Serving a mission is like climbing Mount Everest

(Sister Slade)

My emails have got to be super boring recently. Sorry about that.

Not much happened this week except zone conference. President shared a workshop on the doctrine of christ. He compared serving a mission to climbing Mount Everest. Then he said that the doctrine of christ are the things we use to get to the top. Faith is the belief that when you see the mountain you can get to the top, so you start climbing. Repentance is course corrections; making sure you take the best route to get to the top. Our covenants are the climbing gear that helps us get to the top safely. The Holy Ghost is like the mountain Sherpas. They know the mountain so well that they can guide you to the top and back safely. Enduring to the end is the patience, hope and diligence to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Without the gospel of Jesus christ, climbing the mountain would be almost impossible. Serving a mission (or any other experience or trial you're going through) is a whole lot easier when you have and trust the gospel of Jesus Christ. This made me think a lot about why I am climbing. So I invite you to do the same. Why are you climbing? If you aren't utilizing the gospel, then do so. Believe that with the help of Christ you can climb your mountain. Know that it is possible to get back on the path. Remember the covenants you made at baptism and the promises He made to you there. If you haven't yet made that covenant, then consider doing so. I know that it will help you climb your mountain. Trust that the Holy Ghost knows the mountain better than you do and that he can and will guide you if you let him. And finally, don't ever lose hope that there is a top to the mountain. I promise that when you reach the top and look out over the breathtaking view you will ask yourself if that was really all you had to endure.

I love the gospel and I'm eternally grateful that I have it in my life. I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us.

God is good.

Sister Slade

Pictures

1. Zone conference (Sister Faleafa moved when they took the picture so she looks kind of funny if you zoom in)

2. Mold that I found cleaning the apartment (Elders used to live here and it is bad)

3-4. all of the sock monkeys I've made (12 to date).

Transfer Roster!

(Elder Petersen)

Monday

               Today when we were shopping we stopped at a store called great harvest bread and one of our Stake Presidents who owns the Great harvest chain was there and gave us some free loaves of bread to take home which was another new thing that has not happened to me before and then after our P-Day ended we went to a MWM appointment and then after that we finalized a referral conversation that we had been having with a member so now we have a non-member appointment set up for Thursday!

Tuesday

               Today we texted a lot of people to set up appointments for latter in the week after we finished that we started to walk home for lunch we ran into a member that asked us to come into his house and give him a spiritual thought which we did and thought was cool as we did it. After lunch we had a house inspection so we did some cleaning before the senior couple came to do the inspection. After that we had my additional Companion Study and then dinner with some ministering appointments.

Wednesday

               Today we had District Council as well as a mission assigned service which took up most of our day. Both of those finally ended at around four so after that we did additional Companionship Study for that hour and then had dinner at home. After that we had a few ministering appointments which ended our day.

Thursday

               Today we had a Back to Basics meeting basically just to teach us what we should be teaching those people whom we are teaching. Although before that we had a huddle with Elder Waldner during lunch. After both of those we did additional Companionship Study.

Friday

               Today I had a musical devotional practice after our morning studies. After that one of the members in our area took us out for lunch which was a bit of a surprise at the time. After that we had weekly planning and additional Companionship Study. After those we had dinner and a few member appointments then we went to be.

Saturday

               Today started out normal with our studies and then going to a church building and doing tech time. But when we went to lunch Elder Coupe started to feel really bad so we stayed in the rest of the day trying to still be productive even though I cannot go outside because of Elder Coupe being sick. He should be fine by tomorrow though, he got a blessing and he will have a full night sleep to enjoy so we should be able to get to all of our meetings tomorrow.

Sunday

               Today we had a busy day that ended in two news and a transfer roster. So today we had a few meetings went to three sacraments and met with quite a few people in member visits. The big thing that happened today though was that the transfer roster was sent out and now I know that I am getting a new companion and staying in my same area.

November 11 2019

(Elder Petersen)

Monday

               Today we had Chick-fil-A for dinner and we met with a few bishops over the wards that we cover.

Tuesday

               Today we went on a blitz with our zone leaders which basically means that the zone leaders split with us and we tried to find as many new people as possible as we work our area. And we found a new! I personally have not met him but my companion says that he is an interesting guy. After that we had a non-member lesson that went pretty well and a few member appointments.

Wednesday

               Today we had District Council as well as a service at the humanitarian center tying quilts. After we got home our evening basically canceled so we only had one appointment left. Then we had dinner and my companion Elder Coupe got sick and we had to cancel our last appointment and stay inside. That was our day a pretty good one until the end but you win some you lose some.

Thursday

               Today we had interviews with the mission president, President Hobbins. It went well and right after the interviews ended I went on a exchange and did a lot of stuff in my District Leaders area. We did dinner appointments as well as ministering appointments. Then at the end of that we exchanged back and went back to our old areas.

Friday

               Today we had a pretty good but uneventful day so we spent most of the day sending out texts and calling people that we needed to in order to set up appointments for our coming week and more. After that we wrote our talks because we will be speaking in a ward on Sunday.

Saturday

               Today was a really good day we managed to get in about an hour of service this morning and right after lunch. Then I texted and called people that we needed to contact for the upcoming day and week manly because my companion was having some stomach problems and needed to rest it off. After that we had a one non-member appointment with Heather then a MWM appointment with one of our bishops dinner and another non-member appointment that lasted way longer than it should have but it was interesting.

Saturday

               Today was packed with meetings from 9am to basically 5pm we went to 2 full sacrament meetings. We had a MWM appointment right between the two sacraments and Stake meetings from 2 pm to 5. Then we had dinner and went to another MWM meeting and found a potential new in our spare time. We also during the day had a running conversation with a member who referred someone to us and we are in the process of getting an appointment set up their!

Last weeks pictures

1. Sister faleafa dying

2. our missionary pumpkins

3. an apron that sister Faleafa made

4. 32 dresses that i made in 2 weeks

5. some sock monkeys

6. a fun car selfie

7. a missionary ghost that we made

Jeffrey :) Transfers

(Hermana Ellsworth)

  This week we had a baptism for Jeffrey. I have been teaching Jeffrey for the past 6 months and he has become one of my best friends out here. We have celebrated birthdays, cried together ( me more than him) , and have grown for our love of God together. It has been one of the biggest blessings in my life to teach and struggle with Jeffrey and then see him grown in his trust and Faith in God. He was baptized this last Saturday and received the gift of the Holy Ghost  yesterday.  I learned a lot about how the Lord really is taking care of his children here on earth. I know that our Heavenly Father Loves us and is incredibly patient with our faults and weaknesses. Heavenly Father really does answer prayers and when Jeffrey received his answer if really did confirm to me that our Father loves us. We come from loving Heavenly Parents and they want us to come home to them.

The hard part about the Baptism of Jeffrey is that I will be leaving Toa Baja and him behind. I have fulfilled my purpose for the people in Toa baja and I will be moving on to Humacao back into the zone of Caguas which is on the southeastern side of the island. I am so grateful for the time I had with Hermana Carrasco and her hard work and everything that she has taught me with our time together. I will miss some of the most amazing members here. Hermano Toro, Joanna, Hermana Nerida, Gina Lopez, Los Bushers :) SO many amazing members here in Toa Baja :)

We also had a really wonderful district activity where we went to a cool lookout with one amazing district. But also we have a shout out to part of our old MTC district :) #8A

Jesus would be a Hufflepuff

(Sister Slade)

Today's title comes from Sister Faleafa who is a Hufflepuff at heart and claims that Jesus would be a Hufflepuff. My emails have had a lot of Harry Potter references lately. I guess we know what my first books to read when I get back are. :)

This week we got to go to the temple with Rick and Tommy. It was a really neat experience because we were able to do the work for their mom. Sister Faleafa was able to be baptized for her and I was confirmed for her. A couple of weeks ago, Rick was talking to us about their mom and how she would be praising our names forever because of what we had helped her sons do. Now we were able to help her progress as well. I love the temple and what it means for families.

Sister Faleafa was pretty sick again this week, so I did some more sewing. I finished the quilt that I'm planning on giving to President and Sister Strong for Christmas and made 3 more sock monkeys. Then I deep cleaned the apartment because I can't sew any more without going crazy.

That's about it.

God is good.

Sister Slade

pictures

 temple pictures

We got to hold some puppies

 some crystals that a member gave me because they would "help me find my voice and find peace."

 A face mask that made me look really funny

The finished quilt (mom you should be really proud of me)

Someone sent me a giant thing of hot Chocolate. Thank you!

November 4th 2019

(Elder Petersen)

Monday

               We had a fun day today. It was our P-Day so we went shopping for all of the stuff that we needed for the upcoming week. Then one of our favorite members by the names of Mike and Terri Smith took us out to dinner with some of their friends, so in total there were 12 of us dinning together at the restaurant. After that we had a Conference call with all of our mission at 9:30 and it was really good we learned a lot about how we should be communicating with our stake presidents.

Tuesday

               Today we had a Conference with our mission president and all of the training missionaries. It was basically just them telling all of the new missionaries who is who and where they need to go for specific information. Other than that we went to a ward party tonight and managed to set some appointments up throughout the day.

Wednesday

               Today we huddled with the Waldners and discussed with them what we are doing in their stake as well as what they are doing. We had some time between the end of our huddle and the service project that was assigned to us by the mission so we played some pool with Elder Waldner while we waited to go. That mainly happened because it would have been very ineffective to try and proselytize during the basically half hour that we had before we had to leave to make it to the service project on time. We then had a ministering appointment after that and then our day ended.

Thursday

               So it's a bit late as I am writing this email so it will be short. Today we packed all day because me and my companion are getting kicked out of our house tomorrow due to a baby being born shortly. So it has been a frenzy to get everything packed up so that we can move. So that is how we spent most of our day but for the last 5 hours from 4 to 9 pm we got to go to the temple due to Halloween and all. This was because the mission president did not want us to be out on the streets on Halloween night.

Friday

               Today we had MDC or Multi District Council and we learned about how best to use members to their fullest. We learned how to teach how to pray and how best to use the Book of Mormon. After that we moved which took up the rest of the day and we went on exchanges once more. From tonight to tomorrow night.

Saturday

               So today started out fairly normally with all the normal things. But it got slot more interesting with a surprise service that we participated in from 8 to 9 then after dinner we went to a non-member with intent of giving our condolences for the loss of his wife. We went there with one scripture in mind to share with him and it was John 16:33 which says "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." and I know that he loved that scripture and was touched that we shared it with him even though he is a very smart very anti LDS. That was my day we finished our splits and then we went to bed.

Sunday

               Today was a pretty good day although very tiring. The day started out fairly normally with fast Sunday and all so we went to 3 sacraments today and in each one of them I got up and bore my testimony in each of them. After that we had a meeting with one of our Stake Presidents to discuss what we would be doing in their stake and what we have been doing after that we met with a member family to discuss one of our previously taught non-members. Then we had dinner two other ministering appointments and a coronation meeting with our high Councilor over missionary work and then our day ended.