I So Excited!

    Mom that title is just for you. So this week was awesome!!! Elder Neilson of the 70 came and spoke to the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders this week so we were down in Ventura on Friday. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong and we were able to learn more about the atonement and the redeeming power and the enabling power. Best thing ever. There is always so much to learn about the atonement! So the cool thing is that he walked in shook all of our hands and then as the meeting started he said that he was there to train us because we are the future leaders of the church (Mom I immediately thought about you and grandma and my patriarchal blessing). Anyway it was a powerful meeting. So be watching for him in General Conference. He will be speaking on Sunday morning right before Elder Holland :). There is one thing better than that meeting on Friday. Here, I will tell you the secret.....SARAH GOT BAPTIZED!!! AND I GOT TO GO!!!!!! :)  (can you see me leaning in to tell the secret in your ear and then me yelling that? I can! haha). The sisters and her purposefully set it up so that I would be down that way so I could get permission to go. And President let me! It was a powerful baptism and I gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am so excited for her! I didn't want to say anything last week about it because I didn't want to jinx it so now I just get to tell you  the good news! So I almost died of happiness this week and I think all of the exclamation points in this email can clue you in on how happy I am about it all. I am so blessed. 

  Also Sister Felix said something funny this week. She gave a talk at a stake conference and said "I bet you didn't know it is almost Christmas!" She then went on to say that this time of the year was the missionaries favorite. She is dead on. General Conference is one of the best times of the year and we missionaries love every minute of it! There is nothing better than hearing what Heavenly Father needs you to hear. I am excited to listen to the leaders of the church and learn from their words, example, and spirit.

    One last little thing that happened. We had to get our car fixed on Tuesday and as we were talking to the guy I noticed a calendar with a Dodge Challenger on it. I asked him if the whole calendar was challengers and he said "Wait! Give me a second!" Then he pulls out another calendar and says "Ask and ye shall receive!" So I got a sweet calendar with cool cars on it haha. Little but still funny, especially because he quoted scripture as he gave it to me. 

   As far as life in SLO it is good! We have been doing a lot of less active work which has been pretty fruitful! We see little miracles through out the day which reminds us of Heavenly Father's love for us. 

Testimony: This week I felt like I was able to have really great personal studies. I have changed them a little bit so that I am praying through the whole thing asking for knowledge and understanding with each individual topic and the greatest thing is that my studies have been so much more productive! I love it! I learn more, understand better, and feel of the Spirit the whole time. My testimony of specific questions and receiving answers was strengthened. I know He is there listening as we pray.

  Well this is a very scattered email, but I think that is about it! I love you all!

Sister Skeeter 

  

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"You Know Enough"

This week I want to talk more about some things that I have been studying. So I will give you a run down version of the things that have happened:

Area: The area is doing pretty good. We are working on doing more finding this week so we are excited to see what is in store! We had a cool miracle on Wednesday. A potential named Carlos called and told us that he wanted to meet with us. We set a time and place and met him there along with a less active member who in the past has wanted nothing to do with the church. After our lesson He decided to start reading the Book of Mormon. Saturday we talked to him and he told us that he was on 1 Nephi 7 now which is so great! He told us that he was also excited for us to come read with him and help him better understand it! We are pretty stoked about that.

By the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!!! Are you really 14 now!? That is crazy! Don't worry I didn't forget your birthday. I just decided to do your shout out today instead of last week. I hope you have a fun birthday party! You are awesome! Keep up the good work! You are the best! Love you!

and Tay Tay! It is almost your bday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMALLS! I can't believe you are going to be 19 this week. That is weird. You will always be my 10 year old little sister. Not sure why, but that is where you are stuck at! Sorry! :) Anyway I hope you have a good one! Keep being incredible and stay strong! You are such a good example to everyone. Don't let that change! love you!

    Ok, so this week I have been studying three different talks. Two are by Elder Bednar. He talks about the Atonement and how that is more than just being forgiven of sin but strength for those who are righteous and always trying. Something new that I have been doing that he suggested was to study grace and insert "enabling and strengthening power" everytime the scriptures say the word "grace". You will learn so much about the Atonement and its purpose when you do that! It is the coolest thing! Take this scripture for example "My grace is sufficient" ok now try this "My enabling and strengthening power is sufficient". Changes it a little bit doesn't it? I love it. One more thing to study when I am at home and don't have investigators to study for! :)

      I was also studying a talk called "You Know Enough" By Elder Andersen. In it he says "Faith is not only a feeling but a decision." No wonder so many people have such a hard time believing. They are choosing not to believe and apply. Faith is an interesting topic.But it was good for me to read that because it helped me to see that when I am struggling and I feel like I can't believe I know that there is something that I need to change and it isn't that I am not receiving answers from God. He loves us and wants us to listen for His voice.

   Well, I don't really know what else to say. It's been a good week and I am having fun with Sister Draney! That's all that matters right? Love you all!

Sister Skeeter

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Another Talk

Well, this week was full of lots of.....driving. We went down to ventura for a meeting with the other Sister Training Leaders on Friday. We didn't get back until, well lets just say that it is the latest I have gotten in at night. We had a really special experience though. I don't want to give all of the details just because it was a sacred time but I will say that I know God watches over us and he is there to protect. I love being able to listen to the spirit and receive revelation. It is such a blessing. I mean how cool is it that we can communicate with the most all powerful being and have the companionship of a member of the God head? Best thing ever. Literally. The apostles have told us that the gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the most precious gifts He could give us. So I am grateful.

   Oh by the way. We drive a mini van. It is a Silver Dodge Caravan. Brand new of course. 

Ok, honestly I have no idea what to tell you all. Sister Draney is amazing. We get along really well and she knows a lot of people that I do. Like my friend Spenser (the girl), and Jeff Spenser's cousin, she knows Jamie's parents reception home, and of course, she knows cousin Dallin. Who would have thought? I guess I know more people and places in Bountiful than I thought. :) Anyway, my companion is funny, she is a total physical touch person, so instead of hugging her I let her give my massages and "zone" my feet (which is basically a massage with essential oils haha. NEVER thought I would let anyone do that to me but I do. Not sure what has come over me.

  And again I don't have enough time to talk about the talk that I read today. It was SO good! It is called "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson (and for you older non-LDS people, yes he was the secretary of agriculture under Eisenhower (i think that was the right president). Anyway it is such agood talk. Here are a few quotes that stuck out to me.

    "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone."

    "Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us. There is however, a far more common ailment among us-and that is pride from the bottom looking up. It is manifest in so many ways, such as faultfinding, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting, withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving or jealous."

     "Disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us. It can be a parent, a priesthood leader, a teacher, or ultimately God. A proud person hates the fact that someone is above him. He thinks this lowers his position."

   and one last one that is So powerful!

 "Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression. The proud are not easily taught. They won't change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong."

   Pride is a nasty game to play. This talk was so good. It helped me to better understand what I need to do to not be so prideful and to be a more charitable person. I love that we have prophets and apostles to guide us today. 

That is it for this week! Love you all and miss you!

Sister Skeeter

Oh yeah I gave another talk this week. It was possibly my last at church.

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"I can't Go Back to Yesterday, I Was a Different Person Then"

Wow! We are coming up on a year and a half. I can't believe this is Madi's final blog post. We all love and miss you Sister Woods! Can't wait to "see you in a few weeks" as you said in your email Monday!

    Hello everyone! Well, it is transfer time again! Are you sad that this is the last time you are going to have to hang in suspense to find out where I am going? I am! I love the waiting and wondering of what is going to happen. So of course I am going to stick to the routine and let you know who things are going first.

They area is doing pretty well! Sarah has been on a cruise this week so we haven't seen her but we have an appointment with her tonight. We also have an appointment with Danny today too. That is a miracle because we haven't been able to see him in a few weeks. The biggest miracle this week though was yesterday. On Saturday night a member called us and told us that he had been at the temple and A friend's name came to mind so he called then and told them we would be coming over on Sunday. He gave us the address and told us that he would meet us there at three. We had a great lesson with them. They are the WiNter family and they are such sweet people. The mom is dying on cancer right now and the father is trying to hoLd down the fort while taking care of her and their 13 year old daughter. We had such a sweet lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Plenty of tears but a strong spirit as well. They both told us that they liked the Plan a lot and it all made sense. We asked if we coUld come back and share more and they told us they would really like that. We could see the peace that it was able to bring to them. So now we are planning on teaching the Restoration and getting them ready to watch conference with thIs other member family. Got to love member misSionary work!

 This whole transfer has been a lot Of fun with Sister Collings. We have been sick inside a few times so we were able to talk together about what kind of people we want to be when we get home. We set a list of standards that we both want to be aBle to keep now to keep becoming and strengthening our faith in Christ. Together we learned a lot about who we can become and who Heavenly Father would have us become. We are excited to go conquer the world! But don't worry we are still focused. We still have work to do here first.

Testimony: ThIs week I read the scripture John 7:17. As we go out each day people try to argue that "you always have to go back to the bible" to know if things are of God. That is true, but this scripture-in the bible- tells us that we also need to "do". God wantS us to try the word. We will know then if it is of God. I just liked that a lot. I am excited to use that scriPture someday. The scriptures have all Of the answers!

Ok I also need to welcome home Elder Woods! He is back to being a normal human being now. 

In other news, like I said with Sister Collings we have been able to talk a lot and first I should say that we have VERY similar backgrounds. So it has been fun talking with her. We are planning on being roommates (or housemates) up at BYU-I together. But the reason I bring this up again is to tell you that now my standards are a lot higher than they used to be. So I wanted to prep you all so that when I get home you know what I will and will not do. Then you don't even have to ask, or be shocked that I would change something that I used to be fine with. But here are a few of them:

1) No more songs that swear.

2) I will have daily study and prayer

3) Sleeping. I WILL go to bed at a decent hour now. The goal is to be home by ten on weekdays and midnight on weekends. I know I will be boring, but her who cares about that when I am at school and finally well rested!?

4) I will not be a "bro" anymore. No more just "hanging out" with the guys.

5) Movies with inappropriate scenes are not going to be watched.

 So there you go. The other purpose of telling these to you is that you hold me to these standards. I do not want to be the person who goes back to who they were before. I want this change to last.

 Anyway, my time is up! I love you all!

Sister Skeeter

Ps you may have noticed the bold letters. Spell them out and that is where I will be going. My new companion will be Sister Draney which will be really fun because I have been joking about being her companion since my second transfer. So this will be good! Here's to "The last *gulp* melon!" (name that movie!).

  

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Prayers Are Answered

March 2

HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY MOM!! I didn't forget :) Too bad I can't get anything for you. Next year haha. Have a good one though! I am sure grandpa will spoil you :). Love you lots!

This week we are stressing because of this area. This has been the neediest area and the most up and down roller coaster I have been on but at the same time it is going ok. Sarah we are worried about. We didn't hear from her at all yesterday which makes us wonder what is going on. We tried to get a hold of her but she didn't answer us at all. So we are just praying really hard for her. We had a great lesson with her though. We read the talk "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence". It went really well, she really opened up and told us some big concerns that are good to know about but it ended well and the spirit was very strong as she spoke. I know God has a plan for everyone because the concerns she told us about, the member that we brought had the same thing when she was younger. He has His hand in this work.

Danny is doing better. We had a lesson with his dad which went really well. He told us that Danny still wants to keep his date and work toward that. So that is exciting!
We also had a spiritual lesson with Michele last night. We read Joseph's story in Joseph Smith History and then watched the Restoration DVD with her. We had her pray to know if it was true while she watched it. To close Sister Collings and I sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount". It was powerful. Once we were finished singing we closed with the a prayer and left while the spirit was still strong. That is such a good feeling!
The title of the blog this week is because we had some cool little miracles. On Saturday we had to stay in because we were sick again. We decided though that we would still get slightly ready for the day. So we had showered and put some mascara on but that was about it. Then at 2:35 a recent return missionary called us and asked if we were going to go to her nephew's baptism that day at 3. We told her we weren't sure and asked if she thought it would be good. She told us that there would be lots of nonmembers to meet. So of course we jumped out of bed and started getting ready to go. We got ready in a record 15 minutes and were out the door by 2:50. That is cutting it really close considering that the church usually takes 15 minutes to get to. So we said our safety prayer and in it we asked to be able to get to the baptism on time. Get this: We got there in 6 minutes and all of the lights turned green before we even had to put the brakes on. As Sister Collings says: God is good. :)

Then we went to the weekly bible study and this week we prayed to be able to teach and not just read from the bible. There were only two of the regulars there and guess what. The whole time we talked about the apostasy and the Restoration. So great! I love being able to see prayers answered. It strengthens my faith so much because I know He is listening to me. Even when the answer doesn't come in the way I want it I know that it comes in His way which is so much more important and enjoyable. 

Testimony: Each day I gain more and more respect for the leaders of our church and what Joseph Smith did for us. I loved having the lesson with Michele last night because it was so focused on the simple doctrine and coming to know for ourselves that it is true. Who cares about all of the garbage that the world is throwing at us? All we need to know is that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. That is all it takes!

Sister Skeeter

Ps: My hair is red now :) hehe

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"This is the Lord's Doing, it is Marvelous in His Eyes." Psalms 118:23

Feb. 23

Wow, this week. I don't think I have been on such a wild up and down roller coaster since Millie got baptized. So many things went down and I have no idea where to start.

We will start with Monday I guess. Well, I colored Sister colling's hair. Don't worry mom it wasn't like the time I did Mikayla's hair. It actually is evenly applied and looks good! haha not to brag or anything....but it happened. 

Then we colored my hair. Oh wait...that is today haha!

Tuesday, pause I just found out the Payson temple is having their open house starting in April. I want to go!

ok, back to what I was saying: Tuesday I had my last zone conference and the coolest thing about it was that it was ALL about the Savior. Normally they do some training and other things but this time it was focused on the Savior and learning more about Him. How appropriate! I didn't realize it was my last until Sister Collings pointed it out to me. 

Then we had a lesson with Sarah about the 10 commandments and following the Prophet. It has been such a neat experience teaching her. The spirit is always so strong! 

Wednesday we had exchanges which went really well! I went with Sister Cox, yes my MTC companion :). It was such a great day! It was so fun to see how much both of us have changed and grown. I loved being able to work with her again! She is so solid!

Thursday:We found out that one of the recent converts and his son got into a huge fight. This was a rough day for us. the Recent convert reverted back to drinking and we ended up going to talk to him and found him drunk. Then his son who we are teaching hasn't answered our texts back yet. NOT ANOTHER MISSION BREAKUP! satan. Sometimes I just want to wring his neck. Which is worse the fact that he doesn't have a neck to wring or that I can't wring his neck because of the commandments? Either way, he seems to step into the picture just when things are getting good. But hey that is to be expected right? We will fight on and the light will prevail! 

Also our new favorite saying is fight on. It fits so perfectly for everything that is happening. We say it all of the time. But the cool thing is that the peace sign that you do with your hand also means "fight on" so don't be surprised if you see me throwing a peace sign in pictures. That is what I am doing. 

Ok so to finish that story, we went and taught this recent convert and it was the coolest lesson. We shared a few mormon messages and talked about Christ and how to apply His atonement to help us get through hard times. We watched the one about Chris Williams who's family got killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. After we had him listen to the song "Nearer my God to Thee" from the cd Reflections of Christ". the Spirit was SO powerful. After the song we told them we had to leave and closed with a prayer. You could cut the spirit with a knife. It was the best feeling walking about knowing that he could feel the spirit. Best way to end!

Oh we also did service this week and one of the investigators gave me a brand new purse from Thailand and she says "oh don't worry I got a really good deal on it. It was only 100 bucks." Wait. that is a good deal? Well, either way I am stoked because it is super cute! But I will probably wait until I get home to use it.      

   Yesterday during my studies I had the idea to pray again for a confirmation of the truth of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. I did and last night at the fireside the speaker showed us a Geneva bible from the 5th century. It had a picture of a baptismal font with 12 oxen around it. the spirit was able to testify to me of the truthfulness of this gospel again. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and his sacrifice so that I could fully apply the Savior's sacrifice in my life.

Oh and for the spiritual thought this week I wanted to close with a story. 

There was a boy who was sitting on the fence. One side of the fence was God's and the other was satan's. His family and friends were on God's side and were all calling after him begging him to come to their side. He noticed that satan and his followers were calm and not really bothered with him. So the boy asked satan, "why aren't you calling for me?" in response satan said "I own the fence."

Whew! So good! It is so true! if He can get us from officially going to God's side then he has won. Which way do you face? 

Well, Hope all is well with you! Love you all!

Sister Skeeter

. 

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Going Strong!

Feb. 16

Well Hello! This has been another great week! Guess what all happened! Ok, you won't be able to guess but I will tell you.

   So this week Sarah dropped us. Yes the awesome Sarah that I was telling you all about dropped us. She texted us and told us that it was too much and she didn't want to disappoint us and that there was too much going on to really give 100%. Don't worry, we didn't cry. But almost. I tell you when people say things like that, ESPECIALLY when they are doing so well it is the saddest "break up" I decided that I am just going to refer to those as mission break ups. So yeah. Ok but here is the rest of the story. We had an appointment the day she texted us that so we decided to just go see her anyway. We showed up and knocked on the door. Sister Collings and I looked and each other and our hearts were pounding. We weren't sure how she would take us showing up at her door even after she said it was too much, but we felt like we should do that instead of just let her go. We heard the lock on the door click and she opened the door. She graciously welcomed us in and we started talking. And here is the best part. We picked her back up again! She was able to tell us her fears and concerns and it worked out well! By the time we were done talking she said she wanted us to come back and that she felt really at peace. She realized that this was important and that it could help her. AND THEN! She came to church this week! She loved it! She said she felt super welcomed and comfortable there! We are excited about that. We will be teaching her tomorrow night. Pray for us!

     Ok, on to Danny. Well, guess what. He is set to be baptized on June 20th!!!!! Yep! He wants to be baptized. The reason he chose that date is because that is the new beginning for him. He talked about how people usually think of January being the new beginning but for his it is the Summer. So he is set and doing really well! Sister Arndt, Snow, Collings, and I will have to go out this summer for that but that will be fun! He is going strong and loves the church. We read the baptismal interview questions with him and he didn't seem to have any issues with them which is so exciting! We just need to keep strengthening him until then and he will be set! (And don't tell him this but Sister Collings and I want to set him up with Sarah. They would be cute together....Not that I am thinking about that though, because I am a missionary not a match maker :P)

    Well, I don't know what else to tell you. This week has been full of miracles. We had 4 investigators at church this week which was super exciting! The work is going well and I love it here! 

 So for this transfer I told you that we were doing the Psalms of the Sisters for the sisters in our stewardship. We have come up with one so far. It is dumb and short but we needed one to send out last week to the sisters. This is how is goes (and by the way, we BOTH came up with these lyrics so yeah...)

To the tune of There is a Green Hill Far Away 

My companion is sister Woods

And she is beautiful!

And together we will baptize all of Simi 5.

My comp is Sister Collings,

And she has pink eye!

And together we will baptize all of Simi 5.

   

  Well, there you go. It took about 5 seconds to put it all together and even less to sing it. We sent that to the sisters as an example that it didn't have to be serious. So we will be writing more this week. Hopefully ones that are more about our fun experiences. :)

Ok I think that is really it for the week. Have a great week everyone! Love you all!

Sister Skeeter

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Fight On!

Post from Feb. 9, 2015

Holy cow! Today has been crazy! It is only 10:30 and we have already had to do a lot of stuff! One of the hermanas that we lived with went home so last night and today we have been working everything out with making sure her companion has a place to go and companions to be with and then the Sr. couple that came to pick her up had their van stop working so they took our car and then we had to start our p-day stuff and now we don't have a car because the Sr couple had to get back to oxnard but the hermanas left their car so we are going to be driving theirs but the problem with that is that they took the keys with them so the Sr. couple drove us to emails and now we are waiting for the hermanas to get her so that we can go get our car and get on with our p-day shopping. It has been fun but crazy trying to get everything figured out. We also have to be home for when the tow truck calls so that we can unlock the car for them. And now I just realized that if they call right now we wouldn't have a way to get there. yikes. Got to love missionary life! :) 

   Did that even make sense?

   I am so scatter brained today. Also I just need to say, my family and friends crack me up. They do things that surprise me every week. I almost never expect to hear what they are going to say each week. Love it! 

The area is so great! Sarah is doing so well! We taught her the Plan of Salvation this week and she loved it! It brought her a lot of peace and comfort. She also texted us this week and told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and listening to LDS pod casts while she was at work. She said she read and re-read 1 Nephi 1:1-20 because she loved how Nephi was showing us the tender mercies of the Lord. We are so excited for her! We tried to set her with a baptismal date again but she told us that she wanted to learn more about how we repent and are baptized so she could start repenting and preparing! I can't even express to you how prepared she is and how great she is! We are excited that Heavenly Father has trusted her to us. We were also able to have two lessons in member's homes this week. That was great! The members were such a great example to these investigators! 
We also had a less-active family come to mutual this week which was exciting! The Cards came to bring their 16 year old and they stayed to meet the bishop and talk with them! We are really going to be focusing on them and trying to reactivate them. I don't think they have anything against the church. Brother Card is very sick so I think it is just really hard for them to get to church. So it shouldn't be too bad working with them and strengthening them. They are such a nice family and I am excited for the 16-year old to get involved with the Young Women.

  Also I just wanted you to all know that I have not popped my knuckles in 3 weeks. I would say that is good progress! Seeing as how I have never been able to make it past one day. So be excited for me. I WILL break this habit. :) Ok, my time is up! I hope you all have a great week and Happy Valentines Day! I will be living it up like a single person on Saturday. :) Maybe Sister Collings and I will go get some sushi together haha. 

Have a great week! Love you all!

Sister Skeeter

Ps we went to another funeral this week. This time we just helped setting up and getting the food ready. We didn't have to sing or anything. It was a good service though.

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