4/25/11- Letter to the World

Hello World!

 

I think I'm going to go day by day today!

 

Super Exciting

Super Funny

Super Spiritual

 

Monday

For P-Day we ended up going to the church to play basketball, as per usual.  Our shirts arrived from the screen printers, so we took double district pictures in our AWESOME mission shirts.  They forgot to order mine, so I took the pics.  After P-Day, we got to have an FHE with the AMAZING Wilson family.  Sister Wilson has one of the most beautiful testimonies I've ever heard.  It was a great experience!  I just love listening to her share her sweet faith.  Last time we were there, she told us about her new calling.  She is a Visiting Teaching Reporter and she was scared to do it the first time, but she did.  The second month, she prayed before calling everyone and got a much better response and even called the coordinator to report.  She just testified that the Lord will help us with our callings.  Almost everything out of her mouth is filled with love and the Spirit.

 

Tuesday

We did lots of finding and following up and it paid off--three new investigators!  Debra and Dale are the sweet couple that let us in last week...they let us in again!  We met Owenna while tracting in Rothsville.  We chatted outside for a bit and then she invited us in and we taught a first lesson.  She invited us back for dinner this coming week so we can get to know her husband, too!  We went to teach the scripture study class, but no one showed up, so we went over to see the Gutierrez family.  They were cooking a late dinner and she said she was making plantains.  Sis. Anderson and I said we'd never had them and she asked if we wanted to try them.  We agreed and she came out with an entire dinner plate of meat, rice, and plantains.  In case you were wondering, plantains are delicious!!

 

Wednesday

We did more finding and had a lesson with two members--Sister Wood and the Riday family.  The Riday family has eight kids and they are AWESOME!!  Ethan, especially, is adorable.  He's going to be 9 soon.  He loves to pray and is so close to the Spirit!  He came up to us at church yesterday and I shook his hand and he had this hurt look and I was like, "Oh ya...I can hug you."  So I gave him the side hug we usually do to younger kids. 

 

Thursday

Tracting again :D  We met this Mennonite woman named Alda.  She was super nice and asked awesome questions!  This week we've met a lot of Mennonites and their two main qualms seem to be "There's nothing more than the bible" and "Prophets replace Jesus Christ."  We talked about both of those, but she still didn't want a Book of Mormon when offered.  Sister Anderson read a verse from it and after she finished, Alda said "Maybe I will take a copy."  AWESOME!! 

 

After service at Luthercare, We drove down for appointment with Morgan.  She wasn't there again, so we went to follow up with Brianne, who wasn't home.  Then it was up to our Ward Mission Leaders home.  We go there every week and have a meeting and then dinner with the other Elders who share the ward.  There's a theme every week and this week was New Orleans.  I was SO scared all week because she told us it'd be shrimp.  Shrimp.  It was my fault, too.  Last week, after having amazing wings and homemade pizza, I told her I didn't think she could make anything I didn't like because she was such a fabulous cook.  She said, "I can make anything?"  And we all emphatically agreed.  And then she dropped the shrimp bomb.  I was seriously sick with worry.  I almost hoped I'd be transferred so I wouldn't have to eat it.  Then I plotted doing exchanges that day, but that'd defeat the purpose of the meeting.  The day of, during lunch, I was laying down and had the thought, "You are going to love shrimp."  I told Sister Anderson I might've had a revelation, but I wouldn't know until dinner lol.  So we went in to dinner and there it was---a big bowl of shrimp.  I took a couple into my bowl and tried it.  And it was FLIPPIN' DELICOUS!!!!  WHY has no one introduced shrimp to me before?!  It was SO good.  I ate a TON of shrimp :D  There was also really good rice and veggies and as always, a phenomenal dessert.  This time it was homemade Chocolate Cream Pie.  Yum.  So...it ended well!

 

Next we went to a new family in the ward--the Hilliers--they are awesome :D

 

Friday

We went to our appointment with Debra and Dale, but they weren't there :(  So negative two investigators.  Charity cancelled her appointment, too.  We went to follow up with some others who also weren't interested.  At the end of the day, we got to see Sis. Tyler and Sis. Heaton--two wonderful women we get to visit a lot!

 

Saturday

My birthday!  There's a cute family in the ward called the Readers with three adorable little girls.  They called me and sang me happy birthday :D  Then the best thing ever---Anderson and Lori....the couple that waved us down while tracting over a month ago...called and asked if they could go to church!!!!!  Um....YES!!!  So that was super awesome.

 

Ahh!  Only a minute left!!

 

We have a lot more potentials that hopefully you'll get to read more about as they continue to study with us!  Anderson and Lori were great, so I hope we get to teach them more too!  The church is true!  Our Savior lives and guides this church today!

 

Love you all!!

 

Sister Denton

4/18/11- Letter to the World

As follows for this whole transfer, last week was full of finding.  We hit 52 other lessons last week.  Looking at the past transfers, the average was 10 or so.  We have been tracting machines and I know that eventually we will find those people who are prepared to hear our message!

Morgan--she cancelled our appointment this week again.  She's still willing to learn, though.  In fact, she's planning on coming to play basketball at the church with us today and we're going to try and teach her about the Word of Wisdom.

Debra and Dale--We were tracting and at the very last house (as is so often the case), Debra answered the door.  Before we even said a word, she said, "Come in!"  I thought we must've tracted into a member.  Sister Anderson and I stood in the entryway as we started sharing our message and they asked us to come sit down!  We talked about prophets and the Book of Mormon and asked what it would mean to them (Dale was in the room, too) if our message was true and Debra said, "Well, it'd mean the world!"  It's not often that people understand the importance of our message!!!!  So Debra and Dale agreed to read and pray and said we could come back!  Hopefully we'll have more to share next week!

Brianne--We did exchanges this week and I got to spend a day with Sister Cahoon from Redmond, WA!  We both went to Horace Mann Elementary and she was at Mitch's wedding!  Crazy!  While tracting, we met Brianne.  She had a lot of questions that we were able to answer with the Book of Mormon!  It was awesome.  Her husband got home and she said, "These ladies are answering the questions we always ask everyone."  She's got two CUTE kids and I really hope we can teach them!!!

Alan--We met Alan on the street.  We gave him a mormon.org pass-a-long card and asked if he'd ever had any of those questions.  He said he wondered what happens when we die.  We opened to Alma 40 and shared the scripture and he was happy!  We talked about eternal marriage (he's engaged and has a 3-yr old) and the Priesthood and Baptism.  He said he'd be baptized May 7!  We went to visit him the next day and he said his fiance isn't interested and they couldn't learn anymore.  We were really downhearted.  He kept being on our minds, so we went back when we knew she was gone and talked to him again.  He said he had good feelings about it and wanted to study, but he wanted his whole family to join a church together.  He said he'd still read and pray.  You can just tell he knows it's true!  We keep praying for Vanessa, his finace, to soften her heart and be open to our message!

Well, that's the news for the week!  I'm in Lititz for another transfer!  There are a lot of Lancaster missionaries leaving again, which is sad, but it's an opportunity to get to know more missionaries!  Two of the Elders leaving doubled into Lancaster when I did, so I'm the last one left in Lancaster from that September 22 bunch!

Love you all!  The church is true :D 

Love,

Sister Denton

PS I attached a presentation that our Mission President sent us.  Enjoy :D (You can view it here.)

4/11/11- Letter to the World

Well, Morgan is now an official investigator and we are no longer teaching Michael.

It's amazing how much things can change in a week's time!  We've been doing increasingly more finding hoping and praying to find people to teach.  Saturday, we found a LOT of potentials who we have appointments with this week, so hopefully I'll be able to share more about them next week!

I know that this is Christ's church upon the earth and it is such a blessing to be able to testify of that on a daily basis.  Heavenly Father loves us so much.  He sent His Son so we can live with Him again.  He and Jesus Christ restored His church to the earth.  They've called prophets and apostles NOW so that we can be more.  They've given us the Priesthood power again--the very power Christ used to create the earth.  We are so blessed. 

There is a new version of the Joseph Smith Movie available for free download online!!!!  It's great :D

Love you all!  Have a great week!

Sister Denton

4/4/11- Letter to the World

This week we have one new investigator--Michael and another that's close--Morgan.

We tracted into Michael.  He's had a pretty crazy life and it's going to take a lot of faith for him to progress!

Morgan is a referral.  She's Catholic, but willing to learn about our faith.  Prayers for both are welcome!!

The rest of the week has been finding finding finding.  I've never tracted so much in my life!  We know that there are people out there who are prepared, it's just a matter of finding them!  If you have friends that might be interested in the gospel, PLEASE refer them to the missionaries!  People who see your example really do want what you have!

Between sessions on Sunday, we went out with the Elders and "blitzed" Lancaster.  We all went "Open your mouthing" at the same time.  We stayed with our companions, but it was cool to see other missionaries on the streets!

Highlights from Conference

First of all, it was so amazing to me to see my questions answered so forcefully and so fully!  I love the gospel!!!  I'll just put some of my favorite points from the conference.  I loved it all!  So many of them I need to read again and again.

Elder Perry
The adversary succeeds when we RELAX (not stop) in following the Savior.
Our youth will be a standard to the nations.
Live in such a way that will bring down the blessings promised us!

Walter F. Gonzalez
The power of covenants is greater than any challenge we face or wil face.

Kent F. Richards
Christ suffered to understand us.  We suffer to understand Him and our eternal purpose.

President Eyring
Turn feelings of sympathy into feelings of action and fulfill covenants
Prepare spiritually for the day of service in your stake

President Packer
Latter-Day Saints are positive and happy and not afraid of life.
Leave it alone

Elder Nelson
Tithing will keep your name enrolled on the rolls of God
It's going to get harder
The future is as bright as your faith

Elder Oaks
Desires-->priorities-->choices-->actions
Am I ready to be judged on my desires?

Elder Ballard
Focus on the flecks, not finding nuggets

President Uchtdorf
Let us be reliable to hear the Spirit
By being the answer to someone's prayers, we often find answers to ours
Preach the gospel at all times.  If necessary, use words.
Blessed are they who haven't seen and still believe.

Paul V. Johnson
The only way to see the view is to make the climb.
Hard times precede the miracle
Don't resent things that make us better

H. David Burton
Decipher between needs and wants and live accordingly

David A. Bednar
If I continue forward I cannot go amiss
If we are obedient, the Lord will direct our steps and guide our utterances

Richard G. Scott
You will receive every blessing you live worthy of

D. Todd Christofferson
If the apostles are always looking to improve, I can too
Thank you for loving me enough to cut me down.

Carl B. Pratt
Tithing from firstlings
Tithing will increase my faith and testimony

Lynn G. Robbins
Make a "to be" list
Possessions don't define you

Love you all!  I'm off to Hershey again today :D  The Lancaster and Ephrata Districts are all going (except the other sisters...they've both been and didn't want to go again).  'Twill be fun!

Sister Denton

3/28/11- Letter to the World

Hello World!

I'll highlight the best stuff because this is a LONG letter!

Wow!  This week was another week of miracles.  Heavenly Father truly blesses us when we do all we can!  I have a "Fabulous Things" calendar where I write something fabulous each day, but I've turned it into my "Miracle" calendar because they truly are happening every day!

Monday
Monday night we were tracting and this woman opened the door and let us right in!  She said she had some friends over and they were having a scriptural discussion and invited us to come sit in with them!  We had a captive audience of 6 as we taught a first lesson!  They asked wonderful questions and 4 of them wanted a Book of Mormon!  (The other 2 planned to share with their spouse).  It was such a neat experience to have people so open and willing to hear what we have to say!  We didn't get an exact return appointment, but they are open to us coming back.  The timing aspect is amazing, though.  After P-Day, we got home later than planned because our GPS died on the way back from the airport and Sis. Anderson and I didn't know how to get home! We made it and then had to use a map for the first time to plan how to get to a referral.  The referral wasn't home and we started tracting and that's when we found the Lins and Barrys.  The Barrys may not have been over had we been there earlier or later! 

Tuesday
Tuesday night we were tracting and met a bunch of potentials.  Tawna agreed to a baptismal date on the doorstep!  She missed our next appointment (church tour) and we haven't been able to get ahold of her since, but it is amazing to see how open people can be!!  She was really excited to hear that we have prophets and to read the Book of Mormon.  I really hope her family didn't tell her not to get involved!

Wednesday
We were able to do a lot of less active work, which was awesome.  I love teaching lessons that you just feel so good about afterward!  There is one family we teach that has some kids who are sometimes really hard to teach, but the lesson went great!  We also got to watch Prophet of the Restoration with a sister.  It was AWESOME.  That movie always is :D

Thursday
We tried to see the Lins again, but they weren't home, so we went tracting and found Elmer!  He was SO open and even asked where church was!  He missed our next appointment (church tour), but we're going to try and get ahold of him again, too.  Again, timing was key.  We got him right before he left for work.  We also "open your mouthed" a woman who pulled in to drop her son off and she seemed really interested, too!  Timing is so important!  Heavenly Father lets us know where we need to be when!

We also had our second appointment with Josh and Elaine.  They are awesome.  They have SO much to work through, but it can be done.  They, too, missed their next appointment (church tour), but I think they just have a lot on their minds.  We're going to keep trying them, as well.  We're trying to work toward April 29 for baptism with them.

Friday
Another evidence of how much Heavenly Father is aware of his children.  We went to an appointment with Sis. Vance as our team-up and he wasn't home.  On the way back, she talked about an appointment she had the night before with the bishop.  Her new member husband had come with her and the bishop asked to speak with him first--for 30 minutes!!  Basically he asked the first few questions for baptism.  She asked if we could come in and talk to him.  We went in and we started chatting with him.  After a little while, Sis. Anderson read Alma 11:40 and he mentioned that the only thing that had kept him from baptism really was coffee, and he had just found out that it's not the caffiene, but the coffee, so since he can have Mountain Dew, he's fine giving up the coffee.  Then I read some of Mosiah 18 and his wife asked "What have ye against being baptized?"  He said, "Nothing...I have been."  And she said, "By the proper authority."  He agreed!  Because she's leaving Apr 9 for Hawaii for 3 months, they wanted to do it sooner rather than later.  We were discussing conference weekend and he said, "What about tomorrow?"  A few calls later, we had it approved and ready to go!  What a miracle for this family!  He's been involved with the church from the early 80s when his sister joined (who was in my last ward!!)  His sister had always told him he'd marry a mormon girl.  Just a couple of years ago, Bro and Sis Vance got married.  She said that on the first date, she mentioned being a "Good little mormon girl" and he was like "What?  No...oh no."  lol.  I absolutely love this family!

Saturday
Bro Vance's baptism.  He didn't really want a program, so it was just a small gathering of family and missionaries.

That night we went and saw Sis. Russell again--the woman we found tracting--and she agreed to follow us to church on Sunday!

Sunday
Yet another miracle.  We were tracting Barre Dr and the first 3 doors, no one even answered.  Then we saw a guy in the driveway of the first house waving us down.  We were a little hesitant to go there because he either wanted to talk to us or yell at us.  We went and he let us in and he (Anderson) and his wife (Lori) and us all sat on the floor and talked.  He had been wanting to read the Book of Mormon for years, and then we left a card for a free Book of Mormon on his door!  We were able to teach a lot of the 1st lesson and some of the second.  They were very open to listening.  They may come to the ward activity on Friday and hopefully a session of conference this weekend!  It's amazing that the Lord has truly prepared people!  We met another guy on that street we'll be teaching on Wednesday! (Michael)

The Lord truly blesses us when we give our all.  I've never tracted so much in my life, but it is SO rewarding!  We get to teach so many lessons and find so many who are willing to listen!

Kenneth Cope added a verse to the song "Because I Have Been Given Much" in one of his arrangments.  The lyrics go as follows (from memory...so it may be a little off)

Because of Thy life's mission Lord, I too must serve.
I'll leave the comfort of my home to teach they word.
I'll find Thy lambs who've gone astray.
And those who've never known the way.
I will make Thy work my work today.

I love that!  Being a misisonary is AWESOME.

Love ya!  Have a fabulous miracle-filled week!!

Sister Denton

3/21/11- Letter to the World

Well hello world!

So we got some bitter-sweet news on Wednesday night.  Sister Green got her visa, so we dropped her off at the airport this morning.  She should be in Brasilia, Brazil tomorrow!  I'll see her in a year :D

Okay...here are the awesome things for the week!!

Wednesday

After tracting for 1 1/2 or so, the last house we stopped at was answered by a 15 year old girl.  We'd just been talking about how to approach minors, and I was about to just leave a card and call it good, but Sister Anderson kept talking.  She asked Lori what she would think about having a prophet today.  Her eyes grew huge and she said, "I was just asking that in youth group!  I wondered why there wouldn't be prophets today!"  We were able to testify that there are.  She kept asking questions that led to the entire first lesson!  She is so excited to read the Book of Mormon.  In fact, when we said we'd give her one, she was like, "Really!?  I was going to go get one!"  She is so sweet and I really hope we're able to continue teaching her.

Melanie had not been home, so we thought she ditched us, but we stopped by again and she still wants to meet with us, has been reading, and has questions!!

Thursday

Leadership Training all day--we were invited.  President gave us some new goals and training.  'Twas awesome.  One of my favorite parts was when they announced the new music rule--it's alright to listen to LDS music besides hymns!  Hallelujah!  

Sunday

We'd been praying for a family since Thursday (Sister Anderson is especially good at remembering to do it EVERY prayer).  We were following up with some Potentials, and Sister Green told us that the house numbers they wrote down didn't match with what she remembered, so she took us to this other house to follow up with "Alexis."  We rang the doorbell and after a little bit, there was a guy yelling that we just kind of ignored.  As we started walking to the next house, we saw him on the back porch.  He asked who we were looking for and we said anyone.  He invited us up to the porch.  His fiancee Elaine then told him to invite us in, which he (Josh) did.  She left, but a woman was still there, and Josh asked if we were going to be there long if we'd like to go sit down, so we did!  We taught him Lesson 1.  He didn't really understand all of it, but he wants to.  He's willing to read and pray.  He considers us sent from God because that doorbell we rang has never worked since they'd lived there.  Never once.  He said that obvdiously God wanted him to hear our message.  Elaine got home and we were able to tell her a couple of things and have a prayer with all of them and get a return appointment!  They have a LOT to work through, but all things are possible through Christ!  As we were walking back to the car, Sister Green realized that the house numbers that were written down WERE right.  The Lord works in mysterious ways!

After dinner, we went to tract some more.  Actually...funny story.  At dinner, one of us who shall remain nameless had stepped in dog poo inside the house (trust me, this relates).  After we left, she kept trying to get it off her foot, but finally just got in the car to go tract.  We stopped at the beginning of a street, but she didn't want to use their front yard to clean her feet off more, so we drove to the end of the street and parked in a parking lot to use a little patch of grass.  Because of this, we started tracting at the other end of the apartments.  The first house held no one, but the second house did.  She seemed real nice.  She put her dogs away and then opened the door, and the first questions we asked was, "Are you from around here?"  She was a little taken aback, but that's where the line of questioning went for a little bit.  She invited us in the doorway and Sis. Anderson started talking about the Book of Mormon without calling it that and asked if it could strengthen her faith.  She said it could and then asked what church we were from.  When we told her, she covered her mouth and gasped.  She said, "My son served a mission for that church and 2 other of my children joined that church at different times.  I'm also a member of that church, but recently moved here, and have been going back and forth on whether or not I should go back.  Come upstairs!"  It was wonderful.  I love being led by the hand of God!  He knew that she needed the church.  He really does know us personally!

Well, that's some of the adventures for the week!  I love being a missionary!  It's so amazing to see God's hand in every aspect of our lives!! 

Love ya!

Sister Denton

3/14/11- Letter to the World

Well, world, I'm in Lititz!  In Millersville, I was in the Lancaster 2nd Ward.  Here, I'm in the Lancaster 3rd Ward!  Same building, same district, same county!  It's great to be able to see some of my favorite people from my last area at church on Sunday!  The Lord loves me so much!  A few transfers ago, the Lancaster District split and we became part of the Ephrata District, but my District Leader from Lancaster became our District Leader in Ephrata.  I was sad leaving, because he'd been my only district leader and then I got transferred to the other area he's over!  I'm also excited to stay in the area because it's the only area that I know of where there are so many missionaries so close to each other.  It makes P-Days a lot more fun!

Emma had asked me to sing and speak at her baptism.  I kept saying she'd have to find someone else and she kept telling me that she was praying for me to go to Lititz so I could still go to her baptism.  That woman has amazing faith!  In order for me to be here, a couple of things had to happen.  We have a temple square sister in State College right now.  They usually come out for 2 transers.  Never in our mission have they stayed longer.  She stayed longer, so I am actually in a tripanionship with Sister Anderson and Sister Green, both of whom are AWESOME.  Sister Green is waiting for her visa to Brazil and could leave at any time.

The baptism was absolutely phenomenal.  The Spirit was so strong.  It was super hard for me to even speak at the beginning of my talk.  Emily is such a wonderful daughter of God.  It was such a tender mercy of the Lord for me to be able to attend.  If I had been transferred to any of the other sisters areas, there would have been no way.  I realized another tender mercy, too!  Sister Johnson and I had told Emma that we would be there in a year as she goes through the temple.  Technically, I could be released either Feb 7 or Mar 20.  Mar 20 would be after a year, and I really don't want to make her wait.  I realized last night, though, that because she was baptized on a Sunday, she's not getting confirmed until next Sunday...the 20th of Mar.  So I really could go!!  I love evidences of Heavenly Father's love for us!!!

This week has been amazing.  Sister Green, Sister Anderson, and I get along SO well.  We seem to be always smiling and laughing (except of course when we need to be serious :D).  In Lititz before this week, the average "other lessons" would be around 10.  Millersville was around that too.  Last week, we got 29.  It's just amazing to see the Lord let us find all of these people who are actually willing to listen to us!  We met one woman last week, Sara, who is amazing.  We have another appointment with her tonight.  When we asked her to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true she said, "Well if you are all out teaching about it, it must be.  You wouldn't come share about a lie, would you?"  She also said that she'd been praying to get closer to Christ and recognized that we may be the answer to her prayer!   We found another woman that we have an appointment with this week, too!

We also have a couple we're teaching who is a referral from the Ephrata elders.  They are teaching Ethan's parents and brother and sister-in-law and they are trying to get another sibling in the area.  We have another appointment with Ethan and his wife Rebecca next week, so hopefully you'll hear more then!  They have a snake, so I got to hold him!

The people in this area seem to be wonderful.  The ward is absolutely fabulous at helping with missionary work.  There are some great people we're working with!  We have two Recent Converts that I am especially excited to be working with!  One is Sister Balinski--she was praying to come closer to God when the Sister Missionaries showed up a little over a year ago.  She is rock-solid.  I love her testimony!  The other is Tyson, who I wrote about around Christmas time when I was in the tri.  He was baptized in December and is just incredible.  There really aren't words to describe the changes he's made in his life.  His testimony blows me out of the water.  I love Recent Converts!  I love investigators!  I love missionary work!!

Well, that's it for the week, I guess!  We have a Leadership Traning Meeting on Saint Patrick's Day, which should be fun!

Love you all!

Sister Denton!