Lake Reams - August 26, 2013

Hey,

So this week was very good! Definitely had some miracles! So on Monday we were out tracting and we ran into a man named Norris, and he was way friendly and we had talked to him about the gospel a little bit and if he had a faith in Jesus Christ and he said yes he did and we asked him if we could come and share a message with him and he said he would like that.  Well.... for some reason after we had gotten done talking to him I kept thinking about umm Norris why does that sound so familiar to me and I could not figure it out! Ugh it was bothering me so bad, so when we got home that night I started going through the area book and old teaching records and such and guess what! I found Norris on there, it was so weird I knew I had heard his name before, well anyways we were able to pick him back up this week which was way cool and we were able to teach him the Restoration the other day, and he really seemed to enjoy it.  When the lesson was almost finished he had told us that he had met with missionaries before a few years ago and that it was cool we are talking to him again.  We gave him another Book of Mormon because he had lost his other one; we also gave him a short reading assignment to see how well he is at keeping his commitments, which we will follow up with this week! We also taught Favio twice this week and both lessons went very well, Brother Tomlinson our awesome assistant ward mission leader came with us to one of our lessons and did such a good job at teaching with us! It was nice because Favio had some weird guy questions (which I will not say what they are haha) But Brother Tomlinson was able to answer for him and help him understand why we do certain things in the church.  Well here’s the catcher though, at the end of the lesson Favio had said how he has been praying and felt like he hasn't really received an answer yet and he has been trying to do all the things we ask him. Well we told him to keep doing the things he is doing and that the Lord will answer him.  Well like 2 days later Sister Thomas and I had just gotten done with a dinner appt. and ran home to get our bikes and we were set on going tracting the rest of the night, but then we got this feeling that we should go and see Favio and teach him a lesson about keeping the Sabbath day holy. So we called him up real quick and were able to go and meet him in the park.  The lesson felt so perfect and like this is what he needed, he also expressed in the lesson some concerns he had that he had never brought up before about church and we were able to encourage him and help him with those concerns, after that we of course invited him to come to church and he said he would be there. Well of course we felt pretty confident that he was going to be there and then Sunday roles around and no Favio, we were a bit sad and we called him and asked where he was and apparently he had lost his keys at work the day before on a construction site and wasn't able to go anywhere. He told us that he had a locksmith person coming over to make him a new key and that he was sorry for missing.  Well later that day around 6pm we were at a less actives home teaching a short lesson and we got a call from Favio, he had a new key and he said he was getting ready to go to the church. (There is an evening service at 8 for those that work during the day) We were so excited and so after our lesson we rushed over to the church to meet him.  The meeting went so well and it was so peaceful and the spirit was very strong, Favio enjoyed himself and told us he was glad he could come. I know that as he comes to church he will be able to receive the answer he is looking for; it is so exciting to see when your investigators are serious about the commitments you extend!  Well another awesome thing that happened is that we were able to go and visit the Gonzales family this week too, they are a family that we tracted into 2 weeks ago and have been very busy, but we were able to see them tonight and teach them a short lesson. Sister Gonzales is so cute and young and they have one son- Lorenzo he is 3 and so so so cute! I wish I had more time to tell you about our week but I am out of time! Love you all!

-Sister Jamison!

Lake Reams August 19, 2013

Dearest Familia,

So this week was way good! A bit crazy but FULL of miracles!!! So Where to even start... We had an awesome lesson with Matthew on Tuesday night and it went soo well. The spirit was so strong and you could tell that Matthew was so ready to learn about the gospel.  Sister Thomas did a great job at teaching as well, this was like her 2nd or 3rd time teaching a full restoration lesson and she did awesome!  Matthew was just smiling during the whole lesson and asking so many great questions, he also expressed with us that he was looking to "start over" and to come closer to Jesus Christ and do better in his life. We bore our testimony to him about the atonement and how all of that is possible through Jesus Christ, we read Alma 7:11-13, and explained to him that the Savior has experienced all of these things so that we can become clean through him. That scripture and thought made him very happy and he is ready to do whatever he can to come closer to the Savior. SOO AWESOME! At the end of the lesson we invited him to baptism and I swear (no I don't I'm a missionary) but I kid you not we couldn't have asked him quick enough! He was basically asking us when he could be baptized and when we could come back and continue to teach him. It was so great, one thing I have realized is that the Lord is preparing His children all the time to receive the restored gospel, everyone we have taught that has keep the commitments we extend and truly seeks in their heart to know if this is the truth and then are baptized, have been prepared long before we got to them. These people are so easy to teach and so willing to do whatever they can to come closer to the Savior, they know that there is more truth that they are looking for and they find it when we teach them and they are so happy.  Gene is so cute; almost every time he see's us he can’t thank us enough for bringing him the gospel.  Gene was able to go to the temple this past week and he had a wonderful time.  When Gene gets really excited about something or someone he always says that is so awesome or they are so awesome, when he was telling me about his temple experience he says " That was so awesome, words can't even explain how awesome that was, I mean awesome just can't even describe how awesome." haha he is so funny and he thinks the gospel is "INDESCRIBABLY AWESOME."

Well another miracle that happened this week was Sister Thomas and I finally made contact with a woman that Sister Low and I tracted into about 8 or so weeks ago. Her name is Rachel and she is a single mother with 1 girl and 2 boys (K weird right?) But anyways she is awesome!  When Sister Low and I found Rachel she was so friendly to us and welcomed us into her home and we were able to pray with her and leave a short message with her and she loved us and said we could come back anytime, so that was cool.  Well we had tried to go back all the time and no one was ever home and so after a while we wouldn't stop by as much just because we didn't think anyone would be there.  Well the other day Sister Thomas and I were in the area and I had a thought that we should stop by Rachel’s home and see if she was there, so we stopped by and BOOOM! She was there haha.  She was so excited to see us and she welcomed us in and we started talking a lot about missionary work and a brief restoration lesson and Rachel was basically telling us the lesson.  And Sister Thomas and I were like whoa wait you know so much! How! And I guess Rachel did in home care or something for a friend that was dying -  an older woman back like 10+ years ago and this friend was LDS, well long story short this friend would talk to Rachel all the time about the gospel and about eternal families and gave Rachel a Book of Mormon and yaddy yatta! Well no wonder she was so kind to always let us in and talk to us, she loves Mormons! Ha well anyways Rachel was very impressed with Sister Thomas and I and how we have dedicated our time to serve the Lord and Rachel was saying how she wants her Children and herself to be close to the Lord and we said well that's why we are here! We want to teach your family the Gospel!!! Rachel accepted and we are going to go back this Saturday and teach her family, we also got to meet her 15-year-old daughter who is so so nice and a very cute young girl and she is excited for us to come back too! We can't wait and just like Matthew - they have already been prepared for us! - The Lord is always preparing His children and it makes it so exciting for us when we find them and can share with them this amazing message that we have! I love missionary work because of this! I love being able to share this message with others so that it can bless their lives!  - K funny moment, Sister Thomas and I were riding our bikes the other day and it POURED rain, well we went to run for cover and the only thing in sight was a big black trailer in the middle of a muddy/grassy field by a new development (the kind of trailer that has ads on it in construction sites) and we drug our bikes under there and sat for 45 minutes while it stormed and it was way hilarious because so many people passed us and no one helped haha uhhhhh hello! 2 girls dressed nice, in skirts, under a trailer in the mud- something doesn't seem right there let’s pass by anyways haha okkkk it was all fun though! Thank goodness Bishops wife came and saved us toward the end! - 

Well love you all and thanks for the letters and emails! Keep it up! Share the gospel!

-Sister Jamison 

Lake Reams - August 2013 pictures

 After a great chase she finally caught the turtle.

Sister Thomas and Sister Jamison, her trainer

Elder Delgado and Sister Jamison on P day

Bowling on P day

Lake Reams, August 12, 2013 - with Sister Thomas, new trainee

So this week was good, I don't even know where the time went! So lets see, Favio is doing well, unfortunately he canceled on us for the temple tour which I wasn't too surprised about.  He has canceled on us before and so we are going to keep trying with him this week and see what happens, so hopefully something!

We have also been doing a lot of tracting! A bunch of our investigators dropped off the face of the earth and that has been a bummer, but somehow we were still able to accomplish our goals. On Saturday we were tracting around 2 pm and having zero success. After we got done tracting we ran to our other appointments and things we had planned on our schedule and just going through our day like normal.  Then around 8 pm we were going to go and see Anna.  Usually we just drop in when we see her because she is so hit and miss so its much easier that way, but anyways as we were driving to Anna's we kept getting this feeling that we needed to go and tract where we had earlier that day and I was like... ugh I do not want to.  Those people are going to be like what are you doing you were just here, but I couldn't get it out of my mind.  So we drove over to the area we had already tracted, said a prayer and started again. As we went knocking the first 3 people didn't answer the door ( I was a bit glad, I didn't want to get yelled at) and then we went to the 4th house and a man named Rich answered the door. We told him we were missionaries and asked if we could bless his home, and after we prayed he was asking what church we went to and what time and so we told him (very excitedly) and he was telling us how he had just moved here with his family and how he was looking for a church to go to and so we were able to explain a bit more about us and the church and he seemed quite interested and so we asked if we could come back and he said yes of course and so we are going to go back this week and teach him and his family, I am quite excited! So crazy how the Lord puts people in your path and takes you to places you need to be even if it doesn't make sense!

Then on Sunday I had decided to fast because I have been feeling like our teaching pool has gotten so small and while we were at church I noticed that a woman in our ward was there with her boyfriend. Her name is Sister Carey.  Sister Low and I had gone over and visited her about 3 weeks ago and met her boyfriend Matthew, and we had asked Sister Carey if she had ever invited him to church and she said yes every Sunday but he just isn't interested. Well I guess that morning he got all ready and went down to the car and she said "what are you doing?" and he said "I'm gonna go to church with you." Well we know that it made her very happy and I was so happy to see him there.  After church the Elders brought him over to us and they had given him a Book of Mormon and Matthew and I began to talk and I asked him how he liked church and he said that he actually really enjoyed it and that he had some questions and was wondering if we could come over and teach him or explain to him. Well of course we said yes we can and we have an appointment to see him on Tuesday night. I am really excited, Sister Carey is so awesome and she has a really neat son.  Heavenly Father totally answered my prayers this week, it is so stressful when you get low on people to teach and no one listens, I have been praying like mad and these people have been coming out of the woodwork.  We also finally ran into a potential investigator Sister Low and I found about a month ago named Shelly.  Well we saw her and asked if she was still interested and if we could come back and she said yes we could and so we will see her this week too! It's crazy how when things get the most stressful and you feel like you've got nothing left and you've been praying on end for the Lords help and then in the nic of time there it is, exactly what you needed. Everyday at the top of my planner I write down the miracles I see happening that day, because we truely are so blessed every single day, it had really helped me to see how involved the Lord is in my life and has made me so much more grateful for the blessing I do receive. Like I've always said before, I didn't realize how hard this was going to be, but it has been so worth it, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world!

Love you all!

August 5, 2013 Lake Reams, Sis. Thomas

Hey Fammy,

So this week has been good! on Tuesday I got my new companion and her name is Sister Thomas from Lindon, UT. She just barely turned 19 in June and she is way cool.  We have been doing good together.

So the week we went and saw a woman named Loretta, she is a bit older and Sister Low and I found her about a month or so ago. But anyways we taught her a really solid Restoration lesson, and she seemed to enjoy it. She loves us and she is always asking when we can come by and see her so that is good! She says that she isn't looking to convert to any religion, but she has agreed to have the lesson and to meet with us which is awesome! And she started reading the Book of Mormon and she texted us late last night to tell us that she was enjoying what she was reading. That was so cool, she has a lot going on in her life and I know (of course) that the gospel is only going to bless her and help bring the peace that she needs. 

Amir is out of town right now (the 17 year old) but he is coming back this week so we really hope to get over there and start teaching him the lessons! We keep in touch with him and he still seems very very interested and has just been so busy, so we cant wait for him to get back!

But we did experience a total miracle this week! So we were out tracting on Wednesday night and we had knocked on a few houses and decided to go over to a different area to tract and before we went over we decided that we needed to say a prayer and so we did and then started tracting again and as we were knockin no one was answering, until we knocked on the 3rd house and a man answered  name Favio, and we introduced ourselves and he had very poor English, ( he is from Brazil ) but  we were able to understand him somewhat and we started talking to him and he was asking us what we were and what religion we came from and we told him and started to talk about God and how he has a plan for him and he was like really? and we basically gave him a shortened quickie version of the restoration and we invited him to church and he told us that he liked talking to us and that he would try and come to church and so we were like great we will save you a spot! Haha and the Favio was like ok but don't be disappointed if im not there but I will try and in my head I was thinking yup everyone says they will try and then they don't come haha but ok we will see! So then on Sunday we were sitting in church and right as it was starting we got a text and it say I am just leaving I will be there in 5 minutes and it was from favio! And I was like whattttttttt! ( our phone doesn't get service in the church) So I texted him back and said please Heavenly Father let this send and get to him and of course it did! WHOO!! So Favio came to church and he stayed all 3 hours and people were so nice to him and welcoming and by the end Favio said he felt really good and comfortable and that it was nice, and then we asked if we could come by this week and teach him some more about the gospel and he said yes! I am way excited and I hope that things good well! Well I wish I had more time but I don't! Love you all, keep praying that we find those who are ready to receive the gospel! And pray for your own missionary experiences! Love ya!

-Sister Jamison