May 28, 2012

Hey Family! I hope you are all having a wonderful Holiday weekend. Its
crazy here in Grants Pass because of Boatnik.... Its like a boat show
party. They have boat races on the Rogue. We got to watch a few on
Saturday it is pretty great.

Well This past week was truly an amazing week. Jasmine Decided after
one sunday at church that she wants to get baptized! Her and Kaalyn
will get baptized June 9th, by Shane who is just starting to come back
to church. It is an amazing experience to see the Gospel Change
peoples lives.

Well the biggest news of the week is that Pam was able to get
baptized. We got word about 3 hours prior that our mission president
would like to come.  We had it all set up that a new convert in the
ward that connected with Pam was going to do it. The baptism was at
6:30 and at 5:15 we got a call that he was too sick to get out of bed.
It was sad, you could hear how sad he was over the phone. Well me and
my companion went into a classroom and prayed we sat there and with
tears in our eyes both felt peace that this would work out. I then
felt really strongly that we should ask President Young to Baptize
Pam. We made the calls and he said he would be honored to do that if
thats what she wanted. She agreed and he was able to baptize her. The
spirit was sooo strong. The Love that President Young has for everyone
he meets is just incredible. He shows so much Charity it is amazing.
It was quite an experience to see president young in the font talking
Pam through it all. Pam is 63 and a cancer survivor and has a lot of
health problems. She was pretty worried, but President Young and her
were determined to only do it once. It was one of the best moments of
my mission. We found out later that it was President Youngs first
baptism since he came to Oregon.

She was able to get confirmed on Sunday and seemed to be on cloud 9.
She is truly converted to the gospel and knows it will bless her life.

We really are seeing miracles daily here in Merlin and I feel so
blessed to be a part of it.

Love Sister Rose

Pictures
1- Me and Elder Burton, He is 6'11
2- The Zone at the temple
3- Me holding an albino snake, Yes that is my Justin Bieber watch, and
Yes I got it approved :)
4-  The Scorpion we found about Judd's bed. IT was icky.
5-Pam Before Baptism!
6- Sister Young Me Pam Sister Judd and President after Baptism
7- A strong snake, we ran over it with the car, twice and it just
slithered away.

May 21, 2012

Hello Family!

 

I am sorry I didnt write last week. I could have carved a stone letter in the time it was taking the internet to load. Thought about it, but shipping stone is quite pricey. Well this past few weeks have been really amazing. President Young had each of the companionships make goals and send them into him. So me and my companion spent some time thinking about what we need to do to see miracles. We set a goal to have 5 baptisms this next 6 weeks. We had names for all the baptisms and felt really good about it. Saturday we got a call that 3 of the kids we were teaching, aka 3 baptisms were not interested anymore. It was really heart breaking. But we are keeping our goal at 5, we both felt inspired to have 5 so we know Heavenly Father will make it possible.

 

So this Sunday we went to church fasting for our goals. We had Kaalyn show up that is getting baptized June 9th, Pam wasnt able to make it but she gets baptized Saturday. Kaalyn brought her little Sister Jasmine. Jasmine was really quite and wouldnt really talk to us. Then During class a guy names Jim and his roomate Craig showed up. It was cool to have 4 investigators at church. So we went to teach Kaalyn last night and at the end of the lesson I felt like I really needed to invite Jasmine to learn more about the church. It was scary cause we were just about to pray and leave but I felt like we really needed to do it. So I asked her and she went quiet, in my mind I was like oh shoot I made this awkward and she doesn't want to, But then she said "Ya I would really like to learn more" We played it cool and set up a return appointment. When we got in the car we were freaking out. I know that my testimony in fasting for miracles and really listening to the spirit has been stregnthened.

 

I saw a way cool car the other day, It was this white little car with a big cirlce on top with a bunch of camera's. IT WAS TOTALLY A GOOGLE MAPS CAR!! So it was taking pictures of all the streets here in grants pass, I was standing in front of the dentist office, so If you look up the address I will probably be in the picture. MOMENT OF FAME!!

 

So another cool thing, Yesterday was the eclipse, It was pretty amazing to watch. I dont know if it was visable in utah I would assume so.

 

Well I love you all and I hope your doing wonderful.

 

Peace and Blessings

Love Sister Rose

May 7, 2012

Hello Family!!

 

So this week was amazing!! We got to go to the temple after Zone conference. Zone Conference is probably one of the highlights of my mission. I love being in a Chapel with over 50  missionaries and being taught from President Young and his Councelors and the Assistants. The spirit it so strong and you learn not only from what they are teaching but a lot of personal revelations comes. We talked a lot about the Enabling power of the atonement, if you havent read the talk from Elder Bednar from this aprils ensign read it, it will bless you in every aspect of your life.

 

So we did a session at the temple, and well it was terrific. When I got done I was walking out of the dressing room and a Sister from my last area started telling me of some things going on up in Roseburg. The ward is being hit pretty hard with some trials, and I was really sad to hear it. While she was talking I had the thought I needed to get going so I wrapped up the conversation and left. As We walked out into the hallway, These small temples have one hallway to the Baptismal font to the right or the left for endowments. Anyways, I walked out and Saw Linda and Gary! Linda is one of my converts from my first area, and Gary is her husband. I loved them so much, they are like family. Seeing them there was probably one of the best moments of my mission. They were there to do baptisms for the dead. It was so great to catch up with them for a minute and just hug them. I was able to stop by the house for about 15 minutes a few months ago when we were at training in medford, but let me tell you this was just great. Seeing a recent convert in the temple, is the most fulfilling feeling in the world. They will be able to get sealed this fall and I am so Excited for them.

 

Saturday we went out to Glendale. The town is a little sketchy.... We were walking out of an appointment and this parked  car had a rifle across the front seat, my companion wouldnt let me take a picture :(  But even better  a few miles away we were driving and there was this kid maybe 14 holding his gun and a dead turkey posing for pictures. His mom looked ridiculously proud... I love it here!

 

 

 

Yesterday at church our investigator Kaalyn and her Husband Shane were meeting with the bishop so Me and my companion and our Recent convert hung out with her kids, they are 5, and 3. They are hillarious. We taught them about the temple. When we told Cam, the little boy he could be with his family forever he looked and opened his whole mouth and gasped. It was sooo cute. As we were entertaining him he kept asking for his mom, so I told him we were playing hide and go seek and that his parents were looking for us. Then the little girl started talking and he yelled "SHHHH THEY WILL HEAR US" he got mad at anybody that talked for the next 5 minutes.  He then needed to go potty and he came right up to my face put his hand on my shoulder and said" I NEED TO GO POTTY" obviously we cant take him, so I was like "Cam what are we going to do, Maybe we could sing a song?" I sang popcorn popping 3 times, then asked if he wanted another song, He looked up and said Yes then whispered. " the popcorn one" that kept him occupied until his parents came out. Later that night Kylee the 5 year old said "Dad you know we can go to the temple and be with our families forever? (then looking at the friend that is not interested at all she says) Got that Jasmine?" it was cute and hillarious. 

 

The work here is going well, I forgot my camera cord which stinks cause I have lots of pictures. But next week you will see!!!

 

I love you all, keep the faith.

 

Peace and Blessings

 

Love Sister Rose 

April 30, 2012

This week was terrific. We have been praying and looking for ways to find new investigators. Our teaching pool is very small so we are searching for new people to teach. We have seen many blessings through working hard and striving to be obedient. I love being a missionary!!!

 

So we have found that working with Less actives is usually our key to new investigators. We found Chip this week who is a friend of Some less actives and he is searching for God and knows he needs Religion.

 

Yesterday we had the most amazing miracle! We went over to teach these 2 teenagers who have a hard time making it to church. That day they had brought two of their friends to church. When we went over the little kids were so excited we were there. The 9 year old said "I just want to become a member of your church" So we are now teaching Jamie, Lilly and Nate. They are great kids!!

 

I am loving merlin. The area is beautiful and it is warming up real nice. I just love it here, the members are amazing and the work really is helping me grow as a missionary.

 

We have zone conference this week! I am so excited to go down to Central Point and get council and guidance from our amazing Mission President and his wife. We also get to go to the temple!! I havent been for almost 8 months so I am super excited to do a session. It is an amazing peace and comfort that comes from the temple I just love it!

 

Transfers are coming up in 2 weeks. I am hoping I get to stay here in Merlin, I really like it here. And it is seriously just amazing.

 

I love you all!! Hope things are going well for all of you!!

 

Love Sister Mckenzie Rose

April 23, 2012

This week has been AMAZING! The weather here is beautiful, it got up to 85 this weekend. I just love the sun, even when I get sunburned. We spent some time out talking to people, We had the lessons outside with a few people. It was crazy we were at this guys house teaching and you looked up and it looked like snow but it was pollen. Elder K, from fiji is having a real hard time with his allergies, its kinda sad.

 

Anyways, the work is going amazing! We met with Kaalyn and were able to talk more and solidify her Baptism date. Unfortunatly she moved out of our ward boundaries so we now have to get her going to the other ward. I know we will be blessed if we get her into the right ward. Its kinda disheartening because the last 5 baptisms in this ward have ended up moving to different wards right after baptism, and keeping them active in the church is a real challenge when that happens.

 

This week we had specialized training with president young. I am so blessed to have the best mission president in the world. He is so inspired and cares so much about all of us, as does Sister Young. We traveled to Medford for training and were taught about recieving Christ image in our countenance. It was a spiritual meeting that really helped all of us.

 

I had a neat experience this week, While we were in Medford the sisters down there informed me that one of the ladies I had worked very closely with had died. She had battled a lot of things while we were working with her, and we even had her getting ready for baptism but unfortunatly the worldy things consumed her and she passed away. The drive home was a time of reflecting on what I could have done different as a missionary, wondering why this had happened, and I was almost bugged that she had died without being baptized. I prayed really hard that night that I would be at peace with what had happened and know that It was Gods will. I was able to recieve a peace of mind knowing that all will be well. Then yesterday we had a lesson with a recent convert, Krista. We had her teach us the plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong and testified to me that Heavenly Father does know each and every one of us. He has a plan for us, he loves us and wants us to return to him. The peace that came during the lesson over Nikki's death was unmistakable. I know that she now has the chance to recieve the gospel and accept it without having to deal with the earthly addictions that consumed her while she was here. I love the gospel, I am so grateful we have the Book Of Mormon that teaches us of the Heavenly Fathers plan so we dont have to have the pain of never seeing these people again.

 

On a lighter note, I trained a members bird to dance when it hears my name, The member didnt think it was too funny, but lets be honest it was hillarious. Then I have a picture with Kaalyns Pit bull, We call him Kitty because he is so tiny.

 

I love you all and hope things are well

 

Love sister Rose

April 16, 2012

This week has just been amazing. I have been feeling way better and the work here is just on fire. I cannot believe how amazing the missionaries I am working with are. I am in a zone with 10 other missionaries and they are just dead set on being obediant and doing the work. Right now as a zone we are preparing 14 people for baptism!!

 

Me and Sister Judd are working with Pam, who is an older lady in search of the truth. Well she has found it and is loving what she is learning. She plans on getting baptized the first part of May and we cannot wait for her to recieve the blessings Heavenly Father Has in store.

 

We are also working with Kalynn. She is a Young mom and her Husband is a member but hasnt been to church for years. They are just the most amazing people! They are working hard to overcome some issues and then She will be baptized May 12th. I feel so blessed to be working with both of these amazing people.

 

Being a missionary is truly one of the greatest things in the world. The spirit is so strong and I feel so blessed to have that with me all the time. I have felt so many prayers being answered this week as my health has been improving and we have been able to really see the work just explode.

 

I love this gospel, I know this is the true church!! I feel so blessed to be here in Oregon and meeting all these amazing people.

 

Love Sister Kenzie Rose

April 9, 2012

Its been a week her in Merlin and I just love it. The people here are amazing, and the work is going great. This week we prepared Krysta for Baptism. She is so solid and has such an amazing testimony. My first night here I met her and she is just golden! She was baptized saturday and the spirit was super strong.

 

So covering the Merlin ward we cover 5 towns. We cover Glendale, Sunnyvalley, Hugo, Merlin, and one other I cant remember the name. It is very Rural and the area is huge and spread out. But it has been fun getting to see the beautiful country out here. We like with the Johnson's who live on a mountain. We wake up to the most amazing view every morning. I seriously if I am not in a good mood by the time we walk out the door, I am once I look outside and see the amazing Valley.

 

I am companions with Sister Judd. Who my first transfer I met her and was like, flip I need to be her companion. She is just great, she is an amazing Missionary and I have learned so much from her. I am the junior companion this transfer and its kinda nice not having the responsibility to train or run the area. I do my part, but its nice to have someone who knows whats going on so its not on me so much :) I cannot believe how blessed this area is. I love it so much, it is beautiful and has so much potential!!

 

I love you all and hope its all well.

 

Love Sister Mckenzie Rose