May 7, 2012

Hello Family!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC!!!!!!! I'm happy that your birthday has fallen on Preparation Day so I get to tell you on your actual birthday :)

 

This week was very good.  President Merkley came to our ward yesterday! He visited with our investigators and gave the go-ahead for three special needs people to be baptized.  One of them is a 70 year old man named Danny who is like a 7 or 8 year old. He is the cousin of a recent convert. He has such a sweet testimony of the Gospel. Every time he says a prayer he tears up and he always tells us he loves the Lord "every day."  He told President Merkley and then all of us after the interview that he's getting baptized on May 16th, which unbeknownst to him is the day before transfers. We feel like he was very inspired to choose that day.

 

Thank you for your prayers for Sister Johnson!  She bore a beautiful testimony yesterday. Hopefully she'll be able to be baptized soon, with her son who President Merkley also visited with.

 

We had a powerful lesson with the man I wrote about last week who doesn't want to forgive himself. He feels that every church is man-made and corrupt. He felt the Spirit as we talked about the restoration and when we asked if he would read the first chapter of The Book of Mormon he said he would probably read more than that. 

 

We also had a great lesson after church yesterday with a man named Henry. He's Cherokee. We met him about a month or two ago and we've had one lesson with him. Yesterday we read from 3 Nephi 11 and he felt the Spirit strongly and told us he needed to spend more time on this and promised that he would be in church (in the back) on Sunday.  The Book of Mormon is so powerful.

 

About halfway through the week Sister Bullough and I were feeling like we were in a slump.  We decided to have an "out-of-slump day" and made signs and put them up and said a lot of prayers. Heavenly Father blessed us with a lot of wonderful lessons that day and the next.

 

I love you all so much!  I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday!  I'll be calling around 7:30 my time, so 6:30 your time.  I hope you have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

April 30, 2012

Hi Family!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW ALLY!!!!!!!!  I'm in denial that you're almost 17, so I'm going to pretend that you're turning 15. HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY!

 

This week was a good one. We met "Lloyd the Drifter" as we were tracting down a dirt road. His name isn't really Lloyd, but it's the name he goes by when he sells the arrowheads he makes. He had made several big birds out of old rakes and tractor parts. He was fun to talk to. 

 

Our investigators are doing well. We've been teaching a brother and a sister. The brother has been reading The Book of Mormon and praying about it and the sister hasn't been interested in really finding out if the church is true, but likes learning about it. They come to church every week. Yesterday after church the brother said he knew The Book of Mormon was true and that he needs to get baptized. He had a powerful spiritual experience that brought him to tears one day when he had read and prayed. His sister decided to get more serious about studying and said she would read and pray as well.  It's amazing that when people really follow Moroni's advice and read and pray sincerely, the Lord will always answer and they'll always know it's true. 

 

We taught a new man this week from Roland who we met one night when we were tracting. It was getting late and everyone we met was telling us we needed to go home so we were debating if we should or not. We decided to go to just one more house and we walked up and he was sitting on his porch looking really discouraged. He told us he believes in God but isn't close to him. He has 5 kids and he's a single dad and he's got a lot of hard things going on. When we came back and taught him he expressed all the guilt he has and his unwillingness to forgive himself. I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ we wouldn't be able to forgive ourselves or be forgiven, but because of Him we can. We can change. We can be different people than we were before. He said if he could really be completely free from his sins in the past, he'd die of happiness. That's the joy that the Gospel brings.  There is no greater happiness.  I'm grateful for this life. I'm learning that it is for changing and becoming more like the Savior, which we can only do with His help. 

 

I love you all so much!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

April 24, 2012

Hello Family!

 

This week was the best of times and the worst of times :).  We had less people come to church than we expected and our baptism can't happen yet because of cigarettes, but we taught the most lessons I ever have in a week, set several baptism dates, and got a lot of new investigators.

 

Zone Conference yesterday was very good. We learned a new way to tract where we pray about a place to go and then tell the people that we are servants of Jesus Christ and we've been led to them. We ask if we can pray for their family. We tried it right after the meeting and got a return appointment with a cute little family that already have a church they attend and might've turned us away if we'd tried something different.  It's always neat to see how our mission president is inspired.

 

We set a baptism date this week with a man named Brother Jackson. He and his wife are going to have their second baby any day. He opened up to us about struggles he's had with church and religion. He's had some bad experiences and he's never known how to tell is something is the truth or not. It was wonderful to teach him about the Spirit and to feel the Sprit testifying to what we taught.

 

We had a talent show this week and it was really fun. We had several investigators come. One of them was Sister Johnson's little autistic son. He sang "I am a Child of God" and he made really funny comments during the rest of the talents. One little boy did gymnastics and he yelled, "he's even handsomer than me!"  It was pretty cute.

 

We met a few bikers who live near the church. One of them had Seventh-day Adventist/Jehovah's Witness views, which make for a pretty intense person, but the visit went well and the Spirit was strong.

 

I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

April 16, 2012

Hello Family!

We're pretty much going to email on Mondays now as much as we can. We
have a limited amount of miles and it takes a lot to drive to Sallisaw
on Mondays, which is why we got permission to email on Tuesdays when
we're in Sallisaw. We've decided it's worth the sacrifice, though, and
we'll save miles somewhere else. Next week we have Zone Conference on
Monday, though, so we'll be emailing on Tuesday.

This past week was very, very good. Our branch became a ward on
Sunday!  That was very exciting.  They've been struggling to became a
ward for years now, and Sister Bullough and I are very lucky to be the
missionaries here now that it's happened. There's a Bishopric now and
a lot of changes in callings. We had a lot of investigators come, and
it was cool for them to see how the church works.

Our investigators are doing well. Sister Johnson is doing great with
not smoking!  It's been such a struggle for her, but her testimony of
the Lord's love and the help He gives has grown very much. We're
looking at having a baptism next week!

We met a lot of new people this past week and several of them were
families. A lot of them have been looking for a church and were very
open to learning. We're excited to see what happens.

We met with a Baptist pastor at his church Friday morning. It was a
little on the intimidating side to talk to him, and he wasn't
incredibly open, but it was a good opportunity to share our
testimonies of the Restoration with someone who influences a lot of
people in the community.

We met an inactive member a couple weeks ago who hadn't been to church
in years. He wasn't raised in a strong LDS family and his records were
never moved when he moved. We met with him last night and he's excited
to come back to church and to bring his kids and start doing Family
Home Evenings.

I love you all so, so much!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Monson

April 9, 2012

Hi Family!

First of all, I am so, so excited to hear that Kristen and John's baby
is a healthy boy!!  Yay!  I hope your Easter was wonderful!

This week was adventurous. And a little disastrous.  But, the work is
moving forward :)

Sister Johnson is still doing very well. She has such a strong
testimony. The only thing standing in her way of baptism is
cigarettes.  I hate those guys.  She is so determined, though, and I
think this time she'll be able to stop for good. She's started the
church's addiction recovery program. She is working on converting her
whole apartment complex and has set up appointments for us to meet
with her friends and family. Her sons invited their friend to church
and did well there.

We taught a new family last week who let us right in while we were
tracting in Muldrow. They were so open and the Spirit was strong. It's
wonderful to have experiences like that.

This week was disastrous in part because three of our investigators
were excited and ready to come to church but didn't get to for reasons
that weren't their fault or ours.  It was good that they were wanting
to come, though!  Next week...

Our Easter was good. Thank you so much for the baskets!  We've been
enjoying them :).  We had a delicious meal with a family in the ward
and a couple of families gave us baskets.

Transfers were last week and we are in the clear for another six
weeks. It's great being companions with Sister Bullough.

I love you all so, so much!

Love,
Sister Monson

April 3, 2012

Dear Family,

 

Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I love you!!!!

 

This week was a good one. We got a wonderful new investigator we weren't expecting. We had dinner with a family in the branch who is a little less active and their son's girlfriend was there, wanting to learn about the church!  She'd already been on mormon.org.  She's been reading and praying and she's felt the Spirit.  She happily accepted when we asked if she would be baptized as she continues to feel good about the church.

 

Sister Ramos had a lot of medical problems this past week. It's amazing all the junk Satan throws in the way when people are working towards baptism. She's feeling better now, though, and she and her son should be getting baptized this month!

 

General Conference was amazing! We watched it at the church and at members' homes.  A few of our investigators got to watch it and felt the Spirit. I wish everyone in the world had watched it! I've really, really seen on my mission the difference in the lives of people who have strong families. We talk to a lot of poor people who are in bad circumstances spiritually, and none of them were raised in a family with a good mom and dad who were married and taught them about the Gospel. It makes me very grateful.

 

My testimony of the Holy Ghost has been strengthened a lot on my mission. Last night a couple of our appointments fell through and we both felt like we should visit an older lady who can't really progress as an investigator that we met a few weeks ago. We stopped by and met her daughter who is a lost member of the church and has been thinking about coming back. We also were prompted to talk to some people who were sitting across the street from an appointment we'd just come out of. The wife had done a lot of family history work at church libraries and had a lot of other run-ins with the church, and the husband had been baptized when he was a lot younger. God loves His children so much, and He leads us to them. It's a great feeling to know you are where you are supposed to be.

 

I love you all so much!  Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson

March 26, 2012

Hi Family!

 

We're emailing on our actual preparation day again because we were able to get a ride to Sallisaw.  Sorry to throw you off! 

 

This week was a good one. Sister Johnson finished The Book of Mormon!  It took her a month and two days. She bore her testimony on Sunday and it was really beautiful.  Her two sons, who are autistic, came to church with her, and we're still teaching her husband. They are trying to quit smoking together now, so that will make it easier on her.  We helped her husband move his stuff out of a house he left in a rush so that was fun. 

 

We met a girl walking down the road in Muldrow a little while ago. We set up a time to visit her and met her family. They are pretty much already LDS. There are 8 kids in the family and they homeschool. They've met with missionaries before, when they lived in North Dakota. Two of them came to church on Sunday, so that was exciting. 

 

Today we went as a district to see some runes left by Vikings who rode their boats up the Poteau river. That was fun.

 

I love you all so much!  Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Monson