The End is Near

This week was crazy!! The first of the week started off a little slow, but by the end of the week, our spirits and the work picked up! So it ended on a good note!!

On Monday, we had dinner with the LeLoup's so that was lots of fun and we did a FHE  with them. We tried going sledding but there wasn't much snow! haha! There are pictures coming! It was fun though, other than the thorny tumble weed we would roll into at the bottom of the hill! Haha!

We had zone training on Tuesday in Elko. And it was AMAZING!! I feel like I always learn sooo much! I love being a missionary! I will miss weekly trainings! We talked about going back to the fundamentals and basics. So it was a great reminder that simplicity is the best way to go!

On Wednesday, we had a great visit with the Carter's. They are a great family! I love them! They have been less active for a while, but have a new year's resolution to make church a priority in their lives. The first Sunday of the month, they were traveling home from visiting their daughter and they were super bummed that they missed church. They really inspired me! I think that I am going to have a goal this year to go to church every Sunday, no matter what!! :)

We had dinner with the Price's that night. I love them they are the best! They are our go to people! :)

Then Thursday we had an awesome lesson with C. We read through the talk by Tad R. Callister, The Blueprint of Christ's Church. I highly recommend it. It is an incredible talk that goes through some of the doctrine that Christ established in His church that has been restored to the earth. Really, really good!! Anyways, back to C. Her concerns about there not being 3 kingdoms have been resolved, and she is once again, looking towards baptism! Yipee!! We are so excited!!

We saw some other great people this week!! It was lots of fun!!! Well I guess I should get going! I am grateful for all your love and support! I could not have served a mission without you all behind me!! I love you and wish you a happy week!!!

I love you more than I love cinnamon bears! :)

          Sister Fish

Here is our sledding adventure and Sister Rogers cutting the Oakes boys' hair.

Birthday Countdown is ON

Sorry I haven't been very good at sending one big letter! The past few weeks have just been craziness!!

I have started counting down til my 21st birthday so I avoid countdowns to other things... My birthday is officially in 12 days! Are you prepared to have a 21 year old in the family?! I don't know what I thought my life would be like at 21 but here it is! :)

So what has happened that I need to update you on...

Well Christmas week was great!!! We had some great lessons with some awesome families. We were also able to get a lot of member's out with us. So it was really neat. We Spent Christmas eve with the Winegar's. We ate dinner and as a family tradition, every year they act out the nativity with hand puppets. It was really fun to watch.

Then we just hung out at home Christmas day. We also traveled out to Crescent Valley for lunch. We were bored in the evening at home, so we went to the church to watch some approved movies!! We watched one called, On the Way Home and the other was about the Prodigal Son.

This past week was pretty slow. Not very many people were home. They were all out enjoying their vacation time before their kids start school again. We rang in the new year with our eyes closed. We ate carne asada fries for dinner! They are really yummy.

I also had to correct something I told you while skyping. You asked me how the deer meat was... it was soo gross! As I ate it, I could just smell the blood from cutting it up! It was nasty. Also I think I have decided to become a vegetarian, because meat in general just grosses me out now. It is not good.

Fast Sunday was really great! The spirit was super powerful and the lessons in the classes were just inspiring. In Relief Society especially. We talked about being bridges for our families and what we can do to create a strong bridge. It was derived from a talk that President Eyring gave in General Conference in 2009.

It is Monday. Not sure what we are going to do the rest of the day, but I'm sure we'll find something! We have dinner out in Crescent Valley with the LeLoup's which should be pretty fun. Their one son always tells me to go back to New York. Hahah! If only I were from there! :)

I hope all is well with you guys! You're the best support a girl could have! Keep up the good work! I hope along with the prayers for missionary work, you are reading Preach My Gospel. It will help build your confidence and faith to open your mouth.

I love you guys!!!
     Sister Messervy

 

The Winegar's have a sheltie too. Her name is Ginger and I just had to get a picture with her!

 

Aloha!!!

I thought I'd start out with a big AHOLA! Because there still isn't any snow and there is no sign of it coming! Boo. It really does not feel like Christmas yet.

So the weeks are flying by. I can't believe that I will be talking with ya'll in a week!! Have we figured out timing yet? I think I should be able to do whenever. :)

We are starting to work hard at finding this week. There are lots of people who need this gospel but no one who seems ready yet. It has been hard but we are continually trying to show are faith so that we can see miracles! 

The Lord loves everyone of us and does have a plan for us. I know that! I have truly learned that for myself. He knows what will be best for us to learn and to grow. Some days I feel like I've grown a lot and other days not so much, but I sure hope that there has been a change. 

Not much to report on!! I love you all and wish you a very merry Christmas!!

      love

        Sister Fish 

Final Transfer...What?!?!

Carlin is my new home!!! I will be in Carlin for another 6 weeks! Yep. Sister Rogers will still be my companion and she will now have been my longest companion. Good thing I now can keep a companion for 3 transfers! haha!! 

AHAHAHAHAH!!!! I feel like I have a panic attack just about everyday thinking about how close the end is near... It can't be over can it? Well good thing it won't be. I won't be teaching full time but I will be looking for ways to be a missionary full time. Everything we learn through trials or experiences are being learned so we can use it in the future. Does that make sense?

It was a rough week, but a good week. We have been seeing lots of miracles but lots of challenges too. That's how we know we are doing something right!!

A lot of our investigators have been really flaky lately and are just using their agency not to meet with us. I really hope that they will be straight with us if they don't want to meet anymore or that they will keep their appointments. I really appreciate honesty and straight forwardness so much more now!!! 

We were able to see this C. family this week. They have been having a  struggle in a lot of different aspects in their life. They are a part member family and we invited the father to hear more about the restored gospel this past week. He accepted!! I am so excited. I love this family so much and I can just feel how much he needs to be baptized and how much that will help him in his life especially at this time.

One of my favorite things about being a missionary is feeling the Savior's love each and everyday, but not just His love for me, His love for everyone. When I invite people to learn of how they can have an eternal family I can feel the Savior's love and concern for them! He is so real and so aware. I know that to be true. He knows us deeper than we know ourselves. He knows what is best for us and I just love that about Him.

Sunday, we monitored at the creche! It was lots of fun. I am grateful to be here in Elko for it again this year. I learned so much about the nativity that I never knew. Just to name a few, there was a taco truck there, a back hoe, and also a dragon. ; Every community needs something like this. A place where everyone can display their nativities to the rest of the neighborhood. It is just the perfect way to celebrate the Christmas season. I loved the First Presidency's Christmas devotional as well. Everything that was shared related back to the testimonies shared in our testimony meeting at church. 

The Christmas season is one of the best times to share your light of Christ. Share the knowledge and truth that we have with everyone around them. Our Father in Heaven gave us the most precious and greatest gift of all, His son. Because of that gift, we need to share the gift of eternal families with everyone!!! Don't be afraid! Just share it! 

I love you guys lots and lots and lots!!! Miss you too!! Have you heard anything about skyping yet? Just wondering! I think I should be available whenever but can you convert the time you give me to Nevada time! I would appreciate that!! 

miss ya lots! See ya soon!

          Sister Fish 

He is the Gift

Aloha!!

So how are things? The weather is starting to turn cold again. It threatened to snow yesterday, but that didn't last long. 

Have you seen the new Christmas clip that is on christmas.mormon.org? It is sooo good. watch it! Such a great way to kick off the holiday season!! I have watched it like 10 times I swear, and it still hasn't gotten old! You can just feel the spirit as you watch it and it reminds us of why we celebrate Christmas.

It was a really good week!! We had exchanges on Wednesday! I was with Sister Coy in Carlin. If you don't remember who Sister Coy is, she was with me in the MTC. We were in the same district and roomies!!! It was a lot of fun! We saw a lot of miracles. We contacted 3 people right in a row! And all of them seemed fairly interested!! It was awesome! We have a return appointment with one tomorrow! 

Thanksgiving was great! We had dinner with a family in the ward, the Winegar's. Their kids are so different and all have big personality's so it was tons of fun! We played hacky sac before dinner and then settler's of Catan afterwards. Don't worry my skills at board games have not improved so I will have to work on that so I can beat ya'll! 

I am so grateful for this time of year that we have to remember our gratitude and our Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ. It truly is through Him that all things are possible!! I love and miss you all soooo much!!! Hope you have a happy holiday season!!

I love you more than Hot cocoa!

           Sister Fish

Happy Turkey Day

Another year has come and gone since the holiday all about gratitude. Somehow I still find my self in the Elko zone!! Haha!!

I am so grateful for the holiday season. I am grateful that the Lord is mindful of us and knows our needs. I love you all so very much and hope you enjoy your turkey comas!!

This week was rough but we received lots of blessings.

The members were so great this week too! Sister Burton invited us over for dinner with a part member family and we were able to bear testimony of the Savior and Sister Burton was too. The family was touched. The husband who is a non member has been struggling with his health and is worried about accepting the Savior because when people accept the Savior, they die. That is what he believes. He is so worried, but his wife who has the gospel is so calm and confident in the promises of the Lord. We are excited to help the husband build his faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Then Sister Cordova invited us to take dinner over to a former investigator/part member family's home. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's witness that the Savior lives and He loves us. They have also been battling some health concerns!

Cat our investigator has some questions about the 3 Kingdoms of Glory so we dropped off the triple combination scriptures for her to look over Doctrine and Covenants. She is amazing and has a strong desire to be baptized. As we were talking, you could see that the Spirit enlightened her mind with new knowledge. At one point, we were talking about alcoholism and she looked at us and was like, "Wow, ladies, I am just like those alcoholics, but with cigarettes." It really hit home for her.

The best part of the week was that the night before we were supposed to see Cat which was Wednesday, Sister Rogers and I both had some crazy dreams. We were sitting at the table, doing our studies and I just looked at Sis Rogers and said, Cat needs a baptismal date and I think it should be January 8th.  I told her that the night before, I had had a dream about it and that was the date we set her with. Then Sis. Rogers told me that she had a dream that we saw her and another investigator baptized. My heart was pounding. And I was geeking out!!! I know that those were given to us from the Lord. It was one of the most precious experiences I have had as a missionary.

I learned a lot about charity this week. I have realized that I could be better about having Charity. This pure love of Christ should be the driving force of everything we do!!

Well I love you and miss you all more than butter loves toast!!!

                     Sister Fish 

Love this Black Tag

Bon-Howdy!!

I got that greeting from our assistants to the president. One is from the south and the other is from an island where they speak French, New Caledonia I think? So I stole their greeting! :)

So how are things with everyone? From what I hear, it sounds like things are good. Things are good out here. It is starting to get a little chilly. Not excited for that. We haven't had snow yet though. That is super nice.

We had a  pretty okay week. Satan was kind of getting us down but we were able to push through and have some pretty awesome lessons. We truly are our own worst enemies when we let Satan belittle us and make us think we are less than we truly are. I have been studying a lot about Jesus Christ though. It has really helped me to understand how he truly is our Savior and Redeemer. I am always so grateful for His atoning sacrifice and His love for each of us.

This week we were able to visit with Kim an investigator! She has the desire to read the Book of Mormon and we were able to testify to her of the Plan of Salvation. She had a daughter who just had complications from a pregnancy so she was a little stressed and worried. The spirit was so powerful and I know she felt the love that He has for her. This past week I was reading a talk from Elder Christofferson and in it he quotes a missionary who said, "Thank you black tag for allowing me to have intimate experiences with compete strangers." I love that quote now. I kept thinking that as we walked out of Kim's home. I am so grateful to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We were also able to meet with the Engle's. They are a great couple who love the Lord and are already striving to follow Him. We taught them about the restoration and introduced them to the Book of Mormon. Sister Engle was thumbing through it as we spoke about it and how it is another witness that Jesus is the Christ. I hope that they read it!! I feel like they will. They said they would try to be at church and weren't there. That was a bummer but hopefully they will come soon!

I have to get a flu shot today. Not excited... at all. That's like the worst thing. Hopefully I survive. haha!

Well I hope all is well and that ya'll are staying warm now that the weather is cooling off! I know I'll be trying me best not to freeze! I love and miss you all sooo soo much!!

                             Sister Messervy