Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy

This week has been so exhausting in all of the best ways. We’ve been hitting the streets hard trying to find people, we have been on our knees praying so much for inspiration and have consequently had to do so much planning for all the things the Lord would have us do here 🙂 We’ve spent time coordinating with the branch leaders, since our ward mission leader is MIA, and with all of the things we’ve been working on and planning for and putting into action, I don’t think I’ve ever come home more exhausted at night than I have here. And oh man, does it feel good.

Apart from all the healthy stress we’ve encountered/managed pretty well, Hermana Harston continues to make life here in Moxee/Union Gap/Terrace Heights AWESOME. If there was ever one of those weird TV dating shows for choosing mission companions, three of the qualities I would list for her would be:

1. Enjoys long tracts in the dark. (Seriously, we’ve found all of our incredible people after the sun has gone down. And between her track champion skills and my black belt, we figure we’re safe. I’ll fight off the creepers and she can run away. It all works out.)

2. Her favorite food group is peanut butter. (One peanut butter themed shenanigan took place on Wednesday, when our dinner for the night suddenly canceled on us. We decided that we would go back to our house and try to be domestic. We were met with absolute failure. The idea was: we will make Reeces Peanut Butter Bars. What actually happened was: the instructions on the box were all pictographs that not even the EGYPTIANS could have figured out, Sister Mitchell (who we live with) watched us failing in the kitchen for 10 minutes before her compassion could hold itself back no longer and she jumped in to help us, and what we ended up with was a very buttery Reeces soup blob in a pan, that had to be frozen into solidity. Apart from the literal stick of butter we accidentally used, it was pretty alright. So when we left that night, we gave the wreck to Manuel Pimentel who came out with us that night so we could tract around in sketchy trailer parks in safety. On Sunday, to nobody’s surprise, the disaster pie was not mentioned.)

3. Understands the value of a Starbucks vanilla steamed milk on the way home from Union Gap after a crazy tough day. (Thank goodness for the collection of Starbucks card I felt impressed to bring with me into the mission. Heavenly Father knew these days would come 🙂

So yeah. I just feel so incredibly blessed to be serving here. We found 6 new investigators last week! And we invited pretty much all of them to be baptized. We were able to teach 5 lessons with a member present, and were blessed with 7 other lessons. Man, it’s been so fun! Street contacts, door knocks, everywhere – there are people EVERYWHERE to teach! 🙂

Like Audelina. She is a super sweet spirit that Sister Harston actually talked to for the last time back in June. But as we were out knocking this last week, we felt that we should swing by. She’s in her 60s, and when she answered she was so. weather. worn. Just you could feel the exhaustion and sadness rolling off of her. Turns out that she’s got her mom and dad dying right now. Like her 91 year old dad is in her home, on hospice rest, dying from Parkinson’s. And not one other member of her family is helping her out. She watched her own husband die 10 years ago from Diabetes, and her mom is wasting away mentally (dementia) as she struggles to keep her in the clinic for her dialysis. We left her with a message of hope in the Restored Gospel, and as sad and warn as she was when she opened the door, she was beaming as she closed it. She eagerly invited us back, and the lesson we had on Saturday with her was incredible. She let us right into her house (which she’d never done back even when Hermana Harston was teaching her in June) and she wanted us to see her dad. In the room where her dad laid sleeping, emaciated and clinging to his hospital bed railings with white knuckles, we pulled out our himnos and sang her “I Am a Child of God.” And she wept, and we just hugged her as she wept. We then went into her living room and talked about the Plan of Salvation and we both, Hermana Harston and I, upon hearing her testimony of the love of God that she has felt every step of the way, and the strength that she gets from prayer saw a future Relief Society president sitting on the couch. We felt the strong prompting to tell her how much Heavenly Father loves her, and to tell her how needed she is – how brightly her light shines. She wants to go to church with us SO BADLY, but she’s confined to her house for the next little while. She told us on Saturday that her father hadn’t eaten in 3 days. Oh, I wish I could carry the Spirit that we felt in her home to every person that we meet.

As we were enjoying a long tract this past week, though, we found an English family that is sooooo prepared for the Gospel. The mom’s name is Janessa, and she was super creeped out by us when we stopped by her fence to talk to her. Then as we started sharing, she and her kids just kept getting closer and closer. Hermana Harston is a rockstar at inspired questions, and a lot of what we taught her about Jesus Christ being rejected/crucified, she didn’t even know. The Spirit was so teaching her as we shared with her the story of the first vision, and she literally said: “That’s… unbelievable. But I don’t know why I believe it. I totally do. I feel like that is true.” And she was -so- excited when we said we wanted to send the English missionaries by to share more with her about how she can know there is a living Prophet on the earth. She accepted the baptismal invite without hesitation, and the questions she asked were just so stellar. And that is why we talk to everyone. Who are we to judge who may or may not be ready to learn more about Christ? Even if at first the don’t know who we are and think we are super creepy 😉

So even though our amazing Alma Dueno fell off date (and/or off the face of the planet) this week, and the work hasn’t been exactly smooth sailing with trying to get the branch’s stuff together, we’ve been seeing the most incredible miracles 🙂

Also, on the reactivation front, I was able to put my less-active magnet prowess to work this week when Presidente Sanchez told us to go visit a certain struggling family in the branch this week. We went in, got to know them, had a very frank/loving conversation about their family goals and what they’ve been doing after their conversion 3 years ago, and set specific plans of action on how they can continue feeling the love and joy of the Gospel. And then, on Sunday, none of our investigators came to church but THAT FAMILY DID. And that was all I needed to see. They came in their jeans and their tennis shoes, and they listened with their hearts, and afterwards gave us the biggest hugs ever. It was awesome. I love this work of salvation.

So yeah, that’s just a little of what we’ve been up to this week 🙂 It’s been great.

In preparation for our Zone Conference this week, we’re working on getting a good ward mission plan that people in our branch can actually -do- rather than just having a page full of nice platitudes about how good it is to have missionaries. We’re also super stoked for all the things that we’re going to be learning at that Zone Conference because Hermana Harston and I have been going to the Lord with mighty supplication for guidance in this area.

Hope everyone has a stellar missionary minded week! Keep those eyes open for service opportunities, and love EVERYONE!

xoxo Hermana Mrozek

Weekly Planning on the Mitchell’s Trampoline

Pictures form MOD Pizza – literally a subway type concept, but for pizza. It has changed my life. And I need to know where the ones on the East Coast are.

Companion For Sale. Price: One Jar of Jiff Peanut Butter

Literally Everything is Awesome.

Aqui estoy en Moxee! 🙂 And it has been the best. week. ever. Hermana Harston has been such a champ at helping me get to know this AWESOME area, and I already feel in love with absolutely every aspect of the work here.

Hermana Harston is from San Antonio, Texas. (I swear, companions from Texas are always the best.) In her spare time she enjoys running hundreds of miles, collecting super cute clothes and jewelry, and eating things that don’t contain gluten. She’s got a boss testimony, and a drive to do missionary work that’s at LEAST 350 Horse Power. (And last night when we were driving, we literally almost hit 4 horses being ridden casually down the road with NO reflective things on them whatsoever #OnlyInMoxee)

Elder Shugart, who I witnessed be trained, is our district leader, and man, they grow up so fast :’) The branch here has a lot of work that needs to be done to it still, seeing that it’s only existed for, oh, 9 months now, and Hermana Harston and I are up to the task

.

On our first day together, por ejemplo, we were just gonna hit the streets to try by some potentials and whatnot, and ended up having FIVE other lessons, and a member present! We found this a b s o l u t e l y  g o l d e n  20 year old kid named Joshua (who was promptly handed off to the English missionaries). Details to follow. But essentially, Hermana Harston and I are already teaching with unity, feeling the Spirit guide us in miraculous ways, working super hard, and having probably way too much fun doing it. I don’t think we’ve stopped smiling and laughing since Wednesday at Transfer Site. This is the best transfer ever. #ThankYouHeavenlyFather

But yeah, Joshua. Super prepared by the Lord. The Herms had tried by the house many times in the past looking for someone named Nephtalie, who only speaks Spanish, and each time Joshua would be SO TICKED that he missed us AGAIN because ever since High School he’s been super interested in learning more about what we believe, and how he can have a strong relationship with the Savior. When we taught him the Restoration, he was so certain of Joseph Smith, and after we’d gotten his info for handing him off as the most excited referral ever, we asked him if there was anything we could do for him (having service in mind.) He paused, thought, and very abruptly said: “well, I’ve actually always wanted to read in the Book of Mormon. Do you know how I can find a copy?” After a kneeling prayer on his porch we literally RAN back to our car, two blocks away, to go get him a copy. He did not stop thanking us. I have never seen someone like that before in my life. It was so not a coincidence that we were there when we were.

And then, skipping way far ahead to Saturday because once again I’m low on time, we stayed in the area towards the end of the night and ended up having an incredibly lesson with someone named Alma (who had been dropped 3 weeks before). We found out that she AND HER HUSBAND had been reading in the Book of Mormon, marking it and talking about it as they went! Hermana Harston and I were almost in tears the Spirit was so strong as she talked about how her prayers had been changing, and she is now praying specifically in preparation for her baptism on October 10th (the date we extended to her). She didn’t make it to church, because of the harvest, but she is awesome. We said a prayer afterwards, absolutely crying in the car, to thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to feel the Spirit teach so strongly the princip

Apart from teaching and feeling the Spirit so strong, Hermana Harston and I have a goal to go the extra mile to be able to stand before God at the last day and tell him that we did absolutely EVERYTHING we could for these people 🙂 So that’s why when no one showed up for Gospel Principles, we decided to go find every. single. one. of. our. friends. and remind them in person of the importance of the Sacrament. And we sat outside just before sacrament waiting for them, and calling some other people. No one ended up coming, still, but they will.

Oh man, I’m way out of time. But we had awesome service opportunities with senior citizens and helping the community by by painting benches in the park.

I’ve gotta go, but just know that we are working hard to bring about the Lord’s vision here, and he’s giving us the energy to do so!

Mt. Rainer outside the church building!

#sudndaytwinday

Let The Holy Spirit Guide

This week was full of miracles: Chris (the man who walks around town all day with a camelback full of hard liquor) and Jessica (his 21 year old daughter) dropped us earlier in the week because, they said, “God had already shown them the way they needed to go.” So we told them we’re always here for them if they have any questions and invited them to keep praying to know, then, as Sister Hirsche and I were sitting in Sacrament 3 days later, signing to Cassy, they SHOWED UP TO SACRAMENT MEETING! They slipped out right after, so we didn’t get to talk to them, so later that evening we stopped by with Britney Rawlins and he told us that he wanted an extra copy of one of our “Mormon Books” and he said that next time he really wants to stay for more than just Sacrament 🙂 Ahh! He said he’s also recognized he needs to change some of his habits.

So, we had 3 people come to church! And we have 3 progressing investigators! And we have never had more lessons (member presents, other lessons, RCLAs) ever! We are just on top of the world.

Brandee, our incredible returning member, is also doing some awesome missionary work from the comfort of her own home! We came over to her house yesterday to find that she had a friend over! She told her friend that “we are her sisters” :’) and that the message that we bring will bless her if she listens. She wasn’t too interested, the friend, but we were able to have a lesson with them both, and it was awesome to see Brandee reach out to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

There were so many more awesome things that happened, of which I have no time to write about, as usual, but there were also some really fun setbacks we’ve triumphed over, as well. Like our car dying completely as we were leaving for CAR INSPECTIONS in Quincy :p (Brother Provost, the ward mission leader, came over to clean off the corrosion, and give us a jump, but in the process got a huge chuck of acid in his eye.) But we made it! And he can still see! Then on Sunday the car needed to get jumped again twice in one day :p Another obstacle was overcome by being totally led by the Spirit as what to say when one of the on-dates for baptism I met while on exchanges told us that he’d killed two people years and years ago in Mexico and that he was struggling in guilt.

There really has been just so much going on here in Othello. It never ceases to amaze me, the miracles that we see 🙂

Honestly, why even bother draining the font? :)

Man, has it been a week! Let’s just talk about m i r a c l e s for a second!

Los Milagros

• Palani got baptized into 1st ward this past Saturday! Yayy! That crazy kid was baptized by his best friend Ian, who is a priest. It was a choice experience to be able to see that. Because his records are going to be moved into 2nd ward, we aren’t sure if we’ll be the ones teaching him the new member discussions or not. But, his baptism was awesome, which leads to the next miracle of miracles:
• Cassy came to Palani’s baptism!! We had invited her earlier in the week during a lesson, and she really wanted to go, but her mom wasn’t too excited about her going. It was kind of like a “We’ll see, Cassy,” but with an inflection that indicated “probably not.” But, ever hopeful, called Saturday morning to ask if she’d be there, and her mom told us no, Cassy was going to be at the fair with Ariana Ashton, her best friend in 1st ward. 😦 Womp womp… So when we get there, imagine our surprise to see the entire Ashton clan walk into the chapel with a beaming Cassy in their midst! Turns out that after our call, her mom had immediately (of her own free will and choice) called Ariana Ashton to tell to go first to the baptism, and then to the fair 🙂  It was so awesome.
  Sister Hirsche got to sign the service, and in Cassy’s words, the baptism was  v e r y  cool. That coming from a girl who is terrified of water. Then at Sacrament the next day, when Palani was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, she indicated that the confirmation was equally cool and that she’d perhaps like to get that gift some day 🙂 AHH!! She’s so close – we just want her parents to be more active! We’ve seen awesome strides, though! Like her mom calling to get Cassy to the baptism, and then when we went to teach Cassy about the Restoration and she told us that her dad had told her that story earlier on in the week when (literally choking back tears thinking about it) he was READING WITH HER in the Book of Mormon that we gave her :’) This is why I love missionary work. We are bringing a Spirit into their home which they haven’t felt in over 9 years, and it’s doing all the teaching and motivating.
• We were also able to go to a wet wedding in Selah right after Palani’s baptism. It was wonderful to be there and see the fruits of Sister Hirsche’s hard work during her first 6 weeks as a missionary 🙂 Sister Lewis posted pictures from it on the mission blog: yakimamission.wordpress.com 🙂 A picture of me, Sister Hirsche, Sister Maez and Sister Fox is attached. It was also nice to be able to catch up with Hermana Olguin and Sister Moetala, as well. Such fun adventures we’re all having out here in the field.
• So yesterday we had the FIRST EVER 1/2 Mission Conference in WYM history, and it was incredible to be a part of it. Elder and Sister Packer came and delivered some truly wonderful messages about the power of family history, and the Spirit that is made manifest through linking the family together. Little did Sister Hirsche and I know that later that night, we would see an incredible miracle because we immediately applied what we had been taught.
  We’d arranged to have a visit in the Zaragosa home, a PMF who have had endless concourses of missionaries in their home. But they agreed to have us over, so we prepared a wonderful message about the Gospel, and learning about the Restored Gospel, and all these Gospel themed things. But when we got there, they were eating dinner and the husband (non-member from Mexico who had learned English) said we had 10 minutes before we had to go because they were going to rush out to a meeting. Waahhhh!!! So we were talking to the member wife about what we had planned to do, but it wasn’t feeling right, and the husband metally checked out, looking at the clock.
  BUT! Out of nowhere, I decided to ask him in Spanish what part of Mexico he was from. He LIT. UP. It was so unexpected. He told us, and then he wanted to know why I speak Spanish, and so in talking about the Mexico MTC we got talking about their unusual last name: Zaragosa. Well anyway, he made himself late to his own (maybe fabricated) meeting last night, and we set up a return appointment with the promise that we would bring some My Family pamphlets so they could get working on their family history (which it turns out they’ve both wanted to do forever, but never had anywhere to start!). The Spirit really was SO strong I’ve never seen someone go from completely shut off to “YES! Let’s PLEASE meet with the Mormons one more time!” 🙂 I’m just so glad we followed the guidance of Heavenly Father on that lesson because what we had prepared was not what that family needed.

We’ve been having some great experiences in general this week, too. We’re literally walking and biking everywhere, because we have no miles left. There’s a man who struggles with alcoholism that we’ve been trying to teach, Chris, and as much as he says he wants help, we’re struggling to get him to understand the need to -change- to come closer to Heavenly Father. He literally just walks around town all day with a CamelBack on filled with hard liquor. He calls beer “tea” … “really potent tea.” 😦 But he sought us out, and so we’ve been trying to apply every good teaching practice we know to be able to help him. Erick, from The District, never seemed like such a real scenario until now. So much prayer and patience are going into our lessons with him.

We really thought he was going to come to church this Sunday, but he didn’t 😦 Sister Hirsche and I spoke in sacrament on the Parable of the 10 Virgins (her), and the Hymn “Who’s On The Lord’s Side, Who?” (me). Bishop Risenmay had asked us to speak so that the ward can continue to build ward trust, so we were pretty glad our talks went well. Bishop Risenmay and pretty much all of 2nd ward are the best.

On top of all that we’ve already done, we’ve got some awesome stuff coming up this week! Today, for instance, I will be getting my hair professionally fixed because I thought it would be a good idea to have my companion try to cut it off for me in order to save money 🙂 …. 3 inches later and several crudely cut layers later… -crying internally- I still love her :p to her defense, I made her do it.

But on a more serious note, we’ve got so many GREAT referrals to contact this week, so many member presents that are already set in stone and, of course, the excitement of exchanges in Royal this Thursday with Hermana Leyva!

But anyway, I’m super out of time! Love you ALL!

Hermana Mrozek

Final Note: Official departing date has been changed ans set in stone to be December 18th.

 

D&C 98:12 “For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.

This week, we have seen much improvement! We talked to 3 times as many people this week, we were able to have some awesome member present lessons, we’ve been focusing on part member families (which has been great, and the referrals and potentials from them keep rolling in), and we’ve just been feeling so much happiness and joy in the work!

Something that Sister Hirsche and I have been focusing on a lot is the fact that we had sustained a goal of EVERY companionship baptizing in August, but it wasn’t looking like we were going to be able to swing that. Even with Cassy’s amazing progression, and the great teaching moments we’ve had, we really have been struggling to have anyone commit, or come to church or anything. And so as the dead line was approaching, to find that one soul, we didn’t have a n y o n e. And that. Felt. Terrible. But amidst all that, we kept feeling the Spirit as we went out to work! When would discuss it, we weren’t stressed out about it! When Michael, our second miracle of the week, fell through on all points and we were completely without explaination, all we could do was trust that somehow, some way, the Lord would make it work out (because there was no way we were going to be able to do it ourselves). And so all this time, we were remaining hopeful, and working our buns off trying to find who the Lord had prepared in our area. The kicker is, though, the person he had prepared in OUR area, wasn’t being taught by us :p

Lo and behold, last night the Elders told us that Palani is going to be baptized into our ward this coming Saturday! The Elders have been teaching him even though he lives in 1st ward boundaries, and ALL of his fellowship is in 2nd ward boundaries. There was this one fake-out passs off lesson we had right before transfers, but we decided it was best for the elders to be teaching him, since eventually his house would be located in 3rd ward. SOOOO while it’s not technically our baptism, he’s been going to one of our wards every sunday (2nd ward), and he’ll be baptized into our other ward on saturday. So it’s an ironic technicality, but hey, sometimes Krum gets the snitch but Ireland still wins anyway, you know?

So things with Cassy are going great! Between Sister Hirsche and Charity, the truth of the Gospel in ASL is going forth unhindered into Cassy’s 14 year old heart  🙂

There’s so much more I wish I could write about, but I am so completely out of time. Instead, here are some pictures of FrimFram the robofish that SWIMS, and a twinkie that the food bank gave us, dressed up in edible minion stickers. We’re cool, okay?

“And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” Isaiah 29:18

I would like to start by saying that Sister Hirsche and I will be requiring a lot of prayer this coming week, in behalf of the two key people I will mention below. This PAST week has been an incredible one, and the only thing I wish is that our key indicators reflected it! We have been digging, and clawing and scratching up this town. But though most of our week was dominated by meetings and service (Sister Hirsche and I were edified by learning more about the Doctrine of Christ, and how to go about the trainer/trainee process) we’ve seen the Lord’s hand as he has moved the work along 🙂  So let’s jump right into it, shall we?

The Miracle of the week:

There are many reasons, it seems, that Sister Hirsche was meant to be here in Othello. The original theory of her being here only so that I could train her has been nixed completely. In fact, it’s clear that the Lord is training us both! She strengthens my testimony daily, and the experiences we are having together are incredible. Because, you see, it turns out that Sister Hirsche has actually been PRAYED here to Othello! We’ve started working with Cassy (the 14 year olf ASL daughter of a less-active member family), and we have seen SO much light in  that girl’s eyes as she’s hearing, for the first time, the message of the gospel. She doesn’t understand much yet, because gospel word signs are completely foreign to her, but in our lesson with her this week, she absolutely lit up with the Spirit when Sister Hirsche was saying the closing prayer in ASL. And she’s been coming to church even without her family, and during Sunday School Sister Hirsche was able to interpret for her! We are going to be visiting her again tonight, with a member named Charity, who also signs 🙂 But the reason I say that Sister Hirsche has been prayed here is because Charity called us this morning before we left for our PDay activities (we’ve never met her) to tell us how longs she has been praying, and praying, and fasting for an ASL missionary to be put into the ward, and for her parents to allow Cassy to go to church. And at long last, here she is, and the Lord’s preparations are in place 🙂 even preparations just  as small how Cassy recently got a waterproof cochlear implant.. which would allow for full immersion baptism.. 🙂 I’m seriously just honored to be a witness to all of these miracles.

The Second Miracle of the Week:

We’ve also gotten a referral for the same person FOUR times this week, all from different people! His name is Michael. We’re planning on contacting him por fin tonight 🙂 He has been coming to church off and on for the last couple years, has wanted to be a member for the last year, and has recently expressed interest in going on a mission after having friends leave on their missions. His mom, Kathy, who we’ve met and is TOTALLY supportive of him meeting with us, calls herself an Honorary Mormon :p Her friends, all of whom are LDS, say she’d be baptized in a heart beat, except she doesn’t want to ruin her marriage. Her husband is very catholic. But now that Michael is 18, and it’s summer break, she has no problem with him meeting with us (his first set of missionaries EVER) and making further commitments 🙂 So that is also VERY exciting.

We are very committed to our goal of EVERY companionship in the zone baptizing in August, and this Sunday we held a special stake fast for it. Faith is moving mountains here in Othello, and it is marvelous to behold.

Attached: A picture of what weekly planning for 6 hours looks like every Friday, and a picture of what a jammed pinky on Pday looks like. (Ultimate Frisbee is for real women.)

 

Othello’s Baptism By Fire

It’s literally burning. Well, not Othello -proper- but a LOT of surrounding areas. (Apparently damp hay bales in the middle of fields can spontaneously combust and then burn down thousands of acres of shrub brush?! WHAT IS SCIENCE?! It doesn’t DO that kind of stuff back east.)

So amidst the apocalyptic haze of ash and billowing smoke clouds that burn the eyes and and torment the sinuses, Sister Hirsche (my trainee) and I have been working hard! And the things we’ve experienced have been great! : )

This week for me started off in Royal City, though, before I was united with Sister Hirsche. I spent Monday, Tuesday and 3/4ths of Wednesday down there, living it up with the STLs and two of my past companions (Hermana Brighton and Hermana Bailey). And despite the fact that I had to sleep on a couch that partially consumed me while ejecting its cushions onto the STLs who’s mattresses were on the floor of the living room in front me, we had some really cool experiences. Like when we were contacting potentials on Monday night, and Hermana Leyva thought to try by a lady named Wendy (30ish, recently single mom, with 6 kids under the age of 10.) Well, it turned out that Wendy had been trying to move an entire mountain of gravel out of her driveway by herself! And that she had been doing it for TWO DAYS with a back injury. So in the hour and 30 minutes that we energetically shoveled and spread and weeded, and worked, we more than tripled what  she had been expecting to accomplish in a week. And as we sat with her in her home afterwards, sharing with her from the Book of Mormon, she cried and told us of her sudden feeling of the Spirit, and knowledge that Heavenly Father sent us to her that night on purpose. And when we gathered all her children around and sang “I Am a Child of God” she wept looking into the smiling faces of her beautiful and attentive babies. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Wendy, but I know that if she truly continues meeting with the sisters, saying her prayers and really reading the scriptures, she will see miracles.

So after that awesome time in Royal, I got Sister Hirsche, and we came up to our area JUST in time for our baptism! Jessica! Who we did not find or teach, but since 2nd ward was officially our stewardship, she counts! She will be confirmed this coming Sunday, having talked with the Bishop about her very special work circumstances.

Oh man, I’m running out of time quick, so I’ll just have to outline the rest of the things I want to share.

Miracles

• Brandee. She’s a returning member we’ve been working with for just this last transfer. She fell away from the church, and there’s some delicate details about how/why, but despite everything she’s been to, she’s coming back. It started with her asking us to do a study of the New Testament with her. Then she got curious about the Book of Mormon. So we started reading that AND the New Testament with her, and now she only wants to read with us in the Book of Mormon, and she’s on FIRE with desire to learn and grow! She’s been starting to come back to church, here and there a little, but yesterday she came to church, and bore her testimony during Sacrament meeting! And she stayed for Sunday School even though the topic was about families and eternal marriage (two of her most sensitive subjects ever) AAANNDD when we went over to read scriptures with her later, she told us that she had prayed sincerely to know if the Church was true the night before (Saturday) and received an answer. We were all bawling. She has come SO far. She could barely read when we met her, now we can’t get her to stop reading and give someone else a turn! And she’s remembering this from before she left, and internalizing the scriptures and thanking Heavenly Father for Lehi’s example of following the guidance of the Lord even though everyone else was murmuring/calling him a visionary man. So that was the most tender of tender mercies for this week :’) Brandeeeeeee ❤
• We also had another tender mercy lesson when we were following up with a potential named Linda. She has very severe epilepsy, and has been struggling for a very long time in her personal/family life because of it. Teaching her is going slowly, but the Spirit is always so strong, and we always make sure we try to help her understand the Restoration and how the Book of Mormon can bless her. When we were reading out of Mosiah 24 in our folllow-up lesson, she stopped us and said “Sisters! You know when you were here last time and we prayed that I would be able to get new medications that will let me sleep? Well I went to the doctor, and after talking with him, Heavenly Father finally made him remember a new medication that is perfect for me! So now after 15 years of insomnia with these one pills, because you came and prayed with me, Heavenly Father helped me!” She can’t drive and she’s entirely dependent on her family for support, so we don’t know how far we can actually progress with Linda (because she can’t come to church and stuff like that) but it was incredible to see her recognize an answer to her prayers 🙂

Other Experiences

• Tracting in the smoke clouds and 100 degree weather to find Andy. It was AWESOME, grueling work 🙂 We walked so much this week to find people, and we found this awesome soul named Andy. He’s like 27, maybe, and was casually watering his house(?), and he has a broken hand with a lime green cast on it. So OF COURSE I had to talk to him. Who is just WATERING their house in the worst heat of the day, when it’ll just get covered in ash anyway? Anyway, when we started into the first vision he ended up already having heard about Joseph Smith’s “golden book”, and hadn’t read the Book of Mormon someone else gave him because: “I’m not Mormon.” 🙂 Silly goose. So we worked together to teach to his needs, and he gave us a return appointment! He wants to strengthen/develop a relationship with Heavenly Father, and because that’s what we’re all about, that’s what we gonna do 🙂 So exciting!
• We also had the idea to stop by Valerie this week. She’s the one who’s cat pooped on me during the worst Happy-Birthday-Drop-Lesson ever. She finally got around to keeping her commitment!! And she really wanted to know more about Fasting for an answer because we had left her with the Mormon Message “The Hope of God’s Light” to watch: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng  So we got to teach her about that, and although we didn’t get a return appointment, she said she’d fast and let us know how it goes 🙂

Exciting Things Coming Up

• Sister Hirsche knows sign language, and has worked as an interpreter before! And one of the less active part member families that we (Sister Thompson and I) have been wanting to work with for a while has an unbaptized 13 year old daughter who is deaf! 😀 And that daughter already has the most solid fellowship in the world and has already been coming to church for WEEKS. So the Lord definitely knew what He was up to when he sent Sister Hirsche to me in Othello :’)

Anyway, I’m super out of time, now. I apologize for never replying to anyone hardly ever. Just know that I really do love you all, and I feel of your support:)

All my love,

Hermana Mrozek

Transfers & News.

So this past Wednesday was transfer calls, and with it came wind of exciting new changes. We’re getting a new District Leader, I’m changing wards here within Othello (covering 1st and 2nd, now), and the most crazy thing… I AM A TRAINER!

I was casually straightening my hair on Saturday morning, and we got a call from an unknown number. Sister Thompson answers in the other room: Oh! It’s President Lewis! I keep straightening my hair, it’s no big deal, he’s just calling her to talk about going home and stuff. Oh wait. She’s handing me the phone. What? He’s asking me to be a trainer? What?! Ahh! Okay, okay I’ll do it. Ahhhh that poor new missionary. Ahhh I need to pray. Annnnd probably consecrate myself 200% more – not that I’ve been super apostate, but you know. There are only three sisters who are training in the entire mission this transfer, and the Lord wanted me to be one of them! 

So that has pretty much been my mindset for the entire weekend.

“Working” with Sister Thompson this past week has been… interesting. I really don’t have much to report on save only an overwhelming feeling of regret for misused time, and teaching opportunities that went untaken. It has been so hard for both of us. Her, because she’s going home, and me, because she’s going home. (This transfer, for being her last one, actually hasn’t gone too terribly. The most of the struggle really saved itself for this last week alone, which I’m grateful for.)

So as a result, I’ve got a lot of exciting goals for this next transfer! Which is an awesome thing, because I think probably a false sense of security is what has led me not to set great transfer goals in the past. But this transfer is going to be different! #SaidEveryMissionaryEver

There really have been a lot of people that I’ve loved teaching this transfer, though. Like Brandee, a returning member who is SO on fire with the Spirit that we can’t go hardly a day without hearing from her about her reading in the Book of Mormon. And John and Karlie, the children of a member named Johnny in 1st ward. They are so into learning the gospel, and they want to get baptized so bad! Saying goodbye to them when they go back to their mom in Texas this week is going to be so hard. I hope that someday I get to hear that they get baptized 🙂

Anyway, this is super short because I am super distracted. Four elders have joined us in the Family History Center today, and we’re listening to music and talking about stuff. So just know that I am super excited for this week, and this transfer and I am so grateful for the box of food my parents sent me because we have only had 6 member meals in these last 6 weeks.

All my love!

Hermana Mrozek

I. Believe. In. Miracles!!

This week’s entry is going to be super short because I’ve spent SO much time figuring out school stuff, but just know that this week was so much better than last week!

On the theme of school stuff, though, here’s some news:  After interviews with President Lewis, I have been told that my last transfer in the field will be cut in half, meaning that I will return home, most likely, on December 23rd. Meaning that I will get released, most likely, on Christmas Eve. Meaning that I will be able to enjoy, most likely, Christmas & New Years at home before returning to school on January 4th 

I have contacted BYU-Idaho and had my mission deferral moved so that I will be excused for the Fall 2015 semester (this September-December) but expected back for Winter 2016 (January-March). #DoIStillHaveFriends #IsEveryoneMarriedNow #SuperSeniorSwag

With President Lewis’ permission, and having already taken care of everything that I need to as far as making sure I am expected for Winter, I will begin enrolling in classes after/on November 4th! 🙂

My companion leaves for home in a week, and it is SO weird that after her, I’ll have just only 3 transfers left. 3 other potential companions. The “end” side of my mission kind of snuck up on me, and I am struggling really hard to shove away every temptation for trunkiness. (And trust me, being with a dying missionary and trying to figure out school stuff does not make that any easier :p) But as one motivational magnet on my fridge says: “Don’t count the days, make the days count.”

Thank you so much for the prayers and support during this last week, though 🙂 We had a Zone fast on Tuesday, and the blessings were immediate. Our lessons increased, our contacts increased, we had 2 people come to church, we found a new investigator, and have seen so many tender mercies 🙂 Things here still aren’t perfect, but acting in faith and handing it all over to the Lord has made them better.

As far as what transfer calls will bring this coming saturday: it’s anyone’s bet. I have literally never felt more unsure of whether I’ll be staying or going (either way, it doesn’t matter). Both President and Sister Lewis are adamant about me doing Spanish work, but with recent ward confusion/changes out here, they very well could have me and a new hermana take over the spanish ward. So we will see!

Hope everyone is well! Drop me a line when you can! 🙂

It’s My Birthday and I’ll Cry If I Want To

I’ve been out 3 days shy of a year, and this past week has been the hardest of them ALL. Not just for Sister Thompson and I, but for all of us serving here in Othello. In the words of Elder Budica (DL) last night during our weekly reports: Satan was on the attack this week.

Not that it started too terribly. Last P-Day was great. Because we haven’t had any investigators, and all the part member families have been out of town, Sister Thompson and I decided to just go knocking. No big deal. We knocked in the English part of town for 2 hours: two doors opened. One of those was nice to us (and only because we were bringing them their pay check which had been dropped in the road and run over by many cars). Before shutting the door, she accepted a nice, non-restoration themed pass along card, and wished her a good night. We then went and had correlation at our Ward Mission Leader’s house for 1st ward. It was a good night.

On Tuesday we decided that we could be using the Area Book way more effectively to find those who will receive us. (To illustrate how poorly we’re received here: one of our recent converts sent us 15 pages worth of anti-mormon material to prep us for our “lesson” scheduled for Wednesday evening at 5pm) So! during Tuesday afternoon, Sister Thompson and I consecrated some time to pray fervently over the potentials/former investigators to come up with two personal lists for each area book. As we pondered a name, we would only put it down if we felt the Spirit confirm that choice. After we both had our lists, we matched the names and set plans to go visit the people. It was an awesome experience! We didn’t get a lot of finding done at all, though, because that night was completely occupied by PEC/Ward counsel and 3rd ward correlation that didn’t happen on Sunday morning.

Wednesday. Our appointment with our anti-recent-convert fell through. We’d done a lot of preparation and organizing our thoughts, so while we were confident we could keep everything under control anyway, it still felt kind of like dodging a big, angry bullet. We contacted one of the first people on the list, and had our first two lessons of the week! We went to a set appointment with one of our part-member families: Johnny Guerrero is a member, and his two children want to be baptized. (But they can’t be, due to a messy divorce, and a lack of mother support D’: ) While there, he gave us a referral to someone across his street: THE SAME PERSON WE WERE GOING TO VISIT ANYWAY! 😀 All signs pointed to “Yes!”

So we went and contacted her: Valerie. 21 years old. She was so nice! She said she had been taught by mannnnnnyyyy missionaries in the past, which we knew, and that she did NOT want to go to church (which we did not know). Not wanting to give up on a doorstep lesson, though, we went to heaven for an inspired question and asked her if she had ever had the opportunity to hear the words of the living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. She said she’d actually really love to! So we set up the return appointment for my birthday 🙂 She was our first new investigator of the transfer!!

Thursday was kind of a blur. We only got to talk to three people, which was hard. As missionaries, we’re sent to preach the gospel! But without anyone wanting to listen, it can be so hard. We did service at the Food Bank and had to lessons an awesome recent convert and an awesome returning member. We tried to contact more of our area book people, but no answer.

And then, my birthday. Oh man. Hahah I am so thankful for all the people who sent me good birthday wishes, but that day was terrible. Don’t pity me, though. I can laugh about it, now. Here’s just a few things that happened:

• It was a weekly planning day, and you know what so, so, so hard? Planning for investigators you don’t have, and struggling to stay optimistic about a week where each hour is filled with “knock.”
• The appointment with Valerie in the middle of our planning time went well, and at the end, she dropped us cold. Sister Thompson and I might have cried eating the birthday cake she made me as we tried to finish planning.
• I got pooped on by Valerie’s cat. At it stank real bad.
• Definite TMI, but I don’t care: Sister Thompson and I ended up starting our lady times together that afternoon, which added a wonderful moody/hormonal twist to everything. Happy Birthday!
• All of our out-in-the-country-finding activities for the evening fell through on to their face because, I state again, no one is ever home! #TalkToNoOne #WhoNeedsTheRestorationAnyway 😦 😦 😦
• I didn’t get any mail, so the only thing I got was my gift from Aunt Flow 😥 (Haha literally the most pathetic statement ever, but on a day like that, it was a crushing blow.)
• I ended up crying at dinner while the cute old members we ate with sang Happy Birthday to me because they weren’t my mom and dad, and I just wanted my mom and dad.

Haha so that’s how my birthday went. The weather did cool down, though! So that was nice 🙂 It’s been in the 80’s since then 🙂  Plus, the birthday package I got the next day more than brightened everything that happened in the days before. By Sunday, none of our referrals had been contacted despite multiple attempts, and we had only two presents (with the Guerreros) but we’re going to keep on going. We’re making some major adjustments to how we roll, so that we can truly say we tried everything.

But the thing I’ve learned by now is that sometimes the Lord lets us go through hard times so that we can appreciate the good times when they come 🙂 And when we’re brought low, it’s so that He can raise us higher. I’ve learned SO MUCH from being here in Othello, already. I don’t know that I’m necessarily the right missionary for this area, but I think think I needed this area more than it needs me. And if in two weeks I’m supposed to stay: great! Come what may and love it.

Some interesting notes: I might be changing wards here in Othello because recent Stake changes put 1st and 3rd ward meeting at the exact same time, in two different buildings 🙂 Sister Haworth in 3rd ward says that we aren’t allowed to leave 3rd ward, because that just won’t do! Sister Haworth has always reminded me so much of my mom (Rebecca) and when she was leading the music at the special 4-ward-sacrament meeting this week, that sense strengthened about 200% 🙂 Sister Haworth is one of my favorite people here. Along with the Freemans and their 10 awesome kids. Haha correlation at their house is always the best.

Anyway, that’s about it for the week. Hopefully the report is way better next week!

Hermana Mrozek