Chickens-n-stuff

Email 07 October 2014

Good day!
So we we're at a house and we were looking at all of the chickens they had and Sister Hadden held one and it flew out of her hands and into my face! I was freaking out and they asked me if I wanted to hold one.....I told them "No I'm okay. I don't have the best past with birds. Plus have you seen the movie The Birds???" And they have never seen it. So I told them to watch it then they would understand.

I hardly remember this past week. It went by super fast! Only one person, Eden, accepted our tickets to general conference so she went with her grandma, who is a member. I'm so glad she got to go! Everyone else said no and gave us an excuse. Especially since every single talk we looked at each other and said "I WISH SO-AND-SO WAS HEARING THIS!!!" So it's a little disappointing when the thing that can clear up all their concerns and doubts is going on...and they don't watch it. So we'll just have to watch it with them!

We got a special showing of Meet the Mormons. It's seriously so good. I was crying through the whole thing. EVERYONE SHOULD SEE IT. and take people to see it! It just shows that you can be yourself and be Mormon. And you can have a different lifestyle but still live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's awesome. And I met some of the people on the movie! So we literally met the Mormons. Sooo yeah.

So we have some people (Sherry) who live in the canyon but it's super far so we only really go down there when we have an appointment. But our dinner was down there so afterwards we were driving home and we decided to drop by to see how Sherry was doing. We passed her house and had to turn around and when we got there, she was JUST getting out of her car and she was crying. So we went inside and talked to her. So much crazy stuff is happening in her life but we shared with her my favorite scripture, D&C 121:7-9. And she started crying even more. If we hadn't had to turn around to go back to her house, we would've missed the opportunity to comfort those who stand in need to comfort. And it was a testimony builder to us and to Sherry that Heavenly Father knows each of us and he puts people in our path for a reason. I'm so grateful that I'm able to be a part of all of these people's amazing spiritual journeys in knowing for themselves that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true and restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today.

We got 2 new investigators. Grant is 12 and he's just the cutest thing. He has already decided he wants to be baptized so we just need to prepare him! Haha Sylvia is probably in her 40-50's. She is meeting with us because she felt bad for us hahaha (I don't know why) but that's what she said. She's still awesome and loves the lessons though. I see her testimony and faith growing already!

Transfers are in a week and Sister Hadden and I are PRAYING we don't get transferred out! We love Huntsville and want to spend our whole missions here haha

I ate some elk jerky...It's super good! We ate it in like 1 night. Whoopsies.

I love you all and pray for you all! We have a place called Wolf Creek but everyone in Utah says Wolf Crick hahaha it cracks me up. It's like an old hick man. Anyways, that's the big stuff from this week.

Love you!
Sister Sarlls

D&C 121:7-9

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. 

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

Week.....something. I've lost track.

Email 30 September 2014

Hello hello!

This past week has been hard! Good! but hard. Our mission challenges us to get 20 lessons a week. And we got 21!!! Yay! It's funny how everyone tells us how much more organized we are than the Elders before us haha So some fun moments this week- I saw a baby moose! HE WAS SO CUTE! Plus I kind of look like a moose so I was going to take a picture with him but he ran away.

So far I haven't had any super gross food. It's very northern. But not gross. But last night we ate dinner at a members home and I saw this bowl and stuff and it looked like just kind of weird potato salad so I was like "okay I'll try it".......so I took one bite.....it wasn't potato salad. It was celery and apple chunks mixed around with mayonnaise. I started gagging a little bit and so I acted like I was reaching for my bag on the ground and I spit it out into a napkin. IT WAS THE GROSSEST THING OF MY LIFE.

I was calling this family to confirm our dinner appointment for the next night. And they didn't answer so I was leaving a message and in the middle of my talking, Sister Hadden lets out this HUGE BURP. It was like 3 seconds long. So I start cracking up and I tried to delete the message and start it over so and I'm like pressing all these buttons and I'm like "how do you delete it?!?!?!" And I accidentally sent the message instead....they called back and they were like "....we got your message" it was so embarrassing! It doesn't sound as bad when I type it out. But it was BAD.

So I have some new people to tell you about! Yay!

The Rowe family! She's a single mom with a 12 year old boy and twin 10 year old girls. We went to visit her to introduce ourselves and she told us that she knows it's true and has a testimony but she doesn't know if she wants to get baptized. So 4 days later we visit again and only the kids are there so we talk to them and they said "yeah we've been reading the Book of Mormon together! And we go over to our neighbors house and read every morning for 25 minutes!" These kids are soooo amazing. Wow. So then about a week later their neighbors daughter got baptized and so the Rowe kids went to it. And they came up to us and told us they wanted to get baptized! Seriously these kids are amazing!!! They told us that they felt the spirit there and they started crying at the baptism. I can just imagine him passing the sacrament and them all going on missions and telling people about when they were 10 and 12 and read the Book of Mormon for the first time. It gives me goosebumps! So the kids are all so ready...but the mom isn't. She's so busy as a real estate agent and a single mom. So we haven't gotten to teach her much. But we are inviting her to go to General Conference with us on Sunday! So I hope she says yes!

Next is Nancy. Oh Nancy. She has been meeting with missionaries forever. Like 7-8 years. She lives with members. She's in her 70's. She is a debater. She's very intellectual and loves discussion. She is stuck in her ways and kind of takes pride in it haha but the only thing keeping her from baptism is "the keys". She said she doesn't believe that our baptism is any different from other people's baptism. And then she went on to say that she doesn't believe that Mother Teresa won't go to heaven because she hasn't been baptized in the Mormon church. And we were like...."wait. Have you heard the plan of salvation?" She said " I must have been absent for class that day" we found out that all the missionaries she's met with have just had religious discussions with her. She's NEVER heard ANY of the actual lessons! So we're going to start  teaching her the real deal lessons! Religious discussions are great. But we're here to teach so that's what we're going to do! Our next lesson is tonight.

Okay last is Eden. She's 12 and as cute as can be! Her parents are less active and grandparents are fully active. She came with us to the women's conference with her grandma and little sister who's 9. And she told us she wants to go to general conference! So we're giving them tickets. She did some genealogy and was upset she couldn't go with the youth to do baptisms. So that's what she is really looking forward to! And both her parents came to church on Sunday! MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING IN HUNTSVILLE! They haven't been in 7 years. They came for all 3 hours. It made my heart smile:)

We were running everywhere this week! It was amazing! It feels good to work hard and to have no free time haha I love having every hour planned of every day. I know that Heavenly Father has prepared all of these people for us to teach. One of our ward mission leaders made this thing where we go around to all the families and give them a lesson on missionary work. Its called the "it will happen tour". D&C 82:10 "I The Lord am bound when ye do what I say....." So when we do what he says and then you WILL receive blessings. You WILL get those missionary opportunities. And you WILL have the courage to open your mouth. So we made these leather bracelets as a reminder for everyone and it's a huge hit! Everyone is wearing our bracelets! Haha

I'm doing just swell and Huntsville is awesome. We have a yak friend who we call Curly. Because he has curly hair.

I love all of you!

Love, Sister Sarlls

 

ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

Email, September 23, 2014

It's been a month since I left on my mission! We had one random candle in our apartment so I lit it and blew it out. :)

So this past week......hmm... Sometimes it's hard to remember to write everything that's happened in the past week. So I've realized the importance of exact obedience. There were some nights we went to bed at 10:40 instead of 10:30 and we were SO TIRED the next morning! That never happens when we go to bed on time. The Lord knows what's right.

Anyways.....so first story, "the bugs". So we were going to bed and I scratched my back and felt something on there so I grabbed it and it popped in my fingers! Ew! So we turn on the lights and I see that it's a box elder bug. I HATE THEM SO MUCH. they're almost as annoying as love bugs. So at this point I'm like freaking out and crying. So I was wondering if they got in through our window so I lift up the curtain and find this ginormous spider instead! JUST WHAT I NEEDED AT BED TIME! So It's in a corner on the window and so I smush it and it didn't die and fell on the ground! So me and Sister Hadden  ran out of the room SO fast and I was screaming and crying and jumping around and I was scared it fell on me! So we got a broom so we wouldn't have to touch anything looking for it in the blankets and it came crawling out of her blanket. So I go in for the kill round 2. I was so scared it was going to like super jump into my face or something. Sister Hadden decided to take a video for your enjoyment.  But i defeated it! I couldn't sleep that night at all though. So I just stayed up watching Mormon messages:)

So there's this lady names Sherry. The Elders said she is busy and can never have a lesson. So we try not making an appointment and just going over. It turns out she lives in the Ukrainian's old apartment! Weird! Anyways so we ring the doorbell and she comes out dressed in her underwear! Haha She kept saying "we're all girls here! It's nothing you haven't seen before" And I was like "yeah it's just like gym class!" Even though I felt super awkward just chatting to her in her underwear. So she has a 4 year old daughter and every night they snuggle and sing Katy Perry songs haha she's going through a CRAZY divorce. So as we sit down (btw she put some pants on) she's telling us about her background with the church. She said she had this LDS friend who gave her a Book of Mormon that she was reading and when her mom found it, she threw it away. So she moved to Huntsville and started her crazy divorce and the bishop and the ward helped her a lot through moving and everything. What impressed her most is that she wasn't even a member and they were willing to help her with so much.

Anyways so we start teaching the restoration and it's already like 9 pm because she's a huge talker. Our curfew is 9-9:30. We taught the restoration to her in like 7 minutes haha but EVERYTHING that we told her she responded with "that makes sense. I've always had questions about that. And that makes perfect sense." SHE WAS GOLD. So since she lives in Utah she's looked up a lot of stuff about Mormonism and knew about a lot of it. But when we recited the first vision to her, she started crying and said "I haven't heard that before. I don't know why I'm crying. That's just beautiful." And of course I start crying. We tell her it's the spirit witnessing to her that what we were saying was true. And she just kept saying "I know it is". The spirit was SO strong. We gave her another Book of Mormon to replace the one she had when she was younger and she started to cry. She was SO grateful to have her own Book of Mormon. She still has a cheapo CTR ring that her friend gave her. She told us it was one of her treasures and that she keeps it safe in a box. She is so ready. The Lord has been preparing her. If we don't end up teaching anyone else in Huntsville, I would say that we were sent here just for Sherry. We are meeting again with her on Wednesday. We're planning to invite her to be baptized:) so we'll see how it goes!

We went to drop by and see this one family and we forgot to pray before we went in. The whole visit was just a debate and Sister Hadden and I just came out so discouraged. I felt sick to my stomach by how that visit went. It was a huge learning experience. Prayer. is. everything. The spirit. Is. Everything. I've been worried about recognizing if I'm teaching by the spirit. I've been trying really hard to notice when I felt a prompting to say something. I think the spirit was still with us, but I feel like our minds and hearts were too clogged up from the debate to hear it speaking to us. It was definitely a humbling experience.

We haven't met with Bee again yet. Tomorrow night we are and we're inviting her to be baptized:)

The stake gave us tickets to general conference to take some of our investigators! So cool!

So much has happened this past week. We have 14 investigators and this week we are planning on inviting 11 to be baptized in October. I hope all goes well!

So the temple dedication was so beautiful! We watched it at the stake center so we weren't at the actual thing. The cultural celebration was so much fun! We were told we were just watching it. But we got to be in it too! I was crying during the whole thing! Especially the first song. It's just so exciting! So we got to walk out when they were singing Army of Helaman and Called to Serve. It was so awesome!!! I cheered so loud for our Huntsville people! Imagine if all of that youth went on missions. The world would never be the same! And guess what? All the youth there was only 1/3!!! They had 3 different casts!!! It's amazing.

Huntsville is like a pot of gold no one knows about! It's the best! I'm loving every minute of my mission. So when Holland was here, he was talking about how we are the shepherds for the sheep. He was like "we can't be worried about the shepherds if we're already worried about the sheep! We don't have time for that! Once you're done with your mission, you're still a missionary! Once a shepherd, always a shepherd!" It was soooo powerful. I think about it everyday. There are so many amazing things happening that I want to talk about! But this is already long haha

I love you all! Keep up your CPR certification! Church, prayer, and reading! (Scriptures)

Love ya,
        Sister Sarlls

My watch broke so I bought a frozen watch (plus digital is easier)

Hike

So I made it to the top! Phew! I was following one of the sisters and I thought she said to go a certain way so I went that way and it was a little cliff and I fell and a branch tore open my pants a lot haha but it's not an adventure until someone rips their pants! And it just happened to be me! It was super fun and gorgeous.

Week dos!!!

Sister Sarlls with President and Sister Hiers, leaders of the Utah Ogden Mission

email 2014-09-16

Hello hello family and friends!

So this past week was still a lot of meeting with ward mission leaders and seeing who we can find in their ward. There are 12 wards and it takes about 45 minutes to get from one side of the valley to the other. We kind of have to plan our days according to where people live. BUT some interesting things still took place...

So we were looking through our list of people in our area book and this name pops out to me. Svetlana and Anastasia Rollo. They're a mother and daughter from Ukraine. So we read that they were about to be baptized but they felt a lot of pressure from whoever was before us. So we looked up their address to go say hello and it said "Ogden Canyon". Huh?? We have a ton of people who live up in the mountains but not in the canyon! So we drove through the canyon at like 8:45 at night. We COULD NOT find this house! We used our GPS and it said we were there and we were in the middle of the highway with forest all around us. So we just went home and decided to look for it during the day. So the next day we met up with one of the ward mission leaders and he said they moved into his ward! YAY! So we go to find their new house......WE CANNOT FIND IT. Again it was like 8:45 at night and none of the roads have street lamps so it's super dark and it's freezing and super windy. So we see this house and think it's hers so we get out to go see. There's a wire gate around the house and we opened it and it made the creepiest creaking noise. I was freaking. Out. Then as we walk through the yard I saw this black figure moving and it looked liked those things on Harry Potter that suck out your soul. I WAS SO SCARED. It turned out to be a Christmas tree though. So we walk up to the porch and we're standing there knocking and waiting for someone to answer the door and then their swing set starts swinging and creaking!!!!! I just wanted to leave! So FINALLY we go back to the car and since Sister Hadden is the driver, I have to stay out and back her out of the driveway to she doesn't hit anything. My heart was racing so fast as I was standing out in the middle of this creepy road alone. Then as I'm standing out there alone, this bear comes out of nowhere!!! so I'm like running to the car and I get in there and sister Hadden is cracking up. Apparently it was just a ginormous dog. So back to finding Svetlana and Anastasia. So we go to the house next door and ask that family if they knew about them. Apparently they moved......again. SO we tracked down their house and we were sitting in front of it in the car and someone looked through the window and we freaked out and drive away. Haha so that was our adventure in trying to find the Ukraine family! We are still looking for them so I'll keep you posted.

So we have an investigator named Josh. He is sooooo ready. He has had some serious problems with alcohol and drug addictions and checked himself into this rehab camp in the valley. So we met him there. He told us how much he's changed and how much prayer helps him. He prays all the time and has so much faith in what prayer can do. He said that since he's been meeting with us and going to church and praying every morning and every night, he's been feeling so amazing. He said it's better than any drug or alcohol could make him feel. I wish I could quote to you more things he's said. He's really amazing. So he's getting baptized on the 27th!!! But sad news....he's 23 so the missionaries over all of the northern singles wards get to finish teaching him and get to have him baptized in their area. It's good for him to be fellowshipped into a singles ward. But we are going to miss teaching him.

So I've been getting a little sick. Just a cold. So we were in relief society on Sunday and I couldn't talk very much. So this lady leans over to me and she's like "take this oil. You just put a little drop on your hand and lick it off. It makes the stuffiness and sore throat go away. It doesn't taste bad either! It taste like wassail!" I was like oh yum okay it couldn't hurt!........it did NOT taste like wassail. It was like orange and cinnamon and old people. First my tongue was burning and then I swallowed and my throat was burning! I was sitting there in relief society hacking up this stuff and it was making my eyes water and making me drool. Finally I ran out to get some water. But it was SO BAD. my throat is still burned from it haha plus it was pretty embarrassing.

So we just met this lady named Bee. She is so cute! She's like 45 and from the Philippines. We went over to teach her and she was telling us how she prays every day and knows she has a purpose in life and she knows that God sent us to her. It was the best lesson we had had yet. We were really teaching by the spirit. So we're meeting with her again next week. She is just so cool.

A lot of families here have adopted kids! It's so cool. There was this one family who had 5 adopted kids. Their house was a wreck with toys everywhere and The dishes weren't done. But I felt the spirit more in that home than anywhere I have been so far. Their family is so loving. Only the mom was there but she is just amazing. So patient and she knows how to get her kids involved in spiritual conversations. All of the siblings love each other and are

all buddies. It reminded me of our home:) it's great to have a clean home but when you take the time to teach your children the gospel and how to love one another, your home is always lovely. It's so amazing.

ELDER HOLLAND CAME TO SPEAK TO US. I can't explain to you how powerful he is. Wow. His hair is a lot more grey in person. Since it was a missionary thing we aren't supposed to talk about what is said. But it was life changing. I will never view my mission the same ever again.

One thing that's been an amazing comfort to me has been my name tag. It says my name right there next to Jesus Christ's name. Sometimes I take a deep breath and just look at my name tag. It reminds me that He is always with me. And that this is His work. I know that He is sending angels down to help me. When I worry about my teaching abilities, I just remember that I'm just the messenger and that The Spirit it teaching them. People may forget what you say, they may forget what you do, but they will never forget the way you made them feel. And they will feel The Spirit as I teach the true gospel of Jesus Christ...no matter how much I stumble.

I love you all so so much and I'm praying for you!

Hugs and kisses!
Sister Sarlls

1st week in da field WUT UP OGDEN?!

email, 09 Sep 2014

HELLO HELLO! so much to tell y'all!!! so when we got to the field we met the mission president and his wife. THEY'RE AWESOME!

New Arrivals in the Utah Ogden Mission

we had to stay with some member families that night because the next day we met our companions and went to our areas. so i stayed with some old people with Sister Sudo. (canadian) it was like 10:30 and they came in and said "do you want some peaches and icecream?" hahaha we were like "no thanks!" and the next morning we woke up and outside our door was two bowls of peaches and icecream!!! hahaha we flushed it down the toilet because we didn't want any haha.

Sister Sarlls and Sister Hadden

So my companion's name is Sister Hadden. SHE SINGS YAY! there's a musical fireside coming up that we're singing at. she's super sweet. she's been out for 10 months! so the first four days of my mission we worked at the temple open house! which was AWESOME! so fun! and they took a video of me talking to people on my first day there and said they were going to use it for a church video about temples. GREAT! i probably look so confused. (because i was) but the Ogden Temple is GORGEOUS! and it has underground parking which is fancy. so i'm serving in a place called huntsville....what to say. We live on a dirt road with an old lady in her basement apartment (basements are so cool btw). huntsville is like in a mountain bowl. its a valley and allllllllll around you are mountains. it's beautiful. but pretty much everyone in the valley owns land and owns horses and sheep and goats. but our neighbors OWN BUFFALO AND TURKEYS!!!!! WHAT?!?! haha it's crazy!
it's a huge area and all the houses are spread out across the valley so we have a car. we are over a stake. 12 wards. and we are the only missionaries here. but everyone here is super missionary minded. It's an awesome place to live. it's hard getting around because when we ask for directions everyone says "around the east bush and then down to the Ferguson farm and a left at the sheep" and i'm like......."what?" haha it's fun though!!! Rachel would be in a dream down here! it's beautiful. and there's this GIANT lake that freezes and everyone skates on. SO COOL! Someone was talking about snow in the valley and they were like "we're expecting 8 this year" and i said "INCHES?!" and they said "no.......feet". so you could say i'm going to die here. haha i'm already freezing! 

so we are an ipad and facebook mission. but i have to get rid of all my pictures and all my statuses on facebook which is taking forever. so today we start teaching because we've been working at the temple and the elders who were here before us didn't leave us anything about who they were teaching. they just left us notes about food haha oh elders.... so we're meeting all the ward mission leaders and bishops and trying to find out what's going on. our first day here though we had 2 baptisms that we were thrown into. and one this Saturday. it's a little crazy haha they're amazing people though. this Saturday is a little 8 and 9 year old brother and sister. we were asking them the baptism questions yesterday and their understanding of the gospel is just incredible. especially the 8 year old Aurora. She just loves the church. you can already tell. Sunday was testimony meeting in church and a lot of little kids bore their testimony and it's AMAZING. all of the little kids know so much. the wards here are just so strong! so funny story....on our first day here me and Sister Hadden saw the buffalo next door and i joked with her and said "we're probably going to eat him for dinner tonight" and she didn't think it was funny and gave me a talk on God's creatures. BUT that night we had our first member meal and we ate BUFFALO TACOS! hahaha I'm sorry this letter isn't as spiritual. we haven't been teaching much so next week i'll have a lot of stuff to share:) ALSO they have a food storage isle at the grocery store haha it's awesome!!! And I'm sure you already saw on facebook...but me and my companion run in the morning and we were going along and she was ahead of me and all of a sudden a TURKEY flies out in front of me! I WAS FREAKING OUT! i ran back to the house and Sister Hadden came back and she was like "Hey i lost you back there! i couldn't find you!" and i was like "yeahhh......." haha anyways. Sister Froerer is the cutest old lady. Her house has three stories. She comes down and makes our beds and stuff haha she couldn't be cuter. sorry this is kinda a weird letter. I'm doing great! just still trying to find out what's going on here in Huntsville. I LOVE YOU ALL! You're in my prayers!

-Sister Sarlls

BTW ELDER HOLLAND IS COMING NEXT WEEK SO SPEAK TO THE MISSIONARIES AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SORRY I KEEP FORGETTING THINGS
My mission president challenged us to memorize the definition of Christ in the bible dictionary. I've gotten the first paragraph down. It's a really cool and spiritual experience. If you want to do it too, that would be cool. :) My companion is really spiritual and amazing. I know she is going to teach me so much. I hope to be an amazing teacher like her when i'm out for 10 months. The Lord has been helping me so much. He lifts me daily and gives me the strength and the confidence to do so many things i would never be able to do. Example: i'm in charge of our cell phone and making all the phone calls. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be serving a mission. I know i am going to help so many people Come unto Christ and i can't wait for when we start teaching. I love all of you so much! i'm sorry these letters are super scattered this time. 

-Sister Sarlls XOXOXO

Bible Dictionary: Christ

 

  

  

Stinky Buffalo!

 

MTC almost over!

Sent by email, September 1st, 2014

So I leave for the field tomorrow!!!! I can't believe my time here at the MTC is almost done! It's been a BLAST! Me and all the sisters are SO close. We make jokes all the time and it's like the four of us are all companions. We got some new sisters and trained them. They're really fun! There's one companionship in there that seems a little rough, but they're working through it. My whole district is going to Ogden and Houston - and Katy is in their mission! So look out for Sister 'Ita'Aehau and Elder Visser and Elder Lee! The new district is going to Little Rock, Arkansas! I told them to look for Sister McBride. One of the new sisters is from Utah and her name is Sister Jones. She looks like Utah, its crazy! Also one of the Elders in our Zone is a SUPER nerdy gamer and computer hacker and he calls himself the computer goblin haha whatever that means. But just looking at him you can tell that he does it. So when I send you all pictures I'll have you guess who it is haha.

So our new investigator's name is Chae! She's super cool and we're really close to her and she has two little girls ages 3 and 7. So the way investigators work in the MTC is some are real, some are converts and they pretend like it's their conversion story and some are members pretending to be someone they knew on their mission. So Tracey was my teacher pretending. BTW, he committed to baptism! Yay! So we found out that Chae is a REAL investigator! YIKES! So on our first visit, she asked me to sing and told me a sounded like a Disney Princess haha (BTW, everyone calls me Sister Princess) so naturally we hit it off and then she said that she plays the ukulele!!!

Anyways, so the first three lessons with Chae were good but we didn't feel like she was progressing. She's been an investigator for 4 weeks at the MTC and gets the same lessons all the time. So for our 4th and final lesson, Me and Sister Kah sang to her "Love is Spoken Here" out of the Children's Song Book. I can't tell you how strong the Spirit was. Chae started crying and told us that she wants her daughters to grow up to be like us. So in this lesson it was the first time I had recited the first vision in a lesson. You would not believe how powerful it is! So we talked about her testimony because she's been there for so long. She told us that she knows everything is true and that she believes it all. And we were like, "Sooo, why aren't you baptized?", and she said, "I know I will be one day but in like ... 2 years." Also she lives with her boyfriend of 5 years and she said she knows that she can't get baptized with that, so we were like, "Sooo, why aren't you married?", you know what she said? "I just don't want to. I don't see the point." So of course we talked to her about eternal families. So pretty much she didn't believe in sealings and eternal families. She doesn't think any of it matters. It's the biggest concern she has with the church. This lesson was HARD. What can you say? My companion and I planned for the Restoration [lesson], not Eternal Families! But I bore her my testimony of eternal families and how that's one of the things that brought [my grandparents] Mimi and Da and the family into the church. I have NEVER bore my testimony so strongly before. I know it was the Holy Ghost helping me along. The Spirit was so thick in the room you could cut it like butter. So in the end she committed to get married to her boyfriend AND to start preparing for baptism!!! After so long being in the MTC we were the ones she needed to get past that and to be baptized!!! It's AWESOME!

So a little about the MTC ... the food is pretty good! On Sundays and Wednesdays they have BYU Creamery ice cream and it's so good! I've tasted the Graham Canyon and Raspberry Cream Cheese. They have a different soup every day so that's what I get. The best has been the tortilla soup. It tastes like Mom's! Their potato soup was as good as Panera's so it's alright.

I've had lots of opportunities to sing! I sang in the choir AND I got to sing "The Painter's Hand" for the whole MTC!!! SO COOL! I didn't cry this time though haha. I sing everywhere I go and I lead the hymns for our district and our zone. So my companion comes with me to choir and I go with her to the gym haha. She's been my personal trainer!

In the classrooms they have [one-way glass] where you can watch people on the other side teach but it just looks like a mirror to them haha. There are some AMAZING teachers here. It's so cool! My companion and I were doing role-playing and we started saying everything like Siri would say it and we were CRACKING UP! Our jokes have gotten so lame but we think they're so funny. It's sad. haha

My branch president is SO COOL! He's super down to earth and lived in Alief for a while! His name is President Brown! He has a fake leg from having polio as a child. He makes jokes and makes fun of people all the time haha. My teacher challenged us to study just one chapter out of the Book of Mormon for a whole week. It's been a really cool experience to see how much more you can find when you take the time to - and using a regular dictionary as a tool is awesome!

The Lord is helping me SOOO much! I love this Gospel and i love missionary work! and I LOVE YOU!!!!!! 

Love, 

   Sister Sarlls (Princess)

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Links:

• The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings Love is Spoken Here (YouTube)
• Feature film Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, cued to the story of The First Vision (YouTube)
• The Painter's Hand by Sally DeFord Music. Solo performed by Sister Emily Sarlls at her farewell talk. (FaceBook Video [audio only])

The Painter’s hand is firm and never falters

As He shapes the living portrait of my soul

There is wisdom in each line He smooths and alters

Where I see unfinished canvas, there the Painter sees the whole

He knows the strength that grows in shadow

When I’m reaching for the light

He sees the majesty and glory

beyond my mortal sight

And though I may not understand

The artistry of heaven’s plan

I will trust the Painter’s hand unceasingly

He will make a masterpiece of me

The Painter’s hand is gentle as He renders

Every stroke of living color patiently

In shades of darkest night or brightest splendor

He reveals His grand design, and shows me what I’m meant to be

(Repeat chorus)

And when I come before Him, kneeling at His feet

I marvel at His love for one so small and incomplete

Then His spirit whispers peace to me

Restores my soul and teaches me

The wonder of my provenance and worth

(Repeat chorus)

Sheet music info at DeFordMusic.com

Sort of Week 1?

Sent by email, August 25th, 2014

So yesterday was Sunday and as part of Relief Society we watched Music and the Spoken Word. It made me feel very connected with home. So whenever you hear it, know I am too :).  Especially when they sang Homeward Bound. So much has happened since I wrote you last. I think about you guys all the time. Mostly I just wish I could text you all when something happens! So our investigator that we are teaching ... His name is Tracey (no he's not black). It's really hard to plan a first lesson when you've never met them. He has a 14 year old daughter. He met with the Elders once and had TONS of questions. He's very chipper and is interested in modern-day prophets. I'm trying to type fast because we have zero time so sorry this is going to be bad spelling. He has been baptized in 4 different churches. So for our first lesson we planned something about prophets or the restoration but that didn't happen ... AT ALL. haha. It was an awesome lesson though. I. WAS. SO. NERVOUS. haha. Some of Sister Kah's (companion...pronounced Kay) strengths are being a scriptorian and knowing so much information! She really knows the gospel and knows the scriptures. I'm learning about myself too though. I'm really good at connecting with and loving the investigators. I'm good at listening and determining what they need. I'm good at being simple! It's great to have deep knowledge but I'm realizing that investigators need simple. And I am good to go on that!!!! haha. In our first  lesson, Sister Kah was explaining the Book of Mormon and I could tell Tracey wasn't with us. But while she was running away with her knowledge, I was able to slow her down and simplify and ask Tracey his thoughts. He's so ready!!!! After we gave him the lesson on the Book of Mormon, he asked for one!!! Aaaaaaaand ... we didn't have one. haha. We both looked at each other and we were COULDN'T BELIEVE what had happened! We got back to the room and I wanted to go back and give him one! But everyone in my district said it would be weird. But I did it anyways! I ran to his room and gave it to him and challenged him to read the title page. He invited us back the next day:) So our second lesson started out a tad bit rough. Sis. Kah again was rambling with her knowledge. And he didn't understand any of it. I'm not talking down Sister Kah! She is AMAZING and has so much to offer! We just haven't figured out how to use both of our strengths evenly. But I bore my testimony to Tracey about the power of prayer and that Heavenly Father knows us personally and we talked about how we are his children and how he wants us to talk to him and how we can receive answers from the Holy Ghost and what that is and that it feels like and we taught him how to say his FIRST PRAYER! It was so powerful and the Spirit was so strong! We challenged him to read and pray about The Book of Mormon. Our next lesson is tomorrow! And tomorrow we also get ANOTHER investigator! We watched a talk given by Brad Wilcox called His Grace is Sufficient. It was one of the most powerful talks I've ever heard. Y'all have to look it up and watch the whole thing! It was a BYU devotional. So either on LDS.org or BYU.edu??? Then we saw Bednar's talk "The Character of Christ" which is only shown at the MTC......OH. MY. GOSH. WOW. It is life changing. what I'm going to tell you about it isn't even a tenth of what was said and what was felt there. I wish you could all just watch it. It's life changing. He talked first about how Christ turns out while we turn in. He was sweating blood from every pore and when he came out, he wasn't mad that his followers fell asleep. He isn't focused on that, He focused on healing the man's ear, He didn't say: "Look what I just did for you." and ask for recognition. Then he told a story of when he got a call from a lady in his ward about a tragic accident that happened to 3 girls in the youth. One of them was pronounced dead. She was asking him to come to the hospital. She was holding two phones and Bednar could hear the nurse on the other phone when she told the lady that the girl found dead was her daughter. Instead of turning inward in her own grief, she turned outward and said "President Bednar, we need to call the other two moms and make sure they know what's going on and that they're okay." She understands the character of Christ. One of the other mom's daughter died as well. She was a single mom and was the Relief Society President. The daughter who died was her only child. On the morning of her daughter's funeral, she get's a call from a lady in the ward who chewed her out. She complained that she had a cold and no one had brought her a meal. So one the way to her daughter's funeral, she delivered a meal she personally made to this selfish and whiny sister. She understands the character of Christ. He also talked about being converted unto Christ. He said if you only have a testimony, you may fall away. But if you are converted unto the Lord, you will never fall away. There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the Character of Christ. I know this is long. But I've learned so much! I love you all. I've memorized the baptism commitment. (Yes, we ask them a specific thing.) and the first vision! Have that memorized it's SO powerful! You can't recite it without having the Spirit there. Whenever we get stuck in a lesson we "take it back to the grove" and share the restoration and the first vision because the spirit is SO STRONG. Now y'all have a commitment ... Will you commit to memorizing the first vision??? JS-H 1:16-17 starting with "I saw a pillar of light". I DON'T HAVE SPENCER OR SAMS EMAIL!!!! Rachel - Good luck on your first day of high school! Spencer - Good luck with full time work and full time school! Mom - I know you're wondering so my foot is better and my elbow is gross and crusty but that's good right? haha. Dad - I wish I could get a father's blessing! Sam and Kip - send me a list of fruit the baby is! LOVE YOU ALL AND PRAYING SO MUCH FOR YOU! I'm awesome and having the time of my life! I got mom and shirt and Rachel a sweatshirt. If any of y'all want any MTC stuff, TELL ME! love you!

LOVE YA! XOXO

Sister Sarlls (or as we've been saying...SEESTERRRR!)

The First Days

snail-mail letter mailed Aug 22nd, 2014.

Dear Family!
I made it through my first day at the MTC! I got my tag with my orange dork dot! I LOVE my companion & the two other sisters in my district. There is Sister Kah (pronounced Kay). She's my comp. She's from Tennessee & serving in Ogden! She's sporty & we have fun together :). Then there's Sister Sudo and she is from Canada! She's a red-head & quiet & sweet. She still has a good sense of humor, though! She's also serving in Ogden. Then there is Sister I. We just call her that because she is from Tonga & it's a hard name, ha ha. She is serving in HOUSTON! It's just Houston, not South or anything. We already had to teach some investigators. Crazy! It all goes so fast & I'm really trying to keep up. There are so many natural teachers here. But I know there's a place for me! Out of 20 people there are only four sisters in our zone. But we're already close and love each other. I can already tell how hard this is going to be. They have auditions for musical numbers in meetings & us girls are doing it together! I LOVE WEARING MY TAG! Sorry, my mind is scattered as I'm writing this. I can't find the famous map ... guess when we eat dinner ... FOUR O'CLOCK! I'm very hungry. There's so much stuff to know. I'm only here for 10 days & I come home on Feb 29th, 2016. It's really awesome & so fun here! At our first meeting we all sang The Army of Helaman & it was so powerful. They changed the words to "and we are now the Lord's missionaries" and I just started crying. And the bathrooms smell like the Temple. Anyways, I'm going to bed. I love you all! Hugs & Kisses!
Love, Sister Sarlls

I just finished my second day. You couldn't believe the change I already see in myself. We are already teaching someone tomorrow. It's amazing to see the Lord lift me in everything I do. I'm not tired at all. I know it's the Lord helping me. I've been making profound comments in class & leading & teaching. I'm learning how to teach with the Spirit. I can't explain how amazing it is here. Me & the sisters do a yoga class every morning. The Spirit is so strong everywhere you go. I'm senior companion. I don't know what to do but I know the blessings will be amazing! I can't wait for tomorrow to teach our investigator about the restoration! I love you all!
Love, Sister Sarlls

Utah!

Some pictures of my day around Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT before reporting to the MTC.

  

 

  

 

Goodbye Mom! See you in 18 months!