Week 6 #TheChurchIsSoTrue!!!

So after emailing Monday I came home and learned that Sister Foulke and I were going on exchanges with our STLs (Sister Training Leaders) and that I would be spending the night at a different place. I then baked   muffins to keep myself calm. The STLs arrived and I was packed up and off with Sister Wilde.

So *drum roll* Sister Wilde has legitimate gypsies in her area that she teaches!!! SERIOUS REAL LIFE GYPSIES!!!!!!! CAN LIFE GET MORE AWESOME THAN THIS????? It was so cool to talk to them because gypsies live a very different lifestyle than most people! Anywho, I was in nerd heaven talking to real-life gypsies, but the ones that we were talking to (their whole family, extended, all live in the same house) were super cool and it was so amazing to be able to testify that God is real and that he is our literal Father in heaven!

So after a few hours I finally managed to come off the nerd high from talking to gypsies. :P It was about eight at night and earlier when we were switching we had given our companions goals to work on while we were on exchanges, Sister Wilde was given the goal of talking to everyone she saw, even if they had already met them before and that if it was someone she had already talked to before she had to make it "funny" (Sister Souba's words). So it's eight at night, right? We're walking on this street and we see Mike (someone who Sister Wilde and Souba had already met) drinking beer sitting in his garage. So Sister Wilde stays true to her goal and goes up and talks to Mike..... And then gestures to me and says, "This is Sister Longo, she's British." Heavens above, I have never been so panicked in my life! I managed to feebly nod and he looks at me with a look of awe on his face and asks me if it was true... I couldn't say no to that awe-filled, drunk face. He looked at me with more skepticism and said that I didn't "look British". Is that even a thing??? No. Anywho I whipped out my best British accent and taught him about the Restoration. *sheepish grin* I'm sure that the only reason that Mike believed my horrendous British accent was because he was drunk. After we left and were in the car Sister Wilde busted up laughing until she cried. All I could do was shake my head with an embarrassed yet amused grin. Apparently, I am her "favorite" now xD.

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Tuesday Personal study was so cool again! Holy cow! I'm going through the Old Testament and it's crazy to see how even the tiniest of changes completely transforms the concept! I did that for the first half. Then I went through the first three lessons and linked scriptures and quotes I like to the lessons. I need to really study them again because they are SO good!

Companion study was weird with it being Sister Wilde instead of Sister Foulke. But it was still good. The rest of the day was long with no apparent success but Sister Wilde and I continued to work hard and keep up good spirits which I think is what was, truly, the success. :)

We went and we had lunch at a restaurant called "The Habit" which is a burger place and we ate for free because some organization that works in the area wanted to thank the missionaries for everything they do for the valley area! How cool is that?? It was SOOO good too... I got a BBQ Bacon Burger with avocado. And yes. It was as heavenly as it sounds.

Moriah and Sister Wilde at Sister Mauss's house for dinner

We then went out again and later had dinner with a member of Sister Wilde's area named Sister Mauss and her children. Sister Mauss has a daughter on her mission right now and she had us take a picture and make a video for her to send to our moms. I started crying because of how thoughtful that was. But she simply said that it was because that's what she wishes a member would do for her daughter.

We switched back and I was SO happy! Being with Sister Wilde was fun but I missed Sister Foulke. We went and we paused Marcus (basically told him that when he was ready to keep the commitments to call us). And then we went to talk to Cynthia... which was hard because we had to tell her that Brother Brandt died. Cynthia took it hard because Brother Brandt and his family were the family that really welcomed them into the Ward and Brother Brandt had given her some blessings and gave her and her family a "Proclamation to the World" framed beautifully as a gift which was very sweet. So yeah. 
And then we got a text from Tiana saying that she wanted to be baptized in a different Ward and that she wanted to be taught by the other Sisters. So Sister Foulke and I felt a bit hurt and very disappointed. But we were grateful that she's still getting baptized at least. That's what's really important.

I started crying in the car about it so, in a successful effort to cheer me up, Sister Foulke told me the only two jokes that she knows. XD

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All the Missionaries At Our Zone Conference Council 

Wednesday was my first Zone Conference Council! That's where all the districts in the zone get together to train and learn from one another. One of the things that we talked a lot about was the rules. And not what the rules are, but what we can change so that we want to keep the rules. And the consensus was that in order to want to be exactly obedient, we have to want to follow the Savior with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. Because Christ was exactly obedient, if we want to follow him with everything we are, we will want to be exactly obedient.

Wethen talked about whether or not we are being sheep herders or whether we are being shepherds. That was super cool, here is a picture of the discussion board:

That's Sister Souba, one of our Sister Training Leaders

Then the Zone Leaders gave the last training of the council on "Become a Hopeful Servant of the Lord". In Preach My Gospel pg. 117, (the guide for missionary work) this is what it says about hope:
"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur."
We then talked about each of the four sub-attributes of hope and these are my notes:

Confidence
Definition: "The knowledge that one can rely on the Lord"
Application: Making goals shows our confidence in the Lord.

Optimism
Definition: "Hopefulness and confidence in the future/successful outcome"
Application: EXPECT MIRACLES.

Enthusiasm
Definition: "Religious fervor resulting directly from divine inspiration."
Synonyms: Dedication; Commitment; Consecration; Diligence; Obedience; Steadfastness

Candid shot of President Snow at Zone Conference

Patient Perseverance
Definition: "Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." Ephesians 6:18-19

I invite all of you to study this and see how you can become more "hopeful servants of the Lord" because this is what a prophet of God has said about the importance of hope:
“Hope is the anchor of our souls. …
“Hope is trust in God’s promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future. …
“The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death” (President James E. Faust “Hope, an Anchor of the Soul,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 59–60).


Later that night I got a bad migraine so Sister Foulke took me home and took care of me. I couldn't fall asleep because the pain was so bad and the pain medicine hadn't kicked in yet so she laid my head on her lap and played with my hair and told me stories until I fell asleep because I had told her that Mom would read to me to help me take my mind off the pain so I could fall asleep when I got migraines. It was so awesome of her. :)

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Thursday was crazy cool! That morning we had a lesson with Amanda (LOVE HER) and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and the other questions and thoughts she had as she read the pamphlets and it was SO cool because we could see that her pamphlet was totally all marked up, underlined, highlighted, questions and comments written in the margins, it was so cool to see her genuine interest! So we were talking about the Pre-mortal life, about how we believe that before we came here on this earth we lived with Heavenly Father as His literal spirit sons and daughters. I was prompted to share that sometimes people seem so familiar, even though we have never met them in this life before, we have met them in the Spirit World. And I talked about how whenever one of us kids were born Mom felt like she had been missing us all her life but hadn't realized it. Amanda's eyes lit up! She started talking about how she knew that she had met people before this life because she had had similar experiences with her husband, Patrick, and her one-year-old, Phoebe. She was so excited that we weren't telling her that she was crazy, but that we believed her! We then talked about eternal families and she got super quiet and super focused and I asked her if that was something that she wished for her family and she stated that it was. AAAAAAAAAHHHHH SO COOL! We left her with a pamphlet about Families and Temples and we're going to talk to her about it next time! SO pumped!

Sister Foulke, Rachel, and Sister Longo at the temple

That evening we were able to go to the temple (Nevada Las Vegas Temple) to do baptisms for the dead which was awesome! (Baptisms for the dead are where we go to the temple and are baptized on the behalf of deceased ancestors so that they have the opportunity to accept [or reject] that saving ordinance in the next life) We were able to go because Rachel, a recent convert of 1 month, got her temporary temple recommend and wanted us to go with her for her first time at the temple! It was SO AWESOME! It was incredible to be with her as she experienced what it is like to be inside the temple for the first time! She's so awesome! :D

Ephraim Barlow (our YSA Ward mission leader) and his younger sister Ellen 

 Afterwards Sister Foulke and I were feeling a wee bit discouraged about investigators because this week we lost Tiana (to other Sisters but it was a blow to us personally) and we had to return Marcus to the Lord because he wasn't progressing and then another investigator dropped from the face of the earth. So we were understandably a bit sad about all of this and we prayed for investigators who really wanted their lives to be changed by Christ. It was eight o'clock (only one more hour to proselyting until we had to go home) and we got out of the car to check up on some potential investigators. And the Lord placed two new investigators in our path, Robert and Stella! It was amazing! We were even able to have a short lesson with Robert! It was awesome! :D The Lord works miracles, and if we are faithful we will recognize them as such.

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Missionaries that were together in the same MTC district.

Friday was pretty darn cool! :D Today was the New Missionary Temple Trip which meant that all the missionaries that came in this transfer (and their companions of course) were able to go and do a session in the temple! It was incredible! And it was gorgeous! It was wonderful to be in the temple twice in a row! The spirit that is in the temple always renews me and kind of reboots me in a way. :)

At the temple with her awesome companion!

Sister Foulke, Moriah and President Snow

Cute, happy missionaries!!

Afterwards we went to our lesson appointment with Alice but she was called into work and so she had to leave. But after we left and were going to see someone else we were able to street contact a woman named Vanessa who is super cool!

We then picked up Ellen Barlow (Ephraim's younger sister) and went to see the Hildenbrands. It was really good! Shanen and Carli agreed to read from the Book of Mormon and Shanen said that she would like to start coming to church again! So we'll see but we're hopeful! :)

So ever since the MTC I have had this thing with hard-boiled eggs. I LOVE eggs hard-boiled! So Sister Foulke has been teasing me because I have at least two hard-boiled eggs a day, for no other reason other than I like them. xD Anywho We had dinner at home tonight and I was so touched because a day or two ago I had off-handedly mentioned to Sister Foulke that I like it when we pray over meals together because it makes me feel more connected with her. And so we had dinner at home and Sister Foulke remembered that I like to pray together over food and she smiled and asked if she could say the prayer! :)

Afterwards we went over to visit a woman named Melinda who's mom is an inactive member and who had gone to church while growing up. We talked with her and she's a SUPER NERD TOO!!!!!! XD I'M SO HAPPY!  But as we were talking my heart broke and I became irate. Apparently she and her brother had been bullied by their Ward, and not just by other kids but the adults including the Bishop. I was ready to go find and kick some behind. It makes me SO angry that simply because people are different or struggling with something different or anything else that people feel the need to bully and make afraid. She can't come to church because the memories give her so much anxiety. My friends, PLEASE BE KIND. I love you all and you have to much more power than you realize. If you are ever rude or hurtful to someone, make sure that's the last time and sincerely apologize. Our actions (including what we say) have a far greater impact than we realize. PLEASE be careful with our brothers and sisters!

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Saturday we went to a lesson with Robert and is was AWESOME! Holy cow, his desire to learn is awesome! We taught him the first half of the Restoration lesson and committed (asked) him to pray. He said he would with his family because they are super religious. Kinda makes me a little worried because they might have heard untrue things about the church and tell him to stop meeting with us. I hope he doesn't because it could change his life in so many wonderful ways!

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Sunday a miracle happened. We went to our YSA (Young Single Adult) Ward and Danielle, a member, came up to us and said that she had a coworker who came up to her out of the blue and asked if she was Mormon, when Danielle answered affirmatively the coworker asked if she could attend church with her today and take the lessons from the missionaries. Sister Foulke and I were astonished, our jaws literally dropped. The coworker came to church, her name is Alyssa and she's super sweet! Apparently, her boyfriend is a member and he just went back to Utah for college so she's investigating while he's away! We set up a time to meet with her but I'm really excited!

Church was really cool at the YSA today one person talked about the difference between knowing and learning, which I am still pondering on because he was saying that a lot of times we go "we know, we know!" But then we have to learn it. So I'm still thinking about that.

Then in Relief Society the teacher shared a quote about faith, "Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but knowing Who holds the future." Mind = Blown.

We then talked about what being a daughter of God means and these are some of the things that were mentioned: being a disciple of Christ; creates time for personal/family scripture study; patient; Nurturing; observant & attentive; teacher; selfless; full of charity

That night we met with Victor and talked to him about receiving answers from the Spirit and invited him to set aside his concerns for a moment and search for the good. Because he is only trying to find ways to disprove right now and so, of course, he won't get confirmation from the Spirit that it's true because his mind isn't opened to what is true about the gospel. So we'll see what happens.

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I love you all!!!! I love the very few of you who actually write me the most though :P

Sister Longo