Hike Week

Hello again!!!

I don't have a ton to report on since we just had Pday on Monday, but we did have a great last few days!!

1. The hike!! Our mission president and his wife decided that we needed to break out of our little mission boundaries and have fun - so we went on a hike! We went as zones on different days last week, and my zone and one other went on Monday so our Pday got moved. We went down Little Emigration Canyon and ended in Mormon Flats. It was such a neat experience, earlier that morning we had one of the seminary and institute manual writers come and tell us some of the pioneer stories and teach us more about our history. He seriously knew everything, and it was so cool to ask him everything we could think of, and get answers. Anyways, we went the opposite way the pioneers did, they went up and we went down - but it was still so fun. It gave me a lot of time to ponder on the amazing history of our church, and also to think about Jesus Christ and how these people came to know Him in such a personal way as they went through so many trials. At the end of the hike we had a picnic, and our mission president gave us permission to wade in the river!! I miss the water!! 

2. Our investigators are doing super well - Ann is getting baptized tomorrow!!! She is so ready, and I love talking to her and seeing how excited she is. We called her yesterday and she told us that she was a little nervous because she wasn't sure if she should expect some big feeling when she gets baptized, and she doesn't want to be disappointed if she doesn't feel what she's expecting. But we talked with her about the change that has happened in her life since she started learning about the gospel until now, and she was just smiling telling us how she's so different. She talked about how she isn't angry anymore, she isn't bitter, she isn't hateful or have the grudges she used to - she's happy now. She feels so much more peace than she did before, and she has already seen a change in her family relationships. We talked with her then about how a lot of the biggest changes and the sweetest feelings are those that come through small and simple means. There's a scripture in the Book of Mormon that says that through small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I have really seen small and simple choices and actions make big differences in my life, and Ann has too. We are so excited for her baptism tomorrow, and when I go home I told her I'd come to church with her one Sunday since she's pretty close. So we're both excited for that day :)

I think that's about it! James is as golden as ever and we're excited for him to go to church next week - it's a pretty long drive for him, so we're really excited. I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

--Sister Black

The Shortest Long Week

Hello Everyone!! 

This week was so fast and so long all at the same time. We had a lot of miracles and special events though, so here are the highlights <3

1. Zone Conference! We had our Zone Conference this week, and it was really good. We talked more about the importance of planning and goal setting - two things I'm really not all that good at. So I'm glad we talked about them! Sister Fisher has a saying that she likes that goes like this: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." And I don't like failing, so we've started planning with a little more real intent. One of my favorite parts of the conference though was that we had a recent convert come and talk about his conversion story and the influence the gospel had on him, particularly his time on Temple Square. On one of the days, not ours, we actually had my recent convert Carlos come! It was the sweetest thing to hear him share his testimony of how his life has changed because of the gospel and how he's so much happier and closer to his Savior. I was really glad that he was able to come.

2. We met Elder Stevenson from the 12 Apostles! It was seriously the most casual thing.. we were walking into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in the little space between the JSMB and the Church Administration Building, when there we see Bishop Cause (French and spoke in G.C.) talking to a tall man with his back to us. The tall man turns around... and it was the apostle! We kept walking and he put his arms out and said Sisters! We of course stopped, and he started talking to us about where we were from and how long we'd been out.. it was so cool! Then he started to leave, was walking away, and I said "Hey, wait!" and he turned back around and (so lame, I know) just told him that I really like the video online of him and his family about their family photo and idealized reality, and he just laughed and put his arm around me and said that it was very accurate and that he was glad I liked it. So, now I wish I would of asked or said something more profound - but either way, it was really fun. 

3. We found an amazing new investigator from chat - his name is James, and he's seriously so cool. He's from Ireland, and he came to mormon.org and wanted to ask about hymns that we have in the church. He ran into the gospel library app online, and has been reading everything he could on there. He's even been reading Preach My Gospel, so we feel a little silly teaching him the lessons sine he basically already knows all of them. We've been able to Skype him and teach him though, and he's the sweetest thing. He lives pretty far away from church buildings and missionaries though, so we certainly have an adventure in front of us with figuring out what to do to help him, but we really do love him!

4. We watched 17 Miracles this week in preparation for the hike of the Mormon Trail that we're doing today, and honestly my mission has made me so soft. I just wept through that movie. I have come to love the history of the church so much though, and I'm really grateful for all those people that sacrificed so much to come and build this city and this temple. I'm really grateful for all the people who throughout history have sacrificed so much to follow Jesus Christ and be examples for the rest of us, people like Adam, Moses, Paul, Peter, Nephi, Moroni, Joseph Smith, Thomas Monson, and ultimately Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my Savior who suffered more than anyone else, so that through Him I can be healed not just of sin and regret, but from pain and from sadness and sickness and everything else in between. 

I love you all, and I'll have Pday again on Friday!

--Sister Black

Answered Prayers

Hello everyone! Our week was pretty uneventful, but we did still see a few miracles! 

1. Ann is doing so well - she's such a different person from the Ann we talked to today to the Ann I met a month ago. She is happy and she laughs, she's let go of a lot of bitter resentment she's held for years and has found a lot of peace and healing through Jesus Christ. We love her so much!! Her interview will be tomorrow, and her baptism will be on the 30th.. she goes out of town on Monday morning so when she gets back we'll have a baptism! We are so excited, we love her so much!

2. We met a man the other day who wanted a blessing. We called one of our senior couples and he came, but in the meantime we got to talk to him. He was a little... different. But super sweet. He said some funny things, but to make a long story short we ended up reading Exodus 39 with him at his request (look that  chapter up.. it's a good one haha) half way through he stopped us to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and then picked up where he was. So it was definitely one of the more interesting contacts of my mission - but what stuck with me the most about him, was that at the end of the chapter we asked what he had learned. He said he had learned obedience. He reads because he has been asked to read - even though he doesn't understand everything that's going on. I really liked that. I think that obedience is a great lesson for us all to learn, after it obedience is the first law of heaven. It's not always easy - in fact it's rarely easy. But by being obedient to God and to His commandments, we receive so many blessings.

3. Being in summer, this is officially motorcoach season. Motorcoachs are seriously the funnest thing ever! A motorcoach is a group of 20+ people who come to Temple Square and want a tour. Unfortunately the Spanish speakers don't really come in flocks like that, but the Mandarin and the English speakers do! When you have 31+ people, your tour will be contacted by another companionship of missionaries - their job is basically to help hand out materials at the end, hold the flag, and help however you can. You don't need to know the language of the tour to contact it though - we've contacted a lot of Mandarin motorcoaches. It's so fun though! Even though I have no idea what's going on.

So the other day, we took a motorcoach of 25 people from Atlanta, Georgia and they were a congregation from the African Methodist Episcopal church (AME they called it) and they were the cutest group!! We told them about the Book of Mormon and about how it's all about Jesus Christ and about how God is no respecter of persons and that He loves and visits His children in whatever land they're from, and they were so enthralled with it. 23 of them took a copy of the Book of Mormon - including the minister. And it was the sweetest feeling because I really believe that most of them will read it. We asked them at one of the spots if any of them had ever had an answer to a prayer - they all started clapping and Amening.. we had a lot of fun on that tour :)

4. Our mission President's wife lost her parking pass the other day, she enlisted some of us to help her look for it and we scoured the basement and the offices and we just couldn't find it anywhere. Eventually it was suggested that we pray - so we prayed and literally less than 5 minutes later the parking pass was found in a place that had already been searched. We offered a prayer of gratitude to our Heavenly Father, and we left. But it's stayed with me how important and meaningful our prayers really are - I know that God hears and answers prayers. Not always immediately, but answers do come.

I love you all, and hope you have a great week! Next week we're having a special event so we won't have Pday on Friday - it will change to Monday for the week. But will go back to Friday after that... so basically I won't be writing you on the 23rd, but I will on the 25th and the 29th. So talk to you then!

--Sister Black

Birthday on Temple Square

Hello everyone!!!

This was such a good week!!! I first want to thank everyone for the birthday emails - they really made my day so special and it was so fun for me to come home and read them. Thank you so much!!

1. So birthday's on Temple Square are so much fun. My birthday was yesterday, and I was so spoiled all day by the Sisters there. I got treats and love and hugs and shouts of happy birthday in all 43 of the languages that we speak here. We had Relief Society yesterday too, and the topic was about Sisterhood and how we are meant to support and lift one another. Yesterday I really felt the amazing sisterhood that we have here on Temple Square - I felt so loved and so special all day. No matter what I was doing or where I went, someone told me happy birthday, and even though that's kind of a small thing, it made my birthday away from home so good. 

2. Evan got baptized!!!! It was so nice - we got to skype in and watch!!! Evan is so cool, and we really love him so much. He's been making some even more big life decisions lately and it was so fun to get to be a part of introducing him to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We got some great pictures with him, and we are just so proud of him and everything that he's accomplishing. 

3. We had a video lesson with Ann on Wednesday, and it was so fun! The Elders were with Ann in the church building, and we were skyped in. It was so cool to get to teach with the Elders and to see the love that they have for Ann. Ann's Elders are really phenomenal and we are so happy that we get to work with them. Having local missionaries that understand the purpose of Visitor Center missionaries and how we can help them REALLY facilitates our job and the work of salvation. It's great!

To close I just want to bear my testimony of how real inspiration is. Sister Curnow and I work in the office together and we are responsible for the numbers of the mission and helping the missionary department with anything they happen to need. This week something went wrong with the calculation of the numbers and everything in the tour report was out of place - we were both so confused. I remember going to bed that night just wondering what had happened, and saying a prayer to my Father in Heaven to help me know what to do. I immediately had an idea come to my head of some formulas in our Excel sheet that I should check and what could of happened to them - I wrote it down and I went to bed. The next morning I brought my sticky note with my idea from the night prior to square with me, and followed my own instructions - what I had written the night before was exactly right. A fix that we thought would take hours for us to find and track down took 5 minutes because we knew exactly what we were looking for and how to fix it. I know that our Heavenly Father hears us and answers our prayers. I know that with anything in life, we can turn to Him and answers will come. I know that as we act in faith, more answers follow. 

I love you all so much!!! 

--Sister Black

Everyone's On Date

Hello everyone!!

We had transfers this last Wednesday, so Sister Mikulecky is officially off in Texas, and I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Curnow, and I love her already. She's super sweet and is from Washington State. She's a hard worker and is already getting a really good grasp on how everything in the office works - I'm super excited to be with her this transfer. Woo!!

1 - Andrea!! Andrea got baptized this week! We got to Skype and watch a little bit of it - unfortunately the connection in Guatemala is kind of terrible, so we didn't see very much - but we did get to see the baptism. Then the poor signal gave out completely and that was it - but we saw the best part and we're so grateful for that! We got pictures sent afterwards too :) Andrea is going to be such an amazing member of the church, she's been working on her family history recently and she is preparing her grandmas name to take to the temple and do a baptism for. She's super lucky - there's a temple right in her home city! We're super excited for her.

2. Evan! Evan is getting baptized TOMORROW! We met him like two weeks ago and he's already getting baptized - Evan is just a perfect example of how God really prepares His children to receive His message. We met him on chat and ever since the first conversation we've had with him he's been absolutely pure gold. We love him a lot, and we're super excited for his baptism tomorrow. He's going to try and make a trip to SLC from Arizona in the coming months so we hope to see him in person sometime!

3. Ann! Ann is the cutest thing, she's from FLORIDA and she's about 70+ years old (we've never asked exactly) and she has been searching for God in her life. She's had some traumatic life experiences and we have to go really slow with her, but she has made such a difference in her life as she's been praying and reading her scriptures more and more. The Ann we talked to yesterday is no the same Ann that we met 3 weeks ago. She laughs now and has so much more light in her life and in her voice. She is getting baptized on the 30th, and we are so proud of her and all the progress she's making. We are working on gratitude with her this week, and we have her writing out 10 unique things she's grateful for every single day for a week - no repeats. We're doing it with her! Something I love is that as we count our blessings and see them as gifts from God, we can feel so much more of His love because we can better understand the tender mercies He puts in our paths every day. 

4. Alora! Alora is getting baptized on the 10th - we're going to be baptism buddies! I was baptized on June 10th too haha. She is super sweet and sacrifices so much to get closer to God. Sacrifice truly brings forth blessings from heaven. She lives in Oregon, but also lives in the middle of nowhere so it takes a long time for her to get to church - she faithfully makes the trek out there every week though. Even with her brand new infant!

Those are our amazing investigators that we've been working with these past weeks - we love all of them so much. I'm really grateful that I'm still here at Temple Square to work with them and love them. We have new assignments in the Visitors Center that free us from standing at desks and being greeters. We can just roam Temple Square and the different visitors centers and historic sites and teach people about the gospel and find those that are really ready to listen. I love my mission here on Temple Square, and I feel so blessed to be able to teach so many people from all over the world here. This is certainly a special and sacred place.

I love you all! Have a great week!

--Sister Black