February 28, 2012

Hello Family!

It's been a very good week! Sister Bullough is great. It's really fun
to be with a new missionary.  She's already a great one!

We've seen a lot of miracles this week!  We have a relatively new
investigator named Sister Johnson. We committed her to read the first
chapter of The Book of Mormon and she read up to Mosiah and retained
almost all of it. She said while she read she felt "stirrings" and
there were many things that rang true. She doesn't want it to end! She
came to church on Sunday and loved it and participated in the lessons
and told her ride to continue to get her every week. She's a great
lady.

Sister Ramos stopped smoking!  She was having so many struggles and
was so discouraged, becauses she'd tried so many programs for so many
years. She said that, out of nowhere, the cravings almost completely
stopped, and when they came they didn't last long. She had no trouble
stopping. She couldn't understand why, except that she felt like
people were praying for her. We explained that we'd prayed and fasted
for her. She was amazed and knew, beyond doubt, that that was why she
had been able to stop. It was really powerful and wonderful. That was
the biggest hurdle in the way of their family getting baptized, and
now it's gone. I'm so grateful for answered prayers. The Lord really
listens.

Another cool thing happened while we were volunteering at the
hospital. A lady who works there told us about missionaries that used
to visit her. We asked if she'd like to visit with missionaries again
and she said yes. We found out she was the sister of the lady we met
at the less active member's home when she was there to pick up her
little boy a couple weeks ago. Heavenly Father really wants their
family to have the Gospel!

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

Love,
Sister Monson

February 21, 2012

Hello Family!

 

We got transfer calls on Saturday night. Sister Williams is going to Indian Springs/Broken Arrow and she'll be in a threesome, and I'm training Sister Bullough!  I'm so excited :)  She'll come on Thursday morning. 

 

We had a good lesson this week with a lady we tracted into. She told us when we first met her that she'd already been saved, but we could come back. We did and we chatted and she talked a lot about her church and didn't seem to interested in changing. We left her the restoration pamphlet and when we came back she'd read it and prayed about it. She said she hadn't received her answer yet, but she's always been looking for a church that felt right and she feels like this could be it!  She's excited to read The Book of Mormon.

 

We had a good lesson with the Ramos family this week. Sister Ramos has a daughter that we have recently started teaching too, and she wants to be baptized with her mom and brother!  That was exciting.

 

The weather is back to being warm again!  It was only cold for one or two days. There was a big freak rain/hail storm last night. The worst part only lasted for about 3 minutes, and it was right when we were getting out of our car to go to an appointment. It was pretty crazy. I went running for the house and ended up at the window instead of the door because I couldn't see where I was going :)

 

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

 

Love,

Sister Monson

February 14, 2012

Hello Family!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!  This week was a good one. We saw a lot of miracles.

 

We had an investigator with a baptism date that we weren't able to see for awhile and we had suspicions that his Baptist preacher neighbor who had given us a hard time had warned him not to talk to us. We dropped in on him and had a good lesson and in the middle his best friend, who had just gotten out of prison the day before, drove up. He went out and told her we were there and she joined us. She said the closing prayer and said she felt God prompted her to see him that morning, and had helped her come in when she found out we were there.

 

We also had a great lesson with a guy whose girlfriend is an inactive member. They've met with missionaries for years and haven't had any progress. We've never been able to meet with them because they've kind of avoided it. We made the appointment, though, and went over. The girlfriend wasn't there and we wouldn't have been able to go in, accept that his relative got there just before us to pick up her son who was getting babysat. We sat down and shared a scripture and both of them really opened up to us about their relationships with God and struggles they've had. The Spirit was there and it was wonderful.

 

We also saw some great miracles tracting this week. Down one road we found an inactive family, a man whose uncle is a Mormon and he wants to learn more, and a girl who went to our church for three years in California but didn't know where it was here. Right after that we got a great member referral that we're excited about.

 

Winter came yesterday!  We woke up to snow and it was the first time it's been cold enough for that. We tried to go up a mountain on a dirt road and didn't make it. That was an adventure.  Apparently my tire tracks were an inch away from the drop-off, so guardian angels were holding me up :). The snow is already pretty much gone.

 

Other adventures this week: Sister Williams was proposed to over the phone by one of our investigators when he found out she was leaving, and we were fed big meals by members 8 times in 3 days.

 

I love you all so much!  I'm so grateful for my wonderful family! 

 

Love,

Sister Monson

February 7, 2012

Hello Family!

 

This week was a good one. We had Zone Conference and it was pretty much amazing.  I got to play a musical number for it - Joseph Smith's First Prayer.  That was fun. It's always good to see President and Sister Merkley and all the other missionaries.  The instruction was really good, too.  There are two other sisters in our zone and one of them went to Timpanogos. Her last name is Blocker and she was in FCCLA. Maybe Kristen knows her?  I got to tell the Merkleys how to pronounce Sister Bullough's name. They're excited for her to come.

 

We met some new people this week. One was a lady who has two autistic boys and the older one is bipolar too. Her late husband was too. She has so much on her plate but she has a lot of peace because of God. We're excited to teach her. We also got to teach the fiancee of a recently returned member of the branch. He has been reading and praying and he knows The Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We just have to get him to stop smoking, now :).  Sister Ramos is still working on that.

 

We've started volunteering at the hospital in Sallisaw. The volunteer coordinator is a leader in another faith. We were teaching a lady one of the first days I was here and were interrupted when he came in to teach her too. That was a little awkward. It hasn't been awkward at the hospital, though :)

 

After Zone Conference Sister Williams found out from President Merkley that this will be her last transfer in Sallisaw.  Transfers aren't until the 23rd, so she found out pretty far in advance.

 

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

 

Love,

Sister Monson

January 31, 2012

Hello Family!

This week was a good one.

Saturday night we were tracting in an apartment complex. There was a
door that we almost didn't knock on, because we'd just seen the people
go in and it felt a little awkward, but we knocked anyway and found a
family of inactive members!  They let us right in and were so excited.
Their address and phone number had changed so no one had been able to
get ahold of them. They all came to church on Sunday. That was a great
blessing.

We did the stop smoking workshop with Sister Ramos. She threw away all
her ashtrays and lighters and crushed her tobacco and she's been
smoke-free!

We taught a couple last week that we'd taught once before. When the
guy opened the door he said his wife was at work, but then she yelled
from the back for us to come in. He pretended like he hadn't known she
was there and we came in. They'd "lost" their Book of Mormon which
they spent time "looking for" so we let them borrow a couple and read
with them. The Spirit was there during the lesson and by the end their
whole attitude had changed and they asked if they could keep The Book
of Mormon until they found theirs. It was really neat to see their
attitude change through the Spirit.

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

Love,
Sister Monson