"Called to Serve Him Heavenly King of Glory

I just LOVE being a missionary! There hasn't been a time in my life that I have been happier than I am right now. I wish everyone had this opportunity to serve the Lord and see what it's like to be a part of saving souls. :) I'm not going to talk about it much, but I don't want to come home and leave this. It's been pretty hard, but luckily I've been pretty busy so I haven't had too much time to think about it. I just got out of an interview with President after our study and I broke down and told him I don't want to go home if my whole heart wasn't in the work. If I haven't given my all I don't want to leave yet. I was listening to a talk last week where a lady (convert) got her Patriarchal blessing and in it it said If a missionary would have chosen to serve a mission 20 years earlier she would have been baptized then. When I listened to that I realized how important these decisions are. He promised me that every person I promised in the Pre-existence that I'd find and teach the gospel so they could be baptized have been found and baptized. (Excluding this coming week). I hope that I've given my all for Heavenly Father.

This past week was CRAZY! I don't think i've had a crazier week in the mission, but I think this coming week may beat it out. So... Monday after our p-day ended we taught one lesson with Cindy our investigator and then my companions dropped me off in Clear Lake (down by south shore) for exchanges.(Side note) While we were driving down there we were listening to a talk called "Conversion of a Catholic" and in one of the best parts of the talk where the guy is talking about his mission and the joy of his converts receiving the gospel Jessica Velazquez texts me," I just gave a Book of Mormon out to an investigator, it feels good!" That made my whole mission!

Anyways, I went down to serve with another sister trainer leader, Sister Haertel and her companions. The bishop down in that ward is set on baptizing 55 people by August 10 and they are a little overwhelmed with only having 3 right now. They can totally do it, they just need to exercise their faith. It was cool to see how dedicated they are! Tuesday night their bishop gave us tickets to go with the youth and their non-member friends to a Houston Astros baseball game in Downtown. That was so much fun! It feels so strange being in the world though haha... sounds weird, but I get anxious now when I sit around for so long without having a purpose or doing something important.

Tuesday night after the game all 8 of the sisters that were from clear lake came and stayed at our apartment because we had sister conferences the next morning and our apartment is right by the church. That was fun having so many sisters over! 

Wednesday and Thursday was the sisters conferences. It was sooo good! I wish it lasted all week, but then again it was good to have it over cause it's a lot more stressful planning a conference than I thought. Sister Ker and I were up really late planning the conferences and then up really early to go set up. We didn't get much sleep and then we got to be at the church for 13 hours of Wednesday! But it was worth every minute. This was the run-down of the conference...

President Ashton did a talk on the Restoration

Sister Ker and I did a talk on being purpose driven

Sister Ashton talked about dress and grooming and then also about recognizing the spirit

2 other sister training leaders did a training on How to Begin teaching

President Ashton did a Q & A for an hour

then we ended with a talk on Repentance by President Ashton. 

It went from 8-4 and I learned so much each day! I'll share my notes with y'all later. I think the biggest thing I learned though it how important it is to always be worthy to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. We have to constantly repent so we can receive those blessings. Just over these past few weeks I've noticed how grateful I am for the Spirit and how it speaks to each of us differently so we can touch the hearts of those we teach. 

I was grateful also for the chance that Sister Ker and I had to talk on being purpose driven. I didn't realize how much I've changed throughout my mission, but several experiences that have happened to me during my mission came to my mind to share (that I wasn't planning on sharing) I told of an experience my very first zone conference of my mission where we were talking about being purpose driven and putting our desires and wills on the alter of Sacrifice. I literally remember thinking to myself...."Ok... I can put everything on the alter.... except for 2 things. One being my body because I didn't want to gain weight, and the second Griffin." Both of those don't matter! But they meant everything to me at that time. The Lord knew better and knew well enough that I wasn't about to give those up... so He helped me to get rid of them so I could focus on things that matter more. Good better and best talk. The ripping away hurt quite a bit, and I told the sisters that, but without getting rid of those things I couldn't have put my whole heart into the work. And yes, there are still times where my whole heart may not be on the work because I am far from perfect, but at least it's more inline then it was at the start of my mission. I want so bad for the sisters in this mission (all 91 of them) to have their hearts on the work so the Lord can work miracles in their lives. Like in Jeremiah where the Lord is referred to the Potter with the clay. He only can fully shape us if we give Him ALL of us. 

On Thursday night after the 2nd Sister Conference I had Sister Ker and her companions take me to Sister Moreno in Pearland because I was going to be staying the night with her so we could go to the temple the next morning with Cristina Reyes! She was getting her endowments out and she really wanted us to come. It was such a great experience to be there with someone you've seen come such a long ways in a year. She struggled through so much since her baptism last year, but she was just glowing that day. As we sat in the Celestial Room talking she broke down into tears as I told her how much I could see the change in her life just by the way she looked. She had the light of Christ beaming in her eyes. I love the temple! 

That night when I got home I got a call from another recent convert, Robin, from Maplewood, and she said she talked with President Ashton and had permission to call me and invite me to her endowment on Wednesday! I am so excited for all of these people going through the temple and getting to receive the blessings the Lord has in store for them. I can't wait for Wednesday!!! 

Saturday Bishop had a meeting with us missionaries at his house... haha I'm not going to go into much detail, but pretty much they sat us down and said we can't be doing this...Meaning baptizing weekly... unless there is more preparation put in place. We were preparing Cindy for the following day, but after that 2 hour talk we knew we had to respect our ward council. It's been a bit of a struggle for me cause I know it's the Lords will, but I don't want to be a burden to the ward where I'm serving. Between us and the Elders in our ward we've had 9 baptism this month alone. They are grateful for our work, but frustrated at the same time cause there isn't enough people to help hang onto the converts. We only have 3 ward missionaries and 1 ward mission leader who has 12 kids. So we counciled about how we can get more ward missionaries to help us retain all these people.

Anyways, So... after the meeting on Sunday night with the general authorities and the quorum of the 12 we called our ward mission leader and told him... "Hey we have 3 possible baptisms this coming saturday what do we need to do so everyone is on board." haha It was an answer to our prayers that they had that meeting that was so powerful to get everyone excited and involved in this work, not just the missionaries. I loved the meeting!!! I love getting to be a missionary during this time while everything is changing and hastening. :) 

Cindy and Samuel are planning on their baptisms this coming Saturday and we had a miracle happen at church on Sunday... this guy named Rody came up to us with his Member Girlfriend and said, "what do I need to do to be baptized this weekend?" I guess he has been going to church for the past year, kinda like Andys story, but in a different ward and he wants to be baptized!!! We are going over there tonight to teach him. 

So many miracles are happening right now. I love getting to see them! This is going to be a great week I can't wait. 

I love y'all!!!

Sister Avery

Miracles Happen!!

June 17, 2013     Miracles Happen!!!!!

It sounds like everyone is doing well at home, except for the colds going around! I will pray for yall that you can get better quickly! I had a pretty bad cold a few weeks ago around memorial day, and it was physically draining! But it left after a week. Several other missionaries had it as well. Anyways, I hope you get better quickly!

 This week was another test of my faith and diligence in what the Lord has asked us to do. I have SOOO many stories I want to share in this email I hope I can share all of them. First I'll start with Andy!

So we met Andy about 1 1/2 months ago... He was dating a member (but they broke up a week ago). He has a Buddhist background and he is 24. He is in the Army and that is where he began to learn about Christianity. He has actually been going to our church for the last year, just not our ward until 2 Sundays ago. Well last week when I was on exchanges the sisters talked with him and he said he would feel ready for baptism in 9-10 months... they told him that he could be ready much sooner than that so they set a date for July 6th. We prayed last Sunday after Shannys baptism to know who could be baptized the next week and we felt really strong about Andy. The next day we took a member who is his age that was baptized 2 years ago with us (they've become good friends since he has been learning with us) and we had a powerful lesson about Baptism and trusting in the Lord. We told him we've been praying about it and we felt he was ready for this weekend. Anthony (the member) said he had fasted for him, and Andy was in shock that we would bring it up that soon. But after bearing testimony and him feeling the Spirit he told us he was ready! So we set the date for Saturday. Well.... on Friday we get a text from him saying, "Sisters I'm so sorry but my grandpa is in the hospital and he is really sick. They think he may pass this weekend. I think we will have to reschedule the baptism." So we prayed and prayed and prayed that everything would work out. Saturday morning we get a text from him that says,"My grandpa passed this morning." 2 minutes later we get another text saying, "my mom wants me to wait to be baptized untill everything is over with the funeral and everything." My heart dropped. I knew he was ready and I knew that God knew it too. We prayed as a companionship, and a few minutes later he said, "But I want to do it sooner, like tomorrow on Fathers day." I can't tell you how happy I was. The Lord had truly prepared him! 

So we call our ward mission leader and bishop and neither answer.... when they finally get back to us the Bishop said he doesn't want to do a baptism on Fathers day. I was like you've got to be kidding me! It's the perfect day for him to be baptized especially since his grandpa just passed. Anyways, so we told Bishop we would do what he wanted, but Anthony (the member that was going to baptize him) was going out of town on Tuesday so we wouldn't be able to do his baptism for 2-3 weeks. The assistants called bishop and he wouldn't answer, so they called President and he sent an email to our bishop (which President read to me this morning haha and It was perfect!) But basically saying that the Lord has asked us to help bring souls to Him weekly and that He knew we could. So he suggested that we do the baptism during the 3rd hour. On Saturday night after feeling very discouraged and disappointed we get a text from President saying, "Plan on a baptism tomorrow." Sunday morning we get a call from the Assistants saying that Bishop approved it! 

ANDY GOT BAPTIZED!!!! He is awesome! I hope that he serves a mission one day. :) The cool thing too about his baptism was that 1. we had another investigator Samuel at church with us and he was able to see the baptism and 2. Andy's family (extended family) came for the baptism!! There were like 10-15 of them there and it was so good for them to feel the spirit after them losing their grandpa and dad. 

Miracles happen according to our Faith. I told President this morning that I feel like each week it's gotten harder and harder, but it's because He is stretching our Faith even more each week.

Shanny left for her Grandmas this past weekend in Washington and we are praying that she has a great time there because it will be a much better circumstance for her to strengthen her testimony! Shanny is great, I just wish she had support from home. Her dad is not a good example to her of what a priesthood holder, or a father should be. :( It's sad. But all the young women LOVE her and they are excited to have her be a part of their group. So at least she'll have a good ward family when she comes back.

We are really trying to focus on retaining all the people that have been baptized! It's been a challenge with trying to get the ward on board with helping do the new member lessons, but we talked with bishop about that and we're hoping to get going with that. It's always hard and frustrating when not much effort is being put forth to people you've worked so hard with. 

Anyways, there are ups and downs wherever you go! 

Another highlight from the week.... The Velazquez! I seriously love this family! On Monday night we decided to go over for a bit to teach them about Family Home evening. Well we got there around 8 and guess what? They had already done it! haha We had never taught them about it. But I guess they read it somewhere online or in an ensign. They are just so excited about the gospel and about learning. Jessica and Anthony shared with us some dreams they had over the last few weeks and I know they are revelation from Heavenly Father, they were very specific and I couldn't help but cry because I know now how much the Lord is planning on having this family build up his church on earth. They have big responsibilities coming their way and I'm so excited for them. They were asked to speak last night at the investigator devotional and Anthony shared some things they had never told us. The day before we met their family (like 12 hours he said before we knocked on their door) he prayed to have the complete truth given to him. I guess he had been studying that night with all these religious books out everywhere and he wanted it all. And the next day we showed up with the Captain twins (the 10 year olds that referred us to them the night we opened this area). I am so grateful to see the Lords hand in each step of my opportunity to serve a mission. Seeing some of the recent converts I taught a year ago last night just brought up all the gratitude I've felt being a part of this great work I love it and I wouldn't give up this experience for anything else in the world. I know that God lives and loves each one of us, he is aware of our needs and he answers prayers in ways we sometimes would never think they'd be answered. WOW! It's cool huh? 

I still can't wrap my head around everything He can do, but I'm grateful for it! 

This morning the Velazquez (Jessica and the girls) left to Florida... :( It was a hard goodbye, but we went over to say goodbye before studies and after our Hurricane drill. Emma the 18 month old wouldn't let go of me. She always tries to get me to hold her (which we can't as missionaries) but I just got down and hugged her and she clung to me. I can't wait to come visit them soon.

Funny story for the week... haha so we go to Andys house for his baptismal interview and I park by a drain ditch on the side of the road... well Sister Hiatt opens her door and I hear something drop and she goes... "No way!" I thought it was the phone but she lost her water bottle in the 6 foot drain. After the interview we come out and Sister Owens goes to get in the car and I hear, "Oh no!" She dropped her shoe in the drain! haha I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop for like 10 minutes. We never drop anything out of our car, but the one time we do it falls into the sewer drain. haha Gotta love it. So Sister Owens walked around without a shoe as we walked into our lesson..... haha people probably think Mormons are so weird. Oh well!

Oh! I forgot to tell yall about Cindy! She is one of our progressing investigators. She loves it when we come over, well last week we had a lesson on forgiveness because she was having a hard time forgiving her aunt her really hurt her. As we were talking about that she brought up some deeper stuff she has been holding in, and it turned into something much deeper. We tried sharing about the Atonement and the Master Healer, but we had to leave before curfew and it was pretty somber as we left. She showed up to church on Sunday but as we went up to greet her she started crying and left before church even started.... We tried calling her and everything but got no answer. I was sitting there during Sacrament and couldn't concentrate. I keep having the example of Christ leaving the 99 and going for the 1 coming to my head. So after the sacrament Sister Hiatt and Owens stayed in sacrament meeting with our 2 other investigators that were there, and I took a young women and we went over the Cindy's. She explained that she felt like a hypocrite being there at church after what stuff she brought up and she told us she didn't know if she could do this anymore. We told her that church is not a place for perfect people, it's a hospital for sinners and every single person in that building has made big mistakes throughout their life... even the people on the stand. She texted us last night and said how grateful she was for us and all that we do and she said she had an experience that happened that she wants to share with us tonight when we got over. I can't wait! I'm kinda nervous, but I'm praying her heart was softened. The Lord has proved to me the past month how good He is at softening hearts and answering prayers I'm sure he helped her. :) We don't really do much as missionaries, the Lord does it all! But He just lets us experience the joys that He feels when we come to Him. And sometimes the disappointments that we feel too, but I learned why God is never discouraged... It's because He has perfect Faith. He knows everything will work out. I need to learn that so I don't stress as much. 

This next week is going to be crazy! I am going to be gone every single day... Tonight I go back down to clear lake on exchanges, Wednesday and Thursday is the sisters conferences we've been organizing the past month, and Friday I'm going to the temple with a recent convert from Maplewood who is getting her endowments :) Then that night I have exchanges with Alief. It's going to be fun haha 

Well, I'm sure I missed something, but that's all I can write for now! I hope yall are doing great! I love you and will talk with you next week!

I love you!!!     Sister Avery

F-A-I-T-H

June 10, 2013

Sounds like everyone is doing great! Sorry about your wisdom teeth Kailey. :) Hopefully they got some funny videos of you while you were out. haha

Allison have fun at camp this week!!! Be safe. :)

Dad, I'm so excited for your new calling! You will be so good. :) The Lord is stretching your faith cause he knows you can accomplish this AND you are going to be so good for the Priests to help them prepare for their missions.

It's all about Faith in Jesus Christ, if you don't already know. :) Seriously. My Faith in my Savior has been pulled, stretched, and strengthened this past week. I'm grateful for it even after all the efforts we put into it. I'll explain....

So President Ashton received Revelation from Heavenly Father that we need to be focusing on baptizing weekly. So we have been working really hard! We had Andy's baptism set up for this past weekend, but after visiting with him on Wednesday he told us he isn't quite ready yet.... So I go home that night and tell Heavenly Father that I KNOW that whenever He gives a commandment (or even a suggestion to be better) it can happen. So I told him that Andy cancelled on us for this weekend and I asked who He knew of that could be baptized. A girl from a part member family that we had been working with since we got into this area popped into my head... I questioned for a second because she had been really flaky and her dad is completely inactive AND we hadn't seen her in 4 weeks about. But I told Heavenly Father that if that is what he needed that we would do it I just needed a sure knowledge that it was His will and not just something that I wanted. So the that night I had a very specific dream about her and about what we needed to do, and I knew when I woke up that was our answer. I was really hesitant bringing it up to my companions because I thought they would think I was crazy (It was Thursday at this point). But I brought it up to them and we all prayed about it. We went to visit her and asked her if this was a desire that she had to be baptized, she got very excited and said yes. The only problem was her dad..... he doesn't like the church much anymore... or us missionaries. So we prayed and fasted and prayed and fasted to soften his heart. We texted him (cause he wont answer our calls) and he gave us permission! :) It was a complete miracle. BUT it didn't end there. So we did her per-baptismal interview and one of the questions we asked she had just gotten off probation on Wednesday! The Lord was setting this up perfectly, but she still needed to be interviewed by a member of the mission presidency. So we set that all up for Sunday at 12 right before church (the baptism is set for 4).... he didn't show.... there was a REALLY bad storm and we couldn't get a hold of him. We made several calls, and President was going to end up coming over to do it, but after sacrament meeting President Centeno showed up. She passed her interview and at 4:00 she was baptized! WOW! The Lord works miracles, but he does it according to our faith and our works. My faith and the faith of my companions grew so much this past week. I am grateful for that experience to know that when the Lord commands there is always a way. He answers prayers!

Last week I was also able to go on exchanges in Richmond with Sister Hinton and Sister Ritter, they are just opening that area and it is very nice! There are no apartment complexes and all of the houses are huge. It's a hard area to work in because no one is ever home during the day time because they work. I really look up to those sisters for their hard work.

I was also able to go with Sister Mekini and Sister Jackson down in South Shore for a few days! That was so fun to be back with Sister Mekini and also serving in my first area. I love getting to see how much my companions have grown in the gospel since we were last serving together. This missions faith is growing so much. :)

We had a study with President last week as a zone and it was focused on Alma 34 and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He had us focus on how we can teach this to our investigators because each of them need to realize that without the mercy of our Savior, which comes from accepting His gospel, we cannot be saved from the demands of Justice.

1. God is our loving Heavenly Father

2. He wants us to be happy

3. He give us commandments. There are good or bad consequences for our actions. Mosiah 2:41 Commandments aren't to restrict us, but rather to free us and keep us safe.

4. God lets us make choices.

5. We sometimes make mistakes. It's the only way to learn

-2 Nephi 2:5-8

-Justice requires that we suffer requirements... being miserable.

-2 Nephi 2:13 D&C 130:20-21

WE NEED MERCY!!!

6. God sent us a Savior.

-John 3:16 Jesus lived a perfect life 2 Nephi 31:7, 3 Nephi 12:48

-He met all the demands of justice.

-The way we can become righteous forever is by making covenants with the help of the Atonement.

7. Because of the Atonement we can have mercy on conditions of repentance. Justice owns us until we repent and obtain the Saviors mercy. Alma 42:13, 23.

What are you willing to give up in your life for this mercy?

Anyways, I thought it was very helpful to help our investigators understand how important this message is. We couldn't be here living on this earth without our Saviors mercy. :)

This morning Sister Ker and I met with President Ashton to talk about preparing for Sisters conference. We ended up getting onto a subject that both Sister Ker and I needed in our lives, and it was really helpful for me to hear and know. This is what he explained to us...

"When we attended the mission president seminar a few weeks ago, one of the wives of a mission president got up and said that when she came on her mission, she thought that doing missionary work would be her gift to God.  She then proceeded to say that she had since learned that God was doing His own work, that He was drawing all men unto Him, and that He allowed her to participate and have missionary experiences as His gift to her.  She stated that this was a gift that brought her great joy as she was able to share the gospel.  I love this perspective!  Too often we think that missionary work is all up to us.  That is a daunting (intimidating) thought.  The truth is God is preparing people to receive the truth.  As we desire and pray specifically for opportunities to participate in the work (see D&C 11:3-5, 8), and are humble and willing to open our mouths and be God’s instruments (D&C 33:8-11), He blesses us with chances to share the gospel.  When we have that kind of faith, missionary work becomes easy and joyful. "

Both Sister Ker and I are feeling overwhelmed because we want to leave EVERYTHING we can here, but we feel like we are lacking so much or things are standing in the way of us being able to do everything. Both of us have had companion issues where sometimes they don't want to be obedient or do the work, but President drew us a chart and showed us that no matter what, The Savior has already done everything for us, we just have to give our best efforts and he will bless us.

I'm so grateful for my Savior! I know this gospel is true and I know God hears our prayers. :)

Love y'all!!!!

Sister Avery

 

I Love being a missionary!!!!!

It's great to hear everyone is doing well. I'm glad Jen and the kids made it to Michigan ok! How is Chalece doing with her pregnancy? I miss all my nieces and nephews!

 

Things here in Texas are going great! I love being a missionary so much. It can be hard, hot, or whatever else, but we're so lucky to be doing what we are doing 24/7! I was able to bare my testimony in church yesterday and I just expressed how grateful I am to be a missionary right now when the Lords work is hastening so quickly. I LOVE it! Seriously, our goal of 1,000 baptisms is going to be accomplished this year as a mission. In April we got about 19 baptisms the whole month as a mission, and just this past weekend we had 19 baptisms. The work is booming right now and I am so glad to see it right before my eyes.

 

The faith of the mission as a whole is increasing so much. That is what President Ashton is helping us do. These are the steps to get exceeding faith...

 

We gain faith by:

1. Recognizing it is a gift from God.

2. Praying for exceedingly great faith with all the energy of heart.

3. Being exactly obedient.

4. Studying the scriptures.

5. Acting as if we believe (doing things that require us to step outside our comfort zones and exercise faith)

6. Being positive.

 

He is really having us focus on recognizing the miracles in our day, because when we see those miracles we realize how much God is a part of our life. So I have a challenge for each of you this week. Each night as you go to pray, think about a miracle that you saw throughout your day. You will ALWAYS find one. :)

 

This week was really good! Let me think what happened.....

 

Wednesday we had a mission leadership counsel and we talked a lot about using members to further our work. Finding through the members is the way to find those who are ready and will remain active. Each of the 6 baptisms in this ward since I've been here have been member referrals! So.... go find people for the missionaries to teach!!! haha

 

Thursday we had Jessica and Anthony come teaching with us to this man with absolutely NO christian background. Oh man those lessons are a bit rough cause you have no foundation to build off of, so I was kinda freaking out in the lesson cause I wanted them to have a great opportunity to share their testimony. But it ended up being ok cause Anthony studied lots of religions and he was able to help him a lot. Anthony also was able to go teach with the AP in our ward, and it was just the two of them and I guess it was the best lesson ever. Elder Nottingham told the whole ward council that Anthony is ready to be a teacher in the church and that his testimony is so strong! I am so excited to see how quickly they are progressing and growing in the gospel! I love their family so much. They are like family to me!

 

We are teaching 2 newer investigators who are progressing very quickly. Andy who is the boyfriend of a member. He is 24 years old and we had some great lessons with him this past week about finding out answers to our prayers. He really wants his answer of whether or not to be baptized, and so we did a study with him on how to recognize answers from the Spirit. I think he will be baptized this weekend or next! :)

 

We are also teaching Cindy! She is a new investigator and she came to church yesterday!!!! We have seen her the last 3 nights in a row and last night it was really cool cause she actually called us to come over to her house. Her baptism is set for the 22nd. :)

 

So many great things are happening right now!

 

On Friday Elli Ashton, Presidents daughter, got baptized! It was such a great baptism to go to. We brought Danielle with the two twin girls that referred us to their family. They really liked it too. On Thursday night President asked if I could talk on the restoration of the gospel at the baptism.... talk about intimidating. Teaching the Restoration in front of tons of missionaries who you know are critiquing you on everything haha... oh and in front of not only the mission president, but also his whole family, parents, and in-laws. haha it was fun. My new companion got roped  in with me, and Sister Hiatt was on exchanges so she missed out.

 

And then SATURDAY! The best day of the week. Danielles baptism! She was glowing. And her dad came in with his white shirt and tie.

Anthony baptized her like he had done it before!

Oh man! It was one of the best days of my mission to see their family. The ward absolutely loves their family and is so grateful for the strength they are going to add to this ward. :) I'm grateful Heavenly Father allowed me to be a part of their conversion.

 

Next step... Temple!

 

Well, I love  y'all soo much! I'll talk to you next week!

 

Sister Avery