Temple :)

Mama;

This week has been a rough week for Sister Stewart and I. she just kind of broke down one night and told me that she has no idea why she is out on a mission or why the Lord sent her here and we just talked for a good hour. then a few days later we went to a referrals house for a meeting we had set up with them but they were not home. I had a prompting to go and visit a member couple who lived a few blocks from where we were at. we were at the members house just talking when sister stewart broke down again and we just talked with the member (Sister Boggs) about her mission and how she got through it. It was an amazing experience and the spirit was so strong in that room as we talked. Sister stewart and I went home loving each other more and loving the Lord more. The next day, (Friday) we had dinner with Bro Boggs who is a recent convert and is having a rough time in his life right now. so the elders had the dinner message and they did a great job. we watched the new Mormon message "the hope of God's light" and that helped him out a little bit. then we drove the elders back to there car by our apartment and sat for 40 mins in the car just talking about our missions and what has helped us through the hard times. Elder Nibley and Elder Tripp (elder Collins wasn't there because of exchanges) were telling us all the crappy crazy experiences they have had on their missions and how they learned why they were in that certain area or why they went through that experience. It was amazing. then we all decided to go and get cupcakes  and take them to the Spanish elders who are also having a rough go. It was the best night of my mission. just to see the happy smiling faces of all of us as we got to brighten each others day. We will probably never do it again but at that moment, someone's day was made and everyone was happy.

Anywho... I should also tell you that trainer calls were this weekend.... no I am not training, but sister Stewart is training again... so as of September 3rd I will most likely have a new companion and a new address... so if you are planning on sending me anything, don't send it after thrusday Aug 28th... cuz it will take longer to get to me if I have a new address...

Also.. because next Monday is Labor Day, the library where I am at right now email will be closed so I will write you on Tues Sept 1st instead :}

Now to answer your questions:

So what have you been doing this week to help show your Heavenly Father's love for others? Just listening to what people have to say. I know that is probably not what you were expecting but I have gained a lot of trust from other missionaries and have grown to love them even more.

do you do service hours? if yes what do you do?  We do have service hours but not set ones. we just go and help people clean out their garage, wash someone's dog or help someone move. Just little things throughout the week.

do you read the ensign each month? Do you ever share those messages? We do read the ensign and we are starting to share some of the messages inside with our Less Active members. It seems to be working:}

Because you are in a strong Christian area do they all know they are children of Heavenly Father? Not all of the people we talk to understand that they are God's children but they know who they are and who God is but they don't understand the relationship between us and God... so it is fun to watch as they try to grasp that concept of the gospel.

did your whole mission go to the temple or do you go in smaller groups? We went as a zone which is 4 districts of about 8 missionaries :} It was an amazing experience. the temple is a little bit bigger than the Palmyra one :} it is about the size of our church building back home and the church right across from it shares the same parking lot... as in, the temple and the church share front yards haha. 

What did you learn this week that brought you closer to your Heavenly Father and Savior? I learned how to listen with my heart and really try to understand what the person is going through in order to help them and know that I am there for them, showing compassion like Christ did.

Was there a moment this week that was so amazing that words can not express? the temple was unbelievable! it was so amazing and spectacular and just plain awesome! it did make me a little tunky (aka homesick) because I didn't have my mom to hold my hand during it.

Do you know your family loves you? and do you feel our love and prayers? I absolutely know that you guys love me and I can feel your prayers. I don't know what I would do without you guys :} thank you so much for being amazing examples to me :} do you know that you are loved by me? hehe

what did you learn in your scripture studies? I learned in Alma 1-5 this week about Alma and the Nephites fighting against the Lamanites and the Amalicites :} that was pretty awesome!

Well I hope I answered everything for ya :} love you tons and hope you have a fabulous week!

Love Sister Meagan

8-18-14

What happened this week that made to so excited to share it with your Mama that you almost couldn't wait till Monday? Haha nothing too exciting happened but Sister Stewart and I are drained emotionally. We spent 3 hours at a less actives house trying to comfort her (without being counselors) and just keep her company so the elders could show up and give her a blessing. It was crazy! She cried and laughed and then cried some more. then like 2 days later Kelli (the less active in our complex) got mad at us because we were talking with another neighbor who lives above us because she thinks he is a con artist and that he does all these bad things. Then Richard (the neighbor Kelli doesn't like) told Kelli to stop spreading rumors around and she got all defensive. She then came over to our apartment as we were leaving to go to our dinner appointment and she totally cussed us out. It was really scary. So she doesn't really want anything to do with us anymore and Sister Stewart and I don't really know why but we are ok with it because now we can actually get things done in the mornings. Sad that it had to go down the way it did though.

OH we also got a Mormon.org referral this week haha. He requested a Book of Mormon so we went to give it to him. and when we got to his house, he had never heard of Mormon.org and didn't have any friends who were Mormon.... so we talked to him a little bit and we have a return appointment with him and his wife this week on Thursday :} so something good came out of an awkward experience. What is crazy is that we had the right name, right address and right phone #.... God is definitely looking out for us :}

My favorite moment was when.... Sister Stewart and I got to go to the Quail Creek Ward Party this last Saturday :} it wasn't as fun as the Alpine 5th Ward parties but it was still pretty good :}

I felt the spirit so strong when.... We went to an 8 year olds baptism. The spirit is so strong and you realize how happy our Heavenly Father is when we make the right choices to come closer to Him and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Have you met with Lori yet? Sister Stewart actually asked me last Wednesday what we should do and I said "go see Lori" so we did and she was home bus busy so we talked to her a little bit and she asked us to call her next week (so this week now haha) and set up a time to talk with her. She sounded pretty excited and she is definitely NOT 70. I would put her at mid to late 50s at that. Haha

How is scripture reading going with Sophie and Jill?  There is power in the word of God! There is power in the word of God. Absolutely. But Jill has been working double shifts at the hospital so she is never home when we meet with Sophie. But Sophie is doing great. Her testimony is coming back and I am so proud of her. She hasn't been reading every day but she tries to pray every morning and night. Which is really good cuz when I 1st got here, she didn't do either. We are meeting with her tonight and we are watching "a Prophet of the Restoration" with her :} so excited!!

Do you get enough hugs form the sisters in your ward?  And do you say thank you a million times for the dinners you are fed? I definitely don't get enough hugs but I still get some so I am happy with that :} and yes I thank the family a million and one times for feeding us. The members are amazing and love having us over which is good cause we loving going into members’ homes and teaching them a scripture or a principle of the gospel. It is so fun!

When did you feel the Spirit guide you this week? We were guided to go to the referrals house haha :} that was fun

What did you learn from your studies?  And what did you learn from teaching this week? I learned about Abinidi and his sacrifice, his willingness to die for his beliefs. and I thought to myself, would I give up my life for my Heavenly Father, for my religion.... kind of a crazy thought don't ya think haha

I can't believe Trent is home!!! Did you say hi from me? If not that's cool haha

I also can't believe that Maddie Hood is married?! AAAHHH that is crazy!

How is Paige doing? When is her wedding again? Oh that is just so weird to me haha

 Yeah, Sis Stew and I had a goal this week to take at least 3 cute photos a day.... we took those 2 (the only 2) yesterday haha. It hasn't really worked yet... but we are still working on it haha :}

 

  

Aloha

 how are you doing?  I am doing pretty good this week. there have weeks that were better but we are hanging in there. 

Who are you meeting with now?  We just got a member referral and we are meeting with her on Tuesday (tomorrow) and we are sooooo excited. she is 70 and is a member of the catholic church but doen't like how they are changing things they have done for 100 of years so she is looking for truth! well guess what?! we have it haha!

I wonder if the quirky neighbor you have is just casually reaching out to the missionaries?  she is totally crazy and wont leave us alone... she came over like 7 times one morning and called 4 times as well.... we ignored her and she tried to open our door to see if it was opened. luckily I had locked it a few mins previous haha. she is just crazy. we have sorted out that mess and she promised us she wouldn't come over until noon everyday because of our studies and training haha.

when did you feel the Lord's hand directing you this week?  I definitely felt it this week when we were at a less actives apartment ( her name is sophie :}) and sister stew and I decided just to read the BofM with her so we did. then her roommate who is a less active catholic decided to stay and listen while we had our lesson. she stayed for the prayer and everything when she usually just left or sat in her room. then we started reading and asked if Jill (the roommate) wanted to join in reading and she said that she was a good listener. so sis stew, sophie and I read 1 Ne 4 out loud and then talked about what stuck out to us in that chapter. then I had a feeling that we should read another chapter which was chapter 5 and it is a short one. so we were about to start reading again and Jill raised her had and was like "I like to read out loud too" and so we handed her a BofM and she read with us and when we started talking about the chapter we had just read she would ask us questions and we would answer them using the chapter in the book of Mormon. It was amazing! so I am not sure if she will be there tonight when we meet with sophie again but we hope she will be haha :}

Your favorite teaching moment was when.... we were talking with a member who just needed to talk to someone and we came to mind. we were talking about our missions and how fun they are (she served an mission in Portugal) and we were talking about when we went to the temple and she talked about how bad of an experience it was and how after her mission she has never gone back. sister stew and I just talked with her for 2 hrs about our stories at the temple (not in detail) but how we both felt like we were at home. by the end of the meeting she felt the spirit and was so grateful that we had come over and talked to her :} it was amazing! 

you and Sis Stewart learned this______ by the spirit this week:) We learned what it means to have "real intent" when we read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was crazy cuz it just clicked in both of our minds and we realized that with real intent means to act on the prompting or the revelation Heavenly Father gives you. it was so cool to see the light bulbs click on while we were talking about it haha

what did you learn in your Scripture study this week?  I learned about the light of Christ and how the Holy Ghost brings to remembrance those things that we have learned before and how the Holy Ghost tells those truths to the Light of Christ within every one of us! it was a crazy study experience for me.

do you sing in the car AND while walking? Do we sing? that is a silly question haha. sis stew and I pretty much sing whenever we get a chance haha. we mostly just sing in the car or in our apartment, but we sometimes sing while we walk/tract. its so fun!

do you sing in people's homes?  the spirit is always brought in when uplifting music is present.  We actually have haha. Elder Beus left this morning so at every dinner appointment this week, we had he wanted us to sing, so we did. we all sang "One Voice" and it was awesome! we also sang "Sweet Hour of Prayer" which was just beautiful :}

have you had a chance to talk in church?  or bear your testimony? I haven't given a talk in church or bore my testimony but I have taught 2 book of Mormon class this transfer and bore my testimony there if that counts. plus sis stew and I bare our testimonies every time we teach someone haha

I love you guys so much and appreciate all the prayers and support that is coming my way :}

Love you!

Love Sis Boult!

The Challenge 8-11-14

Fam:

Today is just a normal p-day haha nothing out of the ordinary for us. I can't believe Mads is going into her Junior year!!! AAAHHH!

Tell me how football/tailgating goes :} almost all of my workout shirts are LP hehe.

 

It is really hot here, but I drink enough water and stay out of the sun for long periods of time so it isn't that bad.

 

what (other than bugspray) gets rid of bugs?  transfers aren't for another 3 weeks so you are good to send the treats from Canada :} I am glad that everything has been going well and that Canada was a blast (like always haha)

so questions from the relies: 

Papa:   So what is your favorite thing to do as a missionary? I would say building trust with members. the more they trust you, the more likely they are to send you to their friends and have you teach the gospel. So we always leave dinner messages with people to help them start their missionary work. Like this month is all about talking. so we (missionaries) share scriptures that say to speak/teach the gospel to all and then commit them to try talking to someone new about the gospel (could be a member, nonmember, less-active) and just practice bringing up gospel principles in regular conversation. that gets them talking about their beliefs and invites the spirit in on the conversation. It strengthens the members and it helps strengthen the person they are talking to ;}

Mads: What is the biggest difference between Utah and OKC?  the mountains for sure. but they sky here is beautiful. you can see it for miles and miles. also the people here are way more open with talking about their beliefs and what church they go to, they are just not open to change, or just even listening to what we want to say.

Jaxon:  Are you a THUNDER's fan now? Not quite but I am getting there haha

Nana:  She just wants to make sure you are doing all that your mission pres wants you to be doing. Don't worry Nana, I am doing everything that is asked of me and more :}

Colton:  what is your door approach? "Hi. We are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we wanted to know if we could share/say a prayer with you today?" sometimes we will swap out "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and say "Representatives of Jesus Christ" but then we found out that Jehova's Witnesses do that sometimes so we stopped using that one haha

Mike: have you eaten anything crazy yet? Nothing crazy yet haha but I have a feeling that will change soon :}

Mason:  do you miss him sometimes? Yes, I definitely miss him sometimes :}

Uncle Ron ;) : Are there any attractive Elders in your area? (Mom told him that as soon as you are set apart the blinders go up)  No Uncle Ron I am not attracted to any Elders. They smell haha

What do most of the people do for a living?(agricultural, industry, etc...) Most of the people in this area are Dentists, Oral Surgeons, or some kind of Doctor.

Aunt Lorena: How ethnically diverse is the area? Not really in the area I am serving in but I know of a few areas that are just Hispanic or just Native American... but my area is mostly Caucasians haha 

questions from Mama:

What did you learn from your studies this week?  I learned about king Benjamin and the 1st General Conference in Mosiah this week. It is soo cool how powerful King Benjamin's words are now haha

How are your peeps doing?  do we need to send additional prayers your direction?  the peeps are doing well. Elder Beus came and visited our ward yesterday. it was so weird to see him again after 2 weeks of not seeing him. (Ya Elder... I mean, Brother Beus came back with his family and came to our ward to visit some of the families he had taught and just to say 'Hi' to us. it was great.  He is from Melba Idaho... which is north of Boise... so it would have been a long drive just for a homecoming talk. but its all good haha) :} Sister Stewart and I have been in 3 different cars this week because ours keeps getting recalled and then needed to go to Maaco for body work. its crazy haha but we are grateful that we still have a car. (So the story behind the car is that about 5 months ago, a sister ran over the curb and dented the underside of the car so it ran funky... they were going to have it fixed when Chevy recalled all their 2013 cruises because of some faulty axles. so for the last 5 months the car has been with the Chevy dealership and then we got it back, then had to send it to Maaco for the dent to be fixed... so we are in a 2013 Toyota Corolla haha :} it smells like sweaty boys :{ but it is a car haha so sister stewart don't complain.. a lot haha.)

have you met with the 70 yr old women yet?  (really think of your G'mas) We haven't met with Lauri yet... but we will keep trying to get a hold of her. :}

have you had a zone conference yet? No we don't have a Zone Conference this transfer :{ but we do have a temple day on Aug 21st and I am sooooo excited haha. I have actually been craving the temple. I know that sounds weird but it is so true!

What made you laugh out loud?  Sister Stewart and I took really ugly photos this week and we could not stop laughing at how ridiculous we look. Oh and at one of our dinner appointments this week, Elder Collins ate 10 ginormous slices of pizza, Elder Nibley ate 6 pieces and Sister Stewart and I ate 4. it was insane! haha

What this week did you do differently that had great results?  Sister Stewart and I decided to go visit less actives that we had never seen before and 1 of them ended up coming to church yesterday and that was amazing! he hasn't come in like..... 7 or 8 months... something like that

What happened this week that brought you closer to your Heavenly Father? the Book of Mormon Class we have each week was on personal conversion and that was amazing to receive all of this revelation on how I could become closer to my Savior and Heavenly Father.

what did you learn that strengthened your testimony?  I watched some one receive the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday (a less-active who has been reactivated) and another Reactivated less active gave him the priesthood and it was amazing and so powerful to watch what the atonement can do to help people change and come closer to Christ.

Love to you all,

Sister B

Thriller

Hi mommy :}

to answer your questions:

So what was the most exciting thing to happen with you this week?  We got a new investigator yesterday (sunday August 3rd). She is a member referral from the Murphy family in our ward and she is 17. she has been coming to church with the Murphy's for about 3 or 4 weeks and about 2 weeks ago at P-day sports and told her friend (Olivia Murphy) that she wanted to be baptized. so we taught her the restoration yesterday and committed her to be baptized on September 6th :} I am so excited and grateful that the Lord answered our prayers and that He is preparing people for the gospel :}

How did the visit go with the 70 yr old women and how is she like and different than your g'mas?We actually didn't get to meet with Lauri (the 70 yr old) because her family just showed up one day unexpected. so hopefully we can go and see her this week instead haha.

when did you feel the Lord's hand directing you this week? Definitely on exchanges. I was in our area with Sister Holloway and we only had appointments that night but nothing in the afternoon. so we went tracting. and I learned how to step up to the plate when talking to people cuz Sister Holloway does not handle talking to random people well haha. it was amazing to feel the Spirit prompt me to go and knock on a specific house. the lady who answered invited us in and we talked to her for about 10 mins. she didn't want to hear what our message was but asked for a card to have us come back and pray with her. she was so awesome!

What made you laugh out loud? ( and I might need a pic of the elder's eyebrows:) well sis stew and I take a lot, and I mean a lot of ugly pictures (some will follow in a different email) so those always make us LoL hehe. we took some of the elders too so I can send those as well. We also went to this place called Nic's and it is a little shack place on the side of the road and it is sooo good! we went with the village elders (elder Tripp and elder Durham) and a member from their ward. it was so jam-packed with people that you couldn't move. that whole experience was just weird/awesome/craziness haha

Your favorite teaching moment was when.... we got a new investigator... but if we are not including that it would be when we were part of a lesson being taught a recent convert (Matt Weems) by our ward mission leader (Bro. Hicks) about missionary work and callings in the church. it was so spiritual and we all shared experiences or scriptures or thoughts and it was so powerful!

you and Sis Stewart learned this______ by the spirit this week:) We learned that the Lord really does answer prayers. I mean we already knew that but the Spirit confirmed what we already knew to be true and it was amazing!

what did you learn in your Scripture study this week? I learned about the Olive-Tree in Jacob 5 and really focused on how that applies to me on a mission. it is just so cool how you can take almost any scripture in the book of Mormon and apply it to your life. I challenge you to try that tonight at FHE with the Atwood Clan :} it is really fun

 how was your BoM class? is it for investigators, new members or a regular class? the class is for whoever wants to come. we usually bring investigators or less actives but everyone is welcome :}

What are your plans for today? today we are going to the zoo for a zone p-day experience. it should be really fun hehe. then we have dinner and a lesson with a less active :} it should be a good day today.

What was the best thing you ate this week (Nana would like to know)? We ate encheladas yesterday and those were amazing! but we have had stake, burgers, lots of salads, ham and sweet potato mash... it was just as weird as it sounds.

So this experience isn't mine but it is really cool so I will share it anyway. it is about elders Collins and Nibley and their investigator Ken.  so elders Collin and NIbley have been working with Ken for quite some time now and have asked him in the past to be baptized and he just says "no" so a few nights ago they asked him again and he said "no". well elder Collins asked why and he said that "there is a wall between me and baptism that I just cant get through." and then elder Nibley had a thought just pop into his head and he blurts out, "have you ever seen Harry Potter?" and ken said yes. then elder Nibley goes on and says "do you remember how Harry has to get to the train? he has to walk through the wall of platform 9 3/4. Ken, Elder Collins and I have been to Hogwarts and want you to trust us and trust in the Lord to walk through that wall"

and Ken agreed to be baptized! Is that not just awesome!!

anywho... I hope Canada is just plain awesome and have lots of fun!!

Love Meagan