Weekly Report - September 30

Er'body...

 

Sorry I haven't written a long weekly letter for the past couple of weeks!! We've just been busy doing the Lord's work and trying to catch up on sleep! Even when I do get enough sleep, it still seems like I am just exhausted.

Anyways so a lot has happened since the last time I wrote! I got a freakin' haircut and I have no idea what I was thinking cause now I have straight across bangs!!! It is really different and a lot of maintenance! Yeah... I don't think they are going to last long!!

Then this week, we had zone conference!! So President Hermansen came from Reno to Elko to basically call us to repentance and talk to us about how to be more effective missionaries! It was actually a really good conference! And at the beginning of each zone conference, usually a junior companion and then a senior companion each give a 5 minute talk. Well guess who one of the lucky speakers was! If you said Sister Messervy, you'd be correct!! So I had to give a 5 minute talk on "talking with everyone" which was kind of ironic because talking with everyone is something that I majorly need to work on! And also, I was so not prepared at all. But it was a really neat experience and because I was so unprepared and didn't know what I was going to say, the Holy Ghost was able to speak through me and tell all the other missionaries of the spring creek and elko zones what they needed to hear!

At zone conference we talked about how to get more member involvement in our missionary work, about the doctrine of the Godhead, and we had vehicle inspections/a training on how to drive in the snow. So at each zone conference we have a training given by President Hermansen, Elder Smigelski (the vehicle coordinator), Sister Hermansen, and the Assistants to the President (other missionaries who assist the mission president of course). It was just so good and it made me realize that I have a lot to work on to be a better missionary.

Then on Friday, we had overnight exchanges. Thursday night, I had a sleepover with Sister Anderson at the member's home where she and her companion live. Going out with the sister training leaders is a lot of fun. I was in a different area so I got to meet and teach knew people. And Sister Anderson forced me to testify at everybody's home. (I've kind of been working on talking with new people.) So it was just a really good learning experience for me. I don't know why I struggle with being myself around new people, but I do. I am just really quiet and don't know what to say!! It is sooooo FRUSTRATING! But I'm working on it, and as my testimony grows, I am getting a lot better at being able to testify about my beliefs.

Saturday was probably the best day of the week!!! We set Ryan (our 9 year old investigator) with a baptismal date!!!!! He wants to be baptized and is so ready, but is just afraid of choking on water! So save the date for October 26th (haha). We are slowly working on getting Ryan's dad ready and worthy to baptize Ryan. And it was so awesome that he took down some posters in their garage!!! I love seeing the changes that people make in their lives for Christ.

Also on Saturday, we went to our stake center and watched the General Relief Society Broadcast!! And the broadcast was amazing. I felt like it was directed to me!! We had tritip with baked potatoes, rolls, and salad for dinner afterwards. What could be better than a spiritual pickup and food!?!?!

We saw one of our investigators this morning, and she was a bit tipsy. We had an appointment scheduled which she had forgotten about. She loves it when we pray with her because she is slowly getting over her alcohol addiction and is turning to the Lord for help with that. The prayer she offered this morning was so beautiful. She was asking for Sister Fellman and I to be protected and other things. I don't know why it touched me so but it did. I am so thankful and glad to know that the people we teach love us. It is a mutual feeling, instead of us just feeling a ton of love for them. One of the funniest things, but also sweetest, she said was that we would be able to find worthy men. I wanted to laugh and cry because, finding a guy is not my focus right now, but I am so touched that she has our interests at heart. I love her to death, she is such an incredible person!!

Not much else has gone on here! I can't believe that it is already week 5 of the transfer which means that next saturday, we will get a phone call telling us where the Lord needs us to be! Time has flown by so fast!! Can you believe that it is already October?! Nutso!!!

I hope all is well at home!! Mom, have a safe trip to Nebraska and tell everyone Hello for me! And I'm glad ya'll had so much fun in Boise! I can't believe that Seth will be out on a mission, then Ross, and Preston will be out soon too!! That is just crazy! I have realized that time is a precious thing, and it is so important to enjoy each moment of life, before it passes you by, because time will pass and quickly too.

I love and miss you all so much!!!! Thank you for being such incredible examples and support to me throughout my life! I don't know what I would do without you guys!! I promise to write some snail mail today, so expect the mailbox to be full this week!!

Peace and Blessings!!

Sister Fish

Lice, that's nice!

Dear anybody and everybody...

The week started off great, we went to the Elko County Fair with a family of investigators, who had box seats for the horse racing. That was a lot of fun!!! I really wanted to get cheescake on a stick because where else can you get a piece of cake on a stick... I'll tell you where, only at the fair!! I restrained myself and settled for a sno cone instead which was equally as delicious since it was strawberry and peach flavored!!

The weather on monday was nuts though, it was pretty stormy and there were flash floods. We were on our way to dinner from the horse races when it really started to pour and seriously every street became a river. I got some cool pictures from this awesome week that I will send next week.

Then on Tuesday, we had dinner and went out for ice cream with the little boy who we are teaching and his Dad (who is a less active member). Since we've taught him a lot, we decided to do like a recap lesson and just review all that he has learned. It is awesome how much the son is remembering!! For dessert we went to an ice cream shop called Cool Beans (they do coffee and ice cream). I love it! It has some just weird and random pictures painted on the walls. It is a chill place and if I ever come back to Elko, I am going there!

This week was insane. Sister Fellman and I set pretty high standards for ourselves last week. We were starting to feel like we weren't doing all that we could to be the best missionaries we know we can be. So we've set a number on how many lessons we would like to get each week and such.

Yeah, our standards were in the toilet this week... wanna know why? (Hem, Hem, throat clearing noises) We got lice. You know those bugs that live in your hair, and just try to lay more and more eggs on top of your head?!?!! They were living on Sister Fellman and I for like a day!!! We found out this week that one of our investigators has lice and I don't think they know where it came from and we were in their home, helping them clean and touching everything!!! The night we found out was hilarious, as soon as she told us her boyfriend/fiance had lice, Sister Fellman set the blanket she was folding down and said so quickly, "It is getting dark so we better head home!" I could tell that she just wanted to book it out of there. As soon as we walked into our house, we checked each of our heads for lice, but luckily we didn't find any.

The next day, we weren't so lucky. After we had been out and about all day, and had stopped by that same investigators house to help her again, we decided it would be best to lice check our heads again. We found one egg on each of our heads. It was nasty. So the next day, we got permission from Sister Hermansen to stay home and clean. We had to clean everything!! Every inch of the Simons' basement is now sparkling. We vacuumed every inch of carpet, scrubbed the floors, used clorox wipes to clean EVERYTHING, got lice spray and sprayed a bunch of things with it, vacuumed and cleaned our car (p.s. since wednesday, we have been traveling around Elko by car!), and washed every piece of fabric (clothes, sheets, etc.)

It took us two whole days to do all that! It took two days mostly because of laundry. We were washing everything on the sanitize setting which took like 2 hours a load. We had so much to wash that we got up every two hours to change loads. And because we were cleaning and washing everything, we had to stay in the same disgusting clothes for both days. Since we were so nasty, we didn't want to sleep in our beds, we put blankets on the treadmills and slept on those!! It was so stinkin' hilarious. I have a picture of that that I will send you! After everything was cleaned, we had to wash our hair with lice killing shampoo. It was a fun couple of days. Pretty much now we are pros on knowing how to get rid of lice!

Moral of the story though, don't get lice cause it is a pain in the bum to have to clean everything to kill it so it can't keep showing up in your hair!!

Don't worry though, we are lice free and are able to leave the house now other than to go to walmart to get cleaning supplies!! Thank goodness!! Yeah it was a fun weekend that I hope never to repeat!!

Love you guys!!

Sister Fish

Faith

This week has gone by really fast. Sister Fellman and I have decided that we need to start working harder! We spend a lot of time with less actives, so they tend to just want to visit with us! So we are going to make sure that each time we visit with someone, we share a spiritual message! We are going to help the work along, just by making small changes to how we teach and serve.

This week I learned a ton about faith. I think one of the prophets said something like, "Everything you do is done with faith. Just waking up in the morning is an act of faith." Isn't that so powerful?! You just have to put your trust in the Lord, and recognize that He knows better than you, how everything will work out. If you are working towards a righteous goal, He will bless you.

Since I've been on my mission, I have discovered that if you have real faith, you act. I always thought that just saying, "I believe in God and Jesus Christ" was faith. Boy was I ever wrong. Faith is action. If you really trust in the Lord, you just act. If you trust that the Lord has a plan for you and a path already set for you to travel on, He will show you the way. You just have to be the one to step on a path. If it isn't the right path, the Lord will let you know and then you just adjust. And everything happens for a reason!! It is hard to put your trust in something you can't see though! I am working on it!
Love ya!
Sister Fish

Final August Post

Why hello there...

     I can never remember what happened each week so pretty much, I have to pull out my planner and my journal so I can let you know what is happening in my life! So you should feel pretty special that I put so much effort into writing you.
     Sister Fellman and I have decided that we are going to do our best and work our hardest to be missionaries that are worthy to be on The District videos that the church created. They are these movies that we watch as missionaries for training. In the videos, a camera basically just follows different sets of missionaries in the area they are serving. You see them plan for the day/week, in district meetings, and teaching investigators. They are actually pretty awesome movies and we do learn a lot from them.
     We found a new investigator this week! HOORAY!! She is so sweet and is married with 2 little girls. She sees the need for religion in her and her kids lives. I know that God put her in our path. This gospel will bless her life and because the family is so central to God's plan for us (his children) I think that she will be really receptive to our message.
     This week, we had exchanges. So pretty much exchanges are when you switch companions for a day with a companionship that is in a leadership position. For the sisters, we have a companion that is a Sister Training Leader. I went out with Sister Gifford and she is pretty awesome!! She heads home in December so she is full of lots of wisdom and has obviously been a missionary for a while so she is really good at teaching people. We were in her area which was lots of because I got to meet new people! It was a pretty busy day!

     There was a ward BBQ this past Friday and it was tons of fun!!! It was a good time because a lot of people came and a lot of the less actives we have been teaching were there!! It was awesome plus free food!
     And on top of an already great weekend. We had a few investigators at church!!! They came for sacrament meeting at least which is a good step in the right direction. So hopefully they will come to all of church next week especially since it is fast and testimony meeting. Getting investigators to church is a major step towards baptism/conversion. If they go to church, they are surrounded by other normal people who lead lives full of struggles and joys plus the spirit is even stronger at church and you learn so much from what others say/teach.
     So my week was pretty good!!!! I hope to hear from you guys soon and love you all as much as I love cake (which is a lot).

Love,

Sister Fish

Obedience

Obedience brings blessings, at least that's what I've heard. Haha just kidding, it really does. Sister Fellman and I this week had an experience with that, We had stayed up late talking about some things and then because of that, we slept in like way longer than 5 minutes. So the day was pretty crummy and like no one was home. We weren't able to visit like any of the people we wanted. When finally we are like "Ok, we get it, we need to strive to be more obedient." And then Sister Fellman had the idea that we should pray. We prayed to Heavenly Father to tell us what we should do and seriously like 2 minutes after that, we knocked on a door and met a family that hopefully will let us teach them the lessons. They told us to come back and that we were welcome anytime, but that they did have their own faith. So we will just keep going back and see what happens! But yeah, moral of the story, exact obedience brings miracles!!

We get our transfer calls in like 2 weeks!! Ridiculous, so who knows where I will be serving/living in september. I have a feeling I am not leaving Elko this next transfer, but it is wherever the Lord wants and needs me to be.

Serving a mission really is the best thing for individuals. It forces you out of your comfort zone like all the time, but you learn so much. We have been told that the greatest conversion to happen on a mission is within ourselves, but we cannot focus on ourselves. By converting others, and seeing the blessings the gospel brings to them, we then in turn convert ourselves. I hope Preston was listening to because even though it is kind of scary, he just needs to do it. It is really the hardest, but the best time of my life. I would never have the chance to meet any of the people I have, if I wouldn't have decided to serve. You learn how to live/be on your own and also with a companion (good marriage prep). And also you learn to rely on the Lord and the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Spider Killer

Elko is great but full of lots of gross spiders! On Monday night last week there was the biggest spider I have ever seen (in a house) and it was on our wall!! Sister Fellman and I were yelling and trying to get close enough to swat it. Pretty much, we are both terrified of those creepy crawlers! Eventually Sister Simon's (the member whose basement we live in) knocked on our door and asked us if we were okay. We told her we weren't and seriously she took one look at the spider and it was dead!!! Later in the week there was a pretty big one in the shower and I killed him! Me, the girl who runs away yelling or jumps on the bed screaming for dear life. He was gross by the way!!! So upsetting! It took me like 10 minutes to gain the courage to end its life, plus I was in my towel cause I was just going to step in and shower, but he ruined my plans!! After I said a short prayer though, he started moving closer to the door of the shower, I got mad, and hit him a million or so times, with a fly swatter. Yeah, he was real dead. The whole time I was trying to kill him, I was singing the song that goes Psycho Killer, bababababa... obviously I changed the lyrics to spider killer. 

We got some new investigators this week, which was good. It's sad though because a lot of people we teach are just struggling a ton with life and things. They live in low income housing, have kids to feed/take care of, and hospital/doctor bills to pay for. It has made me so grateful for parents who know how to manage money and who went to college so they could support a family.

Finding people to teach here is hard though. Elko is full of miners and their schedules are ridiculous. The shifts are like crazy. Some have 7 days on and then 7 days off. Others work nights for a week or a month and then switch to a month or week of day shifts. So it is hard to know when to try a certain house since you never know what the husband's schedule will be like.

So way back in the history of the church, the early saints used to do these things called cottage meetings. They would meet at a home and then have discussions/conversations on different gospel topics. Well not only did the early saints do it, but now we have one each week. It is really such an inspired idea. We have our recent converts and less active members come to a members' home and then teach them more about something. Like last week, we talked more in depth about the first vision and about how the Lord answers our prayers if we ask him and really believe that he will help us. It is nice because it is in a relaxed setting so the people there, can feel free to ask any question they want and not feel uncomfortable. So hopefully those keep going well and helping everyone to learn more about the gospel. I know I have already learned a lot from only 2 meetings.

Yesterday (sunday), I had the lovely privilege to speak in church. I was luckily considered a youth speaker though so I only had to talk for like 5 minutes. I kind of felt like I was rambling or talking in circles but everyone said it was good!!

I can't believe that I have been a missionary for a month!! Time has flown by and everyone keeps telling me it that it just goes by faster.

Sister Fish

I'm Here, I'm Here!!

Hi ya everybody! I'm here, I'm here, I'm here in... Elko?!

Well this week has been crazy!! The flight to Reno was great except for the whole time I was freaking out that the plane was going to crash and burn, even though it was packed with 30 missionaries on it!! Thank goodness the flight to Reno was only like 30 minutes long. We made it safely!! My first day here was spent learning about the mission and things pertaining to the Reno, Nevada Mission. President and Sister Hermansen are wonderful!! I love 'em so much!! So the first day, like I said was spent training. The way we (the newbies) meet our new companions here is so embarrassing, you basically strut out in front of everyone in nearby areas, stand on a blue x, and after your name and your comps name are read, wait to be claimed!! Yep, that was pretty weird! After your claimed everyone cheers and claps. It is a pretty big deal! But my first night I stayed with Sister Flores and Sister Garcia in an area close-ish to sparks since, you guessed it, the zone I am serving in is Elko! Elko is like a 4 hour drive from sparks, which we couldn't make the first night cause it was kind of late. My first night was great, we just had dinner at a members home and then visited the ward mission leader. Then the next morning I had to pack up and go to the mission home to be shipped out to Elko. It was nice though, because I slept most of the drive so I was able to catch up on some zzz's.

So I actually met my companion on Wednesday. Sister Fellman is awesome! She has an amazingly strong testimony and literally has like no fear. She comes from a big family from Alaska. She is great and has taught me a bunch so far!! We pretty much got straight to work after we went grocery shopping and put my luggage in our home. We actually live in the basement of a member family's! It is great! They are a sweet family with 3 young girls.

Pretty much time has flown by!! My P-days are on Mondays (by the way). I can't believe that I've been out in the field almost a week!! The first few days were hard because spending all day everyday, immersed in learning, teaching, and worrying about others is an adjustment! Now I've gotten used to it and I love it! I am not sure how I feel about Elko yet though. Seriously like everyone who knows where Riverton/Salt Lake is without fail, will make the comment of "Oh, So your not far from home." or "You are a long ways from home" (in a voice full of sarcasm). It is pretty funny but is starting to get on my nerves! Funny story though that has helped me realize that serving in Nevada isn't such a bad thing is that in Institute we were talking about the Savior's ministry. Ironically I wrote a thought that I think I had had from that lesson and put it in my scriptures. The thought goes something along the lines of... "Christ's ministry was so central to his place of birth. So be okay with wherever you are called." How crazy is that?!?! The Lord knew that Nevada is where I need to be and had prompted me to write that down! Now I feel lots better about my call to Reno, Nevada. (Not that I didn't before, but this has helped me to realize even more so that this place is where the Lord wants me to be).

The work here is just going along! We do a lot of work with less actives, which is interesting because in the MTC, you don't really focus on that, you focus more on people wanting to learn about the church. So that has definitely been a learning experience. Pretty much everything I learn and do out here is kind of on the fly. I seriously never realized how much missionary is done by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost! I love that about being a missionary because it totally strengthens my testimony that this is truly the Lord's church and His work, so we find and teach people how he wants! We just got a new investigator and she is so ready for baptism even if she doesn't know it yet!

The members here are AMAZING!! They love the missionaries! They are so loving and welcoming it is awesome! Saturday night was one of my favorite nights here. We went to a member's home for dinner and everything was green. We had green enchiladas (with green tortillas and green filling), green rice, green water, green juice, green soda, and green ice cream! Even the cups and plates were green! It was hilarious once I understood why everything was green! I am the greenie, greenhorn, whatever the newest missionaries are called!! I now feel like I am a part of the club.

So far, I have not had to make myself dinner!! We eat at a member's home every night of the week!! So here is my challenge to you, invite the missionaries over for dinner, if there are still missionaries serving in our ward. Have them over and let them share a spiritual message with you! We love doing that! Now our calling is not only to bring people into the Church and closer to Christ, but to strengthen the ward, to help the members! So do that for me please because I get fed so well each and every night! Sometimes it is awkward and weird but just ask them a lot of questions about where they are from, how long they've been out, how the work is going in the area, and you will have lots to talk about!! ( Sorry about the challenge, but I've got to practice inviting people to do things because that is like all we do as missionaries, so I've got to get used to it).