Happy Conference!

Dear Family,

 

I loved conference! As always. I feel like I could sit there for 8 more hours and keep taking it all in! So this week our zone asked us to focus on inviting all contacts to listen to a prophets voice. Thanks to Becky and her package, I made cute little conference handouts for our investigators and then also put together a flier to have the information of what times and where to watch it for nonmembers we met on the streets.

One guy we talked to while walking to an appointment with an investigator, was very interested and ended up asking if our church does any service, because he would love to help! We have a return appointment with him this weekend. Then we also ran into him again yesterday and he cheerfully walked up to us and we chatted and he made sure that we were still coming by this week! We also hope to get him involved in the Mormon Helping Hands project coming up.

We also met another very prepared lady, she works as a stewardess and was coming home after a long flight. But she was very nice as we walked with her from the parking lot to her apartment. We stayed outside her apartment though, and had probably another 20 minute conversation. It turns out she lost a very close friend a few years ago, and has been struggling with how to deal with the grief. As I testified to her of the peace the gospel brings, she looked at me very intently and asked how becaue that is something she has been searching for. We talked a bit about the Atonement, but will go back to teach her lessons hopefully this week.

 

As for conference:

Elaine S. Dalton: I loved that she reminded us to be virtuous. Do not let the world's morals (or lack thereof) influence us so much we forget what the Lord has asked us, His children, to be like. We must remember who and whose we are, and stand as a witness. What would the world be like if virtue was of worth and highly prized? It would solve so many problems.

Elder Ballard: I loved the tomato plant story, and what stuck out to me was to be careful not to neglect what is needed to help up grow. Do not turn away from the divine light.

Elder Cook: World peace vs. personal peace. What gives us peace is the doctrine of Christ :faith, repentace, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We get a good conscience from repentance and living righteously, which gives us real peace.

Stanley G. Ellis: We are not spiritual orphans! Also, instead of asking what can the ward do for me/who has the best ward, we need to think about what ward needs us. What can we bring to the table? Remember that the Lord's ways are higher than our ways.

Elder Bednar: Law of Chastity impacts so many other things.Do not think of the temporary attitudes of the world- remember the Lord's law! Learning to control ourselves makes us more Christlike. Christ overcomes anything of the natural man.

Elder Nelson and Anderson: Missionary work! AKA Missionary FUN! More importantly, member missionary fun! Catch the wave! Please help fill the missionaries calendars! Just talk to friends, be a friend, and then invite them to learn more and add more truth to their life. Even if they reject you, you have the Lord's approval of trying, and you will get desire to try again and again. Also, use internet to share the gospel! Every member a media-nary!

Elder Perry: One of my favorite talks. Obedience to law is liberty. Society routinely dismisses 6 of the 10 commandments: other gods, idols, using His name in vain, Sabbath Day, sexual sins, and coveting. These are moral absolutes and we need to remember that wickedness never was happiness! Obedience brings blessings, disobedience brings sorrow. We need to acknowledge ALL the commandments trust in His promises.

President Monson: Reminded us that prophets have always said obedience is necessary for salvation. Obedience is our true test in this life.

Elder Holland: Of course, another great talk. I loved this one because I have always wanted someone to expound on the story of the man that says 'Lord, I believe!...Help thou my unbelief'. We need to have the integrity to stick to the faith we have, no matter the size of the faith. Don't pretend faith you don't have. Examine, understand, and resolve. Everyone is here to walk by faith, when doubt comes, do not be afraid to ask for help, He will strengthen us. Even if you can't say you 'know' something, believe/hope for/desire to!

Elder Oaks: 'As a disciple of Christ, I had no other choice'...speaking about forgiveness. the commitment we all made at baptism to follow Him, and when he says to forgive others, and we do, we are being his disciples and keeping that covenant.

Christoffel Golden Jr: The nature of the godhead. The heart of the gospel is the Father and the Son, which was confirmed in Joseph Smith's fist vision. It proved God exists, He knows us, we are made in His image, and He continues to show interest in us and reveal Himself. These things have happened before, and they are happening now.

 

Well, I must go, but know that I know we have living prophet and apostles today on the earth, and they speak the words of the Savior, and those words are for the whole world! I am excited to share that with those who don't know. LOVE YOU ALL!

 

Love,

Sister Martin

Training and Easter

Hi Family!

So this past Wednesday I went to pick up my new companion. It was there I had to talk up Walnut Creek and then president announced who I would be training. I am now companions with Sister Goff, a tall blonde 20 yr old from Oklahoma! She is very excited to be a missionary, ready to work, and we get along great! I was/am very blessed so far with companions.

I was extremely nervous to be senior companion and driver in my area, especially because our first night was foggy and I got a little lost. Then the next day every single thing I had planned for her first day fell through, so we just knocked on doors and did some street contacting downtown. I was very proud of her though, she kept a great attitude and said this is what happens! She had gone out a lot with sister missionaries before her mission, and experienced a lot of falling through and knocking doors. The first people who opened the door for us was a white Muslim couple who were very nice, then a crazy old man who had elders teach him once. Then the next day we had back to back teaching appointments, where I had Sister Goff invite Annette to be baptized with a date. It was successful, and we are helping her prepare for April 28! Pray that works out! It has been a long time coming, but Annette is ready now.

Easter was fantastic! Saturday we attended The Lamb of God oratorio/performance in Oakland with some members and recent converts. It was great, I really want to the soundtrack. Sister Goff and I were asked to speak on Sunday on the Resurrection.  It was pretty cool they announced us by saying they had two special witnesses of Jesus Christ speak to everyone today.I spoke about having Christ in our life so we can look forward with faith and not fear. We can do this by always having Him on our minds, or "always remember Him" like in sacrament (I got these thoughts from a talk by Elder Christofferson). I shared Alma 11: 40, 42-43, and of course bore testimony how this applied in my life with my family being forever. Then we had Easter lunch, Easter dinner, and Easter dessert at members homes. I was so full! One of the meals felt like Martha Stewart quality, so fancy with little bunny shaped rolls. I already miss Easter.

Well I must go, but know that I love you all, have a wonderful spring week, and the gospel is true! And we get to hear from a living prophet this next weekend!!! We will be inviting everyone we meet to watch this. Send me your thoughts about it for next week!

Love,

Sister Martin

pictures

1) at the trainer meeting with sister olsen and sister campbell. excited for 12 weeks program again!

2) sister goff and i with president and sister meredith

3)we are all related! grandmas, moms, daughters, aunts, etc.

 (more pictures)

making ho-shore mongolian night after lamb of god performance in oakland

fancy Easter dinner at the stewarts

Hermana Cash made it to the mission field!! yay EFY buddies!

Changes!

Ok Family,

 

Everyone in our ward, that we meet, and you have all noticed that Sister Hewett and I have been together for an unusually long time. Well this week, we got transfer calls. And not only transfer calls, but trainer calls!

 

Tuesday morning we got a call from President Meredith. He said I have been assigned to train a new missionary in Walnut Creek. Sister Hewett has been assigned to train a new missionary in San Francisco 6th ward, spanish speaking. She is replacing where elders used to be.

 

I will probably serve at least half my mission in Walnut Creek, but really its the best place to be. There really is no place like it in the mission (according to our AP's), so it will be a dream place to train! I think Heavenly Father knew that I needed something I was familiar with while I am doing something not familiar like training. Also, there is a lot of work I need to be a part of! Almost all the missionaries that came out with me are training this transfer, including Sister Olsen (MTC comp). So all the 6 monthers--it will be great because they are all so great! It will be fun to see them all again at the new missionary meetings we have to go to. It was fun seeing them at the trainer meeting. At the trainer meeting, we learned that in the next 3 transfers, 29 more sisters are coming in than are going out of the mission (but elders are decreasing by 3). And 1/3 of the mission will all be in their first 3 transfers at the same time. Many who we train will probably be asked to train quickly. We will be getting 13 new areas!

 

Sis Hewett has been saying her goodbyes this week, and everyone is sad the "dynamic duo" is getting split up, but they all said they were not surprised at our both being asked to train. Augie and Zaya were devasted! They told us we were their special missionaries and when they gave us hugs, said to me "thankyou, staying!"

 

I am excited, this will be a great opportunity to grow and learn. We have some great new potentials coming up that will be fun to meet together with my new companion, and she will get to meet those we already love! And she might be one of the 19 year olds coming in, I don't know yet, I won't meet her until I pick her up Wednesday night. But please pray for me, and if any of you who have served missions and served as a trainer, please send me advice or encouragement or stories!

 

In other news, Priyali fasted this week to have the courage to talk to her family about meeting with the missionaries, and she did! It went well, they are just hesitant about baptism, so keep praying they work things out. Granted, she is 39 and her parents live in India, so she doesn't need permission, but she is looking for their blessing because Hinduism is very important to them AND her. But I have seen a lot of prayers answered this week, mine as well as others, so prayer is sooo important and I know He is listening! This is His work!

 

I love you all, and I do pray for you. I know as we do what is right, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ allows us to be together forever because of Jesus Christ's Atonement of mercy. Ally as well as other beloved ones are waiting for us, may we be so grateful for Easter and that we have the promise of death being conquered!

 

LOVE YOU!

Sister Martin

 

P.S. Sister Hewett has really enjoyed my stories and thoughts I share about my family. You really are all great! I'm so blessed! She will have to meet you someday.

 

Mongolian Miracles

Hello Family,

 

This week was Augie's baptism! She was so excited. She is one of the purest, most prepared souls I have ever met. Bishop said he saw when she got into the font that she took a moment to look up first. I thought that was touching, I couldnt see perfectly due to my seat being behind the witnesses. But she loved it and came out smiling and waved to everyone as she stepped out of the water. She has said she feels this is right in her heart and is always asking us how to fast, to get a Gospel Principles book in Mongolian for her, etc. She loves the gospel and sees it for its pure form and light. Even though she understands even less English than Zaya did, she believes, she prays, she marks her scriptures,etc. What a wonderful example. She always kept telling us she wanted to be a new woman, new "clean mind and body".

 

Zaya and Augie fed us Mongolian food, and it was sooo good. I will send pictures. Also,  I cut my hair!

 

We are holding a Mongolian Cultural Night on Tuesday! My comapnion and I made it up and invited the whole ward, plus the sister missionaries before us were from Mongolia and have left a ton of Mongolian stuff in our apartment, like slippers, flags, books, and a list of people in Zaya's complex that speak Mongolian! We went and visited these names, and found and invited THREE Mongolian families to our cultural night! Zaya is giving a cooking lesson, we will learn facts about Mongolia, and watch a short church video in Mongolian. We are trying to get creative with our finding ideas.

 

I love our investigators. All three of our progressing investogators came to the baptism. Priyali, one Indian investigator, even helps us fellowship the other investigators! They sit together and talk together in class, like a little club sometimes haha. She is so nice and always sits by someone new in Relief Society, even if its one of the 70  year old ladies.

 

We have a Mormon Helping Hands project coming up soon. Up by the temple, they are building a place to house 1000 children who need homes. I am excited to help with this!

 

Well family, how are you all doing? How are your jobs? Your kids? The weather? Your wards? What have you done lately?

We have a new email policy, we are allowed to email friends, church leaders, and recent converts now! So if any friends want to email me, its laurel.martin@myldsmail.net

 

Lots of love,

Sister Martin

Trolley Rides

Hello Family!

What a crazy week!

 

 Trolley Rides and Delicious Popcorn= best random Thursday ever!

Walnut Creek has a trolley/bus thing that is known as the 'Free Ride'. I have always wanted to ride a trolley in San Francisco, because I saw them there when I visited with friends two Christmases ago. Riding the trolley has also been a silly dream since Mom and I used to always watch "Meet Me in St. Louis". So this was the closest thing to riding a trolley right now. I really wanted to ride it, so I thought about using it to find new people to talk to. Sister Hewett and I loaded up on pass along cards and got on a free ride. I ended up talking to people from Russia, England, and all over the area here. (the free ride is meant to get people to go shopping downtown). I gave out different invitations, like visitors center, mormon.org, and ordering a Book of Mormon. It was also good practice of just talking to people, I would be sitting by someone and I would just start a conversation. I started one by telling the English guy he spilled coffee foam on his pant leg (I have just learned to embrace the awkwardness of always talking to people no matter what). Then I heard he had an English accent and asked him about England. We talked about family and how he finds the ability to balance and find peace in his life with so much travel. It was so natural to testify of families and how the restored gospel blesses them. Sis H and I had so much fun! We got off after riding an hour, and were walking through downtown to get back to our car, when we passed a popcorn shop. We remembered a member telling us it was good, and I was really hungry, so Sis H asked if I wanted to go in. I said yes, and soon the cashier came around and started giving us samples. Then as she was looking down at the popcorn she asked "are you...." and I said "missionaries? YES!" Then she launched into a conversation with us about how she remembers her and her grandma learning from the missionaries at age 10 on their front lawn. Then she said life happened, parents got divorced, etc. and she never got baptized. Then she said her boss has been telling her she needs to go to church. I couldn't believe how awesome she was, we asked if she would like missionaries to come teach her again and she readily said yes! She gave us all her information, sadly she does not live in Walnut Creek so we won't teach her, but some other missionaries will!

 

Turnarounds from the Book of Mormon

This week we have really slowed down on plowing through lessons and thinking what our investigators really need to progress and build their faith. Then, so many miracles poured out! First, Madhukar had not come to church in weeks, and could only meet with us once a week instead of twice, and he stopped reading,etc. It was terrible, he had been so fired up and now was backing off. But we KNEW he was not done yet! Finally this last lesson he told us he started reading the BOM again, but this time with more meaning, he says he feels like he can get something out of almost every verse, and he wants to not just read it for general learning anymore, he recognizes there is meaning in it!!! Then he came to church again!

 

Then Priyali, our other Indian investigator, said that she tried the deeper prayers we talked about with her. We had talked about how important it was to pray for others not just ourself. We had also asked our ward missionaries to help with daily contact with our investigators. One of them had texted Priyali all week and through their conversation our ward missionary asked Priyali to pray for her and her husband because he really needs a better job. Priyali said she was touched, and this was when she started to really recognize others needed her to pray for them. She said her prayers were so much better, and THEN she said how it all really connected with what she had been reading in the BOM!! She said all the lessons about charity, etc had more meaning. Tears were streaming down her face at this point, and said she the BOM was so simple yet profound, it could not possibly have been written by man, and that her reading and praying have more meaning now!!! Sis H and I had also taken Norman ( our last baptism) and his wife Mandy to this lesson; we all walked out of there blown away and felt like we were the ones being taught. Norman joked that Priyali put him to shame (he was a lot more quiet in his lessons). I have been so impressed with our dear Indian friends, they are so smart and so humble, and they understand the scriptures so well. She is not ready for baptism yet, but it was such a turning point!! she said she recognized how we weren't just trying to get numbers for our ward, but to help "conversion from within" and she related it to Lehi's dream, how we are here to help her stay on the path! The great part is, is that she had read the dream in chapter 8, but had not read the interpretation in ch 11 yet! WOW!! Definitely a highlight of my mission.

 

Another investigator (and has been for a year now) had a turnaround this week too, because of the right member. I can not testify to you how much member missionary work matters. It makes absolutely the biggest difference.

 

Sacrament

Norman and Mandy have been called as ward missionaries!! WOOOOO!! Them, Ross (Lacie's husband), Bishop, our WML, and even Zaya spoke on Sunday! The Spirit was sooo strong and everyone came out of the sacrament saying it was the best one ever. Norman told his conversion story, and Mandy and Ross testified of the joy of having their spouses get baptized. Then we had helped Zaya write a simple testimony of how happy she was, and she did a great job with her English! Then to top it all off Bishop shared his experience of sharing the gospel that I really wanted to share with all of you.

 

He went to visit a recent convert who had recently been put in jail in San Francisco. He brought a BOM with him to give him something to read, and as he went to the visiting area, he passed a bail bondsmens' office. Bishop said he didn't know really what a bail bondsmen did, so he stopped and chatted with him for a bit. He had a strong impression to give the BOM to this man. He felt it twice, and said he walked out anyways. He felt terrible, and so he prayed to Heavnely Father that if that man was still there after his visit, he would give him the BOM. Turns out he couldn't bring a gift to a man jail, so he had to keep the BOM, so he went down to the bail bondsmen's office. He asked if he (his name was Tony) had ever read this book. Tony said yes actually, so Bishop asked if he had ever been to the Oakland temple/visitors center. He said no. Bishop said he and his family were going tomorrow night, and if he and his wife would like to join them. He said yes! After the temple visit, they met with missionaries. Bishop and his wife sat in on a lesson with Tony and his wife about eternal marriage. During the lesson Tony turned to his wife and said "Of course! Of course this is how it's supposed to be!" Bishop said he and his wife were sooo happy after that lesson they were practically skipping and said if every member felt the joy they did at that moment, we would have to split the ward there would be so many converts. Tony and his wife are now actice members in another ward, and have been sealed in the temple.

 

The gospel is real. It makes people happy, and everyone wants to be happy. The gospel blesses families, and sharing the gospel blesses families.

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Martin

March Missionary Madness

Hello Family,

This week was awesome. First, Sister Hewett and I were specially invited to Zone Council on Wednesday. Normally only zone leaders and sister trainers get to go, but two brothers from Salt Lake City Missionary Department were coming, and all the district leaders and a few select sisters got to go. Some sister comapnionships were even split up, only one go to come. Sister Hewett and I were lucky we both got invited. We asked out zone leaders why we were there, and they just shrugged and said President Meredith specially invited us. But for whatever the reason, we really appreciated it as we got some great training!

The two brethren discussed how we were a healthy mission, leading the area in member present lessons! They said that is a strength of ours, working with members. Our mission lately has had training stressed on finding, so that's what we expected to hear. But no, they took us back to the importance of planning and studying. They helped us see planning involves so much and that studying helps us get the revelation we need to be more powerful teachers to retain those that we are already teaching. As we focus on studying for our investigators and their needs, then the Spirit will give us what we need to know "and it shall be given you in the very hour"(D&C 84:85), and they related the scripture to not necessarily meaning the hour we are teaching the lesson, but the hour we are preparing for it.

Then we had a special ward fast this Sunday for our ward to grow through missionary work. The third hour was dedicated to us sisters missionaries (Sis Hewett and I, and the two sisters in Lafayette ward helped out to) giving training about Preach My Gospel and how the sisters in Relief Society can help us out better when they come out with us to lessons. The Lafayette Ward heard now asked us to come help out their RS/priesthood one week, and the YM/YW the next! Sister Hewett and I are telling our ward to call March, March Missionary Madness. The sisters in Lafayette are saying March is M&M's month, or Missionaries&Members, and they are supposed to wear green on Sundays to show they support the sisters. Then next Sunday we are having a special Sacrament meeting dedicated to missionary work and all our recent converts (and the spouses for the part member families) are going to speak, as well as Bishop and our Ward Mission Leader. Then the next week is Augie's baptism!!!  Meanwhile, us and all our ward missionaries are working hard this month to visit families in the ward, and not really do a "family mission plan" but a "family mission commitment" and the commitment is the same for everyone. They invite a friend or neighbor (preferably a family) over for dinner and a principle. It's simple, not a huge elaborate FHE, but something you tell your friend you just like to teach your kids good values once a week, would they like to come for that and dinner. Then when they come they feel the Spirit. Worse case scenario is you are a better friend, best case scenario is they are interested in the gospel.What a crazy month full of awesomeness!

Last night Sis Hewett, a member, and I visited a less active man. He is a cowboy in his 70's! He was awesome, and he told us a story of him running his horse as fast as he could at a coyote who was dragging away a house cat, with his leg in his mouth( I almost cried or threw up at this part of the story...) and he scared the coyote away and saved the cat! He wrapped him up in a blanket and rode with him away and eventually to the emergency vet. He now owns a three legged cat named Mama Kitty. I said I had to see this. So he showed me the cat in his garage, and it was curled up so I couldn't see the leg (he said he has a fake one now) and it hissed at me so I couldn't pet it. What a crazy story! Poor traumatized kitty! And cowboys exist in this kind of place! He said the more he talked to me, the more Texan he could see in me :).

I also had exchanges again this week, with the new sister trainer, Hermana Camarillo, who I made good friends with during our time at Christmas in the Visitor's Center! It was a really fun exchange, we got to do a lot of service, attend a baptism with Augie where we also helped with a special musical number, and we saw some amazing investigators. Things are looking great for this transfer so far, and its a short transfer (only 5 weeks). And did I mention, we are getting 19 new missionaries in the next transfer, and 11 are sisters?!  5 of which are full proslyting English, and 1 of which is my good friend Hermana Cash from EFY! She will be Spanish speaking and in the Visitor's Center.

pictures:

1)a sign outside someone's door....seriously

2)what happens during lessons when someone has a cat

3)raining during transfers, most of us sisters in our rain gear

4)my other companion for a week, sister erdenebaatar, with our mongolian food, "ho-shore"

I will send more pictures, LOVE YOU ALL!!

Love,

Sister Martin

Pictures:

1)exchanges with Hermana Camarillo

2) Sis Hewett and I with our miracle story less active-now-going-active-and-on-fire sister. I will write about her in another email.

3)Zone Council with some other specially selected sisters, Sister Chan, and Hermana McLaws

4)more Zone Council and other sisters there (Hermana Garcia and Sister Taggart are the VC sister trainers)

Fourth Book of Walnut Creek

Hello Family!

 

Crazy Transfers

This week we said good-bye to Sister Erdenebaatar and dropped her off at the mission home on Tuesday to get her new companion. Of course, it was pouring rain in Oakland, so all the craziness of transfers and all the missionaries there and their luggage was soaking wet! Sister Hewett and I didn't need to be there except to drop off Sis E and pick up a few things, including our car. Well after a mix up of cars and a long story, our car had been lent to some Elders who weren't there even there! We didn't have a car so we couldn't leave. After waiting forever, when they got there it turns out one of them was transferring so our car was packed with their stuff, including bags of snacks and smelly cologne! Our car still lingers of those smells. But we had to help unload and load their stuff, plus some other missionaries, all in one parking lot, all in the pouring rain. It was quite the adventure, maybe I will attach a picture. It turns out that Sister Hewett and I were a rarity in staying together, almost all the sisters were transferred around this time! We are excited though, we have really loved our ward and the people here. Also, Mom and Dad might appreciate that Elder Flemming was transferred into my district.

 

More Mongolian Miracles

After a rough week of some tracting, we were sad because the few return appointments we had were flaky, including a wrong number given to us. We looked up some old potentials and former investigators and that wasn't very successful either. Walnut Creek is a very transient place, so everyone moves in and out soooo much. Finally it was a glorious weekend, filled with a women's temple conference, someone paying for our dinner annonymously (we found out later it was a member), a great trip to the visitor's center with an investigator, and a great sunday at church. However, most of our goals had fallen short for the week. We decided to work on seeing Zaya Sunday night. Zaya had a friend from Mongolia in town and she brought her to church! Her name is Augie. She sat in on the great lesson our ward missionary did for Zaya and then we were all just talking, and Zaya said she told Augie about her baptism and the temple and Augie wants to be baptized!!! Woah! She didn't speak much English (Sis Hewett and I think the Lord is telling us to learn Mongolian) but she said she wanted to be clean and be a new woman, have a new mind, etc. It was amazing, and I felt the Spirit so strong as she tried to express this desire to us. She will be in town for a few months so we can help out with that! Zaya already told her she needs to go to church 3 times (we didn't know Zaya remembered that) so she took her already once, so as long as she keeps a few other commitments that long we will probably see a baptism possibly as early March 10. That night that meeting with her helped us out with 3 different goals, not just the one we had planned on. Blessings!!! Sister Hewett and I have a dream of starting a Mongolian branch here!

Earlier that day we ate lunch with another one of our ward missionaries and her nonmember friend and after long conversation of seeing how she has been searching, I invited her to learn more from the missionaries and she agreed! Sadly she is not in our area so we won't be teaching her but we went home and immediately sent in her information for the missionaries in her area.

The work truly moves forth better through the members!

 

That is amazing I heard 58 new missions were opened! Let's hope members are ready to give all these missionaries work to do! Things are changing for missionaries (we are getting some missionary department training this week) so members need to be ready for it, its happening, and its happening now. What a great time to be on the earth to witness all of this! 3 Nephi 12:14,16 "...I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid...Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Light is so much better than darkness, it was the first thing God created/separated in the creation, and we need to help others recognize the difference as we are examples of light, joy, and goodness.

I REALLY LOVE YOU ALL!

 

Sister Martin