Sister Wives

Family & friends -

So we share the Pioneer YSA Stake with the assistants and our zone leaders. Our stake president took us all out to lunch at the Grand America hotel restaurant ... if you've never been there, let me tell you that it feels like The Suite life of Zach and Cody or Titanic or something. So we got to have a nice sit down lunch with the elders and it kind of felt like ... a weird date. I didn't know what to talk about with them..... guess who's lost their social skills? Me!

I went on exchanges with some sisters and got to teach a legit Polygamist family... legit. Like 3 old houses next to each other for each of the wives. The AP's taught and baptized one of the daughters a couple of weeks ago and now her little brother is getting the lessons from the sisters in the family ward. It's the weirdest thing .... I thought Polygamists were like Amish people? But they're not. They're totally normal. The daughters are like, really cute too .... and they have a picture of Joseph Smith huge on their living room wall. Like, this is weird, haha! I know the AP's have been struggling with teaching the other YSA aged daughters ... there's 9 kids from this wife and 3 or 4 are YSA aged daughters. One got baptized and it took forever because for children of polygamy to get baptized, it has to be approved by the first presidency ... crazy. She's so solid though and is getting married in the temple to her boyfriend in a year! Anyways I know the AP's haven't quite gotten the other girls to commit. They asked me to talk to them girl to girl (I don't know what that means - I'm not friendly and good with girls). They are so cute and we talked about hair and clothes and MAC makeup for a while ... then I asked about baptism and she said she doesn't want to live polygamy, but if it's what the Lord wants her to do she needs to do it. Well, I didn't know what to say that- how often do we teach polygamists? I haven't! She was really sincere about it though and honestly just really wants to do what the Lord wants her to do.. I want to go home and watch Sister Wives now. Heck, I should be on Sister Wives. Just kidding. But that was definitely a first.

Katja got baptized Saturday! Her sister who got baptized at BYU and her husband came to town for it. It was wonderful and I've never seen so many boys at a baptism ... there was literally 50 people there and 70% were good looking RM's. She's really cute and recently returned RM's have no shame... hahah. I overheard her brother-in-law saying "first I marry their daughter in the temple, then I baptize their other daughter ... if she gets married at 18 to a member, they're gonna kill me" HAHA! It was an awesome baptism though. Sister Tranchina cried the whole baptism because it was her first baptism where she saw the whole process. It was cool.

Guess who showed up at my singles ward yesterday? Holly Bingham! I was so shocked. ... I told her the wards I covered but didn't expect her to come and visit haha - it was so good to see her though- definitely a tender mercy. What a blessing to see her!

So last night we met with those less active RM's I was talking about last week ... we had a really good meeting. They have such strong testimonies. Their apartment smelled like weed ... but they came to church and are really really trying. One of them, Jace, is taking this little 18 year old kid under his wing and helping him get ready to go on a mission. It's really helping both of them! Right after that we went and visited more less active RM's ... but these ones made me sad. They were 200% opposite. We shared a scripture on Christ and asked how trials have strengthened their testimony of the Atonement. They said "I don't know." We asked what the plan of salvation means to them; they said "I don't know." It was so sad - we couldn't get any spirit there at all. I asked if they ever testified of something on their mission and really knew it was true and they said yes. So sad to know that they will be held accountable for that.

That's all I can think of right now....

Have a wonderful week!

Heidi


PS - uplifting letter of the week, from Trichelle:

“Nearly one year ago, Sister Taylor and Sister Johnson started visiting me and helping me reconnect with my Savior. Sister Hornberger, Shields, Callahan and Pearson- you helped finish what was started. Since then, I've lost 90 lbs., started a full time job in Bountiful that I love and in two weeks will move into a house and have all 3 kids full time.

To say you have all made a difference in my life would be such an understatement. You've brought light and love and hope and faith back to my dark and seemingly hopeless world. I love you all. Sister Taylor....I can't find you on FB. Please find me...LOTR marathon must happen!!

I love you all very, very much. Please stay in touch! Also warn the missionaries in the Bountiful North Stake I'm coming. **cue Jaws music**

Love you all,

Trichelle”

Katja's baptism

Why Mormons don't wear bikinis

Family & friends -

Last Monday for FHE one of our wards had a fireside with Larry Gelwix. If you don't know who that is, he's the rugby coach that they based the movie Forever Strong about. I don't remember what happened in that movie... but I remember the boys were quite good looking ... and it was inspiring. He gave an awesome talk about being worthy of personal revelation and how to recognize it. It was awesome. Another thing I liked - he kept saying, "what is the Holy Ghost teaching you right now?" It was a good reminder that any thoughts or feelings we have in the setting of the spirit are promptings of the Holy Ghost. I might start using that in our lessons with investigators!

I'm reading through my old journals from the beginning of my mission ... it's really interesting to see how much I've changed, haha -  and how many rules I was breaking that I either 1) didn't care I was breaking or 2) didn't know I was breaking ... oops. I was feeling really guilty for not being a very good missionary while training new missionaries, and thinking, "had I been obedient and learned to teach lessons by asking questions instead of lecturing, my investigators would have progressed a lot better and the missionaries I was training would have learned a lot more and probably liked their missions more. I decided though, everything happens for a reason! Oh well. Learn and move on.

So we are teaching a girl from Guatemala named Katja .... I might have talked about her before. She's so ready for the gospel and to be baptized - she goes to LDSBC, for goodness sake! She's been on date for awhile but hasn't officially committed 100% for that date because she's still "waiting for her answer" *eye roll* The ward is AWESOME and full of all RM's... not to mention Katja's cute and all these guys literally fight over who gets to come to her lessons ... so last week we had a group fast with her for her answer. She went to a baptism for some elders in our district last week and this week said she just knows it's right! Yay! We were so happy. Our ward mission leaders are so funny ... they are fresh off of their missions and all pumped and stuff. I was on exchanges with a sister from Miramar (I don't know if that's how it's spelled.... it's by Thailand) and after a meeting with a ward mission leader she goes .. "Sister Shields ... what does "sick" mean?" HAHAA our ward mission leader's vocabulary consists of "legit," "sick," "stoked," and "dude." It's so funny.

Side note ... foreign comps are so funny ... we were street contacting a guy the other day and he mentioned he was moving to Oregon ... a few minutes into the conversation Sister Tranchina goes, "so do you play the piano too?" ..... What? Then I realized she thought he said he plays the organ!  Haha I had to stop and explain a little bit ... so precious!

Also this week - we met with a household full of RM boys who are completely inactive. They got back from their missions a few years ago and now are smoking and drinking and what not. It's really sad. It's also tricky in YSA to work with people like that because they know why you're there. We knock on their door and they're like, "are you here to reactivate me?" Uh, yes. Then I asked if they would be willing to come help us teach lessons. They were like,"well okay ... but if you're only asking me so it will count as a "lesson with a member present," then no." Like- only in Utah do you get that response, haha! But anyways ... we had  planned on teaching them about being thankful for blessings or something ... but I decided we needed to help them realize the lack of the spirit in their lives. So we did something I've never done before, and read the First Vision with them, but using the scriptures to talk about the darkness before the vision, you know? Then we asked a bunch of questions like: how have you seen the gospel bringing light into your life? What are some things that bring darkness? How did you come to know Joseph Smith was a prophet? Etc. It was SO good. These boys were kinda punks ... to be honest, they reminded me of my high school friends. They were wearing their hoods up and their snap backs and had Kid Cudi on the wall and stuff ... but they bore the most powerful testimonies ever. It was so cool. Afterwards they texted and said: "Sisters! Thank you so much for bringing those pictures (we brought pictures of Christ and the temple to replace Kid Cudi with, haha) and the Spirit back into our home this evening. It was very much needed, probably more than you even know. See you Sunday. And sorry we didn't offer you any food .... next time!" It was the most rewarding text. Like, these guys were punks. They did NOT want us there to start. But hey- it worked! I love YSA.

Speaking of YSA ... there's only been a total of 6 sisters in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission to serve in YSA so far ... so 3 of us got together and made a “YSA Probs” video about inside jokes and funny things that have happened ... I'll try to email it. Afterwards we watched it and realized how awkward it was!  And I think WE might be the probs in YSA, haha!

Have  good week!
Heidi

PS Oops, I forgot to explain the heading for this email -  this week I was randomly thinking about a time in 1st grade when my friend Kaylee Stokes asked why I didn't wear bikinis ... I said Mormons don't wear bikinis. She asked why and I honestly didn't know why... so I said it was because the 2 piece swimsuits get lost in the wash!  After that she was like, "ohhhh ... that makes so much sense!" And the next day at school she told everyone that Mormons don't wear bikinis because they get lost in the wash, haha!!

Jonathan's baptism. He's from France and took the lessons literally a year ago and was ready to be baptized, then backed out the morning of. Then no one heard from him for a really long time ... he randomly showed up to FHE a month ago and told the EQP he was ready to be baptized! So we started teaching him and there ya go.

This is for Kayla - isn't this a cool door knocker?

Typical SLC house

Transfers, Halloween and an awesome testimony meeting

Transfers - I’m staying in this area with Sister Tranchina - we’re so happy!  President said because I only have 3 transfers left, I'll probably stay in this area the rest of my mission and for my last two transfers I’ll be released as an STL and train.

For Halloween ... we stayed home in the evening and did our weekly planning. We ate Little Caesar’s pizza and made cookies for our sick zone leader. Side note about our zone leaders:  we work really closely with them - President just started doing these meetings once a month with the STL's and ZL's to discuss the needs of the zone... our zone leaders are awesome and so so nice and respectful, but not creepy or flirty at all!  It's awesome. Anyways, President printed out all of these graphs and numbers and stuff and said... "I'm not trying to condemn you... but explain to me how last month there were 17 on date for baptism and only 3 got baptized....." we looked at each other and felt so bad ... but our zone's struggling!  Those 3 baptisms were ours and theirs ... and we're in the heart of SLC where there's tons of people to talk to. It also really impressed me how much President Hansen knows about the missionaries ... I always thought there was so many missionaries; he couldn't know I was struggling or having a hard time with my companion, etc., but he totally did.  He has such a good feel on what's going on in the mission. He does know every missionary and what they need.  It was really cool to see.

I absolutely love this area. This week we had a night where literally all of our appointments cancelled so we went out and walked the streets downtown contacting people and visiting some names in the apartment complexes.  It was so fun and I loved it .... I really feel like I was sent to this mission specifically for THIS area. Literally, downtown SLC- working with the YSA. It's my DREAM! I wanted to go to NYC or something ... but this is better because of the temple and all those resources.  Plus it's so close; I can come back and visit!  Bunny (her Grandma Shields' nickname) wrote me about how she used to teach at West High (I walk past there every single day).  I haven't written her back yet - sorry, but it's coming.  And it made me so happy. I love this area and it's so fun. I'm so so grateful! And I love the city, and even the ghetto.

So we had this idea ... to ask the members that we bring with us to lessons to share their testimonies in sacrament meeting about how their testimony has been strengthened through missionary work, etc. We texted like 15 people. And most of them did it! Testimony meeting was so good yesterday! I had no idea the kind of impact teaching with us has on members... especially YSA. One guy named TJ- we asked him to come with us because he's semi active... he works Sundays and honestly I thought he had no interest in the gospel at all. At the lesson he barely said anything and acted like he didn't want to be there. Then after the lesson we were telling him he should pray to find a new job. He seemed like a punk so we kinda forgot about him ... well he got Sundays off and came yesterday.  He got up and bore his testimony about how he didn't realize how much he missed the gospel until he came to that lesson. He remembered the chapter we read in the Book of Mormon with the investigator that day and said that lesson was for him. He said we told him to pray to get Sundays off, he gave it a shot and it worked! I was in shock, haha. And some other girls got up and said how teaching with us helped them overcome temptation and made them decide to live the Word of Wisdom and stuff ... we didn't even know they had Word of Wisdom issues! It's just so cool how the Spirit plays a role in everything- even the members we randomly text and ask to come with us. It was an awesome testimony meeting!

All is well in Pioneer YSA. Have a good week!

(Heidi didn't explain anything about most of these photos - maybe she'll fill us in later)

The planner on the left is at the end of a transfer .. the one on the right is at the beginning!  Notice the arrows - they represent transfers.  Sisters go to the big gray arrow (I have two to go); elders go through all of them.

We put Superman on date!

This week:
Let me sum it up..... we did a fun zone activity and carved pumpkins. Our zone leaders are really nice and respect the sisters and that's a good thing.

We're teaching this ghetto black guy who's really rough around the edges... his name is Robert but he goes by Superman. I'm not kidding- it's like the name on his mail and everything. He loves the gospel though! He accepted baptism for December 20th. We decided it would have to be pretty far off because he's got a lot to change in his life ... plus he might have some legal problems. He came to church for the first time this week and absolutely 200% loved it.  He was talking to everyone and introducing himself and commenting in class and nodding his head and agreeing to everything- it was so funny. The poor girl who we asked to give him a ride though.... it's hard to get people to church in the wards that meet at the U because it's a decently long trip (like 10 minutes) and a lot of the people we teach don't have cars because they're poor and young and ghetto. The girl we asked to take him was scared to be in the car with just her and him so she brought her boyfriend haha, I don't blame her ... anyways Superman (Robert) loved church! His ward has a bunch of cute girls in it too so that might be it... but afterwards I asked about his baptism date and he said, "Can't we move it up? Like ASAP? I want to be a part of this!" So we'll see how it goes.

Sometimes I wish we had a camera filming us all day for a missionary reality TV show. I want to replay it in 5 years and I know I'd look back and go ... "We ENTERED that house?!" "We taught a house full of meth addicts about the gospel?!" I'm not gonna lie, it's really sketch sometimes! But we're not scared- we have no fear, it's awesome haha. And those are the people that need the gospel the most!  Also it's kinda weird, sometimes dinner appointments feel like dates ... one dinner this week took us to Chuck-A-Rama and it was me and Sister Tranchina and 2 guys... it legit felt like a date. #YSA probs.

This week I've really realized how much the Lord's hand is in everything. The conversations I'll have with my companion about like, "what if this happened" or, "isn't this scripture cool?" later that day we'll meet someone on the street (BTW this week we had 47 street contacts- like people we talked to on the street and got their number or set up a return appointment. That's a LOT. I love the city!) or teach a lesson or something and that same subject will come up. Or I'll have a thought and then it totally prepares me for something later that day. It's really cool how revelation works. I've been thinking a lot about how to help friends at home and less actives we work with ... like, what can I possibly say to make them realize how important this is? I think the main thing is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost and personal revelation are awesome! In order to have that gift with us, we have to be going to church and repenting. I'm so grateful for personal revelation ... I've never seen that more in my entire life than right now. The Holy Ghost literally has a part in every single little thing we do. Discernment, questions, guidance, truth, memories, scripture study, how to tell if someone's creepy or lying, what to study in school, etc. everything! And it's not with you if you're living the party life \m/.  Example.... this week we taught this 22 year old named Kenny. It was the first lesson so we planned to teach the restoration and commit to baptism like a usual first lesson. He was wearing a hat, and I just kept thinking - I don't think he has any hair... (wait for it- that has a point hahah) but as we were talking to him and I was looking at him..... he was saying how he wishes he knew his purpose in life and why things happen, and what's happening after this life, and how he doesn't know really anything about God or Christ. I realized- 1) he needs the plan of salvation lesson 2) he needs the atonement 3) he has cancer. He didn't say any of those things; he had Wiz Khalifa (rap singer) on the wall for goodness sake... but I could like, feel what he was going through. Sister Tranchina started the restoration and I stopped her and pulled out our plan of salvation pamphlet. We just taught Christ and the atonement and it was awesome and perfect for him. He never said anything about his cancer, but I know that's what was on his mind.  He feels lost and alone and scared. It was probably the coolest lesson I've ever had.  And I love him- he's so precious. and he listens to good music.

Something else funny this week ... we were trying to get to know our investigator better and asking each other questions:

Mario: what's your favorite animal, Sister Shields?
Me: Honestly, I don't really like animals ...
Sister Tranchina: She likes purses!!!
Mario:  Oh ... well, your purse is nice ...
HAHAHA!

That's it.... today for a zone activity we're having a cultural party and eating legit ethnic food because our zone's full of Ukranians and Asians and Europeans and Mexicans. Sweet. Have a good Halloween everyone!


Heidi

Another week in the Pioneer YSA Stake

Welcome to SLC - where people create art with Budweiser bottle caps and chewing gum

Okay, I'm trying to remember what even happened this week....

Spencer got baptized! We were really worried ... he has no family support and they wanted him to push it back another 3 weeks so his great-grandma would be out of the hospital. We knew that wasn't a good idea.... he's already pushed his date back 2 times already. So he stuck with his original date and it happened! Yay!

We had interviews with President. For the first time my whole mission I had no emotional breakdown. No complaints. No concerns. I seriously went in there and was so excited. I said, "President, I figured out why I'm here and how to be happy doing it and I love my mission. It took a year- but I did it!" He laughed, hahah- but really- for the first time I've learned how to really truly consecrate myself, forget about everything else, and focus on being the best missionary I can be. It's weird... but I am so happy.

Craig (our stoner investigator) is moving into the AP's area. So we had them come to one of our lessons to do a trade off. Long story short.... Craig was kind of... possessed? And they gave him a priesthood blessing and then the difference was like night and day. He came to church yesterday - on time and dressed nice, by himself, AND his Book of Mormon in hand. It was a miracle; I almost passed out in shock ... hahah.

Saw Meet the Mormons and CRIED. It was so good!

I love living with other sisters. I love YSA! I love being in SLC where there are so many different people from all over the world. Usually in lessons, I'm the only white, English-speaking person. It's kind of weird haha - everyone's from South America, Europe or Africa ... literally. I wish I knew French or Spanish.

And my worldy insert:
I love serving in the Capitol Hill YSA ward because it's all rich RM's who wear Rolex watches and drive nice cars and are financial planners and rich business owners. Also there are a lot of football players for the U.... it's fun! I don't flirt, but it's fun. I think it's a tender mercy. The end.

Spiritual thoughts:

Ether 6:5: the Lord gave the brother of Jared storms but it ended up being for their good- it brought them to the promised land. I know that's how trials are for us in our life too! Always for our good.

Heidi

Spencer's baptism!

Me and my awesome companion

Carving pumpkins at the YSA ward FHE

Christian made us lunch and gave us flowers!  Hes'a sweetie.  The guy on the floor is the ward mission leader.

My most quoted scripture this week: Don't procrastinate the day of your repentance!

Classic quotes from this week:

From a 21 year old boy:  "I prayed like you asked me to. I decided... I'll stop partying when I'm 25."

22 year old boy after the Word of Wisdom lesson: "But getting high is fun. Whoa, my hand looks so weird right now...."

Girl we took on splits: "That was SO awkward. I met that investigator at FHE Monday and flirted with him because I thought he was visiting from out of state and I'd never see him again..."

I don't know why we are only teaching Hispanic males and stoners.... but we are. So that's fun.
One of our investigators, Spencer, was supposed to get baptized Saturday ... but he really wants his high school math teacher to baptize him and couldn't get in contact with him (he didn't even try until Friday) and me and Sis Tranchina were so worried because Satan works hard on people before they get baptized!  Pushing it back wouldn't be a good idea ... we were thinking of fasting but we just fasted 2 weeks ago and one of our wards was having fast Sunday this past week ... then it would be too late. So ... don't laugh here. We decided to show our dedication to the Lord by giving up our natural organic chunky peanut butter for a couple of days. It felt like lent or whatever that's called.... so yeah- his baptism didn't end up happening ... but this Saturday for sure!

Monday night- we got a call from one of our EQP's who said, "so a non-member showed up at FHE and wants to be baptized." Oh... okay!  Hahah, turns out Jonathon was taking the lessons from the elders a year ago and was all ready to get baptized, then at the last minute his mom said no and he backed out, and has had absolutely nothing to do with the church since. He randomly prayed for guidance and just knew he needed to get baptized! He's black and from France. He's cool. Is that a miracle or what? We put him on date for Nov 1.  He knows the church is true ... but doesn't remember much of the doctrine, so we are reteaching him.  He lives in Rose Park and all the girls in that ward are all goo-goo over him.... whatever.

Our new thing we've been trying to gauge how ready people are for baptism is asking "why do you want to get baptized? What makes this baptism different from other baptisms? Why is this church different?" It's really easy to find their understanding level and personal conversion from there. It works really well! One time when we tried it this week, I got asked the dreadful question... "So does that mean my Catholic baptism doesn't count?"  That's a rough one. My comp looked at me to answer. I explained, “that's awesome that you were baptized before and the Lord definitely recognizes that commitment as coming closer to him and following Christ! But that essential priesthood that Christ had is needed as well- and that was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith." He understood after that. Then we used the anology, being baptized in another church is like going to college without being enrolled. You still learn and grow, but to graduate you have to be enrolled (the priesthood). It was pretty good- not gonna lie. He doesn't want to be baptized though, hahah.

Another miracle.... the picture last week of us at conference with the boy who looks like Taylor Lautner? His name is Irvin and he's 21. He has had the lessons since he was 15 on and off. That's a long time! He's legendary in this mission. He just couldn't understand Joseph Smith. We taught him a couple of days ago... and we literally only had 10 minutes, so we went right to the punch and shared a scripture about baptism. We asked if he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He said yes. We asked if he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said yes. We asked how he knew; he said if the Book of Mormon makes him feel good, it's true, so Joseph Smith must be a prophet. (We were shocked about right now.) And then he accepted baptism and we put him on date for Nov 1. Then he said, "I was actually thinking about that date..." WHAT?!  It was crazy. We told the past missionaries who have taught him and they were SHOCKED. It was crazy. I think all of these good things are happening because we are trying to be exactly obedient ... like picking apart the handbook and implementing every line- even down to "breakfast at 7:30." We eat breakfast at 7:30 EXACTLY in our apartment, hahaha!

So those quotes listed above.... yeah, boys are ridiculous. After they used those lines, I was so fed up I literally said, "don't be stupid- don't procrastinate repentance!" One time I said that when we were on exchanges ... this brand new missionary was like: "Holy cow! Did you really say that?!" Sorry, I have had enough stupid stoner boys in my life ... this is enough. Hahah, but it worked! The guy who said he'll stop partying when he's 25 moved it down to "when I start spring semester." *Eye roll*

The only set back to YSA is the druggies. I am so sick of alcohol and drugs, no joke. But besides that- it's good! Life's good.

Have a good week folks,

Heidi

Breaking our PB fast with PB-covered bananas!

The Capitol building - in our area

 This is Christian's window - isn't that precious?  He's a shy shy boy we're teaching.  He's Hispanic and looks like the least likely boy to accept the gospel.... he's kinda gangster looking! But he is so so sweet and shy and cute.. and doesn't have WofW problems *thank goodness*

Note from Christian

Letter from Holly, a convert from my last area - so awesome!

General Conference and Chunky PB

General Conference:

I was able to go to 3 of the 4 sessions! Saturday AM session we took an "enternigator" (forever investigating the church) named Irvin. And then Sunday PM we brought an investigator who's on date for this Saturday, Spencer. For the Saturday PM session we got tickets from the mission and could go without an investigator because it's my last conference. It was absolutely awesome and I loved every minute of it. except I got kind of spiritually exhausted Sunday and my notes aren't as good... oh well. Some things I noticed:

- Emphasis on following the prophet and respecting all revelation. I was thinking the last time Pres Monson spoke he was going to give us a crazy new commandment or something... but to my relief- there was not. Thank goodness.

- All of the messages really told how accepting and loving we should be to all types of people (probably about homosexuals).

-BOLD. Saturday AM was hardcore! I loved it! All the time, less-actives all the time will have this attitude like, "it's ok I don't go to church ... I love God and still believe in the church." Okay, that's not enough! We won't be exalted just because God loves us... come on now, people

-Helaman 5:12 was used like 5 times.

I love conference and absolutely love being able to go and watch it in the conference center. There are 2 girls in one of our wards who are refugees from Conga/Ethiopia... they've been here a couple months and they humble me hard core. They are SO grateful for conference and to be able to watch it on TV. They woke up really early to take the bus down to the conference center and wait in the standby line for tickets, and they just make me realize how much we take for granted... conference is a big deal!

Chunky Peanut butter:
I absolutely love my companion. Sister Tranchina is the best missionary I have ever seen. She's been out 11 months (in the US about 9, she served her first couple months in Spain waiting for her visa). She is from Spain and speaks Spanish and French. She has had a hard life.... her dad died when she was young and he abused her mom growing up. Since she's been on her mission, her older brother also took up abuse and she's been really worried about her mom. Her mom also got remarried a couple of months ago to kind of a loser.... he's not very nice and just got baptized for her mom. She's had a hard life! I can't even imagine... she was engaged to a guy from Gilbert but put it off because she felt like she was supposed to serve a mission. She is literally the best missionary I've ever seen.... all of those little things they tell missionaries to do in trainings and stuff?  She actually does them. Like ones that always slip my mind.  We contacted a referral the other day... if it was me, I would have just set up a return appointment. But Sister Tranchina taught lesson 1 and invited him to be baptized on his door step. Like, that's what this is all about! She's my role model. And she's so sweet.... we get along so well. And she's really helping me become a better missionary. I already thought I was pretty good, but holy cow. She got permission to have lunch with her boyfriend's family who came up to visit. They are from Ecuador but live in Gilbert.. it reminded me of Jamison's family- it's funny, hahah.

Back to chunky peanut butter... I love living with other sisters. And we love chunky peanut butter. We have this like 10-pound tub from Costco and ate half of it this week between the 4 of us.

We went on exchanges with some sisters who serve in the ghetto ghetto of SLC.... I went to their area and normally I would be scared to death... but it was so fun. I was able to really help them and it made me feel so good! Like, okay maybe I'm not such a bad missionary... we found them 2 new investigators, street contacted 10 people and taught 4 doorstep lessons! I love being a missionary sometimes.... just kidding- all of the time!

Something new I've learned: answer questions with questions. It works so well! It's like my new favorite thing... example: we were teaching a new investigator. We read Moroni's promise in the intro to the Book of Mormon. After she read it, she looked really confused..... I asked for her thoughts and she said, "that doesn't make any sense.... this is saying to ask if it's true... but you just said it's true?" (#prepared). Instead of saying, "well it's important for you to know for yourself!" I said, "now why would you think it's important you know these things for yourself and not just take our word for it?" And it was like this lightbulb went on! She was like, "because if I know for myself, I can be fully committed to following God because I KNOW it's true!" Ding ding ding! Yay! It was awesome. Me and Sister Tranchina have really been working on asking questions and getting them to talk most... and also, inviting to be baptized and putting them on date the first lesson. I could go on and on about how important that is..... awesome.

Also, one of our crazy investigators started a lesson this week by talking about how he might be in trouble with the department of homeland security... then he was saying how God will forgive because lots of prophets have killed people....poor Sis Tranchina and this 18-year old girl we brought were scared to death- they didn't even say anything, hahaha - and I was like,. "Reagan... are you saying you killed someone?" Silence.... silence.... and then,"oh man... no dude...." Hahahah I thought it was funny but Sis Tranchina and the girl were SO SCARED. Keep in mind this was on the pitch black porch of a sketchy area in Rose Park. And this guy's a drug addict. So that was fun.

On that note, have a good, uplifting week!

Heidi

Ciera, a member we take with us all the time - she's getting ready to go on a mission!

Conference with Irvin

Spencer