3 Nephi 27:13-14

Dearest Family and Friends,

 

We had a GREAT week this last week! It wasn't fantastic numbers wise, but we had a grrrrreat baptism!! I was so happy! The guy that got baptized even had a few of his friends come but they aren't interested in learning more. They were just there to support him and we were grateful for that! The last week has been super rough on him. A lot of his friends have been trying to convince him not to get baptized. We were never really worried though. We knew that he knew it was what he was supposed to do, no matter what anybody said about it. We had a good lesson with him and the Bishop and we were able to answer a few of the questions that he had thanks to his friends. He had a good experience though. He was confirmed in our Sacrament Meeting yesterday. Then later that day, we found out that he had been asked to say the closing prayer at the end of Priesthood Meeting and that he did a great job! We were so excited to hear that! He really is great and all of the members keep telling us that him and Bro. Henry who was baptized a few weeks ago are just amazing and they're so happy to have them in the church. I'm so glad to hear that the members are welcoming them in!

We were also able to set up another baptism date for the 26th of October. It's for Sis. Hobbs. We are going to pray and try to get Bro. Hobbs ready for that date as well. She could be baptized next week if she wanted to but we wanted to set a date that we felt that Bro. Hobbs could be ready for as well. He's going through a hard time in his life right now. He's been in some pretty traumatic experiences and so he's dealing with anxiety from those things. He says he'll get baptized when he's ready though. We are also hoping some of the kids will join in the lessons and get baptized. They are so prepared for the Gospel it's not even funny!

 

We had the opportunity to have interviews with President Shumway this week. It was so good! I love that man! He will be a part of my life forever. He always says the right things and I guess that could be due to the Spirit, but still, he has to be in tune with the Spirit to know what to say. Luckily, in this interview, I didn't cry! It's like the first real interview that I haven't cried in! It's just amazing to see how I've changed and how much I've grown in the last little while. I really just cannot describe in words how much I love being a missionary and am grateful for my time to serve a mission. I am so glad that Heavenly Father put His trust in me to serve a mission and to do His work. I hope that I can continue to serve Him diligently so He can be proud of me when my time is through.

 

I was able to go to Muskogee this last week on an exchange. It was really good except for I got to see Christina. I was so sad because her health has just gotten really bad since I've left. It was hard for me to look at her and so I'm just trying to remember the Christina that I knew when I was back serving in Muskogee. I love her so much and if she doesn't get baptized in this life because of her health, I know she will accept the work when she goes to the other side.

 

We had a special Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. It was full of music. Something really funny happened. I was laughing all yesterday and am still laughing about it now. The Priesthood got up to sing. There were so many of them and they were singing "Ye Elders of Israel." When they got done, Bro. Crockett, the Elder's investigator, was sitting in the congregation a few rows behind us and he said, "Man, that sounded like the Tabernacle Choir!" Oh my goodness!!! It was so funny! Everybody started laughing! But it was so true! Sister Ficklin and I just wanted them to keep singing. It was so beautiful, but now every time I hear that song, I will think of Brother Crockett saying that. I love that man! He is so funny! He is getting baptized on November 2nd. It will probably be my last baptism. Sister Ficklin and I kind of accidentally set the date with him a few weeks ago without the Elders knowing. It was pretty funny! We are so clever! ;)

 

Not much else happened this week! So sorry this is a short letter! :)

 

The Vendels are taking us golfing today so we are pretty excited about that! We sometimes practice putting in their living room at night. I've never been golfing so we are going to go with them today! We're supa excited! :):)

 

This next week should be a good one! We've set some goals that we are going to work really hard to achieve! :)

 

Thank you so much for everything! I really appreciate all the letters! Keep them coming!!!!! :)

 

Love you all!!

 

See you soon then!!

 

Love, Sister Pahl

PS. I forgot to talk about transfers!!!! Sister Ficklin and I are staying together in Charleston this transfer!!!!!!!!!!!! We are soooooooooo excited!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are! :) Not a feeling I can explain in text. Just like the last sentence in Alma 26:16, "Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." That's how I feel about my mission and about this next transfer with Sister Ficklin! Yay! :):) Sorry I forgot to mention this in my email! :)

Mosiah 28:3

Holy moly! We had such a good week! It was kind of long, but it was good! The weeks seem to be going by slower and slower, but that can be good! That way my mission doesn't just fly by in the blink of an eye.

I had two exchanges this week. One was with Sister Daines. She came up to Charleston and we worked up here while Sister Ficklin went down to Mena to work with Sister Harris. It was a pretty good exchange. I really love Sister Daines. We have a lot of similarities and so it was good to be with her. She has 9 nieces and nephews and so it's always fun to hear her talk about them.

My other exchange was with Sister Breaux up in Van Buren. Her companion, Sister Boll, came to Charleston and worked with Sister Ficklin. I also love Sister Breaux! I just have been so blessed to serve over so many wonderful sisters! They are all hard workers and just want to do what the Lord wants them to do. They are not afraid to teach the gospel to everybody that they come in contact with! I love working with all of them! I learn so much when I go on exchanges. I feel like I grow more than my sisters grow. It's been a fantastic experience to get to work with them and go on exchanges all the time. Not sure how much Sister Ficklin enjoys it, but they are good and we get through them.

Brother Lynch is getting baptized this Saturday at 6 pm! We are so excited! We feel like we were just doing this with Brother Henry! But, that was only about 4 weeks ago. Bro. Lynch just continues to surprise us. He got this notebook and he writes down his thoughts about everything that we've taught him. He goes through the pamphlets we give him and he writes down what they mean to him. This last week we went over a lot of material. We had to teach him a lot of things before he was able to be interviewed. We are just working on getting him some clothes to come to church in. Hopefully we can scrounge something up for him in the next couple weeks. We've been super blessed while we've been working here! Bro. Lynch says he has a couple of friends that are planning on coming to the baptism. So, we're super excited! :) This week, Bro. Lynch's daughter joined us for a little bit of the lesson. I turned to her and asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said, "Yes!" So then I told her that she had to listen in the lessons. She was kind of bummed but she agreed. Then one of her friends was there and she turned to her and said, "Do you want to come to church tomorrow? I'm getting baptized!" We had to quickly tell her that it wasn't going to happen tomorrow hahah just something funny. :)

We also got to talk to Bro. Lynch's neighbor. A few lessons ago, she was sitting outside watching her kids while we were teaching Bro. Lynch. We didn't have time to talk to her that time so this last week she was outside again while we were teaching him and I decided that we needed to talk to her. I'm so glad that we did! She hasn't become a new investigator yet but we hope she will soon. She said that she didn't go to any church and she didn't consider herself any particular religion. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it. So there's a good potential there. We are trying to find lots of more people to teach, especially in Booneville. There is hardly any members there so we're trying to build it up.

This week, sadly, the Statons told us that they didn't want to meet with us anymore. Sis. Staton broke her leg close to her ankle and so she needed to have surgery. Through Pres. Martin, we offered a priesthood blessing and they kindly declined it and said that they aren't planning on going to a different church at this time. It was really hard for me. It breaks my heart when you love someone so much and know that they need what you have but they won't take it. That's the bummer about being a missionary.

On a lighter side, we are working with the Hobbs. They are progressing very well!! They've always brought their boys to scouts and Bro. Hobbs' mother is a member. They've taken the lessons before and then Sis. Hobbs' mother stepped in and pretty much ended that. Now, about 7 years later, they are taking the lessons again and they've agreed to be baptized once they know that it is true. I think it will be very soon. :) Some of their children are also baptism age, so we're excited about that. Again, we are superbly blessed!

One last miracle that happened this week. After church on Sunday, we were waiting with Bro. Henry and his ride because the Bishop wanted to interview him. We were wondering what was taking so long for him to get to him. Turns out he was talking to this girl who just wandered into the church as the last meeting was about to end. She's having a hard time in her life right now so the Bishop came out and told us to talk to her. So we did. She's really sad and needs the gospel in her life. We are meeting with her again tomorrow so that should be grrrrrrrrrreat! :)

I love life and am so excited about the missionary work that is going on here. Transfer calls are this weekend and so we have no idea what's going to happen. Personally, I think Sis. Ficklin is leaving and I'll get a companion who I'll "train" to be a Sister Training Leader since it will be my last transfer. So sad!!! I've had a good mission though and I'll continue to work hard every single day until they make me leave.

Thanks for all the letters and support! I really appreciate it! :)

Love you all!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl :):)

Helaman 5:12

Dearest family and friends,

I've decided to start putting some of my favorite scriptures as the subject line of my emails. Helaman 5:12 is like the ultimate scripture! It's probably quoted every conference and it is just the best ever! I love it because from it we learn that if we have our testimony centered and founded on our Savior, Jesus Christ, then no matter what happens to us, we will be able to get through it. I use it a lot with the less active members that I come across. A lot of them have been offended or just stopped coming to church. With this scripture, if we apply it to our lives, even if somebody offends us at church, we should be able to look past that because we don't go to church to make people like us, we go so that we can come closer to our Savior. That's the whole point. To remember Him by partaking of the sacrament. It's the best thing in the world! :)

There was a comment made at MLC last week that I was going to put in my email but I forgot. It was in our Tuesday morning meeting and we were talking about how God makes things happen. Someone made the comment about how cool and crazy it is that God prepares His people to accept the Gospel. President Shumway continued to say that that is cool but what is even cooler is.....then he counted the people in the room. He said something like, "What's even cooler is that there are 30 of us in this room, all from different places of the country, with different family situations, different personalities, and somehow God managed to get us all on missions, be the type of missionary that becomes a leader, and get us in the same room at the same time." We all were amazed but then even more amazed at the comment made by Elder Bartschi, one of the Assistants. He said, "Even with us all having our agency." I don't know if what I just typed out made any sense to you but it was such a cool experience to realize how much God is truly in our lives. If I only learn one thing on my mission, it's the power that God truly has in this world. It's amazing.

Well, the Statons are....well...being the Statons. Sort of. They usually cancel on us or aren't home at the appointment time. This time, Sis. Staton broke her leg! Crazy! She was teaching her 4 year old to roller blade and in the process fell and broke her leg close to her ankle. I don't think her daughter will be roller blading any time soon...she's probably scarred for life. Just kidding. Anyway, so we werent' able to see them this week. We talked to President Martin on Saturday night at the adult session of stake conference and he said he had sent Bro. Staton the link to where her could view Stake Conference(they broadcast it on the internet because the stake is so spread out). So we will see if they got a chance to view it! Apparantly Bro. Staton has been sick too.

The Jacksons! We had a really good, spiritual lesson with them on Wednesday night. Bro. Jackson started crying as I recounted Joseph Smith's experience. I really think he just needed a testimony booster/reminder. He also said the closing prayer. It was very emotional. After it, he said, "I'm a cop! Cops don't cry!" It was kind of funny. :) We are going to see them tonight so we are pretty excited for today.

I met Keira's future husband. He's the cutest little guy ever. We had dinner with the Berry's on Wednesday night. They're in the process of coming back to church. Little Mr. Berry (he's only 4, but that's okay. Him and Keira will be on a mission at the same time and then they can come home and get married. :) ) is super friendly. Anyway, they're a great family! Sis. Berry is a year younger than me which is crazy because she has two kids and one of them is 4! But we are hoping that they'll start coming. It'll be hard because Bro. Berry works two weeks on, two weeks off, so he isn't home every weekend. But we'll work with Sis. Berry! :)

This week I've had a nasty cold. I think I got it from Sister Magness at MLC, but that's okay. I still love her. Actually, of any week to get sick, this was the one because we didn't have any exchanges so I was able to recoup and today I feel much better! Except for my nose is still runny and so my ears are driving me crazy because they're all clogged up. But, I'll be much better in the next few days. It's funny the things we take for granted until we don't have them - like breathing!!! It's all good though.

Bro. Lynch is doing fantastic! We met with him on Friday! Sis. Vendel took us to Booneville to meet with him. He just accepts everything we teach him. The Philpots picked him up on Sunday to come to Stake Conference (they also pick up Bro. Henry :)
). There just isn't a lot of members out where they live and so the ward is going to have to buy the Philpots a bigger car if this continues! Not really but we keep joking about it with our Bishop and the Ward Council. Anywho, Bro. Lynch really liked Stake Conference. There was one talk in particular that he liked. I'll talk about it later if I remember. :)

Yesterday we had a really good lesson with the Hobbs. They are really wanting to make a change in their lives and I think they really want to come to church. We did the first half of the Restoration. We got stuck on the subject Jesus Christ. Which is not a bad thing at all! It was so good that the Spirit directed us to talk about Jesus Christ some more. They really need to apply the Atonement into their lives. I love the way that the Gospel changes people! :)

Stake Conference was so good! The Oklahoma City Temple President and Matron were there and they spoke to us. It made me miss the temple! At home, we are so blessed to have several temples so close to us! The closest temple out here is about 4 hours away. A whole days trip! I've recommitted myself to going to the temple every week when I get home! I miss it so much!

A lady from Mena, Ar., also spoke to us. She is a convert. Her husband was a less active member when she met him and he still is. She just went through the temple a few months ago. She wanted to wait until her husband became active again but then she got the impression that she should just go to the temple. Because of it, she's seen so many blessings and her husband has started asking her questions about the church and even coming and attending church. This is the talk that Bro. Lynch liked the best. She really focused on the blessings of being a member of the church. I actually met her a couple weeks ago while on an exchange and she is just the nicest person ever!

Anyway, it wasn't too bad of a week! Our numbers were a little lower because of being gone for 2 days for MLC and because of me being sick, but it was a good week and God is blessing us for our efforts!!!

I love you all!! Have a good week!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl :):)

Miracles!!

Dearest family and friends!

 

This week has been so pack full of miracles that it's not even funny!

 

First off, I thought I'd give you an update on the chiggers!! The bite I got, still there, still itches. No fun! :) But it's getting smaller and I think it will probably get better this week. I'm tired of the itching on my back!!! It's in the worst place too - one that I can't reach it. Oh well.

 

So like I said, this week was SOOO great!!!

 

I'll start with the Jackson family. They are great! We went to see them last Monday and we were able to just share a little thought. Sister Ficklin bore a great testimony about how we are supposed to be there teaching them. We truly think we are here partly for their family. Sister Jackson really wants to know if the church is true for herself. It is so amazing! We are excited to teach them more. We were supposed to have a lesson with them Wednesday night but it didn't work out. We are going to see them tonight!

 

Tuesday was Mission Tour with Elder Stanley G. Ellis and his wife. I honestly think it was better than last year's Mission Tour. The most fun thing was that I got to see all the companions that I've had that are still in the mission field! It was pretty sweet. The way that it worked out is that we were all in the same area of the mission. There were three different meetings for the Mission Tour. Each meeting had three different zones in it. So it was good! My favorite thing that was said was, "The way we grow our faith is to do things that require faith." I loved it because that's always been my question on my mission, "How can I grow my faith?" There's my answer! I'll be able to remember it for the rest of my life! The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders got to have a special meeting with Elder Ellis. It was good. He talked about how we could double or even triple the number of baptisms we have a month. I'm excited to see how the mission grows from this meeting!

 

I went on an exchange after Mission Tour with Sister Stockhoff to Muskogee!!! I always love going back there. It was a good exchange. We had a dinner appointment with the Fergusons - we had dinner with them last time I was with Sister Stockhoff - and they also fed us like the Tuesday before I got transferred from Muskogee! So it's fun getting to see them a lot. We also met with a girl who got baptized later that week. She's really great! It is amazing how the Lord prepares people. When Sister Hatch and I were there, she obviously wasn't prepared because we didn't find her. Sisters Stockhoff and Wise were meant to teach her. It's amazing!!

 

On Wednesday night we dropped by the Statons. We hadn't been able to see them for a while and so it was good that we stopped by! We went in and just talked for a little while. Then we were able to talk with them about taking the lessons. We pretty much begged them to just listen to our message. We did "How to Begin Teaching" basically. Sister Ficklin and I have gained a strong testimony of How to Begin Teaching. It really opens us up to the investigator about what our purpose is. So, on Friday night, I was on and exchange with Sister Boll in Charleston. We went and had an AMAZING first lesson with the Statons! Sister Boll has only been out for 2 weeks but she did great! These younger missionaries are so prepared to teach the gospel!! I love working with them and learning from them. Anyway, the Statons really felt the Spirit! I'm not sure how serious they are, but they said that they would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We go see them again tonight so it should be good!

 

Like I said before, on Friday, Sister Boll came to Charleston for an exchange. We did a little bit of tracting and we came upon this guy that gave us a pretty hard time and was telling us all these things that he didn't believe in. I just stayed calm and tried to resolve his concerns but it just wasn't worth it because he had already made up his mind. Later Sister Boll and I were talking about it and she quoted President Shumway and I really liked what he said and I thought it was kind of funny. He said, "Remember, they're wrong and one day they'll be dead...." dramatic pause, "....and they'll know the truth!" So I liked that and found comfort that one day that these people that reject us will know the truth, whether they accept it or not.

 

One super miracle we had this week was with Bro. Lynch!!! Let's just say that he has a date for September 21st! We are so excited!!! He came to church last week and really liked it. We had an appointment with him on Thursday night but he texted us and told us that his brother was in a bad accident and that he had to go to Mississippi to be with him in the ICU. So on Saturday, it was the last day of the month so we were getting a little worried about miles. We had just got out of an appointment with a less active member and our next appointment was with Bro. Lynch. We didn't know if we were going to have enough miles to go to the appointment so we sat there doing some calculations and we decided that prayer was needed. We decided to pray because the calculations said we had enough but we just wanted to feel comfortable with going. After we prayed, the Spirit said, "Go!" So we did. We got there and we sat outside at a table outside of his apartment. We went over the Restoration with him  and then we challenged him to be baptized. He said, "Yes!" So we gave him the date of September 21st. He accepted it. In our planning, we decided that if he accepted the date that we would need to teach the Word of Wisdom so that he COULD be baptized on that date (they have to be living the Word of Wisdom for a certain amount of time before they're baptized). He drinks tea so we were worried about how he would take it. Side note: he had a cup of tea with him that he was drinking. Okay so, once we said that we don't drink tea, he took his cup of tea and hid it behind him. He said that he gets mad without his tea. After thinking about it for a little bit, he told us that he actually has been getting sick of tea. We told him it was a great time to stop drinking it! He could replace it with lemonade or Kool-Aid. He said that was a good idea. He committed to live the Word of Wisdom and at the end of the lesson, he let me dump out his cup of tea!!! It was so great!!! :) Such a great experience! We're excited!

 

At Mission Tour, there was a story told about a missionary who just had a baptism that included a whole family. He went up to his mission president and said, "President, it's amazing! We prayed for a family to baptize and the Lord provided one!" The Mission President said, "Great, Elder! Why didn't you ask for two?" After that story, I committed to praying for families to teach every day! Well, every day, I see a different family that we've been given to teach!!! On Sunday, we were in a town called Lavaca. The Hobbs are a nonmember family but are on our records because they had all their children blessed. They've been taught the lessons before so we decided to go over there. We asked them about their experience and Sis. Hobbs said that she'd prayed about it already and decided it's not for her. I asked how long ago that was. She said it had been about 7 years. A little later we were talking more about it and I told them that we felt that we had been sent to teach them. Sis. Hobbs agreed! She said that they aren't doing very good and that they need something more in her life. We asked them to take the lessons again and they said they would like that! I told her that she should pray again because sometimes we aren't prepared for the gospel but later we could be. She said that she would pray again! Such a miracle!!!

 

There were so many more miracles this week but I don't have enough time to talk about all of them! I wish I had more time! :)

 

Thank you so much for everything you all do!

 

Love you all!!

 

See you soon then!

 

Love, Sister Pahl :):)