Photos from the week

Crazy Week

Dear family,

We had a crazy week that absolutely flew by. Tuesday we had zone conference, Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council, Friday we had an exchange, and Sunday we had cottage meeting. Lots of sharing testimony and lots of very spiritual experiences. I'm so grateful for my mission! I really don't know where the week went to.

The highlight of my week was that the exchange on Friday was with the Halls Lake sisters. Sister Smith stayed in our area and I was able to go back to my old area with Sister Stringfellow! We saw so many miracles and so many people that I used to work with from those transfers. By the end of the day I felt like Heavenly Father was reassuring me by saying, "You have done enough. Your sacrifice has been acceptable to me, just look what a difference you have made!" It was exactly what I needed.

The sisters have an investigator named Brandon who I met Thursday night at volleyball. Brandon is preparing for baptism in December. When I introduced myself he looked at my name tag and said, "Wait a second, are you the only missionary named Sister Slade?" I told him that I was and he proceeded to tell me that almost a year ago some sisters had knocked at his door and he had wanted to listen, but he knew that his roommates would be rude, so he didn't invite them in. He said, "I have no idea why, but I've always remembered the name Slade. You don't happen to have been here around that time?" I can't count all of the doors that Sister Glancy and I must have knocked when we first whitewashed into Halls Lake a year ago. I don't remember Brandon, but it was so amazing to see where he's at now and to see that somehow he remembered that I knocked at his door. We never know the impact that we may be having even when we obediently do all of the small, seemingly insignificant things!

The other highlight from the exchange was that I got to see Melissa! I lost her email so I haven't had contact with her since her baptism and wedding 8 months ago. I got to talk to her and Randy and it was so rewarding to hear that they are both 100% active, loving everything about the gospel, and preparing to go to the temple in a few months! Not only that, but she just found out that she's pregnant with TWINS! Too much joy to contain!

Still excitedly looking forward to Heathers baptism! She meets with President one more time this week, and if he feels that she is ready he will officially write the First Presidency and everything should be clear for the 22nd. Please keep her in your prayers this week.

Love this quote from Gary E. Stevenson: "I express my utmost confidence in your abilities. You have the Savior of the world on your side. If you seek His help and follow His directions, how can you fail?" I hope you all have a week full of feeling the Saviors love for you and lots and lots of successes!

Love all of you!

Love, Sister Slade

Love you Bunches

Dear family,

I started to write my email last week and then realized that I never actually sent it! Whoops. Is anyone else having a hard time believing that it's November already?

I realized that it's been a while since I've given a good detailed update on some of the main investigators that we've been teaching. We have a few investigators that we have stopped teaching for various reasons, I'm not going to go into detail about all of their stories, because I know that it's not the end until it's the end! And I feel confident that it's not the end. One of them is Zahra. We have lost contact with Zahra over the past few weeks. She has been avoiding us, and we think that she got scared again. I really can't blame her. Zahra has one of the strongest testimonies of anyone I have met, but she also has one of the hardest backround situations of anyone I have ever taught. Baptism for her would mean a lot of hate towards her and her mom from all of their extended family, to the point that converting to Christianity would mean not being able to go see any of them ever again.

I've thought a lot about success on my mission, and how much I have grown to love people like Steve, Jana, Gabriel, Bry, Zahra, Haley, and the list goes on and on. If I were to measure the success of my mission based on how many "almost baptisms" have happened than my understanding of my purpose as a missionary would be very skewed. I succeed when I invite. I succeed when I love unconditionally. I feel at peace with knowing that there comes a point where you know that you have done everything in you power, and when it comes down to it the rest is in the hands of the loved one and our Heavenly father and His perfect timing. It is always hard when someone you love chooses a path that you know isn't what will make them happiest. It's in these moments that my testimony of the Plan of Salvation is strengthened so much. The Plan of Salvation is tipped in our favor in every possible way. There really is not one soul on this Earth who Heavenly father has not devised very specific plans and means to save. He is a God of a million chances. He is perfectly just yet perfectly merciful. He provided a Savior in the case that we would no follow the "ideal" plan He has set for us. (which is the position all of us are in if you think about it.) Words cannot express how grateful I am for my brother Jesus Christ and everything that he has done for you and for me!

Despite the disappointments, there are so many golden moments that far outweigh the rest. People like Everet and Darlene, Bennett and Verna, Sandra, Melissa, Alexandra, Alvaro, Osh, Hayley and Emma! And the list goes on and on! The worth of one soul is so great!!!!!!

Heather and LJ are both progressing wonderfully! Heather is working towards baptism on November 22nd, and the ways she has blossomed have been astounding. LJ, the man who for months claimed to want nothing to do with organized religion, has softened so much and feels the spirit on a regular basis! He has now been to church 3 times- imagine our surprise when yesterday during sacrament meeting he got up to share his testimony! It wasn't a thankimony or a travelogue. LJ bore pure testimony of the Savior, of our Heavenly Fathe's plan for us, and of his hopes that the Book of Mormon will make him a better man. The spirit was so strong!

The other miracle from last week was that Kent came to church! Kent is the son of our old bishop. He's 27 and he stopped going to church when he was in 7th grade. We've seen him a few times, but not at all in the last 2 transfers. Last week we were on our way to tract a street the Eastmont Elders had asked us to tract when I had the feeling that we should stop by. I was a little bit nervous because he has an interesting situation, and we were on exchange that day, but the feeling kept coming so we went. Turns out, Kent has finally reached that low point and the last few weeks he has been thinking about coming to church but always gets cold feet on Saturday. We had a very powerful lesson with him, and he was at church yesterday! It took so much courage for Kent to be there. Sitting next to Kent in the back was one of those moments on my mission where I felt so much inexpressible joy over that one soul, that I felt like I couldn't contain it all!

A quick reminder from President Hinckley: "The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. the best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired."

By the way, November is gratitude month! please read President Uchtdorf's talk from 2 conferences ago, and practice fostering a spirit of gratitude!

Love you all bunches!

Love Sister Slade

Missionary Stories

Dear family,

Today I wanted to share with you some of the amazing examples of member missionary work that we have seen this week, because we all know that when it comes to missionary work, the success rate for an individual accepting the gospel is about 10 billion times more when invited by a member than when invited by a missionary!

1. Hayley has been dating a guy from her work. They have had lots of gospel discussions, and this week she invited him to see Meet the Mormons with her! After the movie she invited Monroe to learn from us. It's interesting that Monroe told her that he won't meet with us, because he knows that if he meets with us he will join, and he is afraid of that because he knows his family would not approve. Hayley's family disowned her after her baptism and still haven't talked to her since then, so she can absolutely relate to what he is feeling. What I love about Hayley's missionary work is that she considers herself a success! She isn't a success because Monroe said yes or because he's now getting baptized, but shes a success because she INVITED! You succeed when you invite! Hayley celebrated her success by inviting Emma to go to the temple with her this Wednesday. There's nothing like hearing that your recent convert invited your other recent convert to go to the temple with her. :)

2. Heather's main fellowshipper has been a girl in our ward named Krissy. Lots of love for Krissy! This week Krissy invited her friend Marina to get pizza with her, and while there they got into a discussion about the plan of salvation. Krissy drew out the plan of salvation on a pizza box, and afterwards invited Marina to see Meet the Mormons with her. Just like Hayley did, Krissy invited Marina to take the missionary discussions afterwards! Marina said she wanted to think about it, and the next day she contacted Krissy and told her that she actually really would love to met with us! We're meeting Marina later this week. When Krissy told us about this experience she told us that she couldn't think of a time that she has felt greater joy.

3. We had dinner with the family of a girl in our ward last night- The Allens- who are amazing examples to me! They have two sons on missions, and they invite their  nonmember friends over for dinner every Sunday. Their family tradition is that they always do their family Book of Mormon reading right after dinner- before anyone gets up and before any dishes are done. What was amazing about this family's missionary work is that they were simply being themselves. There was no show, and no trying to shy away from having the gospel conversations that are a normal part of their lives. When it comes to sharing the gospel we need to be very direct and very loving. There is no need to wait to build up a friendship with someone or to "plant seeds" or to "prepare someone" to be asked to hear about the gospel. We simply share, and we share by making the gospel such an ingrained part of our lives that if we were to invite a nonmember to our home for dinner, they would see that the gospel is simply our way of life. I wish you all could enjoy dinner with the Allen's! There was such an incredible spirit in their home. I know that the friedn they had there felt it!

There is no greater joy than can be found from sharing the gospel! I know that as you pray for the strength to be brave, and as you open your mouths to invite EVERYONE you will see miracles happen not just in the lives of those you shared the gospel with but in yours as well. Your testimony is not yours until you share it, and you cannot enjoy the full blessings and joy of the gospel until you give it to someone else. Our Heavenly Father's work will go forth with or without our help, but I certainly don't want to miss out on the joy of being an instrument in His hands, and I can promise that you won't want to miss out on that either.

Lots of love!

Sister Slade

P.S. I can't wait to hear about all of your missionary experiences! You're running out of time to write me, so if I haven't head from you so far... don't procrastinate the day of your repentance. Better get on that :)

Staying in Silverlake!

Dear family,

Heather got up in Sacrament meeting yesterday to share her testimony of the atonement and how Christ brings forgiveness of sins. She got a little bit emotional. I may have gotten a little bit emotional too.

LJ is doing great. We were a little bit concerned at our second lesson because it seemed that feeling the spirit so powerfully in our first lesson had scared him. Heather felt that he was backing off a little bit because he recognized that a witness from the spirit meant accountability which meant change. LJ is native american, and very connected to his culture. He has expressed concerns about how he is the chief pipe carrier for his tribe. Whenever someone in the family dies he does some sort of ceremony with smoking his chinoopa. He says he wouldn't want to ever give up the tobacco, simply because of how closely it connects him to his family and culture. In our third lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon and he seemed to have opened up again though! Please keep him in your prayers!

Zahra is still bravely preparing for baptism on November 2nd! We talked about temples and family history a lot this week and she is excited to take her family names, including her dads name, to the temple to have their work be done. I love when truly converted investigators develop an instant fascination with the temple! It's because they feel the spirit and they recognize how good and true it is! Zahra invited her teacher to her baptism and gave her a Book of Mormon this week!

We have a few other investigators that aren't progressing as rapidly but they'll get there. We spend a ton of time finding. I think it comes with being a missionary, but that's especially the case in YSA. This week in weekly planning we felt like we received revelation for some new and interesting ways we can find this week, so we'll see what happens as we implement them this week.

I have really been loving my studies recently! A while back Heather and I were both reading in 3rd Nephi so I challenged her to see which of us could finish the Book of Mormon first. I've never been so happy to have someone beat me! I did finish the Book of Mormon last week though, so this week I'm starting over and I'm trying something a little bit different. There was an elder we used to split the ward with that was writing the Book of Mormon as he read, so that he could gain a new appreciation for what it must have been like for them to etch words into gold plates. It takes me about half an hour per page, so I'm only in 1 Nephi Chapter 3, but it has been an amazing and unique experience so far! I'm finding that it forces me to slow down and think about each sentence and even word. Nephi feels so real to me! I think I've learned more about the first 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon in the past week than I've ever learned before! For example, this morning the words "thou and thy brothers" stood out to me in 1 Nephi 3:4. Lehi knew his sons. He knew how hardhearted they were, so he must have known how much trouble they would cause if he tried sending them back to Jerusalem to get the plates. So this morning I thought, why wouldn't Lehi just send Nephi and Sam? Wouldn't that have been so much easier? Why would he send Nephi's brothers as well? I think it's because even though he knew their hearts, he still wanted to give them the opportunity to choose right. How often does Heavenly Father do this for us, even those of us who aren't quite as stiffnecked as Laman and Lemuel were? Then I thought about how if God wanted he could put a giant mormon.org card in the sky and everyone would know that they need to be baptized and people would be lining up outside the font and everything would be so much simpler. But instead Heavenly Father chose me and you, as weak and inadequate as we are, to share the gospel. It's humbling to think that he would give us that kind of a mission. What does this one verse tell us about the way that we should be viewing ourselves and the way we should be viewing others? I'll leave the answer to that one to you all. :)

Transfer calls were today and it looks like my dying area will be............. Silverlake YSA! Sister Smith and I are also staying together for a third transfer which we are super excited about. Sister Smith taught me how to speak jibberish this week. We worked on it all day wednesday and I think I finally got it down! Heldagel Lodago, mydagy nadagame idagis Britagit Neydagey Sladagade. Apparently it's a "real" language, almost as widely used as pig latin... don't worry, I'll be sure to enlighten you all when I get back. :)

Love ya lots and lots!

Love, Sister Slade

Toured Boeing

Dear family,

I'm late emailing today because Sister Smith, Sister Wikstrom and Sister Tennant (some other sisters we have been living with the past few weeks) went this morning to tour Boeing! I've been wanting to tour Boeing for months now, and it was definitely worth it! It is the biggest building in the world, and not only is the building huge but the planes are HUGE! Some of which go through the assembly line and are finished in just a few days. Crazy!

The highlight of this week was that we had our first official lesson with LJ, and it was a powerful experience! The lesson started out a little rough and neither sister Smith or I felt like we were being given what to say or what questions to ask, but we both kept praying and at the end we were somehow given the right words. LJ said the prayer afterwards and we all knelt quietly for a good 5 minutes, the spirit was so strong. Finally Sister Smith asked LJ how he was feeling, and he started crying and said "I don't know." Sister Smith explained to him that what he was feeling was the spirit, and he just cried some more and nodded. There is nothing like seeing a grown man break down and weep because of the spirit that he feels.

The assistants asked Sister Smith and I to give instruction at Mission Leader Counsel this week. We've had to teach at zone meetings and interviews before, but this was just plain scary! Basically we taught President Bonham, the assistants, the zone leaders, and Sister Training Leaders in the mission about companionship study. It was intimidating and I felt pretty inadequate but it actually turned out to be a success! I talked a little bit about some of the principles I learned from my parents and watching their companionship and how those things apply to our companionships and helping our investigator "kids." I don't know if any of you knew this, but I have some pretty amazing parents!

What about that conference! It gets better and better every year! With all those talks about following the prophet, Sister Smith and I were sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for President Monson to do something crazy like call the Saints to Missouri or lower the age for missionaries or something! Next conference. :)

Love, Sister Slade

Sister Milkbone

Dear family,

Where to begin?

It was quite the eventful week, with a trip to the emergency walk-in clinic that put me out of commission for the first few days! You know that stereotypical missionary story where the elders get chased by a dog but they barely get away? Well I guess I've now lived that story, but unfortunately this time the missionary didn't get away! Sister Smith and I went to drop off some things for a member on Tuesday morning, and right when she opened the door her dog started going crazy. She tried to restrain him but he got loose and bit Sister Smith! Luckily, he didn't break skin, but then he came at me and... 7 stitches later, I now have a great mission story to tell! When the doctor asked me what happened I told him, "I got bit by a dog," and he looked at my leg and laughed and said, "You didn't get bit by a dog, you got chewed on by a dog!" The doctor said that I had to stay off my leg for a few days, and it was pretty painful at first, but we've taken it easy the last few days and even though it's still sore and very bruised, I'm healing great! Bishop Bushman now calls me "Sister Milkbone," and according to Sister Smith I seem quite a bit more "holy" than she has ever seen me!

The positive side to the whole experience is that I got to have an awesome missionary experience as a result of getting bit by a dog! When Dr. Tu was stitching me up I started asking him about his family. He told me that his dad died a few years ago, and that he had a brother who passed away on Father's day this year. I asked him if he believed in life after death, and he told me that he didn't. He grew up in China, and he has no real belief in a higher power, but that he simply believes that when we die there is nothing more. He asked me what I believed and I was able to share with him how I gain a lot of comfort in my life in knowing that there is life after death. I explained how I believe that we aren't just made up of physical bodies, but that we have a spirit as well, and that even when our physical bodies cease to live, I do know that our spirits live on. Afterwards he took a mormon.org card, and told me that his sons (who both happen to be YSA!) had a nanny for almost 15 years who was Mormon and who the family grew very close to! So maybe Heavenly Father knew that I had to get bit by a dog so that I could meet Dr. Tu. :)

Despite having so much less proselyting time than we normally do, it was so cool to see how Heavenly Father consecrated the time that we did have and provided us with miracles! The absolute highlight of my week was yesterday! Sister Smith turned to me in the middle of sacrament meeting and said "You'll never guess who is sitting by Heather... LJ is here!!!" I can't count how many times we've invited Heather's boyfriend LJ to come to church, and he's always told us that even though he has a very strong faith in Christ, he considers himself to be "spiritual" and that he only believes in following the "red road." (LJ is Native American and very connected to his culture.) We have always invited LJ to sit in on lessons with Heather, but he has never shown interest in actually learning more for himself, until the last few weeks when we have really been seeing him heart be softened as Heather continues to change and prepare for baptism. LJ's situation is similar to Heather's. Because of things that have happened in his past, if he was baptized he would have to be in the singles ward for life, even though he is in his 50's right now. I have developed such a huge love for LJ as I have gotten to know him better over the past months! We went to have a lesson with Heather last night, and it was very powerful! We talked about repentance, and the spirit. LJ was quite emotional, though he tried to hide it. It's crazy that I don't even remember most of what Sister Smith and I said, but somehow we came out of that lesson (which happened to be a chastity lesson haha) with LJ having agreed to take the discussions and telling us that he really wanted to go into this with an open heart and open mind, to find out for himself what it was all about. In that moment I wished I could have the feeling in that room and the joyful look on Heather's face forever ingrained in my memory. SUCH a MIRACLE! I see Heather and LJ in the temple.

There truly is no sin and no sorrow that cannot be overcome with the help of the atonement of Jesus Christ. When we accept Him into our lives the power is real. I know it is. I have seen it over and over again, not only in my own life but in the lives of so many people that I have been able to meet since coming on my mission. There is not one individual on this earth who Heavenly Father has not very lovingly and carefully devised means and plans to save. He knows us individually. He loves us individually.

Lots and lots and lots of love,

Sister Slade

Picture Updates

Dear family,

I never really know what to say in my weekly emails because I feel like there are always way too many feelings and experiences to cram into one email! I'm about out of time so this will be short. Again. sorry!

Zahra is on date to be baptized the 25th of October! We think that she has finally made the decision to make the jump, even though it frightens her! We're not sure what has finally made the difference. The spirit has been working on her for a long time. She prayed all week long, and she talked to her mom and called her grandma this last week and told them that she officially wants to be baptized. The miracle was that her grandma took it a lot better than expected. Now she's praying all this week so that she can call and tell her grandpa, which will be a lot harder.

Heather is doing better than ever! Her boyfriend LJ joined us for WHE last Monday and almost came to church with her, which is a HUGE deal! Long story. Stay tuned for more explanation... after the mission :)

Haley and Emma are both doing splendidly.

I'm doing better than ever! Always learning and growing! I've had many experiences this week through lessons with investigators, street contacts, and other moments where I have had the chance to reflect on the tender mercies of the Lord in my life. I don't understand why I was so blessed to be born having the gospel in my life, with a "goodly" family to love me, and so many other blessings. Sometimes the Lord blesses me with moments when He fills me to the brim, then fills me even more until I'm overflowing. I love Him for so many reasons.

Keep reading, praying, and taking the sacrament like you mean it. Remember that when you're not allowing the spirit to work on you, there's someone else who I can guarantee will be!

Love, Sister Slade

Service for Amelia! She's not painting her ceiling until a month from now, but she gave me permission to do some free advertising for the church until then :)

 Zahra thought we needed some bling. I swear these earrings she gave me weigh 20 pounds.

Exchange with Sister Glancy this week!  It was just like old times!

 I'm in denial but Sister Smith says I hit my 9 month mark a little while back.... whoops, did I mean to send this picture? :)

Us with the lovely Zahra!

 It rains in Washington. Can you tell I'm making up for my super short email but just sending pictures this week?

Good News!

Dear family,

So much good news to report this week! Darlene and Everett moved to Arizona a few months ago, and this week they went to the snowflake temple to get their endowments and to be sealed! Such a happy event for them and for me! I wish I could be there somehow, but I am so happy just to hear that they're doing so well! We also went to the cottage meeting at the mission home last night, and I got to see Jesse, the guy that I contacted at Edmonds Community College a few months back. I'm pretty sure I wrote about him in a few emails before we found out he lived in Silverlake YSA area so we had to pass him off. Right before I got transferred to Silverlake YSA Jesse moved to Marysville so he was then passed off to the Armar YSA sisters. Well, Jesse got baptized yesterday and he was absolutely beaming! I see such an amazing change in him! I asked Jesse if he remembered that first time I met him and him telling me that he doesn't agree with organized religion, and there's no way he would ever join the church, but he was willing to listen just to hear what we believe. Jesse laughed and told me that he did remember that.

Heather has officially been free from smoking for 8 days as of today! She successfully finished the 7-day stop smoking program and we are so proud of her! The first few days were extremely hard for her, but on day 6 she told us that she went out to take her dog Duders for a walk and she smelled someone smoking (not a big surprise when you're in north Everett) and she said that it absolutely disgusted her. The last few days have been easy! I have taught a lot of investigators on my mission that I have gotten very close to, and Heather is one of those that I will always have a very special love for.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we are teaching a girl named Zahra who is muslim. This week President Bonham came to one of her lessons with us and we had a very powerful experience. We were reteaching the restoration, and we turned to the picture of the first vision in the pamphlet. Before we said anything Zahra looked up from the picture and said, "Does it make you want to cry?" and out of nowhere she completely broke down sobbing. The spirit was so strong. We let Zahra cry for a few minutes, then she expressed to us how she felt good and how she knows that this is the path that she wants to take, but she is terrified of what her family back in Gambia will think. They are muslim and she doesn't want to become a disgrace for the family if she gets baptized. This is something that she has been working through for a very long time, and I felt so much love and compassion for her as she shared her feelings. I told her that my heart went out to her for this hard decision that she has to make, but the reason we keep coming to teach her is because we love her and know that this gospel really is that important. We promised her that if she will do everything in her power to pray and read and come to church so that she can build her testimony, she will be given the strength that she needs to make the decision that is right for her. 2 days later she told us that she is going to read the Book of Mormon by one month from now, and 2 days after that she came to church and showed us that she had already read through 1 Nephi. :)

There is so much more I wanted to say about my studies and being a Sister Training Leader and other investigators but there never seems to be the time! Just know for now that I love you all! I am so grateful for the support and prayers that I feel from all of you!

Love, Sister Slade

Seeing Jesse Gilpatrick again at cottage meeting!

Heather

Dear family,

Today I wanted to share about one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. Heather has been investigating the church for about 5 years, and very seriously for the last 2 years. She has wanted to be baptized for a very long time, but because of some things that happened in her past, Heather has to have special permission from the first presidency to be baptized. We've been teaching Heather since I came here (and many missionaries companionships before me) and her lessons have been some of the most sacred experiences of my mission. I haven't shared about them partly because of how sacred they are to me, and partly because of how sensitive her situation is. Heather has been through the ringer, and in the last few years she has overcome every type of sin and every sorrow you can think of. Because of this, Heather is the atonement in action. Very few times in my life have I felt the love of Jesus Christ as strongly as I have when I have talked with Heather, because for Heather the atonement is as real as it gets. Last week Heather finished meeting with her counselor and he called President Bonham and told him that although Heather will have to stay in the singles ward for life, he sees no reason why she shouldn't be able to get baptized. What we didn't realize is that this was finally the last step in the process, and all that's left is for President Bonham to contact Salt Lake and get the approval for baptism. We talked to President Bonham at zone conference and he told us that he feels confident enough that the first presidency will approve Heather being baptized, that he gave us permission to set a date for baptism, as long as it's far enough away that he can be confident she is 100% prepared. When we invited Heather to be baptized on November 22nd she was completely in shock. It was an emotional experience for all of us. The whole process of teaching Heather has been an emotional experience for me. I love Heather so much. The last thing Heather has to overcome is smoking, and she started the program last night. Please please keep her in your prayers this week!!!

We got transfer calls and I'm super happy to report that both Sister Smith and I are going to be staying in Silverlake YSA!!! We have also been asked to serve as Sister Training Leaders for the nearby zones in this area, which we are excited but a little overwhelmed about as well. It's going to be another transfer filled with miracles!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

We told Heather to show us her baptism "victory pose"

 Us and our grossness after completely cleaning and sanitizing Heather's apartment to prepare for her to start the stop smoking program

 She starts the stop smoking program today. We spend a million years cleaning her apartment so that it's completely smoke free! Oh. And we made her promise that she would wear this sign whenever she leaves the apartment this week. Keep her in your prayers!!!

Miracle story

Dear family,

So here's the crazy miracle story from the week! Both Sister Smith and I were completely caught off guard last Monday when our miracle investigator Haley that I have been writing about texted us telling us that she felt the church wasn't for her and that she was going to explore different churches so that she could "find herself." Haley has had the spirit testify of truth to her over and over again and she has seen so many miracles happen while investigating, so we decided to stop by so that we could talk to her in person. When we did Haley expressed some surface-level concerns to us, but it seems that the real concern is a matter of not wanting to live one of the commandments we taught her. Sister Smith and I were very bold with her. We basically told her that we loved her too much to allow her to say no to something that we knew would bless her so much. This was one lesson that the spirit was definitely the one testifying rather than Sister Slade. Then I asked Haley if I could share some scriptures with her and we read some of the verses in Alma 32. Afterwards I started to share my testimony with Haley of how I knew just taking action and planting a small seed, then nourishing it patiently and diligently, would allow her testimony to grow into something great. Haley stopped me mid-sentence completely in shock. She told us that she had had a dream the night before where she saw herself planting a seed, with a voice in the background saying word for word what I had just been saying. It wasn't until I said it that she realized that it had been my voice she heard in the dream. The spirit was so strong. Although her baptism will need to be pushed back, we are still going to be teaching Haley because she knows that Heavenly Father has given her so many signs that this is the path she needs to be on. Such a miracle! Please keep her in your prayers.

Emma's baptism was amazing! The miracle there was that her mom agreed to come to the baptism, when up to this point she has been completely antagonistic about Emma's decision to be baptized. Her mom cried and cried throughout the whole thing, and would hardly talk to anyone there because she was so mad about "losing her daughter." You would think the world was ending. It was cool to see how Emma handled the whole thing. Even though she comforted her mom and tried to make it the best possible experience for her, she was very firm in her decision. The strength of many of these investigators who choose to follow the Savior amazes me! They inspire me to be more devoted and more resolute in choosing what's right, especially in the face of opposition.

I'll close with a quick quote from an amazing talk by President Hinckley called "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep." (read it! It's amazing!): "Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member’s heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let him pray with great earnestness about it...My heart reaches out to you missionaries. You simply cannot do it alone and do it well. You must have the help of others. That power to help lies within each of us. But you must do all you can. You must be anxiously engaged. When you are not working on referrals of members, you must be developing those referrals yourselves through tracting and related means...Now, my brethren and sisters, we can let the missionaries try to do it alone, or we can help them. If they do it alone, they will knock on doors day after day and the harvest will be meager. Or as members we can assist them in finding and teaching investigators." Thank you so much for everything that each of you has done for me and continues to do for me. The missionaries need YOU!!! Your brothers and sisters need YOU. Heavenly Father needs YOU. I would love to hear about the amazing missionary experiences you are all having! (Remember, success is not when they say yes, you succeed every time you invite!)

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

Wallace and Korena took us to tour the USS NIMITZ for P-Day today!

 Sister Glancy and Sister Bartsch were able to come to Emma’s baptism!

Out of time

Dear family,

I'm out of time so I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote President Bonham again:

I am still doing well and still loving Silverlake! I love Sister Smith, and I love the investigators that we have been able to find. Sister Smith and I have been able to meet standards twice this transfer, and we plan on making it the "norm" in this area!

Neither Sister Smith or I were feeling very well this week so we had to take some time to rest, but it was cool to see how even though we weren't able to give this week what our "best" has been in past weeks, the Lord took what was our "best" this week and still magnified it. At the beginning of my mission I had this mindset or "Go, go, go!" to the point that I would experience anxiety if I or a companion had to stay in the apartment. It was a good mindset to have, because it was almost like I physically couldn't handle being in the apartment when I knew God wanted me to be out talking to people, but it also wore me down to the point that I finally crashed, partly from exhaustion from things on my mission, and partly from things from before my mission. I've learned a few things in the past months. I won't wishfully say "If I knew then what I know now," because I know that the mission is a growing process and it's a good thing that I am a completely different missionary and person than I was my first transfer in the mission! This week I felt guided to study about the Garden of Gethsemane. This is what I learned:

The atonement of Christ not only gives us the strength to keep going when we are exhausted, but it also gives us the ability to rest when we have begun to "run faster than we have strength." or when "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." We should never take advantage of the atonement to shirk our labors, but we do need to recognize that Jesus Christ died for us because He already knew that there would be times when we would be weak and that He would need to make up for what we are not able to give after we truly have given our all. If we try to give more than we're able to, or if we try to be perfect right now, all by ourselves, then we are not allowing ourselves to use the strength AND the rest that the atonement of Jesus Christ provides. it hurt me to read about the disciples sleeping while Christ was only a stones throw away, suffering for the sins of the world. How could they do that when their calling was to give 100% of their heart, might, mind, and strength? Then I realized that as much as the Savior wanted them to watch with Him, he knew the extent of their abilities as humans. Then in Mark 14:41 he very tenderly and very mercifully says, "sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough." did He mean that the sacrifice that He had just performed was enough to make up for their weaknesses? I still don't understand completely yet, but I did feel very strongly in my studies this week that there is no greater illustration of love than through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Haley is doing well! Her grandma who passed away came to her in a dream the night before we taught her the plan of salvation and told her she was on the right path. Haley described waking up feeling very warm and in tears. In one of our lessons this week she handed us a homemade baptism invite that she had made for us. Apparently she's made some for others that she has already met in the ward, and she created an event on facebook that she invited all of her family to. Those stories about those super crazy prepared people being led to prepared people that you hear about in Sacrament meetings... they're not just stories, they are real.

Emma is excited to be baptized on the 30th! We had an amazing lesson with her last week where she got emotional, telling her how badly she wants to go to the temple. She can't explain why, because she doesn't feel like she knows much about it, but she feels this very strong urge that she needs to go! Hayley that was just baptized has expressed the same feelings recently, so we're going to help them both find family names in the family history center the next few weeks!

Something that I have learned over and over again on my mission is how absolutely vital members are in order for the work to progress at all like it should. I've been thinking about this a lot in the last few weeks, and I'm planning on writing and sending out a "YOU can be a member missionary NOW!" letter to everyone in the family soon. So stay tuned! It's going to be epic!

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Miracle Week

Dear family,

So here is the Haley miracle. A few days before our other investigator Hayley was baptized, Sister Smith and I decided to go tract some orange apartments in Mill Creek. Sister Bartsch and I had felt that we should tract these for a while, and for whatever reason we were never able to quite get around to it. Well, we went to tract these apartments and I'm not sure why but we just kept walking towards the back of the complex then both stopped at building G. The very first door we knocked on, Haley answered. Haley has been going to Latter-Day Saint activities in Arlington with her friend for the past 2 years, and she says she always knew there was something different about the Mormons. The first lesson we had with Haley we put her on date to be baptized September 6th. What is crazy is that Haley has really severe anxiety, and she told us in that first lesson that when we knocked on her door she was in the middle of having a panic attack. When she saw that it was missionaries, she felt instantly calmed and it stopped. Not only that, but we found out that Haley moved here about 2 weeks ago, and turned 18 only 5 days ago. I don't think I've ever taught an investigator as prepared as Haley is! She is pure faith and obedience and has an amazing ability to feel the spirit. We feel so blessed to have found her!

We also had a cool miracle when contacting at the college this week. We stopped a guy named Max, who works as a physical trainer and EMT. He is a super cool guy, with a lot of faith in Christ, but said he doesn't really have time to talk right now. I was about to give him a mormon.org card but then had the thought ha he had enough interest that I should give him a restoration pamphlet. So I gave it to him, and he just stared at it in silence with his mouth open for a few seconds. We asked if he had seen the pamphlet before, and he told us that he had been searching for where the pamphlet came from for years. A few yeas ago he got jumped outside a McDonalds in Everett (kinda funny to picture because this was a BIG guy!) He was in and out of consciousness, just enough to remember that someone picked him up and took him to the hospital but he had no idea who it was. When he woke up in the hospital 3 days later, the only thing that the guy left with him was a restoration pamphlet with a name and phone number. In the craziness of what had happened, the pamphlet was lost, but since then Max remembers very clearly the picture of Christ holding a lamb on the front of the restoration pamphlet, and he's wondered what the source was. We got Max's phone number, and he walked away flipping through the pamphlet, completely in shock.

This week I have been studying the principle of asking for specific blessings or asking specific questions. Over and over in the scriptures we read about how if we ask we will receive, but how often do we actually take advantage of this promise, and take that leap of faith, fully expecting Heavenly Father to give as He has promised to? Of course we know hat God gives in His own timing, in His own way, and according to His will, but how often to we ask to know His will, so that we might know exactly what it is we should be asking for? Do we pray to know what we should be praying for? As missionaries we always invite our investigators to ask a specific question in their prayers to know if what we have been teaching them is true, the reason being that if we ask specific questions, the Lord gives specific answers. I was thinking to myself this week, why is it that I don' show more faith in my heavenly Father, and ask those specific questions, or make those specific requests, just as investigators are invited to do? My challenge for you this week is the same challenge hat I have given to myself: pray to know what to pray for, then stretch your faith by making that specific request to Heavenly Father. Then show your faith by praying with "all the energy of heart" and with persistence. Then act as if you already know that you will receive, because you will!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Slade

There is a mission cottage meeting held at the mission home every month where we invite our investigators to come listen to the testimonies of recent converts. We went with some members in our ward, Krissy and Alayna, and also our investigator Heather. The seatbelt on Krissy's car was stuck, so since we wanted to protect my life we decided that we better double buckle me with Alayna and Sister Smith's seatbelts. This picture doesn't quite show what happened, but what followed was absolute chaos in the back seat. There were shouts of "pull harder!" and "Are you sucking in!?" while I just got squished. We were all laughing so hard we were all crying by the time we got to the mission home. I think mostly we were all just way too tired :)

 Are you in need of salvation or a little restoration? Ask a specialist. Or one of His representatives, that works too.

 Hayley's baptism

New Haircut

Dear friends and family,

This week has been a crazy week, full of many experiences that I wasn't expecting to have, but they have all been for the best. My new companion is Sister Smith, from Ogden Utah. She happens to be a hairstylist, so the very first night we were together she informed me that she was going to cut my hair. I didn't realize she meant she was going to cut m hair right then until she started to pull a chair into the kitchen :)

I got special permission to go back to Oak Harbor this morning to attend a funeral for Tiffany Dobelman, one of the investigators that I found and taught in the first six months of my mission. Tiffany died in her sleep his last week, with no apparent reason why. When we first started teaching Tiffany she was Wiccan, and although she was never baptized while I was in the area, she would come to church and I have some amazing memories of teaching Tiffany and her husband Michael as well whenever he agreed to join us. A few months ago I heard from some other sisters that Tiffany had finally decided that she was ready to be baptized! One of Tiffany's main questions that really bothered her when we first started teaching her was "What happens after death?" It was something that really scared her, but something that she overcame as she learned about the Plan of Salvation, so I was a good experience for me to be at her funeral. Her husband Michael said that he has been overwhelmed by the love that he has felt from everyone in the Oak Harbor 1st ward and how much everyone has helped him in the last week. He is still going to take the two little girls to church, because he knows that it's something that made Tiffany happy and he knows it's what she would have wanted. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of me and who has a perfect plan for me, both in this life and in the next!

It was great to see many other people from the Oak Harbor 1st ward at the funeral too. I got giant hugs from Verna and Sandra, and I even snuck a quick hug from Bennett too :) Bennett and Verna got their patriarchal Blessings recently, and are still excited to go to the temple when the time comes. This was the first time I've seen Sandra since she was baptized, and when I hugged her I whispered to her how I always knew that she was going to be baptized, and she just started to cry. The people truly are what make the mission so great.

Hayley's baptism and confirmation was this past weekend! She was so happy. The coolest part for me was in her confirmation, when she was told that she will be a light for her friends and family, and they will notice her example, as not all of Hayley's family has been supportive and understanding of her decision up to this point. Hayley is so strong! Some of her extended family that aren't members came to her baptism, and 3 of our investigators were able to attend as well, so that was really cool!

I'm out of time, but next week I will write about the miracle story of the new investigator Haley that we found this week!

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Sister Slade

Dear family,

We just got transfer information, and just like we predicted, I am staying here in Silverlake and Sister Bartsch will be getting transferred. We find out our new companions tomorrow afternoon.

We have had the hardest time meeting with investigators and finding members who are available to fellowship our investigators this week. We did have a few highlights though. We taught the twins, Carl and Casey again. They both have so many questions about the priesthood and the need for a restoration, but they keep commitments and Carl especially loves to learn truth. he reminds me of Bennett. I wish I could somehow have Bennett be at all of their lessons!

We found a new investigator named Zahra, who is actually a former. Zahra is from Gambia, and she is also muslim. When Zahra was last taking the discussions she was very close to baptism and she got permission and everything (because she is muslim she has to get special permission). She asked her mom if it was ok for her to become Christian and her mom said that was alright, but other family members weren't as happy about it and in the end Zahra became scared and backed out. This time when we went to go meet Zahra, her aunt who converted to Christianity happened to be there braiding her hair, and it was absolutely perfect! The aunt shared her experience of finding faith in Christ and pursuing that faith even with all of the persecution, and it was so good for Zahra to hear. She agreed to begin meeting with missionaries again so we're seeing her on wednesday!

Hayley finished the Book of Mormon this week, just in time for her baptism this weekend! And she invited all of her friends at work to her baptism even though they have been giving her a hard time for it. And she bore her testimony to her friend who is less-active, which helped her friend to have the courage to go talk to the Bishop, something she has been struggling with doing for a long time. Hayley is amazing. I feel so blessed to meet so many amazing prepared people!

More next week,

Sister Slade

New Investigators

Dear family,

This week we not only met standards, but found......5 new investigators! 2 of them we're especially excited about. They're Carl and Casey, 29-year-old twins that we street contacted on the 4th of July. We had dinner and a first lesson at a members home, and it went really well. Hooray for a bigger teaching pool!

Osh is a married woman! The wedding was beautiful. Demarkeyes is getting baptized next week. A temple marriage is definitely in the works for this one. I think the best part of the wedding though was watching them take selfies together afterwards. Good old 21st century. Gotta love it.

Hayley is amazing. We're not sure where she came from, she's almost too prepared to be true! She was out of town in Oregon this week, so she attended church there, and while there she sent us a message saying that she had gone to the temple in Portland and walked around the grounds and absolutely loved it! A few days ago we taught her about the living prophet and committed her to reading the talk from priesthood session last conference by President Monson, and pray to know if He is a prophet of God. She followed up on herself this week by sending us a message saying "I wanted to let you know I finished President Monson's talk! I loved it!!! Yes, He's absolutely 100% a true prophet of God. After listening to it several times and sharing it with others, I was filled with a renewed sense of strength and to stand up, think and do in the right way. I got the same warm amazing feeling whenever I pray to Heavenly Father." She's so great!

Emma is a girl that Elder Haupu and Elder Martin were teaching. Her mom is not happy about her decision to be baptized at all, and she still lives at home, so that has caused some problems. The Elders thought sisters might have a better chance of softening the moms heart, so we have started teaching Emma. She just turned 18, and last lesson she told us that although she would love her moms approval, she feels she needs to take a leap of faith and prepare herself to be baptized in August, whether her mom approves or not, because she knows without a doubt that this is the right decision for her.

This week I have been studying the first article of faith. I've decided to study an Article of Faith every week. It was amazing to study really in depth the nature of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. What I loved most about it was realizing how much more we know about our own natures just by knowing the nature and characteristics of our Father. Lorenzo Snow once said, "We were born in the image of God our Father; He begat us like unto Himself. There is the nature of deity in the composition of our spiritual organization. In our spiritual birth, our Father transmitted to us the capabilities, powers, and faculties which He possessed, as much so as the child on its mothers bosom possesses, although in an undeveloped state, the faculties, powers, and susceptibilities of its parent." If you get the chance, study the nature of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, then apply what you learn by creating a vision of your own identity and destiny. Increased vision of who we are and what we may become becomes increased motivation. Motivation leads to action, and the gospel would be meaningless without the actions we take to use it in our daily lives.

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Tracting fun!

 Plane attacking.

 Austen's Volkswagon

 Osharrhea and Demarkeyes are officially family ward material!

Great Week

Dear family,

Another great week! Germany won the world cup, which almost brought Sister Bartsch to tears. I love that girl so much. I still remember that one time when I was on my mission and the Broncos won the Superbowl... that was so great. :) We're singing "Come Thou Fount" or I should say "Komm Du Quelle" in German in Sacrament meeting next week. We'll be practicing every morning!

The highlight of this week was definitely seeing member missionary work in action! On Saturday we saw Hayley 3 times, once in the morning for a lesson, in the middle of the day when she came to tour a new church building at the open house we were asked to help with, and once at night when the recent convert we had dinner with invited her to come. This member, Amelia, invited us over for smores and hot dogs around their fire pit, along with Hayley, a less active that she visit teaches, and another recent convert. Partway through dinner without any hesitation she opened the conversation up to talking about the gospel and her conversion, and the spirit was so strong! The less active really opened up about why she had been scared to come back to church, and it was all because Amelia helped her and everyone else there feel so loved.

Hayley is progressing amazingly. She truly is one of those "Are you real? Where did you even come from?" investigators. She is already so well integrated into the ward, you can hardly tell she's not already a member, and in fact she told us that when she was little she used to tell people she was Mormon, even though it wasn't true. She's always wondered why she did that. Hayley's family is not happy at all about her decision to be baptized, please pray for her to continue to have the strength that she needs.

Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with a few of our investigators this week because of them being out of town, overtime at work, etc... This next week they should be back on track though and we have some potentials that should turn into new investigators too!

Love you all!

Sister Slade

Sealings!!

Dear family,

First things first, BENNETT AND VERNA HAVE AN OFFICIAL DATE FOR THEIR SEALING!!!!! The date is October 18th, in the Seattle temple. Because I was able to teach them before they were baptized, I should get permission to go to their sealing! I can hardly wait, it's been a year since I've been to the temple, and 8 months since I've seen either of my two favorite "instigators." (Gotta love Verna) I still think about them almost every day. October is a long time to wait but it'll be worth it!!

We had an amazing lesson with our investigator Elizabeth this week. We taught about the Book of Mormon, which she had already started reading, and before we even started the lesson she said, "I really believe that this is true!" Then she smiled really big and said "And you know, that makes me kind of nervous." She was just beaming. She explained how she knows that her knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon makes her accountable and that that would mean she would have to make some changes in her life that support her new knowledge. I love when the spirit testifies of truth and all of a sudden investigators just get it.

Recently in my study I was thinking about how the repentance process works in our daily lives, not just as a missionary, but in real life too. Every morning immediately after we rise we commit to the Lord that we will do everything that we can to follow Him. Every night before we go to bed we account to the Lord on the days activities. It's important that in this time we are very specific in our gratitude, requests, and apologies for the day. We mentally go through every activity of the day, from morning to night, so that Heavenly father knows how much we really do appreciate His hand in our lives and in the process of us becoming like Him. When we talk about enduring to the end, it means we follow this process for the rest of our lives: commit, account, reccommit, account, reccommit, account, and "so on and so forth and what have you" (shout out to Bennett Harris.)

Hayley and Lily are still progressing amazingly, and our investigator Colton is now preparing to be baptized on August 16th. He lives all the way in Maltby on a ranch with over 30 horses. It's killing our miles when we're not able to get member rides there, so Sister Bartsch and I decided we're going to borrow one of his horses and just ride to our appointments from now on :)

Love, Sister Slade

The field is white, all ready to harvest.

Dear family,

Sister Bartsch and I had an amazingly blessed week, and just like Elder Slade we were able to meet mission standards together! We have some outstanding plans for this coming week so we're planning on making standards a weekly ordeal.

After losing so many investigators last week, this week we found many more, and some even returned! Turns out, Hayley has been thinking about moving in with her dad here in Everett for a while. She loves Silverlake ward and wants to be baptized here, so she took our pass-off explanation as almost like an answer to prayers that she is supposed to move back with her dad and step-mom. Funny story- When we saw her a few days ago we asked if she still had her baptismal calendar so that we could go over it with her and make the changes necessary for her new baptismal date. She told us that that wouldn't be possible, and she pulled out of her purse a beautifully laminated baptismal calendar. She told us that she laminated it a few weeks ago when we first gave it to her so that she could always keep it with her to help her "stay focused." :)

Our investigator Lily is preparing for baptism on July 19th. She used to meet with missionaries but the timing was never quite right because she would get through a few discussions then have to leave to go back to school in Switzerland. Her dad died last year, and she is searching for peace in her life. She said she feels really warm whenever we come teach her and pray with her, but then the feeling leaves, and it isn't as strong when she reads and prays. She wants to know how she can have that feeling all the time. It was cool to teach her about the Gift of the Holy Ghost! We brought a member we had never brought before to our lesson on thursday, and when Lily opened the door both of them just stared at each other then started to yell about how good it was to see each other. Sister Bartsch and I had no idea what was going on! Apparently Lily and Katherine were best friends in unicycling club back in middle school! Heavenly Father is so funny.

We were able to start meeting with Logan this week! Last week he flaked last minute on a few lessons, so we stopped by his apartment and he said he is at a very difficult time in his life going through the divorce and everything, and he wasn't sure he could handle anything more. We both felt like we should be bold, so we made him (Oops, I mean, invited him) meet with us at least once. He has loved it!!! He even thanked us in the last lesson for being persistent, since he really feels like the gospel has been helping him through his trials.

I had a really special experience yesterday. We have been working with a less-active girl named Hannah. Despite some opposition from her mom, she has been so strong in coming back to church and completely making changes in her life because she knows that this is what is right. Yesterday after church she started to cry and told me that she knows that this is the right time and place in her life to embrace the gospel once and for all. She said that she needed us, and is so grateful for everything we have done for her. We just hugged and cried and reassured each other that we're allowed to be emotional since we're women. :) There is no work more rewarding than missionary work!

We have our mini-MTC tonight. Don't forget that it's the missionaries responsibility to teach, but it's the members responsibility to find! I would love to hear about all of the missionary experiences that you are all having! Remember, success is not a yes or a baptism. You succeed when you invite!

Love, Sister Slade

 Hayley with laminated baptism calendar. :)

We took the front off of a mustang for service.

Busy week

Dear family, I'm out of time this week, so I've just copied and pasted my letter to President again. The biggest news from this week is that we had a super powerful lesson with Hayley this week where she told us that she has received an answer to her prayers, and she knows that it's all true! She loved church and loves reading the Book of Mormon and is so excited to be baptized! Unfortunately, we also found out that she lives in Bothell and has simply been commuting to Everett for work and to see friends. It looks like some Seattle missionaries are going to get a an absolutely golden referral, and the Sammammish Valley YSA ward will be blessed to have Hayley.

I love you all!

Dear President Bonham,

Happy Anniversary! Since you're both soooo old and have gained so much wisdom together, you can tell me, is Jesus Christ truly the secret to a happy marriage and family?

The Lord has been using us as finding tools recently, and all in one week we've had to pass-off most of our investigators to surrounding areas. It's a good thing the church is just as true in Bothell and Lynnwood and Lake Stevens as it is here! We are looking forward to finding prepared people in Everett this week though :)

Sister Bartsch and I are very excited for the Mini-MTC we are organizing for our ward. We taught the lesson in relief society yesterday and the ward is definitely getting excited about missionary work. In the words of Sister Bartsch, "I was about to pull a King Lamoni and pass out the spirit was so strong!"

I have been studying the meaning of the atonement this week. A few days ago we went to talk to a group of YSA talking on the side of the road, and one of them asked me, "Well why was it necessary? If God is all-powerful, why did it have to happen?" It was so cool to be able to share scriptures from the Book of Mormon with him and have a good long discussion about everything that I had just finished studying! What I loved the most though was being able to share my testimony, that I really do know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and even though I still don't understand fully the reasons of why it had to happen, the spirit has witnessed to me through prayer and through actually using His sacrifice in my life, that the atonement is so real! I hope the guys we talked to will accept our invitation to simply try, and to experience the reality of the atonement for themselves.

Lots of tender mercies and lots of feelings of love every day.

We are expecting miracles in the coming week.

Love, Sister Slade