What a week!

I'm still a little sick but doing a lot better! We talked to the mission presidents wife and she wanted me to stay in and rest for a day. I had a hard time hearing that. Its hard being sick as a missionary and wanting to go out and work but not having the energy to do so. So on Wednesday that's what we did, stayed in for the day. I pretty much slept all day and then would study and read in between naps, it was much needed. Then we went to a dinner appointment that night and I'm pretty sure I got the lady sick......ooops! 

On Thursday morning we had a doctor appointment in Downtown Calgary............right in the middle of the city. I had no clue where the appointment was and neither did SisterSagers. So we got out our map and started driving. At one point we realized that we were completely going in the wrong direction when we looked behind us and the city was getting farther and farther away so we turned around and headed on a different road. The problem with Calgary is there's lots of one way streets so that makes it difficult. But it was kind of fun because we got to do some sight seeing that we normally can't do. We drove right past the Stampede grounds. So cool! Someday when I'm not a missionary it would be a lot of fun to go to the stampede. Anyways we finally found the right street and we were super late for the appointment...and I'm feeling miserable. We're pretty much running down a street in the middle of the city trying to find the doctors office. Long story short we found the doctors office he gave me some medicine and I'm doing a lot better. Also when we were driving back to our apartment we were driving past some of the cutest Antique stores! It made me think of my dear sister Kate. Someday we'll explore Calgary and all of the antique stores.....be excited!! Then we had a lesson with one of our investigators that night (Byron) he still has the baptismal date of May 26th so we hope to continue working with him and getting him prepared for that date! It's so exciting seeing peoples desires to come closer to our Savior.

Friday consisted of people cancelling appointments......silly people. But we had dinner with the lovely older lady from Australia. She's so cute! I love people. She told us stories of growing up in Australia and joining the church. She kind of reminded me of Grandma and Grandpa Martin because she has this porch that she enjoys sitting on and just talking about what she sees outside her house and watching the cars drive by, it was fun. We then had more appointments that night with less-active members.

On Saturday we were invited to a baptism of a little boy in our ward. They wanted us to fill the time between being baptized and getting changed. So we picked out some Mormon messages and shared them and bore our testimony on the Restoration and our Savior Jesus Christ it turned out our really well. The family of the boy is from the Philippines so after the baptisms they had a bunch of yummy authentic food from the Philippines. I love serving here in Calgary where its so diverse. I feel like I'm serving all over the world. They also invited two non-member families to the baptism and we got to introduce ourselves and talk with them for a little while. I'm hoping the more people come into contact with the missionaries and have good experiences with them the more likely they will be  to having us over. We then went and had our weekly appointment with a recent-convert family from Sudan. She speaks Dinka? I think, so there is a bit of a language barrier but her English is pretty good. And then the rest of the day was us trying to contact people, people blowing us off, people cancelling appointments. Hey no one said this would be easy. If being on a mission was easy it wouldn't be exciting. And guess what even after having a day where everyone ignores me and Sister Sagers and doesn't want to talk to us....I look back and think "I love being out here."

I had this really sweet experience while teaching one of our less-active members this past week. We were talking about acting on the impressions we receive from the Holy Ghost and we read the scripture 1 Nephi 4:6 "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." That scripture hit me so hard. I've always loved that scripture but in the middle of the lesson I was overwhelmed with the Spirit. And the most clear thought came into my mind. "This is why your here. You followed the Spirit and came on a mission. You still might not know why I asked you to come on a mission but you acted on the spirit and came. You will be blessed for coming. People will be blessed for you coming."  I know that Heavenly Father is watching over me. I know that he will continue to bless me as long as I show my faith in Him. It was such a tender mercy that gave me so much comfort.

So on church on Sunday guess what?! Not only did 2 of our investigators come to church but we had over 20 less-active members at church. DID YOU JUST READ THAT?! 20+ LESS-ACTIVE MEMBERS CAME TO CHURCH. It was so fun to walk in and see more and more of the people we've been working with come into church. And most stayed past sacrament meeting. It made me so happy. The bishop told us that with all those people coming to church we increased attendance in the ward by 14%! Yay!  Also me and Sister Sagers had to teach Gospel Principals....we got a phone call late Saturday asking us to teach because the lady was sick....the same lady we had dinner with early that week when I was sick....dang it. So we taught a lovely lesson that went pretty well. I think. I hope. Then that night we had dinner with a less-active family and there friend. It was great. They're friend Paul looked like he came straight out from a book or a movie. Big tall man, with a big beard and blind in one eye. Wearing a hunting shirt and suspenders. He told stories of hunting and fur-trapping and killing wolves....we then ate this dessert with berries and cream and the cream is getting stuck in his beard and running down his face. I loved it. I love how unique people are and hearing there stories.

 

So that was pretty much my week! I love the gospel. I love sharing the gospel. I love knowing that I can be with my amazing family forever.

 

I love you all so much!

 

 

Love

Sister M.

Sarah's Zone on the P-day before transfers. "Sometimes I feel like me and Sister Sagers are the only Sisters serving here in Calgary. Its so nice when we have meetings and see other sisters! "

Downtown Calgary

Hi everyone!

Well sorry I forgot to tell you that I wouldn't be emailing you yesterday. This week is transfers so our P-day is changed to Tuesdays. But me and Sister Sagers will be staying in Chestermere for the next 6 weeks! I kinda knew that would be happening though, she needs to finish training me. Heavenly Father knows what he's doing and I need to trust him.

So I've been in Canada for a whole transfer. Crazy! This week was great. The weather has been up and down and crazy though. And I think its the cause of me being super sick. My voice is shot I sound like a man, my throat hurts, runny nose....you know all that fun stuff. Its okay though because every lesson we teach they make sure to pray for me to feel better, its pretty cute. We taught Byron this week who has a baptismal date(!!!) the lesson went really well and I just hope and pray he keeps progressing. Also Shauna the very first investigator that I taught my first week who then went MIA for 4 weeks came back into the picture. She's so sweet we just don't know what to do about her since she's so up and down. But we had a really good lesson on the plan of salvation with her and she accepted everything we taught her and she said it all made sense. She also joined us in a couple of fun activities this past weekend. The stake put on a Broadway night and she came to that with us on Friday night and then there was a women's conference on Saturday that she came to. I'm really happy that she's meeting more people in the ward and starting to feel more comfortable with everyone.

We also had to go to a re-trainers meeting for Sister Sagers on Friday which was the best thing ever becasue I got to see all my cute friends from the MTC since all of their trainers had to go to the meeting as well. Sister Estrada was there and Sister Doty and everyone else! It made me SO happy!! And Sister Wray who came out with us was called to be a trainer just after 6 weeks, she'll be fabulous. They also hinted that the rest of us will most likely be training in June because there is a huge transfer of sisters coming out then. I don't know how I feel about that yet since I feel like I need to be trained my whole mission hahaha

We were invited to Ward Council on Sunday and it was a 2 hour meeting discussing missionary work! Its so nice to see our Bishop trying to motivate everyone to help with missionary work. It was also our ward conference that day and right before it started the Stake President asked me if there was anything that he should talk about in Ward Conference, I felt very impressed that he needed to talk about the basic principles of the gospel like prayer and daily scripture study. To my surprise he added that into his talk. It was really good and hopefully people took something from his talk. We need to stick to the basics. If we're praying and reading our scriptures everyday and going to church every Sunday we'll be just fine :) We had a less-active lady come to church that Sunday that hasn't come once since I've gotten here and I think his talk really stood out to her.

On Sunday night we had the chance to go to a Holocaust memorial fireside. There were a lot of Jewish people there and there was a Jewish Rabbi that said the prayer. It was really neat to see the Jewish and Christian community here in Calgary come together. I also had a lady ask me for 2 books of Mormon.....and guess what? I didn't have any! I had just gave a Book of Mormon away a day earlier and hadn't put anymore into my bag. So I turn to Sister Sagers and she didn't have any as well. I felt like the worst missionary luckily I found 2 to give to the lady but it made me realize that I need to always be prepared so I don't miss out on an opportunity.

We taught our investigator Carlin this week as well and he's super skeptical of things but he definitely asks good questions. He's really confused why someone would be baptized and make those covenants with God and then fall away from the church. I'm glad he realizes how important those covenants are though.  

Things are going well and hopefully it stays warm and that I feel better soon! Its awful being sick and then its even worse when your a missionary because you want to just keep working.

Anyways I'm glad Sam's thumb is doing pretty good and that Kate got to enjoy the warm weather in California! How fun! Also family here's the deal.....every week since being on my mission I have gotten some nice letters in the mail and it drives my zone leaders crazy that I get so much mail which in return makes me really happy. This past week guess what I got in the mail.....nada. Nothing....which made me sad (not really but I like getting mail because I'm a missionary you know) So yes this email thing is super convenient and I looooove emailing all of you but maybe for FHE you could all write me! Yeah? Sounds like a good plan to me!! Yay!

I love you all so so so so so so so much. I can't even describe how lucky I am to have such an amazing family.

Oh also I get to talk to you soon! And guess what? I've been learning some Mandarin and some Spanish so I'll teach you some when I speak to you on Mothers day! Be excited!

Love you all!

Sister M.

Sarah's district, the Strathmore District. 

How is Utah? If anyone is curious Canada is still cold and snowy but doing great!

 

This is week flew by! Actually every week flys by its the days that can be really slow. We're still continuing to meet with a lot of less-active and part member families. We got into a couple of homes that usually people can't get into it and we got return appointments as well! It made me happy. Small little tender mercies are the things that brighten my day. We taught the Guardados who is a less-active family we've been working with weekly. Brother Guardado prayed for the first time in front of us and it filled me with joy. The spirit was there and it was such a simple prayer but so powerful. Bother Guardado said that he thinks of us (me and Sister Sagers) as angels coming to help his family. I love seeing small little changes.

 

I also got a blessing on Monday and it made me feel a lot better about everything. Things take time and I just need to be patient....haha someday I'll learn patience. On Tuesday we had car inspections and trying to clean your car and wipe it down when its freezing outside and your face and fingers are going numb is not pleasant. But we got 100% on a car inspection so we were happy about that! If you get lower then a 80% you have to walk for a day. Its too cold to walk! I should be grateful I have a car though. There are some missionaries that do have to walk because they don't have enough cars right now with how many missionaries are coming. I also had my interview with the President on Tuesday. He's so great. We had a nice little chat and I know everything is going to be great.

 

We had a crazy lesson with a less-active member on praying to our Heavenly Father. He kept talking about how God has stopped listening to him and how he refuses to pray with his wife. I felt bad for his wife...who tries so hard to stay strong. Prayers strengthen relationships. { So my challenge for you family is to have a kneeling prayer everyday...dad I know your getting kind a old and falling apart....so you can sit in a chair but Sam and Mom I want you to kneel and pray everyday } Anyways back to the lesson we talked about prayer for awhile and finally got him to say that he would try to start praying again so hopefully he tried this past week.

 

On Thursday I was soooooo grateful that it was our planning day because there was a crazy snowstorm in the morning. It was so beautiful though. Huge giant snowflakes flying everywhere. We then had our weekly appointment with Felix that night and challenged him to study repentance for our lesson tomorrow. I've been trying to study repentance as well so we can be able to discuss it tomorrow. Felix is great and he's really putting in a lot of effort to come back to church.

 

On Friday we got some really great news. We got a phone call from a couple saying that they have finally set a date to be married and that the boyfriend wants to be baptized the day after! So yes we do have someone on date to be baptized in May!!!! YAY! It put me in the best mood to hear that! We just need to keep on praying that they do get married....they've had a date to be married before and they cancelled it. But I have a good feeling about this one :)

 

Also remember how that boy came to church on Easter and afterwords said he wants to learn more about the church? Well we called him and he never returned our call.....but then late friday night he called us! And we got an appointment with him. And we taught him yesterday!! He's 20 so my age and he's great. I say that about everyone but everyone here really is so great. Anyways we taught him the restoration and he asked a bunch of questions which was good for me, it was kind of stressful but he made me think. And I would tell him something and then he would ask me where I got that information so I would have to quickly turn to the scriptures and find the answer. I kind of think he was on something...he looked a little high but the lesson still went well and we set up another appointment with him even though he said we could only teach him 1 lesson! We just had to work out magic...actually I'm pretty sure it wasn't us but the spirit :)

 

So we had a goooood week! And I'm excited for whats coming up this week. We have transfers on the 24th.....WHAT!? I can't believe how fast that went. I'm pretty confident that me and Sister Sagers will not be transferred because I still need a lot of training. But I'll let you know what happens.

 

Like I said earlier we got a bunch of snow this week and the lake looks frozen again. Who knows when spring will come.

 

 

I love you all so very much!

 

Have a good week!!

 

Love

Sister M

This week was really good. Our investigator hasn't been home and won't return our calls.......so we're trying really hard to find new investigators. But me and Sister Sagers made a goal to really work with the less active members this past week....that's kind of our goal every week but we pushed really hard this week. And miracles are happening. They're coming back to church and we had some come and watch conference with us at the church. Its so great!!

The people here are so great and my love for all of them continues to grow. So we met with Sis. Sonnenberg again the lady who makes me sing. She invited me and Sister Sagers over for lunch and she was so excited to have us over. Usually she can be kind of cranky but she was so happy. She made us sandwiches.....with this gross meat on them. I have no idea what the mushed up meat was but I just stuffed it into my mouth and chewed and  swallowed. I was praying the whole time that me and Sis. Sagers would not get sick. It was really cute of Sister Sonnenberg to invite us over though. We then went into her living room and she made me sing again. But this time she told me that I need to improve on my singing skills. (Good to know) I don't think they'll ever improve. Ha it makes me laugh though. She's really grateful we come over though. We then had a couple of other less-active member lessons that day that went really good as well. We then had dinner with a part-member family and I think the dad (who's not a member) really like our lesson about being in tune with the spirit. We then had a lesson at the church with Felix who has been less active for a lot of years. Me and Sister Sagers decided to teach him how we would teach an investigator so we started with the restoration and it was such a good lesson, the Spirit was there and I could tell that Felix could feel the Spirit as well. We invited him to pray about the restoration to find out for himself that its true.

The rest of the week was filled with less-active and part-member lessons that were great. I really just love meeting new people and learning about them. I got my haircut and its pretty cute! A non-member cut me and Sister Sagers hair and we told her all about conference and she wanted to know where she could watch it so we told her and hopefully she had the chance to watch! We'll have to follow up with her. We had dinner with a lady who is a convert of 3 years and she loooooves to talk and talk and talk. She's in her late 30's and is single so I think she enjoys company. She loves horses and animals and told us all about growing up in the country. I really had no idea how were going to get out of her house. Luckily we had a lesson that night so we had an excuse to leave but I really do enjoy learning about people and developing friendships with the people in my ward.

I thought conference was great! Everything to me seemed to be focused on families and strengthening our families. The gospel truly does bless families and I've seen that so much since being on my mission. You can see a clear difference in people's homes who have the gospel and who doesn't have the gospel. I really liked Elder Scott's talk and having a Christ centered home and I really liked Elder Hollands talk "Fan your flame of faith" How great is that? We just need to continue in exercising our faith even if its just a little particle of faith. That's one of my favorite scriptures Alma 32:27 I hope we can all continue in developing our faith in Christ.

Sooooo its cold again here. We had freezing rain the last couple of days and then yesterday it started snowing again and today we woke up to lots of snow! I'm so grateful for my wool socks! I like the weather though.

I love you all!!!!

Sister M.

Sarah standing in front of Chestermere Lake 

Chestermere Lake 

Sister Sagers and Sarah's coordinating outfits

CANADA WEEK 3

Hello everyone!!

How is everything back in Utah??  The weather here has been sooooooo  nice!! 12 degrees hahah sounds funny but 12 Celsius is warrrrm!! So this week was so good. Me and my companion are working really hard and getting our members to trust as as missionaries and to get the less active members trusting us. Our investigator kinda bailed on us this week. But she does that. I don't know what to do about her. She's awesome, such a sweet lady but we're just are having a hard time committing her to things. But we're seeing a change in our less-active members and I love it!! I love seeing them trying to be better each week. This week flew by so I'm sorry if this email is kinda scattered I'm just trying to remember everything that went on.

We tried contacting some referrals but they weren't interested. They really don't know what they're missing out on but we just keep praying for the people who the Lord is preparing us for. Last Monday on P-day we combined with the West Zone and I got to see Sister Strathern from the MTC she's serving up in Banff right now and it was so fun to see her and see how she's doing! They just opened Banff up to Sisters.

Then on Tuesday we drove out to Strathmore for our District Meeting its about a 40 minute drive. All the Elders wanted to get chinese after.......you know how I love chinesefood.....not. It made me sick obviously. We then tried to meet with a potential investigator but she was asleep the same time she told us to come over......these people are tricky! Good thing I'm very persistent and won't be giving up. We then had an amazing lesson with the Pletts who are very less active. The Spirit just took over in that lesson and the whole time I was just amazed at what the Lord can do for us when we're in tune with the spirit. Brother Plett finally opened up to us and now we have a better understanding of why he acts the way he does. It was kind of overwhelming but good. We then had dinner that night with some of my favorite members the Simmons. I don't remember if I told you but we've been having some of the Mandarin Elders coming to our dinner appointments the last 2 weeks. They cover 2 stakes and switch which ward is in charge of their dinner appointments. So our ward was in charge in March. The Elders are hilarious to the point where everyone just laughs the entire time at dinner.

On Wednesday we did some service for a less-active lady Sis. Sonnenberg in our ward who is in a wheelchair. She's a funny one. She wanted us to try and fix her bed so she handed us some nails and some hammers and cement and told us to get to work! Ha it was hilarious me and Sister Sagers had no idea what we were really doing but we fixed her bed for her. Oh and then our visit with her just got even better Sis. Sonnenberg loves the piano so she makes Sis. Sagers play the piano for her but then she made me sing hymns! Let me repeat that for you all I was singing a solo in her living room! I DON'T SING. Everyone knows that. Sister Sagers knows that, but Sister Sonnenberg is very persistent and would hit me if I stopped singing. So that was cool. I was just humiliated the whole time. Anyways We then had cleaning checks in our apartment Thursday so we spent the morning cleaning. We lost the cleaning contest to our Zone leaders by 1 point. Sad. On Friday we did got invited over to a families farm in our ward to have an Easter party, they invited some recent converts so they wanted us there to make them feel more comfortable. It was way fun. We then had dinner that night with a part-member family. The father is not a member but he's such a good guy. We also had a lesson after that with a less-active lady who's Native. Her grandson is not a member and he and his friend stayed in for our lesson, they asked a ton of questions about Jesus Christ and it was so fun to help these boys understand who he is.

Then on Saturday we helped some people in our ward with packing some things up because they're moving. They had a non-member boy there who's probably in his early 20's and we asked if he would be interested in learning about the gospel and he said no......but by the time we were leaving he said we can have 1 lesson with him. Mission accomplished. One lesson is all it takes! What made me even happier is when he showed up to church on Sunday for all 3 hours!! YEAH!! He then came up to me after church and said he wants to set up an appointment within the next week or two. I was thrilled! 

Yesterday(Easter) was just so awesome. So many of the less-active members that we've been working with came to church. We even had a whole family come and they never ever come. Sacrament meeting was really good and I'm glad they were all there to feel the spirit. I got asked to come up and bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting which was fun as well. Also there is the guy Felix who came to church he joined the church in 1995 and stopped going in 1998. He didn't even realize that President Hinkley passed away. Felix told us he has a strong desire to come back he just needs some help so we're going to start reteaching him the lessons as well. I love seeing people want to do better. So for Easter we got invited over to dinner at Brother Williams house. He is less-active as well but he loves feeding the missionaries. He is so sweet! We had the Mandarin Elders over as well and he got all of us Easter Candy and treat and cearel. I'll send you a picture of all the things he got us. It was a really good Easter. I'm excited for this week and for the goals me and Sis. Sagers has set. And conference is coming up so what could be better than that! Nothing.

I got a letter from Rachel Rawlings and Katie Clark this past week, they just made my day! Katie the letter I got from you was one you sent to the MTC but I finally got it! Thank you! I'm finally going to buy stamps today so I can start sending letters!

Also dad my companion Sister Sagers is very strict about the speed limit so don't you worry I won't be getting any speeding tickets as long as she's my companion. I thought that would make you happy!

I love you all! SO MUCH!

Have a good week!

Sister M

Sarah and Destiny, one of the members in her area.

 Sarah and Sister Sagers, celebrating Sister Sagers 1 year mark on her mission!

"Brother Clark is a member in our ward who is in his late 70's. He used to make knives and does leather work. He wanted me to try on his hat and his vest." 

Sarah and Brother Clark 

"We went over to a dinner appointment and we were all required to wear hats. It was a very fun dinner!" 

Sister Sagers and Sarah, with all the treats Brother Williams gave them.