December 19, 2011

Dear Family -

 

What an amazing season this is! I love being out here in the mission field being able to focus on the true meaning of christmas. We have seen a lot of miracles this season when we have been able to work closely with the members. This week is going to be awesome, We have two baptisms on thursday after our interviews with our mission president. Its exciting that its the same day because our Mission president will be staying in the area so he can be a part of the baptisms. We are pretty excited about it.

 

Today we are giong to wildlife safari. Pictures will come next week I am super excited.

 

I hope you all are doing well, sorry this week kinda stinks I am way excited to talk to all of you in 6 days!!! It will be a party on skype, Wahoo!! !

 

Peace and Blessings

Love sister Rose

December 12, 2011

This week was filled with Miracles. We spent a few hours tracting in the 30 degree weather which is always fun because of the hillarious things people say to you. But more than anything it shows that we are looking for people to teach. Heavenly Father see's our desires and blesses us.

 

Tuesday after Tracting for 2 hours in literally 30 degree weather and a lot of our appointments had fallen through we went to our last appointment of the night. Bobbie answered the door and had forgotten we were coming over. We asked if there was a better time and she said  no we could still come in. Her Son had just come home from a mission, he is the only member in the family and she wanted us to meet him thats why we were there. We got to talking about the gospel and how she wants it for her life. We walked out of there with a Baptism Date for Decmeber 22nd!! She is so excited!!

 

The Next day we had a meeting with a long time investigator who's wife and daughters are members. He has been through multiple sets of missionaries and has been investigating for over a year. Everyone knows him. He is an active non member of the church. We went into his house and simply asked what was holding him back. He explained how over Thanksgiving he was able to work out some familiy things but there were still questions. We taught about the spirit and how it teaches us and how he can have the spirit as a constant companion. He also is now getting baptized on December 22nd.

 

I love these miracles because it is bringing Families to the temple in a year from now! We are truly having a white Christmas with baptisms and it is amazing. I love this gospel and all that we see in it changing lives.

 

Attatched will be some awesome Pictures.

 

Love Sister Rose

December 5, 2011

Well Seems like it was a real Busy week back home. I hope things are going well with everyone there.

 

I wont lie My mind is a complete blur as it has been these past couple of days. I am trying to wrap my head around all the new changes here in the area. We ended up not getting a third companion last minute so me and Sister Cluff are Taking over the Melrose and Roseburg wards together and Tackling the work Head on. It has been a crazy busy work but we cannot complain when the crazy busy work leads to baptisms!!

 

This week we have been working Really Closely With Maggie Who is preparing for Baptism. It is heartbreaking how hard the adversary works on these people to keep them away from the church. It is another testimony to us that the church is true or Satan would not try so hard to keep people out of it. We spend at least an Hour a day with Maggie to give her the stregnth she needs to keep going. She is amazing. I cannot wait to get her to her Baptism, Then she will have the gift of the Holy ghost and things will get a little easier.

 

We Had to say our goodbyes to the Newton Creek ward which included the three Kids we baptized last transfer. It was remarkable to go and see them since there baptism. The change is like night and day. They are in foster care and have had a lot of emotional challenged. There Grandparents say that since baptism none of them have had meltdowns, and they have seen the most amazing change in there attitudes and behaviors. The oldest girl told us she doesnt like to lie anymore cause it makes her feel bad. I was so touched by this miracle because getting them baptized was probably the most difficult thing I have done on my mission. But seeing the outcome made it so worth it. and gives me the drive to keep working hard against the power of the adversary.

 

It is amazing the miracles we are seeing. A boy named Rodrigo came to church on sunday and asked where he had to sign up to be a member of the Church. We are meeting with him this week and he seems really solid. This doesn't usually happen here so we are pretty excited. A friend at school told him that our church was a good church and that he should go. He came and stayed for all three hours. And he loved it. Its amazing What the spirit can do when people come to church, its getting them there that is the obstacle.

 

 

Its wierd it is the Christmas season already. President Young sent out and Invitation to every member of the Church in Oregon to Invite a non member friend into there home to hear a message of Jesus Christ from the missionaries. I Am challenging you all to do the same thing. I know you guys all know someone who is not a member of the church. Please invite them over to our home and get in contact with the missionaries and ask them to come do a lesson about Christ and His atonement  and the need for the restoration. The Spirit that a missionary brings is undeniable and it would be a blessing to have in our home. I cannot wait to hear about who you guys invite over and how it turns out.

 

 

I love you All. I dont know what pictures didnt attatch last week, But I will attatch some awesome ones from booneyville this week.

 

Peace and Blessings

Love Sister Rose

November 28, 2011

This week is going to be a little Jumbled So hang in there with me.

 

So we have been working with some amazing people. We got a call last week from the Elders saying A Lady had sent in a request for missionaries but only wanted sisters. I wont lie, thats one of the perks of being a sister  :) So we called her and went over to visit her. Maggie is amazing!!! By our second visit she had read all the way to 2Nephi and was ready to set a date for Baptism. She is preparing to be baptized on December 17th. We are so excited for her, she has been prepared and loves the way the members of the church have a light in their eyes.

 

We are also working with Mario, this man is going to give us a run for our money. He has been through missionaries for the last 20 years. He has been in mexico for the past two years and before that he was in alaska. He speaks broken english and my spanish isnt to great so his wife helps out allot. He says he wants to serve a mission eventually with his wife but he wants an angel to tell him to join the church. I told him the other Day I was going to shake him. He just laughed at me. His wife thinks the sister  missionaries might be the key to his conversion cause he has only had elders in the past, and he has 5 daughters. We are fasting and praying for help.

 

This week for thanksgiving we had membering invite us over for breakfast lunch and dinner. It was interesting running all day. But it was fun, I lvoed being around families all day and feeling the love. I will attatch one picture thats all I got from thanksgiving with Kevin and Amanda they are a couple we absolutely LOVE!!

 

I am also going to attatch a picture of the trees, YOu will see that it is still very green here, but also that the trees are covered in moss, it is so wet here they just get covered in this moss it is so wierd.

 

We got transfer calls on Saturday and found out we will be seeing a lot of changes as a companionship. We are getting a new companion, Sister Rogers so we will be in a Trio. We are giving away Newton Creek Ward so it can have its own set of Missionaries, and We are Taking over Melrose and Roseburg wards. So it will be a whole new experience of getting to know new people and baptizing new members!! I love this work, I know its what I am supposed to be doing.

 

Love you Guys

 Peace and Blessings

 

Love sister Rose

November 21, 2011

Its so wierd that this week I hit my six months mark. It makes me worry that this time is going way to fast. I seriously feel like I flew into Medford airport last week. I don't understand how the time goes so quickly.

The weather is the one thing that is reminding me the time is moving on. In the summer it was in the 90's now we are lucky to get to the 40's. It does rain a lot. But it is beautiful here. It is so green and because it is so wet the trees are covered in green moss. It is crazy wierd.

So this week we were able to see Dakota Molly and Hailey Get baptized. We found them the first Saturday in this area. They are living with their grandparents who are members and wanted them to take the lessons. They are such amazing kids and loved learning about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was fun to see the change this gospel can make in even the Little kids lives. Their baptism came with a lot of challenges, the Advesary through every obstacle possible at us but with much prayer and work with every leader in the church we were able to pull it off and the spirit there was so strong.

This week our ward boundaries were changed also. This means for our ward we lost about 90 members in one of our wards. It was like a Utah ward. I was shocked my first week here to see how huge the ward was, but now it is just our job to build it back up again. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to split these wards again, this last time it took 29 years. I am betting within the next 5 years this area has a new stake. The church is exploading and it is exciting to be a part of this work.

I love you all. I am so very grateful for each and everyone of you. I am grateful for this gospel and how it blesses my life. I am grateful for Joseph Smith, for the Sacrifices he made so this church could be on this earth today. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. Reading it ten minutes a day will change anybodies life.

Love Sister Rose

November 14, 2011

So this week was way fun. I cannot believe how fast this is going. We started off the week at Presidents house for a sisters conference "Slumber Party" Which you can see pictures of here at our new blog! http://oregoneugenemission.blogspot.com  It was so nice to spend time with President and Sister Young With all the sisters. It was truly a blessing.

 

When we came back Tuesday we went straight back to work. We Are Preparing Dakota, Mollie and Hailey for their Baptism This Friday  night. The week of Baptisms are always crazy, But these poor kids have the adversary working on them hard. It is amazing what prayer does and how strong the kids are. They were scheduled to be baptized Saturday but they were so excited we moved it up a day. It is so much fun working with young children. I love how they just absorb what we are teaching them.

 

We met one of our new investigators this past week. His name is Ahmed. We had prayed the night before on where we should tract and after a few set backs and my companion saying "There has got to be a reason we are being Delayed!!" We set out for our street. We prayed and got out of the car, I Saw him on the porch and said lets go talk to him, Sister Cluff was a little Apprehensive because it looked like we were targetting him. My response was "We are targeting him" So we went, I introduced myself and as sister Cluff started he read her badge and said "Jesus Christ, Come in Come In!" He barely speaks english. We are working on getting Arabic teaching supplies, but I can promise you this stuff doesn't happen regularly in the United states :) We feel really blessed to be working with him, although it is the hardest thing in the world to teach the gospel in a laguage you dont know at all, but he says "I can feel you know it in your heart" Which I understand is the Spirit testifying to him of the truths we are teaching him. It is such an amazing thing to be a part of, and the miracle in even being able to understand some of what he is saying is pretty cool.

 

It has been crazy busy, We are filling our calendars 2 weeks out with appointments. This sunday our ward has a "special meeting" with 2 other wards in which we all think the boundaries are changing so we are interested in what that is going to bring. I just love the gospel and all the blessings and comfort it brings to us and our families. I hope all is well at home. I love you guys.

Love SIster Rose

November 7, 2011

Hey Family-

So this week has been super good. I am going to try to see if I can remember all that has happened and try to talk about the area a little more than I have. I love the Roseburg area, It is so beautiful and it doesn't rain as much as the rest of Oregon, so they say. But it does Rain and it started this week. It has been raining a lot this week and I am done with  it already. I pray everyday it wont rain, and some days my prayers are answered right away, and others it takes a while for that prayer to get answered.

 

This week I was blessed to be able to go back to my old area for Kellie's baptism. I started teaching Kellie about a month before I left, and when I left I was sad I would miss her Baptism. She asked if I could come down, and when I asked President about it he felt kinda iffy but in the end let me go. It was an amazing experience and the spirit was super strong. She bore her testimony at the end I it was the most plain and simple but heartfelt testimony I have heard in a long time. I love her so much and I am so grateful I was able to be a part of her Teaching. I cannot wait to see what becomes of her, She has Relief Society President written all over her!!

 

This weeek in Training we focused a lot on family history. We visited the Family history cented and I was able to get my four generation family tree. I want to get into family history so badly!! To bad I am busy working with people who are alive and well right now and cant really work with the dead for a while. But You should all go to your family history centers and see what it is all about it was soooo cool. I loved it so much.

 

So we have spent a lot of time contacting people who havent been to church in a while and we are having a lot of success with that. It is hard sometimes because some people don't want anything to do with you, but most of them just need a friend and a nice invite back. It is so amazing to be here and to feel the love our heavenly father has for all of his children. When we go out in search of them I can truly feel a small bit of the love he has for these people and it is just easy to want to bring them back.

 

Well I will attatch some pictures. I love you guys!!
love sister Rose

 

Kellie's Baptism

Tracting on a street in Roseburg

Awesome Sunset In Melrose

Lamp the Elders were using .. . . . .

The Mic in the Primary.... SICK

Lil bit of Fog. . Love it every Day

 

Peace and Blessings

Love sister Rose