Monday January 19, 2015

Not too much happened this past week, but the few big events that happened were amazing!!!!! One our members took all of the missionaires in our ward to the Cheesecake factory! It was heavenly, ha. They have gluten-free cheesecake and everything!! This family actually might be moving to Utah in a month or so. So you'll have to find them mom and dad! :)

A little bowling on P-day with the Zone!

We stopped by See's Candy celebrating Sister Turley's one year mission anniversary!

Well we had a big meeting with 3 zones and our mission president of course! This meeting has changed the whole way that we do missionary work, it is awesome though!! Since Pres. Mella has been President for 6 months now he has permission to change the way that we do things in our mission. So...he did! haha. Our  new mission vision is D&C 18: 10-16!! It talks about how the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. So, our primary focus is on finding the one!! I love it!! We are really focusing in on finding joy in the journey! Also on making our mission more according to preach my gospel!! So,we are no longer counting contacts but just naturally going out of our way to talk people. We want to find more meaningful contacts through activities or creative ways rather than just finding on the street. The biggest thing that I learned though is that there are 3 most powerful tools in conversion. They are prayer, church attendance, and book of mormon.

I could go on and on about this meeting haha but I don't want to take up everyones time! Another great thing that happened this week was Alex Boye came and did a fireside! We took a returning member with us and it was exactly what she needed to hear. Alex talked about letting everything go! Don't hold onto regrets, bad feelings and all the things that we really don't need. Follow the footsteps of our savior and truly become like him!! He asked a question, "What are you doing that's keeping you from loving your Savior fully?" So, that's my question today! Because I know that we all have something that is holding us back.

Well, my companion and I are super excited for this week because one of our investigators is getting baptized!! I will be sending some pictures next week :) and...I know that life as a member is not always easy. It's not meant to be that way though!! God has to mold us and shape us to become the best we can be. In order to do that we have to struggle! But, you know what..he will never make us struggle beyond what we can do. So! I think if we can remember that and remember that there are so many reasons for us to be happy.  Then, we will come to really understand what the atonement is :D

Con Amor!!!!!!

Hermana Hollie Buys

Monday January 12th 2015

This past week was super amazing!! It wasn't really a normal missionary work, but nonetheless it was fantastic! Before I forget, we heard from Elder Quinton L. Cook. He is such a great man! He is really sweet and loving. For the 1st hour we were with him we did a question and answer thing. Then the last hour he just spoke to us. This was by far one of the most spiritual experiences that I've had. Everything he said I felt like was directed personally to me. He talked about how important we are to the members and that this work is going to make a difference. Sometimes we just do things day to day and can't see that we impact anybody, but we do! Elder Cook left us with a promise that those who we love, our future spouses, and everyone we come in contact with will be blessed by our service. WOW! You can't have a greater blessing than that right? It was wonderful!!




Hollie had Thai food this week. Looks yummy!!!

Other things that happened in the week were exchanges! I actually went on exchanges 2 days in a row ha. They were both in English areas and it was super fun! It was neat because we met a lady and she only spoke Spanish, so we talked and now she is a potential investigator that we will meet with this week! On my other exchange we met this guy who tried to accuse our church of doing crazy things. He just wanted to prove us wrong, we just bore testimony though and went on our way. I've learned not to get upset with people anymore, but just feel sad for them. They just need God to fill up that space where the hole is :D 

The family that we moved is doing good! They will most likely be getting a home here soon, so that's great! We had a lesson last week with all of their family and it was wonderful. We were just about to start teaching when Moses asked "When can I be baptized?" Sister Turley and I were super shocked, but so happy! We just see over and over again God putting people in our path. We received 2 other new investigators last week as well. It's so true that the Lords work is getting faster and moving along :D 

The mission talked to us and we are starting to use pamphlets with our teaching more. We are doing the lessons a lot more simple and taking more time to plan for each investigator. It's a change and a little hard to get used to, but I love it! We already can feel the spirit so much more in our lessons! Well, I feel so blessed to be a missionary!! I love this work and all that it does for everyone involved in it! :D I know that God lives and this is the true gospel that has been restored in its perfect form :D 

Te Amo!!!!!!!

Monday January 5th 2015

Last week was crazy!! On top of normal missionary work my companion and I did service for a family for 22 hrs. So we are super super tired haha, and that is an understatement. Now, you all are probably wondering why so much service? Well, the family we did service for is one of our less actives. She was getting kicked out of her house and they had to clean/get everything out. They still don't know where they are going to live but we just had to help them. We basically threw away things and pushed dead cars and stuff like that. It was a lot of physical labor and luckily we had the help of many other missionaries. 

Even though there were many moments where I thought that we should just leave and go teach lessons, I didn't. What I learned was that as a missionary I am called to serve. Not to just teach lessons and get my 10 hours of service every week. This is souls that we are talking about and sometimes you have to do things you wouldn't normally do. Out of the service we've done we got the mothers son to attend church with us! He all the sudden decided he doesn't want to be an alcoholic anymore and he's stayed off drinking for 5 days!!! He wants to learn more about the gospel and the rest of the family wants to as well. Just by serving them we have seen all of these people start to change their hearts and open them for Christ. This was just a big miracle to see and I continue to see them change! They have many family problems but I know through the atonement they will be able to overcome all of their issues! 

We also found a golden investigator who found the church website and requested a bible. We came and taught him and gave him the book of mormon. He already wants to go to church and his deepest desire is to know why we are here and what happens after this life. Hermana Turley and I are seeing soooo many miracles. I'm so grateful for this work. I could do nothing without my Heavenly Father, I would just be sitting on the ground right now. I have a testimony that God is in every tiny detail in our lives. Just look for it and you will find!! 

Te Amo con todo de mi corazon!!

Hermana HOllie Buys

December 29 2014

This past week was amazing!!!

Here's my new companion from West Valley City Utah:

On Tuesday we helped clean a hoarders house and that was a scary experience. It is so crazy how as people we just hold onto everything. Not just material items, but maybe things that people have done in the past. When we have been offended or maybe hurt someone else. After cleaning this house I realized that I want to do a better job at keeping things clean myself. I want to forgive more and love more and just do better. I guess it was kind of like a New Year Resolution moment for me. Isn't it true though? We can all strive to be doing better!!!

Christmas Eve was super fun. We were able to have a Bethlehem dinner with a family. We acted out the story of Jesus birth and did a little gift exchange! We also had a sleepover with the other 4 sisters in our zone and made gluten free waffles!! 

Christmas was the best though!! I loved, loved, loved, loved, talking to all of you!!! Thank you so much for the good time! I love and miss you all so very much and that was just the best Christmas present ever!!!

New pajama's on Christmas eve!

After we finished talking to our families, we had dinner at the Navarro’s house. They are just the best member missionaries ever!! They always have referrals for us! What was really fun though was going to the Chavez family home! We made cupcakes and sang Christmas songs with the kids! 

Even though I wasn't home it was pretty close to it. I had an amazing Christmas and I'm so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, since this week is New Years, we will be having a ward party on New Years Eve, and we are invited to a member’s home for dinner! Should be a lot of fun!! I heard that the New Years party here is the best! I will take a lot of pictures for you mom and dad :) Oh and I saw fireworks the other day, it was pretty great!

Love you all!

Hermana Buys