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

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!

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

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

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

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

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