just some thoughts for the day!

Love you all and have a wonderful thanksgiving! xoxo

Sister Marchant

16 Nov 2009

2009-11-16T17:51:00.002-07:00

16 Nov. 2009
Well hello dearest family!

Things are going great! We had an awesome week and picked up a few new investigators. A few weeks ago we found these awesome girls (one is 17 and the other is 19) and every time we teach them they listen so intently and they are so excited about changing their life! They are golden... when they are home! Ha-ha it's so frustrating when people aren't there for their appointments and it's especially bad here in Shiprock, but... you get used to it and ALWAYS have a backup plan :-)

There is also this family they have a 17yrd old boy, Gabriel, 16yr old girl, Courtney, 12 and 9 yr old boys, Ryan and Aaron, and a 3 yr old girl, Ashley. Single mom (Pauline) and they have no electricity or running water. They just ran out of wood and the mom doesn't have a job. She had to quit because her kids were running around after school and she never knew where they were and she wanted to keep an eye on them. It's so sad! But they are so awesome and fun. I just love them. The 2 oldest kids don't want anything to do with the church but the younger ones do, so hopefully we can get them baptized. (The mom went on placement so she is less active). The older kids are rebels but hopefully through our winning smiles and charming good looks (and maybe the spirit) we can get them interested too :-) ha-ha

The other day we picked Courtney up from school and as she came out (in front of everyone) sis. lo honks the horn 20 times! It was so funny Courtney gets in the car and was like why did you do that! She wasn't mad it was just hilarious, you know how important a high school rep is and then 2 sister missionaries come pick you up and honk HAHA! They are a really fun family.

Mom it sounds like your talk was a hit... even the high priests listened!! That's quite an accomplishment!! I would love a copy of it to read :-) speaking of talks, I was reading over the conference ensign and it's soooooooooooooo good!!!!!!! I just soak up every word but elder Uchtdorf gave an amazing talk about the love of God and this part was so poetic, I just LOVE it! You should read the whole talk!!!!!!!!

"The divine love of God turns ordinary acts into extraordinary service. Divine love is the motive that transports simple words into sacred scripture. Divine love is the factor that transforms reluctant compliance with God’s commandments into blessed dedication and consecration.
Love is the guiding light that illuminates the disciple’s path and fills our daily walk with life, meaning, and wonder.
Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.
Love is the way of the disciple."

If you get a chance could you burn some of the talks to cd and send them to me... especially elder Holland's talk about the book of Mormon? THANKS!!!!

The other day we went the thrift store here and I got a cashmere sweater for $0.50 I was pretty excited, so it inspired our idea for today. we are going into Farmington and going thrift store shopping :-) got to love those cheap finds (especially for mission clothes) Courtney (the 16 yr old) always asks us why we always dress like grandmas. I was talking to sister lo and I said "I think we both dress really cute" and she says back "you know you have been out too long when you think that we dress cute..." ha-ha it was funny! So I guess we are going to get some more grandma clothes :-)

So life is going good... transfers are coming up next week so hopefully sis. lo and I stay together in Shiprock! Love you all and pray for you every night! Keep on reading the book of Mormon :-) xoxo

Sister Marchant

9 Nov 2009

Yá'át'ééh!!!!

Sounds like you are all doing GREAT!!!! Things are going really well here too. It was actually a really slow week but after slow weeks come AWESOME weeks!

mom, thanks for the countdown but ... I don't want to get trunky :-) as much of an angel you think I am... I still get homesick

My comp and I are still doing AWESOME and still loving the work. It's hard, you would think it would get easier... yet you are always trying to be better and always striving to work harder, so it just gets harder not easier! But that's okay.

For Christmas I don't want anything... just save the $$ for when I get home. I don't need any more things... I already have too much stuff! (Like always) ha-ha maybe just a few little things so that I have something to open :-)

So I have been reading the BoM every day, obviously, and it is going GREAT!!!!! I don't want to lose the calling I am scared that I won't be able to understand and learn as much as I do right now. But there is no stopping the inevitable. You should all do it with me! Then when I get home you can maybe you can be as spiritually mature as me (jk you all have so many more years of wisdom and knowledge behind you)

LOVE you all and have a GREAT WEEK!!!!!
Thanks for participating in the fast. It doesn't matter what day you do it so thanks :-)

Sister Marchant

Nov. 2, 2009

2009-11-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Dearest family,

We had zone conference this week and it was my favorite by far (except when Elder Grow of the 70 came). We are focusing on using the Book of Mormon in our teaching and using it to answer questions of the soul. President Anderson said that it is the best self-help book! It has put a purpose to my studying the Book of Mormon. Before i would just read it and think "oh that's inspiring!" or something. Now I am soaking up every sentence! I want to read it all day every day. I already have a long list of questions that are answered by the Book of Mormon. It's such an awesome book and I always took it for granted. It is crazy how my love for that book that I have been reading for years has grown exponentially in less than a week.

President Anderson challanged us to read the Book of Mormon for 15 min. everyday for the rest of our lives. He promised that if we did, our spiritual maturity will be far beyond anyone else who doesn't! AWESOME!

That was by far the highlight of my week, but we have been teaching and trying to get people ready for baptism! We got 2 new investigators this week and they are amazing! We found them tracting and they are 2 sisters; one is 17 and one is 19, and they want to change their lives and do the right things. They said they like that we come and teach them what we believe and why, and no other churches do that.

So things are going AWESOME! Hope all is well there!

Love you all! xoxo
Sister Marchant

2009-10-26T16:58:00.000-06:00

Oct. 26, 2009

Yá'át'ééh pronounced (ya ta ay) means hello in Navajo! The language is soooo hard! I wish I could learn it, but it's like mandarin Chinese where the meaning of the word depends on the intonation (I don't know if that's a word); but anyways I am learning a few words here and there. "Oat" means "yes"

Anyway things are going really well here! We are working hard and seeing much success. We have a lot of people to teach and work with, and it's only going to get better!

We are working with this family and they are so awesome! It's a single mom with 5 kids ranging from ages 18-3 and the two oldest are giving her a lot of grief so; she had to quit her job to stay home and make sure her kids were staying out of trouble. But they are really fun. Lots of work to do and hopefully we can be a good influence on the 16yr old girl.

We have a lot of people we are working with so it's nice to keep busy.

Halloween is coming up; we are trying to think of something to be. We might just be Elders, but we will see.

Mom to answer your question about keeping the ward thinking about missionary work... we did a 40 day fast which worked really well. We also thought about making magnets to stick to their fridge that has a picture of Jesus and says something about missionary work. Firesides and getting the ward involved help give them a place to invite friends to see them perform. I could send you the living Christ one we did a few months ago. We did a bag with missionary tools (i.e. book of Mormon, together forever DVD, restoration DVD, pass along cards) and at dinner appointments had people reach in and pull something out. Then they had to give it away or show the DVD to a non-member.(but don't tell them that until after they have pulled it out) the sisters in another ward did a BOM rock, where they got this really big rock and painted it bright yellow and it said "Book of Mormon rock" on it and they put it in someone's yard and they had to keep it out there until they gave away a Book of Mormon and then the family would put the rock in someone else's yard (if they needed help they could call the missionaries) there are a few ideas hopefully some of them work :-)

Well life is good! I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support xoxo

Sister Marchant
-----------------------------
October 19, 2009
Hola familia!

My new companion is Sister Lotulelei (sister "lo" for short) and she is AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love her! We teach so well together, the spirit has been so strong in every lesson we have taught so far!

We also work out every morning wahoo! 4 months to sexy is under way... ha-ha

This week we have been looking for new investigators and we found a golden one tracting. Her name is Katija and she said that a lot of different churches come by but she "picks us" so we are pretty excited about her.

Life is good! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the mission and my love grows daily as I am trying to serve the people and bring them the gospel. Our mission has been focusing on baptism a lot lately and I understood that is our purpose but I read an article in last month's new era called "Why do we do missionary work?" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. It's really good and but baptism in a new perspective for me. Here is a quote from it that I loved:

"We do not preach and teach in order to “bring people into the Church” or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. We honor and appreciate the many ministers and others who are involved in the kind of ministry that makes bad men good and good men better. That is important, but we offer something more. One can qualify for the terrestrial kingdom instead of the telestial kingdom without the aid of this Church. We are concerned with a higher destination.

The purpose of our missionary work is to help the children of God fulfill a condition prescribed by our Savior and Redeemer. We preach and teach in order to baptize the children of God so that they can be saved in the celestial kingdom instead of being limited to a lesser kingdom. We do missionary work in order to baptize and confirm. That is the doctrinal basis of missionary work."

SO DO YOUR MISSIONARY WORK!!!!! I hope you are all looking for opportunities to share the gospel. There is an article in this month's ensign that talks about a stake president in Texas that promised his stake that if they would properly prepare themselves to teach the gospel, people would approach them and ask to be taught! What an amazing promise! It takes all the awkwardness out of sharing the gospel if someone asks you! You should read the article it's really good it's called "the member-missionary effect"

Can you tell I gave a talk on member missionary work yesterday! It got me all fired up! So do your missionary work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL and hope all is well! Keep on keepin' on xoxo

Sister Marchant

2009-10-12T19:26:00.001-06:00

10/12

I am so excited to get a new companion! Sis Lo is awesome. She is companions with sister Boisselle (the crazy Canadian) right now. She is a hard worker and obedient... woot!

So yea things are going great! We set a bunch of baptismal dates last transfer and a lot of them dropped off the face of the earth, but hopefully they will come back! Our goal is to get 9 baptisms next transfer :-) so it should be exciting!

I am so sorry to hear about grandma! My prayers are with the whole family. I hope the treatment works!!!

Well this week has been kind of slow missionary work wise, but I know it will start to pick up! Sorry I don't have more to report

I love you all xoxo

Sister Marchant

9/28

Things are going well. This week was kind of lame. Our investigators with baptismal dates dropped off the face of the earth. We haven't been able to get a hold of anyone. So we went tracting this one day, for an hour and got 11 "other" lessons (teach a principle and say a prayer with a non-member)! That's got to be some kind of record or something. In Cedar Crest we would tract for 5 hours and get about 2 others.

Guess what!? We might have the opportunity to butcher again! I am so excited. I don't know what my fascination with butchering is, but it's kind of cool (plus no one has faith that I can do it, so I like to prove people wrong)

This weekend is the Shiprock fair! It's going to be great. Although hard for missionary work. No one will be home so we will have to go OYM at the fair for 4 days. Plus the traffic is so horrible that we have to walk up to the church for general conference (about a 4 mile walk) but it will be good to get some exercise in :-)

It's been a hard week, but going to the temple on Monday really helped to give me the strength to carry on!

I don't feel like I bear my testimony to you all enough, but I really do love the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every day I grow and my faith is strengthened. Especially the last few weeks as I have been focusing on faith. I didn't realize that an outward expression of faith is obedience. As I learned that my testimony of obedience grew also. as we are obedient to the commandments we are showing God that we believe that He knows what is best for us, and in return He says "here are some blessings" I was reading a talk from conference a few years ago and there is this story about a girl who needed to pay her tithing but also needed to pay for school or she wouldn't be able to take some tests. She didn't' have enough to pay for both so she agonized over the decision. Well she finally knew that she needed to pay her tithing so she did. well at work a few days later (as the tests we approaching) her boss (who she said wasn't very kind) was about to leave and asked her how school was going and she said "it's going good" well the boss left and a few minutes later the secretary came in and said "today must be your lucky day, the boss just said that all your school and books are paid for from today on" she said that she knelt down and told heavenly father that she only needed this month's tuition paid. I loved that story because it reminds me of the scripture in Malachi that the blessings will be POURED out that will not be room enough to receive them! She was greatly blessed for paying her tithing and that's how God always blesses us. So much so that a sacrifice isn't really even a sacrifice. The blessings that come are 10 times more than we gave up!

Anyways I love you all and hope that you are doing well xoxo

Sister Marchant

9/14
Hello family!

Well things are going great! The work is starting to pick up. We set a goal of 8 baptisms this transfer so we have 4 more weeks to accomplish that! (We are working off our faith right now because we don't have any that are coming to church) getting people to church is the hardest part out here. Everyone just wants to be baptized but they don't understand the importance of church, so we are going to have to learn how to teach how important it really is.

Can you believe it's been a year already? AH! Where is the time going? Everyone said it would fly by and it really is!

Abby: I sent you letters the past 2 or 3 weeks so I hope you got them...

So I am sending Alex his bday present (I know I know I am horrible), probably tomorrow, so look for it in the mail.

I don't know what has been going on lately, but I just am running out of words I guess! So love you and hope all is well xoxo

Sister Marchant

9-22-09

2009-09-22T16:50:00.001-06:00

Well sounds like things are going well over there.

Yesterday we went to the temple. It was amazing! I just love going! It gives me so much spiritual strength (physically it drained me!) We ate at Macaroni Grill afterwards. I haven't been out to eat at a nice restaurant in a long time, it was nice. You know me I love to go out to eat at fancy places. My comp was slurping up her spaghetti and Sister Boisselle (former comp) said "well no one will mistake you for being refined"! It was kind of mean but funny at the same time. It's a long drive down there (about 3 hours) so 6 hours in the car makes for a long day.

Other than that, things are going really well. We don't have our greenie yet, hopefully soon! But not yet.

I am glad to hear that Lauren liked the scarf. Mom, I will make you one too if you want it. Or if you want a different one or something else just let me know.

Alex you should look up the company that made that shirt, they have some "sick" (in the good way) shirts. (Their logo is on the back)

We have about 1600 members but there aren't very many active members, needless to say home/ visiting teaching is really a struggle. they are all nice but I think people are just starting to warm up to me. They don't open up for a while.

Pres Anderson spend 1 year of his mission in Shiprock so it is his baby. But the missionaries we serve around are crazy. They aren't too bad and we keep them in line. Although there are some Elders that have a dog! It's so cute! They brought it to district meeting last week and they said I could babysit it for a few days. But I am going to wait until its house broken. (Sisters don't appreciate the smell of dog pee).

We live in a very ghetto trailer that is falling apart and VERY small. I don't know how we are going to fit 3 people in there but we will make it work.

The work is going really well! This week we had some really good days! We had a few investigators just fall into our laps! I just love when that happens :-) so we are keeping up our faith and keep praying that we will get our 8 baptisms. We still have 3 weeks :-)

The Shiprock fair is coming up next weekend which is the same weekend as conference. Everyone says that it takes about 2 hours just to get across the bridge so we might have to walk up to conference and camp out all day. But I am so excited for the fair. All the culture and fry bread yum! Jewelry and all that good stuff! So it should be a blast.

It's starting to get cold here. I am bummed I hate the cold! This morning it was 29 degrees ah! Too cold for me! Mom, I don't think I need any winter clothes I have too many clothes as it is. I will have to send some summer clothes home soon.

For Christmas you should probably just save the money for when I get home so I can buy clothes or stuff I need. I will need new clothes because I am fat now :-(

Llove you and thanks for all the support and love and prayers! xoxo

Sister Marchant

9/8/09

2009-09-13T14:50:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone!!

Things are going great. You will never guess what we did today!!?! Butchered a sheep. My dream came true :-) It was so awesome I loved it. No throwing up and no fainting- so it was a success, right?! It was so cool to see. I am so glad I had that opportunity :-) I will send you some pics later we don't have much time.

Sounds like everyone is doing well. I am sad I missed Muskegon. I love going up there! But, count me in next year :-)

I am glad to hear that Abby has found her niche! That's always nice to find something that you can excel at, I am just glad that she realized it so soon in life! Plus when I get home she can do my hair for free! Yay :-)

I am so jealous that you are going to Chicago that's my favorite city ever! I hope I can do my internship there when it comes time!

Brett's baptism went really well! He is a really sharp kid and he is so excited about getting the priesthood, :-) it's awesome. The stake president said that they need more Melchizedek priesthood in Shiprock ward so we need to target those eligible, and they will be able to get it in 6 months! So I am so excited to tell Brett because he really wants to be able to bless his family. (There is no dad in the home and he is the oldest so I think he feels a sense of responsibility for his family)

Other than that, all our investigators are so flakey! This week we are going to have to get out there and find new ones. We need a new teaching pool. It's hard to start over but I am sick of everyone not keeping commitments and never being home for appointments!

So anyways that's life! I want our greenie to come so badly! It will make things go better I think.

Love you and glad to hear all is well! xoxo

Sister Marchant (your fav sister missionary EVER!)

8-31-09

2009-08-31T18:15:00.002-06:00

Dearest family!

Well guess what?! I am staying in Shiprock and training. Well sister S and I are training together. I guess God doesn't trust us to train alone! Just kidding, it's because she is getting surgery so she won't be out for a few weeks! I am really excited it should be a grand adventure.

Other than that things are going great! I am so glad I get to stay in Shiprock. I don't feel comfortable yet so people don't really know me. Plus my comp takes over the conversation so I don't say much but I think that having a 3-some will be really fun. I loved being trained in a 3-some! So we will see how it works :-)

The Shiprock fair is coming up in October. Someone told me that you will never see so many Navajos in one place so I am excited. If you want cool Navajo stuff made by real Navajos just let me know and send me some money (I am poor and can't afford gifts for everyone) lol. I am excited to be here for that.

We also have a baptism coming up next Saturday. That should be good. His name is Brett and he is about 21 and has had a rough life. When I first got here he was in jail for something and I was like... wow sounds golden...! haha but he actually is! He is very smart and already knows a lot. I am excited!

Things are going great here as always. I am glad that sister s and I get to stay together.
Anyways things are great! We are going to Albuquerque tonight for the training meeting tomorrow morning. I am so excited, I love going to transfers because I get to see everyone. I feed off other people's energy so when all those missionaries get together I just feel the energy and excitement and it makes me excited! Haha I am a weirdo I know!

So life is good! I almost didn't email today, but I knew you would be angry so I did. Haha well I love you all and hope all is well!

Abbs I will fast that you get a job too! And you know the power of a missionary fast is like 10 regular people! jk but I will fast this week for ya!

mom, I will try to send you another pic but I don't' know if I am close enough with any people here to do that yet.

oh! I don't think I told you, I saw that family from Cortez the Largos (the ones that sent the pic) they were driving through Shiprock and we saw each other so I pulled over (apparently almost caused an accident but I don't think so, I am such a safe driver...lol) it was so great to see them! they were getting sealed in the temple on that Friday Aug 21. that was exciting to hear!

Kylee is in Cortez right now so I always talk to her about all the people and it makes me miss it! I forgot about how much I loved it there!

so anyways I have to go another busy pday! I don't know why but we just have a lot to do on pdays here in Shiprock! haha love you and glad to hear all is going great! xoxo

Sister Marchant

8-24-09

2009-08-29T15:14:00.001-06:00

Hey family!

Happy anniversary! I wrote you a card a few days ago but haven't had a chance to send it yet! I can't believe you are getting so old! Ahhhhh that means that I am getting old too! EWW

Life is going GREAT! I still love Shiprock!

Yesterday Elder C. Scott Grow came to our mission. It was amazing! We got to shake his hand. He talked about faith and how we can see visions and get revelation like Nephi and the other prophets. That just hit me. He also talked about how the mission is the time to strengthen that faith and to grow. It put a sense of urgency to my studies and desires to grow.

Well love you all and hope all is going well.

Sister Marchant

PS!

8-17-09

2009-08-17T17:51:00.000-06:00

Hey family!!

glad to hear you are doing well! sounds like you had fun in muskeegon man, i miss michigan! it's so beautiful there, here not so much! haha they do have beautiful rock formations though!

things are going great! shiprock is doing well. Next week we have Elder C. Scott Grow coming (he is the only GA with a sentence for a name) so that should be exciting! other than that nothing too exciting going on.

today we are learning how to crochet. we went to hobby lobby and bought yarn. exciting stuff!

missionary work is going GREAT! we have 3 baptisms next month. i just have a feeling that i am going to leave though so we will see if i get to be there for them (such is missionary life though) i am not positive that i am leaving so don't quote me on that!

mom i am glad to hear that you are liking your calling. all callings are hard at times! but the blessings are awesome! ( i would know)

well i love you all! keep on keepin' on xoxo

Sister Marchant

8/3/09

2009-08-03T18:54:00.001-06:00

Hey!!!!
Things are going great! I LOVE it here! I haven't had time to tract once :-) I wish missionary work could be like this everywhere!

We did a lot of teaching this week and visiting people. We had a Ym/Yw activity in Red Valley Arizona. It is so beautiful there! You drive down into this valley and its red mountains are so beautiful! Look it up on Google, they might have some good pics. We hiked to an arch; it was so fun and it rained the whole time! lol! I got the coolest rainbow pic while there. I will try to attach it but it's a double rainbow coming off two mountains! Ah I love it. It should be in National Geographic or something! And God put it there just for us (because I am sure no one else was even close to around where we were :-) )

Sister S (everyone calls her that because they can't pronounce Sagapolutele) and I get along just great! She is full of personality and spunk, so it makes life more interesting :-)

The next picture is the arch where we hiked to with my comp and me.

The next pic is a teepee. They are just chillin' everywhere. Normally they have the leather on them, not made of sticks. The Native American Church (NAC) does peyote (a hallucinogen) inside the teepees; some people do camp in teepees but most of the time they do ceremonies with peyote. I love the Navajo culture and learning about it.

The next pic (I am not sure if they are in order or not but you are smart and can figure it out) is of me trying to learn how to make Navajo fry bread (its sooooo good but obviously fried) at the Kirtland stake 24th of July celebration

Anyways I hope you enjoy the pics! Luckily the computers here let me attach pics! I haven't been able to do that in my other areas... so I can update you as I go :-)

I will send the pics on a different email it's not working!
LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! xoxo
Sister Marchant

(Note: the pictures didn't come through but if/when they do arrive- I'll post them. Brent)

7/27/09

2009-07-27T18:00:00.001-06:00

Well Shiprock is awesome! Just as I imagined it.. ugly dry, brown and full of people to teach! We don't have time to knock doors because there is so much to do and so many people to see. We already have this whole week booked with appointments. The people here are really flaky, so I am sure a lot of appointments will fall through but that's okay because we still have a lot of backup plans. I LOVE IT! This is how missionary work should be everywhere!

My first night here, Sister Mailo (a sister that was in Shiprock for about a year and she just went home right before I got here), her parents came to Shiprock to meet the people she worked with so we went to this thing at the church and I swear it sounded like a funeral. Everyone was talking about how awesome she was and what a great job she did in the ward... etc. lol it was kind of funny!

My comp is sister Sagapolutele she is Samoan but from Utah. She is a lot of fun so I am sure we will get along. We have to get to know each other first but so far so good :-) she has been out 6 months but is very strong!

Well the Navajo people are so awesome. Very humble yet A LOT of drama! They all have children from like 5 dads and all have live in boyfriends or girlfriends, we deal with a lot. People getting raped, abuse, etc. stuff that I never thought I would have to deal with especially on my mission! It's kind of like a soap opera!

We work really closely with a senior couple. They are the Myers from Washington State. They are awesome I love working with them. Since we have limited miles they drive us places and we see them almost every day.

Saturday was a pioneer celebration in Kirtland (the town just west of us) and so we went over to the parade. It was so fun! It reminded me of the Panguitch parade. Wards and families had floats. It was a grand ol' time. then Shiprock ward was in charge of Navajo tacos which is fry bread (the best stuff EVER) with beans and cheese and onions and lettuce etc. but I learned how to make fry bread... kind of. We are trying to recruit someone in the ward to teach us how to make the dough and the bread. It is kind of like elephant ears but smaller and not necessarily have sugar on it. Kind of like the Mexican soppia. Anyways I will learn how to make it and come home and make it for you :-)

Yesterday I spoke in church about faith of our fathers but I kind of changed it to faith of our mothers and told some stories I found in the ensign about women pioneers and bore my testimony. The 2nd counselor in the bishopric got up before I spoke and told Sister S. and I that we have big footprints to fill now that Sister Mailo is gone! Ugh I am nervous that people aren't going to give me a chance because I am white, blonde, and not Sister Mailo (she is Hawaiian but looks a lot like the Navajo people)

But I know I am here for a reason and so hopefully I will touch someone!

Well I am excited for the work to go forth. I can't believe how fast the time has flown but I don't want it to! I love the mission and I love seeing people's lives change. It's really the greatest work I could be doing.

Love you all! Thanks for your love and support! xoxo Sister Marchant

7-20-09

2009-07-20T20:12:00.001-06:00

Well.... guess what!?! I am going to Shiprock! I am so excited :-) They have so much success there! They teach so much they don't have time to tract I am so excited!!!!! I just thought of that scripture in D&C that' talks about your trials being a short time and if you endure them well then you will be exalted! I feel like I am being exalted, lol, although I don't know if I consider Cedar Crest a trial because we had success here and I love it here! Anyway, I can't even begin to know how to pronounce my new comps name so I will let you know next week.

This week was pretty exciting we taught a lot of less active recent convert lessons which was good because those have been low ever since I have been here.

Ohh there was drama!!! So there is this lady in our ward that is always the "victim", and when we first got here we were looking for service and the RS pres. said that she could probably use some help. Well, we started helping her and the first time we went over she made me clean her bathroom and jokingly I said "man, I always get the bathroom" because everyone knows that the bathroom is the worst job... Well apparently from that time on she thought I had a bad attitude when I went over there. Then a couple of weeks ago she had mice in her house and she asked a ward member to come help her move the stove to get the mice out. So a couple, the Devenports, came over and helped her. So they were taking the stove out and stuff and I was trying to stay out of the way because her kitchen is super tiny so I was talking to Sister Devenport while Bro Devenport was doing his thing. So Wednesday we go over to help her and she said Sister Weatherston what would you like to clean the rugs or the bathroom and she said she didn't' care, So she said "ok Sister Marchant you clean the bathroom and Sister Weatherston can vacuum"! LOL

Remember my Christ like attribute for this week was charity and love! God definitely gave me the opportunity to grow this week, I think I failed but I am trying to love her!

I am really sad to leave the Wilsons they are so awesome! They gave me the cutest card it said that I really touched Brad's heart :-) That's the real joys of missionary work I love it! Hopefully he will get baptized soon and then I will be able to come to the temple when they get sealed! Or if he waits long enough (I really hope not) I can be there for the baptism. His dad has cancer and so he is really struggling.

Colleen is doing really well! She got an opportunity to train for house manager at a beehive home from jay manning. that will be really good for her although she still has to keep her other job that she hates (she finds jobs for mentally and physically handicapped people) but she was telling me that what she does is prays and follows the spirit and she has found so many jobs for the people! It's so amazing to see people's lives touched by the gospel. and how it helps them so much.

I really am going to miss a lot of people here and I absolutely LOVE the people but I am ready to go and move on.

Shiprock is the reservation so it should be fun. I will learn all about the Navajo people, their customs, and mutton (ew!) plus I MIGHT get to slaughter a sheep :-) awesome hu?

Love you and hope all is well (sorry about my stupid drama story but I thought you would enjoy a story about crazies)

xoxo Sister Lizzie Marchant xoxo

7/13/09

2009-07-13T18:25:00.001-06:00

Glad to hear your trip went well! I have never been to the UP except our Mullet Lake adventures! I don't know if we went up to the up though. Although the trip to Mackinac was pretty exciting (remember it was raining cats and dogs!)

Anyways this week has been pretty uneventful. We really didn't do anything but tract. We didn't teach any investigators (the 2 we have are super busy) but this week should be better. We are meeting with our investigators and we are meeting with that referral from Texas. So hopefully something will come of that.

This has been a REALLY long transfer. With no investigators that are progressing.... But, I love the ward and I love the Clifford's so it wasn't too bad

Well since nothing happened this week I will share with you my insights from studying. Every week I study a Christ like attribute from chpt 6 of PMG (preach my gospel). This week is charity and love. So this morning I was going through the scriptures and I came across 1 Cor. 13:13 and it says "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
I thought that was interesting because if you would have asked me, I would have said "faith, duh!?" but then as I thought about it, charity is the most important because, as we grown in charity we feel the love that Christ has, not only for ourselves, but for EVERYONE. As we develop that perfect love of Christ then we know what Christ feels for each one of us and we know that Christ would never let one of us fail (as we know hope is the abiding trust that we will gain eternal life through Jesus Christ) so our hope is strengthened, and obviously our faith in Jesus Christ is also strengthened. Then also I noticed there was a picture of Christ in Gethsemane next to the "Charity and Love" section and it hit me (duh, everyone else already knows this but I just got it) that the atonement really was the greatest act of Charity that anyone could ever do, because it was done with perfect love from Christ. He didn't do it for the glory or the gratitude that we would give to Him, He did it because he honestly and TRUELY loves us!

So anyways what we learn from this is that I am not even CLOSE to having the perfect love of Christ, and how important Charity really is.

Anyways that's all I got for today! Love you all and hope all is well. xoxo

Sister Marchant

7-6-09

2009-07-06T14:36:00.001-06:00

Dearest friends and family,

HELLO THERE!

This week we had interviews and president gave me the idea to study baptism. I am still working on it because it's a long study, but it's amazing. Every scripture so far has talked about the extreme importance of baptism. I have always known that it was important and an essential ordinance but I didn't realized that it's more than just an action we need to go through. Although, all ordinances are more than just an action. But I am still continuing my study and will hopefully learn more.

Tuesday we were exploring this road that we have never been down looking for houses to tract. As we were driving I saw this house that didn't have a gate! I was pretty excited but decided that it wasn't worth tracting the whole street for one house. So we left and went on our way. Well, we drove past it again and I knew we had to stop there, but my lack of faith stopped me. I was thinking no, that's just my brain making that up. So we continued on our way again. Well, then we drove past it on our way back home for lunch and I knew I couldn't just let it go. So I asked Sister Weatherston if we could tract this street really quickly. So we walked up to this house and knocked on the door and the lady came out and she said "sorry it's a bad time" and kind of walked inside, but I just stood there because I wanted to share my message!! so she saw that we were still standing there and came out and said it again "sorry, but it's a bad time" then I am not exactly sure how but she said something about us being Jehovah's witnesses and I said actually no we aren't, we are LDS and our views are completely different than the JWs. and that started a conversation! We ended up talking to her for 45 min about the plan of salvation and answered some questions she had! It was so awesome. We didn't get a return appointment but we left our phone number and the Plan of salvation pamphlet! So we are praying that she will check out mormon.org and then call us!

Our 4th of July was pretty lame. We did service all day. And we didn't' have a dinner appointment so the Clifford's fed us and invited their brother (who works in the mission office) and his wife, and colleen (our recent convert), and Helen (a single lady they used to home teach) guess what we played!? Rummikub I totally thought of you mom because that is your favorite game :-) but we didn't' see any fireworks at all! I saw one when we were driving home from service but other than that... NOTHING! I guess fireworks are a bigger deal in Michigan because they do them for days on end over each lake! Oh well, next year :-)

A couple weeks ago we got a referral from this lady in Texas because her friends were moving here. She told us to wait to stop by until they are more settled in and in town for permanent. So we stopped by last night and she was so excited! She said she can't wait to talk to us but she has visitors in town and so we don't have an appointment until next week but she is excited! So we are going to baptize all 4 of them :-)

Well that's life in the fast lane... if tracting all day is the fast lane. Glad to hear all is well! I love you all and you are in my prayers xoxo

Sister Lizzie Marchant

6/29/09

2009-07-03T09:33:00.001-06:00

Thanks everyone for the bday wishes :-) It turned out to be a wonderful day, and getting flowers was super awesome! It made the day that much better! As you know when it comes to surprises I have a hard time waiting, so I opened all my presents except for one before my bday. Mom... I ABSOLUTELY love!!!!!!!! the stamps! They are sooo awesome I have been playing with them all week, and making awesome stationary... perfect gift! The clothes... Mom I thought I told you I have been getting fat... why all the extra smalls? lol Everything fit except the green jacket which makes me really sad because that was my favorite! It is sooooooooooooo cute! BUT we don't have a Nordstrom rack here, sooo I will have to send it home sorry :-( Everything else was super cute and fits pretty well... a little tight but I know how to fix that, lose weight! haha Well Bryant got baptized on Saturday! It was so awesome. His mom and dad both came and LOVED it! (His mom, Lisa, isn't a member and his dad probably hasn't come in a LONG time). We have taught his mom before but she kind of stopped taking the lessons when we started teaching her son. But anyways the parents were both touched by the spirit at the baptism and they said they would be there the Sunday for the confirmation...but they didn't end up coming. It was really disappointing but hopefully we can go over there and snag them! We had a fast for Brad Wilson to help him quit chewing and then they found out that his dad has cancer! Ugh why can't he catch a break! It’s so hard to see people struggle like this! I wish I could just lock him in a room with nothing in it except the scriptures for a few weeks and he could come out clean of his addiction! haha if only life were that easy :-)So Bro Manning came up with this idea that we were going to wear buttons to church that said "ask me how?" and then we were going to start this program of teaching about service and have everyone doing service for their neighbors and it's the idea that "we aren't asking for any names... just for you to serve" then we would go behind and tract and see if people were more responsive to us coming by. Soooo... yesterday we wore these HUGE buttons (about 3'' in diameter) and we didn't get one appointment out of it! Haha people would say "uhhh I don't really want to know" haha they knew it had something to do with missionary work! SAD... silly people! But anyways...Well that was pretty much all that happened this week! Got to love the exciting missionary life :-) love you all xoxoSister Lizzie Marchant

2009-06-30T19:31:00.001-06:00

6/29/09
Thanks everyone for the bday wishes :-) It turned out to be a wonderful day, and getting flowers was super awesome! It made the day that much better! As you know when it comes to surprises I have a hard time waiting, so I opened all my presents except for one before my bday. Mom... I ABSOLUTELY love!!!!!!!! the stamps! They are sooo awesome I have been playing with them all week, and making awesome stationary... perfect gift! The clothes... Mom I thought I told you I have been getting fat... why all the extra smalls? lol Everything fit except the green jacket which makes me really sad because that was my favorite! It is sooooooooooooo cute! BUT we don't have a Nordstrom rack here, sooo I will have to send it home sorry :-( Everything else was super cute and fits pretty well... a little tight but I know how to fix that, lose weight! haha Well Bryant got baptized on Saturday! It was so awesome. His mom and dad both came and LOVED it! (His mom, Lisa, isn't a member and his dad probably hasn't come in a LONG time). We have taught his mom before but she kind of stopped taking the lessons when we started teaching her son. But anyways the parents were both touched by the spirit at the baptism and they said they would be there the Sunday for the confirmation...but they didn't end up coming. It was really disappointing but hopefully we can go over there and snag them! We had a fast for Brad Wilson to help him quit chewing and then they found out that his dad has cancer! Ugh why can't he catch a break! It’s so hard to see people struggle like this! I wish I could just lock him in a room with nothing in it except the scriptures for a few weeks and he could come out clean of his addiction! haha if only life were that easy :-)So Bro Manning came up with this idea that we were going to wear buttons to church that said "ask me how?" and then we were going to start this program of teaching about service and have everyone doing service for their neighbors and it's the idea that "we aren't asking for any names... just for you to serve" then we would go behind and tract and see if people were more responsive to us coming by. Soooo... yesterday we wore these HUGE buttons (about 3'' in diameter) and we didn't get one appointment out of it! Haha people would say "uhhh I don't really want to know" haha they knew it had something to do with missionary work! SAD... silly people! But anyways...Well that was pretty much all that happened this week! Got to love the exciting missionary life :-) love you all xoxoSister Lizzie Marchant

2009-06-30T19:30:00.001-06:00

6/22/09

2009-06-22T19:00:00.000-06:00

Hello,

Dad, HAPPY FATHERS DAY... late! Did you save the card until yesterday?

Mom, I must admit it was kind of awesome to hear your voice lol I didn't get in trouble at all. But I saved your message so I can listen to your voice whenever I want to :-)

Mom and dad, there is a girl in our ward that is going to U of M next month and I gave her your name and # so she can call if she needs anything or wants to go boating :-) her name is Heidi Zipperian so I hope she calls

Well this week was pretty slow. We found out that our baptism isn't a convert baptism because he is 8 years old and his dad is a member. I thought it was if you weren't a child of record then you were a convert apparently but both parents have to be non-members. So that kind of stinks number wise (but numbers don't really matter...right?)

Well Jay Manning was called as our ward mission leader. I am really excited because he is awesome and very missionary minded so it will be really good for the ward. He said he is going to "whip us into shape"! Uh oh... I thought we were in shape!

So this blog thing... is the whole family doing it? That's a really neat idea I will definitely participate and write my thoughts up there every week. It will help to unify as we read the BoM together. I like it!

We had zone conference this week and it was really good. Right now we are focusing on extending baptismal commitments the first lesson (well a soft challenge which is "when you come to know these things are true will you follow the example of the savior and be baptized) and on the second lesson a firm (which is a "will you be baptized on this date..."). It's really hard because the second lesson they don't know if they want to be baptized yet. I am not a very bold person so asking people to get baptized that early is going to take a leap of faith! That's for sure. But I think it will also help people realize our purpose. That we are there to teach and prepare them for baptism. So we will see what comes of it!

There was a ward campout this weekend and we went for dinner. It was fun; we ended up running the fishing game for the little kids. But I like getting to know the ward.

We are teaching a Preach My Gospel class and it's going fairly well. We only have 3 people there but we invited another ward so hopefully we will get more people out this week!

Nothing too excited is happening. Just same ol' same ol'. I can't believe I am going to be 22 that seems so old (I know I know all of you out there are older than that...) but it's like "official adult". I am not 21 anymore CRAZY! I think I should still be 18. (Sorry I am going through a quarter life crisis I will get over it soon, maybe I will be a motorcycle or something Craaazzzzyyy!)

Well love you and hope all is going well in lake woebegone (ha-ha mom)

xoxo
sister lizzie Marchant

6/15/09

2009-06-15T18:22:00.001-06:00

Hello!

Glad to hear you had fun in Utah! and that everyone is doing awesome! Oh man, I LOVE the Nielsons! They are soooo awesome. Sister Nielsen is so cute and always full of personality and energy! You are lucky you get to hang out with them :-) ha-ha

I got an e-mail a few weeks ago from a guy that read my blog randomly and said "hey I see that you played nerts do you want to join some group blah blah blah" I was like holy cow! You can just search and find anything!!!!

This week was probably the slowest week of my life! Tuesday I dropped off sister Boisselle and picked up my new comp. Sister Weatherston. She is really sweet and has a good heart. I don't know how the whole transfer will be. We will see... (She keeps looking at my screen ahhh)

Wow that's really cool that you get to go to Italy! I hope mom gets to go too that would be so awesome and I would be very jealous... new Mexico just doesn't have the culture that Italy has :-( haha everyone keeps talking about how this summer has been very cool (so much for the whole "global warming theory") but I am so GLAD!!!!! The sun just drains your energy so it's nice to have good weather. Sister Boisselle is from Canada and hates the heat but she just got sent to Albuquerque (which is 10 degrees hotter than the east mountains) haha! Poor girl is going to die :-(

Yup it's true I hit my hump day this week! (and no cool "hump day" packages... thanks a lot :-( just kidding... just don't forget my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!) But it's crazy I can't believe I am 1/2 way done ahhhh.

So the elders in our district seem like a lot more fun than last 2 transfers :-) today we are playing something fun at the park (I am not sure what yet) but it should be fun :-)

Bryant is still really excited about getting baptized. Although, he wasn't at church yesterday so I don't know... but I guess as long as he is there next week. His date is June 27 (great bday present hu?)

Nothing too exciting happening! Love you and hope all is well in lake "woebegone" haha xoxo

Sister Lizzie

6-8-09

2009-06-08T18:53:00.001-06:00

Hello family!!

Well this week was good, but kind of dramatic... Monday the zone leaders called and told us they were going to delay transfers a week because 3 missionaries in the MTC got the swine flu so they weren't sending anyone out of the MTC. But then Friday they said transfers were back on as normal. So I am staying in Cedar Crest (going on 6 months ah!) and Sister Boisselle is leaving. I am sad! Although we are total opposites, we have a lot fun together. Also, my new companion is Sister Weatherston.

Anyways, as for the work lol! Not too much exciting is going on. Kind of a slow week.

Colleen is doing a lot better. She got some job interviews and might have a prospective roommate. But other than that she is doing well.

Brad Wilson is struggling. He just found out that his dad probably has cancer, so we will have to push the baptism back a week... but he is still trying and has cut down a lot :-) man, they are probably my favorite family I have met on the mission and I really want to see him baptized so they can be sealed! It's so heartbreaking to see these addictions and how it ruins lives! and families. NEVER get addicted to ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways tell aunt Michelle happy birthday for me! Love you all xoxo

Sister Lizzie

6/1/09

2009-06-02T19:23:00.001-06:00

First things first...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're lucky I get to e-mail you ON your bday :-) love you and hope it's an awesome day.

Mom and dad, did you get the package I sent?

I am glad to hear you are using the suitcase calendar lol!

Mom, that's exciting that you are going to mother's week-end. It was really hard that one year that you didn't come because everyone was with their moms and so it kind of sucked (although Jamie's mom kind of adopted me). Tell Jamie and Wes I say "hello".

I am glad to hear everyone is doing well!

Well, Derrick (friend of the Manning's) got baptized on Saturday it went really well! Afterwards we went over to the Manning's for a bbq and most of their kids and their families were there. Other people's family gatherings suck! I would so much rather be with my family! haha but it was fun to meet the whole family and see what people were like. Then he was confirmed yesterday and bro manning told us that while he was giving the blessing he saw Derrick baptizing his family (I don't know if I told you or not but when derrick told his family that he was getting baptized they kicked him out of their house and called bro manning and told him to stop brain washing their son, etc. they weren't very happy at all) so I thought that was REALLY cool!

we are starting a Preach My Gospel class this week for the youth. I hope we get a good turnout. When I was in high school I don't know if I would have gone to a PMG class BUT the youth in this ward are really awesome kids and have strong testimonies... so we will see!

There is the Part member family (the Wilsons) in the other ward that we met a few transfers ago doing service. The dad, brad, chews tobacco but really wants to be baptized and has a testimony of Joseph smith. So when the new elders got there we told them they HAD to go see this family because first they were awesome and second they need to help the dad. so 6-7-8 weeks past and they didn't' go over there!!!!! we stopped by to see how they were doing and they told us they elder haven't even gone over there!! ugh we were so mad, so that dad said he wants us to teach him because the elders suck! haha so we got permission from the zone leaders to teach him. I hope it doesn't cause too much drama in their ward. Their ward mission leader called us last night and was asking us why we were teaching him. so I feel kind of bad, but at the same time Brad wants us to teach him (once he finally met the elders he told us that he thinks they are really immature and likes us a LOT LOT better lol)

Colleen (our recent convert) is struggling. not with her testimony but she has this job that she absolutely HATES! and it takes up a lot of her time. so she doesn't have time to look for another job and the job she has now doesn't' pay her enough to pay her mortgage. so it's really tough to see her struggle.

It's so crazy how much you love the people you teach. I have always heard RMs say "I just love the people from my mission blah blah blah" but it's so true!!!! I just LOVE colleen to death and the Wilsons. It's amazing.

The coolest thing happened; a few weeks ago we stopped by a less active (sis. chandler) to see how she was doing. She was out in her yard talking to her neighbor so we talked to them for a while. and when we drove away I told sister that we were going to baptize him and his family, well we kind of forgot about him and didn't really have an "IN". so we were out helping sis chandler in the garden and stuff and he was out in his garden and he came over to help her with some heavy stuff. well that night sis chandler called and said that Eddie had been asking questions about us, what we do, why we help her, and she explained about missionary work. He asked if we would be interested in helping him and she told him of course! he also said he has been kind of looking for something in his life... so we helped him plant some grass, but we will see where it leads.

It's cool because we were getting scared; we have baptized 2 of our 6 investigators, so our teaching pool is diminishing. BUT God will always provide!

anyways we had a really good week! thanks for always being AWESOME! love you all xoxo

sister lizzie marchant

5/26/09

2009-06-02T19:22:00.002-06:00

Hey!

Well not too much has been going on this week. I sent a package today so you should get it in the next 6-8 days. It's pretty awesome!

Derrick is still getting baptized on Saturday! We are pretty stoked about that :-)

Man, I was so excited to email this morning but now I have this weird feeling in my gut that something is wrong or bad, (it never means anything) but I don't even know what to say.

Well our memorial day was pretty lame. You would think that people would be having bbqs and picnics, but no one did! Everyone out here is lame! Ha-ha it was even pday so you would think we would have an awesome day...nope! We did service and helped this lady sew, and then we went over to this lady's house to detox! Ha-ha it was so awesome! She has this footbath and she puts this device in the water that puts positive and negative charges into the water and pulls waste out of your body. It was so nasty, after 30 min the water was a deep amber color with foam at the top! But it's crazy because I have been so incredibly tried this last week (twice I fell asleep at lunch and ended up sleeping for 3 hours!) but today I have so much more energy! I want one of the machines but it's like $300 ha-ha!!

Colleen is really struggling. She told her friend that she was Mormon now, and her friend gave her crap for joining the church. It's really hard for her, and she also just started a new job that she HATES with a passion. So life isn't all fun and games after you are baptized but you have the Holy Ghost to help you and you have the scriptures and the knowledge and testimony to get you through anything.

Anyways, our mission is trying to focus more on "our purpose is to baptize" so this week we are going to be extending 4 baptismal commitment dates! That's pretty exciting, hopefully it all works out.

Things are going great! I love the mission. I know that this gospel is absolutely the only true church of Jesus Christ. It's amazing to see the change as people work towards the step of baptism. I hope all is well and everything is going GREAT! Love and miss you tons xoxo

Sis. Lizzie

5/18/09

2009-06-02T19:22:00.001-06:00

So we had a baptism on Saturday and it went sooooo well! Colleen is awesome. She is so funny, she was in the bathroom getting ready in her jumpsuit and we wanted to take pictures so she grabs this stupid tacky flower from the bathroom and goes "I need a prop, all pictures are better with props!" ha-ha she cracks me up!! I will send you some pics in the mail today hopefully. Then we had the baptism and it was wonderful! She was touched by the spirit you could totally tell. afterwards we were in the chapel watching a movie and waiting for Colleen to get ready and it was taking her forever, so we went back to see what she was doing and we heard the blow dryer so I turned to sister and said "is she really blow drying her hair!?" and sister goes "it's Colleen!!!" she is a very sophisticate woman and then I was thinking about it and I would probably blow dry my hair too. Ha-ha she is a crack up I love her! Then she was confirmed yesterday in church and it was ward conference so the stake president was speaking and he called her up and talked to her for a bit and she was on her toes (literally) the whole time it was soo cute! Then she bore her testimony and she did amazing! Everyone said afterwards that she is going to be a great member. She is a member of toastmasters (a club where they give speeches) and loves getting up in front of people. We told her that this was the BEST church to join for things like that! Ha-ha

Mom..... HAPPY BRITHDAY!!!!!!! wow the big 52 ahhhh... your package probably won't be in the mail until next week because I have to get dad something and I am going to send some winter things home so I have to get everything together and that probably won't happen today, so sorry in advance...I didn't forget!

Today we got to go to the temple! It was so amazing and exactly what I needed. The love I felt from the Savior was so strong and I got an added strength and hopefully more enthusiasm for the work.

Dad, you asked some questions: yes, we told brother manning about "WWBMD?" he probably hates us but oh well! He laughed...
The ward is awesome! They really take care of us. One family always makes sure we are fed on holidays and that we have a place to call our families and things like that. It is a VERY thoughtful ward everyone is always thinking about others. BUT they are kind of reserved, when we bring investigators in they don't reach out and go out of their way to say hi and get to know them. It's the whole "east mountain (of Albuquerque)" mentality, reserved and kind of just stick to themselves most people move up here to get out of the city and don't want to be bugged... just want to do their own thing. That's kind of hard, but they are my favorite ward so far!
Yes we spend most of our time tracting which is really really hard and discouraging, but what can ya do? We do try to contact less actives and things but no one is home during the day or they have gates around their house. So our nights are always full, it's just the day time that's hard. We try to do service during the day so it's not too bad.
The house we live in just has a separate room off the kitchen (kind of like Alex's room in Tennessee but not separated by a hallway) and we have a room and bathroom and share the kitchen. The Clifford's are so amazing! They are the most thoughtful people. Always reaching out to those in need. There is a single lady in the ward and she slipped and fell and broke her leg and she called them and they took her to the hospital and made sure she made it in and out of surgery and just always there for whoever needs them. Sister Clifford took us to the temple today and a few weeks ago she took up to Albuquerque to ride the tram to the top of the Sandias.
I am not sure of our plans for Memorial Day yet but it's p-day so no tracting yay!!! We will get to play all day, but not in the lake :-( bummer. I am going to miss swimming this summer but luckily I will only be out one summer.
Well I hope al and Lauren made it back safe. I hope you will send me some hard copies of pics from the wedding :-)I also need their address I got them a little something. I will get some pics off to you all today hopefully! Love and miss you all soooo much! I miss you more and more every day.

LOVE YA!!!!!!!
Sister Lizzie

4-27-09

2009-04-27T19:20:00.000-06:00

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

2009-04-22T17:03:00.001-06:00

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

2009-04-06T18:06:00.001-06:00

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

3/23/09

2009-03-31T17:34:00.002-06:00

Well hello there,

This week has been pretty good. Things are still picking up a lot and the whole ward can see the positive effects of the 40-day fast! They were a little skeptical at first but they are starting to realize that it does help.

We are still planning a fireside but we are pushing it back to April 26. I am excited it should be really good.

I love Cedar Crest. We have taken some of the young women out with us, and on Saturday we took a girl named Lindsey. She was so awesome; she did some door approaches and was very comfortable. She wrote Sister Boisselle and me cute little notes about how much it meant to her and how much she could feel the spirit when we taught. It was really sweet of her, and it was fun to switch things up and have someone else with us.

I love Sister Boisselle. The more I am with her the more I understand her and appreciate her. She is amazing and has taught me so much. My appreciation for her has grown so much this week. I am not sure why, but I feel a lot closer to her. Maybe there is a storm ahead that we need this bond to endure, but I am so glad that I have the opportunity to serve with her. She and I are completely different but it works.

Our investigators are all doing the same. Lisa is progressing towards baptism so hopefully we can get her dunked before we leave! Ha-ha

Dad, I can't believe you are one of those guys that falls asleep on the stand!!! Just kidding I have been a witness of that for ages!

Well just want you to know that even though I don't share my testimony every week it's still growing daily. (How could it not!?) And I love this church with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. I am grateful for this opportunity, although it's hard to be away from you all, I would never want to trade this to be home. Hope all is well! Love ya xoxo

Sister Lizzie Marchant (cover all my bases)

3-30-09

2009-03-31T17:30:00.002-06:00

Well well well...

Life is pretty good. Not much has changed in the past week.

Sister Boisselle has been sick for the past 6 weeks or so and it's getting old! Ha-ha I wish she would just get better because it's hard to focus on the work and missionary life when you have so much time to think. I just want to be out doing missionary work!!!! lol but finally she got a blessing yesterday and she is taking medicine so hopefully she can get better ASAP! Ha-ha

A lot of our appointments canceled on us this week, which is a bummer but we are on for this week!

We had zone conference this week which I always love! we focused on making sure our area books are updated every day and also finding activities other than tracting... speaking of, thanks for the Sally Deford website mom! We got a few songs from there. Our fireside is coming along but kind of stressful!

It has been cold this week :-( and on Friday we got like 6''-8'' of snow! It was mostly melted by the next morning but still... I just want warm weather!!!! Today there were some flurries... ew!

Last night I had a dream that I was coming home and I started bawling because I didn't want to go! Ha-ha it helped me realize that I do want to be here. This week I have been kind of homesick, but I know I don't want to go home.

Well I hope all is well and life is treating ya good! Love and miss you all tonz xoxo

Sister Lizzie Marchant

3/16/09

2009-03-16T18:22:00.001-06:00

Well hello there!

My week was good! Sister Boisselle and I are both staying here in Cedar Crest. I am breaking my cycle of a new comp every transfer. I think we will both be here for a while; 6 months or so, but we will see.

I bet ripping the wallpaper of the kitchen was fun... you should send me a pic of your new couch and stuff! It was super cold last week... it even snowed! But this week seems to be better (so far... it IS Monday!) haha

Lets see... what else happened this week? Same ol', same ol' our investigators aren't coming to church and that is kind of frustrating.

We are working on a fireside. we wanted to have it on Easter Sunday, but too many people are out of town so we are going to have to push it back. We are reading through The Living Christ and having songs inter-mixed.

The wedding in Hawaii? Sounds like fun! It also sounds expensive... i want to do that except I want to get married in the London temple, unless the Rome temple is done. Then I want to get married there :-) lol Oh well. Hope all is well! Things are going well here.

Love you

xoxo
Sister Lizzie

3/9/09

2009-03-14T11:55:00.001-06:00

Well HELLO!

I am doing well, starting to feel settled in Cedar Crest. Finally starting to feel like I know the ward and my way around places. It's hard moving areas but it's been good. I have definitely learned a lot from this area.

The weather here has been pretty warm until today! It was snowing :-( but it started to clear up! Hopefully it doesn't last until tomorrow. tracting in snow is not my favorite thing to do.

Mom, I forgot what I sent home, but if it's cute send it :-) People feed us way too much food I hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time I get home I am going to be ginormous! jk Hopefully I can get it under control by then.

Yea, the mannings are awesome! Bro. manning is hilarious! That's crazy that you know them. So far you have know someone in both of my areas... we must be a pretty popular family around the country (well around New Mexico) haha .

We are teaching a lady named Lisa and she is awesome! She said last week that she wants to be baptized but wants to know more first and she also wants her son to be baptized! It's so cool and her nephew just started getting active again and is about to put his papers in to go on a mission, so he is going to be in the lessons and last week he added an AWESOME testimony to the lesson! I am really excited about teaching her.

We are also teaching a family, the Salgados, that has investigated before, but yesterday we had dinner with them and 2 other families in the ward. So we had to go to another appointment, but after we left Victor told the members that he was in his study group and the topic of religion came up and they asked him if he goes to church and he said "not yet but I am about to join one". They asked which one and he said the Mormons! We were really excited about that, although they won't make time for us to teach them... I don't understand the mixed signals so who knows! haha we will keep working on them.

We are finally getting a steady teaching pool going and things are getting going. not as many people as we were teaching in Cortez, but these people are actually progressing :-) which is the important part.

Transfers are coming up next week! Crazy this transfer went by SOOOO fast! I think every transfer goes faster and faster! It's crazy.

So wedding plans are coming along? May 9th right?
Tomorrow is 6 months! can you believe it 1/3 done... man I didn't believe people when they said it flies by but it really does! But, I don't feel like I am 2/3 of the way from being perfect... I guess RMs aren't perfect :-\

love you guys and hope you have a great week!

xoxo lizzie

3/2/09
Hello,

Cool pictures!! (Hawaii) Well the weather here is amazing! I love it :-) It's in the 50s or so and it's Feb! (well now it's march but still... way better than Michigan OR Idaho). This week has been pretty good. Sis. Boisselle was sick so we didn't go out a lot but that's okay because all we had was tracting anyways lol. So I read Jesus the Christ! What an amazing book :-) I LOVE it. I haven't been reading it in chronological order but just the chapters I want to read.

Not much is new, this morning we played tennis for a little bit and it made me glad that I took lessons because I beat almost everyone (elder Utai beat me but I will get revenge after e-mail). So thanks for making me learn! haha

We had stake conference yesterday and Elder Uchtdorf spoke it was awesome! I love hearing from the apostles :-).

Love ya and hope all is well. You are always in my prayers.

xoxo

Lizzie

2/17/09

2009-02-17T16:58:00.001-07:00

Well... Cedar Crest is a hard area! Things are starting to pick up this week, but last week our numbers weren't very good. Sis. Boiselle was sick but we still tried to get out and work, so we tried to contact less actives, with little success. It's hard to just "drop in" on people here. We feel bad because we know that is no excuse so this week we are going to work, work, work!!!

As of now, we don't have any investigators and are trying to think of ideas to help the work rather than tracting all day every day. Tracting here isn't the most effective use of time. We are going down the ward list to meet all the members in the ward (active and less active) and ask for referrals. In Preach My gospel it talks about how if you ask for referrals from everyone you will be busy, so that we are going to focus on this week. I hope the work starts to pick up, because I KNOW the "field is white all ready to harvest" we just need to find the white wheat!

Our first day here we tracted into a lady who was taking her husband to the hospital for open heart surgery and she started to tear up when we got there and said that we are what she needed right then. Sister Boisselle said "God knows what you need" and I just can't get her out of my mind, so we were in the neighborhood a few days ago and we decided to knock on her door and see if everything went well, so we did and no one was home, but we left her a note saying that we dropped by to see if Thomas was doing okay and if everything went well and told her to call us if she needs anything. I hope maybe that sparks some interest or at least plants a seed.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was exactly what I needed. I started to slack off on my PMG study but now I study it daily. I have seen an improvement in my attitude towards missionary work and have been more excited to implement what I learn into the work. I love zone conference! It's just always so motivating and exciting, plus you get to meet together with a bunch of other people that are going through the exact same thing you are!

Yesterday at church a guy gave a really good talk and one thing that stuck out was, he said that a parent's responsibility is to help children understand spiritual experiences. I really liked that, because I have never thought about that before.

I got your package! thanks so much I absolutely LOVED that holiday kit thing! We were staying with a different family this weekend while sister Clifford was out of town and they were out of town also, so we left the mobile hanging in their entry way and made the boxes and filled them with candy as a thank you. It was really cute! perfect timing because the mom loves holidays (I don't know if I told you about our "red meal" last week, but it was that family) and she goes all out on celebrating so may she will reuse it next year! The elders liked both of the shirts and they wanted them from me! (especially the Jesus one) but no worries I didn't give them away. lol

Well love you all life is good just keep praying that we will actually get investigators! You are all always in my prayers! xoxo

Sister Lizzie Marchant

Feb. 9, 2009

2009-02-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

2/9/09

Well my new area is pretty cool! We are living with members and they have a really nice house. If you want to look it up on Google Earth the address is: 26 Lauren Taylor St., Tijeras, NM 87059

Last week was a pretty hard week. We don't have any investigators and so there isn't a lot to do. We went tracting but it's hard here because there are so many hills. It was a good workout :-) Since we are living with members it's hard to feel comfortable because we aren't in our own space. We have the guest bedroom and a bathroom but we share the kitchen and stuff. It's fun though because they are really nice. Kathie and Tom Clifford are their names. She is an early morning Seminary teacher and he works for some gov. job. I didn't really understand when he told me. They have a dog which is fun! It's a golden lab. They are letting us use their gps and cell phone (until we get our own) so it's kind of fun. It's so beautiful here and the area is pretty wealthy so there are BEAUTIFUL homes. I love the Santa Fe style, which is the style of most of the houses.

My comp and I don't have much in common, but she is nice. I am sure we will get along fine. She is from Canada if that explains anything lol jk. Her name is Sister Boisselle (we just call her Boise) ha-ha

My district leader is Elder Utai. He is from Samoa and he is hilarious because he doesn't care about anything and so he just does whatever he wants! He is very spiritual but when it comes to the rules he doesn't care. It's funny because the first night we ate at the Cliffords (our host family) and we couldn't get into the gate. (I forgot to mention that tracting is hard when about 65% of the people have gates). So, E. Farnsworth jumped the gate to have them let us in. Then at dinner S. Boise and E. Farnsworth (we call him Farnsy for short) said 'shut up' which is "a forbidden word" in the Clifford household. ha-ha. It was funny because after they left sis and Bro. Clifford were telling us how irresponsible the Elders were and how excited they are to have sisters (E. Utai has been here for 10 1/2 months and for the last 2 transfers they have been covering Cedar Crest and Edgewood). So yesterday EVERYONE was really excited to have sisters in their ward again :-)

I really like the ward, everyone is so nice and willing to help. We have been trying to connect to former investigators and things, but so far no luck! ha-ha But, we are working and it will start to pick up.

That's exciting that Pam and Alan are going to Calgary! It's kind of cold up there but they are going to be awesome! I am jealous! I wish they were coming to my mission!! But Pres. Anderson is amazing!!!!

Mom, I am not training, Sister Boise has been out for 6 weeks so she pretty much knows what's going on. How did you forget to read your scriptures when you were training? It's 2 hours of set aside time... ha-ha jk. It's not too stressful being senior, except for the driving... ugh! That's stressful!

Sounds like amber's wedding was beautiful! I am excited to see how Alex and Lauren's wedding turns out.

I will probably send a package home soon... I have a bunch of stuff I don't use and need to send home. I will send home my planners so you can look at what I have been doing every day for the last 5 months (my 5 month mark is tomorrow... not that I am counting or anything)

Well! life is good! this area is going to be challenging BUT I will definitely grow and become a better missionary so it is good. tell Abby my address is: 4400 presidential dr. NE Ste. E Albuquerque, NM 87109 so when in doubt... send it there :-) ha-ha love you and hope all is well.
xoxo
Lizzie

Feb. 2, 2009

2009-02-05T17:37:00.001-07:00

Hello Lake Woebegone!

Well transfers are tomorrow and guess what!?! I am leaving Cortez :-( I am really sad. Yesterday and today I have been saying goodbye... and it stinks!!! Oh well I am praying that I can come back and finish my mission here... we will see. I am going to Cedar Crest. it's in the east mountains of Albuquerque, so I am really excited. My companion has been out for 6 weeks and I can't pronounce her name! The area has been closed to missionaries for 2 transfers (3 months) so we are opening it. I am a little nervous to open an area, but I am sure we will be fine. I will also be going to be senior which stinks because I have to drive now :-( We are living with a member of the bishopric and his wife, so that should be fun! I am ready to leave Cortez so it will be a good change.

So have Pam and Alan been in the church news yet? Every time I can get my hands on one I look to see if they are in it and no luck so far. when do they find out where they are going?

This week has been pretty lame, except for transfer news. I think I have told you about Char and her 2 boys, but we have been teaching them and they are doing so well! She already has a strong testimony, the only thing holding her back is her husband. He doesn't want anything to do with the church, he is being supportive, but she wants him right there with her. So we taught her the Restoration and she already knew the Joseph Smith story and had a testimony of him! I am so sad that I don't get to teach her anymore. But I will get to find people to teach in Cedar Crest :-)

Another family we are teaching, the Cyrs, has finally opened up and told us their reservations with the gospel. They belonged to a cult for a long time and they just got out of it a few years ago, but they don't believe in truth. They were brainwashed for so long and then let down that they have a hard time believing other things. It's really sad that they are so messed up because of some guy that was power hungry! He told them that only the people in the cult were human and everyone else was animals, and that the moon was actually only 9 miles away! Super crazy stuff that makes you wonder why they believed it! oh! He also said the world was going to end in the year 2000 and that the Russians are all going to come over and destroy us soon. Ha-ha super funny!

There is the family, the Sacketts, they are so awesome! One of the families I am going to miss the most. Joe (the dad) is trying to quick smoking, so he can baptize his son. So I told him I would give up sweets until the end of next transfer, sooo... I haven't eaten any sweets in about a week and a half! ahhh who would have ever guessed I could do it. I can do it for someone else, but if it was just for me and to be healthy... not so much. They have 3 little kids and they are CRAZY! but super funny. Maddy just turned 3 and the other day she put my coat on and runs in and goes "Hi, I'm Marchant" it was so cute!! Then, when we were about to leave we said Maddy do you want to come with us? (just kidding obviously) and she goes "shoes..." and she ran and got her shoes and was about to come with us! Ha-ha Her birthday was the other day and Kirsten (the mom) asked what she wanted and she said "cake!" all she wanted was cake :-) Super awesome family! So the other day we were over there and Joe was joking but said "man, I wish you guys could babysit! Kirsten and I need some time together" sooooo we thought hmmm... we can't babysit but someone else can! so we got the Relief Society Pres to babysit their kids and we made them dinner. We decorated their dining room with Christmas lights and candles and the elders were their waiters! It was soooo much fun! Then we left and they had 2 hours without their kids to just be together! It was so funny, they said "man, we don't even know how to talk without kids climbing all over us" I don't think they have been alone in a long time... they prob can't afford a babysitter.

There is another family I just LOVE! they are the Largos. (Abby is friends with Justin on facebook) but they are so awesome! We had FHE over there almost every Monday and they are just a really close family! every time I go there it makes me miss you guys! But last night we went over to say goodbye and Justin and Tyler did the Haka (sp?) it's a Hawaiian dance but it was hilarious! I got it on my camera, so when I send it home you can watch it!

So that's a little about the people I have been teaching... it's a little late because I am leaving but hey! It's crazy because you don't realize the impact you make on people's life until you leave. Yesterday at church a few people came up to me and told me to keep in touch, and I would have NEVER guessed they liked me that much!! ha-ha

The weather here is amazing! I am so glad I am on my mission here and NOT Michigan! ha-ha there is barely any snow, but you still get the seasons. you should definitely look into moving here!

That's awesome that you are going to Amber's reception. Tell her I say "Hello", she sent me an announcement which was really nice.

We were supposed to go to Mesa Verde today, but the elders were being lame and they were "too stressed" and didn't want to go! :-( so I guess I will have to come back, but I am the type of person to make things happen and some people just give up (or they don't really want to go) but oh well! at least I'm just in Colorado... not too far from home!

well I am going down to Farmington (once again) to stay the night tonight and then I get to ride the transfer van down to Albuquerque tomorrow! Wahoo... should be exciting :-)

I love you all sooooooo sooooooo sooooo much!!! Mom, keep the TiVo going, I am sure I will have a lot to catch up on when I get home! love ya xoxo

Sister Lizzie Marchant

January 19, 2009

2009-01-22T17:11:00.001-07:00

This week has been really good! We are working with a lot of good people. One of the less active families we are working with, the dad is quitting smoking and some prescription drugs. We read Joseph Smith's History with him and he said that he is on a "spiritual high" and is excited to quit everything so he can be more a part of his family. Then yesterday we went over to see how he was doing and he said that he knows he is doing so well because of his faith! He has tried to quit before, but now he has faith that he can do it! It was so exciting to hear him say that!
Dale, one of our investigators, isn't progressing and just wants everyone to throw him a pity party. We called him and he was yelling on the phone about something his neighbor did and he called her the "B" word and that made Sister Pond mad! She said "Dale, don't EVER talk like that when you are on the phone with me" and we proceeded to drop him. He hasn't come to church in over a month and we even bought him church clothes with the $50 gift card. So we told him that we will see him at church on Sunday and if not, then he can give us a call when he is ready to make the changes he needs to in his life. It was really sad because he knows the church is true, but he hasn't been progressing since I have been here (about 4 months). He needs to realize that if he wants something different than what he has, he has to DO something different than what he has been doing.
We did service for one of our investigators the other day and she totally made us pick up dog poop!!! With one glove no shovel! it was so gross because her yard was COVERED! ha-ha ew... but good story :) We were supposed to go to Mesa Verde today but our ride called and canceled this morning :-( so we are just going to play volleyball with the elders. The zone leaders are coming up too so it should be a good ol' time... NOT! ha-ha I am terrible at volleyball, no wonder I didn't make the middle school team!
I got dads pics and I love them! they are so awesome... Dad, you should be a professional photographer. My fav pic is the one of Al, Lauren, Mom and Abby on the bench in front of the blue building! it's awesome with mom's bright red sweater! And I love the one of Mom and Dad (Abby is in the background ha-ha). So, I hung them up so I can never forget your beautiful faces (jk I never could forget them) .
Mom I got your thank-you note! Thanks! it was so weird because when I read your handwriting it makes me feel so comfortable... I am weird I know !
Things are going really well here. Yesterday an RM gave his homecoming talk and it made me realize that I don't want to be home. I want to be right here doing what I am doing! every day gets easier and easier! he was talking about how a mission is like a mini life. you have your trainer who is like your parents and "trains you for life" and you know your purpose and you strive to be obedient and follow the commandments and then you "die". But it made me realize that I am so grateful for the veil, and that we forgot what it was like to live in God's presence... could you imagine knowing that glory and then living in this earth! We would all be miserable! Anyways I hope that made sense. I love you and hope everything is going well.
xoxo
Lizzie

Jan. 12, 2009

2009-01-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hey!
It sounds like things are slowing down over there. I am really glad the holidays are over. They are hard while on your mission. Yesterday Sis. Pond was sick so we stayed home from church- it was pretty boring. We played Skip-bo and I made a calendar until march 2010, which I might send home so you can count down the days until I come home. It is technically called a "trunky calendar" (don't worry I am def! not trunky), so I made the outside look like a trunk! It's really cute.

Sister Pond she wanted a yellow straw, so she called the Elders and asked if they had one, and they came over with a whole bag of straws! We were like... "did you go buy those on a Sunday!!!!" ha-ha Stupid Elders went to the store on a Sunday to buy straws for my companion! It was kind of funny and luckily they took their missionary clothes and name tags off, but still!!! lol

Lucy and William (Barber) are fun; their kids are soooo cute!!! Bro and Sister Nielson are obsessed with them. Every time we talk to them they talk about their grandchildren. It's really sweet!

This week has been pretty boring. All of our investigators stopped progressing. Dale is still being "Negative Ned" and he just wants everyone to have pity on him, which I do, but you can only do that for so long. Then you get fed up and want to tell him to do something about it instead of sitting there and complaining! ha-ha It's so frustrating.

We had zone conference on Tuesday, it was just a mini one because we had 2 last transfer. It was about Companionship unity and District unity. Our District is pretty unified, I mean we make snowmen and play on the playgrounds! ha-ha Today my district leader and I are having a skip-bo tournament! I will totally win :-) Sis. Pond told him to pick his battles because "apparently" I am competitive when it comes to card games... ha-ha!

We were waiting for a guy to come fix our blinds so we were playing skip-bo and I let Sis. Pond take a card back because she wasn't paying attention. So, a couple games later I accidentally played a card I didn't mean to and she wouldn't let me take it back! I was mad and then she won the game so I was a sore loser... I haven't been that mad about a game in a while! Oops, so anyways that is where the idea that I am competitive came from... ha-ha.
That will be fun to have Abby home! Maybe she can help you get a new TV stand and couch :-) I can't believe your couch is still on backorder! that is ridiculous.

Dad, I haven't gotten your card yet, but if you send it through the Mission Office it takes a while to get to me. You should just send stuff to my direct address unless it's around transfers (which are in 3 weeks). We haven't been to Mesa Verde yet, but we are working on finding a member to take us. I hope we get to go :-) Can you believe I have already been out 4 months! It seems like just yesterday I was at the MTC... Everyone says that once you hit your 1/2 way point it flies by! ha-ha craziness :-)

well I love you guys and hope all is well :-) Tell Abby to check her e-mail. I miss you tons! Yesterday while my comp was sick I wanted to call you so badly and just say "hi love and miss you" then hang up... or just talk! ha-ha It's weird how you would feel so guilty for calling your family! Of all things!! I think it's one of the hardest things about a mission because I used to talk to you almost every day! In college sis. pond went 3 months once without talking to her family... crazy hu!? Well, I miss you tons and I know you are being blessed for my service.

Love you

xoxo Lizzie

Jan. 5, 2009

2009-01-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

Hey- Hey!!!

Life is going well on the mission.

I am kind of frustrated with dealing with people's problems... I didn't know I was signing up to be a counselor! Ha-ha One of our investigators, Dale, ( I think I have told you about him before) is so obnoxious! He wants his life to change, but he won't change what he is doing. If you want things to be different, you have to DO something different! lol It's apparently a hard concept.

Anyway, Tuesday was a pretty good day, we met with a lady and she told us she wants to be baptized! Then we met with another lady who said she wants to be baptized. Then we met a family and they said they want to work towards baptism!!!! 3 people in one day! That's a dream day for a missionary (well I guess the dream day would be 3 baptisms) but it's close.

The only thing is that EVERYONE has major problems they have to overcome first... ugh! (hence I am feeling like a counselor). This week has been pretty uneventful... On New Year's Eve we went to the church and played Skipbo with the Elders. If that's not a crazy new years... I don't know what is! (besides getting engaged, that's just crazy)!!!

We have just been plugging away... the work is going well. Sister Pond said that she has never been in an area where there are so many people to teach... which means that my mission is all downhill from here... jk!

It's hard because I always think "I wish I were a better teacher", but then I remember I have only been out for a few months and I still have a lot to learn. At the same time it feels like I have been out forever! Ha-ha craziness...

Saturday is my 4 month mark! I can't believe it... only 14 months to go!!! ha-ha not that I am counting or anything :-) It's already 2009!! It seems like just yesterday everyone was super nervous about y2k. I get to spend this whole year on my mission, I am really excited about that. It's going to be the best year EVER!!!!!!!

We were out finding the other day and we knocked on this door. Well, Sis. Pond like jumps and screams and I look at her like ...are you crazy!?... and then I see a Peacock! Who would have guessed a peacock just chillin' in Colorado. So we asked some lady about it and she said it was a neighborhood pet. Super crazy!

I absolutely love Cortez. it's the first small town I have been in that doesn't have gossip all over and everyone is friends. The people here are so awesome, I just love them all. The members are amazing too. Dart and Yung-son Nielson said that you are more than welcome to come and stay at their house :-) ha-ha! You have 4 weeks before I possibly leave the area! jk

Anyway, I hope all is well in lake woebegone. Thanks for forwarding those letters mom.

Love you all, xoxo

Lizzie

(Today we are playing volleyball with the elders again... not the high school team, luckily! )

December 29, 2008

2008-12-29T22:07:00.001-07:00

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

Dec. 22, 2008

2008-12-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

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

Season's Greetings

2008-12-15T19:12:00.002-07:00

Dec. 15, 2008

2008-12-15T17:53:00.001-07:00

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

Dec. 8, 2008 : from Sister Lizzie

2008-12-08T19:01:00.001-07:00

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

Dec 1

2008-12-02T13:41:00.002-07:00

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

Nov 24

2008-11-27T13:07:00.002-07:00

Well hello there!

So tomorrow is zone conference, I am exciting because it is so motivating and inspirational. On Thursday we went to Rico which is a small small small town up in the mountains and it's about 50 miles away so the missionaries don't get up there very often but we thought we would give them the opportunity to hear to gospel too, so it was fun. It was a gorgeous town, very small, mostly summer homes. Someone said that about 200 people live there all year- round, but about 500 in the summer. They also said that we came at the ugliest time of year, so I can only imagine what it is like in the summer.

Well after I e-mailed you on Tuesday we had an appointment and I started feeling sick while we were there so we left, and as we were walking out I threw up all over the lady's sidewalk :-( It was so gross but kind of a funny story! She was so sweet about it though. We have been working to get her to the temple and she just loves us and she's such a sweetheart! So it definitely could have been worse.

We met a new family that were former investigators a couple of years ago and we started to teach them again. They are an awesome family and I think they will get baptized, so that's exciting! They were in a cult and so they have a hard time trusting religion and stuff like that, but hopefully they will pray and read the book of Mormon. It was kinda cool because he was talking about how there are different levels of intellect, such as plants, then animals, then us and he believes that there could be something higher, such as aliens or something (I dunno). Then we were reading Jesus the Christ (Sis. Sorensen and I read Jesus the Christ during lunch... what an experience haha) and it was talking about different levels and that God is obviously on the level higher than us. So, I thought that was amazing that he was talking about it and then the next day we found something about it! I would have never guessed, especially on a topic like that!? Crazy different dimensions!

Well last week was pretty uneventful... we were sick on and off all week so that was a bummer, but hopefully we will be good for the rest of the transfer :-) I thought of more Christmas present ideas (haha) I would love some "return address" labels, church cds (talks and music) anyways I am trying to think of stuff, I know it's hard :-)

I am getting so excited for Christmas... a lot of people want our help decorating and putting up lights so that should be really fun! There is this family that is going to cut down trees on Friday and they invited us! I really want to go, but I dunno if we will be able to... bummer!! That would be sooo much fun.

For thanksgiving we aren't allowed to proselyte so we will be visiting less-actives and investigators and members... and we have had a few people invite us over for dinner so we are going to get really really fat! I am glad you invited the elders over... but I am really sad that they took the sisters out of the ward :-( Elders just aren't as cool!

Today is pina colada pday, so we are going out to the church and making pina coladas (virgin obviously) with the elders so that should be fun... last Monday was "puke" pday, because at least one person in every companionship in our district threw up last Monday :-( Wednesday was "wacky tights" Wednesday and I wore my blue tights (everyone loves those btw, there is a family in the ward that calls me the hard core smurf, because I am from Detroit but not hard core and my tights look like a smurf) Anyways... we try to have themes to make district meetings and stuff more exciting haha.

Hope all is well! I miss you guys and send some pics from thanksgiving... I don't have any pics of the fam to hang on my wall (now I have a couple of abs but other than that... you guys don't exist) Love you and will be thinking about you all through the holidays. Dad, that would be really hard to be sent out on your mission 2 weeks before Christmas!!! There are new missionaries arriving on Dec. 22 or 23 crazy huh?
That would suck!!!!

Love you all so so so much! Xoxo

Lizzie

Nov 18

2008-11-18T12:41:00.002-07:00

Hey guys!

This week was probably the best week of my mission so far! We are having a lot of fun. Sister Bateman is gone, which is sad, but Sister Sorensen is a lot happier. We have some really awesome goals that we have set to help us work hard and have fun while doing it. When we are tracting we wave at people. We started counting how many people wave back, and setting goals for every day haha. We also started doing a "scripture of the day" and Sister Sorensen thumbs through the book and I close my eyes and point at a scripture. It has been going really well so far... some of our scriptures have been: Omni 1:26, Alma 1:25, 3 Nephi 15:1, Omni 1:3 and today's is Alma 30:51! So look them up they are all really good and we believe that God is guiding our fingers haha!!!

So we went to Farmington last week to drop sister Bateman off, and it was really fun. We stayed with the sisters down there and they were living with a member. The member was a single lady (her husband died 13 years ago) and she had the feeling one day that she should have the sisters live with her. So she fixed up her basement and they now live with her. She loves it! She said that her house isn't so quiet. The sisters love it too because they feel more like they are living with a family rather than being so isolated from everything. The lady was a really awesome person and she was really fun, and reminds me of Aunt Sherry. She made us grilled cheese and then we made fudge and went to target (I really miss target, Wal-Mart just doesn't cut it haha) I hope I get to serve in that area. :-)

We were driving down the road the other day and we saw a bear! I have never seen a bear in real life, so that was pretty exciting :-) And Sunday we were going to church and there were people moving their cows down the highway! They probably went about 3 miles down the highway with their cows! Haha only in Cortez, Colorado! (Well maybe in Wyoming too haha)

Thanksgiving sounds like it's going to be fun :-) We don't have any super exciting plans, we are going over to a member's house for dinner and probably help at the soup kitchen, so it should be fun. We aren't allowed to proselyte, so we will have to bug people :-) We already started listening to Christmas music. Haha we couldn't wait until after thanksgiving because we are so excited. There is a less active member that wants us to help her decorate for Christmas, and we are really excited for that :-) I love the holiday season!! Dad, I am glad you are getting some use out of that tie haha! I got it at Wal-Mart (we don't have any other stores in Cortez haha) but I thought it was funny! That paragraph you wrote was like a professional writer! You should enter it into a contest or publish it or something :-)

You can say that going on a mission is the greatest way to strengthen your personal spirituality. I have noticed that the scriptures talk a lot about enduring to the end, and if you endure you will receive the kingdom of God. I didn't realize how often it was said in the scriptures, before I came out. I think that as you read your scriptures and pray, your thoughts and actions will align with God's and you will accomplish His plan for you, and you can be an instrument in His hands. Right now that is what I am focusing on, is being an instrument. I want to submit fully to God so that he can guide me and speak through me, because obviously I don't know who is ready and what I need to say to catch their attention, but as I submit to God's will fully, he will use me to accomplish the things he needs me to. Broken heart and a contrite spirit are the sacrifice that we need to offer up. (Those are just a bunch of random thoughts. They may or may not be helpful)

Well I love you and hope that "lake woebegone" is doing well haha Thanks again for the package I am all warm and toasty now :-)

xoxo
Lizzie

Nov 10

2008-11-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well we got transfer news on Saturday... are you ready...??? Sister Sorensen and I are staying in Cortez! So do you know what that means? You can overnight me a package of warm clothes :-) Haha, it's started snowing and I don't have a coat or anything, so it's kinda cold... so if you could send my coats and scarves ASAP I would greatly appreciate it! Oh, and my ear muffs!
Sis. Bateman is leaving tonight. We are taking her down to Farmington, NM and staying the night while her and another sister take the truck down to Albuquerque. So it will be fun to be in Farmington tonight. We get to go to the mall and target yay! (I still LOVE to shop :-) so some things are never going to change)

The young men have one-upped you guys! I got a package from them the other day. I will write them a thank-you note.

This week we were really spoiled... we had a lunch and dinner appointment everyday! Haha we ate so much :-( but we were talking to the elders and they didn't even have a dinner appointment every night. It goes to show that everyone loves the sisters so much more! Mom, I am glad you are helping the sisters... we really appreciate the "member present" lessons :-) We have to sneak the commandments in the different lessons so we don't just teach them all the commandments at once, that is over-whelming, and people already think being Mormon is hard. Haha, so I guess the sisters are doing what they are supposed to haha! I know they really appreciate what you are doing for them. Are they teaching anyone exciting?

We had stake conference this weekend and it was a broadcast from Salt Lake. Elder Hales and Pres. Eyring spoke and Sis. Dibbs (pres. Monson's daughter) it was really good. They talked about how important the small things are and that we need to fellowship those who have gone astray and do all we can to bring them back. The Saturday night session was in Durango, so the Nielson's took us to dinner down there and to the meeting. We went to a nice restaurant. It was weird because I haven't eaten at a nice restaurant in a long time. It feels like I am becoming a hick!!! ahhhhhh, but the stake president talked about popcorn vs. crock pot cooking and how the crock pot takes longer but is filling and nourishing, while popcorn is quick but doesn't satisfy you. He said things that we can put in our crock pot are... going to the temple, reading scriptures, praying, missionary work... etc, just making a sacrifice from leisure activities to help build up the kingdom of God. So, I really liked the crock pot analogy. And he challenged us to all add something to our crock pot.

There is a family in our ward. The largos, that went up to salt lake this weekend and asked if there is anything we wanted, and their son said Jamba Juice, and we were like yum! So they are bringing us back Jamba juice! Haha they took a cooler up to bring it back with them haha. I thought that was really cool of them! He is Navajo and he has a foster family that lives up in Salt Lake! I thought that was cool, I told him about Barbara and how she was your foster sister. Haha I dunno I thought it was cool... what is her last name? I couldn't remember...

There is a lady that owns a salon and on Friday she threw a going away party for Sis. Bateman, and got a cake but accidentally wrote Good Luck Sis. Sorensen! Haha we thought it was funny because everyone mixes up their names. Even President and the AP’s! Haha we make a joke out of it now :-)

We found some extra ties in our apt. so on Thursday we had "Tie Thursday" and wore ties to district meeting and actually all day! It looked really cute! My tie was really cool. I will send some pics.

Well this week wasn't super exciting. I am starting to get the swing of things, although the last 6 weeks seems like an eternity haha everyone says the first transfer is the longest. so time is going to start flying and before you know it... the new and improved Lizzie Marchant will be home... better than ever! I love you guys and miss every one of you! You are all awesome. Hope all is well and if there is anything I can do from Colorado let me know :-) You are always in my prayers!

Xoxo Lizzie ( I have gotten a lot of feedback about signing my letters "Sister Marchant" so by popular demand I will stop)

Nov 3

2008-11-05T13:18:00.003-07:00

Hey!! Well we didn't get any trick or treating in, but we went to the ward Halloween party for dinner, which was fun. We dressed up as 60 year olds that were reminiscing on the good ol' days when we were companions. We got t-shirts made that had a picture of all 3 of us and we got some wigs from an investigator. I will send pics home on my card, I have no way of putting pics on the computer which is a pain, but oh well. I am glad you got my package! It’s awesome :-) I put some of my summer stuff in there but there is also a present in there too... enjoy!! So that ghost was pretty intense :-) You guys went all out this year! What did you end up going to the party as?

Well on Tuesday we were studying and Sister Sorensen jumped out of her chair and went to the bathroom and we hear a Boom Boom! And I was like are you okay? And she didn't answer, so we ran out and she was lying in the hallway! We were like, are you okay?!? And the first thing she said was "was that loud?" haha! She fainted, it was kinda scary but you know me... I didn't really think anything of it, but Sis. Sorensen and Bateman were kinda worried about it, so we explored what was wrong and we discovered she had really low blood pressure and went to the doctor and stuff and come to find out she has had a sinus infection for about 2 months! Haha she didn't even know it, but apparently that's what made her faint... so we haven't done any work this week. We got a babysitter for Sis Sorensen a couple of times to go to appointments but we haven't tracted or anything. It wasn't the worst week, but it was kinda long. She is feeling better so that's good :-)

So a couple weeks ago we were tracting and we tracted into this kid that was probably about my age, early twenties and we gave him a pamphlet and stuff but he didn't seem interested. So we were at home one night and we get a call from this guy and he was like, hi you guys came over the other day and gave me a pamphlet with your number on it and I want to go to church on Sunday. So I was like okay... what's your name? And he said "Joe” and he goes is this the cute one? And I was like uhhh I dunno??? And he goes is this the blonde one? And I said uhh yea and this is when it started to sound kinda fishy and I was like what street do you live on? And he was like uhhh I dunno? And I was like "you don't know what street you live on?" And he was like uhhh we just moved here and I can't remember haha and I finally realize that I think he is drunk! Haha and I was like ok, and he goes okay c-ya on Sunday. And I was like, do you want to know what time church is at?? And he goes oh yea haha! So I told him. So I couldn't tell if he really was drunk or it was a prank call, so I called the elders and said hey is Joe there? And they had no idea what I was talking about, so I dunno who it was but I think it was the kid that we tracted into a couple weeks ago! Haha so I am getting drunk phone calls on the mission! Awesome huh???

Anyways, there is this couple we are kinda of teaching and they were Baptist for 33 years and one day they were kind of questioning one little thing, and they were asked to never come back to church! So they are devastated because they were very involved and know a lot! So they are looking for a new church, which is awesome for us! Except it's hard for them to grasp some of the concepts. So we made an appointment to talk about the plan of salvation with them and they canceled because they didn't think they could believe in the 3 kingdoms and the godhead. And I was thinking for me that's the most comforting part!!! Haha but we still went over and talked to them yesterday and the wife, Barb, said that she hopes that the 3 kingdoms are true because she likes that concept and they are both very spiritual and so they said that if the spirit tells them that it's true then they will for sure keep investigating, but they are really awesome and I think with some time they will come around. I just hope that we can help them because they are very knowledgeable about the Bible and I am still learning...

We have another investigator who is awesome and she has taken the discussions before but she just got out of jail and we can't tell how long she has been out for, and she is on probation, and she can't be baptized while she is on probation so I don't know if she will be able to be baptized for a while which is hard because she wants to be baptized. So that is kinda frustrating.

Today we had pancake p-day with 2 of the elders. Our district leader and his companion were being lame and didn't want to participate... but whatever! It was fun :-) We made banana pancakes and they were pretty good. Oh speaking of food... I am on a 40-day sugar fast! so no sugar for 40 days (kinda like my own lent at the wrong time of year) but it's not too hard because my companion is teaching me how to eat sugar-free foods (she is hypoglycemic (sp??)) Transfers are coming up next week so don't send anything to my direct address. Don't give out that address because I don't want people sending me mail there and it not getting there until after I have left or whatever... it's just a lot easier to send it through the office unless you want to send a package or something. Speaking of... I can't believe you are already talking about my xmas package! That is not for 2 months :-(

I think the holidays are going to be hard, I think the hardest thing is feeling like I am missing out but still tell me everything that's going on because I think it would be worse if you didn't tell me (maybe just tell me how terrible it was and how everyone sat around and cried because I wasn't there) but I will get to call you on xmas :-)

So every week I pray for a different Christ-like attribute and this week is patience, so during weekly planning I was telling my companions that and they were both like "nooooo!! don't ever pray for patience!" haha but I have to, so they are warned, but I hope God chooses to not try our relationship as companions because it's sis Bateman’s last week and that would be sad if we were not getting along. But we haven't had any problems so far so I think we will be good for at least another week.

We have these things called "conversion schedules" and they go through things we are focusing on that transfer and goals and stuff like that so we are making one for sis Bateman that has goals for her to get married. So it has like go on X amount of dates and Y amount of kisses will get you married it's really funny I will have to make a copy and send it home! But anyways I hope everyone enjoys their presents :-) Miss you all sooooooo much and love you all soooooo much more!! Keep the letters and e-mails coming Xoxo

Sister Marchant

Oct 26

2008-10-31T11:35:00.006-06:00

Well we have to switch our weekly planning session to Friday night so we are in early on Halloween so that’s kinda a bummer. You know me; I wanted to go trick or treating! But we get to eat dinner at the ward Halloween party which is exciting that we at least have something to dress up for. I’m not exactly sure what we are going to be yet, but I think its grandma sisters. We got some wigs from an investigator so we will have some awesome pics :-)

Those pics from the MTC are cool huh? Aw man, I loved the MTC. I still miss it even though I have been out here longer than there (which is weird.) I can't believe I have almost been out in the field for a month, Ah! But you don't have to put them together on a DVD we were going to do something cooler but we didn't ever get to it, so don't worry about it thanks though :-)

That's fun that you are having Matt over. Tell him I say "hello”. So Marina and Brian are engaged! That’s awesome tell them congrats :-) Man, the holidays are going to be hard! But I will make it through.

Well this week was a slow week, (seems like a month) but we did a lot of tracting and it's getting kinda cold (speaking of, mom if you could send me a couple sweaters that would be awesome) and one day people were just on a roll! Everyone wanted to argue and this one lady told us that we were a cult and we didn't believe in Jesus Christ and all this stuff, it was crazy! Haha she wouldn't let us go, she kept saying, "why don't you stand up for your religion" so we had to literally just walk away while she was still talking! Haha it was funny but it made me think about why I am here and why people think we are a cult and things like that. I wish I could go thank her for strengthening my testimony because she did. Its funny how she was trying to get us to go away from the church, but it brought me closer Jesus and knowing that it is the true church that I am out here for the right reasons. People are funny, gotta love them :-)

We made this board game called "celestial life" and you start in pre-mortal life and then get baptized and go to the temple and go on a mission and get married and the ending is the celestial kingdom. You have to answer questions and role the die to move forward. It’s so awesome! And it's a great review tool; we have questions from preach my gospel lessons 1-4. Everyone loves the game. This one less active member wants to play it every Monday, and we have a game called "celestial pursuit" and we use those questions now. Haha it's really fun.

One day we were playing it with this part member family and we were talking about Thomas S. Monson and said how he has a photographic memory and promises that if we memorize a scripture a day we will get one too. Well the dad was in the other room and he goes... "Wait! Your prophet has a pornographic memory" oh man we were all laughing so hard!! It was so funny.

Since we were tracting a lot this week we decided to memorize scriptures while walking so we are memorizing scripture mastery (good thing I didn't memorize them when I was in seminary or I would have nothing to do while tracting... right mom????) well we are going to work really really hard this week because next week is our last week and Sis. Bateman wants to visit members because she is going home and she has to pack, so this week is going to be awesome but I dunno about next week :-\ But anyways! I love you all and remember that God loves you and to ensure happiness put him first in your life. You can't go wrong if you do that :-) Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sister Marchant

New Pictures

2008-10-26T23:12:00.003-06:00

Just got a disk full of Lizzie's pictures. Check them out by clicking the slideshow on the right.

Oct 20

2008-10-20T18:49:00.002-06:00

That picture is terrible! it was such a long day, I had been up since 3:45 am (LOL) and I forgot we were taking pictures at the end of the night so I put my hair up! Oops, don't' show too many people that picture. I will send my sd card home soon. I am going to send it in a padded envelope because I have heard many stories about them being stolen out of envelopes so be careful when you send them back :-)

Yesterday we went over to the Nielsen's (Lucy's parents) house again for dinner. Bro. Nielson said that I need to be careful about what I write in my e-mails to my parents because it got back to him really fast! ha-ha

My address for the next 3 weeks or so is:
118 N Sligo apt. D
Cortez, Co 81321
(Just be careful because transfers are in a few weeks and I might not be here anymore :-)

It sounds like relief society is going well :-) Stake young mens! Wahoo :-) With the way things are going in the next couple years Mom will be stake RS pres.

Well, this week... what happened..? It has been pretty uneventful. We got two new investigators which is exciting. We got both of them tracting which is a miracle because no one we are teaching right now is from tracting. The current investigators are all member referrals (speaking of which, you should be praying for people to have the missionaries teach!). Yesterday, in church we all 3 spoke and sang in one ward and in the other ward we sang. We were pretty much the program! I told them it was a good thing we showed up or they would be out of luck! LOL

We went over to this less active member's house and his wife has Huntington's disease and he has some leg problem so he just sits at home and watches his wife! It's soooo sad :-( I hope that we can at least bring a little joy into their life because he is just so distraught; asking why it had to happen to her and you know the normal "why" questions. We had zone conference and it was amazing! We talked about goal setting and it was very inspiring. I got to see Sis. Jensen and some of the elders from my MTC district which was exciting. I miss the MTC but I like helping real people :-) There is a member family that wants to take us to Shiprock. I really want to go before Christmas so I can get you guys some Indian stuff but I don't know if we will get a chance so we will see :-)

My new favorite food is pudding! I eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner :-) (but I get sugar-free) It's so good! We have come up with many concoctions that use pudding! Everything I eat is sugar free because my companion is hypoglycemic and she has to eat whole wheat products and no sugar. We are kind of doing it with her, awesome hu? I am almost not a sugar-aholic, yay!

I think for Halloween you should be Sonny and Cher! or be missionaries!! Ha-ha you can both put your old name tags on. We got these wigs from one of our investigators and so we are going to the ward party as "old" missionaries, or something lame because we can only stay for the dinner :-( I was thinking it would be fun to be Elders LOL, but who knows, If you have any creative ideas for me I would love to hear them :-)

Well, my life is pretty boring to people in the real world (chuckle)! I don't know what else to tell you (it's kind of sad when I start sharing my pudding concoctions ha-ha) but I love you all so much and hope all is going well. Always remember to be looking for someone for the missionaries to teach:-) . Member referrals are the best!

xoxo

Lizzie

Oct 13

2008-10-13T16:56:00.004-06:00

We have two baptisms on Saturday and they both went really well. They are both so amazing and strong. Steve asked if he could bring his cat, meatball, to the baptism and we didn't know what to say, so we said sure... Haha and we couldn't tell if he was being serious or just kidding, so when we get there he has a white fuzzy cat in his arms! And we were like oh man! But then we got closer and realized it was a stuffed cat, so Steve made this cat be in all the pictures and its name is meatball 2 and sister Sorensen has to take care of it, so we decided that we are going to mail it to each other every 4 months like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but this would be "Tripanionship of the Traveling Meatball"! So anyways Steve is a social worker and he was interviewing for a new job and they asked him how he deals with his stress and anger, and he said he used to use a punching bag and lift weights, but now he relies on his faith in Jesus Christ! Isn’t that awesome :-)

Then there is Karen and she is amazing too (I will send pics home) she is so spiritual and she cries at everything, but she walks into the church on Saturday and she is just beaming and she was like you have no idea how excited I am! And she started to cry and was like “the man underneath was doing everything in his power to not get me here today but I just can't wait!” She's so cute and after she was dunked she comes up and goes "is it a-go!?" Haha she moved out of our boundaries so she is with the elders, which is a bummer because her daughter and husband aren't members and I bet with some time they will start to investigate! I wish I could teach them because they are an awesome family.

So remember how Lucy (I don't know her last name) from the ward was telling me about New Mexico and stuff? Well her dad is the ward mission leader! Haha crazy huh? It’s a small world. We ate dinner at her parents’ house last night and her mom is hilarious!! I love her, she just talks and talks and is just the cutest thing you will ever meet! She is from Korea so she made us Korean food and it was so good!

It was so funny one night me and my comps were just telling jokes and laughing and the district leader calls and I tell him I have a joke for him (I didn't realize I was on speaker phone and the zone leaders were up for district meeting.) So I tell this joke: there are a turtle and a giraffe eating lunch together and the turtle says to the giraffe 'hey pass the salt' and the giraffe says 'what do you think I am, a typewriter' HAHA! So obviously it doesn't make sense right? Well everyone was like uhhhh... so they next day after district meeting all the elders circled around me and are like so I heard a joke last night, and one elder was like ‘yea we don't get it, I was trying to figure it out all night. We are just dumb elders we don't get it.’ Oh man!! My comp and I just laughed!! It was so funny that they were actually thinking about it :-) So now we tell them a joke every night.

So last Monday we went out an hour early so we could come in early and we made brownies and played sequence. It was really fun and in our apt we have one of those film strip things so we watched this film strip about introducing the church to our friends and it was sooo funny and cheesy! The first step is to show your friends "I am a Mormon who cares" and then next step is "other Mormons care about you too" haha!!! So that inspired us to make our own movie called "A day in the life of a tri-panionship" we haven't started it yet, but that's on today's agenda. Dad, if I send a few videos home on my SD card, would you be able to put them together in a movie and burn them to a DVD??

My goal is to finish the standard works while on my mission and I’m in exodus so that's exciting! I love the Old Testament it's really funny. There is this one chapter where the daughters want to carry on their dad’s, Noah's, seed so they get him drunk and sleep with him!!! Haha who knew stories like that were in the bible! We finished moving Janie which took a long time but it's true when they talk about loving those you serve. I have really developed a love for her.

How's Alex doing? I haven't heard from him in a while.

So square dancing eh? That sounds interesting. Haha

Dad, is Cortez that town you were telling us about that you were driving down and there was a big deer that just walked down the street? I remember you telling us about a conference in Colorado, that's funny that it was Cortez haha! (Note: it was a bear in Durango. brm)

I haven't heard of that English program Abby wants to do but it sounds like a good experience. Two of my roommates from the summer went to Ecuador and took care of orphans, and I heard of something where they go to china and teach English but I haven't heard of one where they travel around. I think Sis. Sorensen’s sister is in china right now teaching English. I can ask her about it, but I don't think she knows very much.

I don't think that bishop is still the bishop of that ward at Tuscany. I think they are only the bishop for 3 years or something like that... but I’m pretty sure he is gone now. Tell her to try to get Bishop Archibald if he is still the bishop.

I think I am going to wait to send my sd card back until we get the video then I will, but I will drop some pics from the baptisms in the mail today. :-) It's getting colder so if you could send some sweaters in the mail that would be great! Love you all and hope life is going great!!! I miss you tons

Xoxo

Oct 6

2008-10-06T23:35:00.000-06:00

Well the field is a lot different than I thought it would be. I love it but different! My companions are really nice and I love them to death. One is from Idaho Falls, and she is going home next transfer, and the other is from Syracuse, Utah and she is going home in December.

We have 2 baptisms on Saturday which is exciting... I had absolutely nothing to do with them, but it's still fun to see. One of the guys is this big Indian and he is a social worker and he talked about what a struggle it is to see children treated so poorly and try and keep his anger under control but since he has been focusing on Jesus it's helped a lot. The other one is a lady from California and she just felt the spirit prompt her to move here, so she did. And then the missionaries started teaching her and she is getting baptized! She is awesome and we are trying to work on her husband and daughter. The members here are awesome! They are all so nice and fun (mostly younger couples with kids) and we have a dinner appointment almost every night... which is not good for my diet! I can see how people gain weight. I am working on eating smaller portions but it's hard to have a really good home cooked meal every night and not take advantage of it! I mean I have been in college eating ramen noodles for 3 years! Ha-ha.

It’s getting a bit chilly here just the last few days so that's kind of a bummer but oh well what can ya do!? I will think about what I want/ need for Christmas... but all I really wanted was a Wii so I dunno what to ask for now... haha in the morning all we do is play Nintendo on that imaginary tv we have... it's a blast :-) Conference was AMAZING! I loved it! Especially Pres Monson's talk about enjoying the journey! We got to listen to all four sessions which was nice.

So mom it sounds like you are busy which is awesome! How are the sisters? Are there new ones? Haha sounds like Janie and the lady from Atlanta should be friends! YOU FINALLY BOUGHT A COUCH!!! Yay! Send me a pic when you have it all done :-) sounds like everyone is doing well, I hope Abby is making friends. That’s a bummer but it sounds like she is focusing more on school which is good. Oh it's getting cold so I think I will need some coats and sweaters when you get a chance. That’s a bummer that dad will be out of town next week :-( you should come to Cortez!!! Haha it's beautiful here. Oh I don't know if the office told you but you are supposed to send my packages via US Postal Service because then they can forward them to me.

Did you send the sister's over to the danglers?? I think they would at least listen and they seem in tune with the spirit.

I am trying to think if anything else exciting happened this week... we haven't tracted a lot, we usually have lessons or visit members but when we did go, everyone is Baptist!. It’s so sad everyone seems to be struggling for money, there is this one investigator who about a year ago had rubbing alcohol on him (don't ask, this story doesn't make sense) and he fell asleep with a cigarette and he lit himself on fire!!! So now he is still all itchy from that and he doesn't have enough money to go to the doctor or even drive there and no money for food, but he has about 8 dogs that he has to feed! So he spends all his money on these dogs that he is trying to sell but he will call and complain for an hour about how he doesn't feel well and he has no food to eat!! So we invited him to a dinner appointment with us and he wouldn't go! Haha man, people are so funny... Well I need to write President so I will let you go! Have a great week.
Love you Xoxo

AWESOME!

2008-09-30T20:51:00.001-06:00

So I am in new Mexico, well actually I'm in Cortez, Colorado! All is well! :-) It's awesome down here. I was put into a "triplet" so I have two trainers: Sister Sorenson and Sister Bateman. That's pretty exciting and we are teaching a lesson tonight! Ahhh! We flew in on Monday but that morning I had to wake up at 3:45 am Ahhhh!

When we got here, Pres. and Sister Anderson and the APs picked us up. We went to the mission home and had pizza with green chilies. It was really good... spicy, but I love spicy. Then we went out tracting for ten to fifteen min. and we gave out a book of Mormon!! Wahooo I love tracting! It's really fun. Then we had dinner with some of the office staff and then had an amazing testimony meeting.

I am going to miss my district they were all so amazing! Well, my P-day is Monday so I won't get to write any letters until next Monday. So, that's a bummer but oh well! I am excited to get in the work. On Oct. 11 we (not really me but sis. Bateman and Sorenson) have 2 baptisms, which is awesome. Their area is doing really well. The Elders before them left with only 2 investigators but the Sisters have done well here.

So you can start sending my mail to the mission office :-)

Some of the areas are on Navajo reservations which is really cool. Sis. Jensen went to Ship Rock, NM but they live in a ghetto trailer (remember how I said I want to tract in a trailer park....? well maybe I will get to LIVE in one!)

I just checked out my blog :-) It's awesome, you are the best (Alex). You can officially take the MTC address off yay!! I got Jamie's address so you don't have to send it to me anymore.

My testimony is just flourishing it's awesome. I was sad to leave the MTC but super excited to get out into the field. It's been a very draining couple of days but I am doing well. Everyone always talked about "knowing" their mission call was the right place, and I knew that I was called by the prophet but never felt at peace or "knew" this is where I was supposed to be until the last few days. At the MTC I started to feel more like I knew where I was going and getting excited, and then when the plane landed in Albuquerque I knew it was right. It was awesome I felt the spirit so strong and I love it. My mission Pres and Sis. Anderson are amazing! I love them so much already. We took pictures with them last night and they should be sending you a picture saying that we got here safely. We also went to the temple and took a pic in front of it. We get to go to the temple every 6 months. So I will get to go about 3 times. They just went a couple of weeks ago so I barely missed it :-( oh well!

They said our mission is growing a lot, in the next 2 transfers we have 19 new missionaries coming in and then about 1/3 of our mission will be new missionaries. I think that means that our mission is doing well :-) which is awesome!!

I can't believe I am starting this awesome journey... my companions are really nice and seem awesome. It's kind of weird because they have been together for 4 1/2 months and I am brand new but they have been so nice to me!

Mom, how's relief society? Dad how is work? Tell Abby thanks for the letters I will write her back asap. I wish I could write but it's not p-day :-( I am trying really really hard to be obedient and work hard. I will not have any regrets or come home saying "I wish I would have worked harder". If we don't obey, the Lord can't bless us, so I guess that means obey!!

Love and miss you! Hope all is well and everyone is living life to the fullest
:-) xoxo

New Pictures

2008-09-30T18:03:00.001-06:00

You can see all of Lizzie's pictures if you click on the slide show on the right.

Week 2 MTC

2008-09-24T19:10:00.001-06:00

9-24-08

So it's already been a week!! Ah that's so crazy I can't believe it. It went by so fast. I still LOVE the MTC although I am excited to get out into the field and "harvest." Sister Jensen is still the sweetest girl ever! I love her to death. I sent some pics the other day. I hope you get them soon.

So what happened this week... nothing too exciting. My MTC teachers are awesome Brother Kirk and Brother Bradshaw. The other day in class bro Bradshaw did this really cool object lesson, where we had 5 min to live, our plane was crashing and we could write a letter and put it in that black box, (I dunno what it's called) but anyways we wrote letters and he collected them and then took them all and ripped them up. We were all like uhhh... we just poured our souls out to those! Why did you rip them up!? And then he told us that is how the Book of Mormon prophets feel when we don't listen to their words and we just shove our Book of Mormon on to the floor and don't heed to their counsel. I really liked it but it was REALLY sad writing you all and telling you how much I love you and all that kind of stuff (by the way the most important part of my letter said that you better ALL stay faithful in the church because it means the world to me and I will be watching you, haha.)

So what else is new?? When do you get called to RS pres mom? That’s an awesome calling! You are more than qualified and can treat it as a job, so you can magnify that calling to the extreme!!! Wahoo super relief society president!

So, I haven't gotten a letter from Jamie and it kind of worries me, but I don't have her address to write her! I forgot to get everyone's addresses so I can't write anyone until they write me. Oh speaking of... can you ask Abby to get Amanda’s address? Maybe have her ask on facebook or something I dunno... oh did those sisters ever call and get Amanda’s phone number? I figure Amanda needs the gospel in her life more than anyone right now! Also I was thinking that maybe we should send the sisters over to the dangler's house. They are very spiritual and maybe would listen to the missionaries if they heard I sent them over...? I dunno?? But it's just a thought. Obviously I am in missionary mode so I am thinking of all these people who might listen to the gospel! Haha.

Last night at devotional Jay E Jensen (of the presidency of the 70) and his wife spoke. It was really good, he had all this proof of the BoM and how JS could never have written it which was cool but I am not much of a historical proof kinda person so it was hard to listen. I don't need proof I already know its true :-) So we work at the Referral center every couple of days and I talked to this guy the other day that was telling me that he didn't have faith and that his life was so messed up. His mom is on drugs and his friends have tried committing suicide. I was telling him how JC knows what he is going through and how he can pray and receive comfort and inspiration but he kept telling me he doesn’t have faith. Then he told me that church is boring and reading the book of Mormon is boring... and how it's hard to wake up at 9:00 in the morning to go to church and work, so I told him that I wake up at 6:30 every morning to teach and study the stuff that he thinks is boring! And he was like why would you do that? and I bore my testimony and stuff but I had to go so I said I would call him back and had him read the story of Alma the Younger but I tried to call him back twice and he was never home!!! So I dunno but he was already meeting with the missionaries so hopefully they will help him, if not... he is just too stubborn.

I can't get on the internet so I won't be able to look at my blog until I get out into the field... speaking of I only have 5 days left in the MTC!!! Ahhhhh I am so not ready to go out into the field but I will need to work hard for the next 5 days to do the best I can!!! oh mom don't forget to send me that face lotion (well you might want to wait now until I get to New Mexico, but don’t' forget!!) and that's fine if you send me jeans when I get out there :-) well time I almost up!

Love you all so so so much!!!!!

Xoxo Sister Marchant (I love being a sister its sooooo awesome!!!!!)

1st Letter

2008-09-24T18:32:00.000-06:00

9-17-08

So I guess we can e-mail at the MTC! Awesome huh? Well anyways, this week is going by so well. I love it here. P-day is Wednesday (obviously). So let's think... I have been in class all day every day for a week but it's awesome! I have learned so much and my testimony is getting stronger and stronger every day :-) I can't imagine how awesome it will be when I get back in 18 months! My companion is Sister Jensen and she is so awesome. (I will send some pics in a letter) She's so knowledgeable and can answer any weird question from investigators. I have A LOT to learn! She also is an amazing singer. It makes me want to take voice lessons when I get back. Anyways we have been studying the first lesson which is the restoration. My testimony in that is probably the lowest of everything in the gospel, so studying it for a week straight all day every day has been awesome! My roommates are hilarious. One is from Hawaii sister Kai and she is so funny! We have these glow in the dark stars on our ceiling and so we were talking one night and I said "I bet these stars make you feel at home because you don't have real houses" and we went off about how she weaves blankets from leaves and stuff like that! It was hilarious, and then we said roommate prayer and she prayed and thanked God for "all of the comforts we have at the MTC”!!!Oh man! We all busted up laughing in the middle of the prayer. She didn't even realize that she said that right after we were talking about the "3rd world country" of Hawaii.

So what else is new with you people in the real world? I love MTC land! It’s so awesome; everyone is on a spiritual high so everyone is so nice to you and walking around with their name tags on. (Btw I love my name tag, it makes me an official missionary) last night we have devotional and Elder Richard G. Hinckley spoke (last week they had Elder Uchdorf! :-( sad that I missed it) and he was saying "you are not cool any more, walking down the street in a white shirt and tie is Not cool!) I thought that was hilarious because it's so incredibly true... I'm a dork and I'm proud of it!

My district is awesome; they are all 19 year old boys but its still fun. Its cool cause one of them was in my New Testament class at BYU-I but he looked familiar, and I didn't really know who he was until we figured it out. Elder Mackey is here and I see him every once in a while, he isn't very talkative but he says "hi" back. I told him to tell his parents that I say hi ha-ha!
I'm not really sure what else to tell you, I have 12 min left on the computer and I want to use it all so I'm just typing about nothing! Ha-ha what else do you want to know? Oh the main gym time activity is 4 square... I don't' think I have played 4 square since 3rd grade, so that's pretty cool! Ha-ha I can't believe I only have a week and a half left until I leave here! Ahhhh... oh yesterday we went to the referral center and I called a lady and she wanted a book of Mormon! It was awesome. One of the elders in my district called a lady that the missionaries called her a liar so she is never going back to church... I'm not sure what they actually said but that's how she interpreted it... sad because she reads from the BoM every day and knows that it's true and has a movie that she has almost worn the copy out on. It's sad on both parts because she doesn't know that she is missing out on so many covenants and blessings from being stubborn.

Well I love you and miss you so much (we are working on "teenage language" and I say "like", "guys", "totally", "dude" all the time... it's really hard! Ha-ha everyone is a sister or elder. I always say "hey guys!" ha-ha oh well) hope all is well. Oh! You can tell everyone that while I am at the MTC they can write me letters on www.dearelder.com and I get it that same day, so they don't have to send it in the mail... it's a lot easier. Oh and mom could you please send me jeans???? I think I will need some for service activities! I'm trying to think of which ones, maybe the silver brand ones or... I forgot what jeans I have... ha-ha!!! My time is running out... love you! Tell everyone I say hi! Oh did you set up that blog??? Alex and Lauren sent me the cutest package yesterday. It was awesome with brownies and everything! Ha-ha.

Love ya xoxo