9 Months in, 9 More Months To Go

Hi, Everyone! 

Since January 16th, I hit my half-way mark in my mission. At first, I was excited. Next, I didn't know what to think. Later on, though, I feel a little stressed. This means that I need to work even harder in the work. There are many missionaries who feel the need to slack on their last week in the field, but that is not going to be me!

. . .

One of our investigators came to church with her son. She has been to sacrament meeting enough times to be baptized! She is still thinking about a Baptismal date. 

. . .

In this post, I wanted to state the Missionary Purpose. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, though the 5 basic principles of Christ's Gospel, which include Faith, repentance, Baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. 

I also want to state what goes on within missionary work. 

As missionaries, we visit Active Members, Less-Actives, Potentials, and Former Investigators. We have many teaching records for these people and we also write down what we've taught them, how they responded, and we keep a record of their Book of Mormon reading. As missionaries pass through the area, they get to see what previous missionaries wrote and what they had previously taught.

We..

Wake at 6:30 AM

Exercise until 7:00 AM

Get ready

Eat breakfast at 7:30 AM

Be at studies by 8:00 AM

Personal Study until 9:00 AM

Companion Study until 10:00 AM

12 week training until 11:00 AM (our whole mission is doing the training)

After that, we have Proselyting time until 9:00 PM (or, be in our living quarters by 9:30 PM).

9:00 PM is nightly planning. The next day starts at 9:00 pm. 

In Bed by 10:30 PM.

And it starts over again.

I can honestly say that I feel a little burnt out after 9 months, but I know I must continue in the work. 

Missionaries cannot listen to the radio.

We cannot watch TV.

We cannot look at the Magazines in stores, or read any other books unless they are from the mission library.

We cannot keep pets.

We cannot call home, or talk to home except through emails on Monday (We have 1.5 hours here in my mission) or Mother's Day or on Christmas, for about 40 minutes max. 

We cannot hold children in any way.

We cannot give the opposite gender, hugs. 

We cannot have dinner appointments with the Elders, or sit with them at church. 

We cannot stop and visit other people just "to talk;' It is not allowed to visit Elders to 'just talk,' either.

We cannot visit the beach, and we must be about 2 blocks away. 

We cannot proselyte in businesses. 

We cannot tell you our first names; it's part of the sacredness of the calling.

We cannot Bible-Bash. That drives away the spirit.

We seek to find the elect, those who are ready to accept the message. 

We cannot give council to people with specific problems in their personal lives, or tell them what decisions they need to make (For example: "You should take this medicine!" "You should dye your hair this color!" "You should stop dating this person!" "You should eat a Ham-and-Cheese Sandwich!" ) but we can invite them to come closer to Jesus Christ and the people will receive the revelation they need in their own personal lives; the Lord can help with the choices they need to make in life. 

This is a brief list of what we missionaries do. It helps us to  focus on the work, and I have a testimony of this.  

. . .

The longer I am out, the more the newness wears off. Missionary work is exciting, but not in the same excitement that one may find when going to an amusement park, from receiving a package in the mail, or from going to a new movie that just came out. I am excited about the spiritual progression of other people, and I am excited about how I can help someone out in my mission area. With this excitement is tied with immense love, patience, anticipation, and maturity that only comes from serving a mission. 

. . .

As missionaries, we love receiving letters in the mail. I love receiving letters from my family, even though I've personally received very few.  Our mailman got in an accident about a week ago and this past week we did not receive any letters in the mail. 

. . .

I appreciate every email sent out to me, and every package received. 

Anyways, I miss you all! 

-Sister Marshall 

   

Miracles, Miracles, and More Miracles

This week was a decent week, and I am so grateful for the things that have happened. 

1. Holy Ghost Prompting

- Sister Smart and I stopped by a less active  family and we planned to teach about the Plan of Salvation. The more we taught, I had this impression to ask the wife, who was a convert, "...have you received your patriarchal blessing?" and she said she hadn't. None of her children, not even her husband had one. She said she was afraid to receive one because she didn't know what was going to be in store for her future. I bore my testimony on patriarchal blessings and I have also told her the different I have seen in someone when they hadn't received one, and when they had. There is a huge difference. People are more confident with their everyday dealings in their life, and they also feel like their life has more meaning. They also see God's love and hand in their lives as they see what God promises them in the blessing. 

2. Gospel Changes Lives

- One of the investigators we are teaching came to church; afterwards, she told us that she met with the Bishop and that her and her boyfriend were planning on splitting up and he was moving out so that they could obey the Law of Chastity. She has a strong desire to do what is right and she was the one who requested for that lesson to be taught next. I love both her and her boyfriend and I love their strong desire to follow the Lord.

- We taught a small portion of the Plan of Salvation with an investigator who speaks Korean. By the time we saw her, my companion and I could tell there was some definite change in her life. She seemed a whole lot happier, and she was very excited we were there with Sister Copeland. 

   + When the Jehovah Witnesses called her cellphone, she told her phone, "Nobody here!" when     it continued to ring. I thought that was pretty funny.

   +Sister Copeland bought over the Korean Plan of Salvation Pamphlet. Our investigator was so     excited to understand the reason why Adam and  Eve partook of the fruit:

    "22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

 23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

 24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

 25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:22-25)

Because Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, we now know good from evil, happiness from sadness; we know the opposites of everything around us (There is opposition in all things 2 Nephi 2:11). 

3. I received a package from the Big Rock Ward!

- The package was sent to my last address and it was forwarded to my current address by the Zone leaders. I enjoyed every letter and I loved the goodies inside. That really made my day! Sadly, the ornament did not make it but I appreciate it all the same. 

4. I bought a Wedding Planner

- I felt like it was appropriate for me to buy a wedding planner since I am getting married on December 1st 2015 in the Seattle Temple (which is actually in Bellevue). The book is great; I wondered if they have an LDS planner (but I couldn't check because I can't use the web to look things up on my mission) but I think the planner I bought will be what I need. 

- Rehearsal dinner? Bachelor/Bachelorette parties? Renting out a place that costs money? I don't think so! The Temple's free!

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On the Contrary...

I have been having bad headaches lately that have lasted for more than a few hours. On Saturday, I have one that started from later in the morning, to in the evening. I've taken Ibuprofen and at first, it did not do anything for me. The second time I took Ibuprofen, I upped the dose, and then it worked at least 4 hours after I took it. 

I hope I can find out what exactly is causing my headaches! 

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I love each of you!

-Sister Marshall 

Transfer #7

The destroying angel passed by this apartment on the day of Transfer calls and no one got a transfer call. My companion and I get to stay in Williamsburg for another Transfer, which will end a few days after Valentine's Day. 

There has been a great amount of miracles this week. One of our investigators told us that she wanted to schedule an appointment with the Bishop because she had a lot of repenting to do. She also said that she has this strong desire to teach the gospel in the church to the younger children, and she cannot get this thought out of her head. 

Another great thing that happened this week was that her boyfriend came to church (a returning less active) and he came by himself. That takes a lot of  confidence to sit alone, and it also shows true conversion to go alone to church.

Something that is not on the spiritual side of things was I was given a 1998 Furby for free from Restore. In the one I work at on Tuesdays, they do not sell toys; I was told that someone had dropped off the Furby and the Training Booklet. By the time I got home from Restore, I put batteries in and I was surprised that it works. My last two Furbies I had in my childhood eventually broke and the voice stopped working, but it continued to function. 

Also, when missionaries are given a Furby, I have discovered that a Furby is a great Role Playing tool with the "yes/no" answer game. The Jamestown Sisters, my companion and I asked it questions which pertained to the Gospel. I am glad that Furby has a strong testimony of Joseph Smith (this session is recorded from my recorder). What is pretty cool, too, is that we had 30 seconds to answer, and so we were able to practice asking short, but inspired questions. We tightened up our lengthy questions, and made them more direct. It was great!

But, as much as I used to like the Furby 17 years ago, this toy really creeps me out. It has scared every one of us sisters when it randomly turns on. 

. . .

Church now starts at 9:00 am instead of 1:00 pm. I got ready early with 20 minutes to spare and I used that time to read the Book of Mormon. I felt very refreshed and I got about an hour and 20 minutes of extra studying time. 

. . .

During this past transfer, I learned something that I felt like I didn't learn before. Regardless of how exactly obedient my companion and I are, there is not a direct correlation with Exact obedience and Numbers. Sister Smart is such a great companion; we get along well, we try our best in the work, and we teach great together, and yet the numbers are not high. Our Mission President told us that it's not about the numbers. We still touch lives, even if it cannot be written on paper.  

. . .

New Years Eve: 

The sisters bought Pizza and Sister Thornton face painted the other two sisters' faces. I wrote in my journal, looked up scriptures, took a nap, and made gluten-free brownies. 

...

A boy texted us and said he was interested in taking the lessons. He said that he was the boy we just finished talking to and we were in our apartment having our studies. Apparently, some members had been doing their missionary work and he thought he was talking to one of the girls that visited him. It was a funny yet interesting situation. We thought the Jamestown sisters had given them our number by mistake, since they were going to church at a later time. We haven't heard back from him after we asked him who he talked to last, but hopefully we haven't scared him. 

This is all I can say for now. 

Miss y'all!

-Sister Marshall 

Merry Christmas

This week was such a great week, especially on the mission. 

On Christmas Eve, the apartment watched 'Legacy,' a movie produced by the church. It was a great movie; it explained more about what the pioneers had to go through as they had to move locations because of how the towns did not want them to settle because they were Mormon. That was my first time watching that movie.   

This Christmas was one of the greatest Christmases I have ever had. What made it special was instead of the focus on Santa, Presents, and shopping, the main focus was on Jesus Christ, His birth, and His Atonement. I definitely felt the Savior's love, and I have come to recognize and understand how much greater a gift He is to the world. Because of Jesus Christ, we are able to become better, and improve. Because of Jesus Christ, there is more to come after death. We are also redeemed from our sins, and wrong doings because He died for them on the cross. We can feel peace in our lives, because of Jesus Christ. We can become so much more, because of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for my Savior, and my redeemer. 

I also realized how much my family and my future family mean to me as well. My love for them has grown so much since I have been away from them. During the Skype call, I got to hear Joseph's Family, Joseph, and my family. That was truly a great experience and I miss and love each of them very much. 

Anyways, this is all I can say for now.

I love you all!

-Sister Marshall 

Heart Attacks, Great Lessons, Christmas Conference, and Packages

This week was another great week in Williamsburg. 

I mailed off packages to family and I made some fudge to go into the packages. 

After dark, we can only see people that we know, and we cannot go tracting. We can also do heart attacks, which is when we put on hearts/Christmas trees with scriptures on peoples' doors, and run. One of the houses we went to, we almost got caught! They opened their door right after we left!

We have a new investigator this week, and her name is Hwasund. She is Korean, and she mostly speaks Korean. We have a Korean Book of Mormon for her and we will give it to her by the next lesson. She is also taking lessons from the Jehovah's witnesses every Saturday. I guess she will be taking lessons from us as well; she is very interested in knowing which of the churches is the true church. 

One of our investigators, Pete, has been given to the Elders. It is hard to see him and have a third female come with us every time. He has also cancelled some appointments by not showing up and my companion and I have been confused. He told us he was going to come to church yesterday, and we had a member go and pick him up. When the member got to Pete's place, he told the member that he would be coming back to church on January 21st, a month from Sunday. What is odd to me is that the date is very specific, and is a Wednesday. We don't hold the Church service on Wednesday. Hopefully things will work out and we may know how to best help Pete. 

We had a great lesson with Beth this week. She wasn't able to come to church because she hasn't been feeling well. Jacob came to church, by himself! That is real commitment right there, when someone goes to church alone. Sister Smart and I were so happy to see him there!

Also, on Sunday, my companion and I sang in the church choir. I haven't sang in the choir before, and I was grateful that I was able to. 

We had a great Christmas conference on Friday, with our mission President. We watched The Polar Express. There are so many things in that movie that relate to missionary work! I also felt guilty watching a long movie and I thought about the scripture that told us to not be idle (Doctrine and Covenants 88:124), and how I felt like I wasn't fulfilling my purpose as a missionary because I wasn't able to bring people closer to Christ for an hour or so. One of the Jamestown sisters felt the same way, and she said she felt anxious during the movie. There are so many analogies that can be made in missionary work, and I bet any returned missionary may also feel that way as they watch the movie. When I saw the boy and the girl talk to the younger boy on the train, when they were trying to convince him to get off the train, I felt like that was a Missionary moment. When the boy asked the girl, "Are you sure?" It reminded me of the missionary companionship and how we are not supposed to correct our companions in their conduct, or to point out their flaws. Her reaction was exactly how it is on the mission, in many cases. I felt like the Santa was like the Missionary President.  I have no idea how I'm going to be when I get home when it comes to watching a movie. I might feel exactly how I felt when I watched the Polar Express. 

There were a lot of musical numbers in the conference. 

... 

There have been many times where I have been prompted by the Holy Ghost to do things this week. One of them was when Sister Smart and I were turning around in a dead end, and I had a feeling to go and talk to the man who was raking. We gave him a 'He is the Gift' card and he wants to have lessons with the Spanish missionaries. 

...

I received the package from the Sammamish Valley YSA ward and I was thrilled to receive it. Thanks to everyone who sent me something! 

...

I wish y'all a very Merry Christmas! 

The Best Week Yet on My Mission

Hi, everyone! This week has been the best week I have had since I've been out on my mission.  There has been so many miracles that have happened this past week, and I believe that striving to be exactly obedient to the mission rules has definitely played a huge part in that. 

The best highlights for Accounting:

- 2 Progressing Investigators

- 2 investigators at Sacrament Meeting (The first in my last 3 transfers!) 

1.) Pete, the person who called us to schedule an appointment to meet with us, is sincerely interested in learning more about the gospel. We met at the church for the lesson. Just the lesson, though, many of the members from the Jamestown ward, and some of the Williamsburg ward stopped him in the hall and were greeting him, and getting to know him better. I have never seen such an effort in all my years as a member of the church and as a missionary. I was thrilled.  When we had the lesson, we taught Pete the restoration (Just the day before, we scheduled a baptism date and the planned date is January 17th! He is very excited about baptism) and the spirit was  very strong during the lesson. He told us about his past life, and how he wants to be a [missionary] for God. Out of all of the people I have taught who have been sincerely interested in hearing about the restored message, he has picked up on the principles quick. I loved watching him learn and seeing him understand a doctrine principle. he believes that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. One of the things that is new to him is that God, His son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy spirit are separate beings, which act with one purpose (John 17:11, Genesis 1:26-27, ACTS 7:55-56 KJV),The spirit was very strong, especially in the prayer he said. 

He enjoyed the church service, and he stayed for all 3 hours. He asked so many good questions in Gospel Principles class. 

He shook hands with everyone he met and he was very polite and curteous. I was very impressed. 

2.) Beth, an investigator, came to church with  Jacob! Jacob is returning to church and my heart exploded when I saw them both.  Many members (included the bishop) introduced themselves and welcomed them into the ward. One of the sisters sat next to Beth in Relief Society and she helped her through the class. Beth and Jacob are going to have my companion and I over for dinner later; 

Every time I see Beth, her countenance has changed; there is more light about her and she is beaming more and more each time.  

I love their family. They are so wonderful and I am so glad I have the opportunity to teach them! :D 

3.) Brother Hanly is preparing to receive his Patriarchal Blessing :D 

4.) We came in contact with June, who has not been able to come to church because she has been taking care of her husband, who has Parkinson's disease. We taught her the importance of Prayer and Scripture Study.

5.) The work has definitely been progressing since I got to this area.

6.) There have been no conflicts since I have been in Williamsburg, at all. My companion and I work super well with one another, and we also work well with the Jamestown sisters. There is so much love and charity and I can easily say this has been the best transfer I've ever been in, in my whole mission. I feel sincerely blessed and I love being with Sister Smart. She is awesome <3 

7.) I am recognizing more each day that anything is possible with God's help. Anything, whatsoever. Especially more so, with the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

During this Preparation day, I have almost 20 Christmas cards to write out to the people I miss and love, and I hope I can finish them all before 6 pm, when our preparation day ends. 

Thanks for all of your support!

-Sister Marshall 

Many More Miracles to Come

My second official week in Williamsburg was great! My companion told me that the work has picked up here since I got here. Miracles have happened one day after another, and I am so grateful to be in this area. 

One of the blessings that came was that an investigator set their own date for baptism (it is still not in stone yet, but it was still a great date to be ready by). Usually that does not happen.

Another blessing was we contacted a member referral and we are now teaching her about the gospel. She is married to a less-active and he has a desire to come back to church after he had a good time coming to church one time with his family. This investigator has a great desire to learn more about the gospel. She said that when she read the 1st chapter of Nephi, she wanted to keep reading to learn more. 

We met with a less-active who lives above a storage unit office (she is the manager) and we saw some missionary work happen right before our eyes before we started talking with her. She knew this customer and his mother, and she invited him to church. We also gave out a few "He is the Gift" cards (which is what us missionaries are giving out now for the season) in her office. 

The next blessing is still happening, and I am so thankful for this one. Sister Smart and I get along so well that it seems too good to be true. We teach in unity, and there has been no contention. We continue to build onto one another's ideas and we continue to be focused on our Missionary Purpose and work. Sister Smart and I have so much in common. She and I both play the clarinet, and we know how to make the work fun. 

The greatest thing to top off this week was when someone called our phone and left us a message. The young man told us how after he read about 17 chapters of the Book of Mormon, he "...came to the conclusion that [he was] interested". Another thing he said was that he has read the Bible and he hadn't felt such power when he read the Book of Mormon. We told him that what he felt when he read the Book of Mormon was the Spirit. One of the greatest things he told us was that he said the LDS religion is "a great religion and I want to be apart of it". Sister Smart and I must have given out at least 30 'He is the Gift' cards, and one called back, at least, we thought. It turned out that he called our number from a Mormon.org card which he was given sometime ago from another set of sisters with the same Sister Missionary Phone number. This does not happen often at all! It is very exciting when there is someone interested in learning! When people are interested in learning something, they usually apply themselves more than those who are interested just for the sake of learning, or who are 'curious'. This is truly a miracle. 

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Something fun we did this week was go caroling with the church ward in some nursing homes. We had a couple of elderly people in the nursing homes follow us with their wheel chairs. One of the elders pushed an elderly man and he sang along. Children from our ward sang too. If there is one thing that our religion has a good foundation with other Christians, it would be Christmas.

I heard that Christmas on the mission will be one of the best Christmases I will ever have. There is 17 days away until Christmas. Since I've been on my mission, I have been able to focus more on the Savior and His love for us and how great of a gift He is to the world. I have been able to study even more on how Jesus Christ was perfect, even in his development in his childhood. He was able to develop faster than any other human being because he was perfect; In Luke chapter 2, it talked about how he was 12 years old, and the doctors where fascinated with him and the wisdom he had. He was at a level where a lot of 12-year-olds were not. I pondered on the thought on what a perfect person would be like, especially in their childhood years. I cannot fathom it, to be honest. 

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In my studies, sometime ago this week, I rethought about how everything in this universe is under the Law of God. The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the world, life itself, and all other laws pertaining to everything else on Earth are under His direction. No matter what we believe, do, or say, cannot change the nature, or the law of God. The world's standards, fads, politics and their debates on what is right and wrong, also cannot alter God's laws.  

"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith" (2 Nephi 27:23, & Hebrews 13:8 - 'yesterday, today and forever' ).

I know that this church is true and I have seen so many miracles that have come from living the restored gospel. I have seen many miracles happen to others as they have applied the 5 basic teachings of Jesus Christ, and have read the Book of Mormon. I invite everyone to pick up the Book of Mormon and to read it, either separately or with their families.  

This is all I can say for now, and I wish y'all Happy Holidays! 

-Sister Marshall